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Ebook has 366 lines and 59278 words, and 8 pages

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My Family--My Mother an Angel of Beauty and Charity--My Father's Nobleness of Character--Building Bonfires on Paradise Rocks and flying Kites from Purgatory with Uncle Sam Ward--My Brother the Lawyer, 3

My New York Life--A Penurious Aunt who fed me on Turkey--My First Fancy Ball--Spending One Thousand Dollars for a Costume--The Schermerhorns give a ball in Great Jones Street--Sticking a Man's Calf and Drawing Blood--A Craze for Dancing--I Study Law--Blackstone has a Rival in lovely Southern Maidens--I go to San Francisco in '50--Fees Paid in Gold Dust--Eggs at --My First Housekeeping--A faux pas at a Reception, 13

Introduction to London Sports--A Dog Fight in the Suburbs--Sporting Ladies--The Drawing of the Badger--My Host gets Gloriously Drunk--Visit to Her Majesty's Kitchen--Dinner with the Chef of Windsor Castle--I taste Montilla Sherry for the First Time--"A Shilling to pay for the Times," 31

A Winter in Florence and Rome--Cheap Living and Good Cooking--Walnut-fed Turkeys--The Grand Duke of Tuscany's Ball--An American Girl who Elbowed the King--What a Ball Supper should be--Ball to the Archduke of Tuscany--"The Duke of Pennsylvania"--Following the Hounds on the Campagna--The American Minister Snubs American Gentlemen, 41

Summer in Baden-Baden--The Late Emperor William no Judge of Wine--My Irish Doctor--His Horror of Water--How an American Girl tried to Captivate Him--The Louisiana Judge--I win the Toss and get the Mule--The Judge "fixes" his Pony--The "Pike Ballet," 55

Winter in Pau--I hire a perfect Villa for 0 a year--Luxury at Small Cost--I Learn how to give Dinners--Fraternizing with the Bordeaux Wine Merchants--The Judge's Wild Scheme--I get him up a Dinner--General Bosquet--The Pau Hunt--The Frenchmen wear beautiful Pink Coats, but their Horses wont Jump--Only the General took the Ditch, 65

My Return to New York--Dinner to a well-known Millionaire--Visit of Lord Frederick Cavendish, Hon. E. Ashley, and G. W. des Voeux to the United States--I Entertain them at my Southern Home--My Father's Old Friends resent my Manner of Entertaining--Her Majesty's Consul disgruntled--Cedar Wash-tubs and Hot Sheets for my English Guests--Shooting Snipe over the Rice Lands--Scouring the Country for Pretty Girls, 77

A Southern Deer Park--A Don Quixote Steed--We Hunt for Deer and Bag a Turkey--Getting a Dinner by Force--The French Chef and the Colored Cook Contrasted--One is Inspired, the Other follows Tradition--Making a Sauce of Herbs and Cream--Shooting Ducks across the Moon--A Dawfuskie Pic-nic, 89

I Leave the South--A Typical British Naval Officer--An Officer of the Household Troops--Early Newport Life--A Country Dinner--The Way I got up Pic-nics--Farmers throw their Houses Open to Us--A Bride receives us in her Bridal Array--My Newport Farm--My Southdowns and my Turkeys--What an English Lady said of our Little Island--Newport a place to take Social Root in, 107

Society's Leaders--A Lady whose Dinners were Exquisite and whose Wines were Perfect--Her "Blue Room Parties"--Two Colonial Beauties--The Introduction of the Chef--The Prince of Wales in New York--The Ball in his Honor at the Academy of Music--The Fall of the Dancing Platform--Grotesque Figures cut by the Dancers--The Prince dances Well--Admirable Supper Arrangements--A Light Tea and a Big Appetite--The Prince at West Point--I get a Snub from General Scott, 123

