Domestic Manners of the AmericansbyFanny Trollope

Frances Milton Trollope (known as Fanny Trollope)1780--1863(Mother of the author Anthony Trollope)

First published in 1832

CHAPTER 1

Entrance of the Mississippi--Balize

On the 4th of November, 1827, I sailed from London, accompaniedby my son and two daughters; and after a favourable, thoughsomewhat tedious voyage, arrived on Christmas-day at the mouth ofthe Mississippi. 

The first indication of our approach to land was the appearanceof this mighty river pouring forth its muddy mass of waters, andmingling with the deep blue of the Mexican Gulf. The shores ofthis river are so utterly flat, that no object upon them isperceptible at sea, and we gazed with pleasure on the muddy oceanthat met us, for it told us we were arrived, and seven weeks ofsailing had wearied us; yet it was not without a feeling likeregret that we passed from the bright blue waves, whose varyingaspect had so long furnished our chief amusement, into the murkystream which now received us. 

Large flights of pelicans were seen standing upon the long massesof mud which rose above the surface of the waters, and a pilotcame to guide us over the bar, long before any other indicationof land was visible. 

I never beheld a scene so utterly desolate as this entrance ofthe Mississippi. Had Dante seen it, he might have drawn imagesof another Bolgia from its horrors. One only object rears itselfabove the eddying waters; this is the mast of a vessel long sincewrecked in attempting to cross the bar, and it still stands, adismal witness of the destruction that has been, and a bodingprophet of that which is to come. 

By degrees bulrushes of enormous growth become visible, and a fewmore miles of mud brought us within sight of a cluster of hutscalled the Balize, by far the most miserable station that I eversaw made the dwelling of man, but I was told that many familiesof pilots and fishermen lived there. 

For several miles above its mouth, the Mississippi presents noobjects more interesting than mud banks, monstrous bulrushes, andnow and then a huge crocodile luxuriating in the slime. Anothercircumstance that gives to this dreary scene an aspect ofdesolation, is the incessant appearance of vast quantities ofdrift wood, which is ever finding its way to the different mouthsof the Mississippi. Trees of enormous length, sometimes stillbearing their branches, and still oftener their uptorn rootsentire, the victims of the frequent hurricane, come floating downthe stream. Sometimes several of these, entangled together, collect among their boughs a quantity of floating rubbish, thatgives the mass the appearance of a moving island, bearing aforest, with its roots mocking the heavens; while the dishonouredbranches lash the tide in idle vengeance: this, as it approachesthe vessel, and glides swiftly past, looks like the fragment of aworld in ruins. 

As we advanced, however, we were cheered, notwithstanding theseason, by the bright tints of southern vegetation. The bankscontinue invariably flat, but a succession of planless villas, sometimes merely a residence, and sometimes surrounded by theirsugar grounds and negro huts, varied the scene. At no one pointwas there an inch of what painters call a second distance; andfor the length of one hundred and twenty miles, from the Balizeto New Orleans, and one hundred miles above the town, the land isdefended from the encroachments of the river by a high embankmentwhich is called the Levee; without which the dwellings wouldspeedily disappear, as the river is evidently higher than thebanks would be without it. When we arrived, there had beenconstant rains, and of long continuance, and this appearance was, therefore, unusually striking, giving to "this great naturalfeature" the most unnatural appearance imaginable; and makingevident, not only that man had been busy there, but that even themightiest works of nature might be made to bear his impress; itrecalled, literally, Swift's mock heroic, "Nature must give way to art;"

yet, she was looking so mighty, and so unsubdued all the time, that I could not help fancying she would some day take the matterinto her own hands again, and if so, farewell to New Orleans. 

It is easy to imagine the total want of beauty in such alandscape; but yet the form and hue of the trees and plants, sonew to us, added to the long privation we had endured of allsights and sounds of land, made even these swampy shores seembeautiful. We were, however, impatient to touch as well as seethe land; but the navigation from the Balize to New Orleans isdifficult and tedious, and the two days that it occupied appearedlonger than any we had passed on board. 

In truth, to those who have pleasure in contemplating thephenomena of nature, a sea voyage may endure many weeks withoutwearying. Perhaps some may think that the first glance of oceanand of sky shew all they have to offer; nay, even that that firstglance may suggest more of dreariness than sublimity; but to me, their variety appeared endless, and their beauty unfailing. Theattempt to describe scenery, even where the objects are prominentand tangible, is very rarely successful; but where the effect isso subtile and so varying, it must be vain. The impression, nevertheless, is perhaps deeper than any other; I think itpossible I may forget the sensations with which I watched thelong course of the gigantic Mississippi; the Ohio and the Potomacmay mingle and be confounded with other streams in my memory, Imay even recall with difficulty the blue outline of the Alleghanymountains, but never, while I remember any thing, can I forgetthe first and last hour of light on the Atlantic. 

The ocean, however, and all its indescribable charm, no longersurrounded us; we began to feel that our walk on the quarter-deckwas very like the exercise of an ass in a mill; that our bookshad lost half their pages, and that the other half were known byrote; that our beef was very salt, and our biscuits very hard; inshort, that having studied the good ship, Edward, from stem tostern till we knew the name of every sail, and the use of everypulley, we had had enough of her, and as we laid down, head tohead, in our tiny beds for the last time, I exclaimed with nosmall pleasure, "Tomorrow to fresh fields and pastures new. "

CHAPTER 2

New Orleans--Society--Creoles and Quadroons Voyage up the Mississippi

On first touching the soil of a new land, of a new continent, ofa new world, it is impossible not to feel considerable excitementand deep interest in almost every object that meets us. NewOrleans presents very little that can gratify the eye of taste, but nevertheless there is much of novelty and interest for anewly arrived European. The large proportion of blacks seen inthe streets, all labour being performed by them; the grace andbeauty of the elegant Quadroons, the occasional groups of wildand savage looking Indians, the unwonted aspect of thevegetation, the huge and turbid river, with its low and slimyshore, all help to afford that species of amusement whichproceeds from looking at what we never saw before. 

The town has much the appearance of a French Ville de Province, and is, in fact, an old French colony taken from Spain by France. The names of the streets are French, and the language aboutequally French and English. The market is handsome and wellsupplied, all produce being conveyed by the river. We were muchpleased by the chant with which the Negro boatmen regulate andbeguile their labour on the river; it consists but of very fewnotes, but they are sweetly harmonious, and the Negro voice isalmost always rich and powerful. 

By far the most agreeable hours I passed at New Orleans werethose in which I explored with my children the forest nearthe town. It was our first walk in "the eternal forests ofthe western world, " and we felt rather sublime and poetical. The trees, generally speaking, are much too close to be eitherlarge or well grown; and, moreover, their growth is oftenstunted by a parasitical plant, for which I could learn noother name than "Spanish moss;" it hangs gracefully from theboughs, converting the outline of all the trees it hangs uponinto that of weeping willows. The chief beauty of the forestin this region is from the luxuriant undergrowth of palmetos, which is decidedly the loveliest coloured and most gracefulplant I know. The pawpaw, too, is a splendid shrub, and ingreat abundance. We here, for the first time, saw the wildvine, which we afterwards found growing so profusely in everypart of America, as naturally to suggest the idea that thenatives ought to add wine to the numerous production of theirplenty-teeming soil. The strong pendant festoons made safe andcommodious swings, which some of our party enjoyed, despite thesublime temperament above-mentioned. 

Notwithstanding it was mid-winter when we were at New Orleans, the heat was much more than agreeable, and the attacks of themosquitos incessant, and most tormenting; yet I suspect that, fora short time, we would rather have endured it, than not have seenoranges, green peas, and red pepper, growing in the open air atChristmas. In one of our rambles we ventured to enter a garden, whose bright orange hedge attracted our attention; here we sawgreen peas fit for the table, and a fine crop of red pepperripening in the sun. A young Negress was employed on the stepsof the house; that she was a slave made her an object of interestto us. She was the first slave we had ever spoken to, and Ibelieve we all felt that we could hardly address her withsufficient gentleness. She little dreamed, poor girl, what deepsympathy she excited; she answered us civilly and gaily, andseemed amused at our fancying there was something unusual in redpepper pods; she gave us several of them, and I felt fearful lesta hard mistress might blame her for it. How very childish doesignorance make us! and how very ignorant we are upon almost everysubject, where hearsay evidence is all we can get!

I left England with feelings so strongly opposed to slavery, thatit was not without pain I witnessed its effects around me. Atthe sight of every Negro man, woman, and child that passed, myfancy wove some little romance of misery, as belonging to each ofthem; since I have known more on the subject, and become betteracquainted with their real situation in America, I have oftensmiled at recalling what I then felt. 

The first symptom of American equality that I perceived, wasmy being introduced in form to a milliner; it was not at aboarding-house, under the indistinct outline of "Miss C--, " norin the street through the veil of a fashionable toilette, but inthe very penetralia of her temple, standing behind her counter, giving laws to ribbon and to wire, and ushering caps and bonnetsinto existence. She was an English woman, and I was told thatshe possessed great intellectual endowments, and muchinformation; I really believe this was true. Her manner was easyand graceful, with a good deal of French tournure; and thegentleness with which her fine eyes and sweet voice directed themovements of a young female slave, was really touching: the way, too, in which she blended her French talk of modes with hercustomers, and her English talk of metaphysics with her friends, had a pretty air of indifference in it, that gave her asuperiority with both. 

I found with her the daughter of a judge, eminent, it was said, both for legal and literary ability, and I heard from manyquarters, after I had left New Orleans, that the society of thislady was highly valued by all persons of talent. Yet were I, traveller-like, to stop here, and set it down as a nationalpeculiarity, or republican custom, that milliners took the leadin the best society, I should greatly falsify facts. I do notremember the same thing happening to me again, and this is oneinstance among a thousand, of the impression every circumstancemakes on entering a new country, and of the propensity, soirresistible, to class all things, however accidental, asnational and peculiar. On the other hand, however, it is certainthat if similar anomalies are unfrequent in America, they arenearly impossible elsewhere. 

In the shop of Miss C-- I was introduced to Mr. M'Clure, avenerable personage, of gentlemanlike appearance, who in thecourse of five minutes propounded as many axioms, as "Ignoranceis the only devil;" "Man makes his own existence;" and the like. He was of the New Harmony school, or rather the New Harmonyschool was of him. He was a man of good fortune, (a Scotchman, Ibelieve), who after living a tolerably gay life, had "conceivedhigh thoughts, such as Lycurgus loved, who bade flog the littleSpartans, " and determined to benefit the species, and immortalizehimself, by founding a philosophical school at New Harmony. There was something in the hollow square legislations of Mr. Owen, that struck him as admirable, and he seems, as far as I canunderstand, to have intended aiding his views, by a sort ofincipient hollow square drilling; teaching the young ideas of allhe could catch, to shoot into parallelogramic form and order. This venerable philosopher, like all of his school that I everheard of, loved better to originate lofty imaginings of faultlesssystems, than to watch their application to practice. With muchliberality he purchased and conveyed to the wilderness a verynoble collection of books and scientific instruments; but notfinding among men one whose views were liberal and enlarged ashis own, he selected a woman to put into action the machine hehad organized. As his acquaintance with this lady had been oflong standing, and, as it was said, very intimate, he felt surethat no violation of his rules would have place under her sway;they would act together as one being: he was to perform thefunctions of the soul, and will everything; she, those of thebody, and perform everything. 

The principal feature of the scheme was, that (the first liberaloutfit of the institution having been furnished by Mr. M'Clure, )the expense of keeping it up should be defrayed by the profitsarising from the labours of the pupils, male and female, whichwas to be performed at stated intervals of each day, in regularrotation with learned study and scientific research. Butunfortunately the soul of the system found the climate of Indianauncongenial to its peculiar formation, and, therefore, took itsflight to Mexico, leaving the body to perform the operations ofboth, in whatever manner it liked best; and the body, being aFrench body, found no difficulty in setting actively to workwithout troubling the soul about it; and soon becoming consciousthat the more simple was a machine, the more perfect were itsoperations, she threw out all that related to the intellectualpart of the business, (which to do poor soul justice, it had laidgreat stress upon), and stirred herself as effectually as everbody did, to draw wealth from the thews and sinews of the youthsthey had collected. When last I heard of this philosophicalestablishment, she, and a nephew-son were said to be reaping agolden harvest, as many of the lads had been sent from a distanceby indigent parents, for gratuitous education, and possessed nomeans of leaving it. 

Our stay in New Orleans was not long enough to permit ourentering into society, but I was told that it contained twodistinct sets of people, both celebrated, in their way, for theirsocial meetings and elegant entertainments. The first of theseis composed of Creole families, who are chiefly planters andmerchants, with their wives and daughters; these meet together, eat together, and are very grand and aristocratic; each of theirballs is a little Almack's, and every portly dame of the set isas exclusive in her principles as the excluded but amiableQuandroons, and such of the gentlemen of the former class as canby any means escape from the high places, where pure Creole bloodswells the veins at the bare mention of any being tainted in theremotest degree with the Negro stain. 

Of all the prejudices I have ever witnessed, this appears to methe most violent, and the most inveterate. Quadroon girls, theacknowledged daughters of wealthy American or Creole fathers, educated with all of style and accomplishments which money canprocure at New Orleans, and with all the decorum that care andaffection can give; exquisitely beautiful, graceful, gentle, andamiable, these are not admitted, nay, are not on any termsadmissable, into the society of the Creole families of Louisiana. They cannot marry; that is to say, no ceremony can render anunion with them legal or binding; yet such is the powerful effectof their very peculiar grace, beauty, and sweetness of manner, that unfortunately they perpetually become the objects of choiceand affection. If the Creole ladies have privilege to exercisethe awful power of repulsion, the gentle Quadroon has the sweetbut dangerous vengeance of possessing that of attraction. Theunions formed with this unfortunate race are said to be oftenlasting and happy, as far as any unions can be so, to which acertain degree of disgrace is attached. 

There is a French and an English theatre in the town; but we weretoo fresh from Europe to care much for either; or, indeed, forany other of the town delights of this city, and we soon becameeager to commence our voyage up the Mississippi. 

Miss Wright, then less known (though the author of more than oneclever volume) than she has since become, was the companion ofour voyage from Europe; and it was my purpose to have passed somemonths with her and her sister at the estate she had purchased inTennessee. This lady, since become so celebrated as the advocateof opinions that make millions shudder, and some half-scoreadmire, was, at the time of my leaving England with her, dedicated to a pursuit widely different from her subsequentoccupations. Instead of becoming a public orator in every townthroughout America, she was about, as she said, to secludeherself for life in the deepest forests of the western world, that her fortune, her time, and her talents might be exclusivelydevoted to aid the cause of the suffering Africans. Her firstobject was to shew that nature had made no difference betweenblacks and whites, excepting in complexion; and this she expectedto prove by giving an education perfectly equal to a class ofblack and white children. Could this fact be once fullyestablished, she conceived that the Negro cause would stand onfirmer ground than it had yet done, and the degraded rank whichthey have ever held amongst civilized nations would be proved tobe a gross injustice. 

This question of the mental equality, or inequality between us, and the Negro race, is one of great interest, and has certainlynever yet been fairly tried; and I expected for my children andmyself both pleasure and information from visiting herestablishment, and watching the success of her experiment. 

The innumerable steam boats, which are the stage coaches and flywaggons of this land of lakes and rivers, are totally unlike anyI had seen in Europe, and greatly superior to them. The fabricswhich I think they most resemble in appearance, are the floatingbaths (les bains Vigier) at Paris. The annexed drawing will givea correct idea of their form. The room to which the double lineof windows belongs, is a very handsome apartment; before eachwindow a neat little cot is arranged in such a manner as to giveits drapery the air of a window curtain. This room is called thegentlemen's cabin, and their exclusive right to it is somewhatuncourteously insisted upon. The breakfast, dinner, and supperare laid in this apartment, and the lady passengers are permittedto take their meals there. 

On the first of January, 1828, we embarked on board theBelvidere, a large and handsome boat; though not the largest orhandsomest of the many which displayed themselves along thewharfs; but she was going to stop at Memphis, the point of theriver nearest to Miss Wright's residence, and she was the firstthat departed after we had got through the customhouse, andfinished our sight-seeing. We found the room destined for theuse of the ladies dismal enough, as its only windows were belowthe stem gallery; but both this and the gentlemen's cabin werehandsomely fitted up, and the former well carpeted; but oh! thatcarpet! I will not, I may not describe its condition; indeed itrequires the pen of a Swift to do it justice. Let no one whowishes to receive agreeable impressions of American manners, commence their travels in a Mississippi steam boat; for myself, it is with all sincerity I declare, that I would infinitelyprefer sharing the apartment of a party of well conditioned pigsto the being confined to its cabin. 

I hardly know any annoyance so deeply repugnant to Englishfeelings, as the incessant, remorseless spitting of Americans. I feel that I owe my readers an apology for the repeated use ofthis, and several other odious words; but I cannot avoid them, without suffering the fidelity of description to escape me. Itis possible that in this phrase, "Americans, " I may be toogeneral. The United States form a continent of almost distinctnations, and I must now, and always, be understood to speak onlyof that portion of them which I have seen. In conversing withAmericans I have constantly found that if I alluded to anythingwhich they thought I considered as uncouth, they would assure meit was local, and not national; the accidental peculiarity of avery small part, and by no means a specimen of the whole. "Thatis because you know so little of America, " is a phrase I havelistened to a thousand times, and in nearly as many differentplaces. _It may be so_--and having made this concession, Iprotest against the charge of injustice in relating what I haveseen. 

CHAPTER 3

Company on board the Steam Boat--Scenery of the Mississippi--Crocodiles--Arrival at Memphis--Nashoba

The weather was warm and bright, and we found the guard of theboat, as they call the gallery that runs round the cabins, a veryagreeable station; here we all sat as long as light lasted, andsometimes wrapped in our shawls, we enjoyed the clear brightbeauty of American moonlight long after every passenger butourselves had retired. We had a full complement of passengers onboard. The deck, as is usual, was occupied by the Kentuckyflat-boat men, returning from New Orleans, after having disposedof the boat and cargo which they had conveyed thither, with noother labour than that of steering her, the current bringing herdown at the rate of four miles an hour. We had about two hundredof these men on board, but the part of the vessel occupied bythem is so distinct from the cabins, that we never saw them, except when we stopped to take in wood; and then they ran, orrather sprung and vaulted over each other's heads to the shore, whence they all assisted in carrying wood to supply the steamengine; the performance of this duty being a stipulated part ofthe payment of their passage. 

From the account given by a man servant we had on board, whoshared their quarters, they are a most disorderly set of persons, constantly gambling and wrangling, very seldom sober, and neversuffering a night to pass without giving practical proof of therespect in which they hold the doctrines of equality, andcommunity of property. The clerk of the vessel was kind enoughto take our man under his protection, and assigned him a berth inhis own little nook; but as this was not inaccessible, he toldhim by no means to detach his watch or money from his personduring the night. Whatever their moral characteristics may be, these Kentuckians are a very noble-looking race of men; theiraverage height considerably exceeds that of Europeans, and theircountenances, excepting when disfigured by red hair, which is notunfrequent, extremely handsome. 

The gentlemen in the cabin (we had no ladies) would certainlyneither, from their language, manners, nor appearance, havereceived that designation in Europe; but we soon found theirclaim to it rested on more substantial ground, for we heard themnearly all addressed by the titles of general, colonel, andmajor. On mentioning these military dignities to an Englishfriend some time afterwards, he told me that he too had made thevoyage with the same description of company, but remarking thatthere was not a single captain among them; he made theobservation to a fellow-passenger, and asked how he accounted forit. "Oh, sir, the captains are all on deck, " was the reply. 

Our honours, however, were not all military, for we had ajudge among us. I know it is equally easy and invidious toridicule the peculiarities of appearance and manner in people ofa different nation from ourselves; we may, too, at the samemoment, be undergoing the same ordeal in their estimation; and, moreover, I am by no means disposed to consider whatever is newto me as therefore objectionable; but, nevertheless, it wasimpossible not to feel repugnance to many of the novelties thatnow surrounded me. 

The total want of all the usual courtesies of the table, thevoracious rapidity with which the viands were seized anddevoured, the strange uncouth phrases and pronunciation; theloathsome spitting, from the contamination of which it wasabsolutely impossible to protect our dresses; the frightfulmanner of feeding with their knives, till the whole blade seemedto enter into the mouth; and the still more frightful manner ofcleaning the teeth afterwards with a pocket knife, soon forced usto feel that we were not surrounded by the generals, colonels, and majors of the old world; and that the dinner hour was to beany thing rather than an hour of enjoyment. 

The little conversation that went forward while we remained inthe room, was entirely political, and the respective claims ofAdams and Jackson to the presidency were argued with more oathsand more vehemence than it had ever been my lot to hear. Once acolonel appeared on the verge of assaulting a major, when a hugeseven-foot Kentuckian gentleman horse-dealer, asked of theheavens to confound them both, and bade them sit still and bed--d. We too thought we should share this sentence; at leastsitting still in the cabin seemed very nearly to include the restof it, and we never tarried there a moment longer than wasabsolutely necessary to eat. 

The unbroken flatness of the banks of the Mississippi continuedunvaried for many miles above New Orleans; but the graceful andluxuriant palmetto, the dark and noble ilex, and the brightorange, were every where to be seen, and it was many days beforewe were weary of looking at them. We occasionally used theopportunity of the boat's stopping to take in wood for a tenminutes' visit to the shore; we in this manner explored a fieldof sugar canes, and loaded ourselves with as much of the sweetspoil as we could carry. Many of the passengers seemed fond ofthe luscious juice that is easily expressed from the canes, butit was too sweet for my palate. We also visited, in the samerapid manner, a cotton plantation. A handsome spacious buildingwas pointed out to us as a convent, where a considerable numberof young ladies were educated by the nuns. 

At one or two points the wearisome level line of forest isrelieved by _bluffs_, as they call the short intervals of highground. The town of Natches is beautifully situated on one ofthese high spots; the climate here, in the warm season, is asfatal as that of New Orleans; were it not for this, Natches wouldhave great attractions to new settlers. The beautiful contrastthat its bright green hill forms with the dismal line of blackforest that stretches on every side, the abundant growth ofpawpaw, palmetto and orange, the copious variety of sweet-scentedflowers that flourish there, all make it appear like an oasis inthe desert. Natches is the furthest point to the north at whichoranges ripen in the open air, or endure the winter withoutshelter. With the exception of this sweet spot, I thought allthe little towns and villages we passed, wretched looking, in theextreme. As the distance from New Orleans increased, the air ofwealth and comfort exhibited in its immediate neighbourhooddisappeared, and but for one or two clusters of wooden houses, calling themselves towns, and borrowing some pompous name, generally from Greece or Rome, we might have thought ourselvesthe first of the human race who had ever penetrated into thisterritory of bears and alligators. But still from time to timeappeared the hut of the wood-cutter, who supplies the steam-boatswith fuel, at the risk, or rather with the assurance of earlydeath, in exchange for dollars and whiskey. These sad dwellingsare nearly all of them inundated during the winter, and the bestof them are constructed on piles, which permit the water to reachits highest level without drowning the wretched inhabitants. These unhappy beings are invariably the victims of ague, whichthey meet recklessly, sustained by the incessant use of ardentspirits. The squalid look of the miserable wives and children ofthese men was dreadful, and often as the spectacle was renewed Icould never look at it with indifference. Their complexion is ofa blueish white, that suggests the idea of dropsy; this isinvariable, and the poor little ones wear exactly the sameghastly hue. A miserable cow and a few pigs standing knee-deepin water, distinguish the more prosperous of these dwellings, andon the whole I should say that I never witnessed human naturereduced so low, as it appeared in the wood-cutters' huts on theunwholesome banks of the Mississippi. 

It is said that at some points of this dismal river, crocodilesare so abundant as to add the terror of their attacks to theother sufferings of a dwelling there. We were told a story ofa squatter, who having "located" himself close to the river'sedge, proceeded to build his cabin. This operation is soonperformed, for social feeling and the love of whiskey bring allthe scanty neighbourhood round a new corner, to aid him incutting down trees, and in rolling up the logs, till the mansionis complete. This was done; the wife and five young childrenwere put in possession of their new home, and slept soundly aftera long march. Towards daybreak the husband and father wasawakened by a faint cry, and looking up, beheld relics of threeof his children scattered over the floor, and an enormouscrocodile, with several young ones around her, occupied indevouring the remnants of their horrid meal. He looked round fora weapon, but finding none, and aware that unarmed he could donothing, he raised himself gently on his bed, and contrived tocrawl from thence through a window, hoping that his wife, whom heleft sleeping, might with the remaining children restundiscovered till his return. He flew to his nearest neighbourand besought his aid; in less than half an hour two men returnedwith him, all three well armed; but alas! they were too late! thewife and her two babes lay mangled on their bloody bed. Thegorged reptiles fell an easy prey to their assailants, who, uponexamining the place, found the hut had been constructed close tothe mouth of a large hole, almost a cavern, where the monster hadhatched her hateful brood. 

Among other sights of desolation which mark this region, condemned of nature, the lurid glare of a burning forest wasalmost constantly visible after sunset, and when the wind sowilled, the smoke arising from it floated in heavy vapour overour heads. Not all the novelty of the scene, not all itsvastness, could prevent its heavy horror wearying the spirits. Perhaps the dinners and suppers I have described may help toaccount for this; but certain it is, that when we had wonderedfor a week at the ceaseless continuity of forest; had firstadmired, and then wearied of the festooned drapery of Spanishmoss; when we had learned to distinguish the different masses oftimber that passed us, or that we passed, as a "snag, " a "log" ora "sawyer;" when we had finally made up our minds that thegentlemen of the Kentucky and Ohio military establishments, werenot of the same genus as those of the Tuilleries and St. James's, we began to wish that we could sleep more hours away. As weadvanced to the northward we were no longer cheered by thebeautiful border of palmettos; and even the amusement ofoccasionally spying out a sleeping crocodile was over. 

Just in this state, when we would have fain believed that everymile we went, carried us two towards Memphis, a sudden andviolent shock startled us frightfully. 

"It is a sawyer!" said one. 

"It is a snag!" cried another. 

"We are aground!" exclaimed the captain. 

"Aground? Good heavens! and how long shall we stay here?"

"The Lord in his providence can only tell, but long enough totire my patience, I expect. "

And the poor English ladies, how fared they the while?

Two breakfasts, two dinners, and a supper did they eat, with theOhio and Kentucky gentlemen, before they moved an inch. Severalsteam-boats passed while we were thus enthralled; but some werenot strong enough to attempt drawing us off, and some attemptedit, but were not strong enough to succeed; at length a vast andmighty "thing of life" approached, threw out grappling irons; andin three minutes the business was done; again we saw the treesand mud slide swiftly past us; and a hearty shout from everypassenger on deck declared their joy. 

At length we had the pleasure of being told that we had arrivedat Memphis; but this pleasure was considerably abated by the hourof our arrival, which was midnight, and by the rain, which wasfalling in torrents. 

Memphis stands on a high bluff, and at the time of our arrivalwas nearly inaccessible. The heavy rain which had been fallingfor many hours would have made any steep ascent difficult, butunfortunately a new road had been recently marked out, whichbeguiled us into its almost bottomless mud, from the firmerfooting of the unbroken cliff. Shoes and gloves were lost in themire, for we were glad to avail ourselves of all our limbs, andwe reached the grand hotel in a most deplorable state. 

Miss Wright was well known there, and as soon as her arrival wasannounced, every one seemed on the alert to receive her, and wesoon found ourselves in possession of the best rooms in thehotel. The house was new, and in what appeared to me a verycomfortless condition, but I was then new to Western America, andunaccustomed to their mode of "getting along, " as they term it. This phrase is eternally in use among them, and seems to meanexisting with as few of the comforts of life as possible. 

We slept soundly however, and rose in the hope of soon changingour mortar-smelling-quarters for Miss Wright's Nashoba. 

But we presently found that the rain which had fallen during thenight would make it hazardous to venture through the forests ofTennessee in any sort of carriage; we therefore had to pass theday at our queer comfortless hotel. The steam-boat had weariedme of social meals, and I should have been thankful to have eatenour dinner of hard venison and peach-sauce in a private room; butthis, Miss Wright said was impossible; the lady of the housewould consider the proposal as a personal affront, and, moreover, it would be assuredly refused. This latter argument carriedweight with it, and when the great bell was sounded from an upperwindow of the house, we proceeded to the dining-room. The tablewas laid for fifty persons, and was already nearly full. Ourparty had the honour of sitting near "the lady, " but to check theproud feelings to which such distinction might give birth, myservant, William, sat very nearly opposite to me. The companyconsisted of all the shop-keepers (store-keepers as they arecalled throughout the United States) of the little town. Themayor also, who was a friend of Miss Wright's, was of the party;he is a pleasing gentlemanlike man, and seems strangely misplacedin a little town on the Mississippi. We were told that since theerection of this hotel, it has been the custom for all the maleinhabitants of the town to dine and breakfast there. They ate inperfect silence, and with such astonishing rapidity that theirdinner was over literally before our's was began; the instantthey ceased to eat, they darted from the table in the same moodysilence which they had preserved since they entered the room, anda second set took their places, who performed their silent partsin the same manner. The only sounds heard were those produced bythe knives and forks, with the unceasing chorus of coughing, &c. No women were present except ourselves and the hostess; the goodwomen of Memphis being well content to let their lords partake ofMrs. Anderson's turkeys and venison, (without their having thetrouble of cooking for them), whilst they regale themselves onmash and milk at home. 

The remainder of the day passed pleasantly enough in ramblinground the little town, which is situated at the most beautifulpoint of the Mississippi; the river is here so wide as to give itthe appearance of a noble lake; an island, covered with loftyforest trees divides it, and relieves by its broad mass of shadowthe uniformity of its waters. The town stretches in a ramblingirregular manner along the cliff, from the Wolf River, one of theinnumerable tributaries to the Mississippi, to about a mile belowit. Half a mile more of the cliff beyond the town is cleared oftrees, and produces good pasture for horses, cows, and pigs;sheep they had none. At either end of this space the forestagain rears its dark wall, and seems to say to man, "so far shaltthou come, and no farther!" Courage and industry, however, havebraved the warning. Behind this long street the town stragglesback into the forest, and the rude path that leads to the moredistant log dwellings becomes wilder at every step. The groundis broken by frequent water-courses, and the bridges that leadacross them are formed by trunks of trees thrown over the stream, which support others of smaller growth, that are laid acrossthem. These bridges are not very pleasant to pass, for theytotter under the tread of a man, and tremble most frightfullybeneath a horse or a waggon; they are, however, very picturesque. The great height of the trees, the quantity of pendant vinebranches that hang amongst them; and the variety of gay plumagedbirds, particularly the small green parrot, made us feel we werein a new world; and a repetition of our walk the next morningwould have pleased us well, but Miss Wright was anxious to gethome, and we were scarcely less so to see her Nashoba. A clumsysort of caravan drawn by two horses was prepared for us; and weset off in high spirits for an expedition of fifteen milesthrough the forest. To avoid passing one of the bridges abovedescribed, which was thought insecure, our negro driver took usthrough a piece of water, which he assured us was not deep "tomatter" however we soon lost sight of our pole, and as we wereevidently descending, we gently remonstrated with him on thedanger of proceeding, but he only grinned, and flogged in reply;we soon saw the front wheels disappear, and horses began toplunge and kick most alarmingly, but still without his looking atall disturbed. At length the splinter-bar gave way, upon whichthe black philosopher said very composedly, "I expect you'll bestbe riding out upon the horses, as we've got into an unhandsomefix here. " Miss Wright, who sat composedly smiling at the scene, said, "Yes, Jacob, that is what we must do;" and with somedifficulty we, in this manner, reached the shore, and soon foundourselves again assembled round Mrs. Anderson's fire. 

It was soon settled that we must delay our departure till thewaters had subsided, but Miss Wright was too anxious to reachhome to endure this delay and she set off again on horseback, accompanied by our man servant, who told me afterwards that theyrode through places that might have daunted the boldest hunter, but that "Miss Wright took it quite easy. "

The next day we started again, and the clear air, the bright sun, the novel wildness of the dark forest, and our keenly awakenedcuriosity, made the excursion delightful, and enabled us to bearwithout shrinking the bumps and bruises we encountered. We soonlost all trace of a road, at least so it appeared to us, for thestumps of the trees, which had been cut away to open a passage, were left standing three feet high. Over these, the high-hungDeerborn, as our carriage was called, passed safely; but itrequired some miles of experience to convince us that every stumpwould not be our last; it was amusing to watch the cool and easyskill with which the driver wound his horses and wheels amongthese stumps. I thought he might have been imported to Bondstreet with great advantage. The forest became thicker and moredreary-looking every mile we advanced, but our ever-grinningnegro declared it was a right good road, and that we should besure to get to Nashoba. 

And so we did. .. . And one glance sufficed to convince me thatevery idea I had formed of the place was as far as possible fromthe truth. Desolation was the only feeling--the only word thatpresented itself; but it was not spoken. I think, however, thatMiss Wright was aware of the painful impression the sight of herforest home produced on me, and I doubt not that the convictionreached us both at the same moment, that we had erred in thinkingthat a few months passed together at this spot could beproductive of pleasure to either. But to do her justice, Ibelieve her mind was so exclusively occupied by the object shehad then in view, that all things else were worthless, orindifferent to her. I never heard or read of any enthusiasmapproaching her's, except in some few instances, in ages past, ofreligious fanaticism. 

It must have been some feeling equally powerful which enabledMiss Wright, accustomed to all the comfort and refinement ofEurope, to imagine not only that she herself could exist in thiswilderness, but that her European friends could enter there, andnot feel dismayed at the savage aspect of the scene. The annexedplate gives a faithful view of the cleared space and buildingswhich form the settlement. Each building consisted of two largerooms furnished in the most simple manner; nor had they as yetcollected round them any of those minor comforts which ordinaryminds class among the necessaries of life. But in this ourphilosophical friend seemed to see no evil; nor was there anymixture of affectation in this indifference; it was acircumstance really and truly beneath her notice. Her wholeheart and soul were occupied by the hope of raising the Africanto the level of European intellect; and even now, that I haveseen this favourite fabric of her imagination fall to piecesbeneath her feet, I cannot recall the self-devotion with whichshe gave herself to it, without admiration. 

The only white persons we found at Nashoba were my amiablefriend, Mrs. W--, the sister of Miss Wright, and her husband. I think they had between thirty and forty slaves, includingchildren, but when I was there no school had been established. Books and other materials for the great experiment had beencollected, and one or two professors engaged, but nothing was yetorganized. I found my friend Mrs. W-- in very bad health, whichshe confessed she attributed to the climate. This naturally somuch alarmed me for my children, that I decided upon leaving theplace with as little delay as possible, and did so at the end often days. 

I do not exactly know what was the immediate cause which inducedMiss Wright to abandon a scheme which had taken such possessionof her imagination, and on which she had expended so much money;but many months had not elapsed before I learnt, with muchpleasure, that she and her sister had also left it. I think itprobable that she became aware upon returning to Nashoba, thatthe climate was too hostile to their health. All I know fartherof Nashoba is, that Miss Wright having found (from some cause orother) that it was impossible to pursue her object, herselfaccompanied her slaves to Hayti, and left them there, free, andunder the protection of the President. 

I found no beauty in the scenery round Nashoba, nor can Iconceive that it would possess any even in summer. The treeswere so close to each other as not to permit the growth ofunderwood, the great ornament of the forest at New Orleans, andstill less of our seeing any openings, where the varying effectsof light and shade might atone for the absence of other objects. The clearing round the settlement appeared to me inconsiderableand imperfect; but I was told that they had grown good crops ofcotton and Indian corn. The weather was dry and agreeable, andthe aspects of the heavens by night surprisingly beautiful. Inever saw moonlight so clear, so pure, so powerful. 

We returned to Memphis on the 26th January, 1828, and foundourselves obliged to pass five days there, awaiting a steam-boatfor Cincinnati, to which metropolis of the west, I was nowdetermined to proceed with my family to await the arrival ofMr. Trollope. We were told by everyone we spoke to at Memphis, that it was in all respects the finest situation west of theAlleghanies. We found many lovely walks among the brokenforest glades around Memphis, which, together with a morningand evening enjoyment of the effects of a glowing horizon onthe river, enabled us to wait patiently for the boat that wasto bear us away. 

CHAPTER 4

Departure from Memphis--Ohio River Louisville--Cincinnati

On the 1st of February, 1828, we embarked on board the Criterion, and once more began to float on the "father of waters, " as thepoor banished Indians were wont to call the Mississippi. Thecompany on board was wonderfully like what we had met in comingfrom New Orleans; I think they must have all been first cousins;and what was singular, they too had all arrived at high rank inthe army. For many a wearisome mile above the Wolf River theonly scenery was still forest--forest--forest; the only varietywas produced by the receding of the river at some points, and itsencroaching on the opposite shore. These changes are continuallygoing on, but from what cause none could satisfactorily explainto me. Where the river is encroaching, the trees are seengrowing in the water many feet deep; after some time, the waterundermines their roots, and they become the easy victims of thefirst hurricane that blows. This is one source of the immensequantities of drift wood that float into the gulf of Mexico. Where the river has receded, a young growth of cane-brake is soonseen starting up with the rapid vegetation of the climate; thesetwo circumstances in some degree relieve the sameness of thethousand miles of vegetable wall. But we were now approachingthe river which is emphatically called "the beautiful, " La BelleRiveriere of the New Orleans French; and a few days took us, Itrust for ever, out of that murky stream which is as emphaticallycalled "the deadly;" and well does it seem to merit the title;the air of its shores is mephitic, and it is said that nothingthat ever sunk beneath its muddy surface was known to rise again. As truly does "La Belle Riviere" deserve its name; the Ohio isbright and clear; its banks are continually varied, as it flowsthrough what is called a rolling country, which seems to mean adistrict that cannot . Shew a dozen paces of level ground at atime. The primaeval forest still occupies a considerable portionof the ground, and hangs in solemn grandeur from the cliffs; butit is broken by frequent settlements, where we were cheered bythe sight of herds and flocks. I imagine that this riverpresents almost every variety of river scenery; sometimes itsclear wave waters a meadow of level turf; sometimes it is boundedby perpendicular rocks; pretty dwellings, with their gay porticosare seen, alternately with wild intervals of forest, where thetangled bear-brake plainly enough indicates what inhabitants arenative there. Often a mountain torrent comes pouring its silvertribute to the stream, and were there occasionally a ruinedabbey, or feudal castle, to mix the romance of real life withthat of nature, the Ohio would be perfect. 

So powerful was the effect of this sweet scenery, that we ceasedto grumble at our dinners and suppers; nay, we almost learnt torival our neighbours at table in their voracious rapidity ofswallowing, so eager were we to place ourselves again on theguard, lest we might lose sight of the beauty that was passingaway from us. 

Yet these fair shores are still unhealthy. More than once welanded, and conversed with the families of the wood-cutters, andscarcely was there one in which we did not hear of some memberwho had "lately died of the fever. "--They are all subject toague, and though their dwellings are infinitely better than thoseon the Mississippi, the inhabitants still look like a race thatare selling their lives for gold. 

Louisville is a considerable town, prettily situated on theKentucky, or south side of the Ohio; we spent some hours inseeing all it had to shew; and had I not been told that a badfever often rages there during the warm season, I should haveliked to pass some months there for the purpose of exploringthe beautiful country in its vicinity. Frankfort and Lexingtonare both towns worth visiting, though from their being out ofthe way places, I never got to either. The first is the seat ofthe state government of Kentucky, and the last is, I was told, the residence of several independent families, who, with moreleisure than is usually enjoyed in America, have its naturalaccompaniment, more refinement. 

The falls of the Ohio are about a mile below Louisville, andproduce a rapid, too sudden for the boats to pass, except in therainy season. The passengers are obliged to get out below them, and travel by land to Louisville, where they find other vesselsready to receive them for the remainder of the voyage. We werespared this inconvenience by the water being too high for therapid to be much felt, and it will soon be altogether removed bythe Louisville canal coming into operation, which will permit thesteam-boats to continue their progress from below the falls tothe town. 

The scenery on the Kentucky side is much finer than on that ofIndiana, or Ohio. The State of Kentucky was the darling spot ofmany tribes of Indians, and was reserved among them as a commonhunting ground; it is said that they cannot yet name it withoutemotion, and that they have a sad and wild lament that they stillchaunt to its memory. But their exclusion thence is of no recentdate; Kentucky has been longer settled than the Illinois, Indiana, or Ohio, and it appears not only more highly cultivated, but more fertile and more picturesque than either. I have rarelyseen richer pastures than those of Kentucky. The forest trees, where not too crowded, are of magnificent growth, and the cropsare gloriously abundant where the thriftless husbandry has notworn out the soil by an unvarying succession of exhausting crops. We were shewn ground which had borne abundant crops of wheat fortwenty successive years; but a much shorter period suffices toexhaust the ground, if it were made to produce tobacco withoutthe intermission of some other crop. 

We reached Cincinnati on the 10th of February. It is finelysituated on the south side of a hill that rises gently fromthe water's edge; yet it is by no means a city of strikingappearance; it wants domes, towers, and steeples; but itslanding-place is noble, extending for more than a quarter ofa mile; it is well paved, and surrounded by neat, though nothandsome buildings. I have seen fifteen steam-boats lyingthere at once, and still half the wharf was unoccupied. 

On arriving we repaired to the Washington Hotel, and thoughtourselves fortunate when we were told that we were just in timefor dinner at the table d'hote; but when the dining-room door wasopened, we retreated with a feeling of dismay at seeing betweensixty and seventy men already at table. We took our dinner withthe females of the family, and then went forth to seek a housefor our permanent accommodation. 

We went to the office of an advertising agent, who professed tokeep a register of all such information, and described thedwelling we wanted. He made no difficulty, but told us his boyshould be our guide through the city, and shew us what we sought;we accordingly set out with him, and he led us up one street, anddown another, but evidently without any determinate object; Itherefore stopped, and asked him whereabout the houses were whichwe were going to see. "I am looking for bills, " was his reply. 

I thought we could have looked for bills as well without him, andI told him so; upon which he assumed an air of great activity, and began knocking regularly at every door we passed, enquiringif the house was to be let. It was impossible to endure thislong, and our guide was dismissed, though I was afterwardsobliged to pay him a dollar for his services. 

We had the good fortune, however, to find a dwelling beforelong, and we returned to our hotel, having determined upontaking possession of it as soon at it could be got ready. Not wishing to take our evening meal either with the threescore and ten gentlemen of the dining-room, nor yet with thehalf dozen ladies of the bar-room, I ordered tea in my ownchamber. A good-humoured Irish woman came forward with a sortof patronising manner, took my hand, and said, "Och, my honey, ye'll be from the old country. I'll see you will have your tayall to yourselves, honey. " With this assurance we retired tomy room, which was a handsome one as to its size and bedfurniture, but it had no carpet, and was darkened by blinds ofpaper, such as rooms are hung with, which required to be rolledup, and then fastened with strings very awkwardly attached tothe window-frames, whenever light or air were wished for. I afterwards met with these same uncomfortable blinds in everypart of America. 

Our Irish friend soon reappeared, and brought us tea, togetherwith the never failing accompaniments of American tea drinking, hung beef, "chipped up" raw, and sundry sweetmeats of brownsugar hue and flavour. We took our tea, and were enjoying ourfamily talk, relative to our future arrangements, when a loudsharp knocking was heard at our door. My "come in, " was answeredby the appearance of a portly personage, who proclaimed himselfour landlord. 

"Are any of you ill?" he began. 

"No thank you, sir; we are all quite well, " was my reply. 

"Then, madam, I must tell you, that I cannot accommodate you onthese terms; we have no family tea-drinkings here, and you mustlive either with me or my wife, or not at all in my house. "

This was said with an air of authority that almost precludedreply, but I ventured a sort of apologistic hint, that we werestrangers and unaccustomed to the manners of the country. 

"Our manners are very good manners, and we don't wish any changesfrom England. "

I thought of mine host of the Washington afterwards, when readingScott's "Anne of Geierstein;" he, in truth, strongly resembledthe inn keeper therein immortalized, who made his guests eat, drink, and sleep, just where, when, and how he pleased. I madeno farther remonstrance, but determined to hasten my removal. This we achieved the next day to our great satisfaction. 

We were soon settled in our new dwelling, which looked neat andcomfortable enough, but we speedily found that it was devoid ofnearly all the accommodation that Europeans conceive necessary todecency and comfort. No pump, no cistern, no drain of any kind, no dustman's cart, or any other visible means of getting rid ofthe rubbish, which vanishes with such celerity in London, thatone has no time to think of its existence; but which accumulatedso rapidly at Cincinnati, that I sent for my landlord to know inwhat manner refuse of all kinds was to be disposed of. 

"Your Help will just have to fix them all into the middle ofthe street, but you must mind, old woman, that it is the middle. I expect you don't know as we have got a law what forbidsthrowing such things at the sides of the streets; they mustjust all be cast right into the middle, and the pigs soon takesthem off. "

In truth the pigs are constantly seen doing Herculean service inthis way through every quarter of the city; and though it is notvery agreeable to live surrounded by herds of these unsavouryanimals, it is well they are so numerous, and so active intheir capacity of scavengers, for without them the streetswould soon be choked up with all sorts of substances in everystage of decomposition. 

We had heard so much of Cincinnati, its beauty, wealth, andunequalled prosperity, that when we left Memphis to go thither, we almost felt the delight of Rousseau's novice, "un voyage āfaire, et Paris au bout!" --As soon, therefore, as our littledomestic arrangements were completed, we set forth to viewthis "wonder of the west" this "prophet's gourd of magicgrowth, "--this "infant Hercules;" and surely no travellersever paraded a city under circumstances more favourable totheir finding it fair to the sight. Three dreary months hadelapsed since we had left the glories of London behind us; fornearly the whole of that time we beheld no other architecturethan what our ship and steam-boats had furnished, and exceptingat New Orleans, had seen hardly a trace of human habitations. The sight of bricks and mortar was really refreshing, and ahouse of three stories looked splendid. Of this splendour wesaw repeated specimens, and moreover a brick church, which, from its two little peaked spires, is called the two-hornedchurch. But, alas! the flatness of reality after the imaginationhas been busy! I hardly know what I expected to find in thiscity, fresh risen from the bosom of the wilderness, but certainlyit was not a little town, about the size of Salisbury, withouteven an attempt at beauty in any of its edifices, and with onlyjust enough of the air of a city to make it noisy and bustling. The population is greater than the appearance of the town wouldlead one to expect. This is partly owing to the number of freeNegroes who herd together in an obscure part of the city, calledlittle Africa; and partly to the density of the population roundthe paper-mills and other manufactories. I believe the number ofinhabitants exceeds twenty thousand. 

We arrived in Cincinnati in February, 1828, and I speak of thetown as it was then; several small churches have been builtsince, whose towers agreeably relieve its uninteresting mass ofbuildings. At that time I think Main street, which is theprincipal avenue, (and runs through the whole town, answering tothe High street of our old cities), was the only one entirelypaved. The _troittoir_ is of brick, tolerably well laid, but itis inundated by every shower, as Cincinnati has no drainswhatever. What makes this omission the more remarkable is, thatthe situation of the place is calculated both to facilitate theirconstruction and render them necessary. Cincinnati is built onthe side of a hill that begins to rise at the river's edge, andwere it furnished with drains of the simplest arrangement, theheavy showers of the climate would keep them constantly clean; asit is, these showers wash the higher streets, only to deposittheir filth in the first level spot; and this happens to be inthe street second in importance to Main street, running at rightangles to it, and containing most of the large warehouses of thetown. This deposit is a dreadful nuisance, and must beproductive of miasma during the hot weather. 

The town is built, as I believe most American towns are, insquares, as they call them; but these squares are the reverse ofour's, being solid instead of hollow. Each consists, or isintended to consist, when the plan of the city is completed, ofa block of buildings fronting north, east, west, and south; eachhouse communicating with an alley, furnishing a back entrance. This plan would not be a bad one were the town properly drained, but as it is, these alleys are horrible abominations, and must, Iconceive, become worse with every passing year. 

To the north, Cincinnati is bounded by a range of forest-coveredhills, sufficiently steep and rugged to prevent their being builtupon, or easily cultivated, but not sufficiently high to commandfrom their summits a view of any considerable extent. Deep andnarrow water-courses, dry in summer, but bringing down heavystreams in winter, divide these hills into many separate heights, and this furnishes the only variety the landscape offers for manymiles round the town. The lovely Ohio is a beautiful featurewherever it is visible, but the only part of the city that hasthe advantage of its beauty is the street nearest to its bank. The hills of Kentucky, which rise at about the same distance fromthe river, on the opposite side, form the southern boundary tothe basin in which Cincinnati is built. 

On first arriving, I thought the many tree covered hills around, very beautiful, but long before my departure, I felt so weary ofthe confined view, that Salisbury Plain would have been anagreeable variety. I doubt if any inhabitant of Cincinnati evermounted these hills so often as myself and my children; but itwas rather for the enjoyment of a freer air than for any beautyof prospect, that we took our daily climb. These hills affordneither shrubs nor flowers, but furnish the finest specimens ofmillepore in the world; and the water courses are full of fossilproductions. 

The forest trees are neither large nor well grown, and so closeas to be nearly knotted together at top; even the wild vine hereloses its beauty, for its graceful festoons bear leaves only whenthey reach the higher branches of the tree that supports them, both air and light being too scantily found below to admit oftheir doing more than climbing with a bare stem till they reach abetter atmosphere. The herb we call pennyroyal was the only oneI found in abundance, and that only on the brows, where theground had been partially cleared; vegetation is impossibleelsewhere, and it is this circumstance which makes the "eternalforests" of America so detestable. Near New Orleans theundergrowth of Palmetto and pawpaw is highly beautiful, but inTennessee, Indiana, and Ohio, I never found the slightest beautyin the forest scenery. Fallen trees in every possible stage ofdecay, and congeries of leaves that have been rotting since theflood, cover the ground and infect the air. The beautifulvariety of foliage afforded by evergreens never occurs, and inTennessee, and that part of Ohio that surrounds Cincinnati, eventhe sterile beauty of rocks is wanting. On crossing the water toKentucky the scene is greatly improved; beech and chestnut, ofmagnificent growth, border the beautiful river; the ground hasbeen well cleared, and the herbage is excellent; the pawpaw growsabundantly, and is a splendid shrub, though it bears neitherfruit nor flowers so far north. The noble tulip tree flourisheshere, and blooms profusely. 

The river Licking flows into the Ohio nearly opposite Cincinnati;it is a pretty winding stream, and two or three miles from itsmouth has a brisk rapid, dancing among white stones, which, inthe absence of better rocks, we found very picturesque. 

CHAPTER 5

Cincinnati--Forest Farm--Mr. Bullock

Though I do not quite sympathise with those who considerCincinnati as one of the wonders of the earth, I certainly thinkit a city of extraordinary size and importance, when it isremembered that thirty years ago the aboriginal forest occupiedthe ground where it stands; and every month appears to extend itslimits and its wealth. 

Some of the native political economists assert that this rapidconversion of a bear-brake into a prosperous city, is the resultof free political institutions; not being very deep in suchmatters, a more obvious cause suggested itself to me, in theunceasing goad which necessity applies to industry in thiscountry, and in the absence of all resource for the idle. During nearly two years that I resided in Cincinnati, or itsneighbourhood, I neither saw a beggar, nor a man of sufficientfortune to permit his ceasing his efforts to increase it; thusevery bee in the hive is actively employed in search of thathoney of Hybla, vulgarly called money; neither art, science, learning, nor pleasure can seduce them from its pursuit. Thisunity of purpose, backed by the spirit of enterprise, and joinedwith an acuteness and total absence of probity, where interest isconcerned, which might set canny Yorkshire at defiance, may wellgo far towards obtaining its purpose. 

The low rate of taxation, too, unquestionably permits a morerapid accumulation of individual wealth than with us; but till Ihad travelled through America, I had no idea how much of themoney collected in taxes returns among the people, not only inthe purchase of what their industry furnishes, but in the actualenjoyment of what is furnished. Were I an English legislator, instead of sending sedition to the Tower, I would send her tomake a tour of the United States. I had a little leaning towardssedition myself when I set out, but before I had half completedmy tour I was quite cured. 

I have read much of the "few and simple wants of rational man, "and I used to give a sort of dreamy acquiescence to the reasoningthat went to prove each added want an added woe. Those whoreason in a comfortable London drawing-room know little about thematter. Were the aliments which sustain life all that we wanted, the faculties of the hog might suffice us; but if we analyze anhour of enjoyment, we shall find that it is made up of agreeablesensations occasioned by a thousand delicate impressions onalmost as many nerves; where these nerves are sluggish from neverhaving been awakened, external objects are less important, forthey are less perceived; but where the whole machine of the humanframe is in full activity, where every sense brings home toconsciousness its touch of pleasure or of pain, then every objectthat meets the senses is important as a vehicle of happiness ormisery. But let no frames so tempered visit the United States, or if they do, let it be with no longer pausing than will storethe memory with images, which, by the force of contrast, shallsweeten the future. 

"Guarda e passa (e poi) ragiam di lor. "

The "simple" manner of living in Western America was moredistasteful to me from its levelling effects on the manners ofthe people, than from the personal privations that it renderednecessary; and yet, till I was without them, I was in no degreeaware of the many pleasurable sensations derived from the littleelegancies and refinements enjoyed by the middle classes inEurope. There were many circumstances, too trifling even for mygossiping pages, which pressed themselves daily and hourly uponus, and which forced us to remember painfully that we were not athome. It requires an abler pen than mine to trace the connectionwhich I am persuaded exists between these deficiencies and theminds and manners of the people. All animal wants are suppliedprofusely at Cincinnati, and at a very easy rate; but, alas!these go but a little way in the history of a day's enjoyment. The total and universal want of manners, both in males andfemales, is so remarkable, that I was constantly endeavouring toaccount for it. It certainly does not proceed from want ofintellect. I have listened to much dull and heavy conversationin America, but rarely to any that I could strictly call silly, (if I except the every where privileged class of very youngladies). They appear to me to have clear heads and activeintellects; are more ignorant on subjects that are only ofconventional value, than on such as are of intrinsic importance;but there is no charm, no grace in their conversation. I veryseldom during my whole stay in the country heard a sentenceelegantly turned, and correctly pronounced from the lips of anAmerican. There is always something either in the expression orthe accent that jars the feelings and shocks the taste. 

I will not pretend to decide whether man is better or worse offfor requiring refinement in the manners and customs of thesociety that surrounds him, and for being incapable of enjoymentwithout them; but in America that polish which removes thecoarser and rougher parts of our nature is unknown and undreamedof. There is much substantial comfort, and some display in thelarger cities; in many of the more obvious features they are asParis or as London, being all large assemblies of active andintelligent human beings--but yet they are wonderfully unlike innearly all their moral features. Now God forbid that anyreasonable American, (of whom there are so many millions), shouldever come to ask me what I mean; I should find it very difficult, nay, perhaps, utterly impossible, to explain myself; but, on theother hand, no European who has visited the Union, will find theleast difficulty in understanding me. I am in no way competentto judge of the political institutions of America; and if Ishould occasionally make an observation on their effects, as theymeet my superficial glance, they will be made in the spirit, andwith the feeling of a woman, who is apt to tell what her firstimpressions may be, but unapt to reason back from effects totheir causes. Such observations, if they be unworthy of muchattention, are also obnoxious to little reproof: but there arepoints of national peculiarity of which women may judge as ablyas men, --all that constitutes the external of society may befairly trusted to us. 

Captain Hall, when asked what appeared to him to constitute thegreatest difference between England and America, replied, like agallant sailor, "the want of loyalty. " Were the same question putto me, I should answer, "the want of refinement. "

Were Americans, indeed, disposed to assume the plain unpretendingdeportment of the Switzer in the days of his picturesquesimplicity, (when, however, he never chewed tobacco), it wouldbe in bad taste to censure him; but this is not the case. Jonathan will be a fine gentleman, but it must be in his own way. Is he not a free-born American? Jonathan, however, mustremember, that if he will challenge competition with the oldworld, the old world will now and then look out to see how hesupports his pretensions. 

With their hours of business, whether judicial or mercantile, civil or military, I have nothing to do; I doubt not they are allspent wisely and profitably; but what are their hours ofrecreation? Those hours that with us are passed in the enjoymentof all that art can win from nature; when, if the elaboraterepast be more deeply relished than sages might approve, it isredeemed from sensuality by the presence of elegance and beauty. What is the American pendant to this? I will not draw anycomparisons between a good dinner party in the two countries; Ihave heard American gentlemen say, that they could perceive nodifference between them; but in speaking of general manners, Imay observe, that it is rarely they dine in society, except intaverns and boarding houses. Then they eat with the greatestpossible rapidity, and in total silence; I have heard it said byAmerican ladies, that the hours of greatest enjoyment to thegentlemen were those in which a glass of gin cocktail, or egging, receives its highest relish from the absence of all restraintwhatever; and when there were no ladies to trouble them. 

Notwithstanding all this, the country is a very fine country, well worth visiting for a thousand reasons; nine hundred andninety-nine of these are reasons founded on admiration andrespect; the thousandth is, that we shall feel the more contentedwith our own. The more unlike a country through which we travelis to all we have left, the more we are likely to be amused;every thing in Cincinnati had this newness, and I should havethought it a place delightful to visit, but to tarry there wasnot to feel at home. 

My home, however, for a time it was to be. We heard on everyside, that of all the known places on "the globe called earth, "Cincinnati was the most favourable for a young man to settle in;and I only awaited the arrival of Mr. T. To fix our son there, intending to continue with him till he should feel himselfsufficiently established. We accordingly determined upon makingourselves as comfortable as possible. I took a larger house, which, however, I did not obtain without considerable difficulty, as, notwithstanding fourteen hundred new dwellings had beenerected the preceding year, the demand for houses greatlyexceeded the supply. We became acquainted with several amiablepeople, and we beguiled the anxious interval that preceded Mr. T. 's joining us by frequent excursions in the neighbourhood, which not only afforded us amusement, but gave us an opportunityof observing the mode of life of the country people. 

We visited one farm, which interested us particularly from itswild and lonely situation, and from the entire dependence of theinhabitants upon their own resources. It was a partial clearingin the very heart of the forest. The house was built on the sideof a hill, so steep that a high ladder was necessary to enter thefront door, while the back one opened against the hill side; atthe foot of this sudden eminence ran a clear stream, whose bedhad been deepened into a little reservoir, just opposite thehouse. A noble field of Indian-corn stretched away into theforest on one side, and a few half-cleared acres, with a shed ortwo upon them, occupied the other, giving accommodation to cows, horses, pigs, and chickens innumerable. Immediately before thehouse was a small potatoe garden, with a few peach and appletrees. The house was built of logs, and consisted of two rooms, besides a little shanty or lean-to, that was used as a kitchen. Both rooms were comfortably furnished with good beds, drawers, &c. The farmer's wife, and a young woman who looked like hersister, were spinning, and three little children were playingabout. The woman told me that they spun and wove all the cottonand woolen garments of the family, and knit all the stockings;her husband, though not a shoe-maker by trade, made all theshoes. She manufactured all the soap and candles they used, andprepared her sugar from the sugar-trees on their farm. All shewanted with money, she said, was to buy coffee, tea, and whiskey, and she could "get enough any day by sending a batch of butterand chicken to market. " They used no wheat, nor sold any oftheir corn, which, though it appeared a very large quantity, wasnot more than they required to make their bread and cakes ofvarious kinds, and to feed all their live stock during thewinter. She did not look in health, and said they had all hadague in "the fall;" but she seemed contented, and proud of herindependence; though it was in somewhat a mournful accent thatshe said, "Tis strange to us to see company: I expect the sun mayrise and set a hundred times before I shall see another _human_that does not belong to the family. "

I have been minute in the description of this forest farm, asI think it the best specimen I saw of the back-wood'sindependence, of which so much is said in America. These people were indeed independent, Robinson Crusoe washardly more so, and they eat and drink abundantly; but yetit seemed to me that there was something awful and almostunnatural in their loneliness. No village bell ever summonedthem to prayer, where they might meet the friendly greeting oftheir fellow-men. When they die, no spot sacred by ancientreverence will receive their bones--Religion will not breatheher sweet and solemn farewell upon their grave; the husband orthe father will dig the pit that is to hold them, beneath thenearest tree; he will himself deposit them within it, and thewind that whispers through the boughs will be their only requiem. But then they pay neither taxes nor tythes, are never expected topull off a hat or to make a curtsy, and will live and die withouthearing or uttering the dreadful words, "God save the king. "

About two miles below Cincinnati, on the Kentucky side of theriver, Mr. Bullock, the well known proprietor of the EgyptianHall, has bought a large estate, with a noble house upon it. He and his amiable wife were devoting themselves to theembellishment of the house and grounds; and certainly there ismore taste and art lavished on one of their beautiful saloons, than all Western America can show elsewhere. It is impossible tohelp feeling that Mr. Bullock is rather out of his element inthis remote spot, and the gems of art he has brought with him, shew as strangely there, as would a bower of roses in Siberia, ora Cincinnati fashionable at Almack's. The exquisite beauty ofthe spot, commanding one of the finest reaches of the Ohio, theextensive gardens, and the large and handsome mansion, havetempted Mr. Bullock to spend a large sum in the purchase of thisplace, and if any one who has passed his life in London couldendure such a change, the active mind and sanguine spirit of Mr. Bullock might enable him to do it; but his frank, and trulyEnglish hospitality, and his enlightened and enquiring mind, seemed sadly wasted there. I have since heard with pleasure thatMr. Bullock has parted with this beautiful, but secluded mansion. 

CHAPTER 6

Servants--Society--Evening Parties

The greatest difficulty in organising a family establishment inOhio, is getting servants, or, as it is there called, "gettinghelp, " for it is more than petty treason to the Republic, to calla free citizen a _servant_. The whole class of young women, whose bread depends upon their labour, are taught to believe thatthe most abject poverty is preferable to domestic service. Hundreds of half-naked girls work in the paper-mills, or in anyother manufactory, for less than half the wages they wouldreceive in service; but they think their equality is compromisedby the latter, and nothing but the wish to obtain some particulararticle of finery will ever induce them to submit to it. A kindfriend, however, exerted herself so effectually for me, that atall stately lass soon presented herself, saying, "I be come tohelp you. " The intelligence was very agreeable, and I welcomedher in the most gracious manner possible, and asked what I shouldgive her by the year. 

"Oh Gimini!" exclaimed the damsel, with a loud laugh, "you be adownright Englisher, sure enough. I should like to see a younglady engage by the year in America! I hope I shall get a husbandbefore many months, or I expect I shall be an outright old maid, for I be most seventeen already; besides, mayhap I may want to goto school. You must just give me a dollar and half a week, andmother's slave, Phillis, must come over once a week, I expect, from t'other side the water, to help me clean. " I agreed to thebargain, of course, with all dutiful submission; and seeing shewas preparing to set to work in a yellow dress parseme with redroses, I gently hinted, that I thought it was a pity to spoil sofine a gown, and that she had better change it. 

"'Tis just my best and my worst, " she answered, "for I've got noother. "

And in truth I found that this young lady had left the paternalmansion with no more clothes of any kind than what she had on. I immediately gave her money to purchase what was necessary forcleanliness and decency, and set to work with my daughters tomake her a gown. She grinned applause when our labour wascompleted, but never uttered the slightest expression ofgratitude for that, or for any thing else we could do for her. She was constantly asking us to lend her different articles ofdress, and when we declined it, she said, "Well, I never seedsuch grumpy folks as you be; there is several young ladies of myacquaintance what goes to live out now and then with the oldwomen about the town, and they and their gurls always lends themwhat they asks for; I guess you Inglish thinks we should poisonyour things, just as bad as if we was Negurs. " And here I beg toassure the reader, that whenever I give conversations they werenot made Ā LOISIR, but were written down immediately after theyoccurred, with all the verbal fidelity my memory permitted. 

This young lady left me at the end of two months, because Irefused to lend her money enough to buy a silk dress to go to aball, saying, "Then 'tis not worth my while to stay any longer. "

I cannot imagine it possible that such a state of things can bedesirable, or beneficial to any of the parties concerned. I might occupy a hundred pages on the subject, and yet fail togive an adequate idea of the sore, angry, ever wakeful pride thatseemed to torment these poor wretches. In many of them it was soexcessive, that all feeling of displeasure, or even of ridicule, was lost in pity. One of these was a pretty girl, whose naturaldisposition must have been gentle and kind; but her good feelingswere soured, and her gentleness turned to morbid sensitiveness, by having heard a thousand and a thousand times that she was asgood as any other lady, that all men were equal, and women too, and that it was a sin and a shame for a free-born American to betreated like a servant. 

