^94 ISLES OF SUMMER. 



till two o'clock Sunday morning;" of ''state dinners" at half 



past six o'clock given by G , a bachelor; of supper at twelve; 



also of supper on another occasion at one o'clock at night, fol- 

 lowed by music and dancing for she did not know how many 

 hours; of a ball in the Assembly Room, when the Grovcrnor and 

 suite were saluted by the band with the "King's March;" of re- 

 tiring at four A. M. ; of a ball in honor of the King's birth-day, 

 when flags ornamented the shipping in the harbor, guns were 

 fired, fire-works displayed, and the ''dear five hundred '' were 

 permitted to unite with their superiors in doing honor to their 

 sovereign. 



The pictures were drawn by a friendly hand, and though made 

 more than half a century ago, we are inclined to believe that, 

 with slight modifications, they will answer very well for the pres- 

 ent day. From the little which we saw, and from information 

 derived from others, we are of the o])inion that the picnics, the 

 balls, the nightly revels, the feasting and drinking, the whist 

 parties and early morning hours for retiring, characterize to a 

 considerable extent the fashionable and high life of this miniature 

 colonial capital to-day, as in 1823-4. To the ball which the 

 Governor gave at the Government House while his wife and chil- 

 dren were in England, some few of our hotel guests we know 

 went late and returned in the small hours of the morning. His 

 Excellency manifested in our presence at the ball which some of 

 the ladies of our hotel gave in its dining hall, a great fondness 

 for the waltz, and was reported to have taken part in each of the 

 eighteen dances at the ball given by himself. One gentleman 

 who attended the latter observed that the Governor was so occu- 

 pied, while the heavy load of official cares was laid aside, in 

 honoring his lady guests by kindly^ consenting to embrace and 

 spin them around in the rhythmic circles of the voluptuous dance 

 of the German, as to seemingly forget what genuine politeness 



