..^J>^'
^
DOMESTIC MANNERS
OF
THE AMERICANS.
LONDON:
GILBERT & RIVINGTON, PRINTERS,
ST. JOHN'S SQl'ARE.
EX TPEBJE HEStCirLEM.
DOMESTIC MANNERS
OF
THE AMERICANS.
BY MRS. TROLLOPE.
" On me dit que pourvu que je ne parle ni de I'autorite, ni du culte, ni de la
politique, ni de la morale, ni des gens en place, ni de I'opera, ni des autres
spectacles, ni de personne qui tieune a quelque chose, je puis tout imprimer
librement," — Mariage de Figaro.
THIRD EDITION.
VOL. II.
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR WHITl^AKER, TREACHER, & CO.
.■^VE M.IRIA LANE.
1832.
6958S6
^■^^.
ro,
CONTENTS
TO
VOLUME II.
CHAPTER XX..
PAGE
Voyage to Washington — Capitol — City of Washington —
Congress — Indians — Funeral of a Member of Congress . . 1
CHAPTER XXI.
Stonington — Great Falls of the Potomac 33
CHAPTER XXII.
Small Landed Proprietors — Slavery 40
CHAPTER XXTII.
Fruits and Flowers of Maryland and Virginia — Copper-head
Snake — Insects — Elections 58
CHAPTER XXIV.
Journey to Philadelphia — Chesapeak and Delaware Canal —
City of Philadelphia — Miss Wright's Lecture 70
vi CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXV.
PAGE
Washington Square — American Beauty — Gallery of Fine
Arts — Antiques — Theatres — Museum 79
CHAPTER XXVI.
Quakers — Presbyterians — Itinerant Methodist Preacher —
Market — Influence of Females in Society 92
CHAPTER XXVII.
Return to Stoningrton — Thunder-storm — Emigrants — Illness
— Alexandria 114
CHAPTER XXVIII.
American Cooking — Evening Parties — Dress — Sleighing —
Money-getting Habits— Tax-Gatherer's Notice — Indian
Summer — Anecdote of the Duke of Saxe- Weimar 129
CHAPTER XXIX.
Literature — Extracts — Fine Arts — Education 151
CHAPTER XXX.
Journey to New York — Delaware River — Stage-coach — City
of New York — Collegiate Institute for Young Ladies —
Theatres — Public Garden — Churches — Morris Canal —
Fashions — Carriages 183
CHAPTER XXXI.
Reception of Captain Basil Hall's Book in the United States 216
CONTENTS. vii
CHAPTER XXXII.
PAGE
Journey to Niagara — Hudson — West Point — Hyde Park —
Albany — Yankees — Trenton Falls — Rochester — Genesee
Falls— Lockport 234
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Niagara — Arrival at Forsythes — First sight of the Falls —
Goat Island — The Rapids — Buffalo — Lake Erie — Canan-
daigua — Stage-coach Adventures 256
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Return to New York — Conclusion 289
DOMESTIC MANNERS
OF TUE
AMERICANS.
CHAPTER XX,
Voyage to Wasliington — Capitol — City of IVashing-
ton — Congress — Indians — Funeral of a Member
of Congress.
By far the shortest route to Washington, both
as to distance and time, is by land ; but I much
wished to see the celebrated Chesapeake bay, and
it was therefore decided that we should take our
passage in the steam-boat. It is indeed a beautiful
little voyage, and well worth the time it costs ; but
as to the beauty of the bay, it must, I tliink, be felt
only by sailors. It is, I doubt not, a fine shelter
for ships, from the storms of the Atlantic, but its
very vastness prevents its striking the eye as beau-
tiful: it is, in fact, only a fine sea view. But the
VOL. II. B
4 DOMESTIC MANNERS
entrance from it into the Potomac river is verj^
noble, and is one of the points at which one feels
conscious of the gigantic proportions of the country-,
without having recourse to a graduated pencil-case.
The passage up this river to Wasliington is in-
teresting, from many objects that it passes, but
beyond all else, by the view it aifords of Mount
Vernon, the seat of General Washington. It is
there that this truly great man passed the last
years of his virtuous life, and it is there that he lies
buried : it was easy to distinguish, as we passed,
the cypress that waves over his grave.
The latter part of the voyage shows some fine
river scenery ; but I did not discover this till some
months afterwards, for we now arrived late at niffiit.
Our first object the next morning was to get a
sight of the capitol, and our impatience sent us
forth before breakfast. The mists of morning still
hung around tliis magnificent building wlien lirst
it broke upon our view, and I am not sure that
the effect produced was not the greater for tliis
circumstance. At all events, we were struck with
admiration and surprise. None of us, I believe,
expected to see so imposing a structure on that
9
OF THE AMERICANS.
side the Atlantic. I am ill at describing buildings,
but the beauty and majesty of the American capitol
might defy an abler pen than mine to do it justice.
It stands so finely too, high, and alone.
The magnificent western fagade is approached
from the city by terraces and steps of bolder pro-
portions than I ever before saw. The elegant
eastern front, to which many persons give the pre-
ference, is on a level with a newly-planted but
exceedingly handsome enclosure, which, in a few
years, will offer the shade of all the most splendid
trees which flourish in the Union, to cool the brows
and refresh the spirits of the members. The Aiew
from the capitol commands the city and many miles
around, and it is itself an object of imposing beauty
to the whole country adjoining.
We were again fortunate enough to find a very
agreeable family to board with; and soon after
breakfast left our comfortless hotel near the water,
for very pleasant apartments in F. street*.
I was delighted with the whole aspect of Wash-
* The streets that intersect the great avenues in Washington
are distinguished by the letters of the alphabet.
B 2
4 DOMESTIC MANNERS
ington ; light, cheerful, and airy, it reminded me
of our fashionable watering-places. It has been
laughed at by foreigners, and even by natives,
because the original plan of the city was upon an
enormous scale, and but a very small part of it has
been as yet executed. But I confess I see nothing
in the least degree ridiculous about it ; the original
design, which was as beautiful as it was extensive,
has been in no way departed from, and all that
has been done has been done well. From the base
of the hill on which the capitol stands extends a
street of most magnificent width, planted on each
side with trees, and ornamented by many splendid
shojDs. This street, which is called Pennsylvania
Avenue, is above a mile in length, and at the end
of it is the handsome mansion of the President ;
conveniently near to his residence are the various
public offices, all handsome, simple, and commo-
dious; ample areas are left round each, where
grass and shrubs refresh the eye. In another of
the principal streets is the general post-office, and
not far from it a very noble town-hall. Towards the
quarter of the President's house are several hand-
some dwellings, which are chiefly occupied by the
OF THE AMERICANS. O
foreign ministers. The houses in the other parts of
the city are scattered, but without ever losing sight
of the regularity of the original plan ; and to a person
who has been travelling much through the country,
and marked the immense quantity of new manu-
factories, new canals, new rail-roads, new towns,
and new cities, which are springing, as it were,
from the earth in every part of it, the appearance
of the metropolis rising gradually into life and
splendour, is a spectacle of high historic interest.
Commerce had already produced large and
handsome cities in America before she had a,ttained
to an individual political existence, and Wash-
ington may be scorned as a metropolis, where such
cities as Philadelphia and New York exist ; but I
considered it as the growing metropolis of the
growing population of the Union, and it already
possesses features noble enough to sustain its dig-
nity as such.
The residence of the foreign legations and their
families gives a tone to the society of this city
which distinguishes it greatly from all others. It
is also, for a great part of the year, the residence
of the senators and representatives, who must be
b3
6
DOMESTIC MANNERS
presumed to be the elite of the entire body of ci-
tizens, both in respect to talent and education.
This cannot fail to make Washington a more agree-
able abode than any other city in the Union.
The total absence of all sights, sounds, or smells
of commerce, adds greatly to the charm. Instead
of di*ays you see handsome carriages ; and instead
of the busy bustling hustle of men, shuffling on to
a sale of " diy goods" or " prime broad stuffs,"
you see very well-dressed personages lounging
leisurely up and down Pennsylvania Avenue.
Mr. Pishey Thompson, the English bookseller,
with his pretty collection of all sorts of pretty
literature, fresh from London, and Mr. Somebody,
the jeweller, with his brilliant shop full of trinkets,
are the principal points of attraction and business.
What a contrast to all other American cities ! The
members, who pass several months every year in
this lounging easy way, with no labour but a httle
talldng, and with the douceur of eight dollars a
day to pay them for it, must feel the change sadly
when their term of public service is over.
There is another circumstance which renders
the evening parties at Washington extremely un-
OF THE AMERICANS. 7
like those of other places in the Union ; this is the
great majority of gentlemen. The expense, the
trouhle, or the necessity of a ruhng eye at home,
one or all of these reasons, prevents the members'
ladies from accompanying them to Washington ;
at least, I heard of very few who had their wives
with them. The female society is chiefly to be
found among the famihes of the foreign ministers,
those of the officers of state, and of the few mem-
bers^ the wealthiest and most aristocratic of the
land, who bring their famihes with them. Some
few independent persons reside in or near the city,
but this is a class so thinly scattered that they can
hardly be accounted a part of the population.
But, strange to say, even here a theatre cannot
be supported for more than a few weeks at a time.
I was told that gambling is the favourite recreation
of the gentlemen, and that it is carried to a very
considerable extent ; but here, as elsewhere within
the country, it is kept extremely well out of sight.
I do not think I w^as present with a pack of cards
a dozen times during more than three years that
I remained in the comitry. BiUiards are much
played, though in most places the amusement is
B 4
8 DOMESTIC MANNERS
illegal. It often appeared to me that the old
women of a state made the laws, and the young
men broke them.
Notwithstanding the diminutive size of the city,
we found much to see, and to amuse us.
The patent office is a curious record of the
fertility of the mind of man when left to its own
resources ; but it gives ample proof also that it is
not under such circumstances it is most usefully
employed. This patent office contains models of
all the mechanical inventions that have been pro-
duced in the Union, and the number is enormous.
I asked the man who showed these, v^^hat propor-
tion of them had been brought into use ; he said
about one in a thousand ; he told me also, that
they chiefly proceeded from mechanics and agri-
culturists settled in remote^ parts of the country,
who had began by endeavouring to hit upon some
contrivance to enable them to get along without
sending some thousand and odd miles for the thing
they wanted. If the contrivance succeeded, they
generally became so fond of this offspring of their
ingenuity, that they brought it to Washington for
a patent.
