urs had rendered a particularly desirable prospect.

FOOTNOTES:

[7] Varmont is a State famous for its wild mountain scenery, and having
a breed of horses unequalled for hardihood, fine temper, and bottom:
they are found all over the States, and are everywhere in high esteem.

[8] The river Potomac is held to be the dividing line between the
northern and southern States.

THEATRE, WASHINGTON.

I made my _debut_ professionally in the capital upon the 12th of
February. The theatre here was a most miserable-looking place, the worst
I met with in the country, ill-situated and difficult of access; but it
was filled nightly by a very delightful audience; and nothing could be
more pleasant than to witness the perfect _abandon_ with which the
gravest of the senate laughed over the diplomacy of the "Irish
Ambassador." They found allusions and adopted sayings applicable to a
crisis when party feelings were carried to extremity. The elaborate
display of eloquence with which Sir Patrick seeks to _bother_ the
Spanish envoy was quoted as the very model of a speech for a
non-committal orator, and recommended for the study of several gentlemen
who were considered as aiming at this convenient position, very much to
their amusement.

The pieces were ill mounted, and the company unworthy the capital, with
the exception of two very pretty and very clever native actresses,
Mesdames Willis and Chapman. The latter I had the satisfaction of
seeing soon after transferred to New York, in which city she became a
monstrous favourite, both in tragedy and comedy: a very great triumph
for Mrs. Chapman--for she succeeded Miss F. Kemble in some of her best
parts, and an excellent comic actress, a Mrs. Sharpe--acting on the same
night Julia in "The Hunchback," and the Queen of Hearts in "High, Low,
Jack, and Game," with a cleverness which rarely accompanies such
versatility.

I have much pleasure in offering this just tribute to a very amiable
person, who has, since my departure from the States, quitted the stage,
on which, had she been fortunately situated, she would have had very few
superiors.

I wonder there are not many more native actresses, since, I am sure,
there is a great deal of latent talent in society here both for opera
and the drama: the girls, too, are generally well educated; are pretty,
have much expression, a naturally easy carriage, and great imitative
powers. The latter talent is singularly common amongst them; and