Here our heroine candidly expressed her
disappointment, the town seeming mean and insignificant. The Battery, of
which she remembered a little, and had heard so much, although beautifully
placed, disappointed her, for it had neither the extent and magnificence
of a park, nor the embellishments and luxurious shades of a garden. As she
had been told that her countrymen were almost ignorant of the art of
landscape gardening, she was not so much disappointed with this spot,
however, as with the air of the town, and the extreme filth and poverty of
the quays. Unwilling to encourage John Effingham in his diposition to
censure, she concealed her opinions for a time.
"There is less improvement here than even I expected," said Mr. Effingham,
as they got into a coach on the wharf. They had taught me, John, to expect
great improvements. "And great, very great improvements have been made in
your absence. If you could see this place as you knew it in youth, the
alterations would seem marvellous."
"I cannot admit this. With Eve, I think the place mean in appearance,
rather than imposing, and so decidedly provincial as not to possess a
single feature of a capital."
"The two things are not irreconcilable, Ned, if you will take the trouble
to tax your memory. The place _is_ mean and provincial; but thirty years
since it was still meaner and more provincial than it is to-day.
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