he spur to swish their tails, if tails they have,
into the upturned phizes of their awe-stricken fellows.

Here, on the contrary, your volunteers "do their spiriting gently:" all
is good-nature and good manners; and a front is diminished, or a column
of companies in line of march is eased off to the right or left to make
way for carts or coaches, as the case requires, with a promptness which
is the more creditable from the fact that the execution of a change in
movement is no light matter.

The persons who appeared least to enjoy the _eclat_ of this military
_fete_ were the officers of the regular United States' army. They were
readily distinguished by their upright, soldier-like air, together with
a certain cold, half-proud expression, as though they discovered no fun
in the thing, and moreover were insensible to the honour of the
companionship they were admitted to. Added to the above characteristics
which struck me, I perceived that not one of these gentlemen had so much
as unsheathed his sword, or seemed aware of having such an appendage by
his side; whereas, of the gallant volunteers, there was not a man, from
the surgeon to the colonel, but had his iron out brightly flashing back
the sunbeams, although to some of the mounted officers this must have
been a matter of additional inconvenience, not to say considerable
peril.

During the course of the procession a salute was fired from the battery
by the mounted artillery corps; the bands played, and the bells of the
different churches on the line of march tolled for the dead.

On the whole, this little affair was very well conceived, and better
managed, than it would have been by any other citizen troops, excepting,
perhaps, the French, who appear to adopt the air and habit of soldiers
more perfectly than any other _bourgeoisie_ whatever.

On Friday, May 28th, I acted for the last time in the States, and so
ended at the Park, where I began, and as I began, to a crowded audience.
But the merry faces assembled here were no longer unknown to me; I was
on my _debut_, a stranger amongst strangers: I now felt myself
surrounded by personal friends, and by an audience which had frankly
welcomed me; which had continued to cherish my efforts by increasing
kindness and consideration, and which had now thronged here less perhaps
to witness a performance so often repeated, than to take leave of an
individual with whom the persons composing it had cultivated a close
acquaintan