When she found she was to dine in the kitchen, she turned up herpretty lip, and said, "I guess that's 'cause you don't think I'mgood enough to eat with you. You'll find that won't do here. "I found afterwards that she rarely ate any dinner at all, andgenerally passed the time in tears. I did every thing in mypower to conciliate and make her happy, but I am sure she hatedme. I gave her very high wages, and she staid till she hadobtained several expensive articles of dress, and then, UN BEAUMATIN, she came to me full dressed, and said, "I must go. " "Whenshall you return, Charlotte?" "I expect you'll see no more ofme. " And so we parted. Her sister was also living with me, buther wardrobe was not yet completed, and she remained some weekslonger, till it was. 

I fear it may be called bad taste to say so much concerning mydomestics, but, nevertheless, the circumstances are socharacteristic of America that I must recount another historyrelating to them. A few days after the departure of my ambitiousbelle, my cries for "Help" had been so effectual that anotheryoung lady presented herself, with the usual preface "I'm come tohelp you. " I had been cautioned never to ask for a reference forcharacter, as it would not only rob me of that help, but entirelyprevent my ever getting another; so, five minutes after sheentered she was installed, bundle and all, as a member of thefamily. She was by no means handsome, but there was an air ofsimple frankness in her manner that won us all. For my own part, I thought I had got a second Jeanie Deans; for she recounted tome histories of her early youth, wherein her plain good sense andstrong mind had enabled her to win her way through a host ofcruel step-mothers, faithless lovers, and cheating brothers. Among other things, she told me, with the appearance of muchemotion, that she had found, since she came to town, a cure forall her sorrows, "Thanks and praise for it, I have got religion!"and then she asked if I would spare her to go to Meeting everyTuesday and Thursday evening; "You shall not have to want me, Mrs. Trollope, for our minister knows that we have all our dutiesto perform to man, as well as to God, and he makes the Meetinglate in the evening that they may not cross one another. " Whocould refuse? Not I, and Nancy had leave to go to Meeting twoevenings in the week, besides Sundays. 

One night, that the mosquitoes had found their way under my net, and prevented my sleeping, I heard some one enter the house verylate; I got up, went to the top of the stairs, and, by the helpof a bright moon, recognised Nancy's best bonnet. I called toher: "You are very late. " said I. "what is the reason of it?""Oh, Mrs. Trollope, " she replied, "I am late, indeed! We havethis night had seventeen souls added to our flock. May they liveto bless this night! But it has been a long sitting, and verywarm; I'll just take a drink of water, and get to bed; you shan'tfind me later in the morning for it. " Nor did I. She was anexcellent servant, and performed more than was expected from her;moreover, she always found time to read the Bible several timesin the day, and I seldom saw her occupied about any thing withoutobserving that she had placed it near her. 

At last she fell sick with the cholera, and her life wasdespaired of. I nursed her with great care, and sat up thegreatest part of two nights with her. She was often delirious, and all her wandering thoughts seemed to ramble to heaven. "I have been a sinner, " she said, "but I am safe in the LordJesus. " When she recovered, she asked me to let her go into thecountry for a few days, to change the air, and begged me to lendher three dollars. 

While she was absent a lady called on me, and enquired, with someagitation, if my servant, Nancy Fletcher, were at home. I replied that she was gone into the country. "Thank God, " sheexclaimed, "never let her enter your doors again, she is the mostabandoned woman in the town: a gentleman who knows you, has beentold that she lives with you, and that she boasts of having thepower of entering your house at any hour of night. " She told memany other circumstances, unnecessary to repeat, but all tendingto prove that she was a very dangerous inmate. 

I expected her home the next evening, and I believe I passed theinterval in meditating how to get rid of her without an_eclaircissement_. At length she arrived, and all my studyhaving failed to supply me with any other reason than the realone for dismissing her, I stated it at once. Not the slightestchange passed over her countenance, but she looked steadily atme, and said, in a very civil tone, "I should like to know whotold you. " I replied that it could be of no advantage to her toknow, and that I wished her to go immediately. "I am ready togo, " she said, in the same quiet tone, "but what will you do foryour three dollars?" "I must do without them, Nancy; goodmorning to you. " "I must just put up my things, " she said, andleft the room. About half an hour afterwards, when we were allassembled at dinner, she entered with her usual civil composedair, "Well, I am come to wish you all goodbye, " and with afriendly good-humoured smile she left us. 

This adventure frightened me so heartily, that, notwithstanding Ihad the dread of cooking my own dinner before my eyes, I wouldnot take any more young ladies into my family without receivingsome slight sketch of their former history. At length I met witha very worthy French woman, and soon after with a tidy Englishgirl to assist her; and I had the good fortune to keep them tilla short time before my departure: so, happily, I have no moremisfortunes of this nature to relate. 

Such being the difficulties respecting domestic arrangements, itis obvious, that the ladies who are brought up amongst themcannot have leisure for any great development of the mind: itis, in fact, out of the question; and, remembering this, it ismore surprising that some among them should be very pleasing, than that none should be highly instructed. 

Had I passed as many evenings in company in any other town that Iever visited as I did in Cincinnati, I should have been able togive some little account of the conversations I had listened to;but, upon reading over my notes, and then taxing my memory to theutmost to supply the deficiency, I can scarcely find a trace ofany thing that deserves the name. Such as I have, shall be givenin their place. But, whatever may be the talents of the personswho meet together in society, the very shape, form, andarrangement of the meeting is sufficient to paralyzeconversation. The women invariably herd together at one part ofthe room, and the men at the other; but, in justice toCincinnati, I must acknowledge that this arrangement is by nomeans peculiar to that city, or to the western side of theAlleghanies. Sometimes a small attempt at music produces apartial reunion; a few of the most daring youths, animated by theconsciousness of curled hair and smart waistcoats, approach thepiano forte, and begin to mutter a little to the half-grownpretty things, who are comparing with one another "how manyquarters' music they have had. " Where the mansion is ofsufficient dignity to have two drawing-rooms, the piano, thelittle ladies, and the slender gentlemen are left to themselves, and on such occasions the sound of laughter is often heard toissue from among them. But the fate of the more dignifiedpersonages, who are left in the other room, is extremely dismal. The gentlemen spit, talk of elections and the price of produce, and spit again. The ladies look at each other's dresses tillthey know every pin by heart; talk of Parson Somebody's lastsermon on the day of judgment, on Dr. T'otherbody's new pills fordyspepsia, till the "tea" is announced, when they all consolethemselves together for whatever they may have suffered inkeeping awake, by taking more tea, coffee, hot cake and custard, hoe cake, johny cake, waffle cake, and dodger cake, pickledpeaches, and preserved cucumbers, ham, turkey, hung beef, applesauce, and pickled oysters than ever were prepared in any othercountry of the known world. After this massive meal is over, they return to the drawing-room, and it always appeared to methat they remained together as long as they could bear it, andthen they rise EN MASSE, cloak, bonnet, shawl, and exit. 

CHAPTER 7

Market--Museum--Picture Gallery--Academy of Fine Arts DrawingSchool--Phrenological Society--Miss Wright's Lecture. 

Perhaps the most advantageous feature in Cincinnati is itsmarket, which, for excellence, abundance, and cheapness, canhardly, I should think, be surpassed in any part of the world, ifI except the luxury of fruits, which are very inferior to any Ihave seen in Europe. There are no butchers, fishmongers, orindeed any shops for eatables, except bakeries, as they arecalled, in the town; every thing must be purchased at market; andto accomplish this, the busy housewife must be stirring betimes, or, 'spite of the abundant supply, she will find her hopes ofbreakfast, dinner, and supper for the day defeated, the marketbeing pretty well over by eight o'clock. 

The beef is excellent, and the highest price when we were there, four cents (about two-pence) the pound. The mutton was inferior, and so was veal to the eye, but it ate well, though not very fat;the price was about the same. The poultry was excellent; fowlsor full-sized chickens, ready for table, twelve cents, but muchless if bought alive, and not quite fat; turkeys about fiftycents, and geese the same. The Ohio furnishes several sorts offish, some of them very good, and always to be found cheap andabundant in the market. Eggs, butter, nearly all kinds ofvegetables, excellent, and at moderate prices. From June tillDecember tomatoes (the great luxury of the American table in theopinion of most Europeans) may be found in the highest perfectionin the market for about sixpence the peck. They have a greatvariety of beans unknown in England, particularly the lima-bean, the seed of which is dressed like the French harico; it furnishesa very abundant crop, and is a most delicious vegetable: could itbe naturalised with us it would be a valuable acquisition. TheWindsor, or broad-bean, will not do well there; Mr. Bullock hadthem in his garden, where they were cultivated with much care;they grew about a foot high and blossomed, but the pod neverripened. All the fruit I saw exposed for sale in Cincinnati wasmost miserable. I passed two summers there, but never tasted apeach worth eating. Of apricots and nectarines I saw none;strawberries very small, raspberries much worse; gooseberriesvery few, and quite uneatable; currants about half the size ofours, and about double the price; grapes too sour for tarts;apples abundant, but very indifferent, none that would be thoughtgood enough for an English table; pears, cherries, and plums mostmiserably bad. The flowers of these regions were at leastequally inferior: whether this proceeds from want of cultivationor from peculiarity of soil I know not, but after leavingCincinnati, I was told by a gentleman who appeared to understandthe subject, that the state of Ohio had no indigenous flowers orfruits. The water-melons, which in that warm climate furnish adelightful refreshment, were abundant and cheap; but all othermelons very inferior to those of France, or even of England, whenripened in a common hot-bed. 

From the almost total want of pasturage near the city, it isdifficult for a stranger to divine how milk is furnished for itssupply, but we soon learnt that there are more ways than one ofkeeping a cow. A large proportion of the families in the town, particularly of the poorer class, have one, though apparentlywithout any accommodation whatever for it. These animals arefed morning and evening at the door of the house, with a goodmess of Indian corn, boiled with water; while they eat, they aremilked, and when the operation is completed the milk-pail and themeal-tub retreat into the dwelling, leaving the republican cow towalk away, to take her pleasure on the hills, or in the gutters, as may suit her fancy best. They generally return very regularlyto give and take the morning and evening meal; though it morethan once happened to us, before we were supplied by a regularmilk cart, to have our jug sent home empty, with the sad newsthat "the cow was not come home, and it was too late to look forher to breakfast now. " Once, I remember, the good woman told usthat she had overslept herself, and that the cow had come andgone again, "not liking, I expect, to hanker about by herselffor nothing, poor thing. "

Cincinnati has not many lions to boast, but among them aretwo museums of natural history; both of these contain manyrespectable specimens, particularly that of Mr. Dorfeuille, who has moreover, some highly interesting Indian antiquities. He is a man of taste and science, but a collection formedstrictly according to their dictates, would by no means satisfythe western metropolis. The people have a most extravagantpassion for wax figures, and the two museums vie with each otherin displaying specimens of this barbarous branch of art. As Mr. Dorfeuille cannot trust to his science for attracting thecitizens, he has put his ingenuity into requisition, and this hasproved to him the surer aid of the two. He has constructed apandaemonium in an upper story of his museum, in which he hascongregated all the images of horror that his fertile fancy coulddevise; dwarfs that by machinery grow into giants before the eyesof the spectator; imps of ebony with eyes of flame; monstrousreptiles devouring youth and beauty; lakes of fire, and mountainsof ice; in short, wax, paint and springs have done wonders. "To give the scheme some more effect, " he makes it visible onlythrough a grate of massive iron bars, among which are arrangedwires connected with an electrical machine in a neighbouringchamber; should any daring hand or foot obtrude itself with thebars, it receives a smart shock, that often passes through manyof the crowd, and the cause being unknown, the effect isexceedingly comic; terror, astonishment, curiosity, are all setin action, and all contribute to make "Dorfeuille's Hell" one ofthe most amusing exhibitions imaginable. 

There is also a picture gallery at Cincinnati, and this was acircumstance of much interest to us, as our friend Mr. H. , whohad accompanied Miss Wright to America, in the expectation offinding a good opening in the line of historical painting, intended commencing his experiment at Cincinnati. It would beinvidious to describe the picture gallery; I have no doubt, thatsome years hence it will present a very different appearance. Mr. H. Was very kindly received by many of the gentlemen of thecity, and though the state of the fine arts there gave him butlittle hope that he should meet with much success, he immediatelyoccupied himself in painting a noble historical picture of thelanding of General Lafayette at Cincinnati. 

Perhaps the clearest proof of the little feeling for art thatexisted at that time in Cincinnati, may be drawn from the resultof an experiment originated by a German, who taught drawingthere. He conceived the project of forming a chartered academyof fine arts; and he succeeded in the beginning to his utmostwish, or rather, "they fooled him to the top of his bent. " Threethousand dollars were subscribed, that is to say, names werewritten against different sums to that amount, a house waschosen, and finally, application was made to the government, andthe charter obtained, rehearsing formally the names of thesubscribing members, the professors, and the officers. So fardid the steam of their zeal impel them, but at this point it waslet off; the affair stood still, and I never heard the academy offine arts mentioned afterwards. 

This same German gentleman, on seeing Mr. H. 's sketches, was sowell pleased with them, that he immediately proposed his joininghim in his drawing school, with an agreement, I believe that hispayment from it should be five hundred dollars a year. Mr. H. Accepted the proposal, but the union did not last long, and thecause of its dissolution was too American to be omitted. Mr. H. Prepared his models, and attended the class, which was numerous, consisting both of boys and girls. He soon found that the "sagecalled Decipline" was not one of the assistants, and heremonstrated against the constant talking, and running from onepart of the room to another, but in vain; finding, however, thathe could do nothing till this was discontinued, he wrote somerules, enforcing order, for the purpose of placing them at thedoor of the academy. When he shewed them to his colleague, heshook his head, and said, "Very goot, very goot in Europe, butAmerica boys and gals vill not bear it, dey will do just vat deyplease; Suur, dey vould all go avay next day. " "And you will notenforce these regulations _si necessaires_, Monsieur?" "Olar!not for de vorld. " "_Eh bien_, Monsieur, I must leave the youngrepublicans to your management. "

I heard another anecdote that will help to show the state of artat this time in the west. Mr. Bullock was shewing to somegentlemen of the first standing, the very _elite_ of Cincinnati, his beautiful collection of engravings, when one among themexclaimed, "Have you really done all these since you came here?How hard you must have worked!"

I was also told of a gentleman of High Cincinnati, TON andcritical of his taste for the fine arts, who, having a drawingput into his hands, representing Hebe and the bird, umquhilesacred to Jupiter, demanded in a satirical tone, "What is this?""Hebe, " replied the alarmed collector. "Hebe, " sneered the manof taste, "What the devil has Hebe to do with the Americaneagle?"

We had not been long at Cincinnati when Dr. Caldwell, theSpurzheim of America, arrived there for the purpose of deliveringlectures on phrenology. I attended his lectures, and wasintroduced to him. He has studied Spurzheim and Combediligently, and seems to understand the science to which he hasdevoted himself; but neither his lectures nor his conversationhad that delightful truth of genuine enthusiasm, which makeslistening to Dr. Spurzheim so great a treat. His lectures, however, produced considerable effect. Between twenty and thirtyof the most erudite citizens decided upon forming a phrenologicalsociety. A meeting was called, and fully attended; a respectablenumber of subscribers' names was registered, the payment ofsubscriptions being arranged for a future day. President, vice-president, treasurer, and secretary, were chosen; and the firstmeeting dissolved with every appearance of energetic perseverancein scientific research. 

The second meeting brought together one-half of this learnedbody, and they enacted rules and laws, and passed resolutions, sufficient, it was said, to have filled three folios. 

A third day of meeting arrived, which was an important one, as onthis occasion the subscriptions were to be paid. The treasurercame punctually, but found himself alone. With patient hope, hewaited two hours for the wise men of the west, but he waited invain: and so expired the Phrenological Society of Cincinnati. 

I had often occasion to remark that the spirit of enterprise orimprovement seldom glowed with sufficient ardour to resist thesmothering effect of a demand for dollars. The Americans lovetalking. All great works, however, that promise a profitableresult, are sure to meet support from men who have enterprise andcapital sufficient to await the return; but where there isnothing but glory, or the gratification of taste to be expected, it is, I believe, very rarely that they give any thing beyond"their most sweet voices. "

Perhaps they are right. In Europe we see fortunes crippled by apassion for statues, or for pictures, or for books, or for gems;for all and every of the artificial wants that give grace tolife, and tend to make man forget that he is a thing of clay. They are wiser in their generation on the other side theAtlantic; I rarely saw any thing that led to such oblivion there. 

Soon after Dr. Caldwell's departure, another lecturer appearedupon the scene, whose purpose of publicly addressing the peoplewas no sooner made known, than the most violent sensation wasexcited. 

That a lady of fortune, family, and education, whose youth hadbeen passed in the most refined circles of private life, shouldpresent herself to the people as a public lecturer, wouldnaturally excite surprise any where, and the nil admirari of theold world itself, would hardly be sustained before such aspectacle; but in America, where women are guarded by a seven-fold shield of habitual insignificance, it caused an effect thatcan hardly be described. "Miss Wright, of Nashoba, is going tolecture at the court-house, " sounded from street to street, andfrom house to house. I shared the surprise, but not the wonder;I knew her extraordinary gift of eloquence, her almost unequalledcommand of words, and the wonderful power of her rich andthrilling voice; and I doubted not that if it was her will todo it, she had the power of commanding the attention, andenchanting the ear of any audience before whom it was herpleasure to appear. I was most anxious to hear her, but wasalmost deterred from attempting it, by the reports that reachedme of the immense crowd that was expected. After manyconsultations, and hearing that many other ladies intended going, my friend Mrs. P--, and myself, decided upon making the attempt, accompanied by a party of gentlemen, and found the difficultyless than we anticipated, though the building was crowded inevery part. We congratulated ourselves that we had had thecourage to be among the number, for all my expectations fell farshort of the splendour, the brilliance, the overwhelmingeloquence of this extraordinary orator. 

Her lecture was upon the nature of true knowledge, and itcontained little that could be objected to, by any sect orparty; it was intended as an introduction to the strange andstartling theories contained in her subsequent lectures, andcould alarm only by the hints it contained that the fabric ofhuman wisdom could rest securely on no other base than that ofhuman knowledge. 

There was, however, one passage from which common-sense revolted;it was one wherein she quoted that phrase of mischievoussophistry, "all men are born free and equal. " This false andfutile axiom, which has done, is doing, and will do so much harmto this fine country, came from Jefferson; and truly his life wasa glorious commentary upon it. I pretend not to criticise hiswritten works, but commonsense enables me to pronounce this, hisfavourite maxim, false. 

Few names are held in higher estimation in America, than that ofJefferson; it is the touchstone of the democratic party, and allseem to agree that he was one of the greatest of men; yet I haveheard his name coupled with deeds which would make the sons ofEurope shudder. The facts I allude to are spoken openly by all, not whispered privately by a few; and in a country where religionis the tea-table talk, and its strict observance a fashionabledistinction, these facts are recorded, and listened to, withouthorror, nay, without emotion. 

Mr. Jefferson is said to have been the father of children byalmost all his numerous gang of female slaves. These wretchedoffspring were also the lawful slaves of their father, and workedin his house and plantations as such; in particular, it isrecorded that it was his especial pleasure to be waited upon bythem at table, and the hospitable orgies for which his Montecielowas so celebrated, were incomplete, unless the goblet he quaffedwere tendered by the trembling hand of his own slavish offspring. 

I once heard it stated by a democratical adorer of this greatman, that when, as it sometimes happened, his children byQuadroon slaves were white enough to escape suspicion of theirorigin, he did not pursue them if they attempted to escape, saying laughingly, "Let the rogues get off, if they can; I willnot hinder them. " This was stated in a large party, as a proofof his kind and noble nature, and was received by all withapproving smiles. 

If I know anything of right or wrong, if virtue and vice beindeed something more than words, then was this great Americanan unprincipled tyrant, and most heartless libertine. 

But to return to Miss Wright, --it is impossible to imaging anything more striking than her appearance. Her tall and majesticfigure, the deep and almost solemn expression of her eyes, thesimple contour of her finely formed head, unadorned excepting byits own natural ringlets; her garment of plain white muslin, which hung around her in folds that recalled the drapery of aGrecian statue, all contributed to produce an effect, unlikeanything I had ever seen before, or ever expect to see again. 

CHAPTER 8

Absence of public and private Amusement--Churches andChapels--Influence of the Clergy--A Revival

I never saw any people who appeared to live so much withoutamusement as the Cincinnatians. Billiards are forbidden by law, so are cards. To sell a pack of cards in Ohio subjects theseller to a penalty of fifty dollars. They have no public balls, excepting, I think, six, during the Christmas holidays. Theyhave no concerts. They have no dinner parties. 

They have a theatre, which is, in fact, the only public amusementof this triste little town; but they seem to care little aboutit, and either from economy or distaste, it is very poorlyattended. Ladies are rarely seen there, and by far the largerproportion of females deem it an offence against religion towitness the representation of a play. It is in the churches andchapels of the town that the ladies are to be seen in fullcostume; and I am tempted to believe that a stranger from thecontinent of Europe would be inclined, on first reconnoiteringthe city, to suppose that the places of worship were the theatresand cafes of the place. No evening in the week but bringsthrongs of the young and beautiful to the chapels and meeting-houses, all dressed with care, and sometimes with greatpretension; it is there that all display is made, and allfashionable distinction sought. The proportion of gentlemenattending these evening meetings is very small, but often, asmight be expected, a sprinkling of smart young clerks make thissedulous display of ribbons and ringlets intelligible andnatural. Were it not for the churches, indeed, I think theremight be a general bonfire of best bonnets, for I never coulddiscover any other use for them. 

The ladies are too actively employed in the interior of theirhouses to permit much parading in full dress for morning visits. There are no public gardens or lounging shops of fashionableresort, and were it not for public worship, and private tea-drinkings, all the ladies in Cincinnati would be in danger ofbecoming perfect recluses. 

The influence which the ministers of all the innumerablereligious sects throughout America, have on the females of theirrespective congregations, approaches very nearly to what we readof in Spain, or in other strictly Roman Catholic countries. There are many causes for this peculiar influence. Whereequality of rank is affectedly acknowledged by the rich, andclamourously claimed by the poor, distinction and preeminence areallowed to the clergy only. This gives them high importance inthe eyes of the ladies. I think, also, that it is from theclergy only that the women of America receive that sort ofattention which is so dearly valued by every female heartthroughout the world. With the priests of America, the womenhold that degree of influential importance which, in thecountries of Europe, is allowed them throughout all orders andranks of society, except, perhaps, the very lowest; and in returnfor this they seem to give their hearts and souls into theirkeeping. I never saw, or read, of any country where religion hadso strong a hold upon the women, or a slighter hold upon the men. 

I mean not to assert that I met with no men of sincerelyreligious feelings, or with no women of no religious feeling atall; but I feel perfectly secure of being correct as to the greatmajority in the statement I have made. 

We had not been many months in Cincinnati when our curiosity wasexcited by hearing the "revival" talked of by every one we metthroughout the town. "The revival will be very full"--"We shallbe constantly engaged during the revival"--were the phrases weconstantly heard repeated, and for a long time, without in theleast comprehending what was meant; but at length I learnt thatthe un-national church of America required to be roused, atregular intervals, to greater energy and exertion. At theseseasons the most enthusiastic of the clergy travel the country, and enter the cities and towns by scores, or by hundreds, as theaccommodation of the place may admit, and for a week orfortnight, or, if the population be large, for a month; theypreach and pray all day, and often for a considerable portion ofthe night, in the various churches and chapels of the place. This is called a Revival. 

I took considerable pains to obtain information on this subject;but in detailing what I learnt I fear that it is probable I shallbe accused of exaggeration; all I can do is cautiously to avoiddeserving it. The subject is highly interesting, and it would bea fault of no trifling nature to treat it with levity. 

These itinerant clergymen are of all persuasions, I believe, except the Episcopalian, Catholic, Unitarian, and Quaker. Iheard of Presbyterians of all varieties; of Baptists of I knownot how many divisions; and of Methodists of more denominationsthan I can remember; whose innumerable shades of varying belief, it would require much time to explain, and more to comprehend. They enter all the cities, towns, and villages of the Union, insuccession; I could not learn with sufficient certainty torepeat, what the interval generally is between their visits. These itinerants are, for the most part, lodged in the houses oftheir respective followers, and every evening that is not spentin the churches and meeting-houses, is devoted to what would becalled parties by others, but which they designate as prayermeetings. Here they eat, drink, pray, sing, hear confessions, and make converts. To these meetings I never got invited, andtherefore I have nothing but hearsay evidence to offer, but myinformation comes from an eye-witness, and one on whom I believeI may depend. If one half of what I heard may be believed, thesesocial prayer meetings are by no means the most curious, or theleast important part of the business. 

It is impossible not to smile at the close resemblance to betraced between the feelings of a first-rate Presbyterian orMethodist lady, fortunate enough to have secured a favouriteItinerant for her meeting, and those of a first-rate London Blue, equally blest in the presence of a fashionable poet. There is astrong family likeness among us all the world over. 

The best rooms, the best dresses, the choicest refreshmentssolemnize the meeting. While the party is assembling, theload-star of the hour is occupied in whispering conversationswith the guests as they arrive. They are called brothers andsisters, and the greetings are very affectionate. When the roomis full, the company, of whom a vast majority are always women, are invited, intreated, and coaxed to confess before theirbrothers and sisters, all their thoughts, faults, and follies. 

These confessions are strange scenes; the more they confess, themore invariably are they encouraged and caressed. When this isover, they all kneel, and the Itinerant prays extempore. Theythen eat and drink; and then they sing hymns, pray, exhort, sing, and pray again, till the excitement reaches a very high pitchindeed. These scenes are going on at some house or other everyevening during the revival, nay, at many at the same time, forthe churches and meeting-houses cannot give occupation to halfthe Itinerants, though they are all open throughout the day, andtill a late hour in the night, and the officiating ministerssucceed each other in the occupation of them. 

It was at the principal of the Presbyterian churches thatI was twice witness to scenes that made me shudder; indescribing one, I describe both and every one; the same thingis constantly repeated. 

It was in the middle of summer, but the service we wererecommended to attend did not begin till it was dark. Thechurch was well lighted, and crowded almost to suffocation. On entering, we found three priests standing side by side, in a sort of tribune, placed where the altar usually is, handsomely fitted up with crimson curtains, and elevatedabout as high as our pulpits. We took our places in a pewclose to the rail which surrounded it. 

The priest who stood in the middle was praying; the prayer wasextravagantly vehement, and offensively familiar in expression;when this ended, a hymn was sung, and then another priest tookthe centre place, and preached. The sermon had considerableeloquence, but of a frightful kind. The preacher described, withghastly minuteness, the last feeble fainting moments of humanlife, and then the gradual progress of decay after death, whichhe followed through every process up to the last loathsome stageof decomposition. Suddenly changing his tone, which had beenthat of sober accurate description, into the shrill voice ofhorror, he bent forward his head, as if to gaze on some objectbeneath the pulpit. And as Rebecca made known to Ivanhoe whatshe saw through the window, so the preacher made known to us whathe saw in the pit that seemed to open before him. The device wascertainly a happy one for giving effect to his description ofhell. No image that fire, flame, brimestone, molten lead, orred-hot pincers could supply; with flesh, nerves, and sinewsquivering under them, was omitted. The perspiration ran instreams from the face of the preacher; his eyes rolled, his lipswere covered with foam, and every feature had the deep expressionof horror it would have borne, had he, in truth, been gazing atthe scene he described. The acting was excellent. At length hegave a languishing look to his supporters on each side, as if toexpress his feeble state, and then sat down, and wiped the dropsof agony from his brow. 

The other two priests arose, and began to sing a hymn. It wassome seconds before the congregation could join as usual; everyupturned face looked pale and horror struck. When the singingended, another took the centre place, and began in a sort ofcoaxing affectionate tone, to ask the congregation if what theirdear brother had spoken had reached their hearts? Whether theywould avoid the hell he had made them see? "Come, then!" hecontinued, stretching out his arms towards them, "come to us, andtell us so, and we will make you see Jesus, the dear gentleJesus, who shall save you from it. But you must come to him!You must not be ashamed to come to him! This night you shalltell him that you are not ashamed of him; we will make way foryou; we will clear the bench for anxious sinners to sit upon. Come, then! come to the anxious bench, and we will shew youJesus! Come! Come! Come!" Again a hymn was sung, and while itcontinued, one of the three was employed in clearing one or twolong benches that went across the rail, sending the people backto the lower part of the church. The singing ceased, and againthe people were invited, and exhorted not to be ashamed of Jesus, but to put themselves upon "the anxious benches, " and lay theirheads on his bosom. "Once more we will sing, " he concluded, "that we may give you time. " And again they sung a hymn. 

And now in every part of the church a movement was perceptible, slight at first, but by degrees becoming more decided. Younggirls arose, and sat down, and rose again; and then the pewsopened, and several came tottering out, their hands clasped, their heads hanging on their bosoms, and every limb trembling, and still the hymn went on; but as the poor creatures approachedthe rail their sobs and groans became audible. They seatedthemselves on the "anxious benches;" the hymn ceased, and two ofthe three priests walked down from the tribune, and going, one tothe right, and the other to the left, began whispering to thepoor tremblers seated there. These whispers were inaudible tous, but the sobs and groans increased to a frightful excess. Young creatures, with features pale and distorted, fell on theirknees on the pavement, and soon sunk forward on their faces; themost violent cries and shrieks followed, while from time to timea voice was heard in convulsive accents, exclaiming, "Oh Lord!""Oh Lord Jesus!" "Help me, Jesus!" and the like. 

Meanwhile the two priests continued to walk among them; theyrepeatedly mounted on the benches, and trumpet-mouthed proclaimedto the whole congregation, "the tidings of salvation, " and thenfrom every corner of the building arose in reply, short sharpcries of "Amen!" "Glory!" "Amen!" while the prostrate penitentscontinued to receive whispered comfortings, and from time to timea mystic caress. More than once I saw a young neck encircled bya reverend arm. Violent hysterics and convulsions seized many ofthem, and when the tumult was at the highest, the priest whoremained above, again gave out a hymn as if to drown it. 

It was a frightful sight to behold innocent young creatures, inthe gay morning of existence, thus seized upon, horror struck, and rendered feeble and enervated for ever. One young girl, apparently not more than fourteen, was supported in the arms ofanother, some years older; her face was pale as death; her eyeswide open, and perfectly devoid of meaning; her chin and bosomwet with slaver; she had every appearance of idiotism. I saw apriest approach her, he took her delicate hand, "Jesus is withher! Bless the Lord!" he said, and passed on. 

Did the men of America value their women as men ought tovalue their wives and daughters, would such scenes be permittedamong them?

It is hardly necessary to say that all who obeyed the call toplace themselves on the "anxious benches" were women, and by farthe greater number very young women. The congregation was, ingeneral, extremely well dressed, and the smartest and mostfashionable ladies of the town were there; during the wholerevival the churches and meeting-houses were every day crowdedwith well dressed people. 

It is thus the ladies of Cincinnati amuse themselves; to attendthe theatre is forbidden; to play cards is unlawful; but theywork hard in their families, and must have some relaxation. Formyself, I confess that I think the coarsest comedy ever writtenwould be a less detestable exhibition for the eyes of youth andinnocence than such a scene. 

CHAPTER 9

Schools--Climate--Water Melons--Fourth of July--Storms--Pigs--Moving Houses--Mr. Flint--Literature

Cincinnati contains many schools, but of their rank or merit Ihad very little opportunity of judging; the only one which Ivisited was kept by Dr. Lock, a gentleman who appears to haveliberal and enlarged opinions on the subject of female education. Should his system produce practical results proportionablyexcellent, the ladies of Cincinnati will probably some yearshence be much improved in their powers of companionship. I attended the annual public exhibition at this school, andperceived, with some surprise, that the higher branches ofscience were among the studies of the pretty creatures I sawassembled there. One lovely girl of sixteen took her degreein mathematics, and another was examined in moral philosophy. They blushed so sweetly, and looked so beautifully puzzledand confounded, that it might have been difficult for an ablerjudge than I was to decide how far they merited the diplomathey received. 

This method of letting young ladies graduate, and granting themdiplomas on quitting the establishment, was quite new to me; atleast, I do not remember to have heard of any thing similarelsewhere. I should fear that the time allowed to the fairgraduates of Cincinnati for the acquirement of these variousbranches of education would seldom be sufficient to permit theirreaching the eminence in each which their enlightened instructoranticipates. "A quarter's" mathematics, or "two quarters"political economy, moral philosophy, algebra, and quadraticequations, would seldom, I should think, enable the teacher andthe scholar, by their joint efforts, to lay in such a stock ofthese sciences as would stand the wear and tear of half a scoreof children, and one help. 

Towards the end of May we began to feel that we were in a climatewarmer than any we had been accustomed to, and my son sufferedseverely from the effects of it. A bilious complaint, attendedby a frightful degree of fever, seized him, and for some days wefeared for his life. The treatment he received was, I have nodoubt, judicious, but the quantity of calomel prescribed wasenormous. I asked one day how many grains I should prepare, andwas told to give half a teaspoonful. The difference of climatemust, I imagine, make a difference in the effect of this drug, orthe practice of the old and new world could hardly differ sowidely as it does in the use of it. Anstey, speaking of the Bathphysicians, says, "No one e'er viewed Any one of the medical gentlemen stewed. "

But I can vouch, upon my own experience, that no similarimputation lies against the gentlemen who prescribe largequantities of calomel in America. To give one instance in proofof this, when I was afterwards in Montgomery county, nearWashington, a physician attended one of our neighbours, andcomplained that he was himself unwell. "You must take care ofyourself, Doctor, " said the patient; "I do so, " he replied, "Itook forty grains of calomel yesterday, and I feel better than Idid. " Repeated and violent bleeding was also had recourse to inthe case of my son, and in a few days he was able to leave hisroom, but he was dreadfully emaciated, and it was many weeksbefore he recovered his strength. 

As the heat of the weather increased we heard of much sicknessaround us. The city is full of physicians, and they were all tobe seen driving about in their cabs at a very alarming rate. Oneof these gentlemen told us, that when a medical man intendedsettling in a new situation, he always, if he knew his business, walked through the streets at nights, before he decided. If hesaw the dismal twinkle of the watch-light from many windows hemight be sure that disease was busy, and the the "location" mightsuit him well. Judging, by this criterion, Cincinnati was farfrom healthy, I began to fear for our health, and determined toleave the city; but, for a considerable time I found itimpossible to procure a dwelling out of it. There were manyboarding-houses in the vicinity, but they were all overflowingwith guests. We were advised to avoid, as much as possible, walking out in the heat of the day; but the mornings and eveningswere delightful, particularly the former, if taken sufficientlyearly. For several weeks I was never in bed after four o'clock, and at this hour I almost daily accompanied my "help" to market, where the busy novelty of the scene afforded me much amusement. 

Many waggon-loads of enormous water-melons were brought to marketevery day, and I was sure to see groups of men, women, andchildren seated on the pavement round the spot where they weresold, sucking in prodigious quantities of this water-fruit. Their manner of devouring them is extremely unpleasant; the hugefruit is cut into half a dozen sections, of about a foot long, and then, dripping as it is with water, applied to the mouth, from either side of which pour copious streams of the fluid, while, ever and anon, a mouthful of the hard black seeds are shotout in all directions, to the great annoyance of all withinreach. When I first tasted this fruit I thought it very vilestuff indeed, but before the end of the season we all learned tolike it. When taken with claret and sugar it makes deliciouswine and water. 

It is the custom for the gentlemen to go to market at Cincinnati;the smartest men in the place, and those of the "higheststanding" do not scruple to leave their beds with the sun, sixdays in the week, and, prepared with a mighty basket, to sallyforth in search of meat, butter, eggs and vegetables. I havecontinually seen them returning, with their weighty basket on onearm and an enormous ham depending from the other. 

And now arrived the 4th of July, that greatest of all Americanfestivals. On the 4th of July, 1776, the declaration of theirindependence was signed, at the State-house in Philadelphia. 

To me, the dreary coldness and want of enthusiasm in Americanmanners is one of their greatest defects, and I therefore hailedthe demonstrations of general feeling which this day elicits withreal pleasure. On the 4th of July the hearts of the people seemto awaken from a three hundred and sixty-four days' sleep; theyappear high-spirited, gay, animated, social, generous, or atleast liberal in expense; and would they but refrain fromspitting on that hallowed day, I should say, that on the 4th ofJuly, at least, they appeared to be an amiable people. It istrue that the women have but little to do with the pageantry, thesplendour, or the gaiety of the day; but, setting this defectaside, it was indeed a glorious sight to behold a jubilee soheartfelt as this; and had they not the bad taste and bad feelingto utter an annual oration, with unvarying abuse of the mothercountry, to say nothing of the warlike manifesto calledDeclaration of Independence, our gracious king himself might lookupon the scene and say that it was good; nay, even rejoice, thattwelve millions of bustling bodies, at four thousand milesdistance from his throne and his altars, should make their ownlaws, and drink their own tea, after the fashion that pleasedthem best. 

One source of deep interest to us, in this new clime, was thefrequent recurrence of thunderstorms. Those who have onlylistened to thunder in England have but a faint idea of thelanguage which the gods speak when they are angry. Thomson'sdescription, however, will do: it is hardly possible that wordscan better paint the spectacle, or more truly echo to the sound, than his do. The only point he does not reach is the vast blazeof rose-coloured light that ever and anon sets the landscape onfire. 

In reading this celebrated description in America, and observinghow admirably true it was to nature there, I seemed to get aglimpse at a poet's machinery, and to perceive, that in order toproduce effect he must give his images more vast than he findsthem in nature; but the proportions must be just, and thecolouring true. Every thing seems colossal on this greatcontinent; if it rains, if it blows, if it thunders, it is alldone _fortissimo_; but I often felt terror yield to wonder anddelight, so grand, so glorious were the scenes a storm exhibited. Accidents are certainly more frequent than with us, but not somuch so as reasonably to bring terror home to one's bosom everytime a mass of lurid clouds is seen rolling up against the wind. 

It seems hardly fair to quarrel with a place because its staplecommodity is not pretty, but I am sure I should have likedCincinnati much better if the people had not dealt so verylargely in hogs. The immense quantity of business done in thisline would hardly be believed by those who had not witnessed it. I never saw a newspaper without remarking such advertisements asthe following:

 "Wanted, immediately, 4, 000 fat hogs. " "For sale, 2, 000 barrels of prime pork. "

But the annoyance came nearer than this; if I determined upona walk up Main-street, the chances were five hundred to oneagainst my reaching the shady side without brushing by a snoutfresh dripping from the kennel; when we had screwed our courageto the enterprise of mounting a certain noble looking sugar-loafhill, that promised pure air and a fine view, we found the brookwe had to cross, at its foot, red with the stream from a pigslaughter house; while our noses, instead of meeting "the thymethat loves the green hill's breast, " were greeted by odoursthat I will not describe, and which I heartily hope my readerscannot imagine; our feet, that on leaving the city had expectedto press the flowery sod, literally got entangled in pigs' tailsand jaw-bones: and thus the prettiest walk in the neighbourhoodwas interdicted for ever. 

One of the sights to stare at in America is that of housesmoving from place to place. We were often amused by watchingthis exhibition of mechanical skill in the streets. They makeno difficulty of moving dwellings from one part of the town toanother. Those I saw travelling were all of them frame-houses, that is, built wholly of wood, except the chimneys; but it issaid that brick buildings are sometimes treated in the samemanner. The largest dwelling that I saw in motion was onecontaining two stories of four rooms each; forty oxen were yokedto it. The first few yards brought down the two stacks ofchimneys, but it afterwards went on well. The great difficultieswere the first getting it in motion and the stopping exactly inthe right place. This locomotive power was extremely convenientat Cincinnati, as the constant improvements going on there madeit often desirable to change a wooden dwelling for one of brick;and whenever this happened, we were sure to see the ex No. 100 ofMain-street or the ex No. 55 of Second street creeping quietly outof town, to take possession of a humble suburban station on thecommon above it. 

The most agreeable acquaintance I made in Cincinnati, and indeedone of the most talented men I ever met, was Mr. Flint, theauthor of several extremely clever volumes, and the editor of theWestern Monthly Review. His conversational powers are of thehighest order: he is the only person I remember to have knownwith first rate powers of satire, and even of sarcasm, whosekindness of nature and of manner remained perfectly uninjured. In some of his critical notices there is a strength and keennesssecond to nothing of the kind I have ever read. He is a warmpatriot, and so true-hearted an American, that we could notalways be of the same opinion on all the subjects we discussed;but whether it were the force and brilliancy of his language, hisgenuine and manly sincerity of feeling, or his bland andgentleman-like manner that beguiled me, I know not, but certainlyhe is the only American I ever listened to whose unqualifiedpraise of his country did not appear to me somewhat overstrainedand ridiculous. 

On one occasion, but not at the house of Mr. Flint, I passed anevening in company with a gentleman said to be a scholar and aman of reading; he was also what is called a _serious_ gentleman, and he appeared to have pleasure in feeling that his claim todistinction was acknowledged in both capacities. There was avery amiable _serious_ lady in the company, to whom he seemed totrust for the development of his celestial pretensions, and tome he did the honour of addressing most of his terrestrialsuperiority. The difference between us was, that when he spoketo her, he spoke as to a being who, if not his equal, was atleast deserving high distinction; and he gave her smiles, suchas Michael might have vouchsafed to Eve. To me he spoke as Paulto the offending Jews; he did not, indeed, shake his raiment atme, but he used his pocket-handkerchief so as to answer thepurpose; and if every sentence did not end with "I am clean, "pronounced by his lips, his tone, his look, his action, fullysupplied the deficiency. 

Our poor Lord Byron, as may be supposed, was the bull's-eyeagainst which every dart in his black little quiver was aimed. I had never heard any serious gentleman talk of Lord Byron atfull length before, and I listened attentively. It was evidentthat the noble passages which are graven on the hearts of thegenuine lovers of poetry had altogether escaped the seriousgentleman's attention; and it was equally evident that he knewby rote all those that they wish the mighty master had neverwritten. I told him so, and I shall not soon forget the lookhe gave me. 

Of other authors his knowledge was very imperfect, but hiscriticisms very amusing. Of Pope, he said, "He is so entirelygone by, that in _our_ country it is considered quite fustian tospeak of him"

But I persevered, and named "the Rape of the Lock" as evincingsome little talent, and being in a tone that might still hope foradmittance in the drawing-room; but, on the mention of this poem, the serious gentleman became almost as strongly agitated as whenhe talked of Don Juan; and I was unfeignedly at a loss tocomprehend the nature of his feelings, till he muttered, with anindignant shake of the handkerchief, "The very title!"

At the name of Dryden he smiled, and the smile spoke as plainlyas a smile could speak, "How the old woman twaddles!"

"We only know Dryden by quotations. Madam, and these, indeed, are found only in books that have long since had their day. "

"And Shakspeare, sir?"

"Shakspeare, Madam, is obscene, and, thank God, WE aresufficiently advanced to have found it out! If we must have theabomination of stage plays, let them at least be marked by therefinement of the age in which we live. "

This was certainly being _au courant du jour_. 

Of Massenger he knew nothing. Of Ford he had never heard. Grayhad had his day. Prior he had never read, but understood he wasa very childish writer. Chaucer and Spenser he tied in a couple, and dismissed by saying, that he thought it was neither more norless than affectation to talk of authors who wrote in a tongue nolonger intelligible. 

This was the most literary conversation I was ever present at inCincinnati. *

 *(The pleasant, easy, unpretending talk on all subjects, (which I enjoyed in Mr. Flint's family, was an exception (to every thing else I met at Cincinnati. 

In truth, there are many reasons which render a very generaldiffusion of literature impossible in America. I can scarcelyclass the universal reading of newspapers as an exception to thisremark; if I could, my statement would be exactly the reverse, and I should say that America beat the world in letters. Thefact is, that throughout all ranks of society, from thesuccessful merchant, which is the highest, to the domesticserving man, which is the lowest, they are all too activelyemployed to read, except at such broken moments as may sufficefor a peep at a newspaper. It is for this reason, I presume, that every _American newspaper_ is more or less a magazine, wherein the merchant may scan while he holds out his hand for aninvoice, "Stanzas by Mrs. Hemans, " or a garbled extract fromMoore's Life of Byron; the lawyer may study his brief faithfully, and yet contrive to pick up the valuable dictum of some Americancritic, that "Bulwer's novels are decidedly superior to SirWalter Scott's;" nay, even the auctioneer may find time, as hebustles to his tub, or his tribune, to support his pretensions topolite learning, by glancing his quick eye over the columns, andreading that "Miss Mitford's descriptions are indescribable. " Ifyou buy a yard of ribbon, the shopkeeper lays down his newspaper, perhaps two or three, to measure it. I have seen a brewer'sdrayman perched on the shaft of his dray and reading onenewspaper, while another was tucked under his arm; and I oncewent into the cottage of a country shoemaker, of the name ofHarris, where I saw a newspaper half full of "original" poetry, directed to Madison F. Harris. To be sure of the fact, I askedthe man if his name were Madison. "Yes, Madam, Madison FranklinHarris is my name. " The last and the lyre divided his time, Ifear too equally, for he looked pale and poor. 

This, I presume, is what is meant by the general diffusion ofknowledge, so boasted of in the United States; such as it is, thediffusion of it is general enough, certainly; but I greatly doubtits being advantageous to the population. 

The only reading men I met with were those who made letters theirprofession; and of these, there were some who would hold a higherrank in the great Republic (not of America, but of letters), didthey write for persons less given to the study of magazines andnewspapers; and they might hold a higher rank still, did theywrite for the few and not for the many. I was always drawing aparallel, perhaps a childish one, between the external andinternal deficiency of polish and of elegance in the nativevolumes of the country. Their compositions have not thatcondensation of thought, or that elaborate finish, which theconsciousness of writing for the scholar and the man of taste iscalculated to give; nor have their dirty blue paper and slovenlytypes* the polished elegance that fits a volume for the hand orthe eye of the fastidious epicure in literary enjoyment. Thefirst book I bought in America was the "Chronicles of theCannongate. " In asking the price, I was agreeably surprised tohear a dollar and a half named, being about one sixth of what Iused to pay for its fellows in England; but on opening the grimpages, it was long before I could again call them cheap. To besure the pleasure of a bright well-printed page ought to be quitelost sight of in the glowing, galloping, bewitching course thatthe imagination sets out upon with a new Waverley novel; and soit was with me till I felt the want of it; and then I am almostashamed to confess how often, in turning the thin dusky pages, my poor earth-born spirit paused in its pleasure, to sigh forhot-pressed wire-wove. 

 *(I must make an exception in favour of the American (Quarterly Review. To the eye of the body it is in (all respects exactly the same thing as the English (Quarterly Review. 

CHAPTER 10

Removal to the country--Walk in the forest--Equality

At length my wish of obtaining a house in the country wasgratified. A very pretty cottage, the residence of a gentlemanwho was removing into town, for the convenience of his businessas a lawyer, was to let, and I immediately secured it. It wassituated in a little village about a mile and a half from thetown, close to the foot of the hills formerly mentioned as thenorthern boundary of it. We found ourselves much morecomfortable here than in the city. The house was pretty andcommodious, our sitting-rooms were cool and airy; we had got ridof the detestable mosquitoes, and we had an ice-house that neverfailed. Beside all this, we had the pleasure of gathering ourtomatoes from our own garden, and receiving our milk from our owncow. Our manner of life was infinitely more to my taste thanbefore; it gave us all the privileges of rusticity, which arefully as incompatible with a residence in a little town ofWestern America as with a residence in London. We lived on termsof primaeval intimacy with our cow, for if we lay down on ourlawn she did not scruple to take a sniff at the book we werereading, but then she gave us her own sweet breath in return. The verge of the cool-looking forest that rose opposite ourwindows was so near, that we often used it as an extra drawing-room, and there was no one to wonder if we went out with no otherpreparation than our parasols, carrying books and work enough towhile away a long summer day in the shade; the meadow thatdivided us from it was covered with a fine short grass, thatcontinued for a little way under the trees, making a beautifulcarpet, while sundry logs and stumps furnished our sofas andtables. But even this was not enough to satisfy us when we firstescaped from the city, and we determined upon having a day'senjoyment of the wildest forest scenery we could find. So wepacked up books, albums, pencils, and sandwiches, and, despite aburning sun, dragged up a hill so steep that we sometimes fanciedwe could rest ourselves against it by only leaning forward alittle. In panting and in groaning we reached the top, hoping tobe refreshed by the purest breath of heaven; but to have tastedthe breath of heaven we must have climbed yet farther, even tothe tops of the trees themselves, for we soon found that the airbeneath them stirred not, nor ever had stirred, as it seemed tous, since first it settled there, so heavily did it weigh uponour lungs. 

Still we were determined to enjoy ourselves, and forward we went, crunching knee deep through aboriginal leaves, hoping to reachsome spot less perfectly airtight than our landing-place. Wearied with the fruitless search, we decided on reposing awhileon the trunk of a fallen tree; being all considerably exhausted, the idea of sitting down on this tempting log was conceived andexecuted simultaneously by the whole party, and the whole partysunk together through its treacherous surface into a mass ofrotten rubbish that had formed part of the pith and marrow of theeternal forest a hundred years before. 

We were by no means the only sufferers by the accident; frogs, lizards, locusts, katiedids, beetles, and hornets, had the wholeof their various tenements disturbed, and testified theirdispleasure very naturally by annoying us as much as possible inreturn; we were bit, we were stung, we were scratched; and when, at last, we succeeded in raising ourselves from the venerableruin, we presented as woeful a spectacle as can well be imagined. We shook our (not ambrosial) garments, and panting with heat, stings, and vexation, moved a few paces from the scene of ourmisfortune, and again sat down; but this time it was upon thesolid earth. 

We had no sooner began to "chew the cud" of the bitter fancy thathad beguiled us to these mountain solitudes than a new annoyanceassailed us. A cloud of mosquitoes gathered round, and whileeach sharp proboscis sucked our blood, they teased us with theirhumming chorus, till we lost all patience, and started again onour feet, pretty firmly resolved never to try the _al fresco_joys of an American forest again. The sun was now in itsmeridian splendour, but our homeward path was short and downhill, so again packing up our preparations for felicity, westarted homeward, or, more properly speaking, we started, for inlooking for an agreeable spot in this dungeon forest we hadadvanced so far from the verge of the hill that we had lost alltrace of the precise spot where we had entered it. Nothing wasto be seen but multitudes of tall, slender, melancholy stems, aslike as peas, and standing within a foot of each other. Theground, as far as the eye could reach (which certainly was notfar), was covered with an unvaried bed of dried leaves; no trace, no track, no trail, as Mr. Cooper would call it, gave us a hintwhich way to turn; and having paused for a moment to meditate, weremembered that chance must decide for us at last, so we setforward, in no very good mood, to encounter new misfortunes. Wewalked about a quarter of a mile, and coming to a steep descent, we thought ourselves extremely fortunate, and began to scrambledown, nothing doubting that it was the same we had scrambled up. In truth, nothing could be more like, but, alas! things that arelike are not the same; when we had slipped and stumbled down tothe edge of the wood, and were able to look beyond it, we saw nopretty cottage with the shadow of its beautiful acacias comingforward to meet us: all was different; and, what was worse, allwas distant from the spot where we had hoped to be. We had comedown the opposite side of the ridge, and had now to win our wearyway a distance of three miles round its base, I believe we shallnone of us ever forget that walk. The bright, glowing, furnace-like heat of the atmosphere seems to scorch as I recall it. Itwas painful to tread, it was painful to breathe, it was painfulto look round; every object glowed with the reflection of thefierce tyrant that glared upon us from above. 

We got home alive, which agreeably surprised us; and when ourparched tongues again found power of utterance, we promised eachother faithfully never to propose any more parties of pleasure inthe grim store-like forests of Ohio. 

We were now in daily expectation of the arrival of Mr. T. ; butday after day, and week after week passed by till we began tofear some untoward circumstance might delay his coming till theSpring; at last, when we had almost ceased to look out for him. On the road which led from the town, he arrived, late at night, by that which leads across the country from Pitzburgh. Thepleasure we felt at seeing him was greatly increased by hisbringing with him our eldest son, which was a happiness we hadnot hoped for. Our walks and our drives now became doublyinteresting. The young men, fresh from a public school, foundAmerica so totally unlike all the nations with which theirreading had made them acquainted, that it was indeed a new worldto them. Had they visited Greece or Rome they would haveencountered objects with whose images their minds had been longacquainted; or had they travelled to France or Italy they wouldhave seen only what daily conversation had already renderedfamiliar; but at our public schools America (except perhaps as toher geographical position) is hardly better known than FairyLand; and the American character has not been much more deeplystudied than that of the Anthropophagi: all, therefore, was new, and every thing amusing. 

The extraordinary familiarity of our poor neighbours startled usat first, and we hardly knew how to receive their uncouthadvances, or what was expected of us in return; however, itsometimes produced very laughable scenes. Upon one occasion twoof my children set off upon an exploring walk up the hills; theywere absent rather longer than we expected, and the rest of ourparty determined upon going out to meet them; we knew thedirection they had taken, but thought it would be as well toenquire at a little public-house at the bottom of the hill, ifsuch a pair had been seen to pass. A woman, whose appearancemore resembled a Covent Garden market-woman than any thing else Ican remember, came out and answered my question with the mostjovial good humour in the affirmative, and prepared to join us inour search. Her look, her voice, her manner, were so exceedinglycoarse and vehement, that she almost frightened me; she passedher arm within mine, and to the inexpressible amusement of myyoung people, she dragged me on, talking and questioning mewithout ceasing. She lived but a short distance from us, and Iam sure intended to be a very good neighbour; but her violentintimacy made me dread to pass her door; my children, includingmy sons, she always addressed by their Christian names, exceptingwhen she substituted the word "honey;" this familiarity ofaddress, however, I afterwards found was universal throughout allranks in the United States. 

My general appellation amongst my neighbours was "the English oldwoman, " but in mentioning each other they constantly employed theterm "lady;" and they evidently had a pleasure in using it, for Irepeatedly observed, that in speaking of a neighbour, instead ofsaying Mrs. Such-a-one, they described her as "the lady over theway what takes in washing, " or as "that there lady, out by theGulley, what is making dip-candles. " Mr. Trollope was asconstantly called "the old man, " while draymen, butchers' boys, and the labourers on the canal were invariably denominated "themgentlemen;" nay, we once saw one of the most gentlemanlike men inCincinnati introduce a fellow in dirty shirt sleeves, and allsorts of detestable et cetera, to one of his friends, with thisformula, "D-- let me introduce this gentleman to you. " Ourrespective titles certainly were not very important; but theeternal shaking hands with these ladies and gentlemen was reallyan annoyance, and the more so, as the near approach of thegentlemen was always redolent of whiskey and tobacco. 

But the point where this republican equality was the mostdistressing was in the long and frequent visitations that itproduced. No one dreams of fastening a door in Western America;I was told that it would be considered as an affront by the wholeneighbourhood. I was thus exposed to perpetual, and mostvexatious interruptions from people whom I had often never seen, and whose names still oftener were unknown to me. 

Those who are native there, and to the manner born, seem to passover these annoyances with more skill than I could ever acquire. More than once I have seen some of my acquaintance beset in thesame way, without appearing at all distressed by it; theycontinued their employment or conversation with me, much as if nosuch interruption had taken place; when the visitor entered, theywould say, "How do you do?" and shake hands. 

"Tolerable, I thank ye, how be you?" was the reply. 

If it was a female, she took off her hat; if a male, he kept iton, and then taking possession of the first chair in their way, they would retain it for an hour together, without utteringanother word; at length, rising abruptly, they would again shakehands, with, "Well, now I must be going, I guess, " and so takethemselves off, apparently well contented with their reception. 

I could never attain this philosophical composure; I couldneither write nor read, and I always fancied I must talk to them. I will give the minutes of a conversation which I once set downafter one of their visits, as a specimen of their tone and mannerof speaking and thinking. My visitor was a milkman. 

"Well now, so you be from the old country? Ay--you'll see sightshere, I guess. "

"I hope I shall see many. "

"That's a fact. I expect your little place of an island don'tgrow such dreadful fine corn as you sees here?" [Corn alwaysmeans Indian corn, or maize. ]

"It grows no corn at all, sir. '"

"Possible! no wonder, then, that we reads such awful stories inthe papers of your poor people being starved to death. "

"We have wheat, however. "

"Ay, for your rich folks, but I calculate the poor seldom gets abelly full. "

"You have certainly much greater abundance here. "

"I expect so. Why they do say, that if a poor body contrivesto be smart enough to scrape together a few dollars, that yourKing George always comes down upon 'em, and takes it all away. Don't he?"

"I do not remember hearing of such a transaction. "

"I guess they be pretty close about it. Your papers ben't likeourn, I reckon? Now we says and prints just what we likes. "

"You spend a good deal of time in reading the newspapers. "

"And I'd like you to tell me how we can spend it better. Howshould freemen spend their time, but looking after theirgovernment, and watching that them fellers as we gives officesto, doos their duty, and gives themselves no airs?"

"But I sometimes think, sir, that your fences might be in morethorough repair, and your roads in better order, if less time wasspent in politics. "

"The Lord! to see how little you knows of a free country? Why, what's the smoothness of a road, put against the freedom of afree-born American? And what does a broken zig-zag signify, comparable to knowing that the men what we have been pleased tosend up to Congress, speaks handsome and straight, as we choosesthey should?"

"It is from a sense of duty, then, that you all go to the liquorstore to read the papers?"

"To be sure it is, and he'd be no true born American as didn't. I don't say that the father of a family should always be afterliquor, but I do say that I'd rather have my son drunk threetimes in a week, than not look after the affairs of his country. "

Our autumn walks were delightful; the sun ceased to scorch; thewant of flowers was no longer peculiar to Ohio; and the treestook a colouring, which in richness, brilliance, and variety, exceeded all description. I think it is the maple, or sugar-tree, that first sprinkles the forest with rich crimson; thebeech follows, with all its harmony of golden tints, from paleyellow up to brightest orange. The dog-wood gives almost thepurple colour of the mulberry; the chesnut softens all with itsfrequent mass of delicate brown, and the sturdy oak carries itsdeep green into the very lap of winter. These tints are toobright for the landscape painter; the attempt to follow nature inan American autumn scene must be abortive. The colours are inreality extremely brilliant, but the medium through which theyare seen increases the effect surprisingly. Of all the points inwhich America has the advantage of England, the one I felt mostsensibly was the clearness and brightness of the atmosphere. Byday and by night this exquisite purity of air gives tenfoldbeauty to every object. I could hardly believe the stars werethe same; the Great Bear looked like a constellation of suns; andJupiter justified all the fine things said of him in thosebeautiful lines from I know not what spirited pen, beginning, "I looked on thee, Jove! till my gaze Shrunk, smote by the pow'r of thy blaze. "

I always remarked that the first silver line of the moon'screscent attracted the eye on the first day, in America, asstrongly as it does here on the third. I observed anotherphenomenon in the crescent moon of that region, the cause ofwhich I less understood. That appearance which Shakespeardescribes as "the new moon, with the old moon in her lap, " andwhich I have heard ingeniously explained as the effect of _earthlight_, was less visible there than here. 

Cuyp's clearest landscapes have an atmosphere that approachesnearer to that of America than any I remember on canvas; but evenCuyp's _air_ cannot reach the lungs, and, therefore, can onlygive an idea of half the enjoyment; for it makes itself felt aswell as seen, and is indeed a constant source of pleasure. 

Our walks were, however, curtailed in several directions by myold Cincinnati enemies, the pigs; immense droves of them werecontinually arriving from the country by the road that led tomost of our favourite walks; they were often fed and lodged inthe prettiest valleys, and worse still, were slaughtered besidethe prettiest streams. Another evil threatened us from the samequarter, that was yet heavier. Our cottage had an ample piazza, (a luxury almost universal in the country houses of America), which, shaded by a group of acacias, made a delightful sitting-room; from this favourite spot we one day perceived symptoms ofbuilding in a field close to it; with much anxiety we hastened tothe spot, and asked what building was to be erected there. 

"'Tis to be a slaughter house for hogs, " was the dreadful reply. As there were several gentlemen's houses in the neighbourhood, Iasked if such an erection might not be indicted as a nuisance. 

"A what?"

"A nuisance, " I repeated, and explained what I meant. 

"No, no, " was the reply, "that may do very well for yourtyrannical country, where a rich man's nose is more thoughtof than a poor man's mouth; but hogs be profitable produce here, and we be too free for such a law as that, I guess. "

During my residence in America, little circumstances like theforegoing often recalled to my mind a conversation I once held inFrance with an old gentleman on the subject of their activepolice, and its omnipresent gens d'armerie; "Croyez moi, Madame, il n'y a que ceux, ā qui ils ont ā faire, qui les trouvent detrop. " And the old gentleman was right, not only in speaking ofFrance, but of the whole human family, as philosophers call us. The well disposed, those whose own feeling of justice wouldprevent their annoying others, will never complain of therestraints of the law. All the freedom enjoyed in America, beyond what is enjoyed in England, is enjoyed solely by thedisorderly at the expense of the orderly; and were I a stoutknight, either of the sword or of the pen, I would fearlesslythrow down my gauntlet, and challenge the whole Republic toprove the contrary; but being, as I am, a feeble looker on, with a needle for my spear, and "I talk" for my device, I mustbe contented with the power of stating the fact, perfectlycertain that I shall be contradicted by one loud shout fromMaine to Georgia. 

CHAPTER 11

Religion

I had often heard it observed before I visited America, that oneof the great blessings of its constitution was the absence of anational religion, the country being thus exonerated from allobligation of supporting the clergy; those only contributing todo so whose principles led them to it. My residence in thecountry has shewn me that a religious tyranny may be exerted veryeffectually without the aid of the government, in a way much moreoppressive than the paying of tithe, and without obtaining any ofthe salutary decorum, which I presume no one will deny is theresult of an established mode of worship. 

As it was impossible to remain many weeks in the country withoutbeing struck with the strange anomalies produced by its religioussystem, my early notes contain many observations on the subject;but as nearly the same scenes recurred in every part of thecountry, I state them here, not as belonging to the west alone, but to the whole Union, the same cause producing the same effectevery where. 

The whole people appear to be divided into an almost endlessvariety of religious factions, and I was told, that to be wellreceived in society, it was necessary to declare yourself asbelonging to some one of these. Let your acknowledged beliefbe what it may, you are said to be _not a Christian_, unless youattach yourself to a particular congregation. Besides thebroad and well-known distinctions of Episcopalian, Catholic, Presbyterian, Calvinist, Baptist, Quaker, Sweden-borgian, Universalist, Dunker, &c. &c. &c. ; there are innumerableothers springing out of these, each of which assumes a churchgovernment of its own; of this, the most intriguing and factiousindividual is invariably the head; and in order, as it shouldseem, to shew a reason for this separation, each congregationinvests itself with some queer variety of external observancethat has the melancholy effect of exposing _all_ religiousceremonies to contempt. 

It is impossible, in witnessing all these unseemly vagaries, not to recognise the advantages of an established church as asort of headquarters for quiet unpresuming Christians, who arecontented to serve faithfully, without insisting upon havingeach a little separate banner, embroidered with a device oftheir own imagining. 

The Catholics alone appear exempt from the fury of divisionand sub-division that has seized every other persuasion. Having the Pope for their common head, regulates, I presume, their movements, and prevents the outrageous display ofindividual whim which every other sect is permitted. 

I had the pleasure of being introduced to the Catholic bishop ofCincinnati, and have never known in any country a priest of acharacter and bearing more truly apostolic. He was an American, but I should never have discovered it from his pronunciation ormanner. He received his education partly in England, and partlyin France. His manners were highly polished; his piety activeand sincere, and infinitely more mild and tolerant than that ofthe factious Sectarians who form the great majority of theAmerican priesthood. 