OF THE AMERICANS. U
At the secretary of state's office we were shown
autographs of all the potentates with whom the
Union were in alliance ; which, I believe, pretty
well includes all. To the parchments bearing these
royal signs manual were appended, of course, the
official seals of each, enclosed in gold or silver
boxes of handsome workmanship ; I was amused
by the manner in ^^■hich one of their own, just
prepared for the court of Russia, was displayed to
us, and the superiority of their decorations pointed
out. They were superior, and in much better
taste than the rest ; and I only wish that the feel-
ing that induced this display would spread to
every corner of the Union, and mix itself with
every act and with every sentiment. Let America
give a fair portion of her attention to the arts and
the graces that embelhsh life, and I will make her
another visit, and write another book as unlike
this as possible.
Among the royal signatures, the only ones whicli
much interested me were two from the hand of
Napoleon. The earliest of these, when he was
first consul, was a most illegible scrawl, and, as
the tradition went, was WTitten on horseback ; but
B 5
10 DOMESTIC MANNERS
liis writing improved greatly after he became an
emperor, the subsequent signature being firmly and
clearly v/ritten. — I longed to steal both.
The purity of the American character, formed
and founded on the purity of the American govern-
ment, was made evident to oiu* senses by the dis-
j)lay of all the offerings of esteem and regard which
had been presented by various sovereigns to the
different American ministers who had been sent to
their courts. The object of the law wliich exacted
tliis deposit from every individual so honoured,
was, they told us, to prevent the possibility of
bribery being used to corrupt any envoy of the
Republic. I should think it would be a better
way to select for the office such men as they felt
could not be seduced by a sword or a snuff-box.
But they, doubtless, know their own lousiness best.
The bureau for Indian affairs contains a room
of great interest : the walls are entirely covered
with original portraits of all the chiefs who, from
time to time, have come to negociate with their
great father, as they call the President. These
portraits are by Mr. King, and, it cannot be
doubted, are excellent likenesses, as are all the
OF THE AMERICANS. 11
portraits I have ever seen from the hands of that
gentleman. The countenances are full of ex-
pression, but the expression in most of them is
extremely similar ; or rather, I should say that
they have but two sorts of expression ; the one is
that of very noble and warhke daring, the other
of a gentle and naive simplicity, that has no mix-
ture of folly in it, but which is inexpressibly
engaging, and the more touching, perhaps, because
at the moment we were looking at them, those
very hearts which lent the eyes such meek and
friendly softness, were wrung by a base, cruel, and
most oppressive act of their great father.
We were at Washington at the time that the
measure for chasing the last of several tribes of
Indians from their forest homes, was canvassed in
congress, and finally decided upon by the Jiat
of the President. If the American character may
be judged by their conduct in this matter, they are
most lamentably deficient in every feeling of honour
and integrity. It is among themselves, and from
themselves, that I have heard the statements which
represent them as treacherous and false almost be-
yond behef in their intercourse with the unhappy
B 6
12 DOMESTIC MANNERS
Indians. Had I, during my residence in the United
States, observed any single feature in their national
character that could justify their eternal boast of
liberality and the love of freedom, I might have
respected them, however much my taste might
have been offended by what was peculiar in their
manners and customs. But it is impossible for
any mind of common honesty not to be revolted by
the contradictions in their principles and practice.
They inveigh against the governments of Europe,
because, as they say, they favour the powerful and
oppress the weak. You may hear this declaimed
upon in Congress, roared out in taverns, discussed
in every di-awing-room, satirized upon the stage,
nay, even anathematized from the pulpit : hsten
to it, and then look at them at home ; you will see
them with one hand hoisting the cap of liberty,
and with the other flogging their slaves. You \^-ill
see them one hour lecturing their mob on the in-
defeasible rights of man, and the next di-i\-in2-
from their homes the chikh-en of the soil, whom
they have bound themselves to protect by the most
solemn treaties.
In justice to those who approve not this trea-
OF THE AMERICANS. 13
cherous policy, I will quote a paragraph from a
New York paper, which shows that there are some
ainong them who look with detestation on the
l)old had measvu'e decided upon at Washington in
the year 1830.
" We know of no suhject, at the present mo-
ment, of more importance to the character of our
country for justice and integrity than that which
relates to the Indian trihes in Georgia and Ala-
hama, and particularly the Cherokees in the
former state. The Act passed by Congress, just at
the end of the session, co-operating with the ty-
rannical and iniquitous statute of Geoi'gia, strikes
a formidable blow at the reputation of the United
States, in respect to their faith, pledged in almost
innumerable instances, in the most solemn treaties
and compacts."
There were many objects of much interest shown
us at this Indian bureau ; but, from the pecuhar
circumstances of this most unhappy and ill-used
people, it was a very painful interest.
The dresses worn by the chiefs when their por-
traits were taken, are many of them splendid, from
the embroidery of beads and other ornaments ; and
14 DOMESTIC MANNERS
the room contains many specimens of their inge-
nuity, and even of their taste. There is a glass
case in the room, wherein are arranged specimens
of worked muslin, and other needle-work, some
very excellent hand-writing, and many other little
productions of male and female Indians, all prov-
ing clearly that they are perfectly capable of ci\il-
ization. Indeed, the circumstance which renders
their expulsion from their own, their native lands,
so peculiarly lamentable, is, that they were yield-
ing rapidly to the force of example; their lives
were no longer those of wandering hunters, but
they were becoming agriculturists, and the ty-
rannical arm of brutal power has not now 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 advancing knowledge had taught
them to make comfortable ; from the newly-
ploughed fields of their pride ; and from the crops
their sweat had watered. And for what ? To add
some thousand acres of territory to the half-peopled
wilderness which borders them.
*******
OF THE AMERICANS. 15
The Potomac, on arriving at Washington, makes
a beautiful sweep, which forms a sort of bay, round
which the city is built. Just where it makes the
turn, a wooden bridge is thro^\^l across, connect-
ing the shores of Maryland and Virginia. This
bridge is a mile and a quarter in length, and is
ugly enough *. The navy-yard and arsenal are
just above it, on the Maryland side, and make a
handsome appearance on the edge of the river,
following the sweep above mentioned. Near the
arsenal (much too near) is the penitentiary, which,
as it was just finished, and not inhabited, we exa-
mined in every part. It is built for the purpose
of solitary confinement for Hfe. A gallows is a
much less nerve-shaking spectacle than one of
these a^\^ful cells, and assuredly, when imprison-
ment therein for life is substituted for death, it is
no mercy to the criminal ; but if it be a greater
terror to the citizen, it may answer the purpose
better. I do not conceive, that out of a hundred
human beings who had been thus confined for a
* It has since been washed away by the breaking up of the
frost of February, 1831.
16 DOMESTIC MANNERS
year, one would be found at the end of it who
would continue to linger on there, certain it was
for ever, if the alternative of being hanged were
offered to them. I had written a description of
these horrible cells, but Captain Hall's picture of
a similar building is so accurate and so clear, that
it is needless to insert it.
Still following the sweep of the river, at the
distance of two miles from Washington, is George
Town, formerly a place of considerable commercial
importance, and likely, I think, to become so again,
when the Ohio and Chesapeake canals, which
there mouths into the Potomac, shall be in full
action. It is a very pretty town, commanding a
lovely view, of which the noble Potomac and the
almost nobler capitol, are the great features. The
country rises into a beautiful line of hills behind
Washington, which form a sort of undidating ter-
race on to George Town ; tliis terrace is almost
entirely occupied by a succession of gentlemen's
seats. At George Town the Potomac suddenly
contracts itself, and begins to assume that rapid,
rocky, and irregular character which marks it after-
wards, and renders its course, till it meets the
OF THE AMERICANS. 17
Shenandoah at Harper's Ferry, a series of the most
wild and romantic views that are to he found in
America.
Attending the deUates in Congress was, of course,
one of our great ohjects ; and, as an Enghsh
woman, I was perhaps the more eager to avail
myself of the privilege allowed. It was repeatedly
observed to me that, at least in this instance, I
must acknowledge the superior gallantry of the
Americans, and that they herein give a decided
proof of surpassing the English in a wish to honour
the ladies, as they have a gallery in the House of
Representatives erected expressly for them, while
in England they are rigorously excluded from every
part of the House of Commons.
But the inference I draw from this is precisely
the reverse of that suggested. It is well known
that the reason why the House of Commons was
closed against ladies was, that their presence was
found too attractive, and that so many members
were tempted to neglect the business before the
House, that they might enjoy the pleasure of con-
versing with the fair critics in the galleries, that it
became a matter of national importance to banish
18 DOMESTIC MANNERS
them — and they were banished. It will be long
ere the American legislature will find it necessary
to pass the same law for the same reason. A lady
of Washington, however, told me an anecdote
which went far to show that a more intellectual
turn in the women would produce a change in the
manners of the men. She told me, that when the
Miss Wrights were in Washington, with General
Lafayette, they very frequently attended the de-
bates, and that the most distinguished members
were always crowding round them. For this un-
wonted gallantry they apologized to their beautiful
countrywomen by saying, that if they took equal
interest in the debates, the galleries would be
always thronged by the members.
The privilege of attending these debates would
be more valuable could the speakers be better
heard from the gallery ; but, with the most earnest
attention, I could only follow one or two of the
orators, whose voices were peculiarly loud and
clear. This made it really a labour to listen ; but
the extreme beauty of the chamber was of itself a
reason for going again and again. It was, however,
really mortiiying to see this splendid hall, fitted
. / Htrvtta ai-/'
/-■■H.'U'^il'U.
jy/rjSMMBM &f eOJVG-MMSS „
OF THE AMERICANS. 19.
up in SO stately and sumptuous a manner, filled
with men sitting in the most unseemly attitudes,
a large majority with their hats on, and nearly all
spitting to an excess that decency forbids me to
describe.
Among the crowd, who must be included in this
description, a few were distinguished by not wear-
ing their hats, and by sitting on their chairs like
other human beings, without throwing their legs
above their heads. Wlienever I inquired the
name of one of these 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 sofas between the pillars, on the floor of
the House; the galleries being shut up, for the
pm'pose of making some alterations, which it was
hoped might improve the hearing in that part of
the House occupied by the members, and which
is universally complained of, as being very de-
fective *. But in our places on the sofas we
* 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 speak-
20 DOMESTIC MANNERS
found we heard very much better than up stairs,
and well enough to be extremely amused by the
rude eloquence of a thorough hoi'se and alhgator
orator from Kentucky, who entreated the house
repeatedly to " go the whole hog."