A Handsome, Courtly Man--A Turkey Chase--A Visit to Livingston Manor--An Ideal Life--On Horseback from Staatsburg to New York--Village Inn Dinners--I entertain a Fashionable Party at the Gibbons Mansion--An Old House Rejuvenated--The Success of the Party--Country Life may be enjoyed here as well as in England if one has the Money and the Inclination for it--It means Hard Work for the Host, though, 139

John Van Buren's Dinner--I spend the Entire Day in getting my Dress-coat--Lord Harrington criticises American Expressions--Contrast in our way of Living in 1862 and 1890--In Social Union is Social Strength--We band together for our Common Good--The organization of the "Cotillion Dinners"--the "Smart" Set, and the "Solid" Set--A Defense of Fashion, 155

Cost of Cotillion Dinners--My delicate Position--The D?but of a Beautiful Blonde--Lord Roseberry's mot--We have better Madeira than England--I am dubbed "The Autocrat of Drawing-rooms"--A Grand Domino Ball--Cruel Tricks of a fair Mask--An English Lady's Maid takes a Bath--The first Cotillion Dinners given at Newport--Out-of-Door Feasting--Dancing in the Barn, 165

The first private Balls at Delmonico's--A Nightingale who drove Four-in-hand--Private Theatricals in a Stable--A Yachting Excursion without wind and a Clam-bake under difficulties--A Poet describes the Fiasco--Plates for foot-stools and parboiled Champagne for the thirsty--The Silver, Gold, and Diamond Dinners--Giving Presents to guests, 181

The Four-in-hand Craze--Postilions and Outriders follow--A Trotting-horse Courtship--Cost of Newport Picnics Then and Now--Driving off a Bridge--An Accident that might have been Serious--A Dance at a Tea-house--The Coachmen make a Raid on the Champagne--They are all Intoxicated and Confusion reigns--A Dangerous Drive Home, 191

Grand Banquet to a Bride elect--She sat in a bank of Roses with Fountains playing around her--An Anecdote of Almack's--The way the Duke of Wellington introduced my Father and Dominick Lynch to the Swells--I determine to have an American Almack's--The way the "Patriarchs'" was founded--The One-man Power Abolished--Success of the Organization, 207

A Lady who has led Society for many years--A Grand Dame indeed--The Patriarchs a great social Feature--Organizing the F. C. D. C.--Their Rise and Fall--The Mother Goose Ball--My Encounters with socially ambitious Workers--I try to Please all--The Famous "Swan Dinner"--It cost ,000--A Lake on the Dinner-table--The Swans have a mortal Combat, 221

How to introduce a young Girl into Society--I make the Daughter of a Relative a reigning Belle--First Offers of Marriage generally the Best--Wives should flirt with their Husbands--How to be fashionable--"Nobs" and "Swells"--The Prince of Wales's Aphorism--The value of a pleasant Manner--How a Gentleman should dress--I might have made a Fortune--Commodore Vanderbilt gives me a straight "Tip," 239

Success in Entertaining--The Art of Dinner-giving--Selection of Guests--A happy Mixture of Young Women and Dowagers--The latter more appreciative of the Good Things--Interviewing the Chef--"Uncle Sam" Ward's Plan--Mock Turtle Soup a Delusion and a Snare--The Two Styles of cooking Terrapin--Grasshopper-fed Turkeys--Sourbet should not be flavored with Rum--Nesselrode the best of all the Ices, 255

Madeira the King of Wines--It took its Name from the Ship it came in--Daniel Webster and "Butler 16"--How Philadelphians "fine" their Wines--A Southern Wine Party--An Expert's shrewd Guess--The Newton Gordons--Prejudice against Malmsey--Madeira should be kept in the Garret--Some famous Brands, 267

Br?t Champagne--Another Revolution in treatment of this Wine--It must be Old to be Good--'74 Champagne worth a bottle in Paris--How to frapp? Champagne--The best Clarets--Even your Vin Ordinaire should be Decanted--Sherries--Spaniards drink them from the Wood--I prefer this way--The "famous Forsyth Sherry"--A Wine-cellar not a Necessity, 279