I believe I am sufficiently tolerant; but this does not preventmy seeing that the object of all religious observances is betterobtained, when the government of the church is confided to thewisdom and experience of the most venerated among the people, than when it is placed in the hands of every tinker and tailorwho chooses to claim a share in it. Nor is this the only evilattending the want of a national religion, supported by theState. As there is no legal and fixed provision for the clergy, it is hardly surprising that their services are confined to thosewho can pay them. The vehement expressions of insane orhypocritical zeal, such as were exhibited during "the Revival, "can but ill atone for the want of village worship, any more thanthe eternal talk of the admirable and unequalled government, canatone for the continual contempt of social order. Church andState hobble along, side by side, notwithstanding their boastedindependence. Almost every man you meet will tell you, that heis occupied in labours most abundant for the good of his country;and almost every woman will tell you, that besides those thingsthat are within (her house) she has coming upon her daily thecare of all the churches. Yet spite of this universal attentionto the government, its laws are half asleep; and spite of the oldwomen and their Dorcas societies, atheism is awake and thriving. 

In the smaller cities and towns prayer-meetings take the placeof almost all other amusements; but as the thinly scatteredpopulation of most villages can give no parties, and pay nopriests, they contrive to marry, christen, and bury without them. A stranger taking up his residence in any city in America mustthink the natives the most religious people upon earth; but ifchance lead him among her western villages, he will rarely findeither churches or chapels, prayer or preacher; except, indeed, at that most terrific saturnalia, "a camp-meeting. " I was muchstruck with the answer of a poor woman, whom I saw ironing on aSunday. "Do you make no difference in your occupations on aSunday?" I said. "I beant a Christian, Ma'am; we have got noopportunity, " was the reply. It occurred to me, that in acountry where "all men are equal, " the government would be guiltyof no great crime, did it so far interfere as to give them all_an opportunity_ of becoming Christians if they wished it. Butshould the federal government dare to propose building a church, and endowing it, in some village that has never heard "thebringing home of bell and burial, " it is perfectly certain thatnot only the sovereign state where such an abomination wasproposed, would rush into the Congress to resent the odiousinterference, but that all the other states would join theclamour, and such an intermeddling administration would rungreat risk of impeachment and degradation. 

Where there is a church-government so constituted as to deservehuman respect, I believe it will always be found to receive it, even from those who may not assent to the dogma of its creed; andwhere such respect exists, it produces a decorum in manners andlanguage often found wanting where it does not. Sectarians willnot venture to rhapsodise, nor infidels to scoff, in the commonintercourse of society. Both are injurious to the cause ofrational religion, and to check both must be advantageous. 

It is certainly possible that some of the fanciful variationsupon the ancient creeds of the Christian Church, with whichtransatlantic religionists amuse themselves, might inspire morbidimaginations in Europe as well as in America; but before they candisturb the solemn harmony HERE they must prelude by a defiance, not only to common sense, but what is infinitely more appalling, to common usage. They must at once rank themselves with the lowand the illiterate, for only such prefer the eloquence of the tubto that of the pulpit. The aristocracy must ever, as a body, belong to the established Church, and it is but a smallproportion of the influential classes who would be willing toallow that they do not belong to the aristocracy. That suchfeelings influence the professions of men it were ignorance orhypocrisy to deny; and that nation is wise who knows how to turneven such feelings into a wholesome stream of popular influence. 

As a specimen of the tone in which religion is mixed in theordinary intercourse of society, I will transcribe the notes Itook of a conversation, at which I was present, at Cincinnati; Iwrote them immediately after the conversation took place. 

 Dr. A. 

"I wish, Mrs. M. , that you would explain to me what a revival is. I hear it talked of all over the city, and I know it meanssomething about Jesus Christ and religion; but that is all Iknow, will you instruct me farther?"

 Mrs. M. 

"I expect, Dr. A. , that you want to laugh at me. But thatmakes no difference. I am firm in my principles, and I fearno one's laughter. "

 Dr. A. 

"Well, but what is a revival?"

 Mrs. M. 

"It is difficult, very difficult, to make those see who have nolight; to make those understand whose souls are darkened. Arevival means just an elegant kindling of the spirit; it isbrought about to the Lord's people by the hands of his saints, and it means salvation in the highest. "

 Dr. A. 

"But what is it the people mean by talking of feeling therevival? and waiting in spirit for the revival? and the extacyof the revival?"

 Mrs. M. 

"Oh Doctor! I am afraid that you are too far gone astray tounderstand all that. It is a glorious assurance, a whispering ofthe everlasting covenant, it is the bleating of the lamb, it isthe welcome of the shepherd, it is the essence of love, it is thefullness of glory, it is being in Jesus, it is Jesus being in us, it is taking the Holy Ghost into our bosoms, it is sittingourselves down by God, it is being called to the high places, itis eating, and drinking, and sleeping in the Lord, it is becominga lion in the faith, it is being lowly and meek, and kissing thehand that smites, it is being mighty and powerful, and scorningreproof, it is--"

 Dr. A. 

"Thank you, Mrs. M. , I feel quite satisfied; and I think Iunderstand a revival now almost as well as you do yourself. "

 Mrs. A. 

"My! Where can you have learnt all that stuff, Mrs. M. ?"

 Mrs. M. 

"How benighted you are! From the holy book, from the Word of theLord, from the Holy Ghost, and Jesus Christ themselves. "

 Mrs. A. 

"It does seem so droll to me, to hear you talk of "the Word ofthe Lord. " Why, I have been brought up to look upon the Bible asnothing better than an old newspaper. "

 Mrs. O. 

"Surely you only say this for the sake of hearing what Mrs. M. Will say in return--you do not mean it?"

 Mrs. A. 

"La, yes! to be sure I do. "

 Dr. A. 

"I profess that I by no means wish my wife to read all she mightfind there. --What says the Colonel, Mrs. M. ?"

 Mrs. M. 

"As to that, I never stop to ask him. I tell him every day thatI believe in Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and that it is his dutyto believe in them too, and then my conscience is clear, and Idon't care what he believes. Really, I have no notion of one'shusband interfering in such matters. "

 Dr. A. 

"You are quite right. I am sure I give my wife leave to believejust what she likes; but she is a good woman, and does not abusethe liberty; for she believes nothing. "

It was not once, nor twice, nor thrice, but many many times, during my residence in America, that I was present when subjectswhich custom as well as principle had taught me to consider asfitter for the closet than the tea-table, were thus lightlydiscussed. I hardly know whether I was more startled at firsthearing, in little dainty namby pamby tones, a profession ofAtheism over a teacup, or at having my attention called from aJohnny cake, to a rhapsody on election and the second birth. 

But, notwithstanding this revolting license, persecution existsto a degree unknown, I believe, in our well-ordered land sincethe days of Cromwell. I had the following anecdote from agentleman perfectly well acquainted with the circumstances. Atailor sold a suit of clothes to a sailor a few moments before hesailed, which was on a Sunday morning. The corporation of NewYork prosecuted the tailor, and he was convicted, and sentencedto a fine greatly beyond his means to pay. Mr. F. , a lawyer ofNew York, defended him with much eloquence, but in vain. Hispowerful speech, however, was not without effect, for it raisedhim such a host of Presbyterian enemies as sufficed to destroyhis practice. Nor was this all: his nephew was at the timepreparing for the bar, and soon after the above circumstanceoccurred his certificates were presented, and refused, with thisdeclaration, "that no man of the name and family of F. Should beadmitted. " I have met this young man in society; he is a personof very considerable talent, and being thus cruelly robbed of hisprofession, has become the editor of a newspaper. 

CHAPTER 12

Peasantry, compared to that of England--Early marriages--Charity--Independence and equality--Cottage prayer-meeting

Mohawk, as our little village was called, gave us an excellentopportunity of comparing the peasants of the United Stateswith those of England, and of judging the average degree ofcomfort enjoyed by each. I believe Ohio gives as fair aspecimen as any part of the union; if they have the roughnessand inconveniences of a new state to contend with, they havehigher wages and cheaper provisions; if I err in supposing ita mean state in point of comfort, it certainly is not in takingtoo low a standard. 

Mechanics, if good workmen, are certain of employment, and goodwages, rather higher than with us; the average wages of alabourer throughout the Union is ten dollars a month, withlodging, boarding, washing, and mending; if he lives at his ownexpense he has a dollar a day. It appears to me that thenecessaries of life, that is to say, meat, bread, butter, tea, and coffee, (not to mention whiskey), are within the reach ofevery sober, industrious, and healthy man who chooses to havethem; and yet I think that an English peasant, with the samequalifications, would, in coming to the United States, change forthe worse. He would find wages somewhat higher, and provisionsin Western America considerably lower: but this statement, trueas it is, can lead to nothing but delusion if taken apart fromother facts, fully as certain, and not less important, but whichrequire more detail in describing, and which perhaps cannot befully comprehended, except by an eye-witness. The American poorare accustomed to eat meat three times a day; I never enquiredinto the habits of any cottagers in Western America, where thiswas not the case. I found afterwards in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and other parts of the country, where the price of meat washigher, that it was used with more economy; yet still a muchlarger portion of the weekly income is thus expended than withus. Ardent spirits, though lamentably cheap, * still costsomething, and the use of them among the men, with more or lessof discretion, according to the character, is universal. Tobaccoalso grows at their doors, and is not taxed; yet this too costssomething, and the air of heaven is not in more general use amongthe men of America, than chewing tobacco. I am not now pointingout the evils of dram-drinking, but it is evident, that wherethis practice prevails universally, and often to the mostfrightful excess, the consequence must be, that the money spentto obtain the dram is less than the money lost by the timeconsumed in drinking it. Long, disabling, and expensive fits ofsickness are incontestably more frequent in every part ofAmerica, than in England, and the sufferers have no aid to lookto, but what they have saved, or what they may be enabled tosell. I have never seen misery exceed what I have witnessed inan American cottage where disease has entered. 

 *(About a shilling a gallon is the retail price of good (whiskey. If bought wholesale, or of inferior quality, it (is much cheaper. 

But if the condition of the labourer be not superior to thatof the English peasant, that of his wife and daughters isincomparably worse. It is they who are indeed the slaves of thesoil. One has but to look at the wife of an American cottager, and ask her age, to be convinced that the life she leads is oneof hardship, privation, and labour. It is rare to see a woman inthis station who has reached the age of thirty, without losingevery trace of youth and beauty. You continually see women withinfants on their knee, that you feel sure are their grand-children, till some convincing proof of the contrary isdisplayed. Even the young girls, though often with lovelyfeatures, look pale, thin, and haggard. I do not remember tohave seen in any single instance among the poor, a specimen ofthe plump, rosy, laughing physiognomy so common among our cottagegirls. The horror of domestic service, which the reality ofslavery, and the fable of equality, have generated, excludes theyoung women from that sure and most comfortable resource ofdecent English girls; and the consequence is, that with a mostirreverend freedom of manner to the parents, the daughters are, to the full extent of the word, domestic slaves. This condition, which no periodical merry-making, no village FĘTE, ever occurs tocheer, is only changed for the still sadder burdens of a teemingwife. They marry very young; in fact, in no rank of life do youmeet with young women in that delightful period of existencebetween childhood and marriage, wherein, if only tolerably wellspent, so much useful information is gained, and the charactertakes a sufficient degree of firmness to support with dignity themore important parts of wife and mother. The slender, childishthing, without vigour of mind or body, is made to stem a sea oftroubles that dims her young eye and makes her cheek grow pale, even before nature has given it the last beautiful finish of thefull-grown woman. 

"We shall get along, " is the answer in full, for all that can besaid in way of advice to a boy and girl who take it into theirheads to go before a magistrate and "get married. " And they doget along, till sickness overtakes them, by means perhaps ofborrowing a kettle from one and a tea-pot from another; butintemperance, idleness, or sickness will, in one week, plungethose who are even getting along well, into utter destitution;and where this happens, they are completely without resource. 

The absence of poor-laws is, without doubt, a blessing to thecountry, but they have not that natural and reasonable dependenceon the richer classes which, in countries differentlyconstituted, may so well supply their place. I suppose there isless alms-giving in America than in any other Christian countryon the face of the globe. It is not in the temper of the peopleeither to give or to receive. 

I extract the following pompous passage from a Washington paperof Feb. 1829, (a season of uncommon severity and distress, )which, I think, justifies my observation. 

"Among the liberal evidences of sympathy for the suffering poorof this city, two have come to our knowledge which deserve to beespecially noticed: the one a donation by the President of theUnited States to the committee of the ward in which he resides offifty dollars; the other the donation by a few of the officers ofthe war department to the Howard and Dorcas Societies, ofseventy-two dollars. " When such mention is made of a gift ofabout nine pounds sterling from the sovereign magistrate of theUnited States, and of thirteen pounds sterling as a contributionfrom one of the state departments, the inference is prettyobvious, that the sufferings of the destitute in America are notliberally relieved by individual charity. 

I had not been three days at Mohawk-cottage before a pair ofragged children came to ask for medicine for a sick mother; andwhen it was given to them, the eldest produced a handful ofcents, and desired to know what he was to pay. The superfluousmilk of our cow was sought after eagerly, but every new comeralways proposed to pay for it. When they found out that "theEnglish old woman" did not sell anything, I am persuaded they byno means liked her the better for it; but they seemed to think, that if she were a fool it was no reason they should be so too, and accordingly the borrowing, as they called it, became veryconstant, but always in a form that shewed their dignity andfreedom. One woman sent to borrow a pound of cheese; anotherhalf a pound of coffee; and more than once an intimationaccompanied the milk-jug, that the milk must be fresh, andunskimmed: on one occasion the messenger refused milk, and said, "Mother only wanted a little cream for her coffee. "

I could never teach them to believe, during above a year thatI lived at this house, that I would not sell the old clothesof the family; and so pertinacious were they in bargain-making, that often, when I had given them the articles which they wantedto purchase, they would say, "Well, I expect I shall have to doa turn of work for this; you may send for me when you want me. "But as I never did ask for the turn of work, and as thisformula was constantly repeated, I began to suspect that itwas spoken solely to avoid uttering the most un-American phrase"I thank you. "

There was one man whose progress in wealth I watched with muchinterest and pleasure. When I first became his neighbour, himself, his wife, and four children, were living in one room, with plenty of beef-steaks and onions for breakfast, dinner andsupper, but with very few other comforts. He was one of thefinest men I ever saw, full of natural intelligence and activityof mind and body, but he could neither read nor write. He drankbut little whiskey, and but rarely chewed tobacco, and wastherefore more free from that plague spot of spitting whichrendered male colloquy so difficult to endure. He worked for usfrequently, and often used to walk into the drawing-room and seathimself on the sofa, and tell me all his plans. He made anengagement with the proprietor of the wooded hill beforementioned, by which half the wood he could fell was to be hisown. His unwearied industry made this a profitable bargain, andfrom the proceeds he purchased the materials for building acomfortable frame (or wooden) house; he did the work almostentirely himself. He then got a job for cutting rails, and, ashe could cut twice as many in a day as any other man in theneighbourhood, he made a good thing of it. He then let half hispretty house, which was admirably constructed, with an ampleportico, that kept it always cool. His next step was contractingfor the building a wooden bridge, and when I left Mohawk he hadfitted up his half of the building as an hotel and grocery store;and I have no doubt that every sun that sets sees him a richerman than when it rose. He hopes to make his son a lawyer, and Ihave little doubt that he will live to see him sit in congress;when this time arrives, the wood-cutter's son will rank with anyother member of congress, not of courtesy, but of right, and theidea that his origin is a disadvantage, will never occur to theimagination of the most exalted of his fellow-citizens. 

This is the only feature in American society that I recognise asindicative of the equality they profess. Any man's son maybecome the equal of any other man's son, and the consciousness ofthis is certainly a spur to exertion; on the other hand, it isalso a spur to that coarse familiarity, untempered by any shadowof respect, which is assumed by the grossest and the lowest intheir intercourse with the highest and most refined. This is apositive evil, and, I think, more than balances its advantages. 

And here again it may be observed, that the theory of equalitymay be very daintily discussed by English gentlemen in a Londondining-room, when the servant, having placed a fresh bottle ofcool wine on the table, respectfully shuts the door, and leavesthem to their walnuts and their wisdom; but it will be foundless palatable when it presents itself in the shape of a hard, greasy paw, and is claimed in accents that breathe less offreedom than of onions and whiskey. Strong, indeed, must bethe love of equality in an English breast if it can survive atour through the Union. 

There was one house in the village which was remarkable from itswretchedness. It had an air of indecent poverty about it, whichlong prevented my attempting an entrance; but at length, uponbeing told that I could get chicken and eggs there whenever Iwanted them, I determined upon venturing. The door being openedto my knock, I very nearly abandoned my almost blunted purpose; Inever beheld such a den of filth and misery: a woman, the veryimage of dirt and disease, held a squalid imp of a baby on herhip bone while she kneaded her dough with her right fist onlyA great lanky girl, of twelve years old, was sitting on a barrel, gnawing a corn cob; when I made known my business, the womananswered, "No not I; I got no chickens to sell, nor eggs neither;but my son will, plenty I expect. Here Nick, " (bawling at thebottom of a ladder), "here's an old woman what wants chickens. "Half a moment brought Nick to the bottom of the ladder, and Ifound my merchant was one of a ragged crew, whom I had been usedto observe in my daily walk, playing marbles in the dust, andswearing lustily; he looked about ten years old. 

"Have you chicken to sell, my boy?"

"Yes, and eggs too, more nor what you'll buy. "

Having enquired price, condition, and so on, I recollected that Ihad been used to give the same price at market, the feathersplucked, and the chicken prepared for the table, and I told himthat he ought not to charge the same. 

"Oh for that, I expect I can fix 'em as well as ever them was, what you got in market. "

"You fix them?"

"Yes to be sure, why not?"

"I thought you were too fond of marbles. "

He gave me a keen glance, and said, "You don't know I. --When willyou be wanting the chickens?"

He brought them at the time directed, extremely well "fixed, " andI often dealt with him afterwards. When I paid him, he alwaysthrust his hand into his breaches pocket, which I presume, asbeing _the keep_, was fortified more strongly than thedilapidated outworks, and drew from thence rather more dollars, half-dollars, levies, and fips, than his dirty little hand couldwell hold. My curiosity was excited, and though I felt aninvoluntary disgust towards the young Jew, I repeatedly conversedwith him. 

"You are very rich, Nick, " I said to him one day, on his makingan ostentatious display of change, as he called it; he sneeredwith a most unchildish expression of countenance, and replied, "Iguess 'twould be a bad job for I, if that was all I'd got toshew. "

I asked him how he managed his business. He told me that hebought eggs by the hundred, and lean chicken by the score, fromthe waggons that passed their door on the way to market; that hefatted the latter in coops he had made himself, and could easilydouble their price, and that his eggs answered well too, when hesold them out by the dozen. 

"And do you give the money to your mother?"

"I expect not, " was the answer, with another sharp glance of hisugly blue eyes. 

"What do you do with it. Nick?"

His look said plainly, what is that to you? but he only answered, quaintly enough, "I takes care of it. "

How Nick got his first dollar is very doubtful; I was told thatwhen he entered the village store, the person serving alwayscalled in another pair of eyes; but having obtained it, thespirit, activity, and industry, with which he caused it toincrease and multiply, would have been delightful in one of MissEdgeworth's dear little clean bright-looking boys, who would havecarried all he got to his mother; but in Nick it was detestable. No human feeling seemed to warm his young heart, not even thelove of self-indulgence, for he was not only ragged and dirty, but looked considerably more than half starved, and I doubt nothis dinners and suppers half fed his fat chickens. 

I by no means give this history of Nick, the chicken merchant, asan anecdote characteristic in all respects of America; the onlypart of the story which is so, is the independence of the littleman, and is one instance out of a thousand, of the hard, dry, calculating character that is the result of it. Probably Nickwill be very rich; perhaps he will be President. I once got soheartily scolded for saying, that I did not think all Americancitizens were equally eligible to that office, that I shall neveragain venture to doubt it. 

Another of our cottage acquaintance was a market-gardener, fromwhom we frequently bought vegetables; from the wife of this manwe one day received a very civil invitation to "please to comeand pass the evening with them in prayer. " The novelty of thecircumstance, and its great dissimilarity to the ways and mannersof our own country, induced me to accept the invitation, and alsoto record the visit here. 

We were received with great attention, and a place was assignedus on one of the benches that surrounded the little parlour. Several persons, looking like mechanics and their wives, werepresent; every one sat in profound silence, and with that quietsubdued air, that serious people assume on entering a church. Atlength, a long, black, grim-looking man entered; his dress, thecut of his hair, and his whole appearance, strongly recalled theidea of one of Cromwell's fanatics. He stepped solemnly into themiddle of the room, and took a chair that stood there, but not tosit upon it; he turned the back towards him, on which he placedhis hands, and stoutly uttering a sound between a hem and acough, he deposited freely on either side of him a considerableportion of masticated tobacco. He then began to preach. Histext was "Live in hope, " and he continued to expound it for twohours in a drawling, nasal tone, with no other respite than whathe allowed himself for expectoration. If I say that he repeatedthe words of this text a hundred times, I think I shall notexceed the truth, for that allows more than a minute for eachrepetition, and in fact the whole discourse was made up of it. The various tones in which he uttered it might have served as alesson on emphasis; as a question--in accents of triumph--inaccents of despair--of pity--of threatening--of authority--ofdoubt--of hope--of faith. Having exhausted every imaginablevariety of tone, he abruptly said, "Let us pray, " and twistinghis chair round, knelt before it. Every one knelt before theseat they had occupied, and listened for another half hour to arant of miserable, low, familiar jargon, that he presumed toimprovise to his Maker as a prayer. In this, however, thecottage apostle only followed the example set by every preacherthroughout the Union, excepting those of the Episcopalian andCatholic congregations; THEY only do not deem themselvesprivileged to address the Deity in strains of crude and unweighedimportunity. These ranters may sometimes be very much inearnest, but surely the least we can say of it is, that they

 "Praise their God amiss. "

I enquired afterwards of a friend, well acquainted with suchmatters, how the grim preacher of "Hope" got paid for hislabours, and he told me that the trade was an excellent one, forthat many a gude wife bestowed more than a tithe of what her gudeman trusted to her keeping, in rewarding the zeal of these self-chosen apostles. These sable ministers walk from house to house, or if the distance be considerable, ride on a comfortable amblingnag. They are not only as empty as wind, but resemble it inother particulars; for they blow where they list, and no manknoweth whence they come, nor whither they go. When they see ahouse that promises comfortable lodging and entertainment, theyenter there, and say to the good woman of the house, "Sister, shall I pray with you?" If the answer be favourable, and it isseldom otherwise, he instals himself and his horse till afterbreakfast the next morning. The best meat, drink, and lodgingare his, while he stays, and he seldom departs without somelittle contribution in money for the support of the crucified andsuffering church. Is it not strange that "the most intelligentpeople in the world" should prefer such a religion as this, to aform established by the wisdom and piety of the ablest and bestamong the erring sons of men, solemnly sanctioned by the nation'slaw, and rendered sacred by the use of their fathers?

It would be well for all reasoners on the social system toobserve steadily, and with an eye obscured by no beam ofprejudice, the result of the experiment that is making on theother side of the Atlantic. If I mistake not, they might learnthere, better than by any abstract speculation, what are thepoints on which the magistrates of a great people should dictateto them and on what points they should be left freely to theirown guidance, I sincerely believe, that if a fire-worshipper, oran Indian Brahmin, were to come to the United States, prepared topreach and pray in English, he would not be long without a "veryrespectable congregation. "

The influence of a religion, sanctioned by the government, couldin no country, in the nineteenth century, interfere with thespeculations of a philosopher in his closet, but it might, andmust, steady the weak and wavering opinions of the multitude. There is something really pitiable in the effect produced by thewant of this rudder oar. I knew a family where one was aMethodist, one a Presbyterian, and a third a Baptist; andanother, where one was a Quaker, one a declared Atheist, andanother an Universalist. These are all females, and all movingin the best society that America affords; but one and all of themas incapable of reasoning on things past, present, and to come, as the infants they nourish, yet one and all of them perfectlyfit to move steadily and usefully in a path marked out for them. But I shall be called an itinerant preacher myself if I pursuethis theme. 

As I have not the magic power of my admirable friend, MissMitford, to give grace and interest to the humblest rusticdetails, I must not venture to linger among the cottages thatsurrounded us; but before I quit them I must record the pleasingrecollection of one or two neighbours of more companionable rank, from whom I received so much friendly attention, and suchunfailing kindness, in all my little domestic embarrassments, that I shall never recall the memory of Mohawk, without paying anaffectionate tribute to these far distant friends. I wish itwere within the range of hope, that I might see them again, in myown country, and repay, in part, the obligations I owe them. 

CHAPTER 13

Theatre--Fine Arts--Delicacy--Shaking Quakers--Big-Bone Lick--Visit of the President

The theatre at Cincinnati is small, and not very brilliant indecoration, but in the absence of every other amusement our youngmen frequently attended it, and in the bright clear nights ofautumn and winter, the mile and a half of distance was not enoughto prevent the less enterprising members of the family fromsometimes accompanying them. The great inducement to this wasthe excellent acting of Mr. And Mrs. Alexander Drake, themanagers. [Mr. Drake was an Englishman. ] Nothing could be moredistinct than their line of acting, but the great versatility oftheir powers enabled them often to appear together. Her cast wasthe highest walk of tragedy, and his the broadest comedy; butyet, as Goldsmith says of his sister heroines, I have known themchange characters for a whole evening together, and have weptwith him and laughed with her, as it was their will and pleasureto ordain. I think in his comedy he was superior to any actor Iever saw in the same parts, except Emery. Alexander Drake'scomedy was like that of the French, who never appear to be actingat all; he was himself the comic being the author aimed atdepicting. Let him speak whose words he would, from Shakspeareto Colman, it was impossible not to feel that half the fun washis own; he had, too, in a very high degree, the power thatFawcett possessed, of drawing tears by a sudden touch of naturalfeeling. His comic songs might have set the gravity of thejudges and bishops together at defiance. Liston is great, butAlexander Drake was greater. 

Mrs. Drake, formerly Miss Denny, greatly resembles MissO'Neil; a proof of this is, that Mr. Kean, who had heard ofthe resemblance, arrived at New York late in the evening, andhaving repaired to the theatre, saw her for the first timeacross the stage, and immediately exclaimed, "that's Miss Denny. "Her voice, too, has the same rich and touching tones, and issuperior in power. Her talent is decidedly first-rate. Deepand genuine feeling, correct judgment, and the most perfect goodtaste, distinguish her play in every character. Her last actof Belvidera is superior in tragic effect to any thing I eversaw on the stage, the one great exception to all comparison, Mrs. Siddons, being set aside. 

It was painful to see these excellent performers playing to amiserable house, not a third full, and the audience probablynot including half a dozen persons who would prefer their playingto that of the vilest strollers. In proof of this, I saw them, as managers, give place to paltry third-rate actors from London, who would immediately draw crowded houses, and be overwhelmedwith applause. 

Poor Drake died just before we left Ohio, and his wife, who, besides her merit as an actress, is a most estimable and amiablewoman, is left with a large family. I have little, or rather nodoubt, of her being able to obtain an excellent engagement inLondon, but her having property in several of the Westerntheatres will, I fear, detain her in a neighbourhood, where sheis neither understood nor appreciated. She told me many veryexcellent professional anecdotes collected during her residencein the West; one of these particularly amused me as a specimen ofWestern idiom. A lady who professed a great admiration for Mrs. Drake had obtained her permission to be present upon one occasionat her theatrical toilet. She was dressing for some character inwhich she was to stab herself, and her dagger was lying on thetable. The visitor took it up, and examining it with muchemotion, exclaimed, "what! do you really jab this into yourselfsevagarous?"

We also saw the great American star, Mr. Forrest. What he maybecome I will not pretend to prophesy; but when I saw him playHamlet at Cincinnati, not even Mrs. Drake's sweet Ophelia couldkeep me beyond the third act. It is true that I have seenKemble, Macready, Kean, Young, C. Kemble, Cook, and Talma playHamlet, and I might not, perhaps, be a very fair judge of thisyoung actor's merits; but I was greatly amused when a gentleman, who asked my opinion of him, told me upon hearing it, that hewould not advise me to state it freely in America, "for theywould not bear it. " The theatre was really not a bad one, thoughthe very poor receipts rendered it impossible to keep it in highorder; but an annoyance infinitely greater than decorationsindifferently clean, was the style and manner of the audience. Men came into the lower tier of boxes without their coats; and Ihave seen shirt sleeves tucked up to the shoulder; the spittingwas incessant, and the mixed smell of onions and whiskey wasenough to make one feel even the Drakes' acting dearly boughtby the obligation of enduring its accompaniments. The bearingand attitudes of the men are perfectly indescribable; the heelsthrown higher than the head, the entire rear of the personpresented to the audience, the whole length supported onthe benches, are among the varieties that these exquisiteposture-masters exhibit. The noises, too, were perpetual, andof the most unpleasant kind; the applause is expressed by criesand thumping with the feet, instead of clapping; and when apatriotic fit seized them, and "Yankee Doodle" was called for, every man seemed to think his reputation as a citizen dependedon the noise he made. 

Two very indifferent figurantes, probably from the AmbiguComique, or la Gaiete, made their appearance at Cincinnati whilewe were there; and had Mercury stepped down, and danced a _passeul_ upon earth, his godship could not have produced a moreviolent sensation. But wonder and admiration were by no meansthe only feelings excited; horror and dismay were produced in atleast an equal degree. No one, I believe, doubted their beingadmirable dancers, but every one agreed that the morals of theWestern world would never recover the shock. When I was asked ifI had ever seen any thing so dreadful before, I was embarrassedhow to answer; for the young women had been exceedingly careful, both in their dress and in their dancing, to meet the taste ofthe people; but had it been Virginie in her most transparentattire, or Taglioni in her most remarkable pirouette, they couldnot have been more reprobated. The ladies altogether forsook thetheatre; the gentlemen muttered under their breath, and turnedtheir heads aside when the subject was mentioned; the clergydenounced them from the pulpit; and if they were named at themeetings of the saints, it was to show how deep the horror such atheme could produce. I could not but ask myself if virtue were aplant, thriving under one form in one country, and flourishingunder a different one in another? If these Western Americans areright, then how dreadfully wrong are we! It is really a verypuzzling subject. 

But this was not the only point on which I found my notions ofright and wrong utterly confounded; hardly a day passed in whichI did not discover that something or other that I had been taughtto consider lawful as eating, was held in abhorrence by thosearound me; many words to which I had never heard an objectionablemeaning attached, were totally interdicted, and the strangestparaphrastic sentences substituted. I confess it struck me, thatnotwithstanding a general stiffness of manner, which I think mustexceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees, the Americans haveimaginations that kindle with alarming facility. I could givemany anecdotes to prove this, but will content myself with a few. 

A young German gentleman of perfectly good manners, once came tome greatly chagrined at having offended one of the principalfamilies in the neighbourhood, by having pronounced the word_corset_ before the ladies of it. An old female friend hadkindly overcome her own feelings so far as to mention to him thecause of the coolness he had remarked, and strongly advised hismaking an apology. He told me that he was perfectly welldisposed to do so, but felt himself greatly at a loss how toword it. 

An English lady who had long kept a fashionable boarding-schoolin one of the Atlantic cities, told me that one of her earliestcares with every new comer, was the endeavour to substitute realdelicacy for this affected precision of manner; among manyanecdotes, she told me one of a young lady about fourteen, who onentering the receiving room, where she only expected to see alady who had enquired for her, and finding a young man with her, put her hands before her eyes, and ran out of the room again, screaming "A man! a man! a man!"

On another occasion, one of the young ladies in going up stairsto the drawing-room, unfortunately met a boy of fourteen comingdown, and her feelings were so violently agitated, that shestopped panting and sobbing, nor would pass on till the boy hadswung himself up on the upper banisters, to leave the passagefree. 

At Cincinnati there is a garden where the people go to eat ices, and to look at roses. For the preservation of the flowers, thereis placed at the end of one of the walks a sign-post sort ofdaub, representing a Swiss peasant girl, holding in her hand ascroll, requesting that the roses might not be gathered. Unhappily for the artist, or for the proprietor, or for both, the petticoat of this figure was so short as to shew her ancles. The ladies saw, and shuddered; and it was formally intimated tothe proprietor, that if he wished for the patronage of the ladiesof Cincinnati, he must have the petticoat of this figurelengthened. The affrighted purveyor of ices sent off an expressfor the artist and his paint pot. He came, but unluckily notprovided with any colour that would match the petticoat; thenecessity, however, was too urgent for delay, and a flounce ofblue was added to the petticoat of red, giving bright and shiningevidence before all men of the immaculate delicacy of theCincinnati ladies. 

I confess I was sometimes tempted to suspect that this ultrarefinement was not very deep seated. It often appeared to melike the consciousness of grossness, that wanted a veil; but theveil was never gracefully adjusted. Occasionally, indeed, thevery same persons who appeared ready to faint at the idea of astatue, would utter some unaccountable sally that was quitestartling, and which made me feel that the indelicacy of which wewere accused had its limits. The following anecdote is hardlyfit to tell, but it explains what I mean too well to be omitted. 

A young married lady, of _high standing_ and most fastidiousdelicacy, who had been brought up at one of the Atlanticseminaries of highest reputation, told me that her house, at thedistance of half a mile from a populous city, was unfortunatelyopposite a mansion of worse than doubtful reputation. "It isabominable, " she said, "to see the people that go there; theyought to be exposed. I and another lady, an intimate friend ofmine, did make one of them look foolish enough last summer: shewas passing the day with me, and, while we were sitting at thewindow, we saw a young man we both knew ride up there, we wentinto the garden and watched at the gate for him to come back, andwhen he did, we both stepped out, and I said to him, "are you notashamed, Mr. William D. , to ride by my house and back again inthat manner?" I never saw a man look so foolish!"

In conversing with ladies on the customs and manners of Europe, Iremarked a strong propensity to consider every thing as wrong towhich they were not accustomed. I once mentioned to a young ladythat I thought a picnic party would be very agreeable, and that Iwould propose it to some of our friends. She agreed that itwould be delightful, but she added, "I fear you will not succeed;we are not used to such sort of things here, and I know it isconsidered very indelicate for ladies and gentlemen to sit downtogether on the grass. "

I could multiply anecdotes of this nature; but I think thesesufficient to give an accurate idea of the tone of manners inthis particular, and I trust to justify the observations Ihave made. 

One of the spectacles which produced the greatest astonishmenton us all was the Republican simplicity of the courts of justice. We had heard that the judges indulged themselves on the benchin those extraordinary attitudes which, doubtless, somepeculiarity of the American formation leads them to find themost comfortable. Of this we were determined to judge forourselves, and accordingly entered the court when it was in fullbusiness, with three judges on the bench. The annexed sketchwill better describe what we saw than any thing I can write. 

Our winter passed rapidly away, and pleasantly enough, by thehelp of frosty walks, a little skaiting, a visit to Big-BoneLick, and a visit to the shaking Quakers, a good deal of chess, and a good deal of reading, notwithstanding we were almost in theback woods of Western America. 

The excursion to Big-Bone Lick, in Kentucky, and that to theQuaker village, were too fatiguing for females at such a season, but our gentlemen brought us home mammoth bones and shakingQuaker stories in abundance. 

These singular people, the shaking Quakers of America, giveundeniable proof that communities may exist and prosper, for theyhave continued for many years to adhere strictly to this mannerof life, and have been constantly increasing in wealth. Theyhave formed two or three different societies in distant parts ofthe Union, all governed by the same general laws, and alluniformly prosperous and flourishing. 

There must be some sound and wholesome principle at work in theseestablishments to cause their success in every undertaking, andthis principle must be a powerful one, for it has to combat muchthat is absurd and much that is mischievous. 

The societies are generally composed of about an equal proportionof males and females, many of them being men and their wives; butthey are all bound by their laws not to cohabit together. Theirreligious observances are wholly confined to singing and dancingof the most grotesque kind, and this repeated so constantly as tooccupy much time; yet these people become rich and powerfulwherever they settle themselves. Whatever they manufacture, whatever their farms produce, is always in the highest repute, and brings the highest price in the market. They receive allstrangers with great courtesy, and if they bring an introductionthey are lodged and fed for any length of time they choose tostay; they are not asked to join in their labours, but arepermitted to do so if they wish it. 

The Big-Bone Lick was not visited, and even partially examined, without considerable fatigue. 

It appeared from the account of our travellers, that the spotwhich gives the region its elegant name is a deep bed of blueclay, tenacious and unsound, so much so as to render it bothdifficult and dangerous to traverse. The digging it has beenfound so laborious that no one has yet hazarded the expense of acomplete search into its depths for the gigantic relics socertainly hidden there. The clay has never been moved withoutfinding some of them; and I think it can hardly be doubted thatmoney and perseverance would procure a more perfect specimen ofan entire mammoth than we have yet seen. [Since the above waswritten an immense skeleton, nearly perfect, has been extracted. ]

And now the time arrived that our domestic circle was again to bebroken up. Our eldest son was to be entered at Oxford, and itwas necessary that his father should accompany him; and, afterconsiderable indecision, it was at length determined that I andmy daughters should remain another year, with our second son. Itwas early in February, and our travellers prepared themselves toencounter some sharp gales upon the mountains, though the greatseverity of the cold appeared to be past. We got buffalo robesand double shoes prepared for them, and they were on the eve ofdeparture when we heard that General Jackson, the newly-electedPresident, was expected to arrive immediately at Cincinnati, fromhis residence in the West, and to proceed by steamboat toPittsburgh, on his way to Washington. This determined them notto fix the day of their departure till they heard of his arrival, and then, if possible, to start in the same boat with him; thedecent dignity of a private conveyance not being deemed necessaryfor the President of the United States. 

The day of his arrival was however quite uncertain, and we couldonly determine to have every thing very perfectly in readiness, let it come when it would. This resolution was hardly acted uponwhen the news reached us that the General had arrived atLouisville, and was expected at Cincinnati in a few hours. Allwas bustle and hurry at Mohawk-cottage; we quickly dispatched ourpacking business, and this being the first opportunity we had hadof witnessing such a demonstration of popular feeling, we alldetermined to be present at the debarkation of the great man. We accordingly walked to Cincinnati, and secured a favourablestation at the landing-place, both for the purpose of seeing thefirst magistrate and of observing his reception by the people. We had waited but a few moments when the heavy panting of thesteam engines and then a discharge of cannon told that we werejust in time; another moment brought his vessel in sight. 

Nothing could be better of its kind than his approach to theshore: the noble steam-boat which conveyed him was flanked oneach side by one of nearly equal size and splendour; the roofs ofall three were covered by a crowd of men; cannon saluted themfrom the shore as they passed by, to the distance of a quarter ofa mile above the town; there they turned about, and came down theriver with a rapid but stately motion, the three vessels so closetogether as to appear one mighty mass upon the water. 

When they arrived opposite the principal landing they sweptgracefully round, and the side vessels, separating themselvesfrom the centre, fell a few feet back, permitting her to approachbefore them with her honoured freight. All this manoeuvring wasextremely well executed, and really beautiful. 

The crowd on the shore awaited her arrival in perfect stillness. When she touched the bank the people on board gave a faint huzza, but it was answered by no note of welcome from the land: thiscold silence was certainly not produced by any want of friendlyfeeling towards the new President; during the whole of thecanvassing he had been decidedly the popular candidate atCincinnati, and, for months past, we had been accustomed to thecry of "Jackson for ever" from an overwhelming majority; butenthusiasm is not either the virtue or the vice of America. 

More than one private carriage was stationed at the water's edgeto await the General's orders, but they were dismissed with theinformation that he would walk to the hotel. Upon receiving thisintimation the silent crowd divided itself in a very orderlymanner, leaving a space for him to walk through them. He did so, uncovered, though the distance was considerable, and the weathervery cold; but he alone (with the exception of a few Europeangentlemen who were present) was without a hat. He wore his greyhair, carelessly, but not ungracefully arranged, and, spite ofhis harsh gaunt features, he looks like a gentleman and asoldier. He was in deep mourning, having very recently lost hiswife; they were said to have been very happy together, and I waspained by hearing a voice near me exclaim, as he approached thespot where I stood, "There goes Jackson, where is his wife?"Another sharp voice, at a little distance, cried, "Adams forever!" And these sounds were all I heard to break the silence. 

"They manage these matters better" in the East, I have no doubt, but as yet I was still in the West, and still inclined to think, that however meritorious the American character may be, it is notamiable. 

Mr. T. And his sons joined the group of citizens who waited uponhim to the hotel, and were presented to the President in form;that is, they shook hands with him. Learning that he intended toremain a few hours there, or more properly, that it would be afew hours before the steam-boat would be ready to proceed, Mr. T. Secured berths on board, and returned, to take a hasty dinnerwith us. At the hour appointed by the captain, Mr. T. And hisson accompanied the General on board; and by subsequent letters Ilearnt that they had conversed a good deal with him, and werepleased by his conversation and manners, but deeply disgusted bythe brutal familiarity to which they saw him exposed at everyplace on their progress at which they stopped; I am tempted toquote one passage, as sufficiently descriptive of the manner, which so painfully grated against their European feelings. 

'There was not a hulking boy from a keel-boat who was notintroduced to the President, unless, indeed, as was the casewith some, they introduced themselves: for instance, I was athis elbow when a greasy fellow accosted him thus:-

"General Jackson, I guess?"

'The General bowed assent. 

"Why they told me you was dead. "

"No! Providence has hitherto preserved my life. "

"And is your wife alive too?"

'The General, apparently much hurt, signified the contrary, uponwhich the courtier concluded his harangue, by saying, "Aye, Ithought it was the one or the t'other of ye. "'

CHAPTER 14

American Spring--Controversy between Messrs. Owen and Cambell--Public ball--Separation of the sexes--American freedom--Execution

The American spring is by no means so agreeable as the Americanautumn; both move with faultering step, and slow; but thislingering pace, which is delicious in autumn, is most tormentingin the spring. In the one case you are about to part with afriend, who is becoming more gentle and agreeable at every step, and such steps can hardly be made too slowly; but in the otheryou are making your escape from a dreary cavern, where you havebeen shut up with black frost and biting blasts, and where yourbest consolation was being smoke-dried. 

But, upon second thoughts, I believe it would be more correct, instead of complaining of the slow pace of the American spring, to declare that they have no spring at all. The beautiful autumnoften lingers on till Christmas, after which winter can betrifled with no longer, and generally keeps a stubborn holdthrough the months which we call spring, when he suddenly turnshis back, and summer takes his place. 

The inconceivable uncertainty of the climate is, however, such, that I will not venture to state about what time this changetakes place, for it is certain, that let me name what time Iwould, it would be easy for any weather journaliser to prove mewrong, by quoting that the thermometer was at 100 at a periodwhich my statement included in the winter; or 50 long after Imade the summer commence. 

The climate of England is called uncertain, but it can never, Ithink, be so described by any who have experienced that of theUnited States. A gentleman, on whose accuracy I could depend, told me he had repeatedly known the thermometer vary above 40degrees in the space of twelve hours. This most unpleasantcaprice of the temperature is, I conceive, one cause of theunhealthiness of the climate. 

At length, however, after shivering and shaking till we weretired of it, and having been half ruined in fire-wood (which, by the way, is nearly as dear as at Paris, and dearer in manyparts of the Union), the summer burst upon us full blown, and the ice-house, the piazza, and the jalousies were againin full requisition. 

It was in the early summer of this year (1829) that Cincinnatioffered a spectacle unprecedented, I believe, in any age orcountry. Mr. Owen, of Lanark, of New Harmony, of Texas, wellknown to the world by all or either of these additions, hadchallenged the whole religious public of the United States todiscuss with him publicly the truth or falsehood of all thereligions that had ever been propagated on the face of the earth;stating, further, that he undertook to prove that they were allequally false, and nearly equally mischievous. This mostappalling challenge was conveyed to the world through the mediumof New Orleans newspapers, and for some time it remainedunanswered; at length the Reverend Alexander Campbell, fromBethany, (not of Judaea, but of Kentucky, ) proclaimed, throughthe same medium, that he was ready to take up the gauntlet. Theplace fixed for this extraordinary discussion was Cincinnati; thetime, the second Monday in May, 1829, being about a year from thetime the challenge was accepted; thus giving the disputants timeto prepare themselves. 

Mr. Owen's preparation, however, could only have been such asthose who run may read, for, during the interval, he traversedgreat part of North America, crossed the Atlantic twice, visitedEngland, Scotland, Mexico, Texas, and I know not how many placesbesides. 

Mr. Campbell, I was told, passed this period very differently, being engaged in reading with great research and perseverance allthe theological works within his reach. But whatever confidencethe learning and piety of Mr. Campbell might have inspired in hisfriends, or in the Cincinnati Christians in general, it was not, as it appeared, sufficient to induce Mr. Wilson, the Presbyterianminister of the largest church in the town, to permit the displayof them within its walls. This refusal was greatly reprobated, and much regretted, as the curiosity to hear the discussion wasvery general, and no other edifice offered so much accommodation. 

A Methodist meeting-house, large enough to contain a thousandpersons, was at last chosen; a small stage was arranged round thepulpit, large enough to accommodate the disputants and theirstenographers; the pulpit itself was throughout the whole timeoccupied by the aged father of Mr. Campbell, whose flowing whitehair, and venerable countenance, constantly expressive of thedeepest attention, and the most profound interest, made him avery striking figure in the group. Another platform was raisedin a conspicuous part of the building, on which were seated sevengentlemen of the city, selected as moderators. 

The chapel was equally divided, one half being appropriated toladies, the other to gentlemen; and the door of entrance reservedfor the ladies was carefully guarded by persons appointed toprevent any crowding or difficulty from impeding their approach. I suspect that the ladies were indebted to Mr. Owen for thisattention; the arrangements respecting them on this occasion wereby no means American. 

When Mr. Owen rose, the building was thronged in every part; theaudience, or congregation, (I hardly know which to call them)were of the highest rank of citizens, and as large a proportionof best bonnets fluttered there, as the "two horned church"itself could boast. 

It was in the profoundest silence, and apparently with thedeepest attention, that Mr. Owen's opening address was received;and surely it was the most singular one that ever Christian menand women sat to listen to. 

When I recollect its object, and the uncompromising manner inwhich the orator stated his mature conviction that the wholehistory of the Christian mission was a fraud, and its sacredorigin a fable, I cannot but wonder that it was so listened to;yet at the time I felt no such wonder. Never did any onepractise the _suaviter in modo_ with more powerful effect thanMr. Owen. The gentle tone of his voice; his mild, sometimesplayful, but never ironical manner; the absence of everyvehement or harsh expression; the affectionate interestexpressed for "the whole human family, " the air of candourwith which he expressed his wish to be convinced he was wrong, if he indeed were so--his kind smile--the mild expression ofhis eyes--in short, his whole manner, disarmed zeal, andproduced a degree of tolerance that those who did not hearhim would hardly believe possible. 

Half an hour was the time allotted for each haranguer; when thiswas expired, the moderators were seen to look at their watches. Mr. Owen, too, looked at his (without pausing) smiled, shook hishead, and said in a parenthesis "a moment's patience, " andcontinued for nearly another half hour. 

Mr. Campbell then arose; his person, voice, and manner allgreatly in his favour. In his first attack he used the arms, which in general have been considered as belonging to the otherside of the question. He quizzed Mr. Owen most unmercifully;pinched him here for his parallelograms; hit him there for hishuman perfectibility, and kept the whole audience in a roar oflaughter. Mr. Owen joined in it most heartily himself, andlistened to him throughout with the air of a man who is delightedat the good things he is hearing, and exactly in the cue toenjoy all the other good things that he is sure will follow. Mr. Campbell's watch was the only one which reminded us that wehad listened to him for half an hour; and having continuedspeaking for a few minutes after he had looked at it, he sat downwith, I should think, the universal admiration of his auditory. 

Mr. Owen again addressed us; and his first five minutes wereoccupied in complimenting Mr. Campbell with all the strengthhis exceeding hearty laughter had left him. But then he changedhis tone, and said the business was too serious to permit thenext half hour to pass so lightly and so pleasantly as the last;and then he read us what he called his twelve fundamental lawsof human nature. These twelve laws he has taken so much troubleto circulate to all the nations of the earth, that it must bequite unnecessary to repeat them here. To me they appeartwelve truisms, that no man in his senses would ever think ofcontradicting; but how any one can have conceived that theexplanation and defence of these laws could furnish forthoccupation for his pen and his voice, through whole years ofunwearying declamation, or how he can have dreamed that theycould be twisted into a refutation of the Christian religion, is a mystery which I never expect to understand. 

From this time Mr. Owen entrenched himself behind his twelvelaws, and Mr. Campbell, with equal gravity, confined himself tobringing forward the most elaborate theological authorities inevidence of the truth of revealed religion. 

Neither appeared to me to answer the other; but to confinethemselves to the utterance of what they had uppermost in theirown minds when the discussion began. I lamented this on the sideof Mr. Campbell, as I am persuaded he would have been much morepowerful had he trusted more to himself and less to his books. Mr. Owen is an extraordinary man, and certainly possessed oftalent, but he appears to me so utterly benighted in the mistsof his own theories, that he has quite lost the power of lookingthrough them, so as to get a peep at the world as it reallyexists around him. 

At the conclusion of the debate (which lasted for fifteensittings) Mr. Campbell desired the whole assembly to sit down. They obeyed. He then requested all who wished well toChristianity to rise, and a very large majority were in aninstant on their legs. He again requested them to be seated, andthen desired those who believed not in its doctrines to rise, anda few gentlemen and one lady obeyed. Mr. Owen protested againstthis manoeuvre, as he called it, and refused to believe that itafforded any proof of the state of men's minds, or of women'seither; declaring, that not only was such a result to beexpected, in the present state of things, but that it was theduty of every man who had children to feed, not to hazard thesale of his hogs, or his iron, by a declaration of opinions whichmight offend the majority of his customers. It was said, that atthe end of the fifteen meetings the numerical amount of theChristians and the Infidels of Cincinnati remained exactly whatit was when they began. 

This was a result that might have been perhaps anticipated; butwhat was much less to have been expected, neither of thedisputants ever appeared to lose their temper. I was told theywere much in each other's company, constantly dining together, and on all occasions expressed most cordially their mutualesteem. 

All this I think could only have happened in America. I am notquite sure that it was very desirable it should have happenedany where. 

In noting the various brilliant events which diversified ourresidence in the western metropolis, I have omitted to mentionthe Birthday Ball, as it is called, a festivity which, I believe, has place on the 22nd of February, in every town and citythroughout the Union. It is the anniversary of the birth ofGeneral Washington, and well deserves to be marked by theAmericans as a day of jubilee. 

I was really astonished at the _coup d'oeil_ on entering, for Isaw a large room filled with extremely well-dressed company, among whom were many very beautiful girls. The gentlemen alsowere exceedingly smart, but I had not yet been long enough inWestern America not to feel startled at recognising in almostevery full-dressed _beau_ that passed me, the master or shopmanthat I had been used to see behind the counter, or lolling at thedoor of every shop in the city. The fairest and finest bellessmiled and smirked on them with as much zeal and satisfaction asI ever saw bestowed on an eldest son, and I therefore could feelno doubt of their being considered as of the highest rank. Yetit must not be supposed that there is no distinction of classes:at this same ball I was looking among the many very beautifulgirls I saw there for one more beautiful still, with whose lovelyface I had been particularly struck at the school examination Ihave mentioned. I could not find her, and asked a gentleman whythe beautiful Miss C. Was not there. 

"You do not yet understand our aristocracy, " he replied, "thefamily of Miss C. Are mechanics. "

"But the young lady has been educated at the same school asthese, whom I see here, and I know her brother has a shop in thetown, quite as large, and apparently as prosperous, as thosebelonging to any of these young men. What is the difference?"

"He is a mechanic; he assists in making the articles he sells;the others call themselves merchants. "

The dancing was not quite like, yet not very unlike, what we seeat an assize or race-ball in a country town. They call theirdances cotillions instead of quadrilles, and the figures arecalled from the orchestra in English, which has very ludicrouseffect on European ears. 

The arrangements for the supper were very singular, but eminentlycharacteristic of the country. The gentlemen had a splendidentertainment spread for them in another large room of the hotel, while the poor ladies had each a plate put into their hands, asthey pensively promenaded the ballroom during their absence; andshortly afterwards servants appeared, bearing trays ofsweetmeats, cakes, and creams. The fair creatures then sat downon a row of chairs placed round the walls, and each making atable of her knees, began eating her sweet, but sad and sulkyrepast. The effect was extremely comic; their gala dresses andthe decorated room forming a contrast the most unaccountable withtheir uncomfortable and forlorn condition. 

This arrangement was owing neither to economy nor want of aroom large enough to accommodate the whole party, but purelybecause the gentlemen liked it better. This was the answergiven me, when my curiosity tempted me to ask why the ladiesand gentlemen did not sup together; and this was the answerrepeated to me afterwards by a variety of people to whom I putthe same question. 

I am led to mention this feature of American manners veryfrequently, not only because it constantly recurs, but becauseI consider it as being in a great degree the cause of thatuniversal deficiency in good manners and graceful demeanour, both in men and women, which is so remarkable. 

Where there is no court, which every where else is the glasswherein the higher orders dress themselves, and which againreflected from them to the classes below, goes far towardspolishing, in some degree, a great majority of the population, it is not to be expected that manner should be made so much astudy, or should attain an equal degree of elegance; but thedeficiency, and the total difference, is greater than thiscause alone could account for. The hours of enjoyment areimportant to human beings every where, and we every where findthem preparing to make the most of them. Those who enjoythemselves only in society, whether intellectual or convivial, prepare themselves for it, and such make but a poor figure whenforced to be content with the sweets of solitude: while, onthe other hand, those to whom retirement affords the greatestpleasure, seldom give or receive much in society. Whereverthe highest enjoyment is found by both sexes in scenes wherethey meet each other, both will prepare themselves to appearwith advantage there. The men will not indulge in the luxuryof chewing tobacco, or even of spitting, and the women willcontrive to be capable of holding a higher post than that ofunwearied tea-makers. 

In America, with the exception of dancing, which is almost whollyconfined to the unmarried of both sexes, all the enjoyments ofthe men are found in the absence of the women. They dine, theyplay cards, they have musical meetings, they have suppers, all inlarge parties but all without women. Were it not that such isthe custom, it is impossible but that they would have ingenuityenough to find some expedient for sparing the wives and daughtersof the opulent the sordid offices of household drudgery whichthey almost all perform in their families. Even in the slavestates, though they may not clear-starch and iron, mix puddingsand cakes one half of the day, and watch them baking the otherhalf, still the very highest occupy themselves in their householdconcerns, in a manner that precludes the possibility of theirbecoming elegant and enlightened companions. In Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, I met with some exceptions to this;but speaking of the country generally, it is unquestionably true. 

Had I not become heartily tired of my prolonged residence in aplace I cordially disliked, and which moreover I began to fearwould not be attended with the favourable results we hadanticipated, I should have found an almost inexhaustible sourceof amusement in the notions and opinions of the people Iconversed with; and as it was, I often did enjoy this in aconsiderable degree. 

We received, as I have mentioned, much personal kindness; butthis by no means interfered with the national feeling of, Ibelieve, unconquerable dislike, which evidently lives at thebottom of every truly American heart against the English. Thisshows itself in a thousand little ways, even in the midst of themost kind and friendly intercourse, but often in a manner morecomic than offensive. 

Sometimes it was thus. --"Well, now, I think your government mustjust be fit to hang themselves for that last war they cooked up;it has been the ruin of you I expect, for it has just been themaking of us. "

Then. --"Well, I do begin to understand your broken English betterthan I did; but no wonder I could not make it out very well atfirst, as you come from London; for every body knows that Londonslang is the most dreadful in the world. How queer it is now, that all the people that live in London should put the _h_ whereit is not, and never will put it where it is. "

I was egotistical enough to ask the lady who said this, if shefound that I did so. 

"No; you do not, " was the reply; but she added, with a complacentsmile, "it is easy enough to see the pains you take about it: Iexpect you have heard how we Americans laugh at you all for it, and so you are trying to learn our way of pronouncing. "

One lady asked me very gravely, if we had left home in order toget rid of the vermin with which the English of all ranks wereafflicted? "I have heard from unquestionable authority, " sheadded, "that it is quite impossible to walk through the streetsof London without having the head filled. "

I laughed a little, but spoke not a word. She coloured highly, and said, "There is nothing so easy as to laugh, but truth istruth, laughed at or not. "

I must preface the following anecdote by observing that inAmerica nearly the whole of the insect tribe are classed underthe general name of bug; the unfortunate cosmopolite known bythat name amongst us is almost the only one not included in thisterm. A lady abruptly addressed me with, "Don't you hatechintzes, Mrs. Trollope?"

"No indeed, " I replied, "I think them very pretty. "

"There now! if that is not being English! I reckon you call thatloving your country; well, thank God! we Americans have somethingbetter to love our country for than that comes to; we are notobliged to say that we like nasty filthy chintzes to shew that weare good patriots. "

"Chintzes? what are chintzes?"

"Possible! do you pretend you don't know what chintzes are? Whythe nasty little stinking blood-suckers that all the beds inLondon are full of. "

I have since been informed that _chinche_ is Spanish for bug; butat the time the word suggested only the material of a curtain. 

Among other instances of that species of modesty so often seen inAmerica, and so unknown to us, I frequently witnessed one, which, while it evinced the delicacy of the ladies, gave opportunity formany lively sallies from the gentlemen. I saw the same sort ofthing repeated on different occasions at least a dozen times;e. G. A young lady is employed in making a shirt, (which it wouldbe a symptom of absolute depravity to name), a gentleman enters, and presently begins the sprightly dialogue with "What are youmaking Miss Clarissa?"

"Only a frock for my sister's doll, sir. "

"A frock? not possible. Don't I see that it is not a frock?Come, Miss Clarissa, what is it?"

"Tis just an apron for one of our Negroes, Mr. Smith. "

"How can you. Miss Clarissa! why is not the two side joinedtogether? I expect you were better tell me what it is. "

"My! why then Mr. Smith, it is just a pillow-case. "

"Now that passes. Miss Clarissa! 'Tis a pillow-case for a giantthen. Shall I guess, Miss?"

"Quit, Mr. Smith; behave yourself, or I'll certainly be affronted. "

Before the conversation arrives at this point, both gentlemanand lady are in convulsions of laughter. I once saw a younglady so hard driven by a wit, that to prove she was making abag, and nothing but a bag, she sewed up the ends before hiseyes, shewing it triumphantly, and exclaiming, "there now! whatcan you say to that?"

One of my friends startled me one day by saying in anaffectionate, but rather compassionate tone, "How will you bearto go back to England to live, and to bring up your children ina country where you know you are considered as no better thanthe dirt in the streets?"

I begged she would explain. 

"Why, you know I would not affront you for any thing; but thefact is, we Americans know rather more than you think for, andcertainly if I was in England I should not think of associatingwith anything but lords. I have always been among the firsthere, and if I travelled I should like to do the same. I don'tmean, I'm sure, that I would not come to see you, but you knowyou are not lords, and therefore I know very well how you aretreated in your own country. "

I very rarely contradicted statements of this kind, as I foundit less trouble, and infinitely more amusing, to let them pass;indeed, had I done otherwise, it would have been of little avail, as among the many conversations I held in America respecting myown country, I do not recollect a single instance in which itwas not clear that I knew much less about it than those Iconversed with. 

On the subject of national glory, I presume I got more than myshare of buffeting; for being a woman, there was no objection totheir speaking out. One lady, indeed, who was a great patriot, evinced much delicacy towards me, for upon some one speaking ofNew Orleans, she interrupted them, saying, "I wish you would nottalk of New Orleans;" and, turning to me, added with greatgentleness, "It must be so painful to your feelings to hear thatplace mentioned!"

The immense superiority of the American to the British navy wasa constant theme, and to this I always listened, as nearly aspossible, in silence. I repeatedly heard it stated, (so often, indeed, and from such various quarters, that I think there mustbe some truth in it), that the American sailors fire with acertainty of slaughter, whereas our shots are sent very nearly atrandom. "This, " said a naval officer of high reputation, "isthe blessed effect of your game laws; your sailors never fire ata mark; whilst our free tars, from their practice in pursuit ofgame, can any of them split a hair. " But the favourite, theconstant, the universal sneer that met me every where, was on ourold-fashioned attachments to things obsolete. Had they a littlewit among them, I am certain they would have given us thecognomen of "My Grandmother, the British, " for that is the tonethey take, and it is thus they reconcile themselves to the crudenewness of every thing around them. 

"I wonder you are not sick of kings, chancellors, andarchbishops, and all your fustian of wigs and gowns, " said avery clever gentleman to me once, with an affected yawn, "I protest the very sound almost sets me to sleep. "

It is amusing to observe how soothing the idea seems, that theyare more modern, more advanced than England. Our classicliterature, our princely dignities, our noble institutions, areall gone-by relics of the dark ages. 

This, and the vastness of their naked territory, make up theflattering unction which is laid upon the soul, as an antidoteto the little misgiving which from time to time arises, lesttheir large country be not of quite so much importance amongthe nations, as a certain paltry old-fashioned little place thatthey wot of. 

I was once sitting with a party of ladies, among whom were oneor two young girls, whose curiosity was greater than theirpatriotism, and they asked me many questions respecting thesplendour and extent of London. I was endeavouring to satisfythem by the best description I could give, when we wereinterrupted by another lady, who exclaimed, "Do hold yourtongues, girls, about London; if you want to know what abeautiful city is, look at Philadelphia; when Mrs. Trollope hasbeen there, I think she will allow that it is better worthtalking about than that great overgrown collection of nasty, filthy, dirty streets, that they call London. "

Once in Ohio, and once in the district of Columbia, I hadan atlas displayed before me, that I might be convinced bythe evidence of my own eyes what a very contemptible littlecountry I came from. I shall never forget the gravity withwhich, on the latter occasion, a gentleman drew out hisgraduated pencil-case, and shewed me past contradiction, thatthe whole of the British dominions did not equal in size one oftheir least important states; nor the air with which, after thedemonstration, he placed his feet upon the chimney-piece, considerably higher than his head, and whistled Yankee Doodle. 

Their glorious institutions, their unequalled freedom, were, ofcourse, not left unsung. 

I took some pains to ascertain what they meant by their gloriousinstitutions, and it is with no affectation of ignorance that Iprofess I never could comprehend the meaning of the phrase, whichis, however, on the lip of every American, when he talks of hiscountry. I asked if by their institutions they meant theirhospitals and penitentiaries. "Oh no! we mean the gloriousinstitutions which are coeval with the revolution. " "Is it, " Iasked, "your institution of marriage, which you have made purelya civil and not a religious rite, to be performed by a justice ofpeace, instead of a clergyman?"

"Oh no! we speak of our divine political institutions. " Yetstill I was in the dark, nor can I guess what they mean, unlessthey call incessant electioneering, without pause or interval fora single day, for a single hour, of their whole existence, "aglorious institution. "

Their unequalled freedom, I think, I understand better. Theircode of common law is built upon ours; and the difference betweenus is this, in England the laws are acted upon, in America theyare not. 

I do not speak of the police of the Atlantic cities; Ibelieve it is well arranged: in New York it is celebratedfor being so; but out of the range of their influence, thecontempt of law is greater than I can venture to state, withany hope of being believed. Trespass, assault, robbery, nay, even murder, are often committed without the slightest attemptat legal interference. 

During the summer that we passed most delightfully in Maryland, our rambles were often restrained in various directions by theadvice of our kind friends, who knew the manners and morals ofthe country. When we asked the cause, we were told, "There is apublic-house on that road, and it will not be safe to pass it, "

The line of the Chesapeak and Ohio canal passed within a fewmiles of Mrs. S--'s residence. It twice happened during ourstay with her, that dead bodies were found partially concealednear it. The circumstance was related as a sort of half hour'swonder; and when I asked particulars of those who, on oneoccasion, brought the tale, the reply was, "Oh, he was murderedI expect; or maybe he died of the canal fever; but they say hehad marks of being throttled. " No inquest was summoned; andcertainly no more sensation was produced by the occurrence thanif a sheep had been found in the same predicament. 

The abundance of food and the scarcity of hanging were alsofavourite topics, as proving their superiority to England. Theyare both excellent things, but I do not admit the inference. A wide and most fertile territory, as yet but thinly inhabited, may easily be made to yield abundant food for its population: andwhere a desperate villain knows, that when he has made his townor his village "too hot to hold him, " he has nothing to do but totravel a few miles west, and be sure of finding plenty of beefand whiskey, with no danger that the law shall follow him, it isnot extraordinary that executions should be rare. 

Once during our residence at Cincinnati, a murderer of uncommonatrocity was taken, tried, convicted, and condemned to death. It had been shewn on his trial, that some years before he hadmurdered a wife and child at New Orleans, but little notice hadbeen taken of it at the time. The crime which had now thrownhim into the hands of justice was the recent murder of a secondwife, and the chief evidence against him was his own son. 