If I mistake not, every debate I listened to in
the American Congress was upon one and the
same subject, namely, the entire independence of
each individual state, with regard to the federal
government. The jealousy on this point appeared
to me to be the very strangest political feeHng that
ever got possession of the mind of man. I do not
pretend to judge the merits of this question. I
speak solely of the very singular effect of seeing
man after man start eagerly to his feet, to declare
that the greatest injury, the basest injustice, the
most obnoxious tyranny that could be practised
against the state of which he was a member,
would be a vote of a few milHon dollars for the
ing 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."
OF THE AMERICANS. 21
purpose of making their roads or canals ; or for
drainage ; or, in short, for any purposes of improve-
ment whatsoever.
During the month we were at Washington, I
heard a great deal of conversation respecting a
recent exclusion from Congress of a gentleman,
who, by every account, was one of the most es-
teemed men in the House, and, I think, the father
of it. The crime for which this gentleman was
out-^'oted by his own particular friends and ad-
mirers was, that he had given his vote for a grant
of public money for the purjiose of draining a most
lamentable and unhealthv district, called " the
dismal sic amp T
One great boast of the country is, that they have
no national debt, or that they shall have none in
two years. This seems not very wonderful, con-
sidering their productive tariff, and that the in-
come paid to their ]3i'esident is 6,000/. j^er annum ;
other government salaries being in proportion,
and all internal improvements, at the expense
of the government treasury, being voted uncon-
stitutional.
The Senate-chamber is, like the Hall of Con-
22 DOMESTIC MANNERS
gress, a semicircle, but of very much smaller
dimensions. It is most elegantly fitted up, and
what is better still, the senators, generally speak-
ing, look like gentlemen. They do not wear their
hats, and the activity of youth being happily
past, they do not toss their heels above their
heads. I would I could add they do not spit ;
but, alas ! " I have an oath in heaven," and may
not write an untruth.
A very handsome room, opening on a noble
stone balcony is fitted up as a Hbrary for the mem-
bers. The collection, as far as a very cursory
view could enable me to judge, was very hke that
of a private English gentleman, but with less
Latin, Greek, and Italian. This room also is
elegantly furnished ; rich Brussels carpet ; hbrary
tables, with portfolios of engravings ; abund-
ance of sofas, and so on. The view from it is
glorious, and it looks like the abode of luxury and
taste.
I can by no means attempt to describe all the
apartments of this immense building, but the
magnificent rotunda in the centre must not be
left unnoticed. It is, indeed, a noble hall, a
OF THE AMERICANS. 23
hundred feet in diameter, and of an imposing
loftiness, lighted by an ample dome.
Almost any pictures (excepting the cartoons)
would look paltry in this room, from the immense
height of the walls ; but the subjects of the four
pictures which are placed there are of such high
historic interest that they should certainly have a
place somewhere, as national records. One repre-
sents the signing of the declaration of inde-
pendence; another the resignation of the pre-
sidency by the great "Washington ; another the
celebrated victory of General Gates at Saratoga ;
and the fourth . . . . I do not well remember,
but I think it is some other martial scene, com-
memorating a victory ; I rather think that of York
Town.
One other object in the capitol must be men-
tioned, though it occurs in so obscure a part of the
building, that one or two members 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 of business. In a
hall leading to some of these rooms, the ceiling is
24 DOMESTIC MANNERS
supported by pillars, the capitals of wliich struck
me as peculiarly beautiful. They are composed
of the ears and leaves of the Indian corn, beauti-
fully arranged, and forming as graceful an outline
as the acanthus itself. This was the only instance
I saw, in which America has ventured to attempt
national originahty ; the success is perfect. A
sense of fitness always enhances the effect of
beauty. I will not attempt a long essay on the
subject, but if America, in her vastness, her im-
mense natural resources, and her remote grandeur,
would be less imitative, she would be infinitely
more picturesque and interesting.
The President has regular evening parties, every
other Wednesday, wliich are called his levees;
the last syllable is pronounced by every one as
long as possible, being exactly the reverse of the
French and English manner of pronouncino- the
same word. The efi'ect of this, from the ver}
frequent repetition of the word in all companies,
is very droll, and for a long time I thought people
were quizzing these public days. The reception
rooms are handsome, particularly the grand saloon,
which is elegantly, nay, splendidly furnished;
OF THE AMERICANS. 25
this has been done since the visit of Captain Hall,
whose remarks upon the former state of this room
may have hastened its decoration ; but there are
a few anomalies in some parts of the entertainment,
v^liich are not very courtly. The company are
about as select as that of an Easter-day ball at the
Mansion-house.
The churches at Washington are not superb ;
but the Episcopalian and Catholic were filled with
elegantly dressed women. I observed a greater
proportion of gentlemen at church at Wasliington
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 much less puritanical
than that of most other American towns ; the
people walk about, and there are no chains in the
streets, as at Philadelphia, to prevent their riding
or driving, if they hke it.
The ladies di'ess well, but not so splendidly as
at Baltimore. I remarked that it was not very
unusual at Washington for a lady to take the arm
of a gentleman, who was neither her husband,
her father, nor her brother. This remarkable
VOL. II. c
26 DOMESTIC MANNERS
relaxation of American decorum has been probably
introduced by the foreign legations.
At about a mile from the town, on the high
terrace-ground above described, is a very pretty
place, to which the proprietor has given the name
of Kaleirama. It is not large, or in any way
magnificent, but the view from it is charming ; and
it has a Httle wood behind, covering about two
hundred acres of broken ground, that slopes down
to a dark cold little river, so closely shut in by
rocks and evergreens, that it might serve as a
noon-day bath for Diana and her npnphs. The
whole of this wood is filled with wild flowers, but
such as we cherish fondly in our gardens.
A ferry at George Tovni crosses the Potomac,
and about two miles from it, on the Virginian side,
is Arlington, the seat of Mr. Custis, who is the
grandson of General Washington's wife. It is a
noble-looking place, ha\'ing a portico of stately
white columns, which, as the mansion stands high,
with a back-ground of dark woods, forms a beau-
tiful object in the landscape. At George Town
is a nunneiy, where many young ladies are edu-
cated, and at a little distance from it, a college of
OF THE AMERICANS. 27
Jesuits for the education of young men, wliere, as
their advertisements state, " the humanities are
taught."
We attended mass at the chapel of the nunnery,
where the female voices that performed the chant
were very pleasing. The shadoAvy form of the
veiled abbess in her little sacred parlour, seen
through a grating and a black ciu*tain, but rendered
clearly visible by the light of a Gothic window
behind her, drew a good deal of our attention ;
every act of genuflexion, even the teUing her
beads, was discernible, but so mistily, that it gave
her indeed the appearance of a being who had
already quitted this life, and was hovering on the
confines of the world of shadows.
The convent has a considerable inclosure at-
tached to it, where I frequently saw, from the
heights above it, dark figures in awfully thick black
veils walking solemnly up and down.
The American lady, who was the subject of one
of Prince Hohenlohe's celebrated miracles, was
pointed out to us at Washington. All the world
declare that her recovery was marvellous.
*******
c 2
28 DOMESTIC MANNERS
There appeared to be a great many foreigners
at Washington, particularly French. In Paris I
have often observed that it was a sort of fashion
to speak of America as a new Utopia, especially
among the young liberals, who, before the happy
accession of PhiUp, fancied that a country without
a king was the land of promise ; but I sometimes
tliought that, like many other fine things, it lost
j)art of its brilliance when examined too nearly ; I
overheard the following question and answer pass
between two yovmg Frenchmen, who appeared to
liave met for the first time.
" Eh bien. Monsieur, comment trouvez-vous la
liberte et I'egalite mises en action?"
" Mais, Monsieur, je vous avoue que le beau
ideal que nous autres, nous avons con^u de tout
cela a Paris, avait quelque chose de plus poetique
que ce que nous trouvons ici !"
On another occasion I was excessively amused
])v the tone in wliich one of these young men
repUed to a question put to him by another
Frenchman. A pretty-looking woman, but ex-
ceedingly deficient in tournure, was standing
alone at a little distance from them, and close at
OF THE AMERICANS. 29
their elbows stood a very awkward-looking gentle-
man. " Qui est cette dame?" said the inquirer.
" Monsieiu'," said my young fat, with an inde-
scribable grimace, "c'est la femelle de ce male,"
indicating his neighbour by an expressive curl of
his upper lip.
The theatre was not open while we were in
Washington, but we afterwards took advantage of
our vicinity to the city to visit it. The house is
very small, and most astonishingly dirty and void
of decoration, considering that it is the only place
of pubhc amusement that the city affords. I have
before mentioned the want of decorum at the Cin-
cinnati theatre, but certainly that of the capital
at least rivalled it in the freedom of action and
attitude; a freedom which seems to disdain the
restraints of civilized manners. One man in
the pit was seized with a \dolent fit of vomiting,
which appeared not in the least to annoy or
surprise his neighbours; and the happy coin-
cidence of a physician being at that moment per-
sonated on the stage, was hailed by many of the
audience as an excellent joke, of which the actor
took advantage, and elicited shouts of applause
c 3
30
DOMESTIC MANNERS
by saying, " I expect my semces are wanted
elsewhere."
The spitting was incessant ; and not one in ten
of the male part of the illustrious legislative audi-
ence sat according to the usual custom of human
beings ; the legs were thrown sometimes over the
front of the box, sometimes over the side of it ;
here and there a senator stretched his entire length
along a bench ; and in many instances the front rail
was prefeiTed as a seat.
I remarked one young man, whose handsome
person, and most elaborate toilet, led me to con-
clude he was a first-rate personage, and so I doubt
not he was ; nevertheless, I saw him take from the
pocket of his silk waistcoat a lump of tobacco, and
daintily deposit it within liis cheek.
I am incKned to think this most vile and uni-
versal habit of chewing tobacco is the cause of a
remarkable peculiarity in the male physiognomy
of Americans ; their lips are almost uniformly
thin and compressed. At first I accounted for
this upon Lavater's theory, and attributed it to
the arid temperament of the people ; but it is too
universal to be so explained; whereas the habit
OF THE AMERICANS. 31
above mentioned, which pervades all classes, (ex-
cepting the literary) well accounts for it, as the
act of expressing the juices of this loathsome herb
enforces exactly that position of the lips, which
gives this remarkable peculiarity to the American
countenance.
