cites in this country no small sympathy for the lady, and equal indignation against the authors of her misfortunes.

We were so happy as to have at our table an American, well known at home as a man of talents and distinction, who has recently returned to England from a residence on the continent, principally in France and Italy. The politeness and suavity of his manners, his easy command of the best language, and the animated manner in which he speaks, enable him to display most advantageously the rare acquisitions he has made, and to instruct and delight the circles which he frequents. I have seen him in English parties, where I felt proud of him as my countryman, because I was certain that he did us honour. Indeed the idea advanced by Buffon, Raynal, and other European writers, that the human mind has dwindled on the other side of the Atlantic, is too insulting to be treated with the decency of a sober refutation, and too ridiculous to need it. While I feel the utmost respect for the enlightened intelligence of the English mind, I have seen no reason to think that my own countrymen would suffer by a comparison.

Finding myself better for the exertion of going to Finsbury Square, I walked back. It was nearly 12 o'clock when I arrived; you will recollect, however, that in this country, at this season of the year, it is but just after dark, at midnight. The days are of a fatiguing, I had almost said tedious length, to those who are unwilling to let any portion of day light pass unused.

At so late an hour it is rare to meet beggars, most of the professional mendicants having usually retired. Near my lodgings I was, to-night, abruptly addressed by a voice indicating extreme misery: "pray, sir, give me a little

money, I am very hungry." Thinking this to be a case of real misery, I turned and saw behind a lamp post a poor ragged boy, about ten years old. I asked him, how long he had been hungry-(he appeared to understand me to say, how long he expected to be hungry)-he replied, "till I can sell these matches," (shewing a little bunch of them to me.) It might be acting, but to my mind it was the despairing voice of starvation, and who could withhold from such an object, enough to buy a loaf of bread. I am almost never abroad without meeting similar adventures. Returning from the parliament house a few nights since, between one and two o'clock A. M. a haggard female addressed me, as she rose from the steps of a house where she was laid down. Presenting her emaciated features by the light of the lamp, she said: "for heaven's sake, sir, save a poor woman from death; I am on the point of starving, and I beseech you to have mercy on me and give me enough to buy some bread." These constitute very painful features in the portrait of this splendid metropolis.

HAYMARKET THEATRE.

July 8. In the evening I went to the Haymarket theatre. It is opened only during the summer months, and its performances begin when those of Drury-Lane and Covent-Garden close. The house is small, but neat, and even to a certain degree elegant.

The play performed to-night was Speed the Plough, with the after-piece of The Hunter over the Alps. Both the plays, and the manner of acting them, would have admitted of criticism, but, on the whole, I was entertained, and even considerably interested. As usual, love was a

prominent feature in the story, but nothing can be farther from the language and manners of this passion than the ranting professions and frantic gestures which usually attend it on the stage.

The dancing was very indecent; modesty seems not to be a necessary qualification in an actress. It would be unjust to say that it is never found on the stage, for the character of Mrs. Siddons is known to be estimable in private life, and I believe was never reproached. But Mrs. Jordan, one of the most eminent actresses at present on the London stage, is openly the mistress of the Duke of Clarence, and has been so for many years. This duke is a son of the present king; Mrs. Jordan is the mother of several of his children, and whenever she is to play a distinguished part, he usually attends.

In the plays this evening there was a considerable degree of profaneness, some coarse and indecent deportment, and frequent inuendos too palpable to be misunderstood. I could not mark either displeasure or embarrassment in the countenances of the audience; fashion sanctions every thing, and even modesty may be brought by degrees to smile where it should frown. Enthusiastic applauses were bestowed by the galleries this evening, on this sentiment-that if a poor man had but an honest heart, there lived not one in England who had either the presumption or the power to oppress him. In this incident may be seen the active jealousy of liberty, which exists even in the lower orders of England.

ATHLETIC EXERCISES.

July 9.-Having never seen the Aquatic Theatre, at Sadler's Wells, a little out of London on the west, I went thither this evening with an acquaintance.

In our way we passed over an extensive field of green grass, where a company of young men were playing at ball. This climate is so temperate, that even such violent exercise may be indulged in with safety and pleasure, at a season of the year when, in America, the heat is almost intolerable. I have worn broad cloth and cassimere thus far this summer, and have found no occasion for those light stuffs which, in the United States, are so welcome during the sultry heats of July.

The mode of playing ball differs a little from that prac- tised in New-England. Instead of tossing up the ball out of one's own hand, and then striking it, as it descends, they lay it into the heel of a kind of wood shoe; the shoe is hollowed out from the instep back to the heel, and upon the instep a spring is fixed, which extends within the hollow to the hinder part of the shoe; the ball is placed where the heel of the foot would commonly be, and a blow applied on the other end of the spring, raises the ball into the air, and, as it descends, it receives the blow from the bat.

They were playing also at another game resembling our cricket, but differing from it in this particular, that the perpendicular pieces which support the horizontal one, are about eighteen inches high, and are three in number, whereas with us they are only two in number, and about three or four inches high.

The young men of England are very active, and play with much adroitness and vigour. Their habits of activity contribute much to that appearance of florid health which is so remarkable in the youth of this country.Probably the genteel young men of England are the handsomest men on earth. It is true this is in part attributa

ble to their dress, which is remarkably correct; their clothes are of the best materials-genteely made, and genteely worn, and always clean and whole. They are never put on after they have become much defaced; still they are plain, and appear to be made for comfort and decency more than for exhibition. There is much less finery than with us, and there are very few fops. The footmen are almost the only coxcombs seen in London.

SADLER'S WELLS THEATRE.

This theatre is situated a little out of London, near the village of Islington. There is a chalybeate spring here, which was famous before the Reformation for the cure of certain diseases; but the priests of the Romish Church, who lived in the vicinity, had the address to persuade the patients that the efficacy of the waters was owing to their prayers. For this reason the spring was stopped up at the Reformation, and its virtues, and even its situation were forgotten. In the year 1688 it was accidentally discovered again by a labourer, employed by a Mr. Sadler, from whom it derives its present name. Since that, the place has become famous for the exhibition of pantomimes, rope-dancing, and feats of activity, for which a theatre has been erected, and the mineral spring now forms its smallest attraction.

In the entertainment which I saw, the early parts consisted principally of low buffoonery-coarse wit, and feats of activity. You may judge, by the following circumstance, what sort of mirth is relished here.

The clown attempting to draw on a boot in presence of the audience, and, his foot having nearly reached the bottom, he roared out as if from pain, and drew his foot