The day of his execution was fixed, and the sensation producedwas so great from the strangeness of the occurrence, (no whiteman having ever been executed at Cincinnati, ) that persons fromsixty miles' distance came to be present at it. 

Meanwhile some unco' good people began to start doubts as tothe righteousness of hanging a man, and made application to theGovernor of the State* of Ohio, to commute the sentence intoimprisonment. The Governor for some time refused to interferewith the sentence of the tribunal before which he had been tried;but at length, frightened at the unusual situation in which hefound himself, he yielded to the importunity of the Presbyterianparty who had assailed him, and sent off an order to the sheriffaccordingly. But this order was not to reprieve him, but to askhim if he pleased to be reprieved, and sent to the penitentiaryinstead of being hanged. 

 *(The Governors of states have the same power over life and (death as is vested, with us, in the crown. 

The sheriff waited upon the criminal, and made his proposal, andwas answered. "If any thing could make me agree to it, it wouldbe the hope of living long enough to kill you and my dog of ason: however, I won't agree; you shall have the hanging of me. "

The worthy sheriff, to whom the ghastly office of executioner isassigned, said all in his power to persuade him to sign theoffered document, but in vain; he obtained nothing but abuse forhis efforts. 

The day of execution arrived; the place appointed was the sideof a hill, the only one cleared of trees near the town; and manyhours before the time fixed, we saw it entirely covered by animmense multitude of men, women, and children. At length thehour arrived, the dismal cart was seen slowly mounting the hill, the noisy throng was hushed into solemn silence; the wretchedcriminal mounted the scaffold, when again the sheriff asked himto sign his acceptance of the commutation proposed; but hespurned the paper from him, and cried aloud, "Hang me!"

Midday was the moment appointed for cutting the rope; the sheriffstood, his watch in one hand, and a knife in the other; the handwas lifted to strike, when the criminal stoutly exclaimed, "Isign;" and he was conveyed back to prison, amidst the shouts, laughter, and ribaldry of the mob. 

I am not fond of hanging, but there was something in all thisthat did not look like the decent dignity of wholesome justice. 

CHAPTER 15

Camp-Meeting

It was in the course of this summer that I found the opportunityI had long wished for, of attending a camp-meeting, and I gladlyaccepted the invitation of an English lady and gentleman toaccompany them in their carriage to the spot where it is held;this was in a wild district on the confines of Indiana. 

The prospect of passing a night in the back woods of Indiana wasby no means agreeable, but I screwed my courage to the properpitch, and set forth determined to see with my own eyes, and hearwith my own ears, what a camp-meeting really was. I had heard itsaid that being at a camp-meeting was like standing at the gateof heaven, and seeing it opening before you; I had heard it said, that being at a camp-meeting was like finding yourself within thegates of hell; in either case there must be something to gratifycuriosity, and compensate one for the fatigue of a long rumblingride and a sleepless night. 

We reached the ground about an hour before midnight, and theapproach to it was highly picturesque. The spot chosen was theverge of an unbroken forest, where a space of about twenty acresappeared to have been partially cleared for the purpose. Tentsof different sizes were pitched very near together in a circleround the cleared space; behind them were ranged an exteriorcircle of carriages of every description, and at the back of eachwere fastened the horses which had drawn them thither. Throughthis triple circle of defence we distinguished numerous firesburning brightly within it; and still more numerous lightsflickering from the trees that were left in the enclosure. Themoon was in meridian splendour above our heads. 

We left the carriage to the care of a servant, who was to preparea bed in it for Mrs. B. And me, and entered the inner circle. The first glance reminded me of Vauxhall, from the effect of thelights among the trees, and the moving crowd below them; but thesecond shewed a scene totally unlike any thing I had everwitnessed. Four high frames, constructed in the form of altars, were placed at the four corners of the enclosure; on these weresupported layers of earth and sod, on which burned immense firesof blazing pinewood. On one side a rude platform was erected toaccommodate the preachers, fifteen of whom attended this meeting, and with very short intervals for necessary refreshment andprivate devotion, preached in rotation, day and night, fromTuesday to Saturday. 

When we arrived, the preachers were silent; but we heard issuingfrom nearly every tent mingled sounds of praying, preaching, singing, and lamentation. The curtains in front of each tentwere dropped, and the faint light that gleamed through the whitedrapery, backed as it was by the dark forest, had a beautiful andmysterious effect, that set the imagination at work; and had thesounds which vibrated around us been less discordant, harsh, andunnatural, I should have enjoyed it; but listening at the cornerof a tent, which poured forth more than its proportion ofclamour, in a few moments chased every feeling derived fromimagination, and furnished realities that could neither bemistaken or forgotten. 

Great numbers of persons were walking about the ground, whoappeared like ourselves to be present only as spectators; someof these very unceremoniously contrived to raise the drapery ofthis tent, at one comer, so as to afford us a perfect view ofthe interior. 

The floor was covered with straw, which round the sides washeaped in masses, that might serve as seats, but which atthat moment were used to support the heads and the arms of theclose-packed circle of men and women who kneeled on the floor. 

Out of about thirty persons thus placed, perhaps half a dozenwere men. One of these, a handsome looking youth of eighteenor twenty, kneeled just below the opening through which I looked. His arm was encircling the neck of a young girl who knelt besidehim, with her hair hanging dishevelled upon her shoulders, andher features working with the most violent agitation; soon afterthey both fell forward on the straw, as if unable to endure inany other attitude the burning eloquence of a tall grim figurein black, who, standing erect in the centre, was uttering withincredible vehemence an oration that seemed to hover betweenpraying and preaching; his arms hung stiff and immoveable byhis side, and he looked like an ill-constructed machine, setin action by a movement so violent, as to threaten its owndestruction, so jerkingly, painfully, yet rapidly, did hiswords tumble out; the kneeling circle ceasing not to call inevery variety of tone on the name of Jesus; accompanied withsobs, groans, and a sort of low howling inexpressibly painfulto listen to. But my attention was speedily withdrawn from thepreacher, and the circle round him, by a figure which kneltalone at some distance; it was a living image of Scott'sMacbriar, as young, as wild, and as terrible. His thin armstossed above his head, had forced themselves so far out of thesleeves, that they were bare to the elbow; his large eyes glaredfrightfully, and he continued to scream without an instant'sintermission the word "Glory!" with a violence that seemed toswell every vein to bursting. It was too dreadful to look uponlong, and we turned away shuddering. 

We made the circuit of the tents, pausing where attention wasparticularly excited by sounds more vehement than ordinary. We contrived to look into many; all were strewed with straw, andthe distorted figures that we saw kneeling, sitting, and lyingamongst it, joined to the woeful and convulsive cries, gave toeach, the air of a cell in Bedlam. 

One tent was occupied exclusively by Negroes. They were allfull-dressed, and looked exactly as if they were performinga scene on the stage. One woman wore a dress of pink gauzetrimmed with silver lace; another was dressed in pale yellowsilk; one or two had splendid turbans; and all wore a profusionof ornaments. The men were in snow white pantaloons, with gaycoloured linen jackets. One of these, a youth of coal-blackcomeliness, was preaching with the most violent gesticulations, frequently springing high from the ground, and clapping hishands over his head. Could our missionary societies have heardthe trash he uttered, by way of an address to the Deity, theymight perhaps have doubted whether his conversion had muchenlightened his mind. 

At midnight a horn sounded through the camp, which, we were told, was to call the people from private to public worship; and wepresently saw them flocking from all sides to the front of thepreachers' stand. Mrs. B. And I contrived to place ourselveswith our backs supported against the lower part of thisstructure, and we were thus enabled to witness the scene whichfollowed without personal danger. There were about two thousandpersons assembled. 

One of the preachers began in a low nasal tone, and, like allother Methodist preachers, assured us of the enormous depravityof man as he comes from the hands of his Maker, and of hisperfect sanctification after he had wrestled sufficiently withthe Lord to get hold of him, _et cetera_. The admiration of thecrowd was evinced by almost constant cries of "Amen! Amen!""Jesus! Jesus!" "Glory! Glory!" and the like. But thiscomparative tranquility did not last long: the preacher toldthem that "this night was the time fixed upon for anxioussinners to wrestle with the Lord;" that he and his brethren"were at hand to help them, " and that such as needed theirhelp were to come forward into "the pen. " The phrase forciblyrecalled Milton's lines--

 "Blind mouths! that scarce themselves know how to hold A sheep-hook, or have learned aught else, the least That to the faithful herdsman's art belongs! --But when they list their lean and flashy songs, Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw;-- The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed! But swoln with wind, and the rank mist they draw, Rot inwardly--and foul contagion spread. "

"The pen" was the space immediately below the preachers' stand;we were therefore placed on the edge of it, and were enabled tosee and hear all that took place in the very centre of thisextraordinary exhibition. 

The crowd fell back at the mention of the _pen_, and for someminutes there was a vacant space before us. The preachers camedown from their stand and placed themselves in the midst of it, beginning to sing a hymn, calling upon the penitents to comeforth. As they sung they kept turning themselves round to everypart of the crowd and, by degrees, the voices of the wholemultitude joined in chorus. This was the only moment at whichI perceived any thing like the solemn and beautiful effect, which I had heard ascribed to this woodland worship. It iscertain that the combined voices of such a multitude, heard atdead of night, from the depths of their eternal forests, themany fair young faces turned upward, and looking paler andlovelier as they met the moon-beams, the dark figures of theofficials in the middle of the circle, the lurid glare thrown bythe altar-fires on the woods beyond, did altogether produce afine and solemn effect, that I shall not easily forget; but ereI had well enjoyed it, the scene changed, and sublimity gaveplace to horror and disgust. 

The exhortation nearly resembled that which I had heard at"the Revival, " but the result was very different; for, insteadof the few hysterical women who had distinguished themselveson that occasion, above a hundred persons, , nearly all females, came forward, uttering howlings and groans, so terrible that Ishall never cease to shudder when I recall them. They appearedto drag each other forward, and on the word being given, "let uspray, " they all fell on their knees; but this posture was soonchanged for others that permitted greater scope for theconvulsive movements of their limbs; and they were soon alllying on the ground in an indescribable confusion of heads andlegs. They threw about their limbs with such incessant andviolent motions, that I was every instant expecting some seriousaccident to occur. 

But how am I to describe the sounds that proceeded from thisstrange mass of human beings? I know no words which can conveyan idea of it. Hysterical sobbings, convulsive groans, shrieksand screams the most appalling, burst forth on all sides. I feltsick with horror. As if their hoarse and over strained voicesfailed to make noise enough, they soon began to clap their handsviolently. The scene described by Dante was before me:-

 "Quivi sospiri, pianti, ed alti guai Risonavon per l'aere-- --Orribili favelle Parole di dolore, accenti d'ira Voci alti e floche, e suon di man con elle. "

Many of these wretched creatures were beautiful young females. The preachers moved about among them, at once exciting andsoothing their agonies. I heard the muttered "Sister! dearsister!" I saw the insidious lips approach the cheeks of theunhappy girls; I heard the murmured confessions of the poorvictims, and I watched their tormentors, breathing into theirears consolations that tinged the pale cheek with red. Had Ibeen a man, I am sure I should have been guilty of some rashact of interference; nor do I believe that such a scene couldhave been acted in the presence of Englishmen without instantpunishment being inflicted; not to mention the salutarydiscipline of the treadmill, which, beyond all question, would, in England, have been applied to check so turbulent and sovicious a scene. 

After the first wild burst that followed their prostration, themeanings, in many instances, became loudly articulate; and I thenexperienced a strange vibration between tragic and comic feeling. 

A very pretty girl, who was kneeling in the attitude of Canova'sMagdalene immediately before us, amongst an immense quantity ofjargon, broke out thus: "Woe! woe to the backsliders! hear it, hear it Jesus! when I was fifteen my mother died, and Ibackslided, oh Jesus, I backslided! take me home to my mother, Jesus! take me home to her, for I am weary! Oh John Mitchel!John Mitchel!" and after sobbing piteously behind her raisedhands, she lifted her sweet face again, which was as pale asdeath, and said, "Shall I sit on the sunny bank of salvation withmy mother? my own dear mother? oh Jesus, take me home, take mehome!" Who could refuse a tear to this earnest wish for death inone so young and so lovely? But I saw her, ere I left theground, with her hand fast locked, and her head supported by aman who looked very much as Don Juan might, when sent back toearth as too bad for the regions below. 

One woman near us continued to "call on the Lord, " as it istermed, in the loudest possible tone, and without a moment'sinterval, for the two hours that we kept our dreadful station. She became frightfully hoarse, and her face so red as to makeme expect she would burst a blood-vessel. Among the rest ofher rant, she said, "I will hold fast to Jesus, I never willlet him go; if they take me to hell, I will still hold him fast, fast, fast!"

The stunning noise was sometimes varied by the preachersbeginning to sing; but the convulsive movements of the poormaniacs only became more violent. At length the atrociouswickedness of this horrible scene increased to a degree ofgrossness, that drove us from our station; we returned to thecarriage at about three o'clock in the morning, and passedthe remainder of the night in listening to the ever increasingtumult at the pen. To sleep was impossible. At daybreak thehorn again sounded, to send them to private devotion; and inabout an hour afterwards I saw the whole camp as joyouslyand eagerly employed in preparing and devouring their mostsubstantial breakfasts as if the night had been passed indancing; and I marked many a fair but pale face, that Irecognised as a demoniac of the night, simpering beside aswain, to whom she carefully administered hot coffee andeggs. The preaching saint and the howling sinner seemed aliketo relish this mode of recruiting their strength. 

After enjoying abundance of strong tea, which proved adelightful restorative after a night so strangely spent, Iwandered alone into the forest, and I never remember to havefound perfect quiet more delightful. 

We soon after left the ground; but before our departure welearnt that a very _satisfactory_ collection had been made bythe preachers, for Bibles, Tracts, and _all other religiouspurposes_. 

CHAPTER 16

Danger of rural excursions--Sickness

It is by no means easy to enjoy the beauties of American sceneryin the west, even when you are in a neighbourhood that affordsmuch to admire; at least, in doing so, you run considerable riskof injuring your health. Nothing is considered more dangerousthan exposure to midday heat, except exposure to evening damp;and the twilight is so short, that if you set out on anexpedition when the fervid heat subsides, you can hardly get halfa mile before "sun down, " as they call it, warns you that youmust run or drive home again, as fast as possible, for fear youshould get "a chill. "

I believe we braved all this more than any one else in the wholecountry, and if we had not, we should have left Cincinnatiwithout seeing any thing of the country around it. 

Though we kept steadily to our resolution of passing no moresylvan hours in the forests of Ohio, we often spent entire daysin Kentucky, tracing the course of a "creek, " or climbing thehighest points within our reach, in the hope of catching aglimpse of some distant object. A beautiful reach of the Ohio, or the dark windings of the pretty Licking, were indeed alwaysthe most remarkable features in the landscape. 

There was one spot, however, so beautiful that we visited itagain and again; it was by no means free from mosquitoes; andbeing on the bank of a stream, with many enormous trees lying onthe half-cleared ground around, it was just such a place as wehad been told a hundred times was particularly "dangerous;"nevertheless, we dared every thing for the sake of dining besideour beautiful rippling stream, and watching the bright sunbeamsdancing on the grassy bank, at such a distance from our retreatthat they could not heat us. A little below the basin thatcooled our wine was a cascade of sufficient dimensions to give usall the music of a waterfall, and all the sparkling brightness ofclear water when it is broken again and again by jutting crags. 

To sit beside this miniature cascade, and read, or dream away aday, was one of our greatest pleasures. 

It was indeed a mortifying fact, that whenever we found out apicturesque nook, where turf, and moss, and deep shade, and acrystal stream, and fallen trees, majestic in their ruin, temptedus to sit down, and be very cool and very happy, we invariablyfound that that spot lay under the imputation of malaria. 

A row upon the Ohio was another of our favourite amusements; butin this, I believe, we were also very singular, for often, whenenjoying it, we were shouted at, by the young free-borns on thebanks, as if we had been so many monsters. 

The only rural amusement in which we ever saw any of the nativesengaged was eating strawberries and cream in a pretty gardenabout three miles from the town; here we actually met three orfour carriages; a degree of dissipation that I never witnessedon any other occasion. The strawberries were tolerablestrawberries, but the cream was the vilest sky-blue, and thecharge half a dollar to each person; which being about the priceof half a fat sheep, I thought "pretty considerable much, " if Imay be permitted to use an expressive phrase of the country. 

We had repeatedly been told, by those who knew the land, thatthe _second summer_ was the great trial to the health ofEuropeans settled in America; but we had now reached the middleof our second August, and with the exception of the fever one ofmy sons had suffered from, the summer after our arrival, we hadall enjoyed perfect health; but I was now doomed to feel thetruth of the above prediction, for before the end of August Ifell low before the monster that is for ever stalking throughthat land of lakes and rivers, breathing fever and death around. It was nine weeks before I left my room, and when I did, Ilooked more fit to walk into the Potter's Field, (as they callthe English burying ground) than any where else. 

Long after my general health was pretty well restored, I sufferedfrom the effect of the fever in my limbs, and lay in bed readingseveral weeks after I had been pronounced convalescent. SeveralAmerican novels were brought me. Mr. Flint's Francis Berrian isexcellent; a little wild and romantic, but containing scenes offirst-rate interest and pathos. Hope Leslie, and Redwood, byMiss Sedgewick, an American lady, have both great merit; and Inow first read the whole of Mr. Cooper's novels. By the timethese American studies were completed, I never closed my eyeswithout seeing myriads of bloody scalps floating round me; longslender figures of Red Indians crept through my dreams withnoiseless tread; panthers flared; forests blazed; and whichever way I fled, a light foot, a keen eye, and a long riflewere sure to be on my trail. An additional ounce of calomelhardly sufficed to neutralize the effect of these raw-headand bloody-bones adventures. I was advised to plungeimmediately into a course of fashionable novels. It was agreat relief to me; but as my head was by no means very clear, I sometimes jumbled strangely together the civilized roguesand assassins of Mr. Bulwer, and the wild men, women, andchildren slayers of Mr. Cooper; and, truly, between them, Ipassed my dreams in very bad company. 

Still I could not stand, nor even sit upright. What was I toread next? A happy thought struck me. I determined uponbeginning with Waverley, and reading through (not for the firsttime certainly) the whole series. And what a world did I enterupon! The wholesome vigour of every page seemed to communicateitself to my nerves; I ceased to be languid and fretful, andthough still a cripple, I certainly enjoyed myself mostcompletely, as long as my treat lasted; but this was a shortertime than any one would believe, who has not found how suchvolumes melt, before the constant reading of a long idle day. When it was over, however, I had the pleasure of finding that Icould walk half a dozen yards at a time, and take short airingsin an open carriage; and better still, could sleep quietly. 

It was no very agreeable conviction which greeted my recovery, that our Cincinnati speculation for my son would in no way answerour expectation; and very soon after, he was again seized withthe bilious fever of the country, which terminated in that mostdistressing of all maladies, an ague. I never witnessed iseffects before, and therefore made my self extremely miserable atwhat those around me considered of no consequence. 

I believe this frightful complaint is not immediately dangerous;but I never can believe that the violent and sudden prostrationof strength, the dreadfully convulsive movements which distortthe limbs, the livid hue that spreads itself over the complexion, can take place without shaking the seat of health and life. Repeatedly we thought the malady cured, and for a few days thepoor sufferer believed himself restored to health and strength;but again and again it returned upon him, and he began to givehimself up as the victim of ill health. My own health was stillvery infirm, and it took but little time to decide that we mustleave Cincinnati. The only impediment to this was, the fear thatMr. Trollope, who was to join us in the Spring, might have setout, and thus arrive at Cincinnati after we had left it. However, as the time he had talked of leaving England was laterin the season, I decided upon running the risk; but the winterhad set in with great severity, and the river being frozen, thesteam-boats could not run; the frost continued unbroken throughthe whole of February, and we were almost weary of waiting forits departure, which was to be the signal of ours. 

The breaking up of the ice, on the Licking and Ohio, formed amost striking spectacle. At night the river presented a solidsurface of ice, but in the morning it shewed a collection offloating icebergs, of every imaginable size and form, whirlingagainst each other with frightful violence, and with a noiseunlike any sound I remember. 

This sight was a very welcome one, as it gave us hopes ofimmediate departure, but my courage failed, when I heard thatone or two steam-boats, weary of waiting, meant to start onthe morrow. The idea of running against these floating islandswas really alarming, and I was told by many, that my fears werenot without foundation, for that repeated accidents had happenedfrom this cause; and then they talked of the little Miami river, whose mouth we were to pass, sending down masses of ice thatmight stop our progress; in short, we waited patiently andprudently, till the learned in such matters told us that we mightstart with safety. 

CHAPTER 17

Departure from Cincinnati--Society on board the Steam-boat--Arrival at Wheeling--Bel Esprit

We quitted Cincinnati the beginning of March, 1830, and I believethere was not one of our party who did not experience a sensationof pleasure in leaving it. We had seen again and again all thequeer varieties of it's little world; had amused ourselves withit's consequence, it's taste, and it's ton, till they had ceasedto be amusing. Not a hill was left unclimbed, nor a forest pathunexplored; and, with the exception of two or three individuals, who bore heads and hearts peculiar to no clime, but which arefound scattered through the world, as if to keep us every wherein good humour with it, we left nought to regret at Cincinnati. The only regret was, that we had ever entered it; for we hadwasted health, time, and money there. 

We got on board the steam-boat which was to convey us to Wheelingat three o'clock. She was a noble boat, by far the finest we hadseen. The cabins were above, and the deck passengers, as theyare called, were accommodated below. In front of the ladies'cabin was an ample balcony, sheltered by an awning; chairs andsofas were placed there, and even at that early season, nearlyall the female passengers passed the whole day there. The nameof this splendid vessel was the Lady Franklin. By the way, I wasoften amused by the evident fondness which the Americans shew fortitles. The wives of their eminent men constantly receive thatof "Lady. " We heard of Lady Washington, Lady Jackson, and manyother "ladies. " The eternal recurrence of their militia titlesis particularly ludicrous, met with, as they are, among thetavern-keepers, market-gardeners, &c. But I think the mostremarkable instance which we noticed of this sort ofaristocratical longing occurred at Cincinnati. Mr. T-- inspeaking of a gentleman of the neighbourhood, called him Mr. M--. "General M--, sir, " observed his companion. "I beg his pardon, "rejoined Mr. T--, "but I was not aware of his being in the army. ""No, sir, not in the army, " was the reply, "but he was surveyor-general of the district. "

The weather was delightful; all trace of winter had disappeared, and we again found ourselves moving rapidly up the stream, andenjoying all the beauty of the Ohio. 

Of the male part of the passengers we saw nothing, excepting atthe short silent periods allotted for breakfast, dinner, andsupper, at which we were permitted to enter their cabin, andplace ourselves at their table. 

In the Lady Franklin we had decidedly the best of it, for we hadour beautiful balcony to sit in. In all respects, indeed, ouraccommodations were very superior to what we had found in theboat which brought us from New Orleans to Memphis, where we werestowed away in a miserable little chamber close aft, under thecabin, and given to understand by the steward, that it was ourduty there to remain "till such time as the bell should ring formeals. "

The separation of the sexes, so often mentioned, is no where moreremarkable than on board the steam-boats. Among the passengerson this occasion we had a gentleman and his wife, who reallyappeared to suffer from the arrangement. She was an invalid, andhe was extremely attentive to her, as far, at least, as theregulations permitted. When the steward opened the door ofcommunication between the cabins, to permit our approaching thetable, her husband was always stationed close to it to hand herto her place; and when he accompanied her again to the door, healways lingered for a moment or two on the forbidden threshold, nor left his station, till the last female had passed through. Once or twice he ventured, when all but his wife were on thebalcony, to sit down beside her for a moment in our cabin, butthe instant either of us entered, he started like a guilty thingand vanished. 

While mentioning the peculiar arrangements which are thoughtnecessary to the delicacy of the American ladies, or the comfortof the American gentlemen, I am tempted to allude to a storywhich I saw in the papers respecting the visits which it wasstated Captain Basil Hall persisted in making to his wife andchild on board a Mississippi steam-boat, after bring informedthat doing so was contrary to law. Now I happen to know thatneither himself or Mrs. Hall ever entered the ladies' cabinduring the whole voyage, as they occupied a state-room whichCaptain Hall had secured for his party. The veracity ofnewspaper statements is, perhaps, nowhere quite unimpeachable, but if I am not greatly mistaken, there are more directfalsehoods circulated by the American newspapers than by all theothers in the world, and the one great and never-failing sourceof these voluminous works of imagination is England and theEnglish. How differently would such a voyage be managed on theother side of the Atlantic, were such a mode of travellingpossible there. Such long calm river excursions would beperfectly delightful, and parties would be perpetually formed toenjoy them. Even were all the parties strangers to each other, the knowledge that they were to eat, drink, and steam awaytogether for a week or fortnight, would induce something like asocial feeling in any other country. 

It is true that the men became sufficiently acquainted to gametogether, and we were told that the opportunity was considered asso favourable, that no boat left New Orleans without having ascabin passengers one or two gentlemen from that city whoseprofession it was to drill the fifty-two elements of a pack ofcards to profitable duty. This doubtless is an additional reasonfor the strict exclusion of the ladies from their society. Theconstant drinking of spirits is another, for though they do notscruple to chew tobacco and to spit incessantly in the presenceof women, they generally prefer drinking and gaming in theirabsence. 

I often used to amuse myself with fancying the different scenewhich such a vessel would display in Europe. The noble length ofthe gentlemen's cabin would be put into requisition for a dance, while that of the ladies, with their delicious balcony, would beemployed for refreshments, instead of sitting down in two longsilent melancholy rows, to swallow as much coffee and beef-steakas could be achieved in ten minutes. Then song and music wouldbe heard borne along by the midnight breeze; but on the Ohio, when light failed to shew us the bluffs, and the trees, withtheir images inverted in the stream, we crept into our littlecots, listening to the ceaseless churning of the engine, in hopeit would prove a lullaby till morning. 

We were three days in reaching Wheeling, where we arrived atlast, at two o'clock in the morning, an uncomfortable hour todisembark with a good deal of luggage, as the steam-boat wasobliged to go on immediately; but we were instantly supplied witha dray, and in a few moments found ourselves comfortably seatedbefore a good fire, at an hotel near the landing-place; ourrooms, with fires in them, were immediately ready for us, andrefreshments brought, with all that sedulous attention which inthis country distinguishes a slave state. In making thisobservation I am very far from intending to advocate the systemof slavery; I conceive it to be essentially wrong; but so far asmy observation has extended, I think its influence is far lessinjurious to the manners and morals of the people than thefallacious ideas of equality, which are so fondly cherished bythe working classes of the white population in America. Thatthese ideas are fallacious, is obvious, for in point of fact theman possessed of dollars does command the services of the manpossessed of no dollars; but these services are given grudgingly, and of necessity, with no appearance of cheerful goodwill on theone side, or of kindly interest on the other. I never failed tomark the difference on entering a slave state. I was immediatelycomfortable, and at my ease, and felt that the intercoursebetween me and those who served me, was profitable to bothparties and painful to neither. 

It was not till I had leisure for more minute observation that Ifelt aware of the influence of slavery upon the owners of slaves;when I did, I confess I could not but think that the citizens ofthe United States had contrived, by their political alchymy, toextract all that was most noxious both in democracy and inslavery, and had poured the strange mixture through every vein ofthe moral organization of their country. 

Wheeling is the state of Virginia, and appears to be aflourishing town. It is the point at which most travellers fromthe West leave the Ohio, to take the stages which travel themountain road to the Atlantic cities. 

It has many manufactories, among others, one for blowing andcutting glass, which we visited. We were told by the workmenthat the articles finished there were equal to any in the world;but my eyes refused their assent. The cutting was very good, though by no means equal to what we see in daily use in London;but the chief inferiority is in the material, which is neveraltogether free from colour. I had observed this also in theglass of the Pittsburgh manufactory, the labour bestowed on italways appearing greater than the glass deserved. They told usalso, that they were rapidly improving in the art, and I have nodoubt that this was true. 

Wheeling has little of beauty to distinguish it, except the everlovely Ohio, to which we here bid adieu, and a fine bold hill, which rises immediately behind the town. This hill, as well asevery other in the neighbourhood, is bored for coal. Their minesare all horizontal. The coal burns well, but with a very blackand dirty cinder. 

We found the coach, by which we meant to proceed to LittleWashington, full, and learnt that we must wait two days before itwould again leave the town. Posting was never heard of in thecountry, and the mail travelled all night, which I did notapprove of; we therefore found ourselves compelled to pass twodays at the Wheeling hotel. 

I know not how this weary interval would have worn away, had itnot been for the fortunate circumstance of our meeting with a_bel esprit_ among the boarders there. We descended to thecommon sitting room (for private parlours there are none) beforebreakfast the morning after our arrival; several ordinaryindividuals entered, till the party amounted to eight or nine. Again the door opened, and in swam a female, who had oncecertainly been handsome, and who, it was equally evident, stillthought herself so. She was tall, and well formed, dressed inblack, with many gaudy trinkets about her: a scarlet _fichu_relieved the sombre colour of her dress, and a very smart littlecap at the back of her head set off an immense quantity of sablehair, which naturally, or artificially, adorned her forehead. A becoming quantity of rouge gave the finishing touch to herfigure, which had a degree of pretension about it thatimmediately attracted our notice. She talked fluently, andwithout any American restraint, and I began to be greatly puzzledas to who or what she could be; a lady, in the English sense ofthe word, I was sure she was not, and she was a little like anAmerican female of what they call good standing. A beautifulgirl of seventeen entered soon after, and called her "Ma, " andboth mother and daughter chattered away, about themselves andtheir concerns, in a manner that greatly increased my puzzle. 

After breakfast, being much in want of amusement, I seated myselfby her, and entered into conversation. I found her nothing loth, and in about a minute and a half she put a card into my hand, setting forth, that she taught the art of painting upon velvet inall its branches. 

She stated to me, with great volubility, that no one but herselfand her daughter knew any thing of this invaluable branch of art;but that for twenty-five dollars they were willing to communicateall they knew. 

In five minutes more she informed me that she was the author ofsome of the most cutting satires in the language; and then shepresented me a paper, containing a prospectus, as she called it, of a novel, upon an entirely new construction. I was strangelytempted to ask her if it went by steam, but she left me no timeto ask any thing, for, continuing the autobiography she had soobligingly begun, she said, "I used to write against all theAdams faction. I will go up stairs in a moment and fetch youdown my sat-heres against that side. But oh! my dear madam! itis really frightful to think how talent is neglected in thiscountry. Ah! I know what you are going to say, my dear madam, you will tell me that it is not so in yours. I know it! butalas! the Atlantic! However, I really must tell you how I havebeen treated: not only did I publish the most biting sat-heresagainst the Adams faction, but I wrote songs and odes in honourof Jackson; and my daughter, Cordelia, sang a splendid song ofmy writing, before eight hundred people, entirely and altogetherwritten in his praise; and would you believe it, my dear madam, he has never taken the slightest notice of me, or made me theleast remuneration. But you can't suppose I mean to bear itquietly? No! I promise him that is not my way. The novelI have just mentioned to you was began as a sentimentalromance (that, perhaps, after all, is my real forte), butafter the provocation I received at Washington, I turned itinto a sat-herical novel, and I now call it _Yankee DoodleCourt_. By the way my dear madam, I think if I could make upmy mind to cross that terrible Atlantic, I should be prettywell received, after writing Yankee Doodle Court!"

I took the opportunity of a slight pause to ask her to what partyshe now belonged, since she had forsworn both Adams and Jackson. 

"Oh Clay! Clay for ever! he is a real true-hearted republican;the others are neither more nor less than tyrants. "

When next I entered the sitting-room she again addressed me, todeplore the degenerate taste of the age. 

"Would you believe it? I have at this moment a comedy ready forrepresentation; I call it 'The Mad Philosopher. ' It is reallyadmirable, and its success certain, if I could get it played. I assure you the neglect I meet with amounts perfectly topersecution. But I have found out how to pay them, and to makemy own fortune. Sat-here, (as she constantly pronounced satire)sat-here is the only weapon that can revenge neglect, and Iflatter myself I know how to use it. Do me the favour to lookat this, "

She then presented me with a tiny pamphlet, whose price, sheinformed me, was twenty-five cents, which I readily paid tobecome the possessor of this _chef d'oeuvre_. The compositionwas pretty nearly such as I anticipated, excepting that theEnglish language was done to death by her pen still more than byher tongue. The epigraph, which was subscribed "original, " wasas follows:

 "Your popularity's on the decline: You had your triumph! now I'll have mine. "

These are rather a favourable specimen of the verses that follow. 

In a subsequent conversation she made me acquainted with anothertalent, informing me that she had played the part of Charlotte, in _Love a la mode_, when General Lafayette honoured the theatreat Cincinnati with his presence. 

She now appeared to have run out the catalogue of heraccomplishments; and I came to the conclusion that my newacquaintance was a strolling player: but she seemed to guess mythoughts, for she presently added. "It was a Thespian corps thatplayed before the General. "

CHAPTER 18

Departure for the mountains in the Stage--Scenery of theAlleghany--Haggerstown

The weather was bleak and disagreeable during the two days wewere obliged to remain at Wheeling. I had got heartily tired ofmy gifted friend; we had walked up every side of the rugged hill, and I set off on my journey towards the mountains with morepleasure than is generally felt in quitting a pillow beforedaylight, for a cold corner in a rumbling stage-coach. 

This was the first time we had got into an American stage, thoughwe had traversed above two thousand miles of the country, and wehad all the satisfaction in it, which could be derived from theconviction that we were travelling in a foreign land. Thisvehicle had no step, and we climbed into it by a ladder; whenthat was removed I remembered, with some dismay, that the femalesat least were much in the predicament of sailors, who, "in dangerhave no door to creep out, " but when a misfortune is absolutelyinevitable, we are apt to bear it remarkably well; who wouldutter that constant petition of ladies on rough roads, "let me getout, " when compliance would oblige the pleader to make a step offive feet before she could touch the ground?

The coach had three rows of seats, each calculated to hold threepersons, and as we were only six, we had, in the phrase ofMilton, to "inhabit lax" this exalted abode, and, accordingly, wewere for some miles tossed about like a few potatoes in awheelbarrow. Our knees, elbows, and heads required too much carefor their protection to allow us leisure to look out of thewindows; but at length the road became smoother, and we becamemore skilful in the art of balancing ourselves, so as to meet theconcussion with less danger of dislocation. 

We then found that we were travelling through a very beautifulcountry, essentially different in its features from what we hadbeen accustomed to round Cincinnati: it is true we had left "_labelle riviere_" behind us, but the many limpid and rapid littlestreams that danced through the landscape to join it, more thanatoned for its loss. 

The country already wore an air of more careful husbandry, andthe very circumstance of a wide and costly road (though not avery smooth one), which in theory might be supposed to injurepicturesque effect, was beautiful to us, who, since we hadentered the muddy mouth of the Mississippi, had never seen anything except a steam-boat and the _levee_ professing to have sonoble an object as public accommodation. Through the whole ofthe vast region we had passed, excepting at New Orleans itself, every trace of the art of man appeared to be confined to theindividual effort of "getting along, " which, in western phrase, means contriving to live with as small a portion of theincumbrances of civilized society as possible. 

This road was made at the expense of the government as far asCumberland, a town situated among the Alleghany mountains, and, from the nature of the ground, must have been a work of greatcost. I regretted not having counted the number of bridgesbetween Wheeling and Little Washington, a distance of thirty-fourmiles; over one stream only there are twenty-five, all passed bythe road. They frequently occurred within a hundred yards ofeach other, so serpentine is its course; they are built of stone, and sometimes very neatly finished. 

Little Washington is in Pennsylvania, across a corner of whichthe road runs. This is a free state, but we were still waitedupon by Negroes, hired from the neighbouring state of Virginia. We arrived at night, and set off again at four in the morning;all, therefore, that we saw of Little Washington was its hotel, which was clean and comfortable. The first part of the nextday's journey was through a country much less interesting: itscharacter was unvaried for nearly thirty miles, consisting of anuninterrupted succession of forest-covered hills. As soon as wehad wearily dragged to the top of one of these, we began torumble down the other side as rapidly as our four horses couldtrot; and no sooner arrived at the bottom than we began to crawlup again; the trees constantly so thick and so high as topreclude the possibility of seeing fifty yards in any direction. 

The latter part of the day, however, amply repaid us. At fouro'clock we began to ascend the Alleghany mountains: the firstridge on the western side is called Laurel Hill, and takes itsname from the profuse quantity of evergreens with which it iscovered; not any among them, however, being the shrub to which wegive the name of laurel. 

The whole of this mountain region, through ninety miles of whichthe road passes, is a garden. The almost incredible variety ofplants, and the lavish profusion of their growth, produce aneffect perfectly enchanting. I really can hardly conceive ahigher enjoyment than a botanical tour among the Alleghanymountains, to any one who had science enough to profit by it. 

The magnificent rhododendron first caught our eyes; it fringesevery cliff, nestles beneath every rock, and blooms around everytree. The azalia, the shumac, and every variety of thatbeautiful mischief, the kalmia, are in equal profusion. Cedarsof every size and form were above, around, and underneath us;firs more beautiful and more various than I had ever seen, werein equal abundance, but I know not whether they were really suchas I had never seen in Europe, or only in infinitely greatersplendour and perfection of growth; the species called thehemlock is, I think, second to the cedar only, in magnificence. Oak and beech, with innumerable roses and wild vines, hanging inbeautiful confusion among their branches, were in many placesscattered among the evergreens. The earth was carpeted withvarious mosses and creeping plants, and though still in the monthof March, not a trace of the nakedness of winter could be seen. Such was the scenery that shewed us we were indeed among thefar-famed Alleghany mountains. 

As our noble terrace-road, the Semplon of America, rose higherand higher, all that is noblest in nature was joined to all thatis sweetest. The blue tops of the higher ridges formed theoutline; huge masses of rock rose above us on the left, half hidat intervals by the bright green shrubs, while to the right welooked down upon the tops of the pines and cedars which clothedthe bottom. 

I had no idea of the endless variety of mountain scenery. Mynotions had been of rocks and precipices, of torrents and offorest trees, but I little expected that the first spot whichshould recall the garden scenery of our beautiful England wouldbe found among the moutains: yet so it was. From the time Ientered America I had never seen the slightest approach to whatwe call pleasure-grounds; a few very worthless and scentlessflowers were all the specimens of gardening I had seen in Ohio;no attempt at garden scenery was ever dreamed of, and it was withthe sort of delight with which one meets an old friend, that welooked on the lovely mixture of trees, shrubs, and flowers, thatnow continually met our eyes. Often, on descending into thenarrow vallies, we found a little spot of cultivation, a gardenor a field, hedged round with shumacs, rhododendrons, andazalias, and a cottage covered with roses. These vallies arespots of great beauty; a clear stream is always found runningthrough them, which is generally converted to the use of themiller, at some point not far from the road; and here, as on theheights, great beauty of colouring is given to the landscape, bythe bright hue of the vegetation, and the sober grey of therocks. 

The first night we passed among the mountains recalled uspainfully from the enjoyment of nature to all the petty miseriesof personal discomfort. Arrived at our inn, a forlorn parlour, filled with the blended fumes of tobacco and whiskey, receivedus; and chilled, as we began to feel ourselves with the mountainair, we preferred going to our cold bedrooms rather than sup insuch an atmosphere. We found linen on the beds which theyassured us had only been used _a few nights_; every kind ofrefreshment we asked for we were answered, "We do not happen tohave that article. " We were still in Pennsylvania, and no longerwaited upon by slaves; it was, therefore, with great difficultythat we procured a fire in our bedrooms from the surly-looking_young lady_ who condescended to officiate as chambermaid, andwith much more, that we extorted clean linen for our beds; thatdone, we patiently crept into them supperless, while she made herexit muttering about the difficulty of "fixing English folks. "

The next morning cheered our spirits again; we now enjoyed a newkind of alpine witchery; the clouds were floating around, andbelow us, and the distant peaks were indistinctly visible asthrough a white gauze veil, which was gradually lifted up, tillthe sun arose, and again let in upon us the full glory of theseinterminable heights. 

We were told before we began the ascent, that we should find snowfour inches deep on the road; but as yet we had seen none, andindeed it was with difficulty we persuaded ourselves that we werenot travelling in the midst of summer. As we proceeded, however, we found the northern declivities still covered with it, and atlength, towards the summit, the road itself had the promised fourinches. The extreme mildness of the air, and the brilliant hueof the evergreens, contrasted strangely with this appearance ofwinter; it was difficult to understand how the snow could helpmelting in such an atmosphere. 

Again and again we enjoyed all the exhilarating sensations thatsuch scenes must necessarily inspire, but in attempting acontinued description of our progress over these beautifulmountains, I could only tell again of rocks, cedars, laurels, andrunning streams, of blue heights, and green vallies, yet thecontinually varying combinations of these objects afforded usunceasing pleasure. From one point, pre-eminently above anyneighbouring ridge, we looked back upon the enormous valley ofthe West. It is a stupendous view; but having gazed upon it forsome moments, we turned to pursue our course, and the certaintythat we should see it no more, raised no sigh of regret. 

We dined, on the second day, at a beautiful spot, which we weretold was the highest point on the road, being 2, 846 feet abovethe level of the sea. We were regaled luxuriously on wild turkeyand mountain venison; which latter is infinitely superior to anyfurnished by the forests of the Mississippi, or the Ohio. Thevegetables also were extremely fine, and we were told by a prettygirl, who superintended the slaves that waited on us, (for wewere again in Virginia), that the vegetables of the Alleghanywere reckoned the finest in America. She told us also, that wildstrawberries were profusely abundant, and very fine; that theircows found for themselves, during the summer, plenty of floweryfood, which produced a copious supply of milk; that their springgave them the purest water, of icy coldness in the warmestseasons; and that the climate was the most delicious in theworld, for though the thermometer sometimes stood at ninety, their cool breeze never failed them. What a spot to turn hermitin for a summer! My eloquent mountaineer gave me some specimensof ground plants, far unlike any thing I had ever seen. Oneparticularly, which she called the ground pine, is peculiar asshe told me, to the Alleghany, and in some places runs over wholeacres of ground; it is extremely beautiful. The rooms were veryprettily decorated with this elegant plant, hung round it infestoons. 

In many places the clearing has been considerable; the roadpasses through several fine farms, situated in the shelteredhollows; we were told that the wolves continue to annoy themseverely, but that panthers, the terror of the West, are neverseen, and bears very rarely. Of snakes, they confessed they hadabundance, but very few that were considered dangerous. 

In the afternoon we came in sight of the Monongehala river; andits banks gave us for several miles a beautiful succession ofwild and domestic scenery. In some points, the black rock risesperpendicularly from its margin, like those at Chepstow; atothers, a mill, with its owner's cottage, its corn-plat, and itspoultry, present a delightful image of industry and comfort. 

Brownsville is a busy looking little town built upon the banks ofthis river; it would be pretty, were it not stained by the hue ofcoal. I do not remember in England to have seen any spot, however near a coal mine, so dyed in black as Wheeling andBrownsville. At this place we crossed the Monongehala, in a flatferry-boat, which very commodiously received our huge coach andfour horses. 

On leaving the black little town, we were again cheered byabundance of evergreens, reflected in the stream, with fantasticpiles of rock, half visible through the pines and cedars above, giving often the idea of a vast gothic castle. It was a folly, Iconfess, but I often lamented they were not such; the travellingfor thousands of miles, without meeting any nobler trace of theages that are passed, than a mass of rotten leaves, or a fragmentof fallen rock, produces a heavy, earthly matter-of-fact effectupon the imagination, which can hardly be described, and forwhich the greatest beauty of scenery can furnish only anoccasional and transitory remedy. 

Our second night in the mountains was past at a solitary house ofrather forlorn appearance; but we fared much better than thenight before, for they gave us clean sheets, a good fire, and noscolding. We again started at four o'clock in the morning, andeagerly watched for the first gleam of light that should show thesame lovely spectacle we had seen the day before; nor were wedisappointed, though the show was somewhat different. Thevapours caught the morning ray, as it first darted over themountain top, and passing it to the scene below, we seemedenveloped in a rainbow. 

We had now but one ridge left to pass over, and as we reached thetop, and looked down on the new world before us, I hardly knewwhether most to rejoice that

 "All the toil of the long-pass'd way"

was over, or to regret that our mountain journey was drawing toa close. 

The novelty of my enjoyment had doubtless added much to itskeenness. I have never been familiar with mountain scenery. Wales has shewn me all I ever saw, and the region of theAlleghany Alps in no way resembles it. It is a world ofmountains rising around you in every direction, and in everyform; savage, vast, and wild; yet almost at every step, somelovely spot meets your eye, green, bright and blooming, as themost cherished nook belonging to some noble Flora in our ownbeautiful land. It is a ride of ninety miles through kalmies, rhododendrons, azalias, vines and roses; sheltered from everyblast that blows by vast masses of various coloured rocks, onwhich

 "Tall pines and cedars wave their dark green crests. "

While in every direction you have a background of blue mountaintops, that play at bo-peep with you in the clouds. 

After descending the last ridge we reached Haggerstown, a smallneat place, between a town and a village; and here by the pietyof the Presbyterian coach-masters, we were doomed to pass anentire day, and two nights, "as the accommodation line must notrun on the sabbath. "

I must, however, mention, that this day of enforced rest was_not_ Sunday. Saturday evening we had taken in at Cumberland aportly passenger, whom we soon discovered to be one of theproprietors of the coach. He asked us, with great politeness, ifwe should wish to travel on the sabbath, or to delay our journey. We answered that we would rather proceed; "The coach, then, shallgo on tomorrow, " replied the liberal coach-master, with thegreatest courtesy; and accordingly we travelled all Sunday, andarrived at Haggerstown on Sunday night. At the door of the innour civil proprietor left us; but when we enquired of the waiterat what hour we were to start on the morrow, he told us that weshould be obliged to pass the whole of Monday there, as the coachwhich was to convey us forward would not arrive from the east, till Tuesday morning. 

Thus we discovered that the waiving the sabbath-keeping by theproprietor, was for his own convenience, and not for ours, andthat we were to be tied by the leg for four-and-twenty hoursnotwithstanding. This was quite a Yankee trick. 

Luckily for us, the inn at Haggerstown was one of the mostcomfortable I ever entered. It was there that we became fullyaware that we had left Western America behind us. Instead ofbeing scolded, as we literally were at Cincinnati, for asking fora private sitting-room, we here had two, without asking at all. A waiter, quite _comme il faut_, summoned us to breakfast, dinner, and tea, which we found prepared with abundance, and evenelegance. The master of the house met us at the door of theeating-room, and, after asking if we wished for any thing not onthe table, retired. The charges were in no respect higher thanat Cincinnati. 

A considerable creek, called Conococheque Creek, runs near thetown, and the valley through which it passes is said to be themost fertile in America. 

On leaving Haggerstown we found, to our mortification, that wewere not to be the sole occupants of the bulky accommodation, twoladies and two gentlemen appearing at the door ready to share itwith us. We again started, at four o'clock, by the light of abright moon, and rumbled and nodded through the roadsconsiderably worse than those over the mountains. 

As the light began to dawn we discovered our ladies to be an oldwoman and her pretty daughter. 

Soon after daylight we found that our pace became much slowerthan usual, and that from time to time our driver addressed tohis companion on the box many and vehement exclamations. Thegentlemen put their heads out, to ask what was the matter, butcould get no intelligence, till the mail overtook us, when bothvehicles stopped, and an animated colloquy of imprecations tookplace between the coachmen. At length we learnt that one of ourwheels was broken in such a manner as to render it impossible forus to proceed. Upon this the old lady immediately became aprincipal actor in the scene. She sprung to the window, andaddressing the set of gentlemen who completely filled the mail, exclaimed "Gentlemen! can't you make room for two? only me and mydaughter?" The naive simplicity of this request set both thecoaches into an uproar of laughter. It was impossible to doubtthat she acted upon the same principle as the pious Catholic, whoaddressing heaven with a prayer for himself alone, added "_pourne pas fatiguer ta misericorde. _" Our laugh, however, neverdaunted the old woman, or caused her for a moment to cease thereiteration of her request, "only for two of us, gentlemen! can'tyou find room for two?"

Our situation was really very embarrassing, but not to laugh wasimpossible. After it was ascertained that our own vehicle couldnot convey us, and that the mail had not even room for two, wedecided upon walking to the next village, a distance, fortunately, of only two miles, and awaiting there the repair ofthe wheel. We immediately set off, at the brisk pace that sixo'clock and a frosty morning in March were likely to inspire, leaving our old lady and her pretty daughter considerably in therear; our hearts having been rather hardened by the exclusivenature of her prayer for aid. 

When we had again started upon our new wheel, the driver, torecover the time he had lost, drove rapidly over a very roughroad, in consequence of which, our self-seeking old lady fellinto a perfect agony of terror, and her cries of "we shall beover! oh, Lord! we shall be over! we must over! we shall beover!" lasted to the end of the stage which with laughing, walking, and shaking, was a most fatiguing one. 

CHAPTER 19

Baltimore--Catholic Cathedral--St. Mary's--College Sermons--Infant School

As we advanced towards Baltimore the look of cultivationincreased, the fences wore an air of greater neatness, the housesbegan to look like the abodes of competence and comfort, and wewere consoled for the loss of the beautiful mountains by knowingthat we were approaching the Atlantic. 

From the time of quitting the Ohio river, though, unquestionably, it merits its title of "the beautiful, " especially when comparedwith the dreary Mississippi, I strongly felt the truth of anobservation I remembered to have heard in England, that littlerivers were more beautiful than great ones. As features in alandscape, this is assuredly the case. Where the stream is sowide that the objects on the opposite shore are indistinct, allthe beauty must be derived from the water itself; whereas, whenthe stream is narrow, it becomes only a part of the composition. The Monongahela, which is in size between the Wye and the Thames, is infinitely more picturesque than the Ohio. 

To enjoy the beauty of the vast rivers of this vast country youmust be upon the water; and then the power of changing thescenery by now approaching one shore, and now the other, is verypleasing; but travelling as we now did, by land, the wild, rocky, narrow, rapid little rivers we encountered, were a thousand timesmore beautiful. The Potapsco, near which the road runs, as youapproach Baltimore, is at many points very picturesque. Thelarge blocks of grey rock, now close upon its edge, and nowretiring to give room for a few acres of bright green herbage, give great interest and variety to its course. 

Baltimore is, I think, one of the handsomest cities to approachin the Union. The noble column erected to the memory ofWashington, and the Catholic Cathedral, with its beautiful dome, being built on a commanding eminence, are seen at a greatdistance. As you draw nearer, many other domes and towers becomevisible, and as you enter Baltimore-street, you feel that you arearrived in a handsome and populous city. 

We took up our quarters at an excellent hotel, where the coachstopped, and the next day were fortunate enough to findaccommodation in the house of a lady, well known to many of myEuropean friends. With her and her amiable daughter, we spent afortnight very agreeably, and felt quite aware that if we had notarrived in London or Paris, we had, at least, left far behind the"half-horse, half-alligator" tribes of the West, as theKentuckians call themselves. 

Baltimore is in many respects a beautiful city; it has severalhandsome buildings, and even the private dwelling-houses have alook of magnificence, from the abundance of white marble withwhich many of them are adorned. The ample flights of steps, andthe lofty door frames, are in most of the best houses formed ofthis beautiful material. 

This has been called the city of monuments, from its having thestately column erected to the memory of General Washington, andwhich bears a colossal statue of him at the top; and anotherpillar of less dimensions, recording some victory; I forgetwhich. Both these are of brilliant white marble. There are alsoseveral pretty marble fountains in different parts of the city, which greatly add to its beauty. These are not, it is true, quite so splendid as that of the Innocents, or many others atParis, but they are fountains of clear water, and they are builtof white marble. There is one which is sheltered from the sun bya roof supported by light columns; it looks like a templededicated to the genius of the spring. The water flows into amarble cistern, to which you descend by a flight of steps ofdelicate whiteness, and return by another. These steps are neverwithout groups of negro girls, some carrying the water on theirheads, with that graceful steadiness of step, which requires noaid from the hand; some tripping gaily with their yet unfilledpitchers; many of them singing in the soft rich voice, peculiarto their race; and all dressed with that strict attention totaste and smartness, which seems the distinguishingcharacteristic of the Baltimore females of all ranks. 

The Catholic Cathedral is considered by all Americans as amagnificent church, but it can hardly be so classed by any onewho has seen the churches of Europe; its interior, however, hasan air of neatness that amounts to elegance. The form is a Greekcross, having a dome in the centre; but the proportions are ill-preserved; the dome is too low, and the arches which support itare flattened, and too wide for their height. On each side ofthe high altar are chapels to the Saviour and the Virgin. Thealtars in these, as well as the high altar, are of native marbleof different colours, and some of the specimens are verybeautiful. The decorations of the altar are elegant and costly. The prelate is a cardinal, and bears, moreover, the title of"Archbishop of Baltimore. "

There are several paintings in different parts of the church, which we heard were considered as very fine. There are twopresented by Louis XVIII; one of these is the Descent from theCross, by Paulin Guirin; the other a copy from Rubens, (as theytold us) of a legend of St. Louis in the Holy Land; but thecomposition of the picture is so abominably bad, that I conceivethe legend of its being after Rubens, must be as fabulous as itssubject. The admiration in which these pictures are held, is anincontestable indication of the state of art in the country. 

We attended mass in this church the Sunday after our arrival, andI was perfectly astonished at the beauty and splendid appearanceof the ladies who filled it. Excepting on a very brilliantSunday at the Tuilleries, I never saw so shewy a display ofmorning costume, and I think I never saw any where so manybeautiful women at one glance. They all appeared to be in fulldress, and were really all beautiful. 

The sermon (I am very attentive to sermons) was a mostextraordinary one. The priest began by telling us, that he wasabout to preach upon a vice that he would not "mention or name"from the beginning of his sermon to the end. 

Having thus excited the curiosity of his hearers, by proposing ariddle to them, he began. 

Adam, he said, was most assuredly the first who had committedthis sin, and Cain the next; then, following the advice given bythe listener, in the Plaideurs, "Passons au deluge, je vousprie;" he went on to mention the particular propriety of Noah'sfamily on this point; and then continued, "Now observe, what didGod shew the greatest dislike to? What was it that Jesus wasnever even accused of? What was it Joseph hated the most? Whowas the disciple that Jesus chose for his friend?" and thus hewent on for nearly an hour, in a strain that was often perfectlyunintelligible to me, but which, as far as I could comprehendit, appeared to be a sort of expose and commentary upon privateanecdotes which he had found, or fancied he had found in theBible. I never saw the attention of a congregation more stronglyexcited, and I really wished, in Christian charity, thatsomething better had rewarded it. 

There are a vast number of churches and chapels in the city, inproportion to its extent, and several that are large and well-built; the Unitarian church is the handsomest I have ever seendedicated to that mode of worship. But the prettiest among themis a little _bijou_ of a thing belonging to the Catholic college. The institution is dedicated to St. Mary, but this little chapellooks, though in the midst of a city, as if it should have beensacred to St. John of the wilderness. There is a sequesteredlittle garden behind it, hardly large enough to plant cabbagesin, which yet contains a Mount Calvary, bearing a lofty cross. The tiny path which leads up to this sacred spot, is not muchwider than a sheep-track, and its cedars are but shrubs, but allis in proportion; and notwithstanding its fairy dimensions, thereis something of holiness, and quiet beauty about it, that excitesthe imagination strangely. The little chapel itself has the sametouching and impressive character. A solitary lamp, whose glareis tempered by delicately painted glass, hangs before the altar. The light of day enters dimly, yet richly, through crimsoncurtains, and the silence with which the well-lined doors openedfrom time to time, admitting a youth of the establishment, who, with noiseless tread, approached the altar, and kneeling, offereda whispered prayer, and retired, had something in it morecalculated, perhaps, to generate holy thoughts, than even theswelling anthem heard beneath the resounding dome of St. Peter's. 

Baltimore has a handsome museum, superintended by one of thePeale family, well known for their devotion to natural science, and to works of art. It is not their fault if the specimenswhich they are enabled to display in the latter department arevery inferior to their splendid exhibitions in the former. 

The theatre was closed when we were in Baltimore, but we weretold that it was very far from being a popular or fashionableamusement. We were, indeed, told this every where throughout thecountry, and the information was generally accompanied by theobservation, that the opposition of the clergy was the cause ofit. But I suspect that this is not the principal cause, especially among the men, who, if they were so implicit in theirobedience to the clergy, would certainly be more constant intheir attendance at the churches; nor would they, moreover, deemthe theatre more righteous because an English actor, or a Frenchdancer, performed there; yet on such occasions the theatresoverflow. The cause, I think, is in the character of the people. I never saw a population so totally divested of gaiety; there isno trace of this feeling from one end of the Union to the other. They have no fetes, no fairs, no merry makings, no music in thestreets, no Punch, no puppet-shows. If they see a comedy or afarce, they may laugh at it; but they can do very well withoutit; and the consciousness of the number of cents that must bepaid to enter a theatre, I am very sure turns more steps from itsdoor than any religious feeling. A distinguished publisher ofPhiladelphia told me that no comic publication had ever yet beenfound to answer in America. 

We arrived at Baltimore at the season of the "Conference. " Imust be excused from giving any very distinct explanation ofthis term, as I did not receive any. From what I could learn, it much resembles a Revival. We entered many churches, andheard much preaching, and not one of the reverend orators couldutter the reproach, "Peut-on si bien precher qu'elle ne dorme au sermon?"

for I never even dosed at any. There was one preacher whosemanner and matter were so peculiar, that I took the liberty ofimmediately writing down a part of his discourse as a specimen. I confess I began writing in the middle of a sentence, for Iwaited in vain for a beginning. It was as follows:-

"Nevertheless, we must not lose sight of the one important, great, and only object; for the Lord is mighty, his works aregreat, likewise wonderful, likewise wise, likewise merciful; and, moreover, we must ever keep in mind, and close to our hearts, allhis precious blessings, and unspeakable mercies, andoverflowings; and moreover we must never lose sight of, no, neverlose sight of, nor ever cease to remember, nor ever let our soulsforget, nor ever cease to dwell upon, and to reverence, and towelcome, and to bless, and to give thanks, and to sing hosanna, and give praise, "--and here my fragment of paper failed, butthis strain continued, without a shadow of meaning that I couldtrace, and in a voice inconceivably loud, for more than an hour. After he had finished his sermon, a scene exactly resembling thatat the Cincinnati Revival, took place. Two other priestsassisted in calling forward the people, and in whispering comfortto them. One of these men roared out in the coarsest accents, "Do you want to go to hell tonight?" The church was almostentirely filled with women, who vied with each other in howlingsand contortions of the body; many of them tore their clothesnearly off. I was much amused, spite of the indignation anddisgust the scene inspired, by the vehemence of the negro part ofthe congregation; they seemed determined to bellow louder thanall the rest, to shew at once their piety and their equality. 

At this same chapel, a few nights before, a woman had fallen ina fit of ecstasy from the gallery, into the arms of the peoplebelow, a height of twelve feet. A young slave who waited uponus at table, when this was mentioned, said, that similaraccidents had frequently happened, and that once she had seenit herself. Another slave in the house told us, that she "likedreligion right well, but that she never took fits in it, 'causeshe was always fixed in her best, when she went to chapel, andshe did not like to have all her best clothes broke up. "

We visited the infant school, instituted in this city by Mr. Ibbertson, an amiable and intelligent Englishman. It was thefirst infant school, properly so called, which I had ever seen, and I was greatly pleased with all the arrangements, and theapparent success of them. The children, of whom we saw about ahundred, boys and girls, were between eighteen months and sixyears. The apartment was filled with all sorts of instructiveand amusing objects; a set of Dutch toys, arranged as a cabinetof natural history, was excellent; a numerous collection of largewooden bricks filled one corner of the room; the walls were hungwith gay papers of different patterns, each representing somepretty group of figures; large and excellent coloured engravingsof birds and beasts were exhibited in succession as the theme ofa little lesson; and the sweet flute of Mr. Ibbertson gave tuneand time to the prettiest little concert of chirping birds that Iever listened to. 

A geographical model, large enough to give clear ideas ofcontinent, island, cape, isthmus, et cetera, all set in water, isplaced before the children, and the pretty creatures point theirlittle rosy fingers with a look of intense interest, as they arecalled upon to shew where each of them is to be found. Thedress, both of boys and girls, was elegantly neat, and theirmanner, when called upon to speak individually, was well-bred, intelligent, and totally free from the rude indifference, whichis so remarkably prevalent in the manners of American children. Mr. Ibbertson will be benefactor to the Union, if he become themeans of spreading the admirable method by which he had polishedthe manner, and awakened the intellect of these beautiful littleRepublicans. I have conversed with many American ladies on thetotal want of discipline and subjection which I observeduniversally among children of all ages, and I never found any whodid not both acknowledge and deplore the truth of the remark. Inthe state of Ohio they have a law (I know not if it existelsewhere), that if a father strike his son, he shall pay a fineof ten dollars for every such offence. I was told by a gentlemanof Cincinnati, that he had seen this fine inflicted there, at therequisition of a boy of twelve years of age, whose father, heproved, had struck him for lying. Such a law, they say, generates a spirit of freedom. What else may it generate?

Mr. Ibbertson, who seems perfectly devoted, heart and head tothe subject, told me that he was employed in organizingsuccessive schools that should receive the pupils as theyadvanced in age. If he prove himself as capable of completingeducation, as he appears to be of beginning it, his institutionwill be a very valuable one. It would, indeed, be valuable anywhere; but in America, where discipline is not, where, from theshell, they are beings "that cannot rule, nor ever will beruled, " it is invaluable. 

About two miles from Baltimore is a fort, nobly situated on thePatapsco, and commanding the approach from the Chesapeak bay. Asour visit was on a Sunday we were not permitted to enter it. Thewalk to this fort is along a fine terrace of beautiful verdure, which commands a magnificent view of the city, with its columns, towers, domes, and shipping; and also of the Patapsco river, which is here so wide as to present almost a sea view. Thisterrace is ornamented with abundance of evergreens, and wildroses innumerable, but, the whole region has the reputation ofbeing unhealthy, and the fort itself most lamentably so. Beforeleaving the city of monuments, I must not omit naming one rearedto the growing wealth of the country; Mr. Barham's hotel is saidto be the most splendid in the Union, and it is certainlysplendid enough for a people more luxurious than the citizens ofthe republic appear yet to be. I heard different, and, indeed, perfectly contradictory accounts of the success of theexperiment; but at least every one seemed to agree that theliberal projector was fully entitled to exclaim, "'Tis not in mortals to command success; I have done more, Jonathan, I've deserved it. "

After enjoying a very pleasant fortnight, the greater part ofwhich was passed in rambling about this pretty city and itsenvirons, we left it, not without regret, and all indulging thehope that we should be able to pay it another visit. 

CHAPTER 20

Voyage to Washington--Capitol--City of Washington--Congress--Indians--Funeral of a Member of Congress

By far the shortest route to Washington, both as to distance andtime, is by land; but I much wished to see the celebratedChesapeak bay, and it was therefore decided that we should takeour passage in the steam-boat. It is indeed a beautiful littlevoyage, and well worth the time it costs; but as to the beauty ofthe bay, it must, I think, be felt only by sailors. It is, Idoubt not, a fine shelter for ships, from the storms of theAtlantic, but its very vastness prevents its striking the eye asbeautiful: it is, in fact, only a fine sea view. But theentrance from it into the Potomac river is very noble, and is oneof the points at which one feels conscious of the giganticproportions of the country, without having recourse to agraduated pencil-case. 

The passage up this river to Washington is interesting, from manyobjects that it passes, but beyond all else, by the view itaffords of Mount Vernon, the seat of General Washington. It isthere that this truly great man passed the last years of hisvirtuous life, and it is there that he lies buried: it was easyto distinguish, as we passed, the cypress that waves over hisgrave. 

The latter part of the voyage shews some fine river scenery; butI did not discover this till some months afterwards, for we nowarrived late at night. 

Our first object the next morning was to get a sight of thecapitol, and our impatience sent us forth before breakfast. Themists of morning still hung around this magnificent building whenfirst it broke upon our view, and I am not sure that the effectproduced was not the greater for this circumstance. At allevents, we were struck with admiration and surprise. None of us, I believe, expected to see so imposing a structure on that sideof the Atlantic. I am ill at describing buildings, but thebeauty and majesty of the American capitol might defy an ablerpen than mine to do it justice. It stands so finely too, high, and alone. 