A member of Congress died while we were at
Washington, and I was sui-prised by the ceremony
and dignity of his funeral. It seems that when-
ever a senator or member of Congress dies during
the session, he is buried at the expense of the
government (this ceremony not coming under the
head of internal improvement), and the arrange-
ments for the funeral are not interfered with by
his friends, but become matters of State. I tran-
scribed the order of the procession as being rather
grand and stately.
Chaplains of both Houses.
Physicians who attended the deceased.
Committee of arrangement.
THE BODY,
(Pall borne by six members.)
The Relations of tlie deceased, with the Senators and Repre-
sentatives of the State to which he belonged, as
Mourners.
c 4
Oii .DOMESTIC MANNERS
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, and the majority of the carriages were
hired for the occasion. The body was interred in
an open " grave-yard" near the city. I did not see
the monument erected on this occasion, but I pre-
sume it was in the same style as several others I
had remarked in the same burying-ground, in-
scribed to the memory of members who had died
at Washington. These were square blocks of
masonry without any pretension to splendour.
OF THE AMERICANS.
33
CHAPTER XXL
Stonington — Great Falls of the Potomac,
The greatest pleasure I had promised myself in
visiting- Washington was the seeing a very old
friend, who had left England many years ago, and
married in America ; she was now a widovv^, and,
as I believed, settled in Washington. I soon had
the mortification of finding that she was not in the
city ; but ere long I learnt that her residence was
not more than ten miles from it. We speedily
met, and it was settled that we should pass the
summer with her in Maryland, and after a month
devoted to Washington, we left it for Stonington.
We arrived there the beginning of May, and the
kindness of our reception, the interest we felt in
becoming acquainted with the family of my friend,
the extreme beauty of the surrounding country,
c 5
34
DOMESTIC MANNERS
and the lovely season, altogether, made our stay
there a period of great enjoyment.
I wonder not that the first settlers in Virginia,
with the bold Captain Smith of chivalrous me-
mory at their head, should have fought so stoutly
to dispossess the vahant father of Pocohontas of
his fair domain, for I certainly never saw a more
tempting territory. Stonington is about two miles
from the most romantic point of the Potomac
River, and Virginia spreads her wild, but beau-
tiful, and most fertile Paradise, on the opposite
shore. The Maryland side partakes of the same
character, and perfectly astonished us by the pro-
fusion of her wild fruits and flowers.
We had not been long within reach of the great
falls of the Potomac before a party was made for us
to visit them ; the walk from Stonington to these
falls is through scenery that can hardly be called
forest, park, or garden ; but which partakes of all
three. A little English girl accompanied us, who
had but lately left her home ; she exclaimed, Oh !
how many English ladies would glory in such a
garden as this !" and in truth they might ; cedars,
tulip-trees, planes, shumacs, junipers, and oaks of
OF THE AMERICANS. 35
various kinds, most of them new to us, shaded our
path. Wild vines, with their rich expansive
leaves, and their sweet blossom, rivalling the
mignonette in fragrance, clustered round their
branches. Strawberries in full bloom, violets,
anemonies, heart's-ease, and wild pinks, with many
other, and still loveKer flowers, which my ignorance
forbids me to name, literally covered the ground.
The arbor judfe, the dog- wood, in its fullest glory
of star-like flowers, azalias, and wild roses, dazzled
our eyes whichever way we turned them. It was
the most flowery two miles I ever walked.
The sound of the falls is heard at Stonington,
and the gradual increase of this sound is one of
the agreeable features of this delicious walk. I
know not why the rush of waters is so delightful
to the ear ; all other monotonous sounds are wea-
rying, and harass the spirits, but I never met any
one who did not love to listen to a water-fall. A
rapid stream, called the " Branch Creek," was to
be crossed ere we reached the spot where the falls
are first visible. This rmnbling, turbid, angry
little rivvdet, flows through evergreens and flowering
underwood, and is crossed a plusieurs reprises^
c 6
36 DOMESTIC MANNERS
by logs thrown from rock to rock. The thundering
noise of the still unseen falls suggests an idea of
danger while crossing these rude bridges, which
hardly belongs to them ; having reached the other
side of the creek, we continued under the shelter
of the evergreens for another quarter of a mile, and
then emerged upon a sight that drew a shout of
wonder and delight from vis all. The rocky depths
of an enormous river were opened before our eyes,
and so huge are the black crags that inclose it,
tliat the thundering torrents of water rushing
through, over, and among the rocks of this a\\'ful
Cliasm, appear lost and swallowed up in it.
The river, or rather the bed of it, is here of
great width, and most frightful depth, Kned on all
sides with huge masses of black rock of every
imaginable form. The flood that roars through
them is seen only at intervals ; here in a full
hea\7- sheet of green transparent water, falling
straight and unbroken ; there dashing along a
narrow channel, with a violence that makes one
dizzy to see and hear. In one place an un-
fathomed pool shows a mirror of inky blackness,
and as still as night ; in another the tortured
OF THE AMERICANS. 37
twisted cataract tumbles headlong in a dozen
diiFerent torrents, half hid by the cloud of spray
they send high into the air. Despite this uproar,
the slenderest, loveliest shrubs, peep forth from
among these hideous rocks, like children smiling
in the midst of danger. As we stood looking at
this tremendous scene, one of our friends made us
remark, that the poison alder, and the poison
vine, threw their graceful, but perfidious branches,
over every rock, and assured us also that innu-
merable tribes of snakes found their dark dwellings
among them.
To call tliis 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 gulf
which yawns before you, the foaming, roaring
cataract, the eddying wliirlpool, and the giddy
precipice, all seem to threaten life, and to appal
the senses. Yet it was a great delight to sit upon
a high and jutting crag, and look and listen.
I heard \dth pleasure that it was to the Vir-
ginian side of the Potomac that the " felicity
hunters " of Washington resorted to see this fearful
38 DOMESTIC MANNERS
wonder, for I never saw a spot where I should less
have Uked the annoying " how d'ye" of a casual
rencontre. One could not even give or receive
the exciting "is it not charming," which Rousseau
talks of, for if it were uttered, it could not be
heard, or, if heard, would fall most earthly dull on
the spirit, when rapt by the magic of such a
scene. A look, or the silent pressure of the arm,
is all the interchange of feeling that such a scene
allows, and in the midst of my terror and my
pleasure, I wished for the arm and the eye of some
few from the other side of the Atlantic.
The return from such a scene is more soberly
silent than the approach to it ; but the cool and
quiet hour, the mellowed tints of some gay blos-
soms, and the closed bells of others, the drowsy
hum of the insects that siu'vive the day, and the
moist freshness that forbids the foot to weary in
its homeward path, have all enjojonent in them,
and seem to harmonize vnth. the half-wearied, half
excited state of spirits, that such an excursion is
sure to produce : and then the entering the cool
and moonlit portico, the well-iced sangarce, or
still more refreshing coffee, that awaits you, is all
9
OF THE AMERICANS. 39
delightful; and if to this be added the happiness
of an easy sofa, and a friend like my charming
Mrs. S , to soothe you ^vith an hour of Mo-
zart, the most fastidious European might allow
that such a day was worth waking for.
40 DOMESTIC MANNERS
CHAPTER XXII.
Small Landed Proprietors — Slavery.
I NOW, for the iii-st time since I crossed the
mountains, found myself sufficiently at leisure to
look deliberately round, and mark the diiFerent
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, as Amsterdam from St.
Petersburg. There every man was straining, and
strugghng, and striving for himself (heaven knows!)
Here every white man was waited upon, more or
less, by a slave. There, the newly-cleared lands,
rich with the vegetable manure accumulated for
ages, demanded the slightest labour to return the
richest produce ; where the plough entered, crops
the most abundant followed; but where it came
not, no spot of native verdure, no native fi'uits, no
OF THE AMERICANS. 41
native flowers cheered the eye ; all was close,
dark, stifling forest. Here the soil had long ago
yielded its first fruits ; much that had been
cleared and cultivated for tobacco (the most ex-
hausting of crops) by the English, required careful
and laborious husbandry to produce any return ;
and much was left as sheep-walks. It was in
these spots that the natural bounty of the soil and
climate was displayed by the innumerable wild
fruits and flowers which made every dingle and
bushy dell seem a garden.
On entering the cottages I found also a great
difference in the manner of li\ang. Here, indeed,
there were few cottages without a slave, but there
were fewer still that had their beef-steak and
onions for breakfast, dinner, and supper. The
herrings of the bountiful Potomac supply their
place. These are excellent " rehsh," as they call
it, when salted, and, if I mistake not, are sold at a
dollar and a half per thousand. Wliiskey, how-
ever, flows every where at the same fatally cheap
rate of twenty cents (about one shilling) the gal-
lon, and its hideous effects are visible on the
countenance of every man you meet.
42 DOMESTIC MANNERS
The class of people the most completely unlike
any existing in England, are those who, farming
their own freehold estates, and often possessing
several slaves, yet Kve with as few of the refine-
ments, and I think I may say, with as few of the
comforts of hfe, as the very poorest Enghsh pea-
sant. AVlien 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, two children, a female slave, and two
young lads, slaves also. The farm belonged to the
wife, and, I was told, consisted of about three hun-
dred acres of indifferent land, but all cleared. The
house was built of wood, and looked as if the three
slaves might have overturned it, had they pushed
hard against the gable end. It contained one
room, of about twelve feet square, and another ad-
joining it, hardly larger than a closet ; this second
chamber was the lodging-room of the white part
of the family. Above these rooms was a loft,
without windows, where I was told the " staying
OF THE AMERICANS. 43
company" who visited tliem, were lodged. Near
this mansion was a " shanty," a black hole, with-
out any wmdow, wliich served as a kitchen and all
other offices, and also as the lodging of the
blacks.
We were imdted to take tea with this family,
and readily consented to do so. The furniture of
the room was one heavy huge table, and about six
wooden chairs. When we arrived the lady was in
rather a dusky dishabille, but she vehemently urged
us to be seated, and then retired into the closet-
chamber above mentioned, whence she continued
to address to us from behind the door all kinds of
^' genteel country visitmg talk," and at length
emerged upon us in a smart new dress.
Her female slave set out the great table, and
placed upon it cups of the very coarsest blue ware,
a Httle brown sugar in one, and a tiny drop of milk
in another, no butter, though the lady assured us
she had a " deary" and two cows. Instead of
butter, she " hoped we would fix a little rehsh
with our crackers," in ancient English, eat salt
meat and dry biscuits. Such was the fare, and for
guests that certainly were intended to be honoured.