Assigning Guests at Dinner--The Boston fashion dying out--The approved Manner--Going in to Dinner--Time to be spent at table--Table Decoration--Too many Flowers in bad taste--Simplicity the best style--Queen Victoria's table--Her Dinner served at 8.15, but she eats her best meal at 2 P.M.--Being late at Dinner a breach of good Manners--A Dinner acceptance a sacred Obligation--A Visite de digestion, 291

Some practical Questions answered--Difference between Men and Women Cooks--Swedish Women the cleanest and most economical--My Bills with a Chef--My Bills with a Woman Cook--Hints on Marketing--I have done my own Buying for forty years--Mme. Rothschild personally supervises her famous Dinners--Menu of an old-fashioned Southern Dinner--Success of an Impromptu Banquet, 305

The "Banner Ball"--How to prepare a Ball-room Floor--A curious Costume and a sharp Answer--The Turkish Ball--Indisposition of ladies to dance at a Public Ball--The Yorktown Centennial Ball--Committees are Ungrateful--My Experience in this Matter--I discover Mr. Blaine and introduce Myself, 323

A Famous Newport Ball--Exquisite effect produced by blocks of Ice and Electric Lights--The Japanese room--Corners for "Flirtation couples"--A superb Supper--Secretary Frelinghuysen in the Barber-shop--I meet Attorney-General Brewster--A Remarkable Man--I entertain him at Newport--A young Admirer gives him a Banquet in New York--Transformation of the Banquet-hall into a Ball-room, 335

New Era in New York Society--Extravagance of Living--Grand Fancy Dress Ball in Fifth Avenue--I go as the Lover of Margaret de Valois--A great Journalist at Newport--A British Officer rides into a Club House--The great Journalist's masked Ball--A mysterious Blue Domino--Breakfast at Southwick's Grove to the Duke of Beaufort--Picnic given President Arthur--His hearty Enjoyment of it--Governor Morgan misjudges my "Open Air Lunches"--The Pleasure of Country Frolics, 349

I visit Washington as the guest of Attorney-General Brewster--A Dinner at the White House--Amusing arrangement of Guests--The Winthrop Statue--The memorable Winters of 1884-85--A Millionaire's House-warming--A London Ball in New York--A Modern Amy Robsart--Transforming Delmonico's entire place into a Ball-room--The New Year's Ball at the Metropolitan Opera House--Last Words, 367

MY FAMILY.

SOCIETY AS I HAVE FOUND IT.

While a belle in this city her admirers were legion, until a young Georgian, in the person of my father, stepped in, and secured the prize and took her off to Savannah. He was fresh from Princeton College, cut short in his college career by a large fire in Savannah , which burnt it down, destroying my grandfather's city property. The old gentleman, when the fire occurred, refused to leave his residence , and was taken forcibly from the burning building in his chair. He then owned the valuable business portion of the city, and at once went to work to rebuild. His relatives would not assist him, and so he sent for his only son, then at college, and got him to indorse all his notes, and in this way secured from the banks the money he wanted for building purposes. He undertook too much, and my father bore for one-third of his life a burden of debt then incurred. Nothing daunted, he went to work at the bar and commenced life with his beautiful, young Northern wife.