The magnificent western facade is approached from the city byterraces and steps of bolder proportions than I ever before saw. The elegant eastern front, to which many persons give thepreference, is on a level with a newly-planted but exceedinglyhandsome inclosure, which, in a few years, will offer the shadeof all the most splendid trees which flourish in the Union, tocool the brows and refresh the spirits of the members. The viewfrom the capitol commands the city and many miles around, and itis itself an object of imposing beauty to the whole countryadjoining. 

We were again fortunate enough to find a very agreeable family toboard with; and soon after breakfast left our comfortless hotelnear the water, for very pleasant apartments in F. Street. [Thestreets that intersect the great avenues in Washington aredistinguished by the letters of the alphabet. ]

I was delighted with the whole aspect of Washington; light, cheerful, and airy, it reminded me of our fashionable wateringplaces. It has been laughed at by foreigners, and even bynatives, because the original plan of the city was upon anenormous scale, and but a very small part of it has been as yetexecuted. But I confess I see nothing in the least degreeridiculous about it; the original design, which was as beautifulas it was extensive, has been in no way departed from, and allthat has been done has been done well. From the base of the hillon which the capitol stands extends a street of most magnificentwidth, planted on each side with trees, and ornamented by manysplendid shops. This street, which is called PennsylvaniaAvenue, is above a mile in length, and at the end of it is thehandsome mansion of the President; conveniently near to hisresidence are the various public offices, all handsome, simple, and commodious; ample areas are left round each, where grass andshrubs refresh the eye. In another of the principal streets isthe general post-office, and not far from it a very noble town-hall. Towards the quarter of the President's house are severalhandsome dwellings, which are chiefly occupied by the foreignministers. The houses in the other parts of the city arescattered, but without ever losing sight of the regularity of theoriginal plan; and to a person who has been travelling muchthrough the country, and marked the immense quantity of newmanufactories, new canals, new railroads, new towns, and newcities, which are springing, as it were, from the earth in everypart of it, the appearance of the metropolis rising graduallyinto life and splendour, is a spectacle of high historicinterest. 

Commerce had already produced large and handsome cities inAmerica before she had attained to an individual politicalexistence, and Washington may be scorned as a metropolis, wheresuch cities as Philadelphia and New York exist; but I consideredit as the growing metropolis of the growing population of theUnion, and it already possesses features noble enough to sustainits dignity as such. 

The residence of the foreign legations and their families gives atone to the society of this city which distinguishes it greatlyfrom all others. It is also, for a great part of the year, theresidence of the senators and representatives, who must bepresumed to be the _elite_ of the entire body of citizens, bothin respect to talent and education. This cannot fail to makeWashington a more agreeable abode than any other city in theUnion. 

The total absence of all sights, sounds, or smells of commerce, adds greatly to the charm. Instead of drays you see handsomecarriages; and instead of the busy bustling hustle of men, shuffling on to a sale of "dry goods" or "prime broad stuffs, "you see very well-dressed personages lounging leisurely up anddown Pennsylvania Avenue. 

Mr. Pishey Thompson, the English bookseller, with his prettycollection of all sorts of pretty literature, fresh from London, and Mr. Somebody, the jeweller, with his brilliant shop full oftrinkets, are the principal points of attraction and business. What a contrast to all other American cities! The members, whopass several months every year in this lounging easy way, with nolabour but a little talking, and with the _douceur_ of eightdollars a day to pay them for it, must feel the change sadly whentheir term of public service is over. 

There is another circumstance which renders the evening partiesat Washington extremely unlike those of other places in theUnion; this is the great majority of gentlemen. The expense, thetrouble, or the necessity of a ruling eye at home, one or all ofthese reasons, prevents the members' ladies from accompanyingthem to Washington; at least, I heard of very few who had theirwives with them. The female society is chiefly to be found amongthe families of the foreign ministers, those of the officers ofstate, and of the few members, the wealthiest and mostaristocratic of the land, who bring their families with them. Some few independent persons reside in or near the city, but thisis a class so thinly scattered that they can hardly be accounteda part of the population. 

But, strange to say, even here a theatre cannot be supported formore than a few weeks at a time. I was told that gambling is thefavourite recreation of the gentlemen, and that it is carried toa very considerable extent; but here, as elsewhere within thecountry, it is kept extremely well out of sight. I do not thinkI was present with a pack of cards a dozen times during more thanthree years that I remained in the country. Billiards are muchplayed, though in most places the amusement is illegal. It oftenappeared to me that the old women of a state made the laws, andthe young men broke them. 

Notwithstanding the diminutive size of the city, we found much tosee, and to amuse us. 

The patent office is a curious record of the fertility of themind of man when left to its own resources; but it gives ampleproof also that it is not under such circumstances it is mostusefully employed. This patent office contains models of all themechanical inventions that have been produced in the Union, andthe number is enormous. I asked the man who shewed these, whatproportion of them had been brought into use, he said about onein a thousand; he told me also, that they chiefly proceeded frommechanics and agriculturists settled in remote parts of thecountry, who had began by endeavouring to hit upon somecontrivance to enable them to _get along_ without sending somethousand and odd miles for the thing they wanted. If thecontrivance succeeded, they generally became so fond of thisoffspring of their ingenuity, that they brought it to Washingtonfor a patent. 

At the secretary of state's office we were shewn autographs ofall the potentates with whom the Union were in alliance; which, Ibelieve, pretty well includes all. To the parchments bearingthese royal signs manual were appended, of course, the officialseals of each, enclosed in gold or silver boxes of handsomeworkmanship: I was amused by the manner in which one of theirown, just prepared for the court of Russia, was displayed to us, and the superiority of their decorations pointed out. They weresuperior, and in much better taste than the rest; and I only wishthat the feeling that induced this display would spread to everycorner of the Union, and mix itself with every act and with everysentiment. Let America give a fair portion other attention tothe arts and the graces that embellish life, and I will make heranother visit, and write another book as unlike this as possible. 

Among the royal signatures, the only ones which much interestedme were two from the hand of Napoleon. The earliest of these, when he was first consul, was a most illegible scrawl, and, asthe tradition went, was written on horseback; but his writingimproved greatly after he became an emperor, the subsequentsignature being firmly and clearly written. --I longed to stealboth. 

The purity of the American character, formed and founded on thepurity of the American government, was made evident to our sensesby the display of all the offerings of esteem and regard whichhad been presented by various sovereigns to the differentAmerican ministers who had been sent to their courts. The objectof the law which exacted this deposit from every individual sohonoured, was, they told us, to prevent the possibility ofbribery being used to corrupt any envoy of the Republic. Ishould think it would be a better way to select for the officesuch men as they felt could not be seduced by a sword or asnuff-box. But they, doubtless, know their own business best. 

The bureau for Indian affairs contains a room of great interest:the walls are entirely covered with original portraits of all thechiefs who, from time to time, have come to negotiate with theirgreat father, as they call the President. 

These portraits are by Mr. King, and, it cannot be doubted, areexcellent likenesses, as are all the portraits I have ever seenfrom the hands of that gentleman. The countenances are full ofexpression, but the expression in most of them is extremelysimilar; or rather, I should say that they have but two sorts ofexpression; the one is that of very noble and warlike daring, theother of a gentle and naive simplicity, that has no mixture offolly in it, but which is inexpressibly engaging, and the moretouching, perhaps, because at the moment we were looking at them, those very hearts which lent the eyes such meek and friendlysoftness, were wrung by a base, cruel, and most oppressive act oftheir _great father_. 

We were at Washington at the time that the measure for chasingthe last of several tribes of Indians from their forest homes, was canvassed in congress, and finally decided upon by the FIATof the President. If the American character may be judged bytheir conduct in this matter, they are most lamentably deficientin every feeling of honour and integrity. It is amongthemselves, and from themselves, that I have heard the statementswhich represent them as treacherous and false almost beyondbelief in their intercourse with the unhappy Indians. Had I, during my residence in the United States, observed any singlefeature in their national character that could justify theireternal boast of liberality and the love of freedom, I might haverespected them, however much my taste might have been offended bywhat was peculiar in their manners and customs. But it isimpossible for any mind of common honesty not to be revolted bythe contradictions in their principles and practice. Theyinveigh against the governments of Europe, because, as they say, they favour the powerful and oppress the weak. You may hear thisdeclaimed upon in Congress, roared out in taverns, discussed inevery drawing-room, satirized upon the stage, nay, evenanathematized from the pulpit: listen to it, and then look atthem at home; you will see them with one hand hoisting the cap ofliberty, and with the other flogging their slaves. You will seethem one hour lecturing their mob on the indefeasible rights ofman, and the next driving from their homes the children of thesoil, whom they have bound themselves to protect by the mostsolemn treaties. 

In justice to those who approve not this treacherous policy, Iwill quote a paragraph from a New York paper, which shews thatthere are some among them who look with detestation on the boldbad measure decided upon at Washington in the year 1830. 

"We know of no subject, at the present moment, of more importanceto the character of our country for justice and integrity thanthat which relates to the Indian tribes in Georgia and Alabama, and particularly the Cherokees in the former state. The Actpassed by Congress, just at the end of the session, co-operatingwith the tyrannical and iniquitous statute of Georgia, strikes aformidable blow at the reputation of the United States, inrespect to their faith, pledged in almost innumerable instances, in the most solemn treaties and compacts. "

There were many objects of much interest shewn us at this Indianbureau; but, from the peculiar circumstances of this most unhappyand ill-used people, it was a very painful interest. 

The dresses worn by the chiefs when their portraits were taken, are many of them splendid, from the embroidery of beads and otherornaments: and the room contains many specimens of theiringenuity, and even of their taste. There is a glass case in theroom, wherein are arranged specimens of worked muslin, and otherneedlework, some very excellent handwriting, and many otherlittle productions of male and female Indians, all provingclearly that they are perfectly capable of civilization. Indeed, the circumstance which renders their expulsion from their own, their native lands, so peculiarly lamentable, is, that they wereyielding rapidly to the force of example; their lives were nolonger those of wandering hunters, but they were becomingagriculturists, and the tyrannical arm of brutal power has notnow driven them, as formerly, only from their hunting grounds, their favourite springs, and the sacred bones of their fathers, but it has chased them from the dwellings their advancingknowledge had taught them to make comfortable; from thenewly-ploughed fields of their pride; and from the crops theirsweat had watered. And for what? to add some thousand acres ofterritory to the half-peopled wilderness which borders them. 

The Potomac, on arriving at Washington, makes a beautiful sweep, which forms a sort of bay, round which the city is built. Justwhere it makes the turn, a wooden bridge is thrown across, connecting the shores of Maryland and Virginia. This bridge isa mile and a quarter in length, and is ugly enough. [It hassince been washed away by the breaking up of the frost ofFebruary, 1831. ] The navy-yard, and arsenal, are just above it, on the Maryland side, and make a handsome appearance on the edgeof the river, following the sweep above mentioned. Near thearsenal (much too near) is the penitentiary, which, as it wasjust finished, and not inhabited, we examined in every part. Itis built for the purpose of solitary confinement for life. Agallows is a much less nerve-shaking spectacle than one of theseawful cells, and assuredly, when imprisonment therein for lifeis substituted for death, it is no mercy to the criminal; but ifit be a greater terror to the citizen, it may answer the purposebetter. I do not conceive, that out of a hundred human beingswho had been thus confined for a year, one would be found at theend of it who would continue to linger on there, _certain it wasfor ever_, if the alternative of being hanged were offered tothem. I had written a description of these horrible cells, butCaptain Hall's picture of a similar building is so accurate, andso clear, that it is needless to insert it. 

Still following the sweep of the river, at the distance of twomiles from Washington, is George Town, formerly a place ofconsiderable commercial importance, and likely, I think, tobecome so again, when the Ohio and Chesapeake canals, which theremouths into the Potomac, shall be in full action. It is a verypretty town, commanding a lovely view, of which the noble Potomacand the almost nobler capitol, are the great features. Thecountry rises into a beautiful line of hills behind Washington, which form a sort of undulating terrace on to George Town; thisterrace is almost entirely occupied by a succession ofgentlemen's seats. At George Town the Potomac suddenly contractsitself, and begins to assume that rapid, rocky and irregularcharacter which marks it afterwards, and renders its course, tillit meets the Shenandoah at Harper's Ferry, a series of the mostwild and romantic views that are to be found in America. 

Attending the debates in Congress was, of course, one of ourgreat objects; and, as an English woman, I was perhaps the moreeager to avail myself of the privilege allowed. It wasrepeatedly observed to me that, at least in this instance, I mustacknowledge the superior gallantry of the Americans, and thatthey herein give a decided proof of surpassing the English in awish to honour the ladies, as they have a gallery in the House ofRepresentatives erected expressly for them, while in England theyare rigorously excluded from every part of the House of Commons. 

But the inference I draw from this is precisely the reverse ofthe suggested. It is well known that the reason why the House ofCommons was closed against ladies was, that their presence wasfound too attractive, and that so many members were tempted toneglect the business before the House, that they might enjoy thepleasure of conversing with the fair critics in the galleries, that it became a matter of national importance to banishthem--and they were banished. It will be long ere the Americanlegislature will find it necessary to pass the same law for thesame reason. A lady of Washington, however, told me an anecdotewhich went far to shew that a more intellectual turn in thewomen, would produce a change in the manners of the men. Shetold me, that when the Miss Wrights were in Washington, withGeneral Lafayette, they very frequently attended the debates, andthat the most distinguished members were always crowding roundthem. For this unwonted gallantry they apologized to theirbeautiful countrywomen by saying, that if they took equalinterest in the debates, the galleries would be always throngedby the members. 

The privilege of attending these debates would be more valuablecould the speakers be better heard from the gallery; but, withthe most earnest attention, I could only follow one or two of theorators, whose voices were peculiarly loud and clear. This madeit really a labour to listen; but the extreme beauty of thechamber was of itself a reason for going again and again. Itwas, however, really mortifying to see this splendid hall, fittedup in so stately and sumptuous a manner, filled with men, sittingin the most unseemly attitudes, a large majority with their hatson, and nearly all, spitting to an excess that decency forbids meto describe. 

Among the crowd, who must be included in this description, afew were distinguished by not wearing their hats, and by sittingon their chairs like other human beings, without throwing theirlegs above their heads. Whenever I enquired the name of one ofthese exceptions, I was told that it was Mr. This, or Mr. That, _of Virginia_. 

One day we were fortunate enough to get placed on the sofasbetween the pillars, on the floor of the House; the galleriesbeing shut up, for the purpose of making some alterations, whichit was hoped might improve the hearing in that part of the Houseoccupied by the members, and which is universally complained of, as being very defective. * But in our places on the sofas wefound we heard very much better than up stairs, and well enoughto be extremely amused by the rude eloquence of a thorough horseand alligator orator from Kentucky, who entreated the houserepeatedly to "go the whole hog. "

 *(As a proof of this defective hearing in the Hall of (Congress, I may quote a passage from a newspaper report of (a debate on improvements. It was proposed to suspend a (ceiling of glass fifteen feet above the heads of the (members. A member, speaking in favour of this proposal, (said, "Members would then, at least, be able to understand (what was the question before the House, an advantage which (most of them did not now possess, respecting more than (half the propositions upon which they voted. "

If I mistake not, every debate I listened to in the AmericanCongress was upon one and the same subject, namely, the entireindependence of each individual state, with regard to the federalgovernment. The jealousy on this point appeared to me to be thevery strangest political feeling that ever got possession of themind of man. I do not pretend to judge the merits of thisquestion. I speak solely of the very singular effect of seeingman after man start eagerly to his feet, to declare that thegreatest injury, the basest injustice, the most obnoxious tyrannythat could be practised against the state of which he was amember, would be a vote of a few million dollars for the purposeof making their roads or canals; or for drainage; or, in short, for any purpose of improvement whatsoever. 

During the month we were at Washington, I heard a great deal ofconversation respecting a recent exclusion from Congress of agentleman, who, by every account, was one of the most esteemedmen in the house, and, I think, the father of it. The crime forwhich this gentleman was out-voted by his own particular friendsand admirers was, that he had given his vote for a grant ofpublic money for the purpose of draining a most lamentable andunhealthy district, called "_the dismal swamp!_"

One great boast of the country is, that they have no nationaldebt, or that they shall have none in two years. This seems notvery wonderful, considering their productive tariff, and that theincome paid to their president is 6, 000_L. Per annum_; othergovernment salaries being in proportion, and all internalimprovements, at the expense of the government treasury, beingvoted unconstitutional. 

The Senate-chamber is, like the Hall of Congress, a semicircle, but of very much smaller dimensions. It is most elegantly fittedup, and what is better still, the senators, generally speaking, look like gentlemen. They do not wear their hats, and theactivity of youth being happily past, they do not toss theirheels above their heads. I would I could add they do not spit;but, alas! "I have an oath in heaven, " and may not write anuntruth. 

A very handsome room, opening on a noble stone balcony is fittedup as a library for the members. The collection, as far as avery cursory view could enable me to judge, was very like that ofa private English gentleman, but with less Latin, Greek, andItalian. This room also is elegantly furnished; rich Brusselscarpet; library tables, with portfolios of engravings; abundanceof sofas, and so on. The view from it is glorious, and it lookslike the abode of luxury and taste. 

I can by no means attempt to describe all the apartments of thisimmense building, but the magnificent rotunda in the centre mustnot be left unnoticed. It is, indeed, a noble hall, a hundredfeet in diameter, and of an imposing loftiness, lighted by anample dome. 

Almost any pictures (excepting the cartoons) would look paltry inthis room, from the immense height of the walls; but the subjectsof the four pictures which are placed there, are of such highhistoric interest that they should certainly have a placesomewhere, as national records. One represents the signing ofthe declaration of independence; another the resignation of thepresidency by the great Washington; another the celebratedvictory of General Gates at Saratoga; and the fourth. .. . I do notwell remember, but I think it is some other martial scene, commemorating a victory; I rather think that of York Town. 

One other object in the capitol must be mentioned, though itoccurs in so obscure a part of the building, that one or twomembers to whom I mentioned it, were not aware of its existence. The lower part of the edifice, a story below the rotunda, &c. , has a variety of committee rooms, courts, and other places ofbusiness. In a hall leading to some of these rooms, the ceilingis supported by pillars, the capitals of which struck me aspeculiarly beautiful. They are composed of the ears and leavesof the Indian corn, beautifully arranged, and forming as gracefulan outline as the acanthus itself. This was the only instance Isaw, in which America has ventured to attempt nationaloriginality; the success is perfect. A sense of fitness alwaysenhances the effect of beauty. I will not attempt a long essayon the subject, but if America, in her vastness, her immensenatural resources, and her remote grandeur, would be lessimitative, she would be infinitely more picturesque andinteresting. 

The President has regular evening parties, every other Wednesday, which are called his _levees_; the last syllable is pronounced byevery one as long as possible, being exactly the reverse of theFrench and English manner of pronouncing the same word. Theeffect of this, from the very frequent repetition of the word inall companies is very droll, and for a long time I thought peoplewere quizzing these public days. The reception rooms arehandsome, particularly the grand saloon, which is elegantly, nay, splendidly furnished; this has been done since the visit ofCaptain Hall, whose remarks upon the former state of this roommay have hastened its decoration; but there are a few anomaliesin some parts of the entertainment, which are not very courtly. The company are about as select as that of an Easter-day ball atthe Mansion-house. 

The churches at Washington are not superb; but the Episcopalianand Catholic were filled with elegantly dressed women. Iobserved a greater proportion of gentlemen at church atWashington than any where else. 

The Presbyterian ladies go to church three times in the day, but the general appearance of Washington on a Sunday is muchless puritanical than that of most other American towns; thepeople walk about, and there are no chains in the streets, asat Philadelphia, to prevent their riding or driving, if theylike it. 

The ladies dress well, but not so splendidly as at Baltimore. Iremarked that it was not very unusual at Washington for a lady totake the arm of a gentleman, who was neither her husband, herfather, nor her brother. This remarkable relaxation of Americandecorum has been probably introduced by the foreign legations. 

At about a mile from the town, on the high terrace ground abovedescribed, is a very pretty place, to which the proprietor hasgiven the name Kaleirama. It is not large, or in any waymagnificent, but the view from it is charming; and it has alittle wood behind, covering about two hundred acres of brokenground, that slopes down to a dark cold little river, so closelyshut in by rocks and evergreens, that it might serve as anoon-day bath for Diana and her nymphs. The whole of this woodis filled with wild flowers, but such as we cherish fondly inour gardens. 

A ferry at George Town crosses the Potomac, and about two milesfrom it, on the Virginian side, is Arlington, the seat of Mr. Custis, who is the grandson of General Washington's wife. It isa noble looking place, having a portico of stately white columns, which, as the mansion stands high, with a background of darkwoods, forms a beautiful object in the landscape. At George Townis a nunnery, where many young ladies are educated, and at alittle distance from it, a college of Jesuits for the educationof young men, where, as their advertisements state, "thehumanities are taught. " We attended mass at the chapel of thenunnery, where the female voices that performed the chant werevery pleasing. The shadowy form of the veiled abbess in herlittle sacred parlour, seen through a grating and a blackcurtain, but rendered clearly visible by the light of a Gothicwindow behind her, drew a good deal of our attention; every actof genuflection, even the telling her beads, was discernible, butso mistily that it gave her, indeed, the appearance of a beingwho had already quitted this life, and was hovering on theconfines of the world of shadows. 

The convent has a considerable inclosure attached to it, where Ifrequently saw from the heights above it, dark figures in awfullythick black veils, walking solemnly up and down. 

The American lady, who was the subject of one of PrinceHohenlohe's celebrated miracles, was pointed out to us atWashington. All the world declare that her recovery wasmarvellous. 

There appeared to be a great many foreigners at Washington, particularly French. In Paris I have often observed that it wasa sort of fashion to speak of America as a new Utopia, especiallyamong the young liberals, who, before the happy accession ofPhilip, fancied that a country without a king, was the land ofpromise; but I sometimes thought that, like many other finethings, it lost part of its brilliance when examined too nearly;I overheard the following question and answer pass between twoyoung Frenchmen, who appeared to have met for the first time. 

"Eh bien. Monsieur, comment trouvez-vous la liberte et l'egalitemises en action?"

"Mais, Monsieur, je vous avoue que ie beau ideal que nous autres, nous avons concu de tout cela a Paris, avait quelque chose deplus poetique que ce que nous trouvons ici!"

On another occasion I was excessively amused by the tone inwhich one of these young men replied to a question put to himby another Frenchman. A pretty looking woman, but exceedinglydeficient in _tournure_, was standing alone at a little distancefrom them and close at their elbows stood a very awkwardlooking gentleman. "Qui est cette dame?" said the enquirer. "Monsieur, " said my young _fat_, with an indescribable grimace, "c'est la femelle de ce male, " indicating his neighbour byan expressive curl of his upper lip. 

The theatre was not open while we were in Washington, but weafterwards took advantage of our vicinity to the city, to visitit. The house is very small, and most astonishingly dirty andvoid of decoration, considering that it is the only place ofpublic amusement that the city affords. I have before mentionedthe want of decorum at the Cincinnati theatre, but certainly thatof the capital at least rivalled it in the freedom of action andattitude; a freedom which seems to disdain the restraints ofcivilized manners. One man in the pit was seized with a violentfit of vomiting, which appeared not in the least to annoy orsurprise his neighbours; and the happy coincidence of a physicianbeing at that moment personated on the stage, was hailed by manyof the audience as an excellent joke, of which the actor tookadvantage, and elicited shouts of applause by saying, "I expectmy services are wanted elsewhere. "

The spitting was incessant; and not one in ten of the male partof the illustrious legislative audiences sat according to theusual custom of human beings; the legs were thrown sometimes overthe front of the box, sometimes over the side of it; here andthere a senator stretched his entire length along a bench, and inmany instances the front rail was preferred as a seat. 

I remarked one young man, whose handsome person, and mostelaborate toilet, led me to conclude he was a first-ratepersonage, and so I doubt not he was; nevertheless, I saw himtake from the pocket of his silk waistcoat a lump of tobacco, and daintily deposit it within his cheek. 

I am inclined to think this most vile and universal habit ofchewing tobacco is the cause of a remarkable peculiarity in themale physiognomy of Americans; their lips are almost uniformlythin and compressed. At first I accounted for this uponLavater's theory, and attributed it to the arid temperament ofthe people; but it is too universal to be explained; whereas thehabit above mentioned, which pervades all classes (excepting theliterary) well accounts for it, as the act of expressing thejuices of this loathsome herb, enforces exactly that positionof the lips, which gives this remarkable peculiarity to theAmerican countenance. 

A member of Congress died while we were at Washington, and I wassurprised by the ceremony and dignity of his funeral. It seemsthat whenever a senator or member of Congress dies during thesession, he is buried at the expense of the government, (theceremony not coming under the head of internal improvement), andthe arrangements for the funeral are not interfered with by hisfriends, but become matters of State. I transcribed the order ofthe procession as being rather grand and stately. 

 Chaplains of both Houses. Physicians who attend the deceased. Committee of arrangement. THE BODY, (Pall borne by six members. ) The Relations of the deceased, with the Senators and Representatives of the State to which he belonged, as Mourners. Sergeant at arms of the House of Representatives. The House of Representatives, Their Speaker and Clerk preceding. The Senate of the United States. The Vice-president and Secretary preceding, THE PRESIDENT

The procession was of considerable extent, but not on foot, andthe majority of the carriages were hired for the occasion. Thebody was interred in an open "grave yard" near the city. I didnot see the monument erected on this occasion, but I presume itwas in the same style as several others I had remarked in thesame burying-ground, inscribed to the memory of members who haddied at Washington. These were square blocks of masonry withoutany pretension to splendour. 

CHAPTER 21

Stonington--Great Falls of the Potomac

The greatest pleasure I had promised myself in visitingWashington was the seeing a very old friend, who had leftEngland many years ago, and married in America; she was now awidow, and, as I believed, settled in Washington. I soon hadthe mortification of finding that she was not in the city; butere long I learnt that her residence was not more than ten milesfrom it. We speedily met, and it was settled that we shouldpass the summer with her in Maryland, and after a month devotedto Washington, we left it for Stonington. 

We arrived there the beginning of May, and the kindness of ourreception, the interest we felt in becoming acquainted with thefamily of my friend, the extreme beauty of the surroundingcountry, and the lovely season, altogether, made our stay therea period of great enjoyment. 

I wonder not that the first settlers in Virginia, with the boldCaptain Smith of chivalrous memory at their head, should havefought so stoutly to dispossess the valiant father of Pocohantasof his fair domain, for I certainly never saw a more temptingterritory. Stonington is about two miles from the most romanticpoint of the Potomac River, and Virginia spreads her wild, butbeautiful, and most fertile Paradise, on the opposite shore. TheMaryland side partakes of the same character, and perfectlyastonished us by the profusion of her wild fruits and flowers. 

We had not been long within reach of the great falls of thePotomac before a party was made for us to visit them; the walkfrom Stonington to these falls is through scenery that can hardlybe called forest, park, or garden; but which partakes of allthree. A little English girl accompanied us, who had but latelyleft her home; she exclaimed, "Oh! how many English ladies wouldglory in such a garden as this!" and in truth they might; cedars, tulip-trees, planes, shumacs, junipers, and oaks of variouskinds, most of them new to us, shaded our path. Wild vines, withtheir rich expansive leaves, and their sweet blossom, rivallingthe mignionette in fragrance, clustered round their branches. Strawberries in full bloom, violets, anemonies, heart's-ease, andwild pinks, with many other, and still lovelier flowers, which myignorance forbids me to name, literally covered the ground. Thearbor judae, the dog-wood, in its fullest glory of star-likeflowers, azalias, and wild roses, dazzled our eyes whichever waywe turned them. It was the most flowery two miles I ever walked. 

The sound of the falls is heard at Stonington, and the gradualincrease of this sound is one of the agreeable features of thisdelicious walk. I know not why the rush of waters is sodelightful to the ear; all other monotonous sounds are wearying, and harass the spirits, but I never met any one who did not loveto listen to a waterfall. A rapid stream, called the "BranchCreek, " was to be crossed ere we reached the spot where the fallsare first visible. This rumbling, turbid, angry little rivulet, flows through evergreens and flowering underwood, and is crossed_a plusieures reprises_, by logs thrown from rock to rock. Thethundering noise of the still unseen falls suggests an idea ofdanger while crossing these rude bridges, which hardly belongs tothem; having reached the other side of the creek, we continuedunder the shelter of the evergreens for another quarter of amile, and then emerged upon a sight that drew a shout of wonderand delight from us all. The rocky depths of an enormous riverwere opened before our eyes and so huge are the black crags thatinclose it, that the thundering torrents of water rushingthrough, over, and among the rocks of this awful chasm, appearlost and swallowed up in it. 

The river, or rather the bed of it, is here of great width, andmost frightful depth, lined on all sides with huge masses ofblack rock of every imaginable form. The flood that roarsthrough them is seen only at intervals; here in a full heavysheet of green transparent water, falling straight and unbroken;there dashing along a narrow channel, with a violence that makesone dizzy to see and hear. In one place an unfathomed pool showsa mirror of inky blackness, and as still as night; in another thetortured twisted cataract tumbles headlong in a dozen differenttorrents, half hid by the cloud of spray they send high into theair. Despite this uproar, the slenderest, loveliest shrubs, peepforth from among these hideous rocks, like children smiling inthe midst of danger. As we stood looking at this tremendousscene, one of our friends made us remark, that the poison alder, and the poison vine, threw their graceful, but perfidiousbranches, over every rock, and assured us also that innumerabletribes of snakes found their dark dwellings among them. 

To call this scene beautiful would be a strange abuse of terms, for it is altogether composed of sights and sounds of terror. The falls of the Potomac are awfully sublime: the dark deep gulfwhich yawns before you, the foaming, roaring cataract, theeddying whirlpool, and the giddy precipice, all seem to threatenlife, and to appal the senses. Yet it was a great delight to situpon a high and jutting crag, and look and listen. 

I heard with pleasure that it was to the Virginian side of thePotomac that the "felicity hunters" of Washington resorted to seethis fearful wonder, for I never saw a spot where I should lesshave liked the annoying "how d'ye, " of a casual rencontre. Onecould not even give or receive the exciting "is it not charming, "which Rousseau talks of, for if it were uttered, it could not beheard, or, if heard, would fall most earthly dull on the spirit, when rapt by the magic of such a scene. A look, or the silentpressure of the arm, is all the interchange of feeling that sucha scene allows, and in the midst of my terror and my pleasure, Iwished for the arm and the eye of some few from the other side ofthe Atlantic. 

The return from such a scene is more soberly silent than theapproach to it; but the cool and quiet hour, the mellowed tintsof some gay blossoms, and the closed bells of others, the drowsyhum of the insects that survive the day, and the moist freshnessthat forbids the foot to weary in its homeward path, have allenjoyment in them, and seem to harmonize with the half wearied, half excited state of spirits, that such an excursion is sure toproduce: and then the entering the cool and moonlit portico, thewell-iced sangaree, or still more refreshing coffee, that waitsyou, is all delightful; and if to this be added the happiness ofan easy sofa, and a friend like my charming Mrs. S--, to sootheyou with an hour of Mozart the most fastidious European mightallow that such a day was worth waking for. 

CHAPTER 22

Small Landed Proprietors--Slavery

I now, for the first time since I crossed the mountains, foundmyself sufficiently at leisure to look deliberately round, andmark the different aspects of men and things in a region which, though bearing the same name, and calling itself the same land, was, in many respects, as different from the one I had left, asAmsterdam from St. Petersburg. There every man was straining, and struggling, and striving for himself (heaven knows!) Hereevery white man was waited upon, more or less, by a slave. There, the newly-cleared lands, rich with the vegetable manureaccumulated for ages, demanded the slightest labour to return therichest produce; where the plough entered, crops the mostabundant followed; but where it came not, no spot of nativeverdure, no native fruits, no native flowers cheered the eye;all was close, dark, stifling forest. Here the soil had longago yielded its first fruits; much that had been cleared andcultivated for tobacco (the most exhausting of crops) by theEnglish, required careful and laborious husbandry to produce anyreturn; and much was left as sheep-walks. It was in these spotsthat the natural bounty of the soil and climate was displayed bythe innumerable wild fruits and flowers which made every dingleand bushy dell seem a garden. 

On entering the cottages I found also a great difference in themanner of living. Here, indeed, there were few cottages withouta slave, but there were fewer still that had their beefsteak andonions for breakfast, dinner, and supper. The herrings of thebountiful Potomac supply their place. These are excellent"relish, " as they call it, when salted, and, if I mistake not, are sold at a dollar and a half per thousand. Whiskey, however, flows every where at the same fatally cheap rate of twenty cents(about one shilling) the gallon, and its hideous effects arevisible on the countenance of every man you meet. 

The class of people the most completely unlike any existing inEngland, are those who, farming their own freehold estates, andoften possessing several slaves, yet live with as few of therefinements, and I think I may say, with as few of the comfortsof life, as the very poorest English peasant. When in Maryland, I went into the houses of several of these small proprietors, and remained long enough, and looked and listened sufficiently, to obtain a tolerably correct idea of their manner of living. 

One of these families consisted of a young man, his wife, twochildren, a female slave, and two young lads, slaves also. Thefarm belonged to the wife, and, I was told, consisted of aboutthree hundred acres of indifferent land, but all cleared. Thehouse was built of wood, and looked as if the three slaves mighthave overturned it, had they pushed hard against the gable end. It contained one room, of about twelve feet square, and anotheradjoining it, hardly larger than a closet; this second chamberwas the lodging-room of the white part of the family. Abovethese rooms was a loft, without windows, where I was told the"staying company" who visited them, were lodged. Near thismansion was a "shanty, " a black hole, without any window, whichserved as kitchen and all other offices, and also as the lodgingof the blacks. 

We were invited to take tea with this family, and readilyconsented to do so. The furniture of the room was one heavy hugetable, and about six wooden chairs. When we arrived the lady wasin rather a dusky dishabille, but she vehemently urged us to beseated, and then retired into the closet-chamber above mentioned, whence she continued to address to us from behind the door, allkinds of "genteel country visiting talk, " and at length emergedupon us in a smart new dress. 

Her female slave set out the great table, and placed upon it cupsof the very coarsest blue ware, a little brown sugar in one, anda tiny drop of milk in another, no butter, though the ladyassured us she had a "_deary_" and two cows. Instead of butter, she "hoped we would fix a little relish with our crackers, " inancient English, eat salt meat and dry biscuits. Such was thefare, and for guests that certainly were intended to be honoured. I could not help recalling the delicious repasts which Iremembered to have enjoyed at little dairy farms in England, not_possessed_, but rented, and at high rents too; where the clean, fresh-coloured, bustling mistress herself skimmed the deliciouscream, herself spread the yellow butter on the delightful brownloaf, and placed her curds, and her junket, and all the delicatetreasures other dairy before us, and then, with hospitable pride, placed herself at her board, and added the more delicate "relish"of good tea and good cream. I remembered all this, and did notthink the difference atoned for, by the dignity of having my cuphanded to me by a slave. The lady I now visited, however, greatly surpassed my quondam friends in the refinement of herconversation. She ambled through the whole time the visitlasted, in a sort of elegantly mincing familiar style of gossip, which, I think, she was imitating from some novel, for I was toldshe was a great novel reader, and left all household occupationsto be performed by her slaves. To say she addressed us in a toneof equality, will give no adequate idea of her manner; I ampersuaded that no misgiving on the subject ever entered her head. She told us that their estate was her divi-_dend_ of her father'sproperty. She had married a first cousin, who was as fine agentleman as she was a lady, and as idle, preferring hunting (asthey called shooting) to any other occupation. The consequencewas, that but a very small portion of the dividend wascultivated, and their poverty was extreme. The slaves, particularly the lads, were considerably more than half naked, but the air of dignity with which, in the midst of all thismisery, the lanky lady said to one of the young negroes, "Attendto your young master, Lycurgus, " must have been heard to beconceived in the full extent of its mock heroic. 

Another dwelling of one of these landed proprietors was a hovelas wretched as the one above described, but there was moreindustry within it. The gentleman, indeed, was himself one ofthe numerous tribe of regular whiskey drinkers, and was rarelycapable of any work; but he had a family of twelve children, who, with their skeleton mother, worked much harder than I ever sawnegroes do. They were, accordingly, much less elegant and muchless poor than the heiress; yet they lived with no appearance ofcomfort, and with, I believe, nothing beyond the necessaries oflife. One proof of this was, that the worthless father would notsuffer them to raise, even by their own labour, any gardenvegetables, and they lived upon their fat pork, salt fish, andcorn bread, summer and winter, without variation. This, I found, was frequently the case among the farmers. The luxury of whiskeyis more appreciated by the men than all the green delicacies fromthe garden, and if all the ready money goes for that and theirdarling chewing tobacco, none can be spent by the wife for gardenseeds; and as far as my observation extended, I never saw anyAmerican _menage_ where the toast and no toast question, wouldhave been decided in favour of the lady. 

There are some small farmers who hold their lands as tenants, butthese are by no means numerous: they do not pay their rent inmoney, but by making over a third of the produce to the owner; amode of paying rent, considerably more advantageous to the tenantthan the landlord; but the difficulty of obtaining _money_ inpayment, excepting for mere retail articles, is very great in allAmerican transactions. "I can pay in pro-_duce_, " is the offerwhich I was assured is constantly made on all occasions, and ifrejected, "Then I guess we can't deal, " is the usual rejoinder. This statement does not, of course, include the great merchantsof great cities, but refers to the mass of the people scatteredover the country; it has, indeed, been my object, in speaking ofthe customs of the people, to give an idea of what they are_generally_. 

The effect produced upon English people by the sight of slaveryin every direction is very new, and not very agreeable, and it isnot the less painfully felt from hearing upon every breeze themocking words, "All men are born free and equal. " One must be inthe heart of American slavery, fully to appreciate thatwonderfully fine passage in Moore's Epistle to Lord ViscountForbes, which describes perhaps more faithfully, as well as morepowerfully, the political state of America, than any thing thathas ever been written upon it. 

 Oh! Freedom, Freedom, how I hate thy cant! Not eastern bombast, nor the savage rant Of purpled madmen, were they numbered all From Roman Nero, down to Russian Paul, Could grate upon my ear so mean, so base, As the rank jargon of that factious race, Who, poor of heart, and prodigal of words, Born to be slaves, and struggling to be lords, But pant for licence, while they spurn controul, And shout for rights, with rapine in their soul! Who can, with patience, for a moment see The medley mass of pride and misery, Of whips and charters, manacles and rights, Of slaving blacks, and democratic whites, Of all the pyebald polity that reigns In free confusion o'er Columbia's plains? To think that man, thou just and gentle God! Should stand before thee with a tyrant's rod, O'er creatures like himself, with soul from thee, Yet dare to boast of perfect liberty: Away, away, I'd rather hold my neck By doubtful tenure from a Sultan's beck, In climes where liberty has scarce been named, Nor any right, but that of ruling, claimed, Than thus to live, where bastard freedom waves Her fustian flag in mockery o'er slaves; Where (motley laws admitting no degree Betwixt the vilely slaved, and madly free) Alike the bondage and the licence suit, The brute made ruler, and the man made brute!

The condition of domestic slaves, however, does not generallyappear to be bad; but the ugly feature is, that should it be so, they have no power to change it. I have seen much kind attentionbestowed upon the health of slaves; but it is on these occasionsimpossible to forget, that did this attention fail, a valuablepiece of property would be endangered. Unhappily the slaves, too, know this, and the consequence is, that real kindly feelingvery rarely can exist between the parties. It is said thatslaves born in a family are attached to the children of it, whohave grown up with them. This may be the case where the pettyacts of infant tyranny have not been sufficient to conquer thekindly feeling naturally produced by long and early association;and this sort of attachment may last as long as the slave can bekept in that state of profound ignorance which precludesreflection. The law of Virginia has taken care of this. TheState legislators may truly be said to be "wiser in theirgeneration than the children of light, " and they ensure theirsafety by forbidding light to enter among them. By the law ofVirginia it is penal to teach any slave to read, and it is penalto be aiding and abetting in the act of instructing them. Thislaw speaks volumes. Domestic slaves are, generally speaking, tolerably well fed, and decently clothed; and the mode in whichthey are lodged seems a matter of great indifference to them. They are rarely exposed to the lash, and they are carefullynursed in sickness. These are the favourable features of theirsituation. The sad one is, that they may be sent to the southand sold. This is the dread of all the slaves north ofLouisiana. The sugar plantations, and more than all, the ricegrounds of Georgia and the Carolinas, are the terror of Americannegroes; and well they may be, for they open an early grave tothousands; and to _avoid loss_ it is needful to make theirprevious labour pay their value. 

There is something in the system of breeding and rearing negroesin the Northern States, for the express purpose of sending themto be sold in the South, that strikes painfully against everyfeeling of justice, mercy, or common humanity. During myresidence in America I became perfectly persuaded that the stateof a domestic slave in a gentleman's family was preferable tothat of a hired American "help, " both because they are more caredfor and valued, and because their condition being born with them, their spirits do not struggle against it with that piningdiscontent which seems the lot of all free servants in America. But the case is widely different with such as, in their ownpersons, or those of their children, "loved in vain, " are exposedto the dreadful traffic above mentioned. In what is theircondition better than that of the kidnapped negroes on the coastof Africa? Of the horror in which this enforced migration isheld I had a strong proof during our stay in Virginia. Thefather of a young slave, who belonged to the lady with whom weboarded, was destined to this fate, and within an hour after itwas made known to him, he sharpened the hatchet with which he hadbeen felling timber, and with his right hand severed his leftfrom the wrist. 

But this is a subject on which I do not mean to dilate; it hasbeen lately treated most judiciously by a far abler hand. [SeeCaptain Hall's Travels in America. ] Its effects on the moralfeelings and external manners of the people are all I wish toobserve upon, and these are unquestionably most injurious. Thesame man who beards his wealthier and more educated neighbourwith the bullying boast, "I'm as good as you, " turns to hisslave, and knocks him down, if the furrow he has ploughed, or thelog he has felled, please not this stickler for equality. Thereis a glaring falsehood on the very surface of such a man'sprinciples that is revolting. It is not among the higher classesthat the possession of slaves produces the worst effects. Amongthe poorer class of landholders, who are often as profoundlyignorant as the negroes they own, the effect of this plenarypower over males and females is most demoralising; and the kindof coarse, not to say brutal, authority which is exercised, furnishes the most disgusting moral spectacle I ever witnessed. In all ranks, however, it appeared to me that the greatest andbest feelings of the human heart were paralyzed by the relativepositions of slave and owner. The characters, the hearts ofchildren, are irretrievably injured by it. In Virginia weboarded for some time in a family consisting of a widow and herfour daughters, and I there witnessed a scene strongly indicativeof the effect I have mentioned. A young female slave, abouteight years of age, had found on the shelf of a cupboard abiscuit, temptingly buttered, of which she had eaten aconsiderable portion before she was observed. The butter hadbeen copiously sprinkled with arsenic for the destruction ofrats, and had been thus most incautiously placed by one of theyoung ladies of the family. As soon as the circumstance wasknown, the lady of the house came to consult me as to what hadbest be done for the poor child; I immediately mixed a large cupof mustard and water (the most rapid of all emetics) and got thelittle girl to swallow it. The desired effect was instantlyproduced, but the poor child, partly from nausea, and partly fromthe terror of hearing her death proclaimed by half a dozen voicesround her, trembled so violently that I thought she would fall. I sat down in the court where we were standing, and, as a matterof course, took the little sufferer in my lap. I observed ageneral titter among the white members of the family, while theblack stood aloof, and looked stupified. The youngest of thefamily, a little girl about the age of the young slave, aftergazing at me for a few moments in utter astonishment, exclaimed"My! If Mrs. Trollope has not taken her in her lap, and wiped hernasty mouth! Why I would not have touched her mouth for twohundred dollars!"

The little slave was laid on a bed, and I returned to my ownapartments; some time afterwards I sent to enquire for her, andlearnt that she was in great pain. I immediately went myself toenquire farther, when another young lady of the family, the oneby whose imprudence the accident had occurred, met my anxiousenquiries with ill-suppressed mirth--told me they had sent forthe doctor--and then burst into uncontrollable laughter. Theidea of really sympathising in the sufferings of a slave appearedto them as absurd as weeping over a calf that had beenslaughtered by the butcher. The daughters of my hostess were aslovely as features and complexion could make them; but theneutralizing effect of this total want of feeling upon youth andbeauty, must be witnessed, to be conceived. 

There seems in general a strong feeling throughout America, thatnone of the negro race can be trusted, and as fear, according totheir notions, is the only principle by which a slave can beactuated, it is not wonderful if the imputation be just. But Iam persuaded that were a different mode of moral treatmentpursued, most important and beneficial consequences would resultfrom it. Negroes are very sensible to kindness, and might, Ithink, be rendered more profitably obedient by the practice of ittowards them, than by any other mode of discipline whatever. Toemancipate them entirely throughout the Union cannot, I conceive, be thought of, consistently with the safety of the country; butwere the possibility of amelioration taken into the considerationof the legislature, with all the wisdom, justice, and mercy, thatcould be brought to bear upon it, the negro population of theUnion might cease to be a terror, and their situation no longerbe a subject either of indignation or of pity. 

I observed every where throughout the slave States that allarticles which can be taken and consumed are constantly lockedup, and in large families, where the extent of the establishmentmultiplies the number of keys, these are deposited in a basket, and consigned to the care of a little negress, who is constantlyseen following her mistress's steps with this basket on her arm, and this, not only that the keys may be always at hand, butbecause, should they be out of sight one moment, that momentwould infallibly be employed for purposes of plunder. It seemedto me in this instance, as in many others, that the closepersonal attendance of these sable shadows, must be veryannoying; but whenever I mentioned it, I was assured that nosuch feeling existed, and that use rendered them almostunconscious of their presence. 

I had, indeed, frequent opportunities of observing this habitualindifference to the presence of their slaves. They talk of them, of their condition, of their faculties, of their conduct, exactlyas if they were incapable of hearing. I once saw a young lady, who, when seated at table between a male and a female, wasinduced by her modesty to intrude on the chair of her femaleneighbour to avoid the indelicacy of touching the elbow of a man. I once saw this very young lady lacing her stays with the mostperfect composure before a negro footman. A Virginian gentlemantold me that ever since he had married, he had been accustomed tohave a negro girl sleep in the same chamber with himself and hiswife. I asked for what purpose this nocturnal attendance wasnecessary? "Good heaven!" was the reply, "if I wanted a glass ofwater during the night, what would become of me?"

CHAPTER 23

Fruits and Flowers of Maryland and Virginia--Copper-headSnake--Insects--Elections

Our summer in Maryland, (1830), was delightful. The thermometerstood at 94, but the heat was by no means so oppressive as whatwe had felt in the West. In no part of North America are thenatural productions of the soil more various, or more beautiful. Strawberries of the richest flavour sprung beneath our feet; andwhen these past away, every grove, every lane, every field lookedlike a cherry orchard, offering an inexhaustible profusion offruit to all who would take the trouble to gather it. Thenfollowed the peaches; every hedgerow was planted with them, andthough the fruit did not equal in size or flavour those ripenedon our garden walls, we often found them good enough to afford adelicious refreshment on our long rambles. But it was theflowers, and the flowering shrubs that, beyond all else, renderedthis region the most beautiful I had ever seen, (the Alleghanyalways excepted. ) No description can give an idea of thevariety, the profusion, the luxuriance of them. If I talk ofwild roses, the English reader will fancy I mean the paleephemeral blossoms of our bramble hedges; but the wild roses ofMaryland and Virginia might be the choicest favourites of theflower garden. They are rarely very double, but the brillianteye atones for this. They are of all shades, from the deepestcrimson to the tenderest pink. The scent is rich and delicate;in size they exceed any single roses I ever saw, often measuringabove four inches in diameter. The leaf greatly resembles thatof the china rose; it is large, dark, firm, and brilliant. Thesweetbrier grows wild, and blossoms abundantly; both leaves andflowers are considerably larger than with us. The acacia, or asit is there called, the locust, blooms with great richness andprofusion; I have gathered a branch less than a foot long, andcounted twelve full bunches of flowers on it. The scent is equalto the orange flower. The dogwood is another of the splendidwhite blossoms that adorn the woods. Its lateral branches areflat, like a fan, and dotted all over, with star-like blossoms, as large as those of the gum-cistus. Another pretty shrub, ofsmaller size, is the poison alder. It is well that its noxiousqualities are very generally known, for it is most tempting tothe eye by its delicate fringe-like bunches of white flowers. Even the touch of this shrub is poisonous, and produces violentswelling. The arbor judae is abundant in every wood, and itsbright and delicate pink is the earliest harbinger of theAmerican spring. Azalias, white, yellow, and pink; kalmias ofevery variety, the too sweet magnolia, and the statelyrhododendron, all grow in wild abundance there. The plant knownin England as the Virginian creeper, is often seen climbing tothe top of the highest forest trees, and bearing a large trumpet-shaped blossom of a rich scarlet. The sassafras is a beautifulshrub, and I cannot imagine why it has not been naturalized inEngland, for it has every appearance of being extremely hardy. The leaves grow in tufts, and every tuft contains leaves of fiveor six different forms. The fruit is singularly beautiful; itresembles in form a small acorn, and is jet black; the cup andstem looking as if they were made of red coral. The graceful andfantastic grapevine is a feature of great beauty, and itswandering festoons bear no more resemblance to our well-trainedvines, than our stunted azalias, and tiny magnolias, to theirthriving American kindred. 

There is another charm that haunts the summer wanderer inAmerica, and it is perhaps the only one found in greatestperfection in the West: but it is beautiful every where. In abright day, during any of the summer months, your walk is throughan atmosphere of butterflies, so gaudy in hue, and so varied inform, that I often thought they looked like flowers on the wing. Some of them are very large, measuring three or four inchesacross the wings; but many, and I think the most beautiful, aresmaller than ours. Some have wings of the most dainty lavendercolour; and bodies of black; others are fawn and rose colour; andothers again are orange and bright blue. But pretty as they are, it is their number, even more than their beauty, that delightsthe eye. Their gay and noiseless movement as they glance throughthe air, crossing each other in chequered maze, is verybeautiful. The humming-bird is another pretty summer toy; butthey are not sufficiently numerous, nor do they live enough onthe wing to render them so important a feature in thetransatlantic show, as the rainbow-tinted butterflies. Thefire-fly was a far more brilliant novelty. In moist situations, or before a storm, they are very numerous, and in the dark sultryevening of a burning day, when all employment was impossible, Ihave often found it a pastime to watch their glancing light, nowhere, now there; now seen, now gone; shooting past with therapidity of lightning, and looking like a shower of fallingstars, blown about in the breeze of evening. 

In one of our excursions we encountered and slew a copperheadsnake. I escaped treading on it by about three inches. While wewere contemplating our conquered foe, and doubting in ourignorance if he were indeed the deadly copper-head we had sooften heard described, a farmer joined us, who, as soon as hecast his eyes on our victim, exclaimed, "My! if you have not gota copper. That's right down well done, they be darnationbeasts. " He told us that he had once seen a copper-head bitehimself to death, from being teazed by a stick, while confined ina cage where he could find no other victim. We often heardterrible accounts of the number of these desperate reptiles to befound on the rocks near the great falls of the Potomac; but noteven the terror these stories inspired could prevent our repeatedvisits to that sublime scene; Luckily our temerity was neverpunished by seeing any there. Lizards, long, large, and mosthideously like a miniature crocodile, I frequently saw, glidingfrom the fissures of the rocks, and darting again under shelter, perhaps beneath the very stone I was seated upon; but every oneassured us they were harmless. Animal life is so infinitelyabundant, and in forms so various, and so novel to European eyes, that it is absolutely necessary to divest oneself of all thepetty terrors which the crawling, creeping, hopping, and buzzingtribes can inspire, before taking an American summer ramble. Itis, I conceive, quite impossible for any description to convey anidea of the sounds which assail the ears from the time the shorttwilight begins, until the rising sun scatters the rear ofdarkness, and sends the winking choristers to rest. 

Be where you will (excepting in the large cities) the appallingnote of the bull-frog will reach you, loud, deep, and hoarse, issuing from a thousand throats in ceaseless continuity of croak. The tree-frog adds her chirping and almost human voice; thekattiedid repeats her own name through the livelong night; thewhole tribe of locusts chirp, chirrup, squeak, whiz, and whistle, without allowing one instant of interval to the weary ear; andwhen to this the mosquito adds her threatening hum, it iswonderful that any degree of fatigue can obtain for the listenerthe relief of sleep. In fact, it is only in ceasing to listenthat this blessing can be found. I passed many feverish nightsduring my first summer, literally in listening to this mostastounding mixture of noises, and it was only when they becametoo familiar to excite attention, that I recovered my rest. 

I know not by what whimsical link of association therecapitulation of this insect din suggests the recollection ofother discords, at least as harsh and much more troublesome. 

Even in the retirement in which we passed this summer, we werenot beyond reach of the election fever which is constantly ragingthrough the land. Had America every attraction under heaven thatnature and social enjoyment can offer, this electioneeringmadness would make me fly it in disgust. It engrosses everyconversation, it irritates every temper, it substitutes partyspirit for personal esteem; and, in fact, vitiates the wholesystem of society. 

When a candidate for any office starts, his party endow him withevery virtue, and with all the talents. They are all ready topeck out the eyes of those who oppose him, and in the warm andmettlesome south-western states, do literally often perform thisoperation: but as soon as he succeeds, his virtues and histalents vanish, and, excepting those holding office under hisappointment, every man Jonathan of them set off again full gallopto elect his successor. When I first arrived in America Mr. JohnQuincy Adams was President, and it was impossible to doubt, evenfrom the statement of his enemies, that he was every waycalculated to do honour to the office. All I ever heard againsthim was, that "he was too much of a gentleman;" but a newcandidate must be set up, and Mr. Adams was out-voted for noother reason, that I could learn, but because it was "best tochange. " "Jackson for ever!" was, therefore, screamed from themajority of mouths, both drunk and sober, till he was elected;but no sooner in his place, than the same ceaseless operationwent on again, with "Clay for ever" for its war-whoop. 

I was one morning paying a visit, when a party of gentlemenarrived at the same house on horseback. The one whose airproclaimed him the chief of his party, left us not long in doubtas to his business, for he said, almost in entering, "Mr. P--, I come to ask for your vote. "

"Who are you for, sir?" was the reply. 

"Clay for ever!" the rejoinder; and the vote was promised. 

This gentleman was candidate for a place in the staterepresentation, whose members have a vote in the presidentialelection. 

I was introduced to him as an English woman: he addressed mewith, "Well madam, you see we do these things openly andabove-board here; you mince such matters more, I expect. "

After his departure, his history and standing were discussed. "Mr. M. Is highly respectable, and of very good standing; therecan be no doubt of his election if he is a thorough-goingClay-man, " said my host. 

I asked what his station was. 

The lady of the house told me that his father had been amerchant, and when this future legislator was a young man, he hadbeen sent by him to some port in the Mediterranean as hissuper-cargo. The youth, being a free-born high-spirited youth, appropriated the proceeds to his own uses, traded with greatsuccess upon the fund thus obtained, and returned, after anabsence of twelve years, a gentleman of fortune and excellentstanding. I expressed some little disapprobation of thisproceeding, but was assured that Mr. M. Was considered by everyone as a very "honourable man. "

Were I to relate one-tenth part of the dishonest transactionsrecounted to me by Americans, of their fellow-citizens andfriends, I am confident that no English reader would give mecredit for veracity it would, therefore, be very unwise to repeatthem, but I cannot refrain from expressing the opinion thatnearly four years of attentive observation impressed on me, namely, that the moral sense is on every point blunter than withus. Make an American believe that his next-door neighbour is avery worthless fellow, and I dare say (if he were quite sure hecould make nothing by him) he would drop the acquaintance; but asto what constitutes a worthless fellow, people differ on theopposite sides of the Atlantic, almost by the whole decalogue. There is, as it appeared to me, an obtusity on all points ofhonourable feeling. 

"Cervantes laughed Spain's chivalry away, " but he did not laughaway that better part of chivalry, so beautifully described byBurke as "the unbought grace of life, the cheap defence ofnations, that chastity of honour, which feels a stain as a wound, which ennobles whatever it touches, and by which vice itselfloses half its evil, by losing all its grossness. " The betterpart of chivalry still mixes with gentle blood in every part ofEurope, nor is it less fondly guarded than when sword and buckleraided its defence. Perhaps this unbought grace of life is not tobe looked for where chivalry has never been. I certainly do notlament the decadence of knight errantry, nor wish to exchange theprotection of the laws for that of the doughtiest champion whoever set lance in rest; but I do, in truth, believe that thisknightly sensitiveness of honourable feeling is the best antidoteto the petty soul-degrading transactions of every day life, andthat the total want of it, is one reason why this free-born racecare so very little for the vulgar virtue called probity. 

CHAPTER 24

Journey to Philadelphia--Chesapeak and Delaware Canal--City ofPhiladelphia--Miss Wright's Lecture

In the latter part of August, 1830, we paid a visit toPhiladelphia, and, notwithstanding the season, we were sofortunate as to have both bright and temperate weather for theexpedition. The road from Washington to Baltimore, which was ourfirst day's journey, is interesting in summer from the variety ofluxuriance of the foliage which borders great parts of it. 

We passed the night at Baltimore, and embarked next morning onboard a steam-boat for Philadelphia. The scenery of the Elkriver, upon which you enter soon after leaving the port ofBaltimore, is not beautiful. We embarked at six in the morning, and at twelve reached the Chesapeak and Delaware canal; we thenquitted the steam-boat, and walked two or three hundred yards tothe canal, where we got on board a pretty little decked boat, sheltered by a neat awning, and drawn by four horses. This canalcuts across the state of Delaware, and connects the Chesapeak andDelaware rivers: it has been a work of great expense, though thedistance is not more than thirteen miles; for a considerable partof this distance the cutting has been very deep, and the banksare in many parts thatched, to prevent their crumbling. At thepoint where the cutting is deepest, a light bridge is thrownacross, which, from its great height, forms a striking object tothe travellers passing below it. Every boat that passes thiscanal pays a toll of twenty dollars. 

Nothing can be less interesting than that part of the state ofDelaware through which this cut passes, the Mississippi hardlyexcepted. At one, we reached the Delaware river, at a pointnearly opposite Delaware Fort, which looks recently built, andis very handsome. [This fort was destroyed by fire a few monthsafterwards. ] Here we again changed our vessel, and got onboard another of their noble steam-boats; both these changeswere made with the greatest regularity and dispatch. 

There is nothing remarkable in the scenery of the Delaware. Thestream is wide and the banks are flat; a short distance beforeyou reach Philadelphia two large buildings of singular appearancestrike the eye. On enquiry I learnt that they were erected forthe purpose of sheltering two ships of war. They are handsomelyfinished, with very neat roofs, and are ventilated by manywindows. The expense of these buildings must have beenconsiderable, but, as the construction of the vast machines theyshelter was more so, it may be good economy. 

We reached Philadelphia at four o'clock in the afternoon. Theapproach to this city is not so striking as that to Baltimore;though much larger, it does not now show itself so well; it wantsdomes and columns: it is, nevertheless, a beautiful city. Nothing can exceed its neatness; the streets are well paved, thefoot-way, as in all the old American cities, is of brick, likethe old pantile walk at Tunbridge Wells. This is almost entirelysheltered from the sun by the awnings, which, in all theprincipal streets, are spread from the shop windows to the edgeof the pavement. 

The city is built with extreme and almost wearisome regularity;the streets, which run north and south, are distinguished bynumbers, from one to--I know not how many, but I paid a visit inTwelth Street; these are intersected at right angles by others, which are known by the names of various trees; Mulberry (morecommonly called Arch-street), Chesnut, and Walnut, appear themost fashionable: in each of these there is a theatre. This modeof distinguishing the streets is commodious to strangers, fromthe facility it gives of finding out whereabouts you are; if youask for the United States Bank, you are told it is in Chesnut, between Third and Fourth, and as the streets are all divided fromeach other by equal distances, of about three hundred feet, youare sure of not missing your mark. There are many handsomehouses, but none that are very splendid; they are generally ofbrick, and those of the better order have white marble steps, andsome few, door frames of the same beautiful material; but, on thewhole, there is less display of it in the private dwellings thanat Baltimore. 

The Americans all seem greatly to admire this city, and to giveit the preference in point of beauty to all others in the Union, but I do not agree with them. There are some very handsomebuildings, but none of them so placed as to produce a strikingeffect, as is the case both with the Capitol and the President'shouse, at Washington. Notwithstanding these fine buildings, oneor more of which are to be found in all the principal streets, the _coup d'oeil_ is every where the same. There is no Place deLouis Quinze or Carrousel, no Regent Street, or Green Park, tomake one exclaim "how beautiful!" all is even, straight, uniform, and uninteresting. 

There is one spot, however, about a mile from the town, whichpresents a lovely scene. The water-works of Philadelphia havenot yet perhaps as wide extended fame as those of Marley, butthey are not less deserving it. At a most beautiful point of theSchuylkill River the water has been forced up into a magnificentreservoir, ample and elevated enough to send it through the wholecity. The vast yet simple machinery by which this is achieved isopen to the public, who resort in such numbers to see it, thatseveral evening stages run from Philadelphia to Fair Mount fortheir accommodation. But interesting and curious as thismachinery is, Fair Mount would not be so attractive had it notsomething else to offer. It is, in truth, one of the veryprettiest spots the eye can look upon. A broad weir is thrownacross the Schuylkill, which produces the sound and look of acascade. On the farther side of the river is a gentleman's seat, the beautiful lawns of which slope to the water's edge, andgroups of weeping-willows and other trees throw their shadows onthe stream. The works themselves are enclosed in a simple butvery handsome building of freestone, which has an extended frontopening upon a terrace, which overhangs the river: behind thebuilding, and divided from it only by a lawn, rises a lofty wallof solid limestone rock, which has, at one or two points, beencut into, for the passage of the water into the noble reservoirabove. From the crevices of this rock the catalpa was everywhere pushing forth, covered with its beautiful blossom. Beneathone of these trees an artificial opening in the rock givespassage to a stream of water, clear and bright as crystal, whichis received in a stone basin of simple workmanship, having a cupfor the service of the thirsty traveller. At another point, aportion of the water in its upward way to the reservoir, ispermitted to spring forth in a perpetual _jet d'eau_, thatreturns in a silver shower upon the head of a marble _naiad_ ofsnowy whiteness. The statue is not the work of Phidias, but itsdark, rocky background, the flowery catalpas which shadow it, andthe bright shower through which it shows itself, altogether makethe scene one of singular beauty; add to which, the evening onwhich I saw it was very sultry, and the contrast of this coolspot to all besides certainly enhanced its attraction; it wasimpossible not to envy the nymph her eternal shower-bath. 

On returning from this excursion we saw handbills in all parts ofthe city announcing that Miss Wright was on that evening todeliver her parting address to the citizens of Philadelphia, atthe Arch Street theatre, previous to her departure for Europe. I immediately determined to hear her, and did so, though notwithout some difficulty, from the crowds who went thither withthe same intention. The house, which is a very pretty one, wasfilled in every part, including the stage, with a well dressedand most attentive audience. There was a larger proportion ofladies present than I ever saw on any other occasion in anAmerican theatre. One reason for this might be, perhaps, thatthey were admitted gratis. 

Miss Wright came on the stage surrounded by a body guard ofQuaker ladies, in the full costume of their sect. She was, asshe always is, startling in her theories, but powerfullyeloquent, and, on the whole, was much applauded, though onepassage produced great emotion, and some hissing. She statedbroadly, on the authority of Jefferson, furnished by hisposthumous works, that "Washington was not a Christian. " Onevoice from the crowded pit exclaimed, in an accent ofindignation, "Washington was a Christian. " but it was evidentthat the majority of the audience considered Mr. Jefferson'sassertion as a compliment to the country's idol, for the hissingwas soon triumphantly clapped down. General Washington himself, however, gives a somewhat different account of his ownprinciples, for in his admirable farewell address on declining are-election to the Presidency, I find the following passage. 

