When  I  reached  there  I  found  all  things  in  readiness
for  the  promised  amusement.  The  girls,  as  the  old
gentleman  informed  me,  had  compelled  the  family  to
breakfast  under  the  trees,  for  they  had  completely
stripped  the  house  of  its  furniture  before  the  sun  rose,
lliey  were  already  attired  for  the  dance,  in  neat  but
plain  habiliments  of  their  own  manufacture.  "  What '"


THE   DANCE.  13

says  some  weakly,  sickly,  delicate,  useless,  affected,
"  charming  creature"  of  the  city,  "  dressed  for  a  ball
at  9  in  the  morning  !"  Even  so,  my  delectable  Miss
Octavia  Matilda  Juliana  Claudia  Ipecacuanha  :  and
what  have  you  to  say  against  it?  If  people  must
dance,  is  it  not  much  more  rational  to  employ  the  hour
allotted  to  exercise  in  that  amusement,  than  the  hours
sacred  to  repose  and  meditation  ?  And  which  is  en
titled  to  the  most  credit ;  the  young  lady  who  rises
with  the  dawn,  and  puts  herself  and  whole  house  in  or
der  for  a  ball  four  hours  before  it  begins,  or  the  onft
who  requires  a  fortnight  to  get  herself  dressed  for  it  ?

The  squire  and  I  employed  the  interval  in  conver-
nation  about  the  first  settlement  of  the  country,  in  tlio
course  of  which  I  picked  up  some  useful  and  much  in
teresting  information.  We  were  at  length  interrupted,
however,  by  the  sound  of  a  violin,  which  proceeded
from  a  thick  wood  at  my  left.  The  performer  soon
after  made  his  appearance,  and  proved  to  be  no  othei
than  Billy  Porter,  a  negro  fellow  of  much  harmless
wit  and  humour,  who  was  well  known  throughout  the
state.  Poor  Billy  !  "  his  harp  is  now  hung  upon  the
willow ;"  and  I  would  not  blush  to  offer  a  tear  to  his
memory,  for  his  name  is  associated  with  some  of  the
happiest  scenes  of  my  life,  and  he  sleeps  with  many  a
dear  friend,  who  used  to  join  rneTin  provoking  his  wit
and  in  laughing  at  his  eccentricities  ;  but  I  am  leading
my  reader  to  the  grave  instead  of  the  dance,  which  I
promised.  If,  however,  his  memory  reaches  twelve
years  back,  he  will  excuse  this  short  tribute  of  respect
to  BILLY  PORTER.
