34 



ALBANY. 



most noble and awe-inspiring objects of nature. I know not 

 whether it is taste or prejudice which makes me prefer the 

 scenery of the Clyde to the Hudson. 



On reaching Albany, the bustle and confusion on board the 

 steam-boat, with passengers landing, and porters scrambling 

 for the luggage, was excessive ; and there was some difficulty 

 in preserving unauthorized hands from carrying away our 

 effects. We reached the Columbian hotel rather late for 

 breakfast ; after which we walked about the town. Things 

 appeared very different from what New York presented : carts, 

 waggons, and carriages, as well as the animals harnessed to 

 them, were greatly inferior. The population did not appear 

 so active, and the eye looked in vain for those ladies whose 

 fashionable attire, interesting countenances, and elegance of 

 feet and ankles, delight the beholder. Our dinner party con 

 sisted of upwards of sixty. One gentleman dined in five mi 

 nutes, reckoned by my stop-watch ; the ladies rose from the 

 table at the end of twelve ; dinner and dessert occupied about 

 fifteen minutes. The affair seemed an eating race, and my 

 companions not being aware of the rapidity of the pace, were 

 sadly behind. I was amused at a little jockeyship displayed in 

 the contest. An individual, as soon as he seated himself at 

 table, emptied a dish of green pease on his plate, to the evident 

 disappointment of a gentleman on his right hand, and when 

 a fresh supply appeared, he performed the like feat a second 

 time, although part of the first seizure was unconsumed. Few 

 of the party drank wine during dinner, and very little of the 

 brandy which stood on the table, for the use of the company, 

 was used. At tea, a gentleman removed from table in four 

 minutes, but the party generally sat as long as at dinner. 



Albany is the capital of the state of New York, containing 

 about twenty thousand inhabitants, and has lately been made 

 a port of entry; From being situated near the outlet of the 

 Erie Canal, which is the channel of commerce with the 

 country to the west and north, and on the line of railway now 

 in progress, which will soon connect Boston with Lake Erie, 

 it is almost certain to rise into importance. It is at present a 

 place of considerable trade, being the seventh or eighth in the 

 union. 



