Not
that his tact is quite perfect. In going up to breakfast, he made me
precede him; in returning to the library, he did the same, although I
drew back, till he impelled me up the first stair, with gentle
persistence. By insisting upon it, he showed his sense of condescension
much more than if, when he saw me unwilling to take precedence, he had
passed forward, as if the point were not worth either asserting or
yielding. Heaven knows, it was in no humility that I would have trodden
behind him. But he is a kind old man; and I am willing to believe of the
English aristocracy generally that they are kind, and of beautiful
deportment; for certainly there never can have been mortals in a position
more advantageous for becoming so. I hope there will come a time when we
shall be so; and I already know a few Americans, whose noble and delicate
manners may compare well with any I have seen.
I left the house with Mr. Palfrey. He has cone to England to make some
researches in the State Paper Office, for the purposes of a work which he
has in hand. He mentioned to me a letter which he had seen, written from
New England in the time of Charles II. and referring to the order sent by
the minister of that day for the appearance of Governor Bellingham and my
ancestor on this side of the water. The signature of this letter is an
anagram of my ancestor's name. The letter itself is a very bold and able
one, controverting the propriety of the measure above indicated; and Mr.
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