92 FALSE REPRESENTATIONS. 



always had < the man in black ' to promulgate his im 

 portance. So many Englishmen and foreigners have pre 

 viously represented themselves as lords, dukes, and mar- 

 quisses, who really were the refuse of the countries from 

 which they had probably fled, that if any real nobleman 

 or approved gentleman now comes, the rule is to distrust 

 him till some one vouches for his identity. The title of 

 ' honourable' here is so common, through the appella 

 tion attached on election to Congress, that it commands 

 no attention whatever." Having thanked Mr Easton for 

 his great attention, he left me, saying, that as the place 

 to which George and my dogs were consigned in the 

 basement or lower regions of the hotel was neither cool, 

 well ventilated, nor private, he would, with my leave, 

 conduct them all to a room in the house where he held 

 his official apartments as engineer, employed to lay 

 down the street rails for omnibuses in Cincinnati, and 

 where they would be perfectly safe for so long a time as 

 I chose to stay. He left me with a promise to see me 

 again after dinner, and to discuss with me some Bad 

 minton mixture which, heated with travel, I resolved to 

 brew. 



Having solicited the attention of the chief steward, I 

 then and there, and by way of a happy lesson to him, 

 procured a bottle of claret, two bottles of soda water, a 

 lemon and sugar, a glass of sherry, and sighed because I 

 could not obtain a slice from a fresh cucumber. Then, 

 all having been well iced, and one of the bottles of soda 

 water not mixed with the wine, but kept back for the 

 purpose of being amalgamated with the other ingredients 

 when the whole were put on the table for drinking, I 

 cast myself into a comfortable arm-chair, and prepared 

 myself to enjoy a quiet dinner. 