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to politicalprosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who wouldlabour to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, thesefirmest props of the destinies of men and citizens. A volumecould not trace all their connections with private and publicfelicity. And let us with caution indulge the supposition thatmorality can be maintained without religion, reason andexperience both forbid us to expect that national morality canprevail in exclusion of religious principle. "

Whether Mr. Jefferson or himself knew best what his principleswere, I will not decide, but, at least, it appears fair, whenrepeating one statement, to add the other also. 

CHAPTER 25

Washington Square--American Beauty--Gallery of Fine Arts--Antiques--Theatres--Museum

Our mornings were spent, as all travellers' mornings must be, inasking questions, and in seeing all that the answers told us itwas necessary to see. Perhaps this can be done in no city withmore facility than in Philadelphia; you have nothing to do but towalk up one straight street, and down another, till all theparallelograms have been threaded. In doing this you will seemany things worth looking at. The United States, andPennsylvania banks, are the most striking buildings, and are bothextremely handsome, being of white marble, and built afterGrecian models. The State House has nothing externally torecommend it, but the room shown as that in which the declarationof independence was signed, and in which the estimable Lafayettewas received half a century after he had shed his noble blood inaiding to obtain it, is an interesting spot. At one end of thisroom is a statue in wood of General Washington; on its base isthe following inscription:-

 First in Peace, First in War, and First in the hearts of his Countrymen. 

There is a very pretty enclosure before the Walnut Streetentrance to the State House, with good well-kept gravel walks, and many of their beautiful flowering trees. It is laid down ingrass, not in turf; that, indeed, is a luxury I never saw inAmerica. Near this enclosure is another of much the samedescription, called Washington Square. Here there was anexcellent crop of clover; but as the trees are numerous, andhighly beautiful, and several commodious seats are placed beneaththeir shade, it is, in spite of the long grass, a very agreeableretreat from heat and dust. It was rarely, however, that I sawany of these seats occupied; the Americans have either noleisure, or no inclination for those moments of _delassement_that all other people, I believe, indulge in. Even their drams, so universally taken by rich and poor, are swallowed standing, and, excepting at church, they never have the air of leisure orrepose. This pretty Washington Square is surrounded by houses onthree sides, but (lasso!) has a prison on the fourth; it isnevertheless the nearest approach to a London square that is tobe found in Philadelphia. 

One evening, while the rest of my party went to visit someobjects which I had before seen, I agreed to await their returnin this square, and sat down under a magnificent catalpa, whichthrew its fragrant blossoms in all directions; the other end ofthe bench was occupied by a young lady, who was employed inwatching the gambols of a little boy. There was something in hermanner of looking at me, and exchanging a smile when her youngcharge performed some extraordinary feat of activity on thegrass, that persuaded me she was not an American. I do notremember who spoke first, but we were presently in a full flow ofconversation. She spoke English with elegant correctness, butshe was a German, and with an ardour of feeling which gave her adecidedly foreign air in Philadelphia, she talked to me of hercountry, of all she had left, and of all she had found, or ratherof all she had not found, for thus ran her lament:-

"They do not love music. Oh no! and they never amusethemselves--no; and their hearts are not warm, at least theyseem not so to strangers; and they have no ease, no forgetfulnessof business and of care--no, not for a moment. But I will notstay long, I think, for I should not live. " She told me thatshe had a brother settled there as a merchant, and that she hadpassed a year with him; but she was hoping soon to return to herfather land. 

I never so strongly felt the truth of the remark, that expressionis the soul of beauty, as in looking at, and listening to thisyoung German. She was any thing but handsome; it is true she hadlarge eyes, full of gentle expression, but every feature wasirregular; but, oh! the charm of that smile, of that look of deepfeeling which animated every feature when she spoke of her ownGermany! The tone of her voice, the slight and graceful actionwhich accompanied her words, all struck me as so attractive, thatthe half hour I passed with her was continually recurring to mymemory. I had often taxed myself with feeling something likeprejudice against the beautiful American women; but this halfhour set my conscience at rest; it is not prejudice which causesone to feel that regularity of features is insufficient tointerest, or even to please, beyond the first glance. Icertainly believe the women of America to be the handsomest inthe world, but as surely do I believe that they are the leastattractive. 

We visited the nineteenth annual exhibition of the Pennsylvanianacademy of the fine arts; 431 was the number of objectsexhibited, which were so arranged as to fill three tolerablylarge rooms, and one smaller called the director's room. Therewere among the number about thirty engravings, and a much largerproportion of water-colour drawings; about seventy had the P. A. (Pensylvanian Academician) annexed to the name of the artist. 

The principal historical composition was a large scripture pieceby Mr. Washington Alston. This gentleman is spoken of as anartist of great merit, and I was told that his manner was muchimproved since this picture was painted, (it bears date, 1813). I believe it was for this picture Mr. Alston received a prize atthe British Gallery. 

There was a portrait of a lady, which, in the catalogue, isdesignated as "the White Plume, " which had the reputation ofbeing the most admired in the collection, and the artist, Mr. Ingham, is said to rank highest among the portrait-painters ofAmerica. This picture is of very high finish, particularly thedrapery, which is most elaborately worked, even to the pile ofthe velvet; the management of the light is much in the manner ofGood; but the drawing is very defective, and the contour, thoughthe face is a lovely one, hard and unfleshy. From all theconversations on painting, which I listened to in America, Ifound that the finish of drapery was considered as the highestexcellence, and next to this, the resemblance in a portrait; Ido not remember ever to have heard the words _drawing_ or_composition_ used in any conversation on the subject. 

One of the rooms of this academy has inscribed over its door, ANTIQUE STATUE GALLERY

The door was open, but just within it was a screen, whichprevented any objects in the room being seen from without. Uponmy pausing to read this inscription, an old woman who appeared toofficiate as guardian of the gallery, hustled up, and addressingme with an air of much mystery, said, "Now, ma'am, now; this isjust the time for you--nobody can see you--make haste. "

I stared at her with unfeigned surprise, and disengaging my arm, which she had taken apparently to hasten my movements, I verygravely asked her meaning. 

"Only, ma'am, that ladies like to go into that room bythemselves, when there be no gentlemen watching them. "

On entering this mysterious apartment, the first thing Iremarked, was written paper, deprecating the disgusting depravitywhich had led some of the visitors to mark and deface the castsin a most indecent and shameless manner. This abomination hasunquestionably been occasioned by the coarse-minded custom whichsends alternate groups of males and females into the room. Werethe antique gallery thrown open to mixed parties of ladies andgentlemen, it would soon cease. Till America has reached thedegree of refinement which permits of this, the antique castsshould not be exhibited to ladies at all. I never felt mydelicacy shocked at the Louvre, but I was strangely tempted toresent as an affront the hint I received, that I might steal aglance at what was deemed indecent. Perhaps the arrangements forthe exhibition of this room, the feelings which have led to them, and the result they have produced, furnish as good a specimen ofthe kind of delicacy on which the Americans pride themselves, andof the peculiarities arising from it, as can be found. The roomcontains about fifty casts, chiefly from the antique. 

In the director's room I was amused at the means which a poet hadhit upon for advertising his works, or rather HIS WORK, and notless at the elaborate notice of it. His portrait was suspendedthere, and attached to the frame was a paper inscribed thus:-

 'PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR of The Fredoniad, or Independence Preserved, a political, naval, and military poem, on the late war of 1812, in forty cantos; the whole compressed in four volumes; each volume averaging more than 305 pages, By RICHARD EMMONS, M. D. "

I went to the Chesnut Street Theatre to see Mr. Booth, formerlyof Drury Lane, in the character of Lear, and a Mrs. Duff inCordelia; but I have seen too many Lears and Cordelias to beeasily pleased; I thought the whole performance very bad. Thetheatre is of excellently moderate dimensions, and prettilydecorated. It was not the fashionable season for the theatres, which I presume must account for the appearance of the company inthe boxes, which was any thing but elegant; nor was there moredecorum of demeanour than I had observed elsewhere; I saw one manin the lower tier of boxes deliberately take off his coat that hemight enjoy the refreshing coolness of shirt sleeves; all thegentlemen wore their hats, and the spitting was unceasing. 

On another evening we went to the Walnut Street Theatre; thechief attraction of the night was furnished by the performance ofa young man who had been previously exhibited as "a livingskeleton. " He played the part of Jeremiah Thin, and certainlylooked the part well; and here I think must end my praise of theevening's performances. 

The great and most striking contrast between this city and thoseof Europe, is perceived after sunset; scarcely a sound is heard;hardly a voice or a wheel breaks the stillness. The Streets areentirely dark, except where a stray lamp marks an hotel or thelike; no shops are open, but those of the apothecary, and hereand there a cook's shop; scarcely a step is heard, and for a noteof music, or the sound of mirth, I listened in vain. In leavingthe theatre, which I always did before the afterpiece, I saw nota single carriage; the night of Miss Wright's lecture, when Istayed to the end, I saw one. This darkness, this stillness, isso great, that I almost felt it awful. As we walked home onefine moonlight evening from the Chestnut Street house, we stoppeda moment before the United States Bank, to look at its whitemarble columns by the subdued lights said to be so advantageousto them; the building did, indeed, look beautiful; theincongruous objects around were hardly visible, while thebrilliant white of the building, which by daylight is dazzling, was mellowed into fainter light and softer shadow. 

While pausing before this modern temple of Theseus, we remarkedthat we alone seemed alive in this great city; it was teno'clock, and a most lovely cool evening, after a burning day, yetall was silence. Regent Street, Bond Street, with their blaze ofgas-light _bijouterie_, and still more the Italian Boulevard ofParis, rose in strong contrast on the memory; the light, whichoutshines that of day--the gay, graceful, laughing throng--theelegant saloons of Tortoni, with all their varieties of coolingnectar--were all remembered. Is it an European prejudice to deemthat the solitary dram swallowed by the gentlemen on quitting anAmerican theatre indicates a lower and more vicious state ofmanners, than do the ices so sedulously offered to the ladies onleaving a French one?

The museum contains a good collection of objects illustrative ofnatural history, and some very interesting specimens of Indianantiquities; both here and at Cincinnati I saw so many thingsresembling Egyptian relics, that I should like to see the originof the Indian nations enquired into, more accurately than has yetbeen done. 

The shops, of which there appeared to me to be an unusually largeproportion, are very handsome; many of them in a style ofEuropean elegance. Lottery offices abound, and that species ofgambling is carried to a great extent. I saw fewer carriages inPhiladelphia than either at Baltimore or Washington, but in thewinter I was told they were more numerous. 

Many of the best families had left the city for differentwatering-places, and others were daily following. Long Branch isa fashionable bathing place on the Jersey shore, to which manyresort, both from this place and from New York; the descriptiongiven of the manner of bathing appeared to me ratherextraordinary, but the account was confirmed by so many differentpeople, that I could not doubt its correctness. The shore, itseems, is too bold to admit of bathing machines, and the ladieshave, therefore, recourse to another mode of ensuring theenjoyment of a sea-bath with safety. The accommodation at LongBranch is almost entirely at large boarding-houses, where all thecompany live at a _table d'hote_. It is customary for ladies onarriving to look round among the married gentlemen, the firsttime they meet at table, and to select the one her fancy leadsher to prefer as a protector in her purposed visits to the realmsof Neptune; she makes her request, which is always graciouslyreceived, that he would lead her to taste the briny wave; butanother fair one must select the same protector, else thearrangement cannot be complete, as custom does not authorise_tete a tete_ immersion. 

CHAPTER 26

Quakers--Presbyterians--Itinerant MethodistPreacher--Market--Influence of females in society

I had never chanced, among all my wanderings, to enter a QuakerMeeting-house; and as I thought I could no where make my firstvisit better than at Philadelphia, I went under the protection ofa Quaker lady to the principal _orthodox_ meeting of the city. The building is large, but perfectly without ornament; the menand women are separated by a rail which divides it into twoequal parts; the meeting was very full on both sides, and theatmosphere almost intolerably hot. As they glided in at theirdifferent doors, I spied many pretty faces peeping from the primhead gear of the females, and as the broad-brimmed males satdown, the welcome Parney supposes prepared for them in heaven, recurred to me, "Entre done, et garde ton chapeau. "

The little bonnets and the large hats were ranged in long rows, and their stillness was for a long time so unbroken, that I couldhardly persuade myself the figures they surmounted were alive. At length a grave square man arose, laid aside his ample beaver, and after another solemn interval of silence, he gave a deepgroan, and as it were by the same effort uttered, "Keep thyfoot. " Again he was silent for many minutes, and then hecontinued for more that an hour to put forth one word at a time, but at such an interval from each other that I found it quiteimpossible to follow his meaning, if, indeed, he had any. MyQuaker friend told me she knew not who he was, and that she muchregretted I had heard so poor a preacher. After he hadconcluded, a gentleman-like old man (a physician by profession)arose, and delivered a few moral sentences in an agreeablemanner; soon after he had sat down, the whole congregation rose, I know not at what signal, and made their exit. It is a singularkind of worship, if worship it may be called, where all prayer isforbidden; yet it appeared to me, in its decent quietness, infinitely preferable to what I had witnessed at the Presbyterianand Methodist Meeting-houses. A great schism had lately takenplace among the Quakers of Philadelphia; many objecting to theover-strict discipline of the orthodox. Among the seceders thereare again various shades of difference; I met many who calledthemselves Unitarian Quakers, others were Hicksites, and othersagain, though still wearing the Quaker habit, were said to beDeists. 

We visited many churches and chapels in the city, but none thatwould elsewhere be called handsome, either internally orexternally. 

I went one evening, not a Sunday, with a party of ladies to see aPresbyterian minister inducted. The ceremony was woefully long, and the charge to the young man awfully impossible to obey, atleast if he were a man, like unto other men. It was matter ofastonishment to me to observe the deep attention, and theunwearied patience with which some hundreds of beautiful younggirls who were assembled there, (not to mention the old ladies, )listened to the whole of this tedious ceremony; surely there isno country in the world where religion makes so large a part ofthe amusement and occupation of the ladies. Spain, in its mostcatholic days, could not exceed it: besides, in spite of thegloomy horrors of the Inquisition, gaiety and amusement were notthere offered as a sacrifice by the young and lovely. 

The religious severity of Philadelphian manners is in nothingmore conspicuous than in the number of chains thrown across thestreets on a Sunday to prevent horses and carriages from passing. Surely the Jews could not exceed this country in their externalobservances. What the gentlemen of Philadelphia do withthemselves on a Sunday, I will not pretend to guess, but theprodigious majority of females in the churches is veryremarkable. Although a large proportion of the population ofthis city are Quakers, the same extraordinary variety of faithexists here, as every where else in the Union, and the priestshave, in some circles, the same unbounded influence which hasbeen mentioned elsewhere. 

One history reached me, which gave a terrible picture of theeffect this power may produce; it was related to me by mymantua-maker; a young woman highly estimable as a wife andmother, and on whose veracity I perfectly rely. She told me thather father was a widower, and lived with his family of threedaughters, at Philadelphia. A short time before she married, anitinerant preacher came to the city, who contrived to obtain anintimate footing in many respectable families. Her father's wasone of these, and his influence and authority were great with allthe sisters, but particularly with the youngest. The younggirl's feelings for him seem to have been a curious mixture ofspiritual awe and earthly affection. When she received a hintfrom her sisters that she ought not to give him too muchencouragement till he spoke out, she showed as much holyresentment as if they had told her not to say her prayers toodevoutly. At length the father remarked the sort of covertpassion that gleamed through the eyes of his godly visitor, andhe saw too, the pallid anxious look which had settled on theyoung brow of his daughter; either this, or some rumours he hadheard abroad, or both together, led him to forbid this man hishouse. The three girls were present when he did so, and alluttered a deprecating "Oh father!" but the old man added stoutly. If you show yourself here again, reverend sir, I will not onlyteach you the way out of my house, but out of the city also. Thepreacher withdrew, and was never heard of in Philadelphiaafterwards; but when a few months had passed, strange whispersbegan to creep through the circle which had received and honouredhim, and, in due course of time, no less than seven unfortunategirls produced living proofs of the wisdom of my informant'sworthy father. In defence of this dreadful story I can only makethe often repeated quotation, "I tell the tale as 'twas told tome;" but, in all sincerity I must add, that I have no doubt ofits truth. 

I was particularly requested to visit the market of Philadelphia, at the hour when it presented the busiest scene; I did so, andthought few cities had any thing to show better worth looking at;it is, indeed, the very perfection of a market, the _beau ideal_of a notable housewife, who would confide to no deputy theimportant office of caterer. The neatness, freshness, and entireabsence of every thing disagreeable to sight or smell, must bewitnessed to be believed. The stalls were spread with snow-whitenapkins; flowers and fruit, if not quite of Paris or Londonperfection, yet bright, fresh, and fragrant; with excellentvegetables in the greatest variety and abundance, were all sodelightfully exhibited, that objects less pleasing wereoverlooked and forgotten. The dairy, the poultry-yard, theforest, the river, and the ocean, all contributed their spoil;in short, for the first time in my life, I thought a market abeautiful object. The prices of most articles were, as nearlyas I could calculate between dollars and francs, about the same as at Paris; certainly much cheaper than in London, but muchdearer than at Exeter. 

My letters of introduction brought me acquainted with severalamiable and interesting people. There is something in the toneof manners at Philadelphia that I liked; it appeared to me thatthere was less affectation of ton there than elsewhere. There isa quietness, a composure in a Philadelphia drawing-room, that isquite characteristic of a city founded by William Penn. Thedress of the ladies, even those who are not Quakers, partakes ofthis; they are most elegantly neat, and there was a delicacy andgood taste in the dress of the young ladies that might serve as amodel to the whole Union. There can hardly be a strongercontrast in the style of dress between any two cities than may beremarked between Baltimore and Philadelphia; both are costly, butthe former is distinguished by gaudy splendour, the latter byelegant simplicity. 

It is said that this city has many gentlemen distinguished bytheir scientific pursuits; I conversed with several well informedand intelligent men, but there is a cold dryness of manner and anapparent want of interest in the subjects they discuss, that, tomy mind, robs conversation of all its charm. On one occasion Iheard the character and situation of an illustrious officerdiscussed, who had served with renown under Napoleon, and whosehigh character might have obtained him favour under theBourbons, could he have abandoned the principles which led him todislike their government. This distinguished man had retreatedto America after the death of his master, and was endeavouring toestablish a sort of Polytechnic academy at New York: in speakingof him, I observed, that his devotion to the cause of freedommust prove a strong recommendation in the United States. "Notthe least in the world, madam, " answered a gentleman who rankeddeservedly high among the _literati_ of the city, "it mightavail him much in England, perhaps, but here we are perfectlyindifferent as to what people's principles may be. "

This I believe to be exactly true, though I never before heard itavowed as a national feature. 

The want of warmth, of interest, of feeling, upon all subjectswhich do not immediately touch their own concerns, is universal, and has a most paralysing effect upon conversation. All theenthusiasm of America is concentrated to the one point of her ownemancipation and independence; on this point nothing can exceedthe warmth of her feelings. She may, I think, be compared to ayoung bride, a sort of Mrs. Major Waddle; her independence is toher as a newly-won bridegroom; for him alone she has eyes, ears, or heart;--the honeymoon is not over yet;--when it is, Americawill, perhaps, learn more coquetry, and know better how to _fairel'aimable_ to other nations. 

I conceive that no place in the known world can furnish sostriking a proof of the immense value of literary habits as theUnited States, not only in enlarging the mind, but what is ofinfinitely more importance, in purifying the manners. During myabode in the country I not only never met a literary man who wasa tobacco chewer or a whiskey drinker, but I never met any whowere not, that had escaped these degrading habits. On the women, the influence is, if possible, still more important;unfortunately, the instances are rare, but they are to be found. One admirable example occurs in the person of a young lady ofCincinnati: surrounded by a society totally incapable ofappreciating, or even of comprehending her, she holds a placeamong it, as simply and unaffectedly as if of the same species;young, beautiful, and gifted by nature with a mind singularlyacute and discriminating, she has happily found suchopportunities of cultivation as might distinguish her in anycountry; it is, indeed, that best of all cultivation which isonly to be found in domestic habits of literature, and in thathourly education which the daughter of a man of letters receiveswhen she is made the companion and friend of her father. Thisyoung lady is the more admirable as she contrives to unite allthe multifarious duties which usually devolve upon Americanladies, with her intellectual pursuits. The companion andefficient assistant of her father's literary labours, the activeaid in all the household cares of her mother, the tender nurse ofa delicate infant sister, the skilful artificer of her own alwayselegant wardrobe, ever at leisure, and ever prepared to receivewith the sweetest cheerfulness her numerous acquaintance, themost animated in conversation, the most indefatigable inoccupation, it was impossible to know her, and study hercharacter without feeling that such women were "the glory of alllands, " and, could the race be multiplied, would speedily becomethe reformers of all the grossness and ignorance that now degradeher own. Is it to be imagined, that if fifty modifications ofthis charming young woman were to be met at a party, the menwould dare to enter it reeking with whiskey, their lips blackenedwith tobacco, and convinced, to the very centre of their heartsand souls, that women were made for no other purpose than tofabricate sweetmeats and gingerbread, construct shirts, darnstockings, and become mothers of possible presidents? Assuredlynot. Should the women of America ever discover what their powermight be, and compare it with what it is, much improvement mightbe hoped for. While, at Philadelphia, among the handsomest, thewealthiest, and the most distinguished of the land, theircomparative influence in society, with that possessed in Europeby females holding the same station, occurred forcibly to mymind. 

Let me be permitted to describe the day of a Philadelphian ladyof the first class, and the inference I would draw from it willbe better understood. 

It may be said that the most important feature in a woman'shistory is her maternity. It is so; but the object of thepresent observation is the social, and not the domestic influenceof woman. 

This lady shall be the wife of a senator and a lawyer in thehighest repute and practice. She has a very handsome house, withwhite marble steps and door-posts, and a delicate silver knockerand door-handle; she has very handsome drawing-rooms, veryhandsomely furnished, (there is a sideboard in one of them, butit is very handsome, and has very handsome decanters and cutglass water-jugs upon it); she has a very handsome carriage, anda very handsome free black coachman; she is always veryhandsomely dressed; and, moreover, she is very handsome herself. 

She rises, and her first hour is spent in the scrupulously nicearrangement of her dress; she descends to her parlour neat, stiff, and silent; her breakfast is brought in by her free blackfootman; she eats her fried ham and her salt fish, and drinks hercoffee in silence, while her husband reads one newspaper, andputs another under his elbow; and then, perhaps, she washes thecups and saucers. Her carriage is ordered at eleven; till thathour she is employed in the pastry-room, her snow-white apronprotecting her mouse-coloured silk. Twenty minutes before hercarriage should appear, she retires to her chamber, as she callsit, shakes, and folds up her still snow-white apron, smooths herrich dress, and with nice care, sets on her elegant bonnet, andall the handsome _et cetera_; then walks down stairs, just atthe moment that her free black coachman announces to her freeblack footman that the carriage waits. She steps into it, andgives the word, "Drive to the Dorcas society. " her footman staysat home to clean the knives, but her coachman can trust hishorses while he opens the carriage door, and his lady not beingaccustomed to a hand or an arm, gets out very safely without, though one of her own is occupied by a work-basket, and the otherby a large roll of all those indescribable matters which ladiestake as offerings to Dorcas societies. She enters the parlourappropriated for the meeting, and finds seven other ladies, verylike herself, and takes her place among them; she presents hercontribution, which is accepted with a gentle circular smile, andher parings of broad cloth, her ends of ribbon, her gilt paper, and her minikin pins, are added to the parings of broad cloth, the ends of ribbon, the gilt papers, and the minikin pins withwhich the table is already covered; she also produces from herbasket three ready-made pincushions, four ink-wipers, seven papermatches, and a paste-board watch-case; these are welcomed withacclamations, and the youngest lady present deposits themcarefully on shelves, amid a prodigious quantity of similararticles. She then produces her thimble, and asks for work; itis presented to her, and the eight ladies all stitch together forsome hours. Their talk is of priests and of missions; of theprofits of their last sale, of their hopes from the next; of thedoubt whether your Mr. This, or young Mr. That should receive thefruits of it to fit him out for Liberia; of the very ugly bonnetseen at church on Sabbath morning, of the very handsome preacherwho performed on Sabbath afternoon, and of the very largecollection made on Sabbath evening. This lasts till three, whenthe carriage again appears, and the lady and her basket returnhome; she mounts to her chamber, carefully sets aside her bonnetand its appurtenances, puts on her scolloped black silk apron, walks into the kitchen to see that all is right, then into theparlour, where, having cast a careful glance over the tableprepared for dinner, she sits down, work in hand, to await herspouse. He comes, shakes hands with her, spits, and dines. Theconversation is not much, and ten minutes suffices for thedinner; fruit and toddy, the newspaper and the work-bag succeed. In the evening the gentleman, being a savant, goes to the Wistersociety, and afterwards plays a snug rubber at a neighbour's. The lady receives at tea a young missionary and three members ofthe Dorcas society. --And so ends her day. 

For some reason or other, which English people are not verylikely to understand, a great number of young married personsboard by the year, instead of "going to housekeeping, " as theycall having an establishment of their own. Of course thisstatement does not include persons of large fortune, but it doesinclude very many whose rank in society would make such a mode oflife quite impossible with us. I can hardly imagine acontrivance more effectual for ensuring the insignificance of awoman, than marrying her at seventeen, and placing her in aboarding-house. Nor can I easily imagine a life of more uniformdulness for the lady herself; but this certainly is a matter oftaste. I have heard many ladies declare that it is "just quitethe perfection of comfort to have nothing to fix for oneself. "Yet despite these assurances I always experienced a feelingwhich hovered between pity and contempt, when I contemplatedtheir mode of existence. 

How would a newly-married Englishwoman endure it, her head andher heart full of the one dear scheme--

 "Well ordered home, _his_ dear delight to make?"

She must rise exactly in time to reach the boarding table at thehour appointed for breakfast, or she will get a stiff bow fromthe lady president, cold coffee, and no egg. I have beensometimes greatly amused upon these occasions by watching alittle scene in which the bye-play had much more meaning than thewords uttered. The fasting, but tardy lady, looks round thetable, and having ascertained that there was no egg left, saysdistinctly, "I will take an egg if you please. " But as this isaddressed to no one in particular, no one in particular answersit, unless it happen that her husband is at table before her, andthen he says, "There are no eggs, my dear. " Whereupon the ladypresident evidently cannot hear, and the greedy culprit who hasswallowed two eggs (for there are always as many eggs as noses)looks pretty considerably afraid of being found out. Thebreakfast proceeds in sombre silence, save that sometimes aparrot, and sometimes a canary bird, ventures to utter a timidnote. When it is finished, the gentlemen hurry to theiroccupation, and the quiet ladies mount the stairs, some to thefirst, some to the second, and some to the third stories, in aninverse proportion to the number of dollars paid, and ensconcethemselves in their respective chambers. As to what they dothere it is not very easy to say, but I believe they clear-starcha little, and iron a little, and sit in a rocking-chair, and sewa great deal. I always observed that the ladies who boarded, wore more elaborately worked collars and petticoats than any oneelse. The plough is hardly a more blessed instrument in Americathan the needle. How could they live without it? But time andthe needle wear through the longest morning, and happily theAmerican morning is not very long, even though they breakfast ateight. 

It is generally about two o'clock that the boarding gentlemenmeet the boarding ladies at dinner. Little is spoken, except awhisper between the married pairs. Sometimes a sulky bottle ofwine flanks the plate of one or two individuals, but it addsnothing to the mirth of the meeting, and seldom more than oneglass to the good cheer of the owners, it is not then, and it isnot there, that the gentlemen of the Union drink. Soon, verysoon, the silent meal is done, and then, if you mount the stairsafter them, you will find from the doors of the more affectionateand indulgent wives, a smell of cigars steam forth, which plainlyindicates the felicity of the couple within. If the gentleman bea very polite husband, he will, as soon as he has done smokingand drinking his toddy, offer his arm to his wife, as far as thecorner of the street, where his store, or his office is situated, and there he will leave her to turn which way she likes. As thisis the hour for being full dressed, of course she turns the wayshe can be most seen. Perhaps she pays a few visits; perhaps shegoes to chapel; or, perhaps, she enters some store where herhusband deals, and ventures to order a few notions; and then shegoes home again--no, not home--I will not give that name to aboarding-house--but she re-enters the cold heartless atmospherein which she dwells, where hospitality can never enter, and whereinterest takes the management instead of affection. At tea theyall meet again, and a little trickery is perceptible to a niceobserver in the manner of partaking the pound-cake, &c. Afterthis, those who are happy enough to have engagements hasten tokeep them; those who have not, either mount again to the solitudeof their chamber, or, what appeared to me much worse, remain inthe common sitting-room, in a society cemented by no tie, endeared by no connexion, which choice did not bring together, and which the slightest motive would break asunder. I remarkedthat the gentlemen were generally obliged to go out everyevening on business, and, I confess, the arrangement did notsurprise me. 

It is not thus that the women can obtain that influence insociety which is allowed to them in Europe, and to which, bothsages and men of the world have agreed in ascribing such salutaryeffects. It is in vain that "collegiate institutes" are formedfor young ladies, or that "academic degrees" are conferred uponthem. It is after marriage, and when these young attempts uponall the sciences are forgotten, that the lamentableinsignificance of the American woman appears, and till this beremedied, I venture to prophesy that the tone of theirdrawing-rooms will not improve. 

Whilst I was at Philadelphia a great deal of attention wasexcited by the situation of two criminals, who had been convictedof robbing the Baltimore mail, and were lying under sentence ofdeath. The rare occurrence of capital punishment in Americamakes it always an event of great interest; and the approachingexecution was repeatedly the subject of conversation at theboarding table. One day a gentleman told us he had that morningbeen assured that one of the criminals had declared to thevisiting clergyman that he was certain of being reprieved, andthat nothing the clergyman could say to the contrary made anyimpression upon him. Day after day this same story was repeated, and commented upon at table, and it appeared that the report hadbeen heard in so many quarters, that not only was the statementreceived as true, but it began to be conjectured that the criminalhad some ground for his hope. I learnt from these dailyconversations that one of the prisoners was an American, and theother an Irishman, and it was the former who was so stronglypersuaded he should not be hanged. Several of the gentlemen attable, in canvassing the subject, declared, that if the one werehanged and the other spared, this hanging would be a murder, andnot a legal execution. In discussing this point, it was statedthat very nearly all the white men who had suffered death sincethe declaration of Independence had been Irishmen. What truththere may be in this general statement, I have no means ofascertaining; all I know is, that I heard it made. On thisoccasion, however, the Irishman was hanged, and the Americanwas not. 

CHAPTER 27

Return to Stonington--Thunderstorm--Emigrants--Illness--Alexandria

A fortnight passed rapidly away in this great city, and, doubtless, there was still much left unseen when we quitted it, according to previous arrangement, to return to our friends inMaryland. We came back by a different route, going by land fromNewcastle to French Town, instead of passing by the canal. Wereached Baltimore in the middle of the night, but finished ourrepose on board the steam-boat, and started for Washington atfive o'clock the next morning. 

Our short abode amid the heat and closeness of a city made usenjoy more than ever the beautiful scenery around Stonington. The autumn, which soon advanced upon us, again clothed the woodsin colours too varied and gaudy to be conceived by those who havenever quitted Europe; and the stately maize, waving its flowingtassels, as the long drooping blossoms are called, made everyfield look like a little forest. A rainy spring had beenfollowed by a summer of unusual heat; and towards the autumnfrequent thunderstorms of terrific violence cleared the air, butat the same time frightened us almost out of our wits. On oneoccasion I was exposed, with my children, to the full fury ofone of these awful visitations. We suffered considerableterror during this storm, but when we were all again safe, andcomfortably sheltered, we rejoiced that the accident hadoccurred, as it gave us the best possible opportunity ofwitnessing, in all its glory, a transatlantic thunderstorm. Itwas, however, great imprudence that exposed us to it, for wequitted the house, and mounted a hill at a considerable distancefrom it, for the express purpose of watching to advantage theextraordinary aspect of the clouds. When we reached the top ofthe hill half the heavens appeared hung with a heavy curtain; asort of deep blue black seemed to colour the very air; theblizzards screamed, as with heavy wing they sought the earth. Weought, in common prudence, to have immediately retreated to thehouse, but the scene was too beautiful to be left. For severalminutes after we reached our station, the air appeared perfectlywithout movement, no flash broke through the seven-fold cloud, but a flickering light was visible, darting to and fro behind it. By degrees the thunder rolled onward, nearer and nearer, tillthe inky cloud burst asunder, and cataracts of light came pouringfrom behind it. From that moment there was no interval, nopause, the lightning did not flash, there were no claps ofthunder, but the heavens blazed and bellowed above and around us, till stupor took the place of terror, and we stood utterlyconfounded. But we were speedily aroused, for suddenly, as iffrom beneath our feet, a gust arose which threatened to mix allthe elements in one. Torrents of water seemed to bruise theearth by their violence; eddies of thick dust rose up to meetthem; the fierce fires of heaven only blazed the brighter for thefalling flood; while the blast almost out-roared the thunder. But the wind was left at last the lord of all, for after strikingwith wild force, now here, now there, and bringing worlds ofclouds together in most hostile contact, it finished by clearingthe wide heavens of all but a few soft straggling masses, whencesprung a glorious rainbow, and then retired, leaving the earth toraise her half crushed forests; and we, poor pigmies, to callback our frighted senses, and recover breath as we might. 

During this gust, it would have been impossible for us to havekept our feet; we crouched down under the shelter of a heap ofstones, and, as we informed each other, looked most dismallypale. 

Many trees were brought to the earth before our eyes; some tornup by the roots, and some mighty stems snapt off several feetfrom the ground. If the West Indian hurricanes exceed this, theymust be terrible indeed. 

The situation of Mrs. S--'s house was considered as remarkablyhealthy, and I believe justly so, for on more than one occasion, persons who were suffering from fever and ague at the distance ofa mile or two, were perfectly restored by passing a week orfortnight at Stonington; but the neighbourhood of it, particularly on the side bordering the Potomac, was muchotherwise, and the mortality among the labourers on the canalwas frightful. 

I have elsewhere stated my doubts if the labouring poor of ourcountry mend their condition by emigrating to the United States, but it was not till the opportunity which a vicinity to theChesapeake and Ohio canal gave me, of knowing what theirsituation was after making the change, that I became fully awarehow little it was to be desired for them. 

Of the white labourers on this canal, the great majority areIrishmen; their wages are from ten to fifteen dollars a month, with a miserable lodging, and a large allowance of whiskey. Itis by means of this hateful poison that they are tempted, andindeed enabled for a time, to stand the broiling heat of the sunin a most noxious climate: for through such, close to theromantic but unwholesome Potomac, the line of the canal hashitherto run. The situation of these poor strangers, when theysink at last in "_the fever, _" which sooner or later is sure toovertake them, is dreadful. There is a strong feeling againstthe Irish in every part of the Union, but they will do twice asmuch work as a negro, and therefore they are employed. Whenthey fall sick, they may, and must, look with envy on the slavesaround them; for they are cared for; they are watched andphysicked, as a valuable horse is watched and physicked: not sothe Irishman, he is literally thrown on one side, and a newcomer takes his place. Details of their sufferings, and unheededdeath, too painful to dwell upon, often reached us; on oneoccasion a farmer calling at the house, told the family that apoor man, apparently in a dying condition, was lying beside alittle brook at the distance of a quarter of a mile. The spotwas immediately visited by some of the family, and there intruth lay a poor creature, who was already past the power ofspeaking; he was conveyed to the house and expired during thenight. By enquiring at the canal, it was found that he was anIrish labourer, who having fallen sick, and spent his last cent, had left the stifling shanty where he lay, in the desperateattempt of finding his way to Washington, with what hope I knownot. He did not appear above twenty, and as I looked on hispale young face, which even in death expressed suffering, Ithought that perhaps he had left a mother and a home to seekwealth in America. I saw him buried under a group of locusttrees, his very name unknown to those who laid him there, butthe attendance of the whole family at the grave, gave a sort ofdecency to his funeral which rarely, in that country, honors thepoor relics of British dust: but no clergyman attended, noprayer was said, no bell was tolled; these, indeed, areceremonies unthought of, and in fact unattainable without muchexpense, at such a distance from a town; had the poor youth beenan American, he would have been laid in the earth in the sameunceremonious manner. But had this poor Irish lad fallen sickin equal poverty and destitution among his own people, he wouldhave found a blanket to wrap his shivering limbs, and a kindredhand to close his eyes. 

The poor of great Britain, whom distress, or a spirit ofenterprise tempt to try another land, ought, for many reasons, to repair to Canada; there they would meet co-operation andsympathy, instead of malice, hatred, and all uncharitableness. 

I frequently heard vehement complaints, and constantly met thesame in the newspapers, of a practice stated to be very generallyadopted in Britain of sending out cargoes of parish paupers tothe United States. A Baltimore paper heads some such remarkswith the words

 "INFAMOUS CONDUCT!"

and then tells us of a cargo of aged paupers just arrived fromEngland, adding, "John Bull has squeezed the orange, and nowinsolently casts the skin in our faces. " Such being the feeling, it will be readily believed that these unfortunates are notlikely to meet much kindness or sympathy in sickness, or insuffering of any kind. If these American statements be correct, and that different parishes are induced, from an excessivepopulation, to pay the voyage and outfit of some of their paupersacross the Atlantic, why not send them to Canada?

It is certain, however, that all the enquiries I could makefailed to substantiate these American statements. All I couldascertain was, that many English and Irish poor arrived yearly inthe United States, with no other resources than what their labourfurnished. This, though very different from the newspaperstories, is quite enough to direct attention to the subject. Itis generally acknowledged that the suffering among our labouringclasses arises from the excess of our population; and it isimpossible to see such a country as Canada, its extent, itsfertility, its fine climate, and know that it is British ground, without feeling equal sorrow and astonishment that it is not madethe means of relief. How earnestly it is to be wished that somepart of that excellent feeling which is for ever at work inEngland to help the distressed, could be directed systematicallyto the object of emigration to the Canadas. Large sums areannually raised for charitable purposes, by weekly subscriptionsof one penny; were only a part of the money so obtained to bedevoted to this object, hundreds of families might yearly be sentto people our own land. The religious feeling, which sonaturally mixes with every charitable purpose, would there findthe best field for its exertions. Where could a missionary, whether Protestant or Catholic, find a holier mission than thatwhich sent him to comfort and instruct his countrymen in thewilderness? or where could he reap a higher reward in this world, than seeing that wilderness growing into fertile fields under thehands of his flock?

I never saw so many autumn flowers as grow in the woods andsheep-walks of Maryland; a second spring seemed to clothe thefields, but with grief and shame I confess, that of theseprecious blossoms I scarcely knew a single name. I think theMichaelmas daisy, in wonderful variety of form and colour, andthe prickly pear, were almost my only acquaintance: let no onevisit America without having first studied botany; it is anamusement, as a clever friend of mine once told me, that helpsone wonderfully up and down hill, and must be superlativelyvaluable in America, both from the plentiful lack of otheramusements, and the plentiful material for enjoyment in this;besides, if one is dying to know the name of any of these lovelystrangers, it is a thousand to one against his finding any onewho can tell it. 

The prettiest eclipse of the moon I ever saw was that ofSeptember, of this year, (1830). We had been passing some hoursamid the solemn scenery of the Potomac falls, and just as we werepreparing to quit it, the full moon arose above the black pines, with half our shadow thrown across her. The effect of her risingthus eclipsed was more strange, more striking by far, thanwatching the gradual obscuration; and as I turned to look at theblack chasm behind me, and saw the deadly alder, and thepoison-vine waving darkly on the rocks around, I thought thescene wanted nothing but the figure of a palsied crone, pluckingthe fatal branches to concoct some charm of mischief. 

Whether some such maga dogged my steps, I know not, but manyhours had not elapsed ere I again felt the noxious influence ofan American autumn. This fever, "built in th' eclipse, " speedilybrought me very low, and though it lasted not so long as that ofthe preceding year, I felt persuaded I should never recover fromit. Though my forebodings were not verified by the event, it wasdeclared that change of air was necessary, and it was arrangedfor me, (for I was perfectly incapable of settling any thing formyself, ) that I should go to Alexandria, a pretty town at thedistance of about fifteen miles, which had the reputation ofpossessing a skilful physician. 

It was not without regret that we quitted our friends atStonington; but the prescription proved in a great degreeefficacious; a few weeks' residence in Alexandria restored mystrength sufficiently to enable me to walk to a beautiful littlegrassy terrace, perfectly out of the town, but very near it, fromwhence we could watch the various craft that peopled the Potomacbetween Alexandria and Washington. But though graduallyregaining strength, I was still far from well; all plans forwinter gaiety were abandoned, and finding ourselves very wellaccommodated, we decided upon passing the winter where we were. It proved unusually severe; the Potomac was so completely frozenas to permit considerable traffic to be carried on by carts, crossing on the ice, from Maryland. This had not occurred beforefor thirty years. The distance was a mile and a quarter, and weventured to brave the cold, and walk across this bright andslippery mirror, to make a visit on the opposite shore; thefatigue of keeping our feet was by no means inconsiderable, butwe were rewarded by seeing as noble a winter landscape around usas the eye could look upon. 

When at length the frost gave way, the melting snow producedfreshes so violent as to carry away the long bridge atWashington; large fragments of it, with the railing still erect, came floating down amidst vast blocks of ice, during manysuccessive days, and it was curious to see the intrepidity withwhich the young sailors of Alexandria periled their lives tomake spoil of the timber. 

The solar eclipse of the 12th of February, 1831, was nearer totalthan any I ever saw, or ever shall see. It was completelyannular at Alexandria, and the bright ring which surrounded themoon's shadow, though only 81° in breadth, gave light sufficientto read the smallest print; the darkness was considerablylessened by the snow, which, as the day was perfectly unclouded, reflected brightly all the light that was left us. 

Notwithstanding the extreme cold, we passed the whole time in theopen air, on a rising ground near the river; in this positionmany beautiful effects were perceptible; the rapid approach andchange of shadows, the dusky hue of the broad Potomac, thatseemed to drink in the feeble light, which its snow-covered banksgave back to the air, the gradual change of every object from thecolouring of bright sunshine to one sad universal tint of dingypurple, the melancholy lowing of the cattle, and the short, butremarkable suspension of all labour, gave something of mysteryand awe to the scene that we shall long remember. 

During the following months I occupied myself partly in revisingmy notes, and arranging these pages; and partly in making myselfacquainted, as much as possible, with the literature of thecountry. 

While reading and transcribing my notes, I underwent a strictself-examination. I passed in review all I had seen, all I hadfelt, and scrupulously challenged every expression ofdisapprobation; the result was, that I omitted in transcriptionmuch that I had written, as containing unnecessary details ofthings which had displeased me; yet, as I did so, I felt stronglythat there was no exaggeration in them; but such details, thoughtrue, might be ill-natured, and I retained no more than werenecessary to convey the general impressions received. While thusreviewing my notes, I discovered that many points, which allscribbling travellers are expected to notice, had been omitted;but a few pages of miscellaneous observations will, I think, supply all that can be expected from so idle a pen. 

CHAPTER 28

American Cooking--Evening Parties--Dress--Sleighing--Money-getting Habits--Tax-Gatherer's Notice--IndianSummer--Anecdote of the Duke of Saxe-Weimar

In relating all I know of America, I surely must not omit soimportant a feature as the cooking. There are sundry anomaliesin the mode of serving even a first-rate table; but as these arealtogether matters of custom, they by no means indicate eitherindifference or neglect in this important business; and whethercastors are placed on the table or on the sideboard; whethersoup, fish, patties, and salad be eaten in orthodox order or not, signifies but little. I am hardly capable, I fear, of giving avery erudite critique on the subject; general observationstherefore must suffice. The ordinary mode of living is abundant, but not delicate. They consume an extraordinary quantity ofbacon. Ham and beaf-steaks appear morning, noon, and night. Ineating, they mix things together with the strangest incongruityimaginable. I have seen eggs and oysters eaten together: thesempiternal ham with apple-sauce; beefsteak with stewed peaches;and salt fish with onions. The bread is everywhere excellent, but they rarely enjoy it themselves, as they insist upon eatinghorrible half-baked hot rolls both morning and evening. Thebutter is tolerable; but they have seldom such cream as everylittle dairy produces in England; in fact, the cows are veryroughly kept, compared with our's. Common vegetables areabundant and very fine. I never saw sea-cale or cauliflowers, and either from the want of summer rain, or the want of care, theharvest of green vegetables is much sooner over than with us. They eat the Indian corn in a great variety of forms; sometimesit is dressed green, and eaten like peas; sometimes it is brokento pieces when dry, boiled plain, and brought to table like rice;this dish is called hominy. The flour of it is made into atleast a dozen different sorts of cakes; but in my opinion allbad. This flour, mixed in the proportion of one-third with finewheat, makes by far the best bread I ever tasted. 

I never saw turbot, salmon, or fresh cod; but the rock and shadare excellent. There is a great want of skill in the compositionof sauces; not only with fish, but with every thing. They usevery few made dishes, and I never saw any that would be approvedby our savants. They have an excellent wild duck, called theCanvass Back, which, if delicately served, would surpass theblack cock; but the game is very inferior to our's; they have nohares, and I never saw a pheasant. They seldom indulge in secondcourses, with all their ingenious temptations to the eating asecond dinner; but almost every table has its dessert, (invariably pronounced desart) which is placed on the tablebefore the cloth is removed, and consists of pastry, preservedfruits, and creams. They are "extravagantly fond, " to use theirown phrase, of puddings, pies, and all kinds of "sweets, "particularly the ladies; but are by no means such connoisseurs insoups and ragouts as the gastronomes of Europe. Almost every onedrinks water at table, and by a strange contradiction, in thecountry where hard drinking is more prevalent than in any other, there is less wine taken at dinner; ladies rarely exceed oneglass, and the great majority of females never take any. Infact, the hard drinking, so universally acknowledged, does nottake place at jovial dinners, but, to speak plain English, insolitary dram-drinking. Coffee is not served immediately afterdinner, but makes part of the serious matter of tea-drinking, which comes some hours later. Mixed dinner parties of ladies andgentlemen are very rare, and unless several foreigners arepresent, but little conversation passes at table. It certainlydoes not, in my opinion, add to the well ordering a dinner table, to set the gentlemen at one end of it, and the ladies at theother; but it is very rarely that you find it otherwise. 

Their large evening parties are supremely dull; the men sometimesplay cards by themselves, but if a lady plays, it must not be formoney; no ecarte, no chess; very little music, and that littlelamentably bad. Among the blacks, I heard some good voices, singing in tune; but I scarcely ever heard a white American, maleor female, go through an air without being out of tune before theend of it; nor did I ever meet any trace of science in thesinging I heard in society. To eat inconceivable quantities ofcake, ice, and pickled oysters--and to show half their revenue insilks and satins, seem to be the chief object they have in theseparties. 

The most agreeable meetings, I was assured by all the youngpeople, were those to which no married women are admitted; of thetruth of this statement I have not the least doubt. Theseexclusive meetings occur frequently, and often last to a latehour; on these occasions, I believe, they generally dance. Atregular balls, married ladies are admitted, but seldom take muchpart in the amusement. The refreshments are always profuse andcostly, but taken in a most uncomfortable manner. I have knownmany private balls, where every thing was on the most liberalscale of expense, where the gentlemen sat down to supper in oneroom, while the ladies took theirs, standing, in another. 

What we call picnics are very rare, and when attempted, do notoften succeed well. The two sexes can hardly mix for the greaterpart of a day without great restraint and ennui; it is quitecontrary to their general habits; the favourite indulgences ofthe gentlemen (smoking cigars and drinking spirits), can neitherbe indulged in with decency, nor resigned with complacency. 

The ladies have strange ways of adding to their charms. Theypowder themselves immoderately, face, neck, and arms, withpulverised starch; the effect is indescribably disagreeable bydaylight, and not very favourable at any time. They are alsomost unhappily partial to false hair, which they wear insurprising quantities; this is the more to be lamented, as theygenerally have very fine hair of their own. I suspect thisfashion to arise from an indolent mode of making their toilet, and from accomplished ladies' maids not being very abundant; itis less trouble to append a bunch of waving curls here, there, and every where, than to keep their native tresses in perfectorder. 

Though the expense of the ladies' dress greatly exceeds, inproportion to their general style of living, that of the ladiesof Europe, it is very far (excepting in Philadelphia) from beingin good taste. They do not consult the seasons in the colours orin the style of their costume; I have often shivered at seeing ayoung beauty picking her way through the snow with a palerose-coloured bonnet, set on the very top of her head: I knew oneyoung lady whose pretty little ear was actually frostbitten frombeing thus exposed. They never wear muffs or boots, and appearextremely shocked at the sight of comfortable walking shoes andcotton stockings, even when they have to step to their sleighsover ice and snow. They walk in the middle of winter with theirpoor little toes pinched into a miniature slipper, incapable ofexcluding as much moisture as might bedew a primrose. I must sayin their excuse, however, that they have, almost universally, extremely pretty feet. They do not walk well, nor, in fact, dothey ever appear to advantage when in movement. I know not whythis should be, for they have abundance of French dancing-mastersamong them, but somehow or other it is the fact. I fancied Icould often trace a mixture of affectation and of shyness intheir little mincing unsteady step, and the ever changingposition of the hands. They do not dance well; perhaps I shouldrather say they do not look well when dancing; lovely as theirfaces are, they cannot, in a position that exhibits the wholeperson, atone for the want of _tournure_, and for the universaldefect in the formation of the bust, which is rarely full, orgracefully formed. 

I never saw an American man walk or stand well; notwithstandingtheir frequent militia drillings, they are nearly all hollowchested and round shouldered: perhaps this is occasioned by noofficer daring to say to a brother free-born "hold up your head;"whatever the cause, the effect is very remarkable to a stranger. In stature, and in physiognomy, a great majority of thepopulation, both male and female, are strikingly handsome, butthey know not how to do their own honours; half as muchcomeliness elsewhere would produce ten times as much effect. 

Nothing can exceed their activity and perseverance in all kindsof speculation, handicraft, and enterprise, which promises aprofitable pecuniary result. I heard an Englishman, who had beenlong resident in America, declare that in following, in meeting, or in overtaking, in the street, on the road, or in the field, atthe theatre, the coffee-house, or at home, he had never overheardAmericans conversing without the word DOLLAR being pronouncedbetween them. Such unity of purpose, such sympathy of feeling, can, I believe, be found nowhere else, except, perhaps, in anants' nest. The result is exactly what might be anticipated. This sordid object, for ever before their eyes, must inevitablyproduce a sordid tone of mind, and, worse still, it produces aseared and blunted conscience on all questions of probity. Iknow not a more striking evidence of the low tone of moralitywhich is generated by this universal pursuit of money, than themanner in which the New England States are described byAmericans. All agree in saying that they present a spectacle ofindustry and prosperity delightful to behold, and this is thedistrict and the population most constantly quoted as the finestspecimen of their admirable country; yet I never met a singleindividual in any part of the Union who did not paint these NewEnglanders as sly, grinding, selfish, and tricking. The yankees(as the New Englanders are called) will avow these qualitiesthemselves with a complacent smile, and boast that no people onthe earth can match them at over reaching in a bargain. I haveheard them unblushingly relate stories of their cronies andfriends, which, if believed among us, would banish the heroesfrom the fellowship of honest men for ever; and all this isuttered with a simplicity which sometimes led me to doubt if thespeakers knew what honour and honesty meant. Yet the Americansdeclare that "they are the most moral people upon earth. " Againand again I have heard this asserted, not only in conversation, and by their writings, but even from the pulpit. Such broadassumption of superior virtue demands examination, and after fouryears of attentive and earnest observation and enquiry, my honestconviction is, that the standard of moral character in the UnitedStates is very greatly lower than in Europe. Of their religion, as it appears outwardly, I have had occasion to speak frequently;I pretend not to judge the heart, but, without any uncharitablepresumption, I must take permission to say, that both ProtestantEngland and Catholic France show an infinitely superior religiousand moral aspect to mortal observation, both as to reverenddecency of external observance, and as to the inward fruit ofhonest dealing between man and man. 

In other respects I think no one will be disappointed who visitsthe country, expecting to find no more than common sense mightteach him to look for, namely, a vast continent, by far thegreater part of which is still in the state in which nature leftit, and a busy, bustling, industrious population, hacking andhewing their way through it. What greatly increases the interestof this spectacle, is the wonderful facility for internalcommerce, furnished by the rivers, lakes, and canals, whichthread the country in every direction, producing a rapidity ofprogress in all commercial and agricultural speculationaltogether unequalled. This remarkable feature is perceptible inevery part of the union into which the fast spreading populationhas hitherto found its way, and forms, I think, the mostremarkable and interesting peculiarity of the country. I hardlyremember a single town where vessels of some description or othermay not constantly be seen in full activity. 

Their carriages of every kind are very unlike ours; thosebelonging to private individuals seem all constructed with a viewto summer use, for which they are extremely well calculated, butthey are by no means comfortable in winter. The waggons and carsare built with great strength, which is indeed necessary, fromthe roads they often have to encounter. The stagecoaches areheavier and much less comfortable than those of France; to thoseof England they can bear no comparison. I never saw any harnessthat I could call handsome, nor any equipage which, as to horses, carriage, harness, and servants, could be considered as complete. The sleighs are delightful, and constructed at so little expensethat I wonder we have not all got them in England, lying by, inwaiting for the snow, which often remains with us long enough topermit their use. Sleighing is much more generally enjoyed bynight than by day, for what reason I could never discover, unlessit be, that no gentlemen are to be found disengaged from businessin the mornings. Nothing, certainly, can be more agreeable thanthe gliding smoothly and rapidly along, deep sunk in soft furs, the moon shining with almost midday splendour, the air of crystalbrightness, and the snow sparkling on every side, as if it weresprinkled with diamonds. And then the noiseless movement of thehorses, so mysterious and unwonted, and the gentle tinkling ofthe bells you meet and carry, all help at once to soothe andexcite the spirits: in short, I had not the least objection tosleighing by night, I only wished to sleigh by day also. 

Almost every resident in the country has a carriage they call acarryall, which name I suspect to be a corruption of the carioleso often mentioned in the pretty Canadian story of Emily Montagu. It is clumsy enough, certainly, but extremely convenient, andadmirably calculated, with its thick roof and moveable draperies, for every kind of summer excursion. 

Their steam-boats, were the social arrangements somewhatimproved, would be delightful, as a mode of travelling; but theyare very seldom employed for excursions of mere amusement: nor doI remember seeing pleasure-boats, properly so called, at any ofthe numerous places where they might be used with so much safetyand enjoyment. 

How often did our homely adage recur to me, "All work and no playwould make Jack a dull boy;" Jonathan is a very dull boy. We areby no means so gay as our lively neighbours on the other side theChannel, but, compared with Americans, we are whirligigs andtetotums; every day is a holyday, and every night a festival. 

Perhaps if the ladies had quite their own way, a little morerelaxation would be permitted; but there is one remarkablepeculiarity in their manners which precludes the possibility ofany dangerous outbreaking of the kind: few ladies have anycommand of ready money entrusted to them. I have been a hundredtimes present when bills for a few dollars, perhaps for one, havebeen brought for payment to ladies living in perfectly easycircumstances, who have declared themselves without money, andreferred the claimant to their husbands for payment. On everyoccasion where immediate disbursement is required it is the same;even in shopping for ready cash they say, "send a bill home withthe things, and my husband will give you a draft. "

I think that it was during my stay at Washington, that I wasinformed of a government regulation, which appeared to mecurious; I therefore record it here. 

Every Deputy Post-Master is required to insert in his return thetitle of every newspaper received at his office for distribution. This return is laid before the Secretary of State, who, perfectly knowing the political character of each newspaper, isthus enabled to feel the pulse of every limb of the monster mob. This is a well imagined device for getting a peep at the politicsof a country where newspapers make part of the daily food, but isit quite consistent with their entire freedom? I do not believewe have any such tricks to regulate the disposal of offices andappointments. 

I believe it was in Indiana that Mr. T. Met with a printednotice relative to the payment of taxes, which I preserved as acurious sample of the manner in which the free citizens arecoaxed and reasoned into obeying the laws. 

 "LOOK OUT DELINQUENTS"

"Those indebted to me for taxes, fees, notes, and accounts, arespecially requested to call and pay the same on or before the 1stday of December, 1828, as no longer indulgence will be given. Ihave called time and again, by advertisement and otherwise, tolittle effect; but now the time has come when my situationrequires immediate payment from all indebted to me. It isimpossible for me to pay off the amount of the duplicates oftaxes and my other debts without recovering the same of thosefrom whom it is due. I am at a loss to know the reason why thosecharged with taxes neglect to pay; from the negligence of many itwould seem that they think the money is mine, or I have funds todischarge the taxes due to the State, and that I can wait withthem until it suits their convenience to pay. The money is notmine; neither have I the funds to settle amount of the duplicate. My only resort is to collect; in doing so I should be sorry tohave to resort to the authority given me by law for the recoveryof the same. It should be the first object of every good citizento pay his taxes, for it is in that way government is supported. Why are taxes assessed unless they are collected? Depend uponit, I shall proceed to collect agreeably to law, so governyourselves accordingly. 

 JOHN SPENCER, Sh'ff and Collector, D. C. Nov 20, 1828. "

"N. B. On Thursday, the 27th inst. A. St. Clair and Geo. H. Dunn, Esqrs. Depart for Indianopolis; I wish as many as can payto do so, to enable me to forward as much as possible, to savethe twenty-one per cent, that will be charged against me afterthe 8th of December next. 

 JS. "

The first autumn I passed in America, I was surprised to find agreat and very oppressive return of heat, accompanied with aheavy mistiness in the air, long after the summer heats wereover; when this state of the atmosphere comes on, they say, "wehave got to the Indian summer. " On desiring to have this phraseexplained, I was told that the phenomenon described as the_Indian Summer_ was occasioned by the Indians setting fire to thewoods, which spread heat and smoke to a great distance; but Iafterwards met with the following explanation, which appears tome much more reasonable. "The Indian summer is so calledbecause, at the particular period of the year in which itobtains, the Indians break up their village communities, and goto the interior to prepare for their winter hunting. Thisseason seems to mark a dividing line, between the heat of summer, and the cold of winter, and is, from its mildness, suited tothese migrations. The cause of this heat is the slow combustionof the leaves and other vegetable matter of the boundless andinterminable forests. Those who at this season of the year havepenetrated these forests, know all about it. To the feet theheat is quite sensible, whilst the ascending vapour warms everything it embraces, and spreading out into the wide atmosphere, fills the circuit of the heavens with its peculiar heat andsmokiness. "

This unnatural heat sufficiently accounts for the sickliness ofthe American autumn. The effect of it is extremely distressingto the nerves, even when the general health continues good; tome, it was infinitely more disagreeable than the glowing heat ofthe dog-days. 

A short time before we arrived in America, the Duke ofSaxe-Weimar made a tour of the United States. I heard manypersons speak of his unaffected and amiable manners, yet he couldnot escape the dislike which every trace of gentlemanly feelingis sure to create among the ordinary class of Americans. As anamusing instance of this, I made the following extract from anewspaper. 

"A correspondent of the Charlestown Gazette tells an anecdoteconnected with the Duke of Saxe-Weimar's recent journey throughour country, which we do not recollect to have heard before, although some such story is told of the veritable Capt. BasilHall. The scene occurred on the route between Augusta andMilledgeville; it seems that the sagacious Duke engaged three orfour, or more seats, in the regular stage, for the accommodationof himself and suite, and thought by this that he had secured themonopoly of the vehicle. Not so, however; a traveller camealong, and entered his name upon the book, and secured his seatby payment of the customary charges. To the Duke's greatsurprise on entering the stage, he found our travellercomfortably housed in one of the most eligible seats, wrapt up inhis fear-nought, and snoring like a buffalo. The Duke, greatlyirritated, called for the question of consideration. Hedemanded, in broken English, the cause of the gross intrusion, and insisted in a very princely manner, though not, it seems invery princely language, upon the incumbent vacating the seat inwhich he had made himself so impudently at home. But the Dukehad yet to learn his first lesson of republicanism. The driverwas one of those sturdy southrons, who can always, and at amoment's warning, whip his weight in wild cats: and he asresolutely told the Duke, that the traveller was as good, if nota better man, than himself; and that no alteration of theexisting arrangement could be permitted. Saxe-Weimar becameviolent at this opposition, so unlike any to which his educationhitherto had ever subjected him, and threatened John with theapplication of the bamboo. This was one of those threats whichin Georgia dialect would subject a man to "a rowing up saltriver;" and, accordingly, down leaped our driver from his box, and peeling himself for the combat, he leaped about the vehiclein the most wild-boar style, calling upon the prince of a fiveacre patch to put his threat in execution. But he of the starrefused to make up issue in the way suggested, contenting himselfwith assuring the enraged southron of a complaint to hisexcellency the Governor, on arriving at the seat of government. This threat was almost as unlucky as the former, for it wroughtthe individual for whom it was intended into that species offury, which, through discriminating in its madness, isnevertheless without much limit in its violence, and he sworethat the Governor might go to --, and for his part he would justas leave lick the Governor as the Duke; he'd like no better funthan to give both Duke and Governor a dressing in the samebreath; could do it, he had little doubt, &c. &c. ; andinstigating one fist to diverge into the face of the marvellingand panic-stricken nobleman, with the other he thrust him downinto a seat alongside the traveller, whose presence had beenoriginally of such sore discomfort to his excellency, and biddingthe attendants jump in with their discomfited master, he mountedhis box in triumph, and went on his journey. " I fully believethat this brutal history would be as distasteful to the travelledand polished few who are to be found scattered through the Union, as it is to me: but if they do not deem the _possibility_ of sucha scene to be a national degradation, I differ from them. TheAmerican people (speaking of the great mass) have no more idea ofwhat constitutes the difference between this "Prince of a fiveacre patch, " and themselves, than a dray-horse has of estimatingthe points of the elegant victor of the race-course. Could thedray-horse speak, when expected to yield the daintiest stall tohis graceful rival, he would say, "a horse is a horse;" and is itnot with the same logic that the transatlantic Houynnhnm putsdown all superiority with "a man is a man?"

This story justifies the reply of Talleyrand, when asked byNapoleon what he thought of the Americans, "Sire, ce sont desfiers cochons, et des cochons fiers. "

CHAPTER 29

Literature--Extracts--Fine Arts--Education

The character of the American literature is, generally speaking, pretty justly appreciated in Europe. The immense exhalation ofperiodical trash, which penetrates into every cot and corner ofthe country, and which is greedily sucked in by all ranks, isunquestionably one great cause of its inferiority. Wherenewspapers are the principal vehicles of the wit and wisdom of apeople, the higher graces of composition can hardly be lookedfor. 

That there are many among them who can write well, is mostcertain; but it is at least equally so, that they have littleencouragement to exercise the power in any manner more dignifiedthan becoming the editor of a newspaper or a magazine. As far asI could judge, their best writers are far from being the mostpopular. The general taste is decidedly bad; this is obvious, not only from the mass of slip-slop poured forth by the daily andweekly press, but from the inflated tone of eulogy in which theirinsect authors are lauded. 

To an American writer, I should think it must be a flatteringdistinction to escape the admiration of the newspapers. Fewpersons of taste, I imagine, would like such notice as thefollowing, which I copied from a New York paper, where itfollowed the advertisement of a partnership volume of poems by aMr, and Mrs. Brooks; but of such, are their literary noticeschiefly composed. 

"The lovers of impassioned and classical numbers may promisethemselves much gratification from the muse of Brooks, while themany-stringed harp of his lady, the Norna of the Courier Harp, which none but she can touch, has a chord for every heart. "

Another obvious cause of inferiority in the national literature, is the very slight acquaintance with the best models ofcomposition, which is thought necessary for persons called welleducated. There may be reason for deprecating the lavish expenseof time bestowed in England on the acquirement of Latin andGreek, and it may be doubtful whether the power of composing inthese languages with correctness and facility, be worth all thelabour it costs; but as long as letters shall be left on theearth, the utility of a perfect familiarity with the exquisitemodels of antiquity, cannot be doubted. I think I run no risk ofcontradiction, when I say that an extremely small proportion ofthe higher classes in America possess this familiar acquaintancewith the classics. It is vain to suppose that translations maysuffice. Noble as are the thoughts the ancients have left us, their power of expression is infinitely more important as a studyto modern writers; and this no translation can furnish. Nor didit appear to me that their intimacy with modern literature wassuch as to assist them much in the formation of style. What theyclass as modern literature seems to include little beyond theEnglish publications of the day. 

