hall; the pannels painted in imitation of Sienna märble, enclosing feftoons of white marble: The furbase and all below was black. In this hall and in the adjoining apartments, were prepared, tea, lemonade, and other cooling liquors, to which the company feated themselves; during which time the knights came in, and on the knee received their favours from their refpective ladies. One of thefe rooms was af terwards appropriated for the ufe of the Pharoah table; as you entered it you faw, on a pannel over the chimney, a cornu-copia exuberently filled with flowers of the richest colours; over the door as you went out, another prefented itself, shrunk, reverfed, and emptied.

From these apartments we were conducted up to a ball-room, decorated in a light elegant stile of painting. The ground was a pale blue, pannelled with a fmall gold head, and the interior filled with dropping feftoons of flowers in their natural colours. Below the furbafe the ground was of rofe pink, with drapery feftooned in blue. Thefe decorations were heightened by eighty-five mirrors, decked with rofepink filk ribbands, and artificial flowers; and in the intermediate fpaces were 34 branches with wax lights, ornamented in a fimilar manner. On the fame floor were four drawing-rooms, with fide-boards of refreshments, decorated and lighted in the fame ftile and tafte as the ball-room. The ball was opened with the knights and their ladies; and the dances continued till ten o'clock, when the windows were thrown open, and a magnificent bouquet of rockets began the fire works. Thefe were planned by Capt. Mount Trefor, the chief engineer, and confifted of

twenty

twenty different exhibitions displayed under his direction, with the happieft fuccefs, and in the highest ftile of beauty. Towards the conclufion the interior part of the triumphal arch was illuminated amidst an uninterrupted flight of rockets and bursting of baloons. The military trophies on each fide affumed a variety of tranfparent colours. The fhell and the flaming heart on the wings, fent forth Chinefe foun tains fucceeded by fire-pots. Fame appeared on the top spangled with stars, and from her trumpet blowing the following device, Tes Lauriers, font immortels; a fauter of rockets, bursting from the pediment, the feu d' artifice. At twelve fupper was announced, and large folding doors, hitherto artfully concealed, being fuddenly thrown open, difcovered a magnificent faloon of 210 feet by 49, and 22 feet in height, with three alcoves on each fide, which ferved for fideboards. The ceiling was the fegment of a circle, and the fides were painted a light ftraw colour, with vine leaves and festoon flowers, fome in a bright and fome in a darkish green. Fifty-fix large pier glaffes, ornamented with green filk, artificial flowers, and ribbands, and a hundred branches with three lights in each, trimmed in the fame manner as the mirrors; eighteen luftres, each with twenty-four lights, fufpended from the ceiling, and ornamented as the branches; 300 wax tapers difpofed along the fupper tables; 430 covers, 1,200 dishes; 24 black flaves, in oriental dreffes, with filver collars and bracelets, ranged in two lines, and bending to the ground as the general and admiral approached the faloon; alt thefe forming together the most brilliant affemblage of gay objects, and appearing at once as we entered

1

by

by an eafy defcent, exhibited a coup d'oeil, beyond defcription magnificent. Towards the end of fupper the herald of the blended rofe, in his habit of ceremony, attended by his trumpets, entered the faloon, and proclaimed the king's health, the queen and royal family, the army and navy with their respective commanders, the knights and their ladies, and the ladies in general; each of these toafts was followed by a flourish of mufic. After fupper we returned to the ball-room, and continued to dance till four o'clock.

Such is the defcription, though a very faint one, of the most splendid entertainment, I believe, ever given by an army to their general; but what muft be most grateful to Sir William Howe, is the fpirit and motives from whence it was given. He goes from this place to-morrow; but as I understand he means to ftay a day or two, with his brother, on board the the Eagle at Billingfport, I fhall not feal this letter till I fee him depart from Philadelphia.

I am just returned, Sunday the 24th, from conducting our beloved general to the water fide, and have feen him receive a more flattering teftimony of the love and attachment of the army, than all the pomp and fplendor of the mischianza could convey to him. I have feen the moft gallant of of our officers, whom I least fufpected of giving fuch inftances of their affection, shed tears while they bid him farewell. The gallant and affectionate general of the Heffians, Knyphausen, was fo moved that he could not finish a compliment he began to pay him, in his own name and that of his officers who attended him. Sir Henry Clinton attended him to the wharf, where Lord

Howe

Howe received him into his barge, and they are both gone down to Billingfport. On my return I faw nothing but dejected countenances."

This new exhibition of chivalry, which appears to have been founded upon the plan of the renowned Knight of La Mancha, can fcarcely be confidered as worthy either of the expence that was bestowed upon it, or of the characters of the British officers who devised it and put it in execution. The whole of this unfortunate and baneful war, has, fince the beginning of it, through all its ftages, been a very strange mifchianza; a mifcellany of expence, injuftice, and disappointment. Don Quixote, and his renowned efquire, in all their adventures, fcarcely ever engaged in one more abfurd and ridiculous, than the American war; and in fome future period, the inhabitants of the world will be ready to conclude that the story concerning this war has been founded upon these principles of knight errantry, which naturally lead men to very strange and wonderful adventures. In the midst of so dangerous and unfortunate a war, it might have been expected the British officers would have been otherwise employed than in expending their money in empty fliews and regattas, or in daffling with the ladies of the ruined colonies. Whatever regard might be expreffed in this pompous fhew to Sir William Howe, yet it must be accounted a very strange method of expreffing it; and the filent grief of General Knyphaufen expreffed his regard more fully than the whole expence of the mischianza. This mifcellaneous entertainment was a prologue to that adventure which was foon after, made by our army, in paffing through the Jerfies, to Sandy-Hook,

where

where the knights of the blended rofe, and those of the burning mountain, were under the neceffity of performing a real turnament for their own preferva tion, where the honour of their ladies was but indifferently supported. Had they forefeen what was fo foon to happen, it would have, in a great measure, fuppreffed fome of that wanton folly which appeared in the exhibition of the mischianza. It was truly a very foolish refolution to tranfmit this piece of madnefs over the Atlantic, to Great Britain, with fo much approbation.

This feems to have been the only fummer fince the beginning of the American war when the parties had leifure to perform trifles, and relax from the feverities of military difcipline. The Americans, on their fide, but for a different reafon, had alfo a fort of mil chianza in their congrefs. Monfieur Gerard had arrived at Philadelphia fome time in the fummer, as plenipotentiary from the French King, and had an audience of the congrefs. This happened in less than three months after General Howe's mifchianza; fo that Philadelphia, that had been, during the winter, the feat of arms, and the rendezvous of war, was, during the fummer, turned into a city of pleafure, filled with all the gaiety of knight errantry, and the fplendour of a court. As fome account has been given of the fplendid entertainment which was made to Sir William Howe, by the officers of the army, it will be neceffary to fhew the reception which Monfieur Ge rard received from the congrefs at his firft audience, as minifter and plenipotentiary of the French King. This will help to relieve the minds of the readers from the fatigue of an uniform contemplation of de

ftruction