It was the fashion then at Newport to lease for the summer a farmer's house on the Island, and not live in the town. Well do I remember, with my Uncle Sam Ward and Dr. Francis, of New York, and my father, building bonfires on Paradise Rocks on the Fourth of July and flying kites from Purgatory. The first relief to this hard-worked man was sending his oldest son to West Point, where, I will here add, he did the family great credit by becoming, being, and dying a noble soldier and Christian. Fighting in both armies, one may say, though I believe he was in active service only in the Mexican War, having graduated second in his class at West Point and entered the Ordnance Corps; so in place of fighting, he was making arms, casting cannon, etc. His pride lay in the fact that he was a soldier. His last request was that the Secretary of War should grant permission for his remains to be buried at West Point, which request was granted. My second brother, Hall, grew up with the poet Milton always under his arm. He was a great student. At the little village of Springfield, Georgia, where my family had a country house, and where we occasionally passed the summer in the piney woods, I remember as a boy of fifteen years of age, reading the Declaration of Independence on the Fourth of July from the pulpit of the village church to the descendants of the old Salzburghers, who came over soon after Oglethorpe, and it was before an audience of these piney woods farmers, that, with this brother, at a meeting of our Debating Society in this village, I discussed the question, "Which is the stronger passion, Love or Ambition," he advocating Ambition, I Love. I well remember going for him, as follows: "If his motto be that of Hercules the Invincible, I assume for mine that of his opponent, Venus the Victorious. With my sling and stone I will enter this unequal combat and thus hope to slay the great Goliath." The twelve good and true men who heard the discussion decided in my favor. To the end of his days this brother of mine was guided and governed by this self-same ambition; it made him what he became, a great lawyer, the lawyer of the Pacific coast; his boast to me being that he had saved seventeen lives, never having lost a murder case. I let ambition go, and through life and to the present moment swear by my goddess Venus. This brother, after entering the Georgia bar, started for a trip around the world. On reaching San Francisco he heard of the discovery of gold, and Commodore Jones, then in command of our Pacific Squadron, urged him to prosecute some sailors who had thrown an officer overboard and deserted, and it was this which caused him to settle down there to the practice of law.

LAW AND HOUSEKEEPING.

I myself soon left Savannah for New York after Hall's departure, residing there in Tenth Street with an old maiden lady, my relative and godmother, whom I always felt would endow me with all her worldly goods, but who, I regret to say, preferred the Presbyterian church and the Georgia Historical Society to myself, for between them she divided a million. At that time Tenth Street was a fashionable street; our house was a comfortable, ordinary one, but my ancient relative considered it a palace, so that all her visitors were taken from garret to cellar to view it. Occupying the front room in the third story, as I would hear these visitors making for my room, I often had to scramble into the bath-room or under the bed, to hide myself. Having a large fortune, my relative, whom I called Aunt , was saving to meanness; her plantations in the South furnished our table; turkeys came on in barrels. "It was turkey hot and turkey cold, turkey tender, and turkey tough, until at grace one would exclaim, 'I thank ye, Lord, we've had enough.'" As the supposed heir of my saving godmother, the portals of New York society were easily open to me, and I well remember my first fancy ball, given by Mrs. John C. Stevens in her residence in College Place. A company of soldiers were called in to drill on the waxed floors to perfect them for dancing. A legacy of a thousand dollars paid me by the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company I expended in a fancy dress, which I flattered myself was the handsomest and richest at the ball. I danced the cotillion with a nun, a strange costume for her to appear in, as "I wont be a nun" was engraved on every expression of her face. She was at that day one of the brightest and most charming young women in this city, and had a power of fascination rarely equaled.

These two balls were the greatest social events that had ever occurred in this city. Even then subscription balls were the fashion. One of the most brilliant was given at Delmonico's on the corner of Beaver and William streets . Saracco's dancing-rooms were then much resorted to. They became the rage, and every one was seized with a desire to perfect himself in dancing.

Disgusted with book-keeping, I resolved to study law, and knowing that I could not do much studying whilst flirting and going to balls and dinners, I went South to my native city, took up the second volume of Blackstone, committed it to memory, passed an examination, and was admitted to the bar by one of our ex-ministers to Austria, then a judge.

