Life of Count Rumford. 229 



give us a holiday for amusement before separating. Those 

 with whom I was the most intimate wrote me letters not to 

 be read before arriving at Munich. There were only twelve 

 young ladies taken, most of them noble. Miss Byron was my, 

 particular favorite and friend. There were peculiarities of 

 parentage in common to us both, but I was not unfortunate 

 and disgraced like herself. She had a father she never saw, 

 her mother she saw seldom, and her grandfather, the Duke of 

 Leeds, who supported her, would not see her. I have since 

 heard of this young lady, and learned she had been properly 

 established in life, though I never again met her. Thus, from 

 my roving life, if I had friends I was deprived of them. A 

 very beloved one I had in Mrs. Snow's school in Boston, Miss 

 Porter, after our separation there I never met again. These 

 are only a few of the many I could mention. The Marquis 

 and Marchioness of Chabann and family I met again in Paris, 

 restored to their fortune and consequence. 



" The fine appearance of English ladies on horseback, Gejr- 

 man ladies riding differently, induced my father to buy a couple 

 of English side-saddles, designing one for the Countess of 

 Nogarola, a particular friend of his, the other for me, in hopes 

 of putting the English method of riding in fashion in Munich. 

 I was sent to Ashley's riding-school to take lessons. I was 

 surprised at it, thinking myself all-sufficient in the art, yet 

 I found there was much to be learnt. The mounting, dis- 

 mounting, manner of sitting, holding the reins, the whip even, 

 walking the horse, putting him on the gallop, the trot. Yet 

 with all due deference to Baron Thompson's opinion and taste 

 for riding, joined with many others, I beg leave to differ, not 

 approving of ladies' riding. While graceful, it is dangerous.- 



"My father's friend, Lady Palmerston, observed to him one 

 day, in my hearing, that I did not appear to be struck with their 

 fine edifices or architecture in general. This was turned into a 

 joke by him, saying, it was a characteristic of savages ; that 

 they did not or appeared not to take notice of things. I, 

 bridling up, told her Ladyship that I had seen beautiful paint- 

 ings and drawings in America of buildings in England and in 



