Q8 
regretted that he had not brought his skates 
with him from America. The winter, however, 
which succeeded his arrival in England, proved 
unusually severe; and one morning, when he 
happened to take a walk in St. James's park, 
he was surprised to _see a great concourse of 
the populace assembled on the canal. He 
stopped to look at them, and seeing a person 
who lent skates on hire, he made choice of a 
pair, and went on the ice. A gentleman 
who had observed his movements, came up to 
him as he retired to unbuckle the skates, and 
said, " I perceive, Sir, you are a stranger, and 
do not perhaps know that there are much better 
places than this for the exercise of skating. 
The Serpentine River, in Hyde Park, is far supe- 
rior, and the basin in Kensington Gardens 
still more preferable. Here, only the populace 
assemble; on the Serpentine, the company, 
although better, is also promiscuous; but the 
persons who frequent the basin in the Gardens 
are generally of the rank of gentlemen, and 
you will be less annoyed among them than 
at either of the other two places."