44 DOMESTIC MANNERS
I could not help recalling the delicious repasts
which I remembered 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
delicious cream, herself spread the yellow butter
on the delightful brown loaf, and placed her curds,
and her junket, and all the delicate treasures of
her 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 not think
the difference atoned for, by the dignity of having
■my cup handed to me by a slave. The lady I now
visited, however, greatly surpassed my quondam
friends in the refinement of her conversation.
She ambled through the whole time the \-isit lasted,
in a sort of elegantly mincing familiar style of
gossip, which, I tliink, she was imitating from
some novel, for I was told she was a great novel
reader, and left all household occupations to be
performed by her slaves. To say she addi-essed us
in a tone of equahty, will give no adequate idea
of her manner; I am persuaded that no misgi-sing
OF THE AMERICANS. 45
on the subject ever entered lier head. She told us
that their estate was her d'n'i-de7id of her father's
property. She had married a first cousin, who
was as fine a gentleman as she was a lady, and as
idle, preferring Imnting (as they call shooting)
to any other occupation. The consequence was,
that but a very small portion of the di\i-de?2d was
cultivated, 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 this miseiy, the lanky
lady said to one of the young negroes, " Attend
to vour young master, L3'curgus," must have been
heard to be conceived in the full extent of its mock
heroic.
Another dwelling of one of these landed pro-
prietors was a hovel as wretched as the one
above described, but there was more industry
within it. The gentleman, indeed, was himself
one of the numerous tribe of re2:ular whiskev
drinkers, and was rarely capable of any work ; but
he had a family of twelve children, who, with their
skeleton mother, worked much harder than I ever
saw negroes do. They were, accordingly, much
46 DOMESTIC MANNERS
less elegant and much less poor than the heu'ess ;
yet they lived with no appearance of comfort, and
with, I believe, notliing beyond the necessaries of
hfe. One proof of this was, that the worthless
father would not suffer them to raise, even by their
own labour, any garden vegetables, and they lived
upon their fat pork, salt fish, and corn bread,
summer and winter, without variation. This I
found was frequently the case among the farmers.
The luxury of whiskey is more appreciated by the
men than all the green delicacies from the garden,
and if all the ready money goes for that and their
darling chewing tobacco, none can be spent by the
wife for garden seeds ; and as far as my obser\'a-
tion extended, I never saw any American menage
where the toast and no toast question would have
been decided in favour of the lady.
There are some small farmers who hold their
lands as tenants, but these are by no means
numerous ; they do not pay their rent in money,
but by making over a third of the produce to the
owner ; a mode of paying rent considerably more
advantageous to the tenant than the landlord ; but
the difficulty of obtaining money in payment, ex-
OF THE AMERICANS. 47
cepting for mere retail articles, is very great in all
American transactions. " I can pay in pro-c7wce,"
is the offer which I was assured is constantly made
on all occasions, and if rejected, " Then I guess we
can't deal," is the usual rejoinder. This statement
does not, of course, include the great merchants of
great cities, but refers to the mass of the people
scattered over the country; it has, indeed, been
my object, in speaking of the customs of the people,
to give an idea of what they are generally.
The effect produced upon Enghsh people by the
sight of slavery in every direction is very new, and
not very agreeable, and it is not the less painfully
felt from hearing upon every breeze the mocking
words, " All men are born free and equal." One
must be in the heart of American slavery, fully to
appreciate that wonderfully fine passage in Moore's
Epistle to Lord Viscount Forbes, which describes
perhaps more faithfully, as well as more power-
fully, the political state of America, than any thing
that has ever been written upon it.
Oh ! Freedom, Freedom, liow I hate thy cant !
Not eastern bombast, nor the savage rant
48 DOMESTIC MANNERS
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 bf ute !
OF THE AMERICANS. 49
The condition of domestic slaves, however, does
not generally appear to be bad; but the vigly
feature is, that should it be so, they have no power
to change it. I have seen much kind attention
bestowed upon the health of slaves ; but it is on
these occasions impossible to forget, that did this
' attention fail, a valuable piece of property would
be endangered. Unhappily the slaves, too, know
this ; and the consequence is, that real kindly feel-
ing very rarely can exist between the parties. It
is said that slaves born in a family are attached to
the children of it, who have grown up with them.
This may be the case where the petty acts of
infant tyranny have not been sufficient to conquer
the kindly feeling naturally produced by long and
early association ; and this sort of attachment may
last as long as the slave can be kept in that state
of profound ignorance which precludes reflection.
The law of Virginia has taken care of this. The
State legislators may truly be said to be " wiser
in their generation than the children of hght,"
and they ensure their safety by forbidding light to
enter among them. By the law of Virginia it is
penal to teach any slave to read, and it is penal
VOL. ir, D
50 DOMESTIC MANNERS
to be aiding and abetring in the act of instructing
them. This law speaks volumes. Domestic slaves
are, generally speaking, tolerably well fed, and
decently clothed ; and the mode in which tliey
are lodged seems a matter of srreat indifference to
thcni. They are rarely exposed to the lash, and
thev are carefully niu^ed in sickness. These are
the favourable features of their situation. The sad
one is, that they may be sent to the south and
sold. Tliis is the dread of all the slaves north of
Louisiana. The sugar plantations, and more than
all, tlie rice grounds of Georgia and tlie Carolinas,
are the terror of .\jnerican negroes ; and well they
may be, for they open an early grave to thousands;
and to avoid loss, it is needful to make their pre-
vious labour pay their value.
There is something in the system of breeding
and rearing nesToes in the Northern States, for the
express purpose of sending them to be sold in the
Soutli, that strikes painfully against every feeling
of justice, mercy, or common humanity. During
my residence in America I became perfectly per-
suaded that the state of a domestic slave in a gen-
tleman's femily was preferable to that of a hired
Vn ^11113 I 8 t5
OF THE AMERICANS. 51
American "help," both because they are more
cared for and valued, and because their condition
being born with them, their spirits do not struggle
against it with that pining discontent wliich seems
the lot of all free servants in America, But the
case is vddely different with such as, in their own
persons, or those of their children, " loved in vain,"
are exposed to the dreadful traffic above men-
tioned. In what is their condition better than
that of the kidnapped negroes on the coast of
A&ica? Of the horror in which this enforced
migration is held I had a strong proof during our
stay in Virginia. The father of a young slave, who
belonged to the lady with whom we boarded, was
destined to this fate, and within an hour after it
was made knowai to him, he sharpened the hatchet
with which he had been felling timber, and with
his right hand severed his left from the wrist.
But this is a subject on wliich I do not mean to
dilate ; it has been lately treated most judiciously
by a far abler hand *. Its effects on the moral
feehngs and external manners of the people are
• See Captain Hall's Travels in America.
D 2
52 DOMESTIC MANNERS
all I wish to observe upon, and these are unques-
tionably most injurious. The same man who
beards his wealthier and more educated neighbour
witli tlie bullying boast, " I'm as good as you,"
turns to his slave, and knocks him down, if the
furrow he has ploughed, or the log he has felled,
please not tliis stickler for equality. There is
a glaring falsehood on the very surface of such
a man's principles that is revolting. It is not
among the higher classes that the possession of
slaves produces the worst effects. Among the
poorer class of landholders, who are often as
profoundly ignorant as the negroes they own, the
effect' of this plenary power over males and females
is most demoralising; and the kind of coarse,
not to say brutal, authority wliich is exercised,
furnishes the most disgusting moral spectacle
I ever witnessed. In all ranks, however, it ap-
peared to me that the greatest and best feehngs
of the human heart were paralyzed by the relative
positions of slave and o\mer. The characters,
the hearts of children, are irretrievably injured
by it. In Virginia we boarded for some time in a
family consisting of a wddow and her four daughters.
OF THE AMERICANS.
5S
and I there \vitnessed a scene strongly indicative
of the effect I have mentioned. A young female
slave, about eight years of age, had found on the
shelf of a cupboard a biscuit, temptingly buttered,
of which she had eaten a considerable portion
before she was observed. The butter had been
copiously sprinkled with arsenic for the destruc-
tion of rats, and had been thus most incautiously
placed by one of the young ladies of the family.
As soon as the circumstance was known, the lady
of the house came to consult me as to what had
best be done for the poor child ; I immediately
mixed a large cup of mustard and water (the most
rapid of all emetics) and got the little girl to
swallow^ it. The desired effect was instantly pro-
duced, but the poor child, partly from nausea, and
partly from the terror of hearing her death pro-
claimed by half a dozen voices round her, trembled
so violently that I thought she would fall. I sat
down in the court where we were standing, and, as
a matter of course, took the little sufferer in my
lap. I observed a general titter among the white
members of the family, while the black stood
aloof, and looked stupified. The youngest of the
D 3
54 DOMESTIC MANNERS
family, a little girl about the age of the young
slave, after gazing at me for a few moments in
utter astonishment, exclaimed, " My! if Mrs.
Trollope has not taken her in her lap, and -w-iped
her nasty mouth ! Why I would not have touched
her mouth for two hundred dollars !"
The little slave was laid on a bed, and I re-
turned to my own apartments ; some time after-
wards I sent to inquire for her, and learnt that she
was in great pain. I immediately went myself to
inquire farther, when another young lady of the
family, the one by whose imprudence the accident
had occui-red, met my anxious enquiries with ill-
suppressed mirth — told me they had sent for the
doctor — and then burst into uncontrollable laugh-
ter. The idea of really sjnnpathising in the suffer-
ings of a slave appeared to them as absurd as
weeping over a calf that had been slaughtered by
the butcher. The daughters of my hostess were as
lovely as features and complexion could make them;
but the neutralizing effect of this total want of
feeling upon youth and beauty, must be \vitnessed,
to be conceived.
There seems in general a strong feeling through-
OF THE AMERICANS. 55
out America, that none of the negro race can be
trusted ; and as fear, according to their notions, is
the only principle by which a slave can be actu-
ated, it is not wonderful if the imputation be just.
But I am persuaded that were a different mode
of moral treatment pursued, most important and
beneficial consequences would result from it. Ne-
groes are very sensible to kindness, and might, I
think, be rendered more profitably obedient by the
practice of it towards them, than by any other
mode of disciphne whatever. To emancipate them
entirely throughout the Union cannot, I conceive,
be thought of, consistently with the safety of the
coimtry ; but were the possibility of amelioration
taken into the consideration of the legislature, with
all the %\'isdom, justice, and mercy, that could be
brought to bear upon it, the negro population of
the Union might cease to be a terror, and their
situation no longer be a subject either of indigna-
tion or of pity.
