e ear except the short, fierce wrangle of packs of vagrant
curs crossing each other's hunting-ground, which they are as tenacious
of as the Indians are of their prairies.

At this hour I used often, after returning from a party, such as is
described above, to put on my morning-gown and slippers, and light my
pipe, then sallying forth, have strolled from Fuller's to the Capitol;
and climbing its bold hill, have looked down along the sleeping city,
speculating upon its possible destinies until my fancies waxed
threadbare, and then quietly returned, making a distance of nearly three
miles, without encountering an individual or hearing the sound of a
human voice.

At set balls even, the first hour of morning generally sees ample space
on the, till then, crowded floor; and the most ardent pleasure-lovers
rarely overleap the second by many minutes.

The consequence of this excellent plan is, that, although the ladies are
weak in numbers, they are always, to use an expressive sporting phrase,
ready to come again; rising, the morning after a dance, unwearied and
elastic in mind and body. I hope, for the sake of my American friends,
it will be very long before these healthful hours are changed to those
which custom has made fashionable in England; hours that soon fade the
roses even on their most genial soil, the cheeks of the fair girls of
Britain, blighting the healthful and the young, and withering the aged
and the weak.

Much of the population of Washington is migratory; and, during a long
session, samples may be found here of all classes, from every part of
the Union, whether represented or not. There are, however, generally
resident a few old Southern families, who, together with the foreign
ministers and their suites, form the nucleus of a permanent society,
where the polish of Europe is grafted upon the simple and frank courtesy
of the best of America. Were it not in violation of a rule I have
imposed upon myself as imperative, I could name families here whose
simple yet refined manners would do honour to any community, and from an
intercourse with whom the most fastidious conventionalist would return
satisfied.

IMPRESSIONS OF ALEXANDRIA.

A BLANK DAY.

My worthy manager had often pressed me to accompany him on one of our
off-nights to Alexandria, which he assured me boasted a very pretty
theatre, and a population, if not generally theatrical, still capable of
filling the house for two or three nights