; that but for an odd phrase now and then--such as _Snap of
cold weather_; a _tongue-y man_ for a talkative fellow; _Possible?_ as a
solitary interrogation; and _Yes?_ for indeed--I should have marked, so
far, no difference whatever between the parties here and those I have
left behind. The women are very beautiful, but they soon fade; the
general breeding is neither stiff nor forward; the good nature,
universal. If you ask the way to a place--of some common water-side man,
who don't know you from Adam--he turns and goes with you. Universal
deference is paid to ladies; and they walk about at all seasons, wholly
unprotected. . . . This hotel is a trifle smaller than Finsbury Square; and
is made so infernally hot (I use the expression advisedly) by means of a
furnace with pipes running through the passages, that we can hardly bear
it. There are no curtains to the beds, or to the bedroom windows. I am
told there never are, hardly, all through America. The bedrooms are
indeed very bare of furniture. Ours is nearly as large as your great
room, and has a wardrobe in it of painted wood not larger (I appeal to
K.) than an English watch-box. I slept in this room for two nights,
quite satisfied with the belief that it was a shower-bath."

The last addition made to this letter, from which many vividest pages of
the _Notes_ (among them the bright quaint picture of Boston streets)
were taken with small alteration, bore date the 29th of January: "I
hardly know what to add to all this long and unconnected history. Dana,
the author of that _Two Years before the Mast_" (a book which I had
praised much to him, thinking it like De Foe), "is a very nice fellow
indeed; and in appearance not at all the man you would expect. He is
short, mild-looking, and has a care-worn face. His father is exactly
like George Cruikshank after a night's jollity--only shorter. The
professors at the Cambridge university, Longfellow, Felton, Jared
Sparks, are noble fellows. So is Kenyon's friend, Ticknor. Bancroft is
a famous man; a straightforward, manly, earnest heart; and talks much of
you, which is a great comfort. Doctor Channing I will tell you more of,
after I have breakfasted alone with him next Wednesday. . . . Sumner is of
great service to me. . . . The president of the Senate here presides at my
dinner on Tuesday. Lord Mulgrave lingered with us till last Tuesday (we
had our little captain to dinner on the Monday), and then went on to
Canada. Kate is qu