Having thus introduced a gallant soldier, I cannot refuse myself the pleasure of presenting also an American Sailor to my English friends. Lieutenant Matthew Fontaine Maury is one of my husband's family; a Virginian, proud of his birthplace and his State; of generous, high bred nature, and of democratic politics. He is a man of science, equally well versed in the secrets of the sea and of the sky; an accomplished mariner, an admirable astronomer and mathematician, and a superior author on many subjects; he writes excellent English. In spite of a certain utilitarian antipathy to a very profound study of the dead languages, a heresy which has most unaccountably become possessed of the Lieutenant in these latter years, he has a very classic taste both in reading and composition; owing, doubtless, though he would fain deny it, to his former intimate acquaintance with those worthy Greek and Latin Masters, whom he now despises for no other reason than that they did not speak English, and were dead and buried some hundreds of years before the Anglo Saxon race began. He is a great favourite with his brother officers, both for his ability and his kindly nature; they are proud of the one, and love the other; and he is held in great estimation at Washington for his admirable regulations at the Observatory, his eminent professional knowledge and industry, his good judgment in political affairs, and his exceeding moral worth.