Blackstone did not wholly absorb all my time that winter. I exercised my memory in the morning and indulged my imagination of an afternoon, breathing soft words to lovely Southern maidens, in the piney groves which surround that charming city. From time immemorial they had always given these on Valentine's Eve a Valentine party. I was tempted to go to the one given that year. And as I entered the house a basketful of sealed envelopes was handed me, one of which I took; on breaking the seal, I found on the card the name of a brilliant, charming young woman, whom I then had a right to claim as my partner for the evening, but to whom I must bend the knee, and express interest and devotion to her in a species of poetical rhapsody. As all the young men were to go through the same ordeal, it was less embarrassing. From the time of entering the ball-room until the late hour at which supper was served, the guests in the crowded rooms were laughing over the sight of each young man dropping on one knee before his partner and presenting her with a bouquet of flowers, and in low and tender words pouring out his soul in poetry. When it came my turn, I secured a cushion and down I went, the young woman laughing immoderately; but I, not in the least perturbed, grasping my bouquet of flowers with one hand and placing my other hand over my heart, looking into the depths of her lovely eyes, addressed to her these words:

"These flowers, dear lady, unto thee I bring, With hopes as timid as the dawning spring, Which oft repelled by many a chilling blast Still trusts its offerings may succeed at last.

Receive thou, emblem of the rosy spring, Charmer of life, of every earthly thing, These flowers, which lovely as the tints of morn Yet ne'er can hope thy beauty to adorn.

Oh, may they plead for one who never knew Perfection's image till he met with you; Oh, may their fragrance to thy heart convey How much he would, but does not dare to say."

In the mean time, while I was dancing and reciting poetry to beautiful women, my generous brother was rapidly making money at the bar in San Francisco, and urging my father and me to leave Georgia and go to him, writing that he was making more money in two months' practice than my father received in a year. This to my conservative parent seemed incredible; he shook his head, saying to me, "It is hard for an old tree to take root in a new soil." His friends of the Savannah bar ridiculed his entertaining the notion of leaving Georgia, where his father had been a Judge of the Superior Court of that State; he himself had been United States District Attorney, for years had presided over the Georgia Senate, had been nominated for Governor of the State, and for a lifetime had been at the head of the Georgia bar. Always a Union man, opposing Nullification, he was beloved by the people of his State, and his law practice was then most lucrative. The idea of his pulling up stakes and going to the outposts of civilization seemed absurd. He would not entertain the thought; he laughed at my brother's Arabian Nights stories of his law firm in San Francisco making money at the rate of 0,000 a year. But just here, my father's purpose was suddenly shaken, by my brother's remitting to me a large amount of money in gold dust, and he, my father, being then paid five thousand dollars by the Bank of the State of Georgia for an argument made for them before the United States Supreme Court at Washington. My gold dust was tangible evidence of my brother's success, and as continual dropping wears away a stone, so by continual pleading I at last persuaded him to take me to California. Mournfully he sold our old homestead and sadly closed up his Savannah law office, and with me, on the 13th of May, 1850, left for San Francisco, where in two years he made a comfortable fortune, retired from practice and went to Europe. My brother Hall's motto was, "Ten millions or nothing." He made himself, to my certain knowledge, two comfortable fortunes. Grand speculations to double my father's fortune very soon made inroads in it, and the dear old gentleman to save a remnant returned to this country. As he expressed himself to me, "California must have a Circuit Judge of the United States. I will get our Democratic Congress to pass a bill to this effect, and will myself return to California as its United States Circuit Judge. I do not care to return to the practice of law when I reach San Francisco, where, I expect to find that, like the 'fruit of the Dead Sea,' my little competency will turn into ashes at the touch. Being on the Bench, I shall at least have a support"; all of which he carried out to the letter, and he died devoted to the people of the State of California.

Imagine me then, a well-fed man, with always an appreciative appetite, learning, on my arrival in San Francisco, that eggs, without which I could not breakfast, cost apiece, a fowl , a turkey . One week's mess bill for my breakfast and dinner alone was 5, and one visit to my doctor cost me . Gloom settled upon me, until my noble parent requested me to bring back to the office our first retainer . It was 00 in gold ounces. I put it in a bag and lugged it to the office, and as I laid them ounce by ounce on my father's desk, he danced a pirouette, for he was as jolly an old fellow as ever lived. I went to work at once in earnest; it struck me that in that country it was "root, pig, or die."

