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His cotemporary, Bob Cooley, had also served the nobility at Williamsburg, and when that city lost it pre-eminence, Bob was fain to follow a republican governor to Richmond, where for many years he was intrusted with the keys of the capitol, and flourished his besom over its floor and furniture. His court-dress was a time-honored suit of black velvet, ample in skirts and flaps.

If Sy. was the Chesterfield, Bob might be called the Burleigh of his day. Sy. acquired his courtly and elegant demeanor by frequenting balls and parties, and Bob his solemn deportment by attending in council chambers and courts of justice. By dusting the judge's cushion he seemed to have acquired the solemn aspect of the dignitary who sat on it. Bob did not, however, attach a handle to his name, to indicate the dignity of office-but one was assumed by his successor, who appended the initials K. K. C., indicating keeper of the keys of the capitol.

Nick Scott, another member of the colored aristocracy, kept his coach for many years, without pride or insolence or imposition, and he took his seat on the box, thus setting an example of humility to his children.

Before the female province of pastry was usurped by the countrymen of Napoleon, there flourished in Richmond a lady of the dark aristocracy, Mrs. Nancy Byrd, a name that carries its own passport

to distinction. No dinner nor supper party could be complete unless Nancy had a finger in the pie. She held undisputed sway over the dessert, with the rolling-pin for her sceptre, and considered herself as pertaining to the under-crust of gentility.

While I write these closing pages in the winter of 1855-56,* the severest, in the long duration of extreme cold, that I can remember; the river closed for eight weeks in almost its entire length, and the earth covered with a coating of snow of nearly equal duration; the black servants and slaves are provided with food, fuel and clothing, while our poor-houses and other receptacles for the destitute or dissipated whites, are crowded to overflowing, chiefly with foreign paupers; contributions are raised in every mode that can be devised for the relief of destitute whites, for many of whom we are indebted to our philanthropic brethren of the North, who seek to entice our slaves to the same destitute condition there-perhaps, on the principle of reciprocity. Whether similar charity would be extended to them there, if destitute, as to the whites here, is a doubtful question.

A fair friend furnishes this anecdote of what came under her own observation :

An old negro, who was considered so entirely "one of the family," as to be in the habit of

* Thus in the first edition, which may be repeated in the second, as applicable to the winter of 1856-7.

calling one of his young mistresses cousin, when addressing her, was asked by the lady, "Why he did not, as formerly, attend the meeting-house of his brethren on Sunday?" His reply was, "that when he could sit by Mr. Wickham's Bob and Judge Marshall's Jack, he liked to join siety, but now he never knew who he sot by, and he stayed at home."

This same individual, during this degenerate time, being invited to a party, was induced to attend, and furnished with a pass till eleven o'clock that night. Arriving at the house where the festival was held, he was exceedingly disgusted by finding himself surrounded altogether by parvenus, and being under the impression that he must not return home till the hour designated in his pass, he retired to an adjacent room, locked the door, remained there till the hour of eleven arrived, and then returned to his domicil, mourning over the great lights which had been extinguished ere his own had gone out.

Like their betters, the negroes of the present day have their mock-gentility, and like them, they sustain it chiefly in dress and pretension. In the streets on Sundays, plainness of attire is now-adays rather an indication of gentility. Dashing satin bonnets now cover woolly false curls, a handsome veil conceals a sooty face, which is protected from being sun-burnt by a stylish parasol. A silk

dress of gaudy colors sweeps the ground, concealing a splay foot with receding heel. The beau who struts beside this chamber-maid, is attired in a talma or shawl, pants whose checks or stripes exceed the circumference of his leg, and a vest in which every color vies for brilliancy. He twirls his watch-chain and his cane, and might almost put a Broadway dandy to the blush. These gentry leave their visiting cards at each other's kitchens, and on occasion of a wedding, Miss Dinah Drippings and Mr. Cuffie Coleman have their cards connected by a silken tie, emblematic of that which is to connect themselves, and a third card announces, "At home from ten to one," where those who call will find cake, fruits, and other refreshments. And this is not an exaggerated picture of the hardships and miseries which the domestic blacks suffer, and from which their abolition enemies seek to relieve them.

VALEDICTORY.

And now kind readers, that have travelled with me to the end of this journey, I again bid you FAREWELL. We shall not meet again, and a year ago I little anticipated this meeting. If you did not skip occasionally along the path, you must have plodded over some very dry and barren places, where perhaps you took a nap, but on the whole, I hope you have found your journey a pleasant one, as I have found mine, tho' toilsome.

One parting word to the subject of these pages-the lovely city of Richmond! In infancy beautiful by nature, and the abode of talent and refinement, of elegance without ostentation, of hospitality without extravagance. Some alloy to these precious qualities may have been introduced in later years; but the beautiful has been retained and enhanced in the progress to maturity. On this bright May morning, when the trees that shade and the flowers that embellish every homestead display their richest hues; when the vista which terminates almost every street gives a glimpse of the country, its forest and its farms; when the river glistens through the foliage of wooded islands, and as it rushes amid the islets and rocks, makes

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