240 
WANDERINGS IN 
FOURTH 
JOURNEY 
Upon inquiry, I found that she was from the city of 
: Albany. The more I looked at the fair Albanese, 
the more I was convinced, that in the United States 
of America may be found grace and beauty and 
symmetry equal to any thing in the old world. 
I now for good and all (and well I might) gave 
lip the idea of finding bugs, bears, brutes, and buffa¬ 
loes in this country, and was thoroughly satisfied 
that I had laboured under a great mistake in sus¬ 
pecting that I should ever meet with them. 
I wished to join in the dance where the fair Alba¬ 
nese was u to brisk notes in cadence beating,” but 
the state of my unlucky foot rendered it impossible ; 
and as I sat with it reclined upon a sofa, full many a 
passing gentleman stopped to inquire the cause of 
my misfortune, presuming at the same time that I 
had got an attack of gout. Now this surmise of 
theirs always mortified me; for I never had a fit of 
gout in my life, and, moreover, never expect to have 
one. 
In many of the inns in the United States, there is 
an album on the table, in which travellers insert 
their arrival and departure, and now and then in¬ 
dulge in a little flash or two of wit, 
I thought under existing circumstances, that there 
would be no harm in briefly telling my misadven¬ 
ture ; and so, taking up the pen, I wrote what fol¬ 
lows ; and was never after asked a single question 
about the gout. 
U C. Waterton, of Walton-hall, in the county of 
York, England, arrived at the falls of Niagara, in 
