mounted, entered the gig, bade adieu to our hospitable friend (who promised to make the necessary improvements on my farm), and proceeded on our return, repeating, "Beatus ille qui procul negotiis." After a pleasant drive, we arrived at Perth in safety, being neither disturbed by blacks nor bushrangers, and immediately sat down to an excellent tiffin, and a choice assortment of fruit, which the Serjeant had in readiness.
We reached Launceston just in time to dine with the Magnates. A ball took place in the evening. The arbiter elegantiarum was Captain Welch, who seemed as much at home in the duties of that important station, as he was in laying down the beacons and buoys in the river Tamar.
The assemblage of the fair sex was numerous and respectable; and the healthy aspects, blooming cheeks, and expressive eyes, of the young damsels (who, considering it was the first time some of them had appeared in public, conducted themselves with becoming gracefulness and ease), shewed that the soil was as well adapted for the development of female beauty, as it is universally allowed to be for the growth of grain.
The supper was well "got up;" and, in short, the entire arrangements did credit to the taste and judgment of the stewards. If I mistake not, this is the first instance of a subscription ball in any part of this colony, and therefore highly praiseworthy; as the cheerful intercourse of a dance (while used as an occasional relaxa-