I observed every where, throughout the slave
states, that all articles which can be taken and
consumed are constantly locked up, and in large
families, where the extent of the establishment
D 4
56 DOMESTIC MANNERS
multiplies the number of keys, these are deposited
in a basket, and consigned to the care of a little
negress, who is constantly seen following her mis-
tress's steps with this basket on her arm, and this,
not only that the keys may be always at hand,
but because, should they be out of sight one mo-
ment, that moment would infallibly be employed
for purposes of plunder. It seemed to me in this
instance, as in many others, that the close per-
sonal attendance of these sable shadows, must be
very annoying ; but whenever I mentioned it, I
was assured that no such feeling existed, and that
use rendered them almost unconscious of their
presence.
I had, indeed, frequent opportunities of obsendng
this habitual indifference to the presence of their
slaves. They talk of them, of their condition, of
their faculties, of their conduct, exactly as if they
were incapable of hearing. I once saw a young
lady, who, when seated at table between a male
and a female, was induced by her modesty to in-
trude on the chair of her female neighbour to avoid
the indelicacy of touching the elbow of a man. I
once saw this very young lady lacing her stays
OF THE AMERICANS. 57
with the most perfect composure before a negro
footman. A Virginian gentleman told me that
ever since he had married, he had been accus-
tomed to have a negro girl sleep in the same
chamber with himself and his wife. I asked i'or
what piu'pose tliis noctui'nal attendance was neces-
sary ? " Good heaven !" was the reply, " if I
wanted a glass of water during the night, what
would become of me ?"
1) o
58 POMESTIC MANNERS
CHAPTER XXIII.
Fruits and Flowers of Maryland and Virginia —
Copper-head Snake — Insects — Elections.
Our summer in Mar^'land, (1830,) was delightful.
The thermometer stood at 94, but the heat was by
no means so oppressive as what we had felt in the
West. In no part of North America are the na-
tural productions of the soil more various, or more
beautiful. Strawberries of the richest flavour
sprung beneath our feet ; and when these past
away, every grove, every lane, every field looked
like a cherry orchard, offering an inexhaustible
profusion of fruit to all who would take the trouble
to gather it. Then followed the peaches ; every
hedge-row was planted with them, and though
the fruit did not equal in size or flavour those
ripened on our garden walls, we often found them
good enough to afibrd a delicious refreshment on
OF THE AMERICANS. 59
our long rambles. But it was the flowers, and the
flowering shrubs that, beyond all else, rendered
this region the most beautiful I had ever seen,
(the Alleghanv always excepted.) Xo description
can give an idea of the variety, the profusion, the
luxuriance of them. If I talk of wild roses, the
EngHsh reader will fancy I mean the pale ephe-
meral blossoms of o\rr bramble hedges ; but the
w-Hd roses of !Mar^"land and Virginia mi^ht be the
choicest favourites of the flower crarden. Thev are
rarely ver\- double, but the brilliant eye atones for
this. They are of all shades, from tlie deepest
crimson to the tenderest pink. The scent is rich
and delicate ; in size thev exceed anv simjle roses
I ever saw. often measurincr above four inches in
diameter. The leaf greatlv resembles that of the
china rose; it is large, dark, firm, and brilliant.
The sweetbrier grows wild, and blossoms abund-
antly; both leaves and flowers are considerabh'
larger than with us. The acacia, or as it is there
called, the locust, blooms with great richness and
profusion ; I have gathered a branch less than a
foot long, and counted twelve full bundles of
flowers on it. The scent is equal to the orange-
D 6
60 DOMESTIC MANNERS
flower. The dog\vood is another of the splendid
white blossoms that adorn the woods. Its lateral
branches are flat, like a fan, and dotted all over
with star-like blossoms, as large as those of the
gum-cistus. Another pretty shrub, of smaller size,
is the poison alder. It is well that its noxious
qualities are very generally kno^\^l, for it is most
tempting to the eye by its delicate fringe-like
bunches of white flowers. Even the touch of this
shrub is poisonous, and produces ^•iolent swelling.
The arbor judae is abundant in every wood, and its
bright and delicate pink is the earliest harbinger
of the American spring. Azalias, white, yellow,
and pink ; kalmias of every variety, the too sweet
magnolia, and the stately rhododendron, all grow
in wild abundance there. The plant known in
England as the Virginian creeper, is often seen
climbing to the top of the highest forest trees, and
bearing a large trumpet-shaped blossom of a rich
scarlet. The sassafras is a beautiful shrub, and I
cannot imagine why it has not been naturalized in
England, for it has every appearance of being ex-
tremely hardy. The leaves grow in tufts, and
every tuft contains leaves of five or six different
OF THE AMERICANS. 61
forms. The fruit is singularly beautiful ; it resem-
bles in form a small acorn, and is jet black ; the
cup and stem looking as if they were made of red
coral. The graceful and fantastic grapevine is a
feature of great beauty, and its wandering festoons
bear no more resemblance to our well-trained vines,
than our stunted azalias, and tiny magnolias, to
their thriving American kindred.
There is another charm that haunts the summer
wanderer in America, and it is perhaps the only
one found in greatest perfection in the West : but
it is beautiful every where. In a bright day,
during any of the summer months, your walk is
through an atmosphere of butterflies, so gaudy in
hue, and so varied in form, that I often thought
they looked like flowers on the wing. Some of
them are very large, measuring three or four inches
across the wings ; but many, and I think the most
beautiful, are smaller than ours. Some have wings
of the most dainty lavender colour ; and bodies of
black ; others are fawn and rose colour ; and
others again are orange and bright blue. But
pretty as they are, it is their number, even more
than their beauty, that delights the eye. Their
62 DOMESTIC MANNERS
gay and noiseless movement as they glance
through the air, crossing each other in chequered
maze, is very beautiful. The humming-bird is ano-
ther pretty summer toy; but they are not sufficiently
numerous, nor do they live enough on the wing to
render them so important a feature in the trans-
atlantic show, as the rainbow-tinted butterflies.
The fire-fly was a far more brilliant novelty. In
moist situations, or before a storm, they are very
numerous, and in the dark sultry evening of a
burning day, when all emplojonent was impos-
sible, I have often found it a pastime to watch
their glancing light, now here, now there; now
seen, now gone ; shooting past with the rapidity
of lightning, and looking like a shower of falling
stars, blown about in the breeze of evening.
*******
In one of oui* excursions we encountered and
slew a copper-head snake. I escaped treading on
it bv about three inches. While we were con-
templating om- conquered foe, and doubtmg in our
ignorance if he were indeed the deadly copper-
head we had so often heard described, a farmer
joined us, who, as soon as he cast his eves on our
OF THE AMERICA^^S. 63
victim, exclaimed, " My ! if you have not got a
copper. That's right down well done, they be
darnation beasts." He told us that he had once
seen a copper-head bite himself to death, from
being teazed by a stick, while confined in a cage
where he could find no other \dctim. We often
heard terrible accounts of the number of these
desperate reptiles to be found on the rocks near
the great falls of the Potomac ; but not even the
terror these stories inspired could prevent our
repeated visits to that sublime scene ; luckily our
temerity was never punished by seeing any there.
Lizards, long, large, and most hideously like a
miniature crocodile, I frequently saw, gliding from
the fissures of the rocks, and darting again under
shelter, perhaps beneath the very stone I was
seated upon ; but every one assured us they were
harmless. Animal life is so infinitely abundant,
and in forms so various, and so novel to European
eyes, that it is absolutely necessary to divest one-
self of all the petty terrors which the crawling,
creeping, hopping, and buzzing tribes can inspire,
before taking an American summer ramble. It is,
I conceivcj quite impossible for any description to
9
64- DOMESTIC MANNERS
convey an idea of the sounds which assail the ears
from the time the short twihght begins, until the
rising sun scatters the rear of darkness, and sends
the winking choristers to rest.
Be where you will (excepting in the large cities)
the appalHng note of the bull-fi-og 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 ; the kattiedid repeats her own name
through the livelong night ; the whole tribe of
locusts chirp, chirrup, squeak, whiz, and whistle,
without allowing one instant of interval to the
weary ear ; and when to this the mosquito adds
her threatening hum, it is wonderful that any
degree of fatigue can obtain for the listener the
relief of sleep. In fact, it is only in ceasing to listen
tliat this blessing can be fomid. I passed many
feverish nights during my first summer, hterally in
listening to tliis most astounding mixture of noises,
and it was only when they became too famiHar to
excite attention, that I recovered my rest.
I know not by what whimsical link of associa-
tion the recapitulation of this insect din suggests
OF THE AMERICANS. 65
the recollection of other discords, at least as harsh,
and much more troublesome.
Even in the retirement in which we passed tins
summer, we were not beyond reach of the election
fever which is constantly raging through the land.
Had America every attraction under heaven that
nature and social enjoyment can offer, this elec-
tioneering madness would make me fly it in dis-
gust. It engrosses every conversation, it irritates
every temper, it substitutes party spirit for personal
esteem ; and, in fact, vitiates the whole system of
society.
When a candidate for any office starts, liis party
endow him with every virtue, and with all the
talents. They are all ready to peck out the eyes
of those who oppose him, and in the warm and
mettlesome south-western states, do literally often
perform this operation : but as soon as he succeeds,
his virtues and liis talents vanish, and, excepting
those holding office under his appointment, every
man Jonathan of them sets off again full gallop to
elect his successor. When I first arrived in Ame-
rica Mr. John Quincy Adams was President, and
it was impossible to doubt, even from the state-
66 DOMESTIC MANNERS
ineut of liis enemies, that he was every way cal-
culated to do honour to the office. All I ever
heard against liim was, that " he was too much of
a gentleman ;" but a new candidate must be set
up, and Mr. Adams was out-voted for no other
reason, that I could learn, but because it was
" best to change." — " Jackson for ever!" was, there-
fore, screamed from the majority of mouths, both
drunk and sober, till he was elected ; but no sooner
in liis place, than the same ceaseless operation
went on again, with " Clay for ever" for its war-
whoop.
I was one morning paying a visit, when a party
of gentlemen arrived at the same house on horse-
back. The one whose air proclaimed him the chief
of his party, left us not long in doubt as to his
business, for he said, ahnost in entering,
" Mr. P , I come to ask for your vote."
" VTho 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
state representation, whose members have a vote in
the presidential election.
OF THE AMERICANS. 67
I was introduced to him as an English woman :
he addressed me with, *' Well, madam, you see we
do these things openly and above-board here ; you
mince such matters more, I expect."
