es attains the rank of post captain. We
saw, among many other curiosities, the boat in which Sir John Ross was
out twenty-seven days in the ice. We went into an immense building
devoted to military stores, and in one room we saw the entire
accoutrements for ten thousand cavalry, including bridles, saddles, and
stirrups, holsters, &c.

The yard is a very large affair, containing very many acres; it is the
depository of the cannon belonging to the army and navy for all the
region, and there were more than twenty thousand pieces lying upon the
ground. Some were very large, and they were of all varieties known in
war.

After a delightful hour spent in listening to the best martial music I
ever heard played, by the band, we took steamboat for Greenwich, and,
landing there, walked to Blackheath, where we had an engagement to dine
at Lee Grove with a London merchant. Here we had a fine opportunity to
witness the luxury and elegance of English social life. This gentleman,
now in the decline of life, has an exquisitely beautiful place, situated
in a park of some sixty acres. The railroad has been run through his
estate, and, of course, has made it very much more valuable for
building; but as it injures the park for the embellishment of the
mansion, it was a fair subject for damages, and the jury of reference
gave its proprietor the pretty verdict of eleven thousand pounds. At the
table we had the finest dessert which the hothouse can furnish. Our host
gave us a very interesting account of his travels in America more than
forty years ago. A journey from New York to Niagara, as related by this
traveller, was then far more of an undertaking than a journey from New
Orleans to New York, and a voyage thence to England, at the present
time.

In the evening, we took the cars for London, and reached our comfortable
hotel, the Golden Cross, Charing Cross, at eleven o'clock. By the way,
we are all very much pleased with the house and its landlord. Mr.
Gardiner is a very gentlemanly man, of fine address and acquirements. He
has been a most extensive traveller in almost every part of the world,
and has a fine collection of paintings, and one of the prettiest
cabinets of coins and medals I ever saw. He has a pretty cottage and
hothouses four or five miles from the city; and his family resides
partly there and at the hotel. The hotel is every thing that can be
desired.

A few evenings ago, Mr. Lawrence had a splendid _soiree_. There were