Lieutenant-Governor who is able to express his meaning clearly and decisively, and at the same time not to wound the susceptibilities of his visitor. But unless the desired appointment has already been promised to another man, it seldom happens that the candidate is willing to persuade himself that he has no chance of success, however kindly and courteously the Lieutenant-Governor may have tried to make this clear to him. We will pass on to another phase of the Lieutenant-Governor’s social influences. As the head of society he is bound to give what are called entertainments—which may be sub-divided into balls, at homes, dinner parties, garden-parties, breakfast parties, picnics, &c. The house called Belvedere, which is the Lieutenant-Governor’s official residence at Calcutta, is a large straggling edifice, having been built from somewhat small beginnings until the additions have almost entirely superseded the original structure. It is, unfortunately, wrongly placed to the wind as regards the reception rooms, and although the south verandahs are delightfully cool when there is a southerly breeze, the suite of the drawing-room and dining-room and ball-room runs from north to south, and is badly ventilated, so that the heat becomes excessive whenever the rooms are crowded for a ball or any other large party. Each Lieutenant-Governor has added to and altered the building, so that its capacity has increased in greater proportion than its architectural beauty; and yet it still remains for another Lieutenant-Governor to devise an entrance-hall worthy of the rest of the building. But on the occasion of the state balls which the Lieutenant-Governor gives on several suitable dates, there is certainly a very brilliant _coup d’œil_ as one looks through the long vista of the rooms thrown open for dancing; and he must be indeed a cynic who cannot enjoy the cool breeze in the south verandah, or the comfortable arrangements on the grand and semi-lighted stone staircase which leads down to the lawn, and to the large pavilions in which supper is sometimes provided, when the time of the year permits. If you are young, and if you have a heart still at liberty, you cannot do better than try and lose it amidst the scented shrubs and plants which surround the cool recesses and sheltered seats so considerately provided for blushing maidens and whispering lovers.