To speak of Chaucer, or even Spenser, as a modern, appears tothem inexpressibly ridiculous; and all the rich and variedeloquence of Italy, from Dante to Monti, is about as much knownto them, as the Welsh effusions of Urien and Modred, to us. 

Rousseau, Voltaire, Diderot, &c. , were read by the oldfederalists, but now they seem known more as naughty words, thanas great names. I am much mistaken if a hundred untravelledAmericans could be found, who have read Boileau or Le Fontaine. Still fewer are acquainted with that delightful host of Frenchfemale writers, whose memoirs and letters sparkle in every pagewith unequalled felicity of style. The literature of Spain andPortugal is no better known, and as for "the wits of Queen Anne'sday, " they are laid _en masse_ upon a shelf, in some score ofvery old-fashioned houses, together with Sherlock and Taylor, asmuch too antiquated to suit the immensely rapid progress of mindwhich distinguishes America. 

The most perfect examples of English writing, either of our own, or of any former day, have assuredly not been produced by theimitation of any particular style; but the Fairy Queen wouldhardly have been written, if the Orlando had not; nor wouldMilton have been the perfect poet he was, had Virgil and Tassobeen unknown to him. It is not that the scholar mimics inwriting the phrases he has read, but that he can neither think, feel, nor express himself as he might have done, had his mentalcompanionship been of a lower order. 

They are great novel readers, but the market is chiefly furnishedby England. They have, however, a few very good native novels. Mr. Flint's Francis Berrian is delightful. There is a vigor andfreshness in his writing that is exactly in accordance with whatone looks for, in the literature of a new country; and yet, strange to say, it is exactly what is most wanting in that ofAmerica. It appeared to me that the style of their imaginativecompositions was almost always affected, and inflated. Even intreating their great national subject of romance, the Indians, they are seldom either powerful or original. A few well knowngeneral features, moral and physical, are presented over and overagain in all their Indian stories, till in reading them you loseall sense of individual character. Mr. Flint's History of theMississippi Valley is a work of great interest, and information, and will, I hope, in time find its way to England, where I thinkit is much more likely to be appreciated than in America. 

Dr. Channing is a writer too well known in England to require mytestimony to his great ability. As a preacher he has, perhaps, hardly a rival any where. This gentleman is an Unitarian, and Iwas informed by several persons well acquainted with the literarycharacter of the country, that nearly all their distinguished menwere of this persuasion. 

Mr. Pierpoint is a very eloquent preacher, and a sweet poet. Hisworks are not so well known among us as . They ought to be. Mr. Everett has written some beautiful lines, and if I may judge fromthe specimens of his speeches, as preserved in the volumesintitled "Eloquence of the United States, " I should say that heshone more as a poet than an orator. But American fame hasdecided otherwise. 

Mr. M. Flint, of Louisiana, has published a volume of poems whichought to be naturalised here. Mr. Hallock, of New York, has muchfacility of versification, and is greatly in fashion as adrawing-room poet, but I think he has somewhat too much respectfor himself, and too little for his readers. 

It is, I think, Mr. Bryant who ranks highest as the poet of theUnion. This is too lofty an eminence for me to attack; besides, "I am of another parish, " and therefore, perhaps, no very fairjudge. 

From miscellaneous poetry I made a great many extracts, but uponreturning to them for transcription I thought that ill-nature anddulness, ('oh ill-matched pair!') would be more served by theirinsertion, than wholesome criticism. 

The massive Fredoniad of Dr. Emmons, in forty cantos, I neverread; but as I did not meet a single native who had, I hope thiswant of poetical enterprise will be excused. 

They have very few native tragedies; not more than half a dozen Ibelieve, and those of very recent date. It would be ungenerousto fall heavily upon these; the attempt alone, nearly the mostarduous a poet can make, is of itself honourable: and the successat least equal to that in any other department of literature. 

Mr. Paulding is a popular writer of novels; some of hisproductions have been recently republished in England. MissSedgwick is also well known among us; her "Hope Leslie" is abeautiful story. Mr. Washington Irving and Mr. Cooper have sodecidedly chosen another field, whereon to reap their laurels, that it is hardly necessary to name them here. 

I am not, of course, competent to form any opinion of theirscientific works; but some papers which I read almostaccidentally, appeared to me to be written with great clearness, and neatness of definition. 

It appears extraordinary that a people who loudly declare theirrespect for science, should be entirely without observatories. Neither at their seats of learning, nor in their cities, does anything of the kind exist; nor did I in any direction hear ofindividuals, given to the study of astronomy. 

I had not the pleasure of making any acquaintance with Mr. Bowditch, of Boston, but I know that this gentleman ranks veryhigh as a mathematician in the estimation of the scientific worldof Europe. 

Jefferson's posthumous works were very generally circulatedwhilst I was in America. They are a mighty mass of mischief. Hewrote with more perspicuity than he thought, and his hot-headeddemocracy has done a fearful injury to his country. Hollow andunsound as his doctrines are, they are but too palatable to apeople, each individual of whom would rather derive hisimportance from believing that none are above him, than from theconsciousness that in his station he makes part of a noble whole. The social system of Mr. Jefferson, if carried into effect, would make of mankind an unamalgamated mass of grating atoms, where the darling "I'm as good as you, " would soon take place ofthe law and the Gospel. As it is, his principles, though happilynot fully put in action, have yet produced most lamentableresults. The assumption of equality, however empty, issufficient to tincture the manners of the poor with brutalinsolence, and subjects the rich to the paltry expediency ofsanctioning the falsehood, however deep their conviction that itis such. It cannot, I think, be denied that the great men ofAmerica attain to power and to fame, by eternally uttering whatthey know to be untrue. American citizens are not equal. DidWashington feel them to be so, when his word outweighed (sohappily for them) the votes of thousands? Did Franklin thinkthat all were equal when he shouldered his way from the printingpress to the cabinet? True, he looked back in high good humour, and with his kindest smile told the poor devils whom he leftbehind, that they were all his equals; but Franklin did not speakthe truth, and he knew it. The great, the immortal Jeffersonhimself, he who when past the three score years and ten, stilltaught young females to obey his nod, and so became the father ofunnumbered generations of groaning slaves, what was his matin andhis vesper hymn? "All men are born free and equal. " Did thevenerable father of the gang believe it? Or did he too purchasehis immortality by a lie?

From the five heavy volumes of the "Eloquence of the UnitedStates, " I made a few extracts, which I give more for the sake oftheir political interest, than for any purpose of literarycriticism. 

Mr. Hancock (one of those venerated men who signed the act ofindependence), in speaking of England, thus expresses himself:"But if I was possessed of the gift of prophecy, I dare not(except by Divine command) unfold the leaves on which the destinyof that once powerful kingdom is inscribed. " It is impossiblenot to regret that Mr. Hancock should thus have let "I dare not, wait upon I would. " It would have been exceedingly edifying tohave known beforehand all the terrible things the republic wasabout to do for us. 

This prophetic orator spoke the modest, yet awful words, abovequoted, nearly sixty years ago; in these latter days men arebecome bolder, for in a modern 4th of July oration, Mr. Rush, without waiting, I think, for Divine command, gives the followingamiable portrait of the British character. 

"In looking at Britain, we see a harshness of individual characterin the general view of it, which is perceived and acknowledged byall Europe; a spirit of unbecoming censure as regards all customsand institutions not their own; a ferocity in some of theircharacteristics of national manners, pervading their verypastimes, which no other modern people are endued with theblunted sensibility to bear; an universal self-assumedsuperiority, not innocently manifesting itself in speculativesentiments among themselves, but unamiably indulged when withforeigners, of whatever description, in their own country, orwhen they themselves are the temporary sojourners in a foreigncountry; a code of criminal law that forgets to feel for humanfrailty, that sports with human misfortune, that has shed moreblood in deliberate judicial severity for two centuries past, constantly increasing, too, in its sanguinary hue, than has everbeen sanctioned by the jurisprudence of any ancient or modernnation, civilized and refined like herself; the mercilesswhippings in her army, peculiar to herself alone, the conspicuouscommission and freest acknowledgment of vice in the upperclasses; the overweening distinctions shown to opulence andbirth, so destructive of a sound moral sentiment in the nation, so baffling to virtue. These are some of the traits that rise upto a contemplation of the inhabitants of this isle. "

Where is the alchymy that can extract from Captain Hall's workone thousandth part of the ill-will contained in this onepassage? Yet America has resounded from shore to shore withexecrations against his barbarous calumnies. 

But now we will listen to another tone. Let us see how Americanscan praise. Mr. Everett, in a recent 4th of July oration, speaksthus:--

"We are authorised to assert, that the era of our independencedates the establishment of the only perfect organization ofgovernment. " Again, "Our government is in its theory perfect, and in its operation it is perfect also. Thus we have solvedthe great problem in human affairs. " And again, "A frame ofgovernment perfect in its principles has been brought down fromthe airy regions of Utopia, and has found a local habitation anda name in our country. "

Among my miscellaneous reading, I got hold of an Americanpublication giving a detailed, and, indeed, an official accountof the capture of Washington by the British, in 1814. An eventso long past, and of so little ultimate importance, is, perhaps, hardly worth alluding to; but there are some passages in theofficial documents which I thought very amusing. 

At the very moment of receiving the attack of the British on theheights of Bladensburgh, there seems to have been a most curiouspuzzle among the American generals, as to where they were to bestationed, and what they were to do. It is stated that theBritish threw themselves forward in open order, advancing singly. The American general (Winden) goes on in his narrative todescribe what followed, thus:

"Our advanced riflemen now began to fire, and continued it forhalf a dozen rounds, when I observed them to run back to anorchard. They halted there, and seemed for a moment aboutreturning to their original position, but in a few momentsentirely broke and retired to the left of Stansburg's line. Theadvanced artillery immediately followed the riflemen. 

"The first three or four rockets fired by the enemy were muchabove the heads of Stansburg's line; but the rockets having takena more horizontal direction, an universal flight of the centreand left of this brigade was the consequence. The 5th regimentand the artillery still remained, and I hoped would prevent theenemy's approach, but they advancing singly, their fire annoyedthe 5th considerably, when I ordered it to retire, to put it outof the reach of the enemy. This order was, however, immediatelycountermanded, from an aversion to retire before the necessitybecame stronger, and from a hope that the enemy would issue in abody, and enable us to act upon him on terms of equality. Butthe enemy's fire beginning to annoy the 5th still more, bywounding several of them, and a strong column passing up theroad, and deploying on its left, I ordered them to retire; theirretreat became a flight of absolute and total disorder. "

Of Beall's regiment, the general gives the following succinctaccount--"It gave one or two ineffectual fires and fled. "

In another place he says, piteously, --"The cavalry would do anything but charge. "

General Armstrong's gentle and metaphysical account of thebusiness was, that--"Without all doubt the determining cause ofour disasters is to be found in the love of life. "

This affair at Washington, which in its result was certainlyadvantageous to America, inasmuch as it caused the presentbeautiful capitol to be built in the place of the one we burnt, was, nevertheless, considered as a national calamity at the time. In a volume of miscellaneous poems I met with one, written withthe patriotic purpose of cheering the country under it; onetriplet struck me as rather alarming for us, however soothing toAmerica. 

 "Supposing George's house at Kew Were burnt, as we intend to do, Would that be burning England too?"

I think I have before mentioned that no work of mere pleasantryhas hitherto been found to answer; but a recent attempt of thekind as been made, with what success cannot as yet be decided. The editors are comedians belonging to the Boston company, and itis entitled "The American Comic Annual. " It is accompanied byetchings, somewhat in the manner, but by no means with the spiritof Cruikshank's. Among the pleasantries of this lively volumeare some biting attacks upon us, particularly upon our utterincapacity of speaking English. We really must engage a fewAmerican professors, or we shall lose all trace of classic purityin our language. As a specimen, and rather a favourable one, ofthe work, I transcribed an extract from a little piece, entitled, "Sayings and Doings, a Fragment of a Farce. " One of thepersonages of this farce is an English gentleman, a CaptainMandaville, and among many speeches of the same kind, I selectedthe following. Collins's Ode is the subject of conversation. 

"A--r, A--a--a it stroiks me that that you manetion his the hodeabout hangger and ope and orror and revenge you know. I've eardMrs. Sitdowns hencored in it at Common Garden and Doory Lane inthe ight of her poplarity you know. By the boye, hall the hactinin Amareka is werry orrid. You're honely in the hinfancy of theistoryonic hart you know; your performers never haspirate thehaitch in sich vords for instance as hink and hoats, and leaveout the _w_ in wice wanity you know; and make nothink of homittinthe _k_ in somethink. "

There is much more in the same style, but, perhaps, this maysuffice. I have given this passage chiefly because it affords anexample of the manner in which the generality of Americans areaccustomed to speak of English pronunciation and phraseology. 

It must be remembered, however, here and every where, that thisphrase, "the Americans, " does not include the instructed andtravelled portion of the community. 

It would be absurd to swell my little volumes with extracts inproof of the veracity of their contents, but having spoken of thetaste of their lighter works, and also of the general tone ofmanners, I cannot forbear inserting a page from an Americanannual (The Token), which purports to give a scene fromfashionable life. It is part of a dialogue between a young ladyof the "highest standing" and her "tutor, " who is moreover herlover, though not yet acknowledged. 

"And so you wo'nt tell me, " said she, "what has come over you, and why you look as grave and sensible as a Dictionary, when, bygeneral consent, even mine, 'motley's the only wear?'"

'"Am I so grave, Miss Blair?"

'"Are you so grave, Miss Blair? One would think I had not gotmy lesson today. Pray, sir, has the black ox trod upon your toesince we parted?"

'Philip tried to laugh, but he did not succeed; he bit his lipand was silent. 

'"I am under orders to entertain you, Mr. Blondel, and if my poorbrain can be made to gird this fairy isle, I shall certainly beobedient. So I begin with playing the leech. What ails you, sir?"

'"Miss Blair!" he was going to remonstrate. 

'"Miss Blair! Now, pity. I'm a quack! for whip me, if I knowwhether Miss Blair is a fever or an ague. How did you catch it, sir?"

'"Really, Miss Blair--"

'"Nay, I see you don't like doctoring; I give over, and now I'llbe sensible. It's a fine day, Mr. Blondel. "

'"Very. "

'"A pleasant lane, this, to walk in, if one's company wereagreeable. "

'"Does Mr. Skefton stay long?" asked Philip, abruptly. 

'"No one knows, "

'"Indeed! are you so ignorant?"

'"And why does your wisdom ask that question?"'

In no society in the world can the advantage of travel be soconspicuous as in America, in other countries a tone ofunpretending simplicity can more than compensate for the absenceof enlarged views or accurate observation; but this tone is notto be found in America, or if it be, it is only among those who, having looked at that insignificant portion of the world notincluded in the Union, have learnt to know how much is stillunknown within the mighty part which is. For the rest, they alldeclare, and do in truth believe, that they only, among the sonsof men, have wit and wisdom, and that one of their exclusiveprivileges is that of speaking English _elegantly_. There aretwo reasons for this latter persuasion; the one is, that thegreat majority have never heard any English but their own, exceptfrom the very lowest of the Irish; and the other, that those whohave chanced to find themselves in the society of the feweducated English who have visited America, have discovered thatthere is a marked difference between their phrases and accentsand those to which they have been accustomed, whereupon theyhave, of course, decided that no Englishman can speak English. 

The reviews of America contain some good clear-headed articles;but I sought in vain for the playful vivacity and thekeenly-cutting satire, whose sharp edge, however painful to thepatient, is of such high utility in lopping off the excrescencesof bad taste, and levelling to its native clay the heavy growthof dulness. Still less could I find any trace of that gracefulfamiliarity of learned allusion and general knowledge which markthe best European reviews, and which make one feel in suchperfectly good company while perusing them. But this is a tonenot to be found either in the writings or conversation ofAmericans; as distant from pedantry as from ignorance, it is notlearning itself, but the effect of it; and so pervading andsubtle is its influence that it may be traced in the festivehalls and gay drawing-rooms of Europe as certainly as in thecloistered library or student's closet; it is, perhaps, the lastfinish of highly-finished society. 

A late American Quarterly has an article on a work of Dr. VonSchmidt Phiseldek, from which I made an extract, as a curioussample of the dreams they love to batten on. 

Dr. Von Phiseldek (not Fiddlestick), who is not only a doctor ofphilosophy, but a knight of Dannebrog to boot, has never been inAmerica, but he has written a prophecy, showing that the UnitedStates must and will govern the whole world, because they are sovery big, and have so much uncultivated territory; he prophesiesthat an union will take place between North and South America, which will give a death-blow to Europe, at no distant period;though he modestly adds that he does not pretend to designate theprecise period at which this will take place. This Danishprophecy, as may be imagined, enchants the reviewer. He exhortsall people to read Dr. Phiseldek's book, because "nothing butgood can come of such contemplations of the future, and becauseit is eminently calculated to awaken the most lofty anticipationsof the destiny which awaits them, and will serve to impress uponthe nation the necessity of being prepared for such highdestiny. " In another place the reviewer bursts out, "America, young as she is, has become already the beacon, the patriarch ofthe struggling nations of the world;" and afterwards adds, Itwould be departing from the natural order of things, and theordinary operations of the great scheme of Providence, it wouldbe shutting our ears to the voice of experience, and our eyes tothe inevitable connexion of causes and their effects, were we toreject the extreme probability, not to say _moral certainty_, that the old world is destined to receive its influences infuture from the new. " There are twenty pages of this article, but I will only give one passage more; it is an instance of thesort of reasoning by which American citizens persuade themselvesthat the glory of Europe is, in reality, her reproach. "Wrappedup in a sense of his superiority, the European reclines at home, shining in his borrowed plumes, derived from the product of everycorner of the earth, and the industry of every portion of itsinhabitants, with which his own natural resources would neverhave invested him, he continues revelling in enjoyments whichnature has denied him. "

The American Quarterly deservedly holds the highest place intheir periodical literature, and, therefore, may be fairly quotedas striking the keynote for the chorus of public opinion. Surelyit is nationality rather than patriotism which leads it thus tospeak in scorn of the successful efforts of enlightened nationsto win from every corner of the earth the riches which nature hasscattered over it. 

The incorrectness of the press is very great; they make strangework in the reprints of French and Italian; and the Latin, Isuspect, does not fare much better: I believe they do not oftenmeddle with Greek. 

With regard to the fine arts, their paintings, I think, are quiteas good, or rather better, than might be expected from thepatronage they receive; the wonder is that any man can be foundwith courage enough to devote himself to a profession in which hehas so little chance of finding a maintenance. The trade of acarpenter opens an infinitely better prospect; and this is sowell known, that nothing but a genuine passion for the art couldbeguile any one to pursue it. The entire absence of every meansof improvement, and effectual study, is unquestionably the causewhy those who manifest this devotion cannot advance farther. Iheard of one young artist, whose circumstances did not permit hisgoing to Europe, but who being nevertheless determined that hisstudies should, as nearly as possible, resemble those of theEuropean academies, was about to commence drawing the humanfigure, for which purpose he had provided himself with a thinsilk dress, in which to clothe his models, as no one of anystation, he said, could be found who would submit to sit as amodel without clothing. 

It was at Alexandria that I saw what I consider as the bestpicture by an American artist that I met with. The subject wasHagar and Ishmael. It had recently arrived from Rome, where thepainter, a young man of the name of Chapman, had been studyingfor three years. His mother told me that he was twenty-two yearsof age, and passionately devoted to the art; should he, onreturning to his country, receive sufficient encouragement tokeep his ardour and his industry alive, I think I shall hear ofhim again. 

Much is said about the universal diffusion of education inAmerica, and a vast deal of genuine admiration is felt andexpressed at the progress of mind throughout the Union. Theybelieve themselves in all sincerity to have surpassed, to besurpassing, and to be about to surpass, the whole earth in theintellectual race. I am aware that not a single word can besaid, hinting a different opinion, which will not bring down atransatlantic anathema on my head; yet the subject is toointeresting to be omitted. Before I left England I rememberlistening, with much admiration, to an eloquent friend, whodeprecated our system of public education, as confining thevarious and excursive faculties of our children to one beatenpath, paying little or no attention to the peculiar powers ofthe individual. 

This objection is extremely plausible, but doubts of itsintrinsic value must, I think, occur to every one who has markedthe result of a different system throughout the United States. 

From every enquiry I could make, and I took much pains to obtainaccurate information, it appeared that much is attempted, butvery little beyond reading, writing, and bookkeeping, isthoroughly acquired. Were we to read a prospectus of the systempursued in any of our public schools and that of a first-rateseminary in America, we should be struck by the confinedscholastic routine of the former, when compared to the varied andexpansive scope of the latter; but let the examination go alittle farther, and I believe it will be found that the oldfashioned school discipline of England has produced somethinghigher, and deeper too, than that which roars so loud, andthunders in the index. 

They will not afford to let their young men study till two orthree and twenty, and it is therefore declared, _ex cathedraAmericana_, to be unnecessary. At sixteen, often much earlier, education ends, and money-making begins; the idea that morelearning is necessary than can be acquired by that time, isgenerally ridiculed as obsolete monkish bigotry; added to which, if the seniors willed a more prolonged discipline, the juniorswould refuse submission. When the money-getting begins, leisureceases, and all of lore which can be acquired afterwards, ispicked up from novels, magazines, and newspapers. 

At what time can the taste be formed? How can a correct andpolished style, even of speaking, be acquired? or when can thefruit of the two thousand years of past thinking be added to thenative growth of American intellect? These are the tools, if Imay so express myself, which our elaborate system of schooldiscipline puts into the hands of our scholars; possessed ofthese, they may use them in whatever direction they pleaseafterwards, they can never be an incumbrance. 

No people appear more anxious to excite admiration and receiveapplause than the Americans, yet none take so little trouble, or make so few sacrifices to obtain it. This may answer amongthemselves, but it will not with the rest of the world;individual sacrifices must be made, and national economyenlarged, before America can compete with the old world intaste, learning, and liberality. 

The reception of General Lafayette is the one single instancein which the national pride has overcome the national thrift;and this was clearly referrible to the one single feeling ofenthusiasm of which they appear capable, namely, the triumphof their successful struggle for national independence. Butthough this feeling will be universally acknowledged as a worthyand lawful source of triumph and of pride, it will not serve totrade upon for ever, as a fund of glory and high station amongthe nations. Their fathers were colonists; they fought stoutly, and became an independent people. Success and admiration, eventhe admiration of those whose yoke they had broken, cheeredthem while living, still sheds a glory round their remote anduntitled sepulchres, and will illumine the page of their historyfor ever. 

Their children inherit the independence; they inherit too thehonour of being the sons of brave fathers; but this will not givethem the reputation at which they aim, of being scholars andgentlemen, nor will it enable them to sit down for evermore totalk of their glory, while they drink mint julap and chewtobacco, swearing by the beard of Jupiter (or some other oath)that they are very graceful, and agreeable, and, moreover abusingevery body who does not cry out Amen!

To doubt that talent and mental power of every kind exist inAmerica would be absurd; why should it not? But in taste andlearning they are woefully deficient; and it is this whichrenders them incapable of graduating a scale by which to measurethemselves. Hence arises that over weening complacency andself-esteem, both national and individual, which at once rendersthem so extremely obnoxious to ridicule, and so peculiarlyrestive under it. 

If they will scorn the process by which other nations have becomewhat they avowedly intend to be, they must rest satisfied withthe praise and admiration they receive from each other; andturning a deaf ear to the criticism of the old world, consent tobe their own prodigious great reward. "

Alexandria has its churches, chapels, and conventicles asabundantly, in proportion to its size, as any city in the Union. I visited most of them, and in the Episcopal and Catholic heardthe services performed quietly and reverently. 

The best sermon, however, that I listened to, was in a Methodistchurch, from the mouth of a Piquot Indian. It was impossible notbe touched by the simple sincerity of this poor man. He gave apicture frightfully eloquent of the decay of his people under theunited influence of the avarice and intemperance of the whitemen. He described the effect of the religious feeling which hadrecently found its way among them as most salutary. The purityof his moral feeling, and the sincerity of his sympathy with hisforest brethren, made it unquestionable that he must be the mostvaluable priest who could officiate for them. His English wasvery correct, and his pronunciation but slightly tinctured bynative accent. 

While we were still in the neighbourhood of Washington, a mostviolent and unprecedented schism occurred in the cabinet. Thefour secretaries of State all resigned, leaving General Jacksonto manage the queer little state barge alone. 

Innumerable contradictory statements appeared upon this occasionin the papers, and many a cigar was thrown aside, ere halfconsumed, that the disinterested politician might give breath tohis cogitations on this extraordinary event; but not all theeloquence of all the smokers, nor even the ultradiplomaticexpositions which appeared from the seceding secretariesthemselves, could throw any light on the mysterious business. It produced, however, the only tolerable caricature I ever sawin the country. It represents the President seated alone in hiscabinet, wearing a look of much discomfiture, and making greatexertions to detain one of four rats, who are running off, byplacing his foot on the tail. The rats' heads bear a verysufficient resemblance to the four ex-ministers. GeneralJackson, it seems, had requested Mr. Van Buren, the Secretary ofState, to remain in office till his place was supplied; this gaveoccasion to a _bon mot_ from his son, who, being asked when hisfather would be in New York, replied, "When the President takesoff his foot. "

CHAPTER 30

Journey to New York--Delaware River--Stagecoach--City of New York--Collegiate Institute for Young Ladies--Theatres--Public Garden--Churches--Morris Canal--Fashions--Carriages

At length, in spite of the lingering pace necessarily attendingconsultations, and arrangements across the Atlantic, our planswere finally settled; the coming spring was to show us New York, and Niagara, and the early summer was to convey us home. 

No sooner did the letter arrive which decided this, than we beganour preparations for departure. We took our last voyage on thePotomac, we bade a last farewell to Virginia, and gave a last dayto some of our kind friends near Washington. 

The spring, though slow and backward, was sufficiently advancedto render the journey pleasant; and though the road fromWashington to Baltimore was less brilliant in foliage than whenI had seen it before, it still had much of beauty. The azaliaswere in full bloom, and the delicate yellow blossom of thesassafras almost rivalled its fruit in beauty. 

At Baltimore we again embarked on a gigantic steam-boat, andreached Philadelphia in the middle of the night. Here we changedour boat and found time, before starting in the morning, to takea last look at the Doric and Corinthian porticos of the twocelebrated temples dedicated to Mammon. 

The Delaware river, above Philadelphia, still flows through alandscape too level for beauty, but it is rendered interesting bya succession of gentlemen's seats, which, if less elaboratelyfinished in architecture, and garden grounds, than the lovelyvillas on the Thames, are still beautiful objects to gaze upon asyou float rapidly past on the broad silvery stream that washestheir lawns They present a picture of wealth and enjoyment thataccords well with the noble city to which they are an appendage. One mansion arrested our attention, not only from its being morethan usually large and splendid, but from its having the monumentwhich marked the family resting-place, rearing itself in all thegloomy grandeur of black and white marble, exactly opposite thedoor of entrance. 

In Virginia and Maryland we had remarked that almost every familymansion had its little grave yard, sheltered by locust andcypress trees; but this decorated dwelling of the dead seemedrather a melancholy ornament in the grounds. 

We had, for a considerable distance, a view of the dwelling ofJoseph Bonaparte, which is situated on the New Jersey shore, inthe midst of an extensive tract of land, of which he is theproprietor. 

Here the ex-monarch has built several houses, which are occupiedby French tenants. The country is very flat, but a terrace oftwo sides has been raised, commanding a fine reach of theDelaware River; at the point where this terrace forms a rightangle, a lofty chapel has been erected, which looks very muchlike an observatory; I admired the ingenuity with which theCatholic prince has united his religion and his love of a fineterrestrial prospect. The highest part of the building presents, in every direction, the appearance of an immense cross; thetransept, if I may so express it, being formed by the projectionof an ample balcony, which surrounds a tower. A Quakergentleman, from Philadelphia, exclaimed, as he gazed on themansion, "There we see a monument of fallen royalty! Strange!that dethroned kings should seek and find their best strong-holdin a Republic. "

There was more of philosophy than of scorn in his accent, and hiscountenance was the symbol of gentleness and benevolence; but Ioverheard many unquakerlike jokes from others, as to thecomfortable assurance a would-be king must feel of a faithfulalliance between his head and shoulders. 

At Trenton, the capital of New Jersey, we left oursmoothly-gliding comfortable boat for the most detestablestage-coach that ever Christian built to dislocate the joints ofhis fellow men. Ten of these torturing machines were crammedfull of the passengers who left the boat with us. The change inour movement was not more remarkable than that which took placein the tempers and countenances of our fellow-travellers. Gentlemen who had lounged on sofas, and balanced themselves inchairs, all the way from Philadelphia, with all the consciousfascinations of stiff stays and neck-cloths, which, while doingto death the rash beauties who ventured to gaze, seemed but awhalebone panoply to guard the wearer, these pretty youths soguarded from without, so sweetly at peace within, now crushedbeneath their armour, looked more like victims on the wheel, thandandies armed for conquest; their whalebones seemed to enter intotheir souls, and every face grew grim and scowling. The prettyladies too, with their expansive bonnets, any one of which mighthandsomely have filled the space allotted to three, --how sad thechange! I almost fancied they must have been of the race ofUndine, and that it was only when they heard the splashing ofwater that they could smile. As I looked into the altered eyesof my companions, I was tempted to ask, "Look I as cross as you?"Indeed, I believe that, if possible, I looked crosser still, forthe roads and the vehicle together were quite too much for myphilosophy. 

At length, however, we found ourselves alive on board the boatwhich was to convey us down the Raraton River to New York. 

We fully intended to have gone to bed, to heal our bones, onentering the steam-boat, but the sight of a table neatly spreaddetermined us to go to dinner instead. Sin and shame would ithave been, indeed, to have closed our eyes upon the scene whichsoon opened before us. I have never seen the bay of Naples, Ican therefore make no comparison, but my imagination is incapableof conceiving any thing of the kind more beautiful than theharbour of New York. Various and lovely are the objects whichmeet the eye on every side, but the naming them would only be togive a list of words, without conveying the faintest idea of thescene. I doubt if ever the pencil of Turner could do it justice, bright and glorious as it rose upon us. We seemed to enter theharbour of New York upon waves of liquid gold, and as we dartedpast the green isles which rise from its bosom, like guardiancentinels of the fair city, the setting sun stretched hishorizontal beams farther and farther at each moment, as if topoint out to us some new glory in the landscape. 

New York, indeed, appeared to us, even when we saw it by asoberer light, a lovely and a noble city. To us who had been solong travelling through half-cleared forests, and sojourningamong an "I'm-as-good-as-you" population, it seemed, perhaps, more beautiful, more splendid, and more refined than it mighthave done, had we arrived there directly from London; but makingevery allowance for this, I must still declare that I think NewYork one of the finest cities I ever saw, and as much superior toevery other in the Union (Philadelphia not excepted), as Londonto Liverpool, or Paris to Rouen. Its advantages of position are, perhaps, unequalled any where. Situated on an island, which Ithink it will one day cover, it rises, like Venice, from the sea, and like that fairest of cities in the days of her glory, receives into its lap tribute of all the riches of the earth. 

The southern point of Manhatten Island divides the waters of theharbour into the north and east rivers; on this point stands thecity of New York, extending from river to river, and runningnorthward to the extent of three or four miles. I think itcovers nearly as much ground as Paris, but is much less thicklypeopled. The extreme point is fortified towards the sea by abattery, and forms an admirable point of defence; I shouldsuppose, no city could boast. From hence commences the splendidBroadway, as the fine avenue is called, which runs through thewhole city. This noble street may vie with any I ever saw, forits length and breadth, its handsome shops, neat awnings, excellent _trottoir_, and well-dressed pedestrians. It has notthe crowded glitter of Bond Street equipages, nor the gorgeousfronted palaces of Regent Street; but it is magnificent in itsextent, and ornamented by several handsome buildings, some ofthem surrounded by grass and trees. The Park, in which standsthe noble city-hall, is a very fine area, I never found that themost graphic description of a city could give me any feeling ofbeing there; and even if others have the power, I am very sure Ihave not, of setting churches and squares, and long drawnstreets, before the mind's eye. I will not, therefore, attempt adetailed description of this great metropolis of the new world, but will only say that during the seven weeks we stayed there, wealways found something new to see and to admire; and were it notso very far from all the old-world things which cling about theheart of an European, I should say that I never saw a city moredesirable as a residence. 

The dwelling houses of the higher classes are extremely handsome, and very richly furnished. Silk or satin furniture is as often, or oftener, seen than chintz; the mirrors are as handsome as inLondon; the cheffoniers, slabs, and marble tables as elegant; andin addition, they have all the pretty tasteful decoration ofFrench porcelaine, and or-molu in much greater abundance, becauseat a much cheaper rate. Every part of their houses is wellcarpeted, and the exterior finishing, such as steps, railings, and door-frames, are very superior. Almost every house hashandsome green blinds on the outside; balconies are not verygeneral, nor do the houses display, externally, so many flowersas those of Paris and London; but I saw many rooms decoratedwithin, exactly like those of an European _petite maitresse_. Little tables, looking and smelling like flower beds, portfolios, nick-nacks, bronzes, busts, cameos, and alabaster vases, illustrated copies of ladylike rhymes bound in silk, and, inshort, all the pretty coxcomalities of the drawing-room scatteredabout with the same profuse and studied negligence as with us. 

Hudson Square and its neighbourhood is, I believe, the mostfashionable part of the town; the square is beautiful, excellently well planted with a great variety of trees, and onlywanting our frequent and careful mowing to make it equal to anysquare in London. The iron railing which surrounds thisenclosure is as high and as handsome as that of the Tuilleries, and it will give some idea of the care bestowed on itsdecoration, to know that the gravel for the walks was conveyedby barges from Boston, not as ballast, but as freight. 

The great defect in the houses is their extreme uniformity whenyou have seen one, you have seen all. Neither do I quite likethe arrangement of the rooms. In nearly all the houses thedining and drawing rooms are on the same floor, with amplefolding doors between them; when thrown together they certainlymake a very noble apartment; but no doors can be barriersufficient between dining and drawing-rooms. Mixed dinnerparties of ladies and gentlemen, however, are very rare, which isa great defect in the society; not only as depriving them of themost social and hospitable manner of meeting, but as leading tofrequent dinner parties of gentlemen without ladies, whichcertainly does not conduce to refinement. 

The evening parties, excepting such as are expressly for youngpeople, are chiefly conversational; we were too late in theseason for large parties, but we saw enough to convince us thatthere is society to be met with in New York, which would bedeemed delightful any where. Cards are very seldom used; andmusic, from their having very little professional aid at theirparties is seldom, I believe, as good as what is heard at privateconcerts in London. 

The Americans have certainly not the same _besoin_ of beingamused, as other people; they may be the wiser for this, perhaps, but it makes them less agreeable to a looker-on. 

There are three theatres at New York, all of which we visited. The Park Theatre is the only one licensed by fashion, but theBowery is infinitely superior in beauty; it is indeed as pretty atheatre as I ever entered, perfect as to size and proportion, elegantly decorated, and the scenery and machinery equal to anyin London, but it is not the fashion. The Chatham is so utterlycondemned by _bon ton_, that it requires some courage to decideupon going there; nor do I think my curiosity would havepenetrated so far, had I not seen Miss Mitford's Rienziadvertised there. It was the first opportunity I had had ofseeing it played, and spite of very indifferent acting, I wasdelighted. The interest must have been great, for till thecurtain fell, I saw not one quarter of the queer things aroundme: then I observed in the front row of a dress-box a ladyperforming the most maternal office possible; several gentlemenwithout their coats, and a general air of contempt for thedecencies of life, certainly more than usually revolting. 

At the Park Theatre I again saw the American Roscius, Mr. Forrest. He played the part of Damon, and roared, I thought, very unlike a nightingale. I cannot admire this celebratedperformer. 

Another night we saw Cinderella there; Mrs. Austin was the primadonna, and much admired. The piece was extremely well got up, and on this occasion we saw the Park Theatre to advantage, for itwas filled with well-dressed company; but still we saw many "yetunrazored lips" polluted with the grim tinge of the hatefultobacco, and heard, without ceasing, the spitting, which ofcourse is its consequence. If their theatres had the orchestraof the Feydeau, and a choir of angels to boot, I could find butlittle pleasure, so long as they were followed by this runningaccompaniment of _thorough base_. 

Whilst at New York, the prospectus of a fashionableboarding-school was presented to me. I made some extracts fromit, as a specimen of the enlarged scale of instruction proposedfor young females. 

 Brooklyn Collegiate Institute for Young Ladies, Brooklyn Heights, opposite the City of New York. 

 JUNIOR DEPARTMENT

 Sixth Class

Latin Grammar, Liber Primus; Jacob's Latin Reader, (first part);Modern Geography; Intellectual and Practical Arithmetic finished;Dr. Barber's Grammar of Elocution; Writing, Spelling, Composition, and Vocal Music. 

 Fifth Class

Jacob's Latin Reader, (second part); Roman Antiquities, Sallust;Clark's Introduction to the Making of Latin; Ancient and SacredGeography; Studies of Poetry; Short Treatise on Rhetoric; MapDrawing, Composition, Spelling, and Vocal Music. 

 Fourth Class

Caesar's Commentaries; first five books of Virgil's Aeneid;Mythology; Watts on the Mind; Political Geography, (Woodbridge'slarge work); Natural History; Treatise on the Globes; AncientHistory; Studies of Poetry concluded; English Grammar, Composition, Spelling, and Vocal Music. 

 SENIOR DEPARTMENT

 Third Class

Virgil, (finished); Cicero's Select Orations; Modern History;Plane Geometry; Moral Philosophy; Critical Reading of Young'sPoems; Perspective Drawing; Rhetoric; Logic, Composition, andVocal Music. 

 Second Class

Livy; Horace, (Odes); Natural Theology; small Compend ofEcclesiastical History; Female Biography; Algebra; NaturalPhilosophy, (Mechanics, Hydrostatics, Pneumatics, and Acoustics);Intellectual Philosophy; Evidences of Christianity; Composition, and Vocal Music. 

 First Class

Horace, (finished); Tacitus; Natural Philosophy, (Electricity, Optics, Magnetism, Galvanism); Astronomy, Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Geology; Compend of Political Economy; Composition, and VocalMusic. 

The French, Spanish, Italian, or Greek languages may be attendedto, if required, at any time. 

The Exchange is very handsome, and ranks about midway between theheavy gloom that hangs over our London merchants, and the lightand lofty elegance which decorates the Bourse at Paris. Thechurches are plain, but very neat, and kept in perfect repairwithin and without; but I saw none which had the least pretensionto splendour; the Catholic Cathedral at Baltimore is the onlychurch in America which has. 

At New York, as every where else, they show within, during thetime of service, like beds of tulips, so gay, so bright, sobeautiful, are the long rows of French bonnets and pretty faces;rows but rarely broken by the unribboned heads of the malepopulation; the proportion is about the same as I have remarkedelsewhere. Excepting at New York, I never saw the other side ofthe picture, but there I did. On the opposite side of the NorthRiver, about three miles higher up, is a place called Hoboken. A gentleman who possessed a handsome mansion and grounds there, also possessed the right of ferry, and to render this productive, he has restricted his pleasure grounds to a few beautiful acres, laying out the remainder simply and tastefully as a public walk. It is hardly possible to imagine one of greater attraction; abroad belt of light underwood and flowering shrubs, studded atintervals with lofty forest trees, runs for two miles along acliff which overhangs the matchless Hudson; sometimes it feathersthe rocks down to its very margin, and at others leaves a pebblyshore, just rude enough to break the gentle waves, and make amusic which mimics softly the loud chorus of the ocean. Throughthis beautiful little wood, a broad well gravelled terrace is ledby every point which can exhibit the scenery to advantage;narrower and wilder paths diverge at intervals, some into thedeeper shadow of the wood, and some shelving gradually to thepretty coves below. 

The price of entrance to this little Eden, is the six cents youpay at the ferry. We went there on a bright Sunday afternoon, expressly to see the humours of the place. Many thousand personswere scattered through the grounds; of these we ascertained, byrepeatedly counting, that nineteen-twentieths were men. Theladies were at church. Often as the subject has pressed upon mymind, I think I never so strongly felt the conviction that theSabbath-day, the holy day, the day on which alone the greatmajority of the Christian world can spend their hours as theyplease, is ill passed (if passed entirely) within brick walls, listening to an earth-born preacher, charm he never so wisely. 

 "Oh! how can they renounce the boundless store Of charms, which Nature to her vot'ries yields! The warbling woodland, the resounding shore, The pomp of groves, and garniture of fields, All that the genial ray of morning gilds, And all that echoes to the song of even, All that the mountain's sheltering bosom yields, And all the dread magnificence of heaven; Oh! how can they renounce, and hope to be forgiven!"

How is it that the men of America, who are reckoned good husbandsand good fathers, while they themselves enjoy sufficient freedomof spirit to permit their walking forth into the temple of theliving God, can leave those they love best on earth, bound in theiron chains of a most tyrannical fanaticism? How can theybreathe the balmy air, and not think of the tainted atmosphere soheavily weighing upon breasts still dearer than their own? Howcan they gaze upon the blossoms of the spring, and not rememberthe fairer cheeks of their young daughters, waxing pale, as theysit for long sultry hours, immured with hundreds of fellowvictims, listening to the roaring vanities of a preachercanonized by a college of old women? They cannot think itneedful to salvation, or they would not withdraw themselves. Wherefore is it? Do they fear these self-elected, self-ordainedpriests, and offer up their wives and daughters to propitiatethem? Or do they deem their hebdomadal freedom more complete, because their wives and daughters are shut up four or five timesin the day at church or chapel? It is true, that at Hoboken, asevery where else, there are _reposoires_, which, as you passthem, blast the sense for a moment, by reeking forth the fumes ofwhiskey and tobacco, and it may be that these cannot be enteredwith a wife or daughter. The proprietor of the grounds, however, has contrived with great taste to render these abominations notunpleasing to the eye; there is one in particular, which hasquite the air of a Grecian temple, and did they drink wineinstead of whiskey, it might be inscribed to Bacchus; but in thisparticular, as in many others, the ancient and modern Republics differ. 

It is impossible not to feel, after passing one Sunday in thechurches and chapels of New York, and the next in the gardens ofHoboken, that the thousands of well-dressed men you see enjoyingthemselves at the latter, have made over the thousands ofwell-dressed women you saw exhibited at the former, into thehands of the priests, at least, for the day. The American peoplearrogate to themselves a character of superior morality andreligion, but this division of their hours of leisure does notgive me a favourable idea of either. 

I visited all the exhibitions in New York. The Medici of theRepublic must exert themselves a little more before these canbecome even respectable. The worst of the business is, that withthe exception of about half a dozen individuals, the goodcitizens are more than contented, they are delighted. 

The newspaper lungs of the Republic breathe forth praise andtriumph, may, almost pant with extacy in speaking of their native_chef d'oeuvres_. I should be hardly believed were I to relatethe instances which fell in my way, of the utter ignorancerespecting pictures to be found among persons of the _firststanding_ in society. Often where a liberal spirit exists, and awish to patronise the fine arts is expressed, it is joined to aprofundity of ignorance on the subject almost inconceivable. Adoubt as to the excellence of their artists is very nervouslyreceived, and one gentleman, with much civility, told me, that atthe present era, all the world were aware that competition waspretty well at an end between our two nations, and that a littleenvy might naturally be expected to mix with the surprise withwhich the mother country beheld the distance at which hercolonies were leaving her behind them. 

I must, however, do the few artists with whom I becameacquainted, the justice to say, that their own pretensions aremuch more modest than those of their patrons for them. I haveheard several confess and deplore their ignorance of drawing, andhave repeatedly remarked a sensibility to the merit of Europeanartists, though perhaps only known by engravings, and a deferenceto their authority, which showed a genuine feeling for the art. In fact, I think that there is a very considerable degree ofnatural talent for painting in America, but it has to make itsway through darkness and thick night. When an academy isfounded, their first care is to hang the walls of its exhibitionroom with all the unutterable trash that is offered to them. Noliving models are sought for; no discipline as to the manner ofstudy is enforced. Boys who know no more of human form, thanthey do of the eyes, nose, and mouth in the moon, begin paintingportraits. If some of them would only throw away their palettesfor a year, and learn to draw; if they would attend anatomicallectures, and take notes, not in words, but in forms, of jointsand muscles, their exhibitions would soon cease to be so utterlybelow criticism. 

The most interesting exhibition open when I was there was, decidedly, Colonel Trumbold's; and how the patriots of Americacan permit this truly national collection to remain a profitlessburden on the hands of the artist, it is difficult to understand. Many of the sketches are masterly; but like his illustriouscountryman, West, his sketches are his _chef d'oeuvres_. 

I can imagine nothing more perfect than the interior of thepublic institutions of New York. There is a practical good sensein all their arrangements that must strike foreigners veryforcibly. The Asylum for the Destitute offers a hint worthtaking. It is dedicated to the reformation of youthful offendersof both sexes, and it is as admirable in the details of itsmanagement, as in its object. Every part of the institution isdeeply interesting; but there is a difference very remarkablebetween the boys and the girls. The boys are, I think, thefinest set of lads I ever saw brought together; bright looking, gay, active, and full of intelligence. The girls are exactly inreverse; heavy, listless, indifferent, and melancholy. Inconversing with the gentleman who is the general superintendantof the establishment, I made the remark to him, and he told me, that the reality corresponded with the appearance. All of themhad been detected in some act of dishonesty; but the boys, whenremoved from the evil influence which had led them so to usetheir ingenuity, rose like a spring when a pressure is withdrawn;and feeling themselves once more safe from danger and from shame, hope and cheerfulness animated every countenance. But the pourgirls, on the contrary, can hardly look up again. They are asdifferent as an oak and a lily after a storm. The one, when thefresh breeze blows over it, shakes the raindrops from its crest, and only looks the brighter; the other, its silken leaves oncesoiled, shrinks from the eye, and is levelled to the earth forever. 

We spent a delightful day in New Jersey, in visiting, with a mostagreeable party, the inclined planes, which are used instead oflocks on the Morris canal. 

This is a very interesting work; it is one among a thousand whichprove the people of America to be the most enterprising in theworld. I was informed that this important canal, which connectsthe waters of the Hudson and the Delaware, is a hundred mileslong, and in this distance overcomes a variation of levelamounting to sixteen hundred feet. Of this, fourteen hundred areachieved by inclined planes. The planes average about sixty feetof perpendicular lift each, and are to support about forty tons. The time consumed in passing them is twelve minutes for onehundred feet of perpendicular rise. The expense is less than athird of what locks would be for surmounting the same rise. Ifwe set about any more canals, this may be worth attending to. 

This Morris canal is certainly an extraordinary work; it not onlyvaries its level sixteen hundred feet, but at one point runsalong the side of a mountain at thirty feet above the tops of thehighest buildings in the town of Paterson, below; at another itcrosses the falls of the Passaic in a stone aqueduct sixty feetabove the water in the river. This noble work, in a greatdegree, owes its existence to the patriotic and scientific energyof Mr. Cadwallader Colden. 

There is no point in the national character of the Americanswhich commands so much respect as the boldness and energy withwhich public works are undertaken and carried through. Nothingstops them if a profitable result can be fairly hoped for. It isthis which has made cities spring up amidst the forests with suchinconceivable rapidity; and could they once be thoroughlypersuaded that any point of the ocean had a hoard of dollarsbeneath it, I have not the slightest doubt that in about eighteenmonths we should see a snug covered rail-road leading direct tothe spot. 

I was told at New York, that in many parts of the state it wasusual to pay the service of the Presbyterian ministers in thefollowing manner. Once a year a day is fixed, on which somemember of every family in a congregation meet at their minister'shouse in the afternoon. They each bring an offering (accordingto their means) of articles necessary for housekeeping. Thepoorer members leave their contributions in a large basket, placed for the purpose, close to the door of entrance. Those ofmore importance, and more calculated to do honour to the piety ofthe donors, are carried into the room where the company isassembled. Sugar, coffee, tea, cheese, barrels of flour, piecesof Irish linen, sets of china and of glass, were among thearticles mentioned to me as usually making parts of theseofferings. After the party is assembled, and the business ofgiving and receiving is dispatched, tea, coffee, and cakes arehanded round; but these are not furnished at any expense eitherof trouble or money to the minster, for selected ladies of thecongregation take the whole arrangement upon themselves. Thesemeetings are called spinning visits. 

Another New York custom, which does not seem to have soreasonable a cause, is the changing house once a year. On the1st of May the city of New York has the appearance of sending offa population flying from the plague, or of a town which hadsurrendered on condition of carrying away all their goods andchattels. Rich furniture and ragged furniture, carts, waggons, and drays, ropes, canvas, and straw, packers, porters, anddraymen, white, yellow, and black, occupy the streets from eastto west, from north to south, on this day. Every one I spoke toon the subject complained of this custom as most annoying, butall assured me it was unavoidable, if you inhabit a rented house. More than one of my New York friends have built or bought housessolely to avoid this annual inconvenience. 

There are a great number of negroes in New York, all free; theiremancipation having been completed in 1827. Not even inPhiladelphia, where the anti-slavery opinions have been the mostactive and violent, do the blacks appear to wear an air of somuch consequence as they do at New York. They have severalchapels, in which negro ministers officiate; and a theatre inwhich none but negroes perform. At this theatre a gallery isappropriated to such whites as choose to visit it; and here onlyare they permitted to sit; following in this, with niceetiquette, and equal justice, the arrangement of the whitetheatres, in all of which is a gallery appropriated solely to theuse of the blacks. I have often, particularly on a Sunday, metgroups of negroes, elegantly dressed; and have been sometimesamused by observing the very superior air of gallantry assumed bythe men, when in attendance on their _belles_, to that of thewhites in similar circumstances. On one occasion we met inBroadway a young negress in the extreme of the fashion, andaccompanied by a black beau, whose toilet was equally studied;eye-glass, guard-chain, nothing was omitted; he walked beside hissable goddess uncovered, and with an air of the most tenderdevotion. At the window of a handsome house which they werepassing, stood a very pretty white girl, with two gentlemenbeside her; but alas! both of them had their hats on, and onewas smoking!

If it were not for the peculiar manner of walking, whichdistinguishes all American women, Broadway might be taken for aFrench street, where it was the fashion for very smart ladies topromenade. The dress is entirely French; not an article (exceptperhaps the cotton stockings) must be English, on pain of beingstigmatized as out of the fashion. Every thing English isdecidedly _mauvais ton_; English materials, English fashions, English accent, English manner, are all terms of reproach; and tosay that an unfortunate looks like an English woman, is thecruellest satire which can be uttered. 

I remember visiting France almost immediately after we had madethe most offensive invasion of her territory that can well beimagined, yet, despite the feelings which lengthened years of warmust have engendered, it was the fashion to admire every thingEnglish. I suppose family quarrels are most difficult to adjust;for fifteen years of peace have not been enough to calm the angryfeelings of brother Jonathan towards the land of his fathers, "The which he hateth passing well. "

It is hardly needful to say the most courteous amenity of mannerdistinguishes the reception given to foreigners by the patricianclass of Americans. 

_Gentlemen_, in the old world sense of the term, are the sameevery where; and an American gentleman and his family know how todo the honours of their country to strangers of every nation, aswell as any people on earth. But this class, though it decidedlyexists, is a very small one, and cannot, in justice, berepresented as affording a specimen of the whole. 

Most of the houses in New York are painted on the outside, but ina manner carefully to avoid disfiguring the material which itpreserves: on the contrary, nothing can be neater. They are nowusing a great deal of a beautiful stone called Jersey freestone;it is of a warm rich brown, and extremely ornamental to the citywherever it has been employed. They have also a grey granite ofgreat beauty. The trottoir paving, in most of the streets, isextremely good, being of large flag stones, very superior to thebricks of Philadelphia. 

At night the shops, which are open till very late, arebrilliantly illuminated with gas, and all the population seem asmuch alive as in London or Paris. This makes the solemnstillness of the evening hours in Philadelphia still moreremarkable. 

There are a few trees in different parts of the city, and Iobserved young ones planted, and guarded with much care; werethey more abundant it would be extremely agreeable, for thereflected light of their fierce summer sheds intolerable day. 

Ice is in profuse abundance; I do not imagine that there is ahouse in the city without the luxury of a piece of ice to coolthe water, and harden the butter. 

The hackney coaches are the best in the world, but abominablydear, and it is necessary to be on the _qui vive_ in making yourbargain with the driver; if you do not, he has the power ofcharging immoderately. On my first experiment I neglected this, and was asked two dollars and a half for an excursion of twentyminutes. When I referred to the waiter of the hotel, he asked ifI had made a bargain. "No. " "Then I expect" (with the usual lookof triumph) "that the Yankee has been too smart for you. "

The private carriages of New York are infinitely handsomer andbetter appointed than any I saw elsewhere; the want of smartliveries destroys much of the gay effect, but, on the whole, aNew York summer equipage, with the pretty women and beautifulchildren it contains, look extremely well in Broadway, and wouldnot be much amiss anywhere. 

The luxury of the New York aristocracy is not confined to thecity; hardly an acre of Manhatten Island but shows some prettyvilla or stately mansion. The most chosen of these are on thenorth and east rivers, to whose margins their lawns descend. Among these, perhaps, the loveliest is one situated in thebeautiful village of Bloomingdale; here, within the space ofsixteen acres, almost every variety of garden scenery may befound. To describe all its diversity of hill and dale, of woodand lawn, of rock and river, would be in vain; nor can I conveyan idea of it by comparison, for I never saw anything like it. How far the elegant hospitality which reigns there may influencemy impression, I know not; but, assuredly, no spot I have everseen dwells more freshly on my memory, nor did I ever find myselfin a circle more calculated to give delight in meeting, andregret at parting, than that of Woodlawn. 

CHAPTER 31

Reception of Captain Basil Hall's Book in the United States

Having now arrived nearly at the end of our travels, I aminduced, ere I conclude, again to mention what I consider as oneof the most remarkable traits in the national character of theAmericans; namely, their exquisite sensitiveness and sorenessrespecting everything said or written concerning them. Of this, perhaps, the most remarkable example I can give, is the effectproduced on nearly every class of readers by the appearance ofCaptain Basil Hall's "Travels in North America. " In fact, it wasa sort of moral earthquake, and the vibration it occasionedthrough the nerves of the Republic, from one corner of the Unionto the other, was by no means over when I left the country inJuly, 1831, a couple of years after the shock. 

I was in Cincinnati when these volumes came out, but it was nottill July, 1830, that I procured a copy of them. One booksellerto whom I applied, told me that he had had a few copies before heunderstood the nature of the work, but that after becomingacquainted with it, nothing should induce him to sell another. Other persons of his profession must, however, have been lessscrupulous, for the book was read in city, town, village, andhamlet, steam-boat, and stage-coach, and a sort of war-whoop wassent forth perfectly unprecedented in my recollection upon anyoccasion whatever. 

It was fortunate for me that I did not procure these volumes tillI had heard them very generally spoken of, for the curiosity Ifelt to know the contents of a work so violently anathematised, led me to make enquiries which elicited a great deal of curiousfeeling. 

An ardent desire for approbation, and delicate sensitivenessunder censure, have always, I believe, been considered as amiabletraits of character; but the condition into which the appearanceof Capt. Hall's work threw the Republic, shows plainly thatthese feelings, if carried to excess, produce a weakness whichamounts to imbecility. 

It was perfectly astonishing to hear men, who, on other subjects, were sane of judgment, utter their opinions upon this. I neverheard of any instance in which the common sense generally foundin national criticism was so overthrown by passion. I do notspeak of the want of justice, and of fair and liberalinterpretation: these, perhaps, were hardly to be expected. Other nations have been called thin-skinned, but the citizens ofthe Union have, apparently, no skins at all; they wince if abreeze blows over them, unless it be tempered with adulation. Itwas not, therefore, very surprising that the acute and forcibleobservations of a traveller they knew would be listened to, should be received testily. The extraordinary features of thebusiness were, first, the excess of the rage into which theylashed themselves; and secondly, the puerility of the inventionsby which they attempted to account for the severity with whichthey fancied they had been treated. 

Not content with declaring that the volumes contained no word oftruth from beginning to end (which is an assertion I heard madevery nearly as often as they were mentioned), the whole countryset to work to discover the causes why Capt. Hall had visitedthe United States, and why he had published his book. 

I have heard it said with as much precision and gravity as if thestatement had been conveyed by an official report, that Capt. Hall had been sent out by the British government expressly forthe purpose of checking the growing admiration of England for thegovernment of the United States, that it was by a commission fromthe Treasury he had come, and that it was only in obedience toorders that he had found anything to object to. 

I do not give this as the gossip of a coterie; I am persuadedthat it is the belief of a very considerable portion of thecountry. So deep is the conviction of this singular people thatthey cannot be seen without being admired, that they will notadmit the possibility that anyone should honestly and sincerelyfind aught to disapprove in them, or their country. 

At Philadelphia I met with a little anonymous book, written toshow that Capt. Basil Hall was in no way to be depended on, forthat he not only slandered the Americans, but was himself, inother respects, a person of very equivocal morals. One proof ofthis is given by a quotation of the following playful account ofthe distress occasioned by the want of a bell. The commentatorcalls it an instance of "shocking coarseness. "

"One day I was rather late for breakfast, and as there was nowater in my jug, I set off, post haste, half shaved, halfdressed, and more than half vexed, in quest of water, like aseaman on short allowance, hunting for rivulets on some unknowncoast. I went up stairs, and down stairs, and in the course ofmy researches into half a dozen different apartments, might havestumbled on some lady's chamber, as the song says, whichconsidering the plight I was in, would have been awkward enough. "

Another indication of this moral coarseness is pointed out in thepassage where Capt. Hall says, he never saw a flirtation all thetime he was in the Union. 

The charge of ingratitude also was echoed from mouth to mouth. That he should himself bear testimony to the unvarying kindnessof the reception he met with, and yet find fault with thecountry, was declared on all hands to be a proof of the mostabominable ingratitude that it ever entered into the heart of manto conceive. I once ventured before about a dozen people to askwhether more blame would not attach to an author, if he sufferedhimself to be bribed by individual kindness to falsify facts, than if, despite all personal considerations, he stated themtruly?

"Facts!" cried the whole circle at once, "facts! I tell you thereis not a word of fact in it from beginning to end. "

The American Reviews are, many of them, I believe, well known inEngland; I need not, therefore, quote them here, but I sometimeswondered that they, none of them, ever thought of translatingObadiah's curse into classic American; if they had done so, onlyplacing (he, Basil Hall, ) between brackets instead of (he, Obadiah, ) it would have saved them a world of trouble. 

I can hardly describe the curiosity with which I sat down atlength to pursue these tremendous volumes; still less can I dojustice to my surprise at their contents. To say that I foundnot one exaggerated statement throughout the work, is by no meanssaying enough. It is impossible for any one who knows thecountry not to see that Captain Hall earnestly sought out thingsto admire and commend. When he praises, it is with evidentpleasure, and when he finds fault, it is with evident reluctanceand restraint, excepting where motives purely patriotic urge himto state roundly what it is for the benefit of his country shouldbe known. 

In fact, Captain Hall saw the country to the greatest possibleadvantage. Furnished, of course, with letters of introduction tothe most distinguished individuals, and with the still moreinfluential recommendation of his own reputation, he was receivedin full drawing-room style and state from one end of the Union tothe other. He saw the country in full dress, and had little orno opportunity of judging of it unhouselled, disappointed, unannealed, with all its imperfections on its head, as I and myfamily too often had. 

Captain Hall had certainly excellent opportunities of makinghimself acquainted with the form of the government and the laws;and of receiving, moreover, the best oral commentary upon them, in conversation with the most distinguished citizens. Of theseopportunities he made excellent use; nothing important met hiseye which did not receive that sort of analytical attention whichan experienced and philosophical traveller alone can give. Thishas made his volumes highly interesting and valuable; but I amdeeply persuaded, that were a man of equal penetration to visitthe United States with no other means of becoming acquainted withthe national character than the ordinary working-day intercourseof life, he would conceive an infinitely lower idea of the moralatmosphere of the country than Captain Hall appears to have done;and the internal conviction on my mind is strong, that if CaptainHall had not placed a firm restraint on himself, he must havegiven expression to far deeper indignation than any he hasuttered against many points in the American character, with whichhe shows, from other circumstances, that he was well acquainted. His rule appears to have been to state just so much of the truthas would leave on the minds of his readers a correct impression, at the least cost of pain to the sensitive folks he was writingabout. He states his own opinions and feelings, and leaves it tobe inferred that he has good grounds for adopting them; but hespares the Americans the bitterness which a detail of thecircumstances would have produced. 

If any one chooses to say that some wicked antipathy to twelvemillions of strangers is the origin of my opinion, I must bearit; and were the question one of mere idle speculation, Icertainly would not court the abuse I must meet for stating it. But it is not so. I know that among the best, the most pious, the most benevolent of my countrymen, there are hundreds, nay, Ifear thousands, who conscientiously believe that a greater degreeof political and religious liberty (such as is possessed inAmerica) would be beneficial for us. How often have I wished, during my abode in the United States, that one of theseconscientious, but mistaken reasoners, fully possessed of hiscountry's confidence, could pass a few years in the UnitedStates, sufficiently among the mass of the citizens to know them, and sufficiently at leisure to trace effects to their causes. Then might we look for a statement which would teach thesemistaken philanthropists to tremble at every symptom ofdemocratic power among us; a statement which would make even oursectarians shudder at the thought of hewing down the EstablishedChurch, for they would be taught, by fearful example, to knowthat it was the bulwark which protects us from the gloomy horrorsof fanatic superstition on one side, and the still more dreadfulinroads of infidelity on the other. And more than all, such aman would see as clear as light, that where every class isoccupied in getting money, and no class in spending it, therewill neither be leisure for worshipping the theory of honesty, nor motive strong enough to put its restrictive doctrine inpractice. Where every man is engaged in driving hard bargainswith his fellows, where is the honoured class to be found intowhich gentleman-like feelings, principles, and practice, arenecessary as an introduction?

That there are men of powerful intellect, benevolent hearts, andhigh moral feeling in America, I know: and I could, if challengedto do so, name individuals surpassed by none of any country inthese qualities; but they are excellent, despite theirinstitutions, not in consequence of them. It is not by such thatCaptain Hall's statements are called slanders, nor is it fromsuch that I shall meet the abuse which I well know these pageswill inevitably draw upon me; and I only trust I may beable to muster as much self-denial as my predecessor, who assertsin his recently published "Fragments, " that he has read none ofthe American criticisms on his book. He did wisely, if he wishedto retain an atom of his kindly feeling toward America, and hehas, assuredly, lost but little on the score of information, forthese criticisms, generally speaking, consist of mere downrightpersonal abuse, or querulous complaints of his ingratitude andill usage of them; complaints which it is quite astonishing thatany persons of spirit could indulge in. 

The following good-humoured paragraphs from the Fragments, must, I think, rather puzzle the Americans. Possibly they may thinkthat Captain Hall is quizzing them, when he says he has read noneof their criticisms; but I think there is in these passagesinternal evidence that he has not seen them. For if he had readone-fiftieth part of the vituperation of his Travels, which ithas been my misfortune to peruse, he could hardly have broughthimself to write what follows. 

If the Americans still refuse to shake the hand proffered to themin the true old John Bull spirit, they are worse folks than evenI take them for. 

Captain Hall, after describing the hospitable reception heformerly met with, at a boarding-house in New York, goes onthus:--"If our hostess be still alive, I hope she will not repentof having bestowed her obliging attentions on one, who so manyyears afterwards made himself, he fears, less popular in herland, than he could wish to be amongst a people to whom he owesso much, and for whom he really feels so much kindness. He stillanxiously hopes, however, they will believe him, when hedeclares, that, having said in his recent publication no morethan what he conceived was due to strict truth, and to theintegrity of history, as far as his observations and opinionswent, he still feels, as he always has, and ever must continue tofeel towards America, the heartiest good-will. 

"The Americans are perpetually repeating that thefoundation-stone of their liberty is fixed on the doctrine, thatevery man is free to form his own opinions, and to promulgatethem in candour and in moderation. Is it meant that a foreigneris excluded from these privileges? If not, may I ask, in whatrespect have I passed these limitations? The Americans havesurely no fair right to be offended because my views differ fromtheir's; and yet I am told I have been rudely handled by thepress of that country. If my motives are distrusted, I can onlysay, I am sorely belied. If I am mistaken, regret at mypolitical blindness were surely more dignified than anger on thepart of those with whom I differ; and if it shall chance that Iam in the right, the best confirmation of the correctness of myviews, in the opinion of indifferent persons, will perhaps befound in the soreness of those, who wince when the truth isspoken. 

