For instance, last evening, the 31st, I took Louisa, at half-past seven, to the house of Mr. Hawes, an under Secretary of State, to see a beautiful children’s masque. It was an impersonation of the “Old Year” dressed a little like _Lear_ with snowy hair and draperies. _Old Year_ played his part inimitably, at times with great pathos, and then introducing witty hits at all the doings of his reign, such as exploding cotton, the new planet, a subject which he put at rest as “_far beyond our reach_,” etc., etc. He then introduced one by one the children of all ages as “Days” of the coming year. There was _Twelfth Day_, crowned as Queen with her cake in her hands; there was _Christmas_, covered with holly and mistletoe; there was _April Fool’s Day_, dressed as Harlequin; there was, above all, _Shrove Tuesday_, with her frying-pan of pancakes, dressed as a little cook; there was a charming boy of fourteen or fifteen, as _St. Valentine’s Day_ with his packet of valentines addressed to the young ladies present; there was the _5th of November_, full of wit and fun, etc.; the longest day, an elder brother, of William’s height, with a cap of three or four feet high; and his little sister of five, as the shortest day. This was all arranged to music and each made little speeches, introducing themselves. The _Old Year_, after introducing his successors, and after much pathos, is “going, going—gone,” and falls covered with his drapery, upon removing which, instead of the lifeless body of the _Old Year_, is discovered a sweet little flower-crowned girl of five or six, as the _New Year_. It was charming, and I was so pleased that, instead of taking Louisa away at nine o’clock as I intended, I left her to see “Sir Roger de Coverly,” in the dress of his time. [Picture: Elizabeth Davis Bancroft. From the painting by C. C. Ingham in the possession of William J. A. Bliss]