After his departure, liis history and standing
were discussed. " Mr. M. is highly respectable,
and of very good standing ; there can be no doubt
of his election if he is a thorough-going Clay-man,"
said my host.
I asked what his station was.
The lady of the house told me that his father
had been a merchant, and when this future legis-
lator was a young man, he had been sent by him
to some port in the Mediterranean as his super-
cargo. The youth, being a free-born high-spirited
youth, appropriated the proceeds to his own uses,
traded with great success upon the fund thus ob-
tained, and returned, after an absence of twelve
years, a gentleman of fortime and excellent stand-
ing. I expressed some little disapprobation of this
proceeding, but was assured that Mr. M. was
considered by every one as a very " honourable
man."
Were I to relate one-tenth part of the dishonest
G8 DOMESTIC MANNERS
transactions recounted to me by Americans, of
their fellow-citizens and friends, I am confident
that no English reader would give me credit for
veracity; it would, therefore, be very unwise to
repeat them, but I cannot refrain from expressing
the opinion that nearly four years of attentive ob-
servation impressed on me, namely, that the moral
sense is on every point blunter than with us.
Make an American believe that his next-door
neighbour is a very worthless fellow, and I dare
say (if he were quite sure he could make nothing
by him) he would drop the acquaintance ; but as
to what constitutes a wortliless fellow, people
differ on the opposite sides of the Atlantic, almost
by the whole decalogue. There is, as it appeared
to me, an obtusity on all points of honourable
feeling.
" Cervantes laughed Spain's chivalry away,"
but he did not laugh away that better part of
chivalry, so beautifully described by Burke as
" the unbought grace of life, the cheap defence of
nations, that chastity of honour, which feels a stain
as a wound, which ennobles whatever it touches,
and by which vice itself loses half its evil, by
OF THE AMERICANS. 69
losing all its grossness." The better part of chivalry
still mixes with gentle blood in every part of
Europe, nor is it less fondly guarded than when
sword and buckler aided its defence. Perhaps
this unbought grace of life is not to be looked for
where chivalry has never been. I certainly do
not lament the decadence of knight errantry, nor
\\dsh to exchange the protection of the laws for
that of the doughtiest champion who ever set
lance in rest ; but I do, in truth, beheve that this
knightly sensitiveness of honourable feeling is the
best antidote to the petty soul-degrading transac-
tions of every-day life, and that the total want of
it is one reason why this free-born race care so
very little for the vulgar virtue called probity.
70 DOJIESTIC MANNERS
CHAPTER XXIV.
Journey to Philadeljphia — Chesapeak and Dela-
ware Canal — City of Philadelphia — Miss
Wright's Lecture.
In the latter part of August, 1830, we paid a visit
to Philadelphia, and, notwthstanding the season,
we were so fortunate as to have both bright and
temperate weather for the expedition. The road
from Washington to Baltimore, which was our first
day's journey, is interesting in simimer from the
variety and luxuriance of the foliage which borders
great part of it.
We passed the night at Baltimore, and era-
barked next morning on board a steam-boat for
Philadelphia. The scenery of the Elk river, upon
which you enter soon after leaving the port of
Baltimore, is not beautiful. We embarked at six
in the morning, and at twelve reached the Chesa-
OF THE AMERICANS. 71
peak and Delaware canal; we then quitted the
steam-boat, and walked two or three hundred yards
to the canal, where we got on board a pretty little
decked boat, sheltered by a neat awning, and
drawn by four horses. This canal cuts across the
state of Delaware, and connects the Chesapeak
and Delaware rivers : it has been a work of great
expense, though the distance is not more than
thirteen miles ; for a considerable part of this
distance the cutting has been very deep, and the
banks are in many parts thatched, to prevent their
crumbhng. At the point where the cutting is
deepest, a light bridge is thrown across, which,
from its great height, forms a striking object to the
travellers passing below it. Every boat that passes
this canal pays a toll of twenty dollars.
Nothing can be less interesting than that part
of the state of Delaware through which this cut
passes, the Mississippi hardly excepted. At one,
we reached the Delaware river, at a point nearly
opposite Delaware Fort, which looks recently built,
and is very handsome *. Here we again changed our
* This fort was destroyed by fire a few months afterwards.
72 DOMESTIC MANNERS
vessel, and got on board another of their noble
steam-boats ; both these changes were made with
the greatest regularity and dispatch.
There is nothing remarkable in the scenery of
the Delaware. The stream is wide and the banks
are flat ; a short distance before you reach Phila-
delpliia two large buildings of singular appearance
strike the eye. On enquiry I learnt that they were
erected for the purpose of sheltering two ships of
war. They are handsomely finished, with very
neat roofs, and are ventilated by many ^^■indows.
The expense of these buildings must have been
considerable, but as the construction of the vast
machines they shelter was more so, it may be good
economy.
"We reached Philadelphia at four o'clock in the
afternoon. The approach to this city is not so
striking as that to Baltimore ; though much larger,
it does not now show itself so well ; it wants domes
and colmnns ; it is, nevertheless, a beautiful city.
Nothing can exceed its neatness ; the streets are
well paved, the foot-way, as in all the old Ame-
rican cities, is of brick, like the old pantile walk
at Tunbridge Wells. This is almost entirely shel-
OF THE AMERICANS. 73
tered from the sun by the a^vllings, which, in all
the principal streets, are spread from the shop
windows to the edge of the pavement.
The city is built with extreme and almost weari-
some regularity ; the streets, which run north and
south, are distinguished by numbers, from one to —
I know not how many, but I paid a visit in Twelfth
Street; these are intersected at right angles by
others, which are known by the names of various
trees ; Mulberry (more commonly called Arch-
street), Chesnut, and Walnut, appear the most
fashionable : in each of these there is a theatre.
This mode of distinguishing the streets is com-
modious to strangers, from the facility it gives of
finding out whereabouts you are ; if you ask for
the United States' Bank, you are told it is in
Chesnut, between Third and Fourth, and as the
streets are all divided from each other by equal
distances, of about three hundred feet, you are sure
of not missing your mark. There are many hand-
some houses, but none that are very splendid;
they are generally of brick, and those of the better
order have white marble steps, and some few, door-
frames of the same beautiful material ; but, on the
VOL. II. E
'4 DOMESTIC MANNERS
whole, there is less display of it in the private
dwellings than at Baltimore.
The Americans all seem greatly to admire this
city, and to give it the preference in point of
beauty to all others in the Union, but I do not
agree with them. There are some very handsome
buildings, but none of them so placed as to pro-
duce a striking effect, as is the case both with the
Capitol and the President's house, at Washington.
Notwithstanding these fine buildings, one or 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 de Louis Quinze or Carrousel, no
Regent Street or Green Park, to make one exclaim
" how beautiful!" all is even, straight, uniform,
and uninteresting.
There is one spot, however, about a mile from
the town, which presents a lovely scene. The
water-works of Philadelphia have not yet perhaps
as wide-extended fame as those of Marley, but
thev are not less deser\'inf]r it. At a most beautiful
point of the Schu3^1kill River, the water has been
forced up into a magnificent reservoir, ample and
elevated enough to send it through the whole city.
OF THE AMERICANS. 75
The vast yet simple machinery by wliich this is
achieved is open to the public, v^ho resort in such
numbers to see it, that several evening stages run
from Philadelphia to Fair Mount for their accom-
modation. But interesting and curious as this
machinery is. Fair Mount w^ould not be so at-
tractive had it not something else to offer. It is,
in truth, one of the very prettiest spots the eye can
look upon. A broad wear is throw^n across the
Schuylkill, which produces the sound and look of
a cascade. On the farther side of the river is
a gentleman's seat, the beautiful lawns of which
slope to the water's edge, and groups of weeping-
willows and other trees throw their shadows on the
stream. The works themselves are enclosed in a
simple but very handsome building of freestone,
wliich has an extended front opening upon a ter-
race, wliich overhangs the river : behind the build-
ing, and divided fr-om it only by a lawn, rises a
lofty wall of solid lime-stone rock, which has, at
one or two points, been cut into, for the passage
of the water into the noble reservoir above. From
the crevices of this rock the catalpa was every
where pushing forth, covered with its beautiful
E 2
76 DOMESTIC MANNERS
blossom. Beneath one of these trees an artificial
opening in the rock gives passage to a stream of
water, clear and bright as crystal, which is re-
ceived in a stone basin of simple workmanship,
having a cup for the ser\ace of the thirsty tra-
veller. At another point, a portion of the water,
in its upward way to the reservoir, is permitted to
spring forth in a perpetual jet d'eau, that returns
in a silver shower upon the head of a marble naiad
of snowy whiteness. The statue is not the work
of Phidias ; but its dark, rocky back-ground, the
flowery catalpas which shadow it, and the bright
shower through which it shows itself, altogether
make the scene one of singular beauty ; add to
\^'hich, the evening on which I saw it was very
sultry, and the contrast of this cool spot to all
besides certainly enhanced its attractions ; it was
impossible not to em^^ the nymph her eternal
shower-bath.
On returning from this excursion we saw hand-
bills in all parts of the city, announcing that Miss
Wright was on that evening to deliver her parting
address to the citizens of Philadelphia, at the
Arch Street theatre, previous to her departure for
OF THE AMERICANS. /7
Europe. I immediately determined to hear her,
and did so, though not witliout some difficulty,
from the crowds who went thither with the same
intention. The house, wliich is a very pretty one,
was filled in every part, including the stage, with
a well-dressed and most attentive audience. There
was a larger proj^ortion of ladies present than I ever
saw on any other occasion in an American theatre.
One reason for this might be, perhaps, that they
were admitted gratis.
Miss Wright came on the stage surrounded by a
body-guard of Quaker ladies, in the full costume
of their sect. She was, as she always is, startling
in her theories, but pow^erfully eloquent, and, on
the whole, was much applauded, though one pas-
sage produced great emotion, and some hissing.
She stated broadly, on the authority of Jefferson,
furnished by his posthumous works, that " Wash-
ington was not a Christian." One voice from the
crowded pit exclaimed, in an accent of indigna-
tion, " Washington was a Christian ;" but it was
evident that the majority of the audience con-
sidered Mr. Jefferson's assertion as a compliment
to the country's idol, for the hissing was soon
E 3
78 DOMESTIC MANNERS
triumpliantly clapped down. General Wasliington
himself, however, gives a somewhat different ac-
count of his own principles ; for, in his admirable
farewell address on declining a re-election to the
Presidency, I find the following passage.
