General Lowndes, in starting for Philadelphia, was recommended by his friend Pinckney, to put up at Mistress Hall's; General P. giving General Lowndes a letter of introduction to that lady. Travelling was a slow and tedious, as well as fatiguing and dirty operation, at that day, so that after a journey from Charleston to Philadelphia, even a man with some pretensions to dress and respectable _contour_, would be apt to look a little "mussy;" but for the poor General's part, he looked hard enough, in all conscience, and had he known the _effect_ such an appearance was likely to produce upon Mistress Hall, he would not have had the temerity of invading her premises. But the General's views were far above "buttons," leather, and prunella. Such a thing as paying deferential courtesies to a man's garments, was something not dreamed of in his philosophy. "Mrs. Hall's, I believe?" said the General, to a servant answering the ponderous, lion-headed knocker. "Yes, sah," responded the sable waiter. "Walk dis way, sah, into de parlor, sah." The General stalked in, leisurely; around the fire-place were seated a dozen of the boarders, the aforesaid "big bugs" of the olden time. Not one moved to offer the stranger a seat by the fire, although his warm Southern blood was pretty well congealed by the frosty air of the evening. The General pulled off his gloves, laid down his great heavy and dusty valice, and quietly took a remote seat to await the presence of the landlady. She came, lofty and imposing; coming into the parlor, with her astute cap upon her majestic head, her gold spectacles upon her nose, as stately as a stage queen! "Good evening," said the gallant General, rising and making a very polite bow. "Mrs. Hall, I presume?" "Yes, sir," she responded, stiffly, and eyeing Lowndes with considerable diffidence. "Any business with me, sir?" "Yes, madam," responded the General, "I--a--purpose remaining in the city some time, and--a--I shall be pleased to put up with you." "That's impossible, sir," was the ready and decisive reply. "My house is full; I cannot accommodate you." "Well, really, that _will_ be a disappointment, indeed," said the General, "for I'm quite a stranger in the city, and may find it difficult to procure permanent lodgings." "I presume not, sir," said she; "there are _taverns_ enough, where strangers are entertained." The gentlemen around the fire, never offered to tender the stranger any information upon the subject, but several eyed him very hard, and doubtless felt pleased to see the discomfitted and ill-accoutred traveller seize his baggage, adjust his dusty coat, and start out, which _he_ was evidently very loth to do.