XII.

MEN AND THINGS.

THE display made by the nobles of England on public occasions is very great, and even on ordinary ɔccasions is greater than that of any other nation which I have visited. On any bright, beautiful afternoon, during the past summer, a stranger might have been amused for hours in watching the carriages of the nobles as they drove in and out of Hyde Park. I stood at the gate one day, and saw them rolling out at the rate of six hundred an hour; and seldom has any military display been of more interest. There seemed a wealth and dignity to all this unlike any such exhibition I had ever seen. The carriages were drawn by two or four horses, beautifully harnessed, while the coachman, with his powdered wig, sitting on the box, and the footmen, with their gay red velvet breeches and blue coats, standing behind, seemed as proud as their masters who rode within. Sometimes these carriages are preceded by outriders on horseback, and not unfrequently have I noticed some five or six men in attendance upon one lady. In more than one instance I noticed that the only occupant of the carriage was a pet dog, who seemed to enjoy the sport finely. In such cases, I presume the family did not wish to ride, and sent out their servants and equipage to keep up the dignity of the parade.

The English ladies, as far as I could see; though I do

not pretend to be a judge, are less beautiful than our own. They accustom themselves to out-of-door exercise, and the middle and lower classes are far less. attractive than the same classes here. But while this may be the fact, English women are generally far more capable than our own. The early education of American ladies unfits them for almost all the duties and.

pursuits of life. They grow up greenhouse plants, that too often wither at the least exposure. They cannot go a mile in stage or rail car without a male attendant, and shrink back from the least responsibility with horror The English women, of the highest and lowest rank, find pleasure in an opposite course, and in some cases aspire to duties belonging to the other sex.

I was disappointed in Englishmen to some extent. They were not so portly, on the whole, as I supposed; and while there were seen few tall, lean, cadaverous men, as among us, there were less of the aldermanic size than I expected to find. The English people give themselves up to enjoyment to a much greater degree than we do. Here, it is all "get, get; " but there, the desire to enjoy prevails. Consequently the signs of health are more often seen, and each cheek bears the impress of generous living.

The English, less frequently than our people, wear false hair, when that which nature gave them has departed. The old man does not cover his bald pate and his snowy locks with the scalp of a dead man, nor does the aged woman pin fine curls under her neat cap, to cover a stray lock, which, in accordance with a natural law, has become bleached by time.

Men and women seem to believe that a hoary head is a crown of honor, and act accordingly. But among us, the venerable old man will often destroy his white

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locks by covering his head with a protection which nature put upon the cranium of a savage or an idiot. I recall the countenance of a good man who once lived and moved among us, whose hoary head I loved to gaze upon, as the white locks floated in the breeze. But one day, he came forth with his wig, to the astonishment of all, and I have missed that venerable head from that day to this.

The wigs worn in England are used irrespective of baldness. I was not a little amused, one day, in wandering about the courts of London, to find the lawyers and judges all buried up in monstrous gray wigs and black robes. Some of them were very young men, and I had seen them elsewhere with fine locks and beautiful hair; but here, each had on the gray powdered wig, which rolled down upon his shoulders. From beneath this useless appendage a pair of keen eyes looked forth, and two thirds of the members of the bar looked more like monkeys than human beings. I saw Talfourd thus arrayed, and I hardly think I shall want to read another verse of his, until the comical look which he had on is effaced from my memory.

The coachmen of fine families, though mere boys, are often decorated in this way; and the rich adornment of nature is buried up with the long, tangled, powdered, curled, and uncomely flax of the show case.

The dress of English gentlemen is generally plain, and less Frenchified than that of Americans. The cut of an English coat, and the trim of an English hat, are any thing but pleasing; and few who purchase in London use them when they return. The English ladies dress, I should judge, more richly and less gaudily than the same class and rank in our country. No English woman feels that she is compelled by fashion to sweep

the sidewalks with her dress, or wear thin shoes amid the peltings of a storm. Than among us there is less of that mock modesty which blushes at a dress which does not cover the ankle, boot, and foot, and drag through the mud and water - the frequent cause of disease and death. There is less of that miserable fashion which compels a lady to wear a shoe through which the damp chill and the wet and cold find their way as soon as the foot is placed upon the ground. Often have I seen ladies crossing the muddy streets of London with clogs, or wire sandals, which keep the foot from a contact with the mud, and save the wearer from a needless exposure.

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While there may be less of what often passes for politeness among the English than among the French, there is far more genial hospitality among the former than among the latter people. They do you a kindness with a hearty good will, which makes you feel its honesty, and enables you to appreciate its worth. I am still indebted to several English friends, who received me with a cordiality which I shall long remember.

Were I to hazard an opinion, I should say there was more domestic bliss and well-ordered family government than among us. The training of youth is not left so much to the teacher of the day or Sunday school, but the mind and heart of the parent come more directly into contact with the mind and heart of the child. Besides, English people are much at home, and have more sources of pleasure around their own firesides, than have we. I think while on the continent I met more American than English travelers. We love to roam, and home loses its attractions. We love progress and change, and often the fire on the hearthstone is put out. But the Englishman feels that his own country is the best on

earth. Paris, Rome, Naples, have far less attractions than busy, crowded London. The absence of any general system of education compels more extensive home education, and all these causes combined furnish a larger number of well-regulated families.

Boys and girls, when they enter their teens, do not become older and wiser, and of more consequence, than their parents, and hence a large amount of crime and sorrow, which is the usual attendant upon an early abandonment of parental authority, is avoided. Children seem to grow up with more fixed and settled habits of thought and action; and, when they go forth from the parental roof, they go with opinions formed, and principles of action decided upon. Of course, to all these remarks there are some exceptions; and yet I think you find in England more correct and valuable views of the family relation, and a more just appreciation of its blessings.