CHAPTER XXVII. 



Catholic Cathedral, New Orleans. French Opera. Creole Ladies. 

 Quadroons. Marriage of Whites with Quadroons. St. Charles Theater. 

 English Pronunciation. Duelist s Grave. Ladies Ordinary. Pro 

 cession of Fire Companies. Boasted Salubrity of New Orleans. Goods 

 selling at Northern Prices. Mr. Wilde. Roman Law. Shifting of 

 Capital to Baton Rouge. Debates in Houses of Legislature. Conven 

 tion and Revision of the Laws. Policy of Periodical State Conventions. 

 Judges cashiered. Limitation of their Term of Office. 



New Orleans, February, 1846. WALKING first over the 

 most ancient part of the city, called the First Municipality, we 

 entered the Place d Armes, and saw on one side of the square the 

 old Spanish Government House, and opposite to it the Cathedral, 

 or principal Catholic church, both in an antique style of archi 

 tecture, and therefore strikingly unlike any thing we had seen for 

 many months. Entering the church, which is always open, we 

 found persons on their knees, as in Catholic countries, although it 

 was not Sunday, and an extremely handsome quadroon woman 

 coming out. 



In the evening we went to the French Opera, and were much 

 pleased with the performance, the orchestra being the best in 

 America. The audience were very quiet and orderly, which is 

 said not to be always the case in some theaters here. The 

 French creole ladies, many of them descended from Norman an 

 cestors, and of pure unmixed blood, are very handsome. They 

 were attired in Parisian fashion, not over dressed, usually not so 

 thin as the generality of American women ; their luxuriant hair 

 tastefully arranged, fastened with ornamental pins, and adorned 

 simply with a colored ribbon or a single flower. My wife learnt 

 from one of them afterward, that they usually pay, by the month, 

 a quadroon female hairdresser, a refinement in which the richest 

 ladies in Boston would not think of indulging. The word creole 

 is used in Louisiana to express a native-born American, whether 



