excellent custom to the early Dutch colonists.

I paid several calls in company with my new friend, at each place met a
hearty welcome, and witnessed the same abundant preparation; but to
lunch at each was, with the best intentions possible, quite out of the
question. After a considerable round, my companion suggested that I
might possibly have some compliments to make on my own account, and so
leaving me, begged me to consider his carriage perfectly at my disposal.

This was very kind, but I at the time knew only two or three families;
and indeed, on being left to myself in solitary state, where every
carriage that whirled by was filled with merry stranger faces, my
courage oozed away. So, leaving a card or two, and making a couple of
hurried visits, I returned to my hotel, to think over the many
beneficial effects likely to grow out of such a charitable custom, and
to wish for its continued observance.

We have days enough of division in each year, and should indeed welcome
and cherish one which inculcates peace and good-will to all; a day on
which little coolnesses are explained away, past kindnesses confirmed,
and injuries consigned to oblivion.

At night, the theatre was filled to suffocation by a joyous throng,
although this portion of the season is not propitious to theatricals;
but on to-day, as though no house must be left unvisited by any of its
ordinary frequenters, the Park came in for a full participation in the
benefit of this honoured custom.

_Friday, 3rd._--The prevailing topics of the new year are the President
and his _quondam_ chum, Major Jack Downing;[6] the agitation of the
community on the Bank question becoming daily more violent, as the
limitation placed on credit embarrasses trade by narrowing its
resources. I observe, however, that, in the midst of much wordy
violence, the bulk of the people appear confident that matters will, to
use a coinage of their own, "_eventuate_ for their ultimate benefit."
Meanwhile, the government and the laws appear equally omnipotent; and
although much embarrassment is unquestionably felt in the money-market,
and all stock become unseasonably low for the sellers, yet is the
country generally admitted to be very prosperous, and perfectly able to
meet this shock without any permanent or ruinous difficulty. We shall
see.

Went to Mrs. H----'s box at the opera,--the "Donna del Lago," for
Bordogni's benefit: a very pretty woman, very well instructed; but with
a l