A BALL. 123 



The men, taken as a body, are far hand- 

 somer than the women, and their dark com- 

 plexions more agreeable to the eye. They 

 are better educated, being generally able to 

 read and write : beyond this their abilities 

 rarely extend, as they are seldom seen read- 

 ing, and scarcely ever devote any time to 

 study, or improvement of the mind. They 

 are particularly fond of political subjects, 

 which engross their whole attention; but far- 

 ther than the politics of their own country 

 they do not venture, few being at all com- 

 petent to discuss, or even contemplate the 

 grand scale of the whole political world. I 

 mean this, relatively speaking, of the body of 

 the nation at large, and not individually, as 

 there are many enlightened men in the exe- 

 cutive government and congress, who are 

 fully adequate to the comprehension and dis- 

 cussion of questions of the first magnitude 

 and importance, and who would be an ho- 

 nour to any part of the world. 



