him, I was born and bred in the North, I regarded that institution, in
some respects, as far less iniquitous than the infamous opium trade
which so enriched British and American merchants, and of which I saw so
much during my life in China.

It must have been from his Pilgrim forefather that Mr. Cushing inherited
a decided antipathy for Great Britain, and it was once said that he
carried this prejudice so far that he refused to visit England. This
statement, however, is untrue, as I have before me an amusing article,
written many years ago by his private secretary, during his mission to
Spain, which contradicts it. He gives some amusing incidents connected
with his visit of a few days in London when he and Mr. Cushing were _en
route_ to Spain. "Mr. Cushing's headwear," he writes, "was a silk hat
which must have been the fashion of about the time he discarded
umbrellas. It was slightly pointed at the top and there was, so to say,
no back or front to it and there was no band for it. As I knew he
intended paying several visits, I asked him if he would not exchange his
hat, which at the time was thoroughly soaked, for a new and lighter one.
The old man took off his ancient hat, examined it critically and then
said slowly and deliberately, as if delivering an opinion on the bench,
'No, sir, I think that I shall wait and see what the fashions are in
Madrid.' It was said with much earnestness, as if it had been a state
question. A third person would have found it irresistibly funny, but
there was nothing laughable in it to General Cushing. In fact, his sense
of humor was of a very grim order." He also writes: "The old man was an
inveterate smoker, and yet, during the whole period of my intercourse
with him, I did not see him light a score of fresh cigars. He bought
them, that is certain, but he must have been averse to lighting them in
public for he almost invariably had a stump between his lips. Ask him if
he would have a cigar and the answer would be, 'Thank you, sir, I think
I have one,' and out would come a dilapidated case, from which he would
shake from one to half a dozen butts as the supply ran."

While Cushing was Attorney-General under President Pierce, he formed a
friendship with Madame Calderon de la Barca, of whom I have already
spoken, who, upon his arrival in Madrid, was one of the first persons to
greet him. She was then a widow and occupied a high social position at
the Spanish court. Cushing and she thorough