Page:The Hessians and the other German auxiliaries of Great Britain in the revolutionary war.djvu/148

 130 it was on account of the hats, which children in England wore of another shape. I saw from this how necessary it was to conform to the fashion of the country in order to be comfortable there, for the mob collects at once, and if you let yourself be drawn into bandying words with it, you are insulted.”

A few days later the baroness went to Bristol. She writes: “The day after I arrived my hostess called me to see a pretty sight (as she expressed it). When I stepped to the window I saw two naked men who were boxing with great fury. I saw their blood flow, and the rage in their eyes. Unaccustomed to so ugly a spectacle, I drew back as quickly as possible to the most retired corner of the house, so as not to hear the cries of joy which the spectators gave when one of the men received a blow. I had an unpleasant adventure during my stay in Bristol. I wore a chintz dress trimmed with green taffetas. This must have appeared too foreign to the Bristol people, for when I went out one day to walk with Mrs. Foy, more than a hundred sailors, gathered together, pointed their fingers at me and called out ‘French ————!’ I flew as quickly as I could into the house of a shopkeeper and made a pretext of buying something there; meanwhile the crowd dispersed. But this disgusted me with my dress, and when I got home again I gave it to my cook, although it was quite new.”

Frau von Riedesel spent ten months in England. Her husband had told her not to travel without the company of a lady, and had recommended Mrs. Foy, above mentioned, who was also to join her husband in Canada. This lady kept the baroness waiting all