"Yet, after all, few things would give me more real pleasure, than to know that my friends across the water would consent totake me at my word; and, considering what I have said about themas so much public matter, which it truly is, agree to reckon me, in my absence, and they always did, when I was amongst them, and, I am sure, they would count me, if I went back again, as aprivate friend. I differed with them in politics, and I differwith them now as much as ever; but I sincerely wish themhappiness individually; and, as a nation, I shall rejoice if theyprosper. As the Persians write, "What can I say more?" And Ionly hope these few words may help to make my peace with peoplewho justly pride themselves on bearing no malice. As for myself, I have no peace to make; for I have studiously avoided readingany of the American criticisms on my book, in order that thekindly feelings I have ever entertained towards that countryshould not be ruffled. By this abstinence I may have lost someinformation, and perhaps missed many opportunities of correctingerroneous impressions. But I set so much store by the pleasingrecollection of the journey itself, and of the hospitality withwhich my family were every where received, that whether it beright, or whether it be wrong, I cannot bring myself to readanything which might disturb these agreeable associations. So let us part in peace; or, rather, let us meet again incordial communication; and if this little work shall find itsway across the Atlantic, I hope it will be read there withoutreference to anything that has passed between us; or, at allevents, with reference only to those parts of our formerintercourse, which are satisfactory to all parties. "--_Hall'sFragments_, Vol. 1. P. 200. 

I really think it is impossible to read, not only this passage, but many others in these delightful little volumes, withoutfeeling that their author is as little likely to deserve theimputation of harshness and ill-will, as any man that ever lived. 

In reading Capt. Hall's volumes on America, the observationwhich, I think, struck me the most forcibly, and which certainlycame the most completely home to my own feelings, was thefollowing. 

"In all my travels both amongst Heathens, and amongst Christians, I have never encountered any people by whom I found it nearly sodifficult to make myself understood as by the Americans. "

I have conversed in London and in Paris with foreigners of manynations, and often through the misty medium of an idiomimperfectly understood, but I remember no instance in which Ifound the same difficulty in conveying my sentiments, myimpressions, and my opinions to those around me, as I did inAmerica. Whatever faith may be given to my assertion, no one whohas not visited the country can possibly conceive to what extentit is true. It is less necessary, I imagine, for the mutualunderstanding of persons conversing together, that the languageshould be the same, than that their ordinary mode of thinking, and habits of life should, in some degree, assimilate; whereas, in point of fact, there is hardly a single point of sympathybetween the Americans and us; but whatever the cause, the fact iscertainly as I have stated it, and herein, I think, rests theonly apology for the preposterous and undignified anger felt andexpressed against Capt. Hall's work. They really cannot, evenif they wished it, enter into any of his views, or comprehend hismost ordinary feelings; and, therefore, they cannot believe inthe sincerity of the impressions he describes. The candour whichhe expresses, and evidently feels, they mistake for irony, ortotally distrust; his unwillingness to give pain to persons fromwhom he has received kindness, they scornfully reject asaffectation; and, although they must know right well, in theirown secret hearts, how infinitely more they lay at his mercy thanhe has chosen to betray, they pretend, even to themselves, thathe has exaggerated the bad points of their character andinstitutions; whereas, the truth is, that he has let them offwith a degree of tenderness which may be quite suitable for himto exercise, however little merited; while, at the same time, hehas most industriously magnified their merits, whenever he couldpossibly find anything favourable. One can perfectly wellunderstand why Capt. Hall's avowed Tory principles should bedisapproved of in the United States, especially as (with aquestionable policy in a bookselling point of view, in thesereforming times, ) he volunteers a profession of political faith, in which, to use the Kentucky phrase, "he goes the whole hog, "and bluntly avows, in his concluding chapter, that he not onlyholds stoutly to Church and State, but that he conceives theEnglish House of Commons to be, if not quite perfect, at least asmuch so for all the required purposes of representation as it canby possibility be made in practice. Such a downrightthorough-going Tory and Anti-reformer, pretending to judge of theworkings of the American democratical system, was naturally heldto be a monstrous abomination, and it has been visitedaccordingly, both in America, and as I understand, with us also. The experience which Capt. Hall has acquired in visits to everypart of the world, during twenty or thirty years, goes fornothing with the Radicals on either side the Atlantic: on thecontrary, precisely in proportion to the value of that authoritywhich is the result of actual observation, are they irritated tofind its weight cast into the opposite scale. Had not Capt. Hall been converted by what he saw in North America, from theWhig faith he exhibited in his description of South America, hisbook would have been far more popular in England during the lasttwo years of public excitement; it may, perhaps, be long beforeany justice is done to Capt. Hall's book in the United States, but a less time will probably suffice to establish its claim toattention at home. 

CHAPTER 32

Journey to Niagara--Hudson--West Point--Hyde Park--Albany--Yankees--Trenton Falls--Rochester--Genesee Falls--Lockport

How quickly weeks glide away in such a city as New York, especially when you reckon among your friends some of the mostagreeable people in either hemisphere. But we had still a longjourney before us, and one of the wonders of the world was to beseen. 

On the 30th of May we set off for Niagara. I had heard so muchof the surpassing beauty of the North River, that I expected tobe disappointed, and to find reality flat after description. Butit is not in the power of man to paint with a strength exceedingthat of nature, in such scenes as the Hudson presents. Everymile shows some new and startling effect of the combination ofrocks, trees, and water; there is no interval of flat or insipidscenery, from the moment you enter upon the river at New York, tothat of quitting it at Albany, a distance of 180 miles. 

For the first twenty miles the shore of New Jersey, on the left, offers almost a continued wall of trap rock, which from itsperpendicular form, and lineal fissures, is called the Palisados. This wall sometimes rises to the height of a hundred and fiftyfeet, and sometimes sinks down to twenty. Here and there, awatercourse breaks its uniformity; and every where the brightestfoliage, in all the splendour of the climate and the season, fringed and chequered the dark barrier. On the opposite shore, Manhatten Island, with its leafy coronet gemmed with villas, forms a lovely contrast to these rocky heights. 

After passing Manhatten Island, the eastern shore graduallyassumes a wild and rocky character, but ever varying; woods, lawns, pastures, and towering cliffs all meet the eye in quicksuccession, as the giant steam-boat cleaves its swift passage upthe stream. 

For several miles the voyage is one of great interest independentof its beauty, for it passes many points where important eventsof the revolutionary war took place. 

It was not without a pang that I looked on the spot where poorAndre was taken, and another where he was executed. 

Several forts, generally placed in most commanding situations, still show by their battered ruins, where the struggle wasstrongest, and I felt no lack of that moral interest so entirelywanting in the new States, and without which no journey can, Ithink, continue long without wearying the spirits. 

About forty miles from New York you enter upon the Highlands, asa series of mountains which then flank the river on both sides, are called. The beauty of this scenery can only be conceivedwhen it is seen. One might fancy that these capricious masses, with all their countless varieties of light and shade, werethrown together to show how passing lovely rocks and woods, andwater could be. Sometimes a lofty peak shoots suddenly up intothe heavens, showing in bold relief against the sky; and then adeep ravine sinks in solemn shadow, and draws the imaginationinto its leafy recesses. For several miles the river appears toform a succession of lakes; you are often enclosed on all sidesby rocks rising directly from the very edge of the stream, andthen you turn a point, the river widens, and again woods, lawns, and villages are reflected on its bosom. 

The state prison of Sing Sing is upon the edge of the water, andhas no picturesque effect to atone for the painful images itsuggests; the "Sleepy Hollow" of Washington Irving, just aboveit, restores the imagination to a better tone. 

West Point, the military academy of the United States, is fiftymiles from New York. The scenery around it is magnificent, andthough the buildings of the establishment are constructed withthe handsome and unpicturesque regularity which marks the work ofgovernments, they are so nobly placed, and so embosomed in woods, that they look beautiful. The lengthened notes of a French horn, which I presume was attending some of their military manoeuvres, sounded with deep and solemn sweetness as we passed. 

About thirty miles further is Hyde Park, the magnificent seat ofDr. Hosack; here the misty summit of the distant Kaatskill beginsto form the outline of the landscape; it is hardly possible toimagine anything more beautiful than this place. We passed a daythere with great enjoyment; and the following morning set forwardagain in one of those grand floating hotels called steamboats. Either on this day, or the one before, we had two hundred cabinpassengers on board, and they all sat down together to a tablespread abundantly, and with considerable elegance. A continualsuccession of gentlemen's seats, many of them extremely handsome, borders the river to Albany. We arrived there late in theevening, but had no difficulty in finding excellentaccommodation. 

Albany is the state capital of New York, and has some veryhandsome public buildings; there are also some curious relics ofthe old Dutch inhabitants. 

The first sixteen miles from Albany we travelled in a stage, toavoid a multitude of locks at the entrance of the Erie canal; butat Scenectedy we got on board one of the canal packet-boats forUtica. 

With a very delightful party, of one's own choosing, finetemperate weather, and a strong breeze to chase the mosquitos, this mode of travelling might be very agreeable, but I can hardlyimagine any motive of convenience powerful enough to induce meagain to imprison myself in a canal boat under ordinarycircumstances. The accommodations being greatly restricted, every body, from the moment of entering the boat, acts upon asystem of unshrinking egotism. The library of a dozen books, thebackgammon board, the tiny berths, the shady side of the cabin, are all jostled for in a manner to make one greatly envy thepower of the snail; at the moment I would willingly have given upsome of my human dignity for the privilege of creeping into ashell of my own. To any one who has been accustomed intravelling, to be addressed with, "Do sit here, you will find itmore comfortable, " the "You must go there, I made for this placefirst, " sounds very unmusical. 

There is a great quietness about the women of America (I speak ofthe exterior manner of persons casually met), but somehow orother, I should never call it gentleness. In such trying momentsas that of _fixing_ themselves on board a packet-boat, the menare prompt, determined, and will compromise any body'sconvenience, except their own. The women are doggedly stedfastin their will, and till matters are settled, look like hedgehogs, with every quill raised, and firmly set, as if to forbid theapproach of any one who might wish to rub them down. Incircumstances where an English woman would look proud, and aFrench woman _nonchalante_, an American lady looks grim; even theyoungest and the prettiest can set their lips, and knit theirbrows, and look as hard and unsocial as their grandmothers. 

Though not in the Yankee or New England country, we werebordering upon it sufficiently to meet in the stages and boatsmany delightful specimens of this most peculiar race. I likethem extremely well, but I would not wish to have any businesstransactions with them, if I could avoid it, lest, to use theirown phrase, "they should be too smart for me. "

It is by no means rare to meet elsewhere, in this working-dayworld of our's, people who push acuteness to the verge ofhonesty, and sometimes, perhaps, a little bit beyond; but, Ibelieve, the Yankee is the only one who will be found to boastof doing so. It is by no means easy to give a clear and justidea of a Yankee; if you hear his character from a Virginian, you will believe him a devil: if you listen to it from himself, you might fancy him a god--though a tricky one; Mercury turnedrighteous and notable. Matthews did very well, as far as "Iexpect, " "I calculate, " and "I guess;" but this is only theshell; there is an immense deal within, both of sweet and bitter. In acuteness, cautiousness, industry, and perseverance, heresembles the Scotch; in habits of frugal neatness, he resemblesthe Dutch; in love of lucre he doth greatly resemble the sons ofAbraham; but in frank admission, and superlative admiration ofall his own peculiarities, he is like nothing on earth buthimself. 

The Quakers have been celebrated for the pertinacity with whichthey avoid giving a direct answer, but what Quaker could ever viewith a Yankee in this sort of fencing? Nothing, in fact, canequal their skill in evading a question, excepting that withwhich they set about asking one. I am afraid that in repeating aconversation which I overheard on board the Erie canal boat, Ishall spoil it, by forgetting some of the little delicatedoublings which delighted me--yet I wrote it down immediately. Both parties were Yankees, but strangers to each other; one ofthem having, by gentle degrees, made himself pretty wellacquaninted with the point from which every one on board hadstarted, and that for which he was bound, at last attacked hisbrother Reynard thus:-

"Well, now, which way may you be travelling?"

"I expect this canal runs pretty nearly west. "

"Are you going far with it?"

"Well, now, I don't rightly know how many miles it may be. "

"I expect you'll be from New York?"

"Sure enough I have been at New York, often and often. "

"I calculate, then, 'tis not there as you stop?"

"Business must be minded, in stopping and in stirring. "

"You may say that. Well, I look then you'll be making for theSprings?"

"Folks say as all the world is making for the Springs, and Iexcept a good sight of them is. "

"Do you calculate upon stopping long when you get to yourjourney's end?"

"'Tis my business must settle that, I expect?"

"I guess that's true, too; but you'll be for making pleasure abusiness for once, I calculate?"

"My business don't often lie in that line. "

"Then, may be, it is not the Springs as takes you this line?"

"The Springs is a right elegant place, I reckon. "

"It is your health, I calculate, as makes you break your goodrules?"

"My health don't trouble me much, I guess. "

"No? Why that's well. How is the markets, sir? Are breadstuffs up?"

"I a'nt just capable to say. "

"A deal of money's made by just looking after the article at thefountain's head. "

"You may say that. "

"Do you look to be making great dealings in produce up thecountry?"

"Why that, I expect, is difficult to know. "

"I calculate you'll find the markets changeable these times?"

"No markets ben't very often without changing. "

"Why, that's right down true. What may be your biggest articleof produce?"

"I calculate, generally, that's the biggest, as I makes most by. "

"You may say that. But what do you chiefly call your mostparticular branch?"

"Why, that's what I can't justly say. "

And so they went on, without advancing or giving an inch, 'till Iwas weary of listening; but I left them still at it, when Istepped out to resume my station on a trunk at the bow of theboat, where I scribbled in my note-book this specimen of Yankeeconversation. 

The Erie canal has cut through much solid rock, and we oftenpassed between magnificent cliffs. The little falls of theMohawk form a lovely scene; the rocks over which the river runsare most fantastic in form. The fall continues nearly a mile, and a beautiful village, called the Little Falls, overhangs it. As many locks occur at this point, we quitted the boat, that wemight the better enjoy the scenery, which is of the widestdescription. Several other passengers did so likewise, and I wasmuch amused by one of our Yankees, who very civilly accompaniedour party, pointing out to me the wild state of the country, andapologizing for it, by saying, that the property all roundthereabouts had been owned by an Englishman; "and you'll excuseme, ma'am, but when the English gets a spot of wild ground likethis here, they have no notions about it like us; but theEnglishman have sold it, and if you was to see it five yearshence, you would not know it again; I'll engage there will be bythat, half a score elegant factories--'tis a true shame to letsuch a privilege of water lie idle. "

We reached Utica at twelve o'clock the following day, prettywell fagged by the sun by day, and a crowded cabin by night;lemon-juice and iced-water (without sugar) kept us alive. Butfor this delightful recipe, feather fans, and eau de Cologne, Ithink we should have failed altogether; the thermometer stood at90 degrees. 

At two, we set off in a very pleasant airy carriage for TrentonFalls, a delightful drive of fourteen miles. These falls havebecome within the last few years only second in fame to Niagara. The West Canada Creek, which in the map shows but as a paltrystream, has found its way through three miles of rock, which, atmany points, is 150 feet high. A forest of enormous cedars is ontheir summit; and many of that beautiful species of white cedarwhich droops its branches like the weeping-willow grow in theclefts of the rock, and in some places almost dip their darkfoliage in the torrent. The rock is of a dark grey limestone, and often presents a wall of unbroken surface. Near the hotel aflight of very alarming steps leads down to the bed of thestream, and on reaching it you find yourself enclosed in a deepabyss of solid rock, with no visible opening but that above yourhead. The torrent dashes by with inconceivable rapidity; itscolour is black as night, and the dark ledge of rock on which youstand, is so treacherously level with it, that nothing warns youof danger. Within the last three years two young people, thoughsurrounded by their friends, have stepped an inch too far, anddisappeared from among them, as if by magic, never to revisitearth again. This broad flat ledge reached but a short distance, and then the perpendicular wall appears to stop your fartherprogress; but there is a spirit of defiance in the mind of man;he will not be stayed either by rocks or waves. By the aid ofgunpowder a sufficient quantity of the rock has been removed toafford a fearful footing round a point, which, when doubled, discloses a world of cataracts, all leaping forward together inmost magnificent confusion. I suffered considerably before Ireached the spot where this grand scene is visible; a chainfirmly fastened to the rock serves to hang by, as you creep alongthe giddy verge, and this enabled me to proceed so far; but herethe chain failed, and my courage with it, though the rest of theparty continued for some way farther, and reported largely ofstill increasing sublimity. But my knees tottered, and my headswam, so while the rest crept onward, I sat down to wait theirreturn on the floor of rock which had received us on quittingthe steps. 

A hundred and fifty feet of bare black rock on one side, an equalheight covered with solemn cedars on the other, an unfathomedtorrent roaring between them, the fresh remembrance of theghastly legend belonging to the spot, and the idea of my childrenclinging to the dizzy path I had left, was altogether sombreenough; but I had not sat long before a tremendous burst ofthunder shook the air; the deep chasm answered from either side, again, again, and again; I thought the rock I sat upon trembled:but the whole effect was so exceedingly grand, that I had nolonger leisure to think of fear; my children immediatelyreturned, and we enjoyed together the darkening shadows cast overthe abyss, the rival clamour of the torrent and the storm, andthat delightful exaltation of the spirits which sets danger atdefiance. A few heavy rain drops alarmed us more than all theterrors of the spot, or rather, they recalled our senses, and weretreated by the fearful steps, reaching our hotel unwetted andunharmed. The next morning we were again early a foot; the lastnight's storm had refreshed the air, and renewed our strength. We now took a different route, and instead of descending, asbefore, walked through the dark forest along the cliff, sufficiently near its edge to catch fearful glimpses of the scenebelow. After some time the patch began to descend, and at lengthbrought us to the Shantee, commemorated in Miss Sedgwick'sClarence. This is by far the finest point of the falls. Thereis a little balcony in front of the Shantee, literally hangingover the tremendous whirlpool; though frail, it makes one fancyoneself in safety, and reminded me of the feeling with which Ihave stood on one side a high gate, watching a roaring bull onthe other. The walls of this Shantee are literally covered withautographs, and I was inclined to join the laugh against theegotistical trifling, when one of the party discovered "Trollope, England, " amidst the innumerable scrawls. The well knowncharacters were hailed with such delight, that I think I shallnever again laugh at any one for leaving their name where it ispossible a friend may find it. 

We returned to Utica to dinner, and found that we must eitherwait till the next day for the Rochester coach, or again submitto the packet-boat. Our impatience induced us to prefer thelatter, not very wisely, I think, for every annoyance seemed toincrease upon us. The Oneida and the Genesee country are bothextremely beautiful, but had we not returned by another route weshould have known little about it. From the canal nothing isseen to advantage, and very little is seen at all. My chiefamusement, I think, was derived from names. One town, consistingof a whiskey store and a warehouse, is called Port Byron. AtRome, the first name I saw over a store was Remus, doing infinitehonour, I thought, to the classic lore of his godfathers andgodmothers; but it would be endless to record all the drolleriesof this kind which we met with. We arrived at Rochester, adistance of a hundred and forty miles, on the second morningafter leaving Utica, fully determined never to enter a canal boatagain, at least, not in America. 

Rochester is one of the most famous of the cities built on theJack and Bean-stalk principle. There are many splendid edificesin wood; and certainly more houses, warehouses, factories, andsteam-engines than ever were collected together in the same spaceof time; but I was told by a fellow-traveller that the stumps ofthe forest are still to be found firmly rooted in the cellars. 

The fall of the Genesee is close to the town, and in the courseof a few months will, perhaps, be in the middle of it. It is anoble sheet of water, of a hundred and sixty feet perpendicularfall; but I looked at it through the window of a factory, and asI did not like that, I was obligingly handed to the door-way of asawing-mill; in short, "the great water privilege" has been soingeniously taken advantage of, that no point can be found whereits voice and its movement are not mixed and confounded withthose of the "admirable machinery of this flourishing city. "

The Genesee fall is renowned as being the last and fatal leap ofthe adventurous madman, Sam Patch; he had leaped it once before, and rose to the surface of the river in perfect safety, but thelast time he was seen to falter as he took the leap, and wasnever heard of more. It seems that he had some misgivings of hisfate, for a pet bear, which he had always taken with him on hisformer break-neck adventures, and which had constantly leapedafter him without injury, he on this occasion left behind, in thecare of a friend, to whom he bequeathed him "in case of his notreturning. " We saw the bear, which is kept at the principalhotel; he is a noble creature, and more completely tame than Iever saw any animal of the species. 

Our journey now became wilder every step, the unbroken forestoften skirted the road for miles, and the sight of a log-hut wasan event. Yet the road was, for the greater part of the day, good, running along a natural ridge, just wide enough for it. This ridge is a very singular elevation, and, by all the enquiryI could make, the favourite theory concerning it is, that it wasformerly the boundary of Lake Ontario, near which it passes. When this ridge ceased, the road ceased too, and for the rest ofthe way to Lockport, we were most painfully jumbled and joltedover logs and through bogs, till every joint was nearlydislocated. 

Lockport is beyond all comparison, the strangest looking place Iever beheld. As fast as half a dozen trees were cut down, a_factory_ was raised up; stumps still contest the ground withpillars, and porticos are seen to struggle with rocks. It looksas if the demon of machinery, having invaded the peaceful realmsof nature, had fixed on Lockport as the battle-ground on whichthey should strive for mastery. The fiend insists that thestreams should go one way, though the gentle mother had ever ledtheir dancing steps another; nay, the very rocks must fall beforehim, and take what form he wills. The battle is lost and won. Nature is fairly routed and driven from the field, and therattling, crackling, hissing, spitting demon has taken possessionof Lockport for ever. 

We slept there, dismally enough. I never felt more out of humourat what the Americans call improvement; it is, in truth, as itnow stands, a most hideous place, and gladly did I leave itbehind me. 

Our next stage was to Lewiston; for some miles before we reachedit we were within sight of the British frontier; and we made oursalaams. 

The monument of the brave General Brock stands on an elevatedpoint near Queenstown, and is visible at a great distance. 

We breakfasted at Lewiston, but felt every cup of coffee as asin, so impatient were we, as we approached the end of our longpilgrimage, to reach the shrine, which nature seems to haveplaced at such a distance from her worshippers on purpose to trythe strength of their devotion. 

A few miles more would bring us to the high altar, but first wehad to cross the ferry, for we were determined upon taking ourfirst view from British ground. The Niagara river is very lovelyhere; the banks are bold, rugged, and richly coloured, both byrocks and woods; and the stream itself is bright, clear, andunspeakably green. 

In crossing the ferry a fellow-passenger made many enquiries ofthe young boatman respecting the battle of Queenstown; he was buta lad, and could remember little about it, but he was a Britishlad, and his answers smacked strongly of his loyal Britishfeeling. Among other things, the questioner asked if manyAmerican citizens had not been thrown from the heights into theriver. 

"Why, yes, there was a good many of them; but it was right toshow them there was water between us, and you know it might helpto keep the rest of them from coming to trouble us on our ownground. "

This phrase, "our own ground, " gave interest to every mile, or Ibelieve I should have shut my eyes, and tried to sleep, that Imight annihilate what remained of time and space between me andNiagara. 

But I was delighted to see British oaks, and British roofs, andBritish boys and girls. These latter, as if to impress upon usthat they were not citizens, made bows and courtseys as wepassed, and this little touch of long unknown civility producedgreat effect. "See these dear children, mamma! do they not lookEnglish? how I love them!" was the exclamation it produced. 

CHAPTER 33

Niagara--Arrival at Forsythes--First sight of the Falls--Goat Island--The Rapids--Buffalo--Lake Erie--Canandaigna--Stage-coach adventures

At length we reached Niagara. It was the brightest day that Junecould give; and almost any day would have seemed bright thatbrought me to the object, which for years, I had languished tolook upon. 

We did not hear the sound of the Falls till very near the hotel, which overhangs them; as you enter the door you see behind thehall an open space surrounded by galleries, one above another, and in an instant you feel that from thence the wonder isvisible. 

I trembled like a fool, and my girls clung to me, trembling too, I believe, but with faces beaming with delight. We encountered awaiter who had a sympathy of some sort with us, for he would notlet us run through the hall to the first gallery, but ushered usup stairs, and another instant placed us where, at one glance, Isaw all I had wished for, hoped for, dreamed of. 

It is not for me to attempt a description of Niagara; I feel Ihave no powers for it. 

After one long, stedfast gaze, we quitted the gallery that wemight approach still nearer, and in leaving the house had thegood fortune to meet an English gentleman, (The accomplishedauthor of "Cyril Thornton. ") who had been introduced to us at NewYork; he had preceded us by a few days, and knew exactly how andwhere to lead us. If any man living can describe the scene welooked upon it is himself, and I trust he will do it. As formyself, I can only say, that wonder, terror, and delightcompletely overwhelmed me. I wept with a strange mixture ofpleasure and of pain, and certainly was, for some time, tooviolently affected in the _physique_ to be capable of muchpleasure; but when this emotion of the senses subsided, and I hadrecovered some degree of composure, my enjoyment was very greatindeed. 

To say that I was not disappointed is but a weak expression toconvey the surprise and astonishment which this long dreamed ofscene produced. It has to me something beyond its vastness;there is a shadowy mystery hangs about it which neither the eyenor even the imagination can penetrate; but I dare not dwell onthis, it is a dangerous subject, and any attempt to describe thesensations produced must lead direct to nonsense. 

Exactly at the Fall, it is the Fall and nothing else you have tolook upon; there are not, as at Trenton, mighty rocks andtowering forests, there is only the waterfall; but it is the fallof an ocean, and were Pelion piled on Ossa on either side of it, we could not look at them. 

The noise is greatly less than I expected; one can hear withperfect distinctness everything said in an ordinary tone, whenquite close to the cataract. The cause of this, I imagine to be, that it does not fall immediately among rocks, like the farnoisier Potomac, but direct and unbroken, save by its ownrebound. The colour of the water, before this rebound hides itin foam and mist, is of the brightest and most delicate green;the violence of the impulse sends it far over the precipicebefore it falls, and the effect of the ever varying light throughits transparency is, I think, the loveliest thing I ever lookedupon. 

We descended to the edge of the gulf which received the torrent, and thence looked at the horse-shoe fall in profile; it seemslike awful daring to stand close beside it, and raise one's eyesto its immensity. I think the point the most utterlyinconceivable to those who have not seen it, is the centre of thehorse-shoe. The force of the torrent converges there, and as theheavy mass pours in, twisted, wreathed, and curled together, itgives an idea of irresistible power, such as no other object everconveyed to me. 

The following anecdote, which I had from good authority, may givesome notion of this mighty power. 

After the last American war, three of our ships stationed on LakeErie were declared unfit for service, and condemned. Some oftheir officers obtained permission to send them over NiagaraFalls. The first was torn to shivers by the rapids, and wentover in fragments; the second filled with water before shereached the fall; but the third, which was in better condition, took the leap gallantly, and retained her form till it was hid inthe cloud of mist below. A reward of ten dollars was offered forthe largest fragment of wood that should be found from eitherwreck, five for the second, and so on. One morsel only was everseen, and that about a foot in length, was mashed as by a vice, and its edges notched like the teeth of a saw. What had becomeof the immense quantity of wood which had been precipitated? Whatunknown whirlpool had engulphed it, so that, contrary to the verylaws of nature, no vestige of the floating material could findits way to the surface?

Beyond the horse-shoe is Goat Island, and beyond Goat Island theAmerican fall, bold, straight, and chafed to snowy whiteness bythe rocks which meet it; but it does not approach, in sublimityor awful beauty, to the wondrous crescent on the other shore. There, the form of the mighty cauldron, into which the delugepoors, the hundred silvery torrents congregating round its verge, the smooth and solemn movement with which it rolls its massivevolume over the rock, the liquid emerald of its long unbrokenwaters, the fantastic wreaths which spring to meet it, and then, the shadowy mist that veils the horrors of its crash below, constitute a scene almost too enormous in its features for man tolook upon. "Angels might tremble as they gazed;" and I shoulddeem the nerves obtuse, rather than strong, which did not quailat the first sight of this stupendous cataract. 

Minute local particulars can be of no interest to those who havenot felt their influence for pleasure or for pain. I will nottell of giddy stairs which scale the very edge of the torrent, nor of beetling slabs of table rock, broken and breaking, onwhich, shudder as you may, you must take your stand or lose yourreputation as a tourist. All these feats were performed againand again even on the first day of our arrival, and most earthlyweary was I when the day was done, though I would not lose theremembrance of it to purchase the addition of many soft andsilken ones to my existence. 

By four o'clock the next morning I was again at the littleshantee, close to the horse-shoe fall, which seems reared inwater rather than in air, and took an early shower-bath of spray. Much is concealed at this early hour by the heavy vapour, butthere was a charm in the very obscurity; and every moment, as thelight increased, cloud after cloud rolled off, till the vastwonder was again before me. 

It is in the afternoon that the rainbow is visible from theBritish side; and it is a lovely feature in the mighty landscape. The gay arch springs from fall to fall, a fairy bridge. 

After breakfast we crossed to the American side, and exploredGoat Island. The passage across the Niagara, directly in face ofthe falls, is one of the most delightful little voyagesimaginable; the boat crosses marvellously near them, and withinreach of a light shower of spray. Real safety and apparentdanger have each their share in the pleasure felt. The river ishere two hundred feet deep. The passage up the rock brings youclose upon the American cataract; it is a vast sheet, and has allthe sublimity that height and width, and uproar can give; but ithas none of the magic of its rival about it. Goat Island has, atall points, a fine view of the rapids; the furious velocity withwhich they rush onward to the abyss is terrific; and the throwinga bridge across them was a work of noble daring. 

Below the falls, the river runs between lofty rocks, crowned withunbroken forests; this scene forms a striking contrast to thelevel shores above the cataract. It appears as if the level ofthe river had been broken up by some volcanic force. The Niagaraflows out of Lake Erie, a broad, deep river; but for severalmiles its course is tranquil, and its shores perfectly level. Bydegrees its bed begins to sink, and the glassy smoothness isdisturbed by a slight ripple. The inverted trees, that beforelay so softly still upon its bosom, become twisted and torturedtill they lose their form, and seem madly to mix in the tumultthat destroys them. The current becomes more rapid at everystep, till rock after rock has chafed the stream to fury, makingthe green one white. This lasts for a mile, and then down sinkthe rocks at once, one hundred and fifty feet, and the enormousflood falls after them. God said, let there be a cataract, andit was so. When the river has reached its new level, theprecipice on either side shows a terrific chasm of solid rock;some beautiful plants are clinging to its sides, and oak, ash, and cedar, in many places, clothe their terrors with richfoliage. 

This violent transition from level shores to a deep ravine, seemsto indicate some great convulsion as its cause, and when I heardof a burning spring close by, I fancied the volcanic power stillat work, and that the wonders of the region might yet increase. 

We passed four delightful days of excitement and fatigue; wedrenched ourselves in spray; we cut our feet on the rocks; weblistered our faces in the sun; we looked up the cataract, anddown the cataract; we perched ourselves on every pinnacle wecould find; we dipped our fingers in the flood at a few yards'distance from its thundering fall; in short, we strove to fill asmany niches of memory with Niagara as possible; and I think theimages will be within the power of recall for ever. 

We met many groups of tourists in our walks, chiefly American, but they were, or we fancied they were, but little observant ofthe wonders around them. 

One day we were seated on a point of the cliff, near the ferry, which commands a view of both the Falls. This, by the way, isconsidered as the finest general view of the scene. One of ourparty was employed in attempting to sketch, what, however, Ibelieve it is impossible for any pencil to convey an idea of tothose who have not seen it. We had borrowed two or three chairsfrom a neighbouring cottage, and amongst us had gathered aquantity of boughs which, with the aid of shawls and parasols, wehad contrived to weave into a shelter from the midday sun, sothat altogether I have no doubt we looked very cool andcomfortable. 

A large party who had crossed from the American side, wound upthe steep ascent from the place where the boat had left them; indoing so their backs were turned to the cataracts, and as theyapproached the summit, our party was the principal object beforethem. They all stood perfectly still to look at us. This firstexamination was performed at the distance of about a dozen yardfrom the spot we occupied, and lasted about five minutes, bywhich time they had recovered breath, and acquired courage. Theythen advanced in a body, and one or two of them began to examine(wrong side upwards) the work of the sketcher, in doing whichthey stood precisely between him and his object; but of this Ithink it is very probable they were not aware. Some among themnext began to question us as to how long we had been at theFalls; whether there were much company; if we were not from theold country, and the like. In return we learnt that they werejust arrived; yet not one of them (there were eight) ever turnedthe head, even for a moment, to look at the most stupendousspectacle that nature has to show. 

The company at the hotel changed almost every day. Many partiesarrived in the morning, walked to the falls; returned to thehotel to dinner, and departed by the coach immediately after it. Many groups were indescribably whimsical, both in appearance andmanner. Now and then a first-rate dandy shot in among us, like afalling star. 

On one occasion, when we were in the beautiful gallery, at theback of the hotel, which overlooks the horse-shoe fall, we sawthe booted leg of one of this graceful race protruded from thewindow which commands the view, while his person was thrown backin his chair, and his head enveloped in a cloud of tobacco smoke. 

I have repeatedly remarked, when it has happened to me to meetany ultra fine men among the wilder and more imposing scenes ofour own land, that they throw off, in a great degree, theirairs, and their "townliness, " as some one cleverly calls these_simagrees_, as if ashamed to "play their fantastic tricks"before the god of nature, when so forcibly reminded of hispresence; and more than once on these occasions I have beensurprised to find how much intellect lurked behind the inanemask of fashion. But in America the effect of fine sceneryupon this class of persons is different, for it is exactlywhen amongst it, that the most strenuous efforts at elegant_nonchalance_ are perceptible among the young exquisites of thewestern world. It is true that they have little leisure for thedisplay of grace in the daily routine of commercial activity inwhich their lives are passed, and this certainly offers asatisfactory explanation of the fact above stated. 

Fortunately for our enjoyment, the solemn character of the scenewas but little broken in upon by these gentry. Every one whocomes to Forsythe's Hotel (except Mrs. Bogle Corbet), walks tothe shantee, writes their name in a book which is kept there, and, for the most part, descends by the spiral staircase whichleads from the little platform before it, to the rocks below. Here they find another shantee, but a few yards from the entranceof that wondrous cavern which is formed by the falling flood onone side, and by the mighty rock over which it pours, on theother. To this frail shelter from the wild uproar, and theblinding spray, nearly all the touring gentlemen, and even manyof the pretty ladies, find their way. But here I often saw theirnoble daring fail, and have watched them dripping and draggledturn again to the sheltering stairs, leaving us in fullpossession of the awful scene we so dearly loved to gaze upon. How utterly futile must every attempt be to describe the spot!How vain every effort to convey an idea of the sensations itproduces! Why is it so exquisite a pleasure to stand for hoursdrenched in spray, stunned by the ceaseless roar, trembling fromthe concussion that shakes the very rock you cling to, andbreathing painfully in the moist atmosphere that seems to haveless of air than water in it? Yet pleasure it is, and I almostthink the greatest I ever enjoyed. We more than once approachedthe entrance to this appalling cavern, but I never fairly enteredit, though two or three of my party did. I lost my breathentirely; and the pain at my chest was so severe, that not all mycuriosity could enable me to endure it. 

What was that cavern of the winds, of which we heard of old, compared to this? A mightier spirit than Aeolus reigns here. 

Nor was this spot of dread and danger the only one in which wefound ourselves alone. The path taken by "the company" to theshantee, which contained the "book of names" was always the same;this wound down the steep bank from the gate of the hotel garden, and was rendered tolerably easy by its repeated doublings; but itwas by no means the best calculated to manage to advantage thepleasure of the stranger in his approach to the spot. Allothers, however, seemed left for us alone. 

During our stay we saw the commencement of another staircase, intended to rival in attraction that at present in use; it is buta few yards from it, and can in no way, I think, contribute tothe convenience of the descent. The erection of the centralshaft of this spiral stair was a most tremendous operation, andmade me sick and giddy as I watched it. After it had been madefast at the bottom, the carpenters swung themselves off therocks, by the means of ropes, to the beams which traversed it;and as they sat across them, in the midst of the spray and theuproar, I thought I had never seen life periled so wantonly. Butthe work proceeded without accident, and was nearly finishedbefore we left the hotel. 

It was a sort of pang to take what we knew must be our last lookat Niagara; but "we had to do it, " as the Americans say, and leftit on the 10th June, for Buffalo. 

The drive along the river, above the Falls, is as beautiful as aclear stream of a mile in width can make it; and the roadcontinues close to it till you reach the ferry at Black Rock. 

We welcomed, almost with a shout, the British colours which wesaw, for the first time, on Commodore Barrie's pretty sloop, the_Bull Dog_, which we passed as it was towing up the river to LakeErie, the commodore being about to make a tour of the lakes. 

At Black Rock we crossed again into the United States, and a fewmiles of horrible jolting brought us to Buffalo. 

Of all the thousand and one towns I saw in America, I thinkBuffalo is the queerest looking; it is not quite so wild asLockport, but all the buildings have the appearance of havingbeen run up in a hurry, though every thing has an air of greatpretension; there are porticos, columns, domes, and colonnades, but all in wood. Every body tells you there, as in all theirother new-born towns, and every body believes, that theirimprovement, and their progression, are more rapid, morewonderful, than the earth ever before witnessed; while to me, the only wonder is, how so many thousands, nay millions ofpersons, can be found, in the nineteenth century, who can becontent so to live. Surely this country may be said to spreadrather than to rise. 

The Eagle Hotel, an immense wooden fabric, has all thepretension of a splendid establishment, but its monstrouscorridors, low ceilings, and intricate chambers, gave me thefeeling of a catacomb rather than a house. We arrived afterthe _table d'hote_ tea-drinking was over, and supped comfortablyenough with a gentleman, who accompanied us from the Falls: butthe next morning we breakfasted in a long, low, narrow room, with a hundred persons, and any thing less like comfort canhardly be imagined. 

What can induce so many intellectual citizens to prefer theselong, silent tables, scantily covered with morsels of fried ham, salt fish and liver, to a comfortable loaf of bread with theirwives and children at home? How greatly should I prefer eatingmy daily meals with my family, in an Indian wig-wam, to boardingat a _table d'hote_ in these capacious hotels; the custom, however, seems universal through the country, at least we havemet it, without a shadow of variation as to its general features, from New Orleans to Buffalo. 

Lake Erie has no beauty to my eyes; it is not the sea, and it isnot the river, nor has it the beautiful scenery generally foundround smaller lakes. The only interest its unmeaning expansegave me, arose from remembering that its waters, there so tameand tranquil, were destined to leap the gulf of Niagara. Adreadful road, through forests only beginning to be felled, brought us to Avon; it is a straggling, ugly little place, andnot any of their "Romes, Carthages, Ithacas, or Athens, " everprovoked me by their name so much. This Avon flows sweetly withnothing but whiskey and tobacco juice. 

The next day's journey was much more interesting, for it showedus the lake of Canandaigua. It is about eighteen miles long, butnarrow enough to bring the opposite shore, clothed with richfoliage, near to the eye; the back-ground is a ridge ofmountains. Perhaps the state of the atmosphere lent an unusualcharm to the scene; one of those sudden thunderstorms, so rapidin approach, and so sombre in colouring, that they change thewhole aspect of things in a moment, rose over the mountains andpassed across the lake while we looked upon it. Another featurein the scene gave a living, but most sad interest to it. Aglaring wooden hotel, as fine as paint and porticos can make it, overhangs the lake; beside it stands a shed for cattle. To thisshed, and close by the white man's mushroom palace, two Indianshad crept to seek a shelter from the storm. The one was an agedman, whose venerable head in attitude and expression indicatedthe profoundest melancholy: the other was a youth, and in hisdeep-set eye there was a quiet sadness more touching still. There they stood, the native rightful lords of the fair land, looking out upon the lovely lake which yet bore the name theirfathers had given it, watching the threatening storm that broodedthere; a more fearful one had already burst over them. 

Though I have mentioned the lake first, the little town ofCanandaigua precedes it, in returning from the West. It is aspretty a village as ever man contrived to build. Every house issurrounded by an ample garden, and at that flowery season theywere half buried in roses. 

It is true these houses are of wood, but they are so neatlypainted, in such perfect repair, and show so well within theirleafy setting, that it is impossible not to admire them. 

Forty-six miles farther is Geneva, beautifully situated on SenecaLake. This, too, is a lovely sheet of water, and I think thetown may rival its European namesake in beauty. 

We slept at Auburn, celebrated for its prison, where thehighly-approved system of American discipline originated. Inthis part of the country there is no want of churches; everylittle village has its wooden temple, and many of them too; thatthe Methodists and Presbyterians may not clash. 

We passed through an Indian reserve, and the untouched forestsagain hung close upon the road. Repeated groups of Indianspassed us, and we remarked that they were much cleaner and betterdressed than those we had met wandering far from their homes. The blankets which they use so gracefully as mantles were aswhite as snow. 

We took advantage of the loss of a horse's shoe, to leave thecoach, and approach a large party of them, consisting of men, women, and children, who were regaling themselves with I know notwhat, but milk made a part of the repast. They could not talk tous, but they received us with smiles, and seemed to understandwhen we asked if they had mocassins to sell, for they shook theirsable locks, and answered "no. " A beautiful grove of butternuttrees was pointed out to us, as the spot where the chiefs of thesix nations used to hold their senate; our informer told me thathe had been present at several of their meetings, and though heknew but little of their language, the power of their eloquencewas evident from the great effect it produced among themselves. 

Towards the end of this day, we encountered an adventure whichrevived our doubts whether the invading white men, in chasingthe poor Indians from their forests, have done much towardscivilizing the land. For myself, I almost prefer the indigenousmanner to the exotic. 

The coach stopped to take in "a lady" at Vernon; she entered, andcompletely filled the last vacant inch of our vehicle; for "wewere eight" before. 

But no sooner was she seated, than her _beau_ came forward with amost enormous wooden best-bonnet box. He paused for a while tomeditate the possibilities--raised it, as if to place it on ourlaps--sunk it, as if to put it beneath our feet. Both alikeappeared impossible; when, in true Yankee style he addressed oneof our party with. If you'll just step out a minute, I guessI'll find room for it. "

"Perhaps so. But how shall I find room for myself afterwards?"

This was uttered in European accents, and in an instant half adozen whiskey drinkers stepped from before the whiskey store, andtook the part of the _beau_. 

"That's because you'll be English travellers I expect, but wehave travelled in better countries than Europe--we have travelledin America--and the box will go, I calculate. "

We remonstrated on the evident injustice of the proceeding, and Iventured to say, that as we had none of us any luggage in thecarriage, because the space was so very small, I thought a chancepassenger could have no right so greatly to incommode us. 

"Right!--there they go--that's just their way--that will do inEurope, may be; it sounds just like English tyranny, now don'tit? but it won't do here. " And thereupon he began thrusting inthe wooden box against our legs, with all his strength. 

"No law, sir, can permit such conduct as this. "

"Law!" exclaimed a gentleman very particularly drunk, "we makesour own laws, and governs our own selves. "

"Law!" echoed another gentleman of Vernon, "this is a freecountry, _we have no laws here_, and we don't want no foreignpower to tyrannize over us. "

295

I give the words exactly. It is, however, but fair to state, that the party had evidently been drinking more than an usualportion of whiskey, but, perhaps, in whiskey, as in wine, truthmay come to light. At any rate the people of the WesternParadise follow the Gentiles in this, that they are a law untothemselves. 

During the contest, the coachman sat upon the box without sayinga word, but seemed greatly to enjoy the joke; the question of thebox, however, was finally decided in our favour by the nature ofthe human material, which cannot be compressed beyond a certaindegree. 

For the great part of this day we had the good fortune to have agentleman and his daughter for our fellow-travellers, who wereextremely intelligent and agreeable; but I nearly got myself intoa scrape by venturing to remark upon a phrase used by thegentleman, and which had met me at every corner from the time Ifirst entered the country. We had been talking of pictures, andI had endeavoured to adhere to the rule I had laid down formyself, of saying very little, where I could say nothingagreeable. At length he named an American artist, with whoseworks I was very familiar, and after having declared him equal toLawrence (judging by his portrait of West, now at New York), headded, "and what is more, madam, he is perfectly _self-taught_. "

I prudently took a few moments before I answered; for theequalling our immortal Lawrence to a most vile dauber stuck in mythroat; I could not say Amen; so for some time I said nothing;but, at last, I remarked on the frequency with which I had heardthis phrase of _self-taught_ used, not as an apology, but aspositive praise. 

"Well, madam, can there be a higher praise?"

"Certainly not, if spoken of the individual merits of a person, without the means of instruction, but I do not understand it whenapplied as praise to his works. "

"Not understand it, madam? Is it not attributing genius to theauthor, and what is teaching compared to that?"

296

I do not wish to repeat all my own _bons mots_ in praise ofstudy, and on the disadvantages of profound ignorance, but Iwould, willingly, if I could, give an idea of the mixedindignation and contempt expressed by our companion at the ideathat study was necessary to the formation of taste, and to thedevelopment of genius. At last, however, he closed thediscussion thus, --"There is no use in disputing a point that isalready settled, madam; the best judges declare that Mr. H--g'sportraits are equal to that of Lawrence. "

"Who is it who has passed this judgement, sir?"

"The men of taste of America, madam. "

I then asked him, if he thought it was going to rain?

The stages do not appear to have any regular stations at whichto stop for breakfast, dinner, and supper. These necessaryinterludes, therefore, being generally _impromptu_, wereabominably bad. We were amused by the patient manner in whichour American fellow-travellers ate whatever was set before them, without uttering a word of complaint, or making any effort toimprove it, but no sooner reseated in the stage, than they begantheir complaints--"twas a shame"--"twas a robbery"--"twaspoisoning folks"--and the like. I, at last, asked the reason ofthis, and why they did not remonstrate? "Because, madam, noAmerican gentleman or lady that keeps an inn won't bear to befound fault with. "

We reached Utica very late and very weary; but the delights of agood hotel and perfect civility sent us in good humour to bed, and we arose sufficiently refreshed to enjoy a day's journeythrough some of the loveliest scenery in the world. 

Who is it that says America is not picturesque? I forget; butsurely he never travelled from Utica to Albany. I really cannotconceive that any country can furnish a drive of ninety-six milesmore beautiful, or more varied in its beauty. The road followsthe Mohawk River, which flows through scenes changing fromfields, waving with plenty, to rocks and woods; gentle slopes, covered with cattle, are divided from each other by precipices500 feet high. Around the little falls there is a character ofbeauty as singular as it is striking. Here, as I observed ofmany other American rivers, the stream appears to run in a muchnarrower channel than it once occupied, and the space which itseems formerly to have filled, is now covered with bright greenherbage, save that, at intervals, large masses of rock riseabruptly from the level turf; these are crowned with all suchtrees as love the scanty diet which a rock affords. Dwarf oak, cedars, and the mountain ash, are grouped in a hundred differentways among them; each clump you look upon is lovelier than itsneighbour; I never saw so sweetly wild a spot. 

I was surprised to hear a fellow-traveller say, as we passed apoint of peculiar beauty, "all this neighbourhood belongs, or didbelong, to Mr. Edward Ellice, an English Member of Parliament, but he has sold a deal of it, and now, madam, you may see as itbegins to improve;" and he pointed to a great wooden edifice, where, on the white paint, "Cash for Rags, " in letters three feethigh, might be seen. 

I then remembered that it was near this spot that my Yankeefriend had made his complaint against English indifference to"water privilege. " He did not name Mr. Edward Ellice, butdoubtless he was the "English, as never thought of improvement. "

I have often confessed my conscious incapacity for description, but I must repeat it here to apologize for my passing so dullythrough this matchless valley of the Mohawk. I would that someBritish artist, strong in youthful daring, would take my word forit, and pass over, for a summer pilgrimage through the State ofNew York. In very earnest, he would wisely, for I question ifthe world could furnish within the same space, and with equalfacility of access, so many subjects for his pencil. Mountains, forests, rocks, lakes, rivers, cataracts, all in perfection. Buthe must be bold as a lion in colouring, or he will make nothingof it. There is a clearness of atmosphere, a strength of _chiarooscuro_, a massiveness in the foliage, and a brilliance ofcontrast, that must make a colourist of any one who has an eye. He must have courage to dip his pencil in shadows black as night, and light that might blind an eagle. As I presume my youngartist to be an enthusiast, he must first go direct to Niagara, or even in the Mohawk valley his pinioned wing may droop. If hisfever run very high, he may slake his thirst at Trenton, andwhile there, he will not dream of any thing beyond it. Should myadvice be taken, I will ask the young adventurer on his return(when he shall have made a prodigious quantity of money by myhint), to reward me by two sketches. One shall be the lake ofCanandaigua; the other the Indians' Senate Grove of Butternuts. 

During our journey, I forget on which day of it, a particularspot in the forest, at some distance from the road, was pointedout to us as the scene of a true, but very romantic story. During the great and the terrible French revolution (1792), ayoung nobleman escaped from the scene of horror, having withdifficulty saved his head, and without the possibility of savingany thing else. He arrived at New York nearly destitute; andafter passing his life, not only in splendour, but in thesplendour of the court of France, he found himself jostled by thebusy population of the New World, without a dollar between himand starvation. In such a situation one might almost sigh forthe guillotine. The young noble strove to labour; but who wouldpurchase the trembling efforts of his white hands, while thesturdy strength of many a black Hercules was in the market? Heabandoned the vain attempt to sustain himself by the aid of hisfellow-men, and determined to seek a refuge in the forest. A fewshillings only remained to him; he purchased an axe, and reachedthe Oneida territory. He felled a few of the slenderest trees, and made himself a shelter that Robinson Crusoe would havelaughed at, for it did not keep out the rain. Want of food, exposure to the weather, and unwonted toil, produced the naturalresult; the unfortunate young man fell sick, and stretched uponthe reeking earth, stifled, rather than sheltered, by thewithering boughs which hung over him; he lay parched with thirst, and shivering in ague, with the one last earthly hope, that eachheavy moment would prove the last. 

Near to the spot which he had chosen for his miserable rest, buttotally concealed from it by the thick forest, was the laststraggling wigwam of an Indian village. It is not known how manydays the unhappy man had lain without food, but he was quiteinsensible when a young squaw, whom chance had brought from thiswigwam to his hut, entered, and found him alive, but totallyinsensible. The heart of woman is, I believe, pretty much thesame every where; the young girl paused not to think whether hewere white or red, but her fleet feet rested not till she hadbrought milk, rum, and blankets, and when the sufferer recoveredhis senses, his head was supported on her lap, while, with thegentle tenderness of a mother, she found means to make himswallow the restoratives she had brought. 

No black eyes in the world, be they of France, Italy, or evenof Spain, can speak more plainly of kindness, than the largedeep-set orbs of a squaw; this is a language that all nationscan understand, and the poor Frenchman read most clearly, inthe anxious glance of his gentle nurse, that he should not dieforsaken. 

So far the story is romantic enough, and what follows is hardlyless so. The squaw found means to introduce her white friend toher tribe; he was adopted as their brother, speedily acquiredtheir language, and assumed their dress and manner of life. Hisgratitude to his preserver soon ripened into love, and if thechronicle spoke true, the French noble and the American savagewere more than passing happy as man and wife, and it was not tillhe saw himself the father of many thriving children that theexile began to feel a wish of rising again from savage tocivilized existence. 

My historian did not explain what his project was in visitingNew York, but he did so in the habit of an Indian, and learntenough of the restored tranquillity of his country to give himhope that some of the broad lands he had left there might berestored to him. 

I have made my story already too long, and must not linger uponit farther than to say that his hopes were fulfilled, and that, of a large and flourishing family, some are settled in France, and some remain in America, (one of these, I understood, was alawyer at New York), while the hero and the heroine of the talecontinue to inhabit the Oneida country, not in a wigwam, however, but in a good house, in a beautiful situation, with all thecomforts of civilized life around them. 

Such was the narrative we listened to, from a stage coachcompanion; and it appears to me sufficiently interesting torepeat, though I have no better authority to quote for itstruth, than the assertion of this unknown traveller. 

CHAPTER 34

Return to New York--Conclusion

The comfortable Adelphi Hotel again received us at Albany, on the14th of June, and we decided upon passing the following daythere, both to see the place, and to recruit our strength, whichwe began to feel we had taxed severely by a very fatiguingjourney, in most oppressively hot weather. It would have beendifficult to find a better station for repose; the rooms werelarge and airy, and ice was furnished in most profuse abundance. 

But notwithstanding the manifold advantages of this excellenthotel, I was surprised at the un-English arrangement communicatedto me by two ladies with whom we made a speaking acquaintance, by which it appeared that they made it their permanent home. These ladies were a mother and daughter; the daughter was anextremely pretty young married woman, with two little children. Where the husbands were, or whether they were dead or alive, Iknow not; but they told me they had been _boarding_ there abovea year. They breakfasted, dined, and supped at the _tabled'hote_, with from twenty to a hundred people, as accident mightdecide; dressed very smart, played on the piano, in the publicsitting-room, and assured me they were particularly comfortableand well accommodated. What a life!

Some parts of the town are very handsome; the Town Hall, theChamber of Representatives, and some other public buildings, stand well on a hill that overlooks the Hudson, with ampleenclosures of grass and trees around them. 

Many of the shops are large, and showily set out. I was amusedby a national trait which met me at one of them. I entered it topurchase some _eau de Cologne_, but finding what was offered tome extremely bad, and very cheap, I asked if they had none at ahigher price, and better. 

"You are a stranger, I guess, " was the answer. "The Yankees wantlow price, that's all; they don't stand so much for goodness asthe English. "

Nothing could be more beautiful than our passage down the Hudsonon the following day, as I thought of some of my friends inEngland, dear lovers of the picturesque, I could not but exclaim, "Que je vous plains! que je vous plains! Vous ne la verrez pas. "

Not even a moving panoramic view, gliding before their eyes foran hour together, in all the scenic splendour of Drury Lane, orCovent Garden, could give them an idea of it. They could onlysee one side at a time. The change, the contrast, the ceaselessvariety of beauty, as you skim from side to side, the liquidsmoothness of the broad mirror that reflects the scene, and mostof all, the clear bright air through which you look at it; allthis can only be seen and believed by crossing the Atlantic. 

As we approached New York the burning heat of the day relaxed, and the long shadows of evening fell coolly on the beautifulvillas we passed. I really can conceive nothing more exquisitelylovely than this approach to the city. The magnificent boldnessof the Jersey shore on the one side, and the luxurious softnessof the shady lawns on the other, with the vast silvery streamthat flows between them, altogether form a picture which may wellexcuse a traveller for saying, once and again, that the Hudsonriver can be surpassed in beauty by none on the outside ofParadise. 

It was nearly dark when we reached the city, and it was withgreat satisfaction that we found our comfortable apartments inHudson Street unoccupied; and our pretty, kind (Irish) hostesswilling to receive us again. We passed another fortnight there;and again we enjoyed the elegant hospitality of New York, thoughnow it was offered from beneath the shade of their beautifulvillas. In truth, were all America like this fair city, and all, no, only a small proportion of its population like the friends weleft there, I should say, that the land was the fairest in theworld. 

But the time was come to bid it adieu! The important business ofsecuring our homeward passage was to be performed. One must knowwhat it is to cross the ocean before the immense importance ofall the little details of accommodation can be understood. Theanxious first look: into the face of the captain, to ascertain ifhe be gentle or rough; another, scarcely less important, in thatof the steward, generally a sable one, but not the lessexpressive; the accurate, but rapid glance of measurement thrownround the little state-rooms; another at the good or badarrangement of the stair-case, by which you are to stumble up andstumble down, from cabin to deck, and from deck to cabin; allthis, they only can understand who have felt it. At length, however, this interesting affair was settled, and most happily. The appearance promised well, and the performance bettered it. We hastened to pack up our "trumpery, " as Captain Mirvenunkindly calls the paraphernalia of the ladies, and among therest, my six hundred pages of griffonage. There is enough of it, yet I must add a few more lines. 

I suspect that what I have written will make it evident that I donot like America. Now, as it happens that I met with individualsthere whom I love and admire, far beyond the love and admirationof ordinary acquaintance, and as I declare the country to be fairto the eye, and most richly teeming with the gifts of plenty, Iam led to ask myself why it is that I do not like it. I wouldwillingly know myself, and confess to others, why it is thatneither its beauty nor its abundance can suffice to neutralize, or greatly soften, the distaste which the aggregate of myrecollections has left upon my mind. 

I remember hearing it said, many years ago, when the advantagesand disadvantages of a particular residence were being discussed, that it was the "who?" and not the "where?" that made thedifference between the pleasant or unpleasant residence. Thetruth of the observation struck me forcibly when I heard it; andit has been recalled to my mind since, by the constantlyrecurring evidence of its justness. In applying this to America, I speak not of my friends, nor of my friends' friends. The smallpatrician band is a race apart; they live with each other, andfor each other; mix wondrously little with the high matters ofstate, which they seem to leave rather supinely to their tailorsand tinkers, and are no more to be taken as a sample of theAmerican people, than the head of Lord Byron as a sample of theheads of the British peerage. I speak not of these, but of thepopulation generally, as seen in town and country, among the richand the poor, in the slave states, and the free states. I do notlike them. I do not like their principles, I do not like theirmanners, I do not like their opinions. 

Both as a woman, and as a stranger, it might be unseemly for meto say that I do not like their government, and therefore I willnot say so. That it is one which pleases themselves is mostcertain, and this is considerably more important than pleasingall the travelling old ladies in the world. I entered thecountry at New Orleans, remained for more than two years west ofthe Alleghanies, and passed another year among the Atlanticcities, and the country around them. I conversed during thistime with citizens of all orders and degrees, and I never heardfrom any one a single disparaging word against their government. It is not, therefore, surprising, that when the people of thatcountry hear strangers questioning the wisdom of theirinstitutions, and expressing disapprobation at some of theireffects, they should set it down either to an incapacityof judging, or a malicious feeling of envy and ill-will. 

"How can any one in their senses doubt the excellence of a agovernment which we have tried for half a century, and loved thebetter the longer we have known it. " Such is the natural enquiryof every American when the excellence of their government isdoubted; and I am inclined to answer, that no one in theirsenses, who has visited the country, and known the people, candoubt its fitness for them, such as they now are, or its utterunfitness for any other people. . 

Whether the government has made the people what they are, orwhether the people have made the government what it is, to suitthemselves, I know not; but if the latter, they have shown aconsummation of wisdom which the assembled world may look uponand admire. 

It is a matter of historical notoriety that the original stock ofthe white population now inhabiting the United States, werepersons who had banished themselves, or were banished from themother country. The land they found was favourable to theirincrease and prosperity; the colony grew and flourished. Yearsrolled on, and the children, the grand-children, and the greatgrand-children of the first settlers, replenished the land, andfound it flowing with milk and honey. That they should wish tokeep this milk and honey to themselves, is not very surprising. What did the mother country do for them? She sent them out gayand gallant officers to guard their frontier; the which theythought they could guard as well themselves; and then she taxedtheir tea. Now, this was disagreeable; and to atone for it, thedistant colony had no great share in her mother's grace andglory. It was not from among them that her high and mighty werechosen; the rays which emanated from that bright sun of honour, the British throne, reached them but feebly. They knew not, theycared not, for her kings nor her heroes; their thriftiest traderwas their noblest man; the holy seats of learning were but thecradles of superstition; the splendour of the aristocracy, but aleech that drew their "golden blood. " The wealth, the learning, the glory of Britain, was to them nothing; the having their ownway every thing. 

Can any blame their wish to obtain it? Can any lament that theysucceeded?

And now the day was their own, what should they do next? Theirelders drew together, and said, "Let us make a government thatshall suit us all; let it be rude, and rough, and noisy; let itnot affect either dignity, glory, or splendour; let it interferewith no man's will, nor meddle with any man's business; let ushave neither tithes nor taxes, game laws, nor poor laws; letevery man have a hand in making the laws, and no man be troubledabout keeping them; let not our magistrates wear purple, nor ourjudges ermine; if a man grow rich, let us take care that hisgrandson be poor, and then we shall all keep equal; let every mantake care of himself, and if England should come to bother usagain, why then we will fight altogether. "

Could any thing be better imagined than such a government for apeople so circumstanced? Or is it strange that they arecontented with it? Still less is it strange that those who havelived in the repose of order, and felt secure that their countrycould go on very well, and its business proceed without theirbawling and squalling, scratching and scrambling to help it, should bless the gods that they are not republicans. 

So far all is well. That they should prefer a constitution whichsuits them so admirably, to one which would not suit them at all, is surely no cause of quarrel on our part; nor should it be suchon theirs, if we feel no inclination to exchange the institutionswhich have made us what we are, for any other on the face of theearth. 

But when a native of Europe visits America, a most extraordinaryspecies of tyranny is set in action against him; and as far as myreading and experience have enabled me to judge, it is such as noother country has ever exercised against strangers. 

The Frenchman visits England; he is _abime d'ennui_ at ourstately dinners; shrugs his shoulders at our _corps de ballet_, and laughs _a gorge deployee_ at our passion for driving, andour partial affection for roast beef and plum pudding. TheEnglishman returns the visit, and the first thing he does onarriving at Paris, is to hasten to _le Theatre des Varietes_, that he may see "_Les Anglaises pour rire_, " and if among thecrowd of laughters, you hear a note of more cordial mirth thanthe rest, seek out the person from whom it proceeds, and youwill find the Englishman. 

The Italian comes to our green island, and groans at our climate;he vows that the air which destroys a statue cannot be wholesomefor man; he sighs for orange trees, and maccaroni, and smiles atthe pretensions of a nation to poetry, while no epics arechaunted through her streets. Yet we welcome the sensitivesouthern with all kindness, listen to his complaints withinterest, cultivate our little orange trees, and teach ourchildren to lisp Tasso, in the hope of becoming more agreeable. 

Yet we are not at all superior to the rest of Europe in ourendurance of censure, nor is this wish to profit by it allpeculiar to the English; we laugh at, and find fault with, ourneighbours quite as freely as they do with us, and they join thelaugh, and adopt our fashions and our customs. These mutualpleasantries produce no shadow of unkindly feeling; and as longas the governments are at peace with each other, the individualsof every nation in Europe make it a matter of pride, as well asof pleasure, to meet each other frequently, to discuss, compare, and reason upon their national varieties, and to vote it a markof fashion and good taste to imitate each other in all theexternal embellishments of life. 

The consequence of this is most pleasantly perceptible at thepresent time, in every capital of Europe. The long peace hasgiven time for each to catch from each what was best in customsand manners, and the rapid advance of refinement and generalinformation has been the result. 

To those who have been accustomed to this state of things, thecontrast upon crossing to the new world is inconceivablyannoying; and it cannot be doubted that this is one great causeof the general feeling of irksomeness, and fatigue of spirits, which hangs upon the memory while recalling the hours passed inAmerican society. 

A single word indicative of doubt, that any thing, or everything, in that country is not the very best in the world, produces an effect which must be seen and felt to be understood. If the citizens of the United States were indeed the devotedpatriots they call themselves, they would surely not thus encrustthemselves in the hard, dry, stubborn persuasion, that they arethe first and best of the human race, that nothing is to belearnt, but what they are able to teach, and that nothing isworth having, which they do not possess. 

The art of man could hardly discover a more effectual antidote toimprovement, than this persuasion; and yet I never listened toany public oration, or read any work, professedly addressed tothe country, in which they did not labour to impress it on theminds of the people. 

To hint to the generality of Americans that the silent current ofevents may change their beloved government, is not the way toplease them; but in truth they need be tormented with no suchfear. As long as by common consent they can keep down thepre-eminence which nature has assigned to great powers, as longas they can prevent human respect and human honour from restingupon high talent, gracious manners, and exalted station, so longmay they be sure of going on as they are. 

I have been told, however, that there are some among them whowould gladly see a change; some, who with the wisdom ofphilosophers, and the fair candour of gentlemen, shrink from aprofession of equality which they feel to be untrue, and believeto be impossible. 

I can well believe that such there are, though to me no suchopinions were communicated, and most truly should I rejoice tosee power pass into such hands. 

If this ever happens, if refinement once creeps in among them, ifthey once learn to cling to the graces, the honours, the chivalryof life, then we shall say farewell to American equality, andwelcome to European fellowship one of the finest countries on theearth. 

THE END