After the return of the party from Hamilton Park, we sat down to an elegant lunch, where my eye was attracted more than any thing else, by the splendor of the hothouse flowers which adorned the table.  So far as I have observed, the culture of flowers, both in England and Scotland, is more universally an object of attention than with us.  Every family in easy circumstances seems, as a matter of course, to have their greenhouse, and the flowers are brought to a degree of perfection which I have never seen at home.

I may as well say here, that we were told by a gentleman, whose name I do not now remember, that this whole district had been celebrated for its orchards; he added, however, that since the introduction of the American apple into the market, its superior excellence had made many of these orchards almost entirely worthless.  It is a curious fact, showing how the new world is working on the old.

After taking leave of our hospitable friends, we took to our carriages again.  As we were driving slowly through the beautiful grounds, admiring, as we never failed to do, their perfect cultivation, a party of servants appeared in sight, waving their hats and handkerchiefs, and cheering us as we passed.  These kindly expressions from them were as pleasant as any we received.

In the evening we had engaged to attend another soiree, gotten up by the working classes, to give admission to many who were not in circumstances to purchase tickets for the other.  This was to me, if any thing, a more interesting reunion, because this was just the class whom I wished to meet.  The arrangements of the entertainment were like those of the evening before.

As I sat in the front gallery and looked over the audience with an intense interest, I thought they appeared on the whole very much like what I might have seen at home in a similar gathering.  Men, women, and children were dressed in a style which showed both self-respect and good taste, and the speeches were far above mediocrity.  One pale young man, a watchmaker, as I was told afterwards, delivered an address, which, though doubtless it had the promising fault of too much elaboration and ornament, yet I thought had passages which would do honor to any literary periodical whatever.

There were other orators less highly finished, who yet spoke “right on,” in a strong, forcible, and really eloquent way, giving the grain of the wood without the varnish.  They contended very seriously and sensibly, that although the working men of England and Scotland had many things to complain of, and many things to be reformed, yet their condition was world-wide different from that of the slave.