On reaching New York in 1852, from California, I found great objection made to my return there as a married man, and gracefully yielded to circumstances. Though loath to give up my profession of the law, I was forced to make this sacrifice; so the moment I concluded to give up California and the legal profession, not wishing to be idle, I went to Washington and applied to the President for the position of Secretary of Legation in England. The Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, and California delegations urged me for this appointment; Mr. Buchanan was going to England as Minister. He was a warm friend of my father's, and, when approached, expressed not only willingness but gratification at having the son of an old friend as his Secretary of Legation, and I was to have had the position. But just at this time, my father, who had returned from Europe, wished to obtain from President Pierce the appointment of Circuit Judge of the United States for the State of California. He came to me and stated the case as follows: "My boy," he said, "the President says he cannot give two appointments to one family. If you go to England as Buchanan's Secretary, President Pierce cannot make me Circuit Judge of California." "Enough said," I replied, "I yield with pleasure. I will go abroad, but not in the diplomatic service." Passing the winter in Washington, I soon learned how to ingratiate myself with the law-makers of our country. Good dinners and wine were always effective. And as I had the friendship of the California, New York and Southern delegations, I was dining out all the time, invited by one man or other who had an axe to grind. On these occasions, there was always a room prepared to receive a guest who had indulged too freely in strong waters. Men then drank in good earnest, a striking contrast to the days in which we now live, when really, at dinner, people only taste wine, but do not drink it. I was then placed on the Committee of Management for the Inaugural Ball, and did good service and learned much from my Washington winter.

An amusing incident I must here relate. Quietly breakfasting and chatting with a beautiful woman, then a bride, who had lived for years in Washington as a widow, she asked me if I was going to Corcoran's ball that evening, and on my replying, "Yes, of course I was," she requested me to accompany her husband and self, which I did. On entering Mr. Corcoran's ball room with her on my arm, I noticed that the old gentleman bowed very stiffly to us; however, I paid no attention to this and went on dancing, and escorting through the rooms my fair partner, from whom I had no sooner been separated than my host slapped me on the shoulder with, "My dear young man, I know you did not know it, but the lady you have just had on your arm is not only not a guest of mine, but this morning I positively refused to send her an invitation to this ball." Fortunately I had brought letters to this distinguished man, so seeing my annoyance, he patted me on the shoulder and said, "My boy, this is not an unusual occurrence in this city; but let it be a warning to you to take care hereafter whom you bring to a friend's house."

INTRODUCTION TO LONDON SPORTS.

After my marriage I took up my residence in Newport, buying a farm on Narragansett Bay and turning farmer in good earnest. I planted out 10,000 trees on that farm and then went to Europe to let them grow, expecting a forest on my return, but I found only one of them struggling for existence three years later. In London, I met a Californian, in with all the sporting world, on intimate terms with the champion prize-fighter of England, the Queen's pages, Tattersall's and others. He suggested that if I would defray the expense, he would show me London as no American had ever seen it. Agreeing to do this, I was taken to a swell tailor in Regent Street, to put me, as he expressed it, "in proper rig." My first introduction to London life was dining out in the suburbs to see a dog-fight, and sup at a Regent Street dry-goods merchant's residence. I was introduced as an American landed proprietor. Mine host, I was told, spent twelve thousand pounds, i.e. ,000 a year, on his establishment. He was an enthusiast in his way, an old sport. The women whom I was invited to meet looked like six-footers; the hall of the house and the sitting-rooms were filled with stuffed bull-terriers, prize dogs, that had done good service. We walked through beautifully laid-out grounds to a miniature ornamental villa which contained a rat pit, and there we saw a contest between what seemed to me a myriad of rats and a bull-terrier. The latter's work was expeditious. We surrounded the pit, each one with his watch in hand timing the dog's work, which he easily accomplished in the allotted time, killing all the rats, which called forth great applause. From this pit we went to another, where we saw the drawing of the badger, a very amusing sight. There was a long narrow box with a trap-door, by which the badger was shut in; up went the door, in went the terrier; he seized the badger by the ear and pulled him out of his box and around the pit, the badger held back with all his might; should the dog fail to catch the badger by the ear, the badger would kill him. Again, we assembled around a third pit, to see a dog-fight, and saw fight after fight between these bull-terriers, to me a disgusting sight, but the women shouted with delight, and kept incessantly calling "Time, sir; time, sir!" Large bets were made on the result. At midnight we went to supper. I sat next to the champion prize-fighter of England, who informed me that a countryman of mine had died in his arms after a prize-fight. Such drinking I never saw before or since; the host, calling for bumper after bumper, insisted on every one draining his glass. I skillfully threw my wine under the table. The host and all the company were soon intoxicated. The footmen in green and gold liveries never cracked a smile. The master, after a bumper, would fall forward on the table, smashing everything. His butler picked him up and replaced him in his chair. This was kept up until 3 A.M., when with pleasure I slipped out and was off in my hansom for London.

