Mr. ------ gives me the impression of being a very amiable man in his own
family. He has brought his son with him, as Secretary of Legation,--a
small young man, with a little mustache. It will be a feeble embassy.
I called again the next morning, and introduced Mrs. ------, who, I
believe, accompanied the ladies about town. This simplicity in
Mr. ------'s manner puzzles and teases me; for, in spite of it, there was
a sort of self-consciousness, as if he were being looked at,--as if he
were having his portrait taken.
LONDON.
March 22d.--Yesterday,--no, day before yesterday,--I left Liverpool for
London by rail, from the Lime Street station. The journey was a dull and
monotonous one, as usual. Three passengers were in the same carriage
with me at starting; but they dropped off; and from Rugby I was alone.
We reached London after ten o'clock; and I took a cab for St. James's
Place, No. 32, where I found Mr. B------ expecting me. He had secured a
bedroom for me at this lodging-house, and I am to be free of his
drawing-room during my stay. We breakfasted at nine, and then walked
down to his counting-room, in Old Broad Street, in the city. It being a
dim, dingy morning, London looked very dull, the more so as it was Good
Friday, and therefore the streets were comparatively thin of people and
vehicles, and had on their Sunday aspect. If it were not for the human
life and bustle of London, it would be a very stupid place, with a heavy
and dreary-monotony of unpicturesque streets.
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