FOURTH JOURNEY. 



225 



*' Ever and anon there falls 

 Huge heaps of hoary moulder'd walls. 

 But time has seen, that lifts the low 

 And level lays the lofty brow, 

 Has seen this ruin'd pile comijlete. 

 Big with the vanity of state. 

 But transient is the smile of fate." 



Tlie scenery of Lake George is superb ; the inn re- 

 markably spacious and well attended ; and the convey - 

 Saratoga. ^^^^ from thence to Saratoga very good. He 

 must be sorely afflicted with spleen and 

 jaundice who, on his arrival at Saratoga, remarks, 

 there is nothing here worth coming to see. It is a 

 gay and fashionable place ; has four uncommonly fine 

 hotels ; its waters, for medicinal virtues, are surpassed 

 by none in the known world ; and it is resorted to, 

 throughout the whole of the summer, by foreigners and 

 natives of the first consideration. Saratoga pleased me 

 much ; and afforded a fair opportunity of forming a 

 pretty correct idea of the gentry of the United States. 



There is a pleasing frankness, and ease, and becoming 

 dignity in the American ladies ; and the good humour, 

 and absence of all haughtiness and puppyism in the 

 gentlemen, must, no doubt, impress the traveller with 

 elevated notions of the company who visit this famous 

 spa. 



During my stay here, all was joy, and affability, and 

 mirth. In the mornings the ladies played and sang for 

 us ; and the evenings were generally enlivened witli 

 the merry dance. Here I bade farewell to the charm- 

 ing family in whose company I had passed so many 

 happy days, and proceeded to Albany. 



The stage stopped a little while in the town 



Troy • f>f 



of Troy. The name alone was quite suffi- 

 cient to recall to the mind scenes long past and gone. 



Q 



