* "Dear Doctor,--I have asked Mrs. Cochran and Mrs. Livingston to dine with me to-morrow; but am I not in honor bound to apprise them of their fare? As I hate deception, even where the imagination only is concerned, I will. It is needless to premise that my table is large enough to hold the ladies. Of this they had ocular proof yesterday. To say how it is usually covered is rather more essential; and this shall be the purport of my letter. "Since our arrival at this happy spot, we have had a ham, sometimes a shoulder of bacon, to grace the head of the table; a piece of roast beef adorns the foot; and a dish of beans, or greens, almost imperceptible, decorates the center. When the cook has a mind to cut a figure, which I presume will be the case to-morrow, we have two beef-steak pies, or dishes of crabs, in addition, one on each side of the center dish, dividing the space and reducing the distance between dish and dish to about six feet, which without them would be nearly twelve feet apart. Of late he has had the surprising sagacity to discover that apples will make pies; and it is a question if, in the violence of his efforts, we do not get one of apples, instead of having both of beef-steaks. If the ladies can put up with such entertainment, and will submit to partake of it on plates, once tin but now iron (not become so by the labor of scouring), I shall be happy to see them; and am, dear doctor, yours," &c. * Montfaucon, in his Antiquity Explained, gives an account of the splendid processions of the conquerors of Persia, and the gold and silver vessels used in the tents of the generals. After mentioning the vast number of gold and silver vessels, chairs, tables, couches, &c., in the magnificent tent of Ptolemy Philadelphus, he thus describes the triumphal procession of Antiochus Epiphanes: "First came twenty thousand Macedonians, the greatest Part of which had brass Shields, and others silver Shields. Then three thousand Horsemen of Antioch, most of whom had gold Collars and gold Crowns. Two thousand Horsemen more, all with gold Collars. Eight hundred young Men, each wearing a gold Crown. A thousand young Men, each carrying a silver Vase, the least of which weighed a thousand Drachms. Six hundred young Men more, each carrying a Vase of Gold; and two hundred Women, each with a Gold Vase to scatter Perfumes. Eighty Women carried on Chairs, the feet of which were Gold; and five hundred other Women, carried on Chairs with silver feet. This pompous Procession would appear very magnificent, were it not put after the former [Ptolemy Philadelphus], which surpasses every thing that can be imagined."--Supplement, tome iii., book v., p. 323. I refer to this parade as an example of the contrast alluded to.