Pictures of Queen Victoria were hung in the different large halls. The supper-tables were very handsome; and in fact the ball altogether was worthy of its object; for Messieurs les Anglais always do these things well when they attempt them.
The President took me to supper. The company walked in to the music of God save the Queen. After we had sat a little while, the President demanded silence, and in a short speech, proposed the health of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, which was drank by all the company standing. After supper, we continued dancing till nearly six in the morning; and when we got into the carriage it was broad daylight, and all the bells were ringing for mass!
This is the best ball we have seen here, without any exception; and is said to have cost eleven thousand dollars. There were certainly a great number of pretty faces at this fête, many pretty girls whom we had not seen before, and whom the English secretaries had contrived to unearth. Fine eyes are a mere drug—every one has them; large, dark, full orbs, with long silken lashes. As for diamonds, no man above the rank of a lépero marries in this country without presenting his bride with at least a pair of diamond ear-rings, or a pearl necklace with a diamond clasp. They are not always a proof of wealth, though they constitute it in themselves. Their owners may be very poor in other respects. They are considered a necessary of life; quite as much so as shoes and stockings.
June 2d.—On the 15th of April, the pontifical bulls arrived from Rome, confirming the election of
