133 
The organ was good, and the performance of the organist 
pleasing. 
I twice visited the theatre; in Chatham Theatre, situated at the 
extremity of a public garden, they performed the melo-drama of 
the Lady of the Lake tolerably well. I was much pleased with 
the inside of the theatre, and particularly with the decorations; 
it was full of people, and the heat extreme. Ladies of the first 
fashion do not go often to the theatre. In the pit persons pulled 
off their coats, in order to be cool. At the Park Theatre, so call¬ 
ed because it is situated near the Park, the drama of William 
Tell was performed, and the after-piece of Love, Law and Phy¬ 
sic. The first is by no means an imitation of Schiller’s drama, 
but entirely dressed up in English taste, with a full share of bat¬ 
tles. Whenever any observation was made in favour of liberty, 
the pit applauded. The decorations were very handsome, and I 
was pleased with the internal arrangement of the theatre, but the 
spectators were not numerous. The visitors of the theatre are en¬ 
tirely unrestrained; the gentlemen keep on their hats in the boxes, 
and in the pit they make themselves in every respect comfort¬ 
able. 
On the afternoon of the third of October, there was a great 
procession of negroes, some of them well dressed, parading 
through the streets, two by two, preceded by music and a flag. 
An African club, called the Wilberforce Society, thus celebrated 
the anniversary of the abolition of slavery in New York, and 
concluded the day by a dinner and ball. The coloured people 
of New York, belonging to this society, have a fund of their 
own, raised by weekly subscription, which is employed in as¬ 
sisting sick and unfortunate blacks. This fund, contained in a 
sky-blue box, was carried in the procession; the treasurer hold¬ 
ing in his hand a large gilt key; the rest of the officers wore ri¬ 
bands of several colours, and badges like the officers of free ma¬ 
sons; marshals with long staves walked outside of the proces¬ 
sion. During a quarter of an hour, scarcely any but black faces 
were to be seen in Broadway. 
Mr. J. R. Livingston, a very respectable (fitizen of New York, 
whose country seat is at Massena, near Redhook, about a hundred 
miles up the Hudson river, near the little town called Hudson, 
invited me to visit him, and be present at a ball. I accepted the 
invitation, especially as I was informed I should find assembled 
there the best society, who generally reside during the summer 
in the country. 
The Grymes’ family, which arrived at New York not long af¬ 
ter me, were likewise of the party. Consequently we left New 
York on the 5th of October, on board the safety-barge Lady Van 
Rensselaer, for Albany. As Mr. Livingston had invited several 
