_28th_.--I spent the day with Miss Hayne, and accompanied her in the evening to compliment Dona Ana, the wife of Senhor Luis Jose de Carvalho e Mello, on her birth-day. The family were at their country-house at Botafogo; and a most excellent house it is, very handsomely built and richly furnished. The walls are decorated with French papers in compartments, with gold mouldings, and every thing corresponds. But the best decoration, was this night, the presence of a number of the handsomest women I have seen in Brazil, most of them sisters, or cousins, or nieces of the lady of the house, whose mother, the Baronesa de Campos, may boast of one of the finest families in the world. The daughter of the house, Dona Carlota, is distinguished here by talent and cultivation beyond her fellows. She speaks and writes French well, and has made no small progress in English. She knows the literature of her own country, draws correctly, sings with taste, and dances gracefully. Several of her cousins and aunts speak French fluently; so that I had the pleasure of conversing freely with them, and received a good deal of information on subjects that only women attend to. Soon after all the company was assembled, the ladies sitting all together in a formal circle, the gentlemen walking about generally in other rooms, the ceremony of tea-drinking commenced, and was conducted pretty much as in England; the servants handing round tea, coffee, and cakes, on broad silver salvers. But we all sat and took our refreshments at leisure, instead of standing with cups in our hands, and elbowing our way through crowds of persons, who all look as if they were bound on some particular business, and could scarcely afford time to recognise their passing acquaintance. We then adjourned to the music-room, where the music-master[103] attended to accompany the ladies, many of whom sang extremely well; but when it came to Dona Rosa's turn, I was ready to exclaim with Comus-- "Can any mortal mixture of earth's mould Breathe such divine enchanting ravishment?" [Note 103: This man is brother to the instructor of Catalani.]