A WINTER IN ITALY.

His manner of roasting a turkey was indeed novel; he placed his bird on a spit, put it in an iron pot, covered it with hot coals top and bottom, and then kept turning the spit incessantly and basting the bird. Such a perfect roast I have never before or since eaten. I shall speak later on of the Newport turkey and the Southern barnyard-fed turkey, but they are not a circumstance to the Florentine walnut-fed turkey. In Florence, at the markets, all turkeys and fowls were cut up and sold, not as a whole, but piece by piece. For instance, you saw on the marble slabs the breasts of chickens, the wings of chickens, the legs of chickens; the same with turkeys. To get an entire bird, you had to order him ahead, so that a few days before Christmas, as we came home from our drive, we found a superb turkey strutting through the drawing-room, the largest creature I had ever seen, weighing twenty-five pounds. When he was served, the walnuts he had eaten could be seen all over his back in large, round yellow spots of fat. As he came on the table, he was indeed a sight to behold; the skin, as it were, mahogany color and crisp, his flesh partaking of the flavor of the walnut, would have satisfied Lucullus.

At that period I worshipped doctors; my theory then was that you owed your existence to them, that they kept you in the world, and not to have a doctor within call was to place yourself in danger of immediate and sudden death; so the first man I cultivated in Florence was the English doctor. He came to see me every day; it was indeed a luxury; his fee was two dollars. We became great friends, and as he was the Court physician, he got me invitations to all the balls. The Grand Duke of Tuscany, then the richest sovereign in Europe, gave a ball every fortnight at the Pitti Palace. It was said that the Italians lived on chestnuts and air between these suppers, and, like the bear, laid in such a supply of food at them as comfortably to carry them through from one entertainment to the other. Certainly such feasting I had never before seen. The number of rooms thrown open really confused one, it was hard not to lose one's way. All the guests were assembled, and grouped in the form of a circle, in the largest of these salons, when the grand ducal party entered. The minister of each foreign country stood at the head of his little band of countrymen and countrywomen who were to be presented. The Grand Duke, Archduke, and suite passed from group to group. The presentation over, the ball began in earnest. All waited until the Archduke started in the dance, and as he waltzed by you, you followed. When he stopped dancing, all stopped.

That winter the Archduke of Tuscany married one of the princesses of Bavaria, and the Austrian Minister gave them a ball, which I attended. The effect produced in approaching his palace, all the streets illuminated by immense flaring torches attached to the house, was grand. The ball-room was superb. From the ceiling hung, not one or two, but literally fifty or more chandeliers of glass, with long prisms dangling from them. The women were not handsome, but what most struck me was the freshness of their toilets. They all looked new, as if made for the occasion; not so elaborate, but so fresh and light and delicate. I noticed that the royal party supped in a room by themselves, always attended by their host.

As I was strolling through the rooms, my host, the Austrian Minister, approached me and said, "I see I have another American as a guest to-night, and he is decorated. Will you kindly tell me what his decoration is?" "I really do not know," I replied; "I will present myself to him and ask."

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