She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid, […]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.
One great advantage Captain [Lauchlan Bellingham] Mackinnon possessed among the New Yorkians was his determination to be pleased—astonished—captivated—awe-struck if necessary at the beauty of the women, strength of the men, intuitive genius, repidity of acquirement of all sorts of knowledge, science and—not art—but the talent of making money—and his readiness to acknowledge every where, the most wonderful superiority of our cousin Jonathan Yankee over us dull heavy people at home.
[I]f they mende and repente better, will in ſtede of purgatorye which they nowe mocke & ieſte at, wepe and repent in hell this fooliſh fruitleſſe faſhion of their impenitent repentance.
I wrung the promise of that bill from His Majesty whilst he was still a throneless wanderer.
