Night arrives, the old mansion brightens and resounds with the bustle of preparation.  Servants are moving about in great confusion.  Everything is in full dress; “yellow fellows,” immersed in trim black coats, nicely-cut pantaloons, white vests and gloves, shirt-collars of extraordinary dimensions, and hair curiously crimped, are standing at their places along the halls, ready for reception.  Another class, equally well dressed, are running to and fro through the corridors in the despatch of business.  Old mammas have a new shine on their faces, their best “go to church” fixings on their backs.  Younger members of the same property species are gaudily attired-some in silk, some in missus’s slightly worn cashmere.  The colour of their faces grades from the purest ebony to the palest olive.  A curious philosophy may be drawn from the mixture:  it contrasts strangely with the flash and dazzle of their fantastic dresses, their large circular ear-rings, their curiously-tied bandanas, the large bow points of which lay crossed on the tufts of their crimpy hair.  The whole scene has an air of bewitching strangeness.  In another part of the mansion we find the small figures of the estate, all agog, toddling and doddling, with faces polished like black-balled shoes; they are as piquant and interesting as their own admiration of the dress master has provided them for the occasion.

The darkness increases as the night advances.  The arbour leading from the great gate to the vaulted hall in the base of the mansion is hung with lanterns of grotesque patterns, emitting light and shade as variegated as the hues of the rainbow.  The trees and shrubbery in the arena, hung with fantastic lanterns, enliven the picture-make it grand and imposing.  It presents a fairy-like perspective, with spectre lights hung here and there, their mellow glows reflecting softly upon the luxuriant foliage.

Entering the vaulted hall, its floor of antique tiles; frescoed walls with well-executed mythological designs, jetting lights flickering and dazzling through its arches, we find ourselves amidst splendour unsurpassed in our land.  At the termination of the great hall a massive flight of spiral steps, of Egyptian marble, ascends to the fourth story, forming a balcony at each, where ottomans are placed, and from which a fine view of the curvature presents itself, from whence those who have ascended may descry those ascending.  On the second story is a corridor, with moulded juttings and fretwork overhead; these are hung with festoons of jasmines and other delicate flowers, extending its whole length, and lighted by globular lamps, the prismatic ornaments of which shed their soft glows on the fixtures beneath.  They invest it with the appearance of a bower decorated with buds and blossoms.  From this, on the right, a spacious arched door, surmounted by a semi-circle of stained glass containing devices of the Muses and other allegorical figures, leads into an immense parlour, having a centre arch hung