Her talk was
sensible, but not particularly brilliant nor interesting; a good, solid
personage, physically and intellectually. She is an English woman.
In the afternoon, at three o'clock, I attended the funeral of Captain
Auld. Being ushered into the dining-room of his boarding-house, I found
brandy, gin, and wine set out on a tray, together with some little
spicecakes. By and by came in a woman, who asked if I were going to the
funeral; and then proceeded to put a mourning-band on my hat,--a
black-silk band, covering the whole hat, and streaming nearly a yard
behind. After waiting the better part of an hour, nobody else appeared,
although several shipmasters had promised to attend. Hereupon, the
undertaker was anxious to set forth; but the landlady, who was arrayed in
shining black silk, thought it a shame that the poor man should be buried
with such small attendance. So we waited a little longer, during which
interval I heard the landlady's daughter sobbing and wailing in the
entry; and but for this tender-heartedness there would have been no tears
at all. Finally we set forth,--the undertaker, a friend of his, and a
young man, perhaps the landlady's son, and myself, in the black-plumed
coach, and the landlady, her daughter, and a female friend, in the coach
behind. Previous to this, however, everybody had taken some wine or
spirits; for it seemed to be considered disrespectful not to do so.
Before us went the plumed hearse, a stately affair, with a bas-relief of
funereal figures upon its sides.
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