Letters from England | Page 8

best specimens of English society, too, here just now, as
the Whig ministry brings a good deal of the ability of the aristocracy to
its aid. The subjects of conversation among women are more general
than with us, and [they] are much more cultivated than our women as a
body, not our blues. They never sew, or attend, as we do, to domestic
affairs, and so live for social life and understand it better.
LONDON, December 2, 1846
My dear Mrs. Polk: you told me when I parted from you at Washington
that you would like to get from me occasionally some accounts of my
experiences in English society. I thought at that time that we should see
very little of it until the spring, but contrary to my expectation we have
been out almost every day since our arrival. We made our DEBUT in

London on the first day of November (the suicidal month you know) in
the midst of an orange-colored fog, in which you could not see your
hand before you. The prospect for the winter seemed, I must say, rather
"triste," but the next day the fog cleared off, people came constantly to
see us, and we had agreeable invitations for every day, and London put
on a new aspect. Out first dinner was at Lord Palmerston's, where we
met what the newspapers call a distinguished circle. The Marquis of
Lansdowne, Lord and Lady John Russell, Marquis and Marchioness of
Clanricarde (Canning's daughter), Earl and Countess Grey, Sir George
and Lady Grey, etc., etc. I was taken out by Lord Palmerston, with
Lord Grey on the other side, and found the whole thing very like one of
our Washington dinners, and I was quite as much at my ease, and they
seemed made of the same materials as our cabinet at home. I have since
dined at Lord Morpeth's, Lord John Russell's, Lord Mahon's, Dr.
Holland's, Baron Parke's, The Prussian Minister's, and to-day we dine
with the Duchess of Inverness, the widow of the Duke of Sussex;
to-morrow with Mr. Milman, a prebend of Westminster and a
distinguished man of letters. We have been at a great many SOIREES,
at Lady Palmerston's, Lady Grey's, Lord Auckland's, Lady Lewis's, etc.,
etc.
And now, having given you some idea WHOM we are seeing here, you
will wish to know how I like them, and how they differ from our own
people. At the smaller dinners and SOIREES at this season I cannot, of
course, receive a full impression of English society, but certainly those
persons now in town are charming people. Their manners are perfectly
simple and I entirely forget, except when their historic names fall upon
my ear, that I am with the proud aristocracy of England. All the persons
whose names I have mentioned to you give one a decided impression
not only of ability and agreeable manners, but of excellence and the
domestic virtues. The furniture and houses, too, are less splendid and
ostentatious, than those of our large cities, though [they] have more
plate, and liveried servants. The forms of society and the standard of
dress, too, are very like ours, except that a duchess or a countess has
more hereditary point lace and diamonds. The general style of dress,
perhaps, is not so tasteful, so simply elegant as ours. Upon the whole I
think more highly of our own country (I mean from a social point of
view alone) than before I came abroad. There is less superiority over us

in manners and all the social arts than I could have believed possible in
a country where a large and wealthy class have been set apart from time
immemorial to create, as it were, a social standard of high refinement.
The chief difference that I perceive is this: In our country the position
of everybody is undefined and rests altogether upon public opinion.
This leads sometimes to a little assumption and pretension of manner,
which the highest class here, whose claims are always allowed by all
about them, are never tempted to put on. From this results an extreme
simplicity of manner, like that of a family circle among us.
What I have said, however, applies less to the South than to the large
cities of the North, with which I am most familiar at home. I hope our
memory will not be completely effaced in Washington, for we cling to
our friends there with strong interest. Present my respectful regards to
the President, and my love to Mrs. Walker and Miss Rucker. To the
Masons also, and our old colleagues all, and pray lay your royal
commands upon somebody to write me. I long to know what is going
on in Washington. The Pleasantons promised to do so, and Annie
Payne, to whom and