" Of all the dispositions and habits which lead
to political prosperity, religion and morality are
indispensable supports. In vain would that man
claim the tribute of patriotism who would labour
to subvert these great pillars of human happiness,
these firmest props of the destinies of men and
citizens. A volume could not trace all their con-
nexions with private and public fehcity. And
let us with caution indulge the supposition that
morality can be maintained without rehgion ;
reason and experience both forbid us to expect
that national morahty can prevail in exclusion of
religious principle."
Wliether Mr. JeflTerson or himself knew best
what his principles were, I will not decide ; but, at
least, it appears fair, when repeating one statement,
to add the other also.
OF THE AMERICANS. 79
CHAPTER XXV.
Washington Square — American Beauty — Gallery
of Fine Arts — Antiques — Theatres — Museum.
Our mornings were spent, as all travellers' morn-
ings must be, in asking questions, and in seeing all
that the answers told us it was necessary to see.
Perhaps this can he done in no city %vith more
facihty than in Philadelphia ; you have notliing to
do but to walk up one straight street, and down
another, till all the parallelograms have been
threaded. In doing tliis you \^dll see many things
worth looking at. The United States, and Penn-
sylvania banks, are the most striking buildings,
and are both extremely handsome, being of white
marble, and built after Grecian models. The
State House has nothing externally to recommend
it, but the room shown as that in which the de-
claration of independence was signed, and in
E 4
80
DOMESTIC MANNERS
which the estimable Lafayette was received, half a
century after he had shed his noble blood in aiding
to obtain it, is an interesting spot. At one end of
this room is a statue in wood of General Washing-
ton ; on its base is the following inscription : —
First in Peace,
First in War,
and
First in the hearts of his Countrymen.
I
There is a very pretty enclosure before the
Walnut Street entrance to the State House, with
good well-kept gravel walks, and many of their
beautiful flowering trees. It is laid down in
grass, not in turf; that, indeed, is a luxury I never
saw in America. Near this enclosure is another
of much the same description, called Washington
Square. Here there was an excellent crop of
clover ; but as the trees are numerous, and highly
beautiful, and several commodious seats are placed
beneath their shade, it is, spite of the long grass, a
very agreeable retreat from heat and dust. It was
rarely, however, that I saw any of these seats
occupied ; the Americans have either no leisure.
OF THE AMERICANS.
81
or no incKnation 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 or repose. This
pretty Washington Square is surrounded by houses
on three sides, but (lasso !) has a prison on the
fourth; it is, nevertheless, the nearest approach
to a London square that is to be found in Phila-
delphia.
One evening, while the rest of my party went
to visit some objects which I had before seen, I
agreed to await their return in this square, and sat
down under a magnificent catalpa, which threw
its fragrant blossoms in all directions ; the other
end of the bench was occupied by a young lady,
who was employed in watching the gambols of a
little boy. There was something in her manner
of looking at me, and exchanging a smile when
her yomig charge performed some extraordinary
feat of activity on the grass, that persuaded me
she was not an American. I do not remember
who spoke first, but we were presently in a full
flow of conversation. She spoke EngHsli with
£ 5
82 DOMESTIC MANNERS
elegant correctness, but she was a German, and
with an ardour of feeling which gave her a de-
cidedly foreign air in Pliiladelphia, she talked to
me of her country, of all she had left, and of all
she had found, or rather of all she had not found,
for thus ran her lament : — •
" They do not love music, Oh no ! and they
never amuse themselves — no ; and their hearts are
not warm, at least they seem not so to strangers ;
and they have no ease, no forgetfidness of business
and of care — ^no, not for a moment. But I \\'ill
not stay long, I think, for I should not live."
She told me that she had a brother settled there
as a merchant, and that she had passed a year with
him ; but she was hoping soon to return to her
father land.
I never so strongly felt the truth of the remark,
that expression is the soul of beauty, as in looking
at, and listening to this young German. She was
any tiling but handsome ; it is true she had large
eyes, full of gentle expression, but every feature was
irregular ; but, oh ! the charm of that smile, of that
look of deep feehng which animated every feature
when she spoke of her own Germany ! The tone of
OF THE AMERICANS. 83
her voice, the slight and graceful action which ac-
companied her words, all struck me as so attractive,
that the half hour I passed with her was con-
tinually recurring to my memory. I had often
taxed myself with feeling something hke preju-
dice against the beautiful American women ; but
this half hour set my conscience at rest; it is not
prejudice which causes one to feel that regularity
of features is insufficient to interest, or even to
please, beyond the first glance. I certainly be-
lieve the women of America to be the handsomest
in the world, but as surely do I believe that they
are the least attractive.
*******
We visited the nineteenth annual exhibition of
the Pennsylvania academy of the fine arts; 431
was the nmnber of objects exhibited, which were so
arranged as to fill three tolerably large rooms, and
one smaller called the directors' room. There
were among the number about thirty engravings,
and a much larger proportion of water-colour
di-awings ; about seventy had the P. A. (Pennsyl-
vanian Academician) annexed to the name of the
artist.
E 6
84 DOMESTIC MANNERS
The principal historical composition was a
large scripture piece by Mr. Washington Alston.
This gentleman is spoken of as an artist of
great merit, and I was told that his manner was
much improved since this picture was painted,
(it bears date, 1813). I beheve it was for this
picture Mr. Alston received a prize at the British
Gallery.
There was a portrait of a lady, which, in the
catalogue, is designated as " the White Plume,"
which had the reputation of being the most ad-
mired in the collection, and the artist, Mr. Ingham,
is said to rank highest among the portrait-painters
of America. This picture is of very high finish,
particularly the drapery, which is most elaborately
worked, even to the pile of the velvet ; the ma-
nagement of the light is much in the manner of
Good ; but the drawing is very defective, and the
contour, though the face is a lovely one, hard and
unfleshy. From all the conversations on painting
which I listened to in America, I found that the
finish of drapery was considered as the highest
excellence, and next to this, the resemblance in a
portrait ; I do not remember ever to have heard
OF THE AMERICANS. 85
the words drawing or composition used in any con-
versation 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,
which prevented any objects in the room being
seen from without. Upon my pausing to read this
inscription, an old woman who appeared to officiate
as guardian of the gallery, bustled up, and ad-
dressing me with an air of much mystery, said,
" Now, ma'am, now : this is just the time for you
— nobody can see you — make haste."
I stared at her with unfeigned surprise, and dis-
engaging my arm, which she had taken apparently
to hasten my movements, I very gravely asked her
meaning.
" Only, ma'am, that the ladies like to go into
that room by themselves, when there be no gentle-
men watching them."
On entering this mysterious apartment, the first
thing I remarked, was a written paper, deprecating
86
DOMESTIC MANNERS
the disgusting depravity which had led some of
the visitors to mark and deface the casts in a
most indecent and shameless manner. This
abomination has imquestionably been occasioned
by the coarse-minded custom which sends alter-
nate groups of males, and females into the room.
Were the antique gallery thrown open to mixed
parties of ladies and gentlemen, it would soon
cease. Till America has reached the degree of
refinement which permits of this, the antique
casts should not be exhibited to ladies at all. I
never felt my delicacy shocked at the Louvre, but
I was strongly tempted to resent as an affront
the hint I received, that I might steal a glance at
what was deemed indecent. Perhaps the arrange-
ments for the exliibition of this room, the feelings
which have led to them, and the result they have
produced, furnish as good a specimen of the kind
of delicacy on which the Americans pride them-
selves, and of the peculiarities arising from it, as
can be found. The room contains about fifty casts,
chiefly from the antique.
In the directors' room I was amused at the
means which a poet had hit upon for advertising
I
. / •'■/r r, , ,',,/
A^TTIQirjE STAT1DIB G-A!LlLlElR.Xc
II
OF THE AMERICANS. 87
Iiis works, or rather his work, and not less at
the elaborate notice of it. His portrait was sus-
pended there, 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 RiciiAKD Emmons,
M.D."
*******
1 went to the Chesnut Street Theatre to sec Mr.
Booth, formerly of Drury Lane, in the character
of Lear, and a Mrs. Duff in Cordelia; but I have
seen too many Lears and Cordelias to be easily
pleased; I thought the whole performance very
bad. The theatre is of excellently moderate di-
mensions, and prettily decorated. It was not the
fashionable season for the theatres, which I pre-
sume must account for the appearance of the
company in the boxes, which was any thing but
elegant; nor was there more decorum of de-
9
I
I
88 DOAIESTIC MANNERS
meanour than I had observed elsewhere ; I saw
one man in the lower tier of boxes deUberately
take off his coat that he might enjoy the refresh-
ing coolness of sliirt sleeves ; all the gentlemen
wore their hats, and the spitting was unceasmg.
On another evening we went to the Walnut
Street Theatre ; the cliief attraction of the night
was furnished by the performance of a young man
who had been previously exhibited as "ahving
skeleton." He played the part of Jeremiah Tliin,
and certainly looked the part well ; and here I
think must end my praise of the evening's per-
formances.
The great and most striking contrast between
this city and those of Europe, is perceived after
sun-set ; scarcely a sound is heard ; hardly a voice
or a wheel breaks the stillness. The streets are
entirely dark, except where a stray lamp marks an
hotel or the like ; no shops are open, but those of
the apothecary, and here and there a cook's shop ;
scarcely a step is heard, and for a note of music,
or the sound of mirth, I Hstened in vain. In
leaving the theatre, which I always did before the
afterpiece, I saw not a single carriage ; the niglit
OF THE AMERICANS.
89
of Miss Wright's lecture, when I stayed to the
end, I saw one. This darkness, this stiUness, is
so great, that I almost felt it awful. As we walked
home one fine moonhght evening from the Chesnut
Street house, we stopped a moment before the
United States' Bank, to look at its white mar-
ble columns by the subdued light, said to be so
advantageous to them ; the building did, indeed,
look beautiful ; the incongruous objects around
were hardly visible, while the brilliant white of
the building, which by day-hght is dazzling, was
mellowed into fahiter light and softer shadow.
While pausing before this modern temple of
Theseus, we remarked that we alone seemed alive
in this great city ; it was ten o'clock, and a most
lovely cool evening, after a burning day, yet a\\
was silence. Regent Street, Bond Street, with
their blaze of gas-light bijouterie, and still more
the Italian Boulevard of Paris, rose in strong con-
trast on the memory ; the light, which outshines
that of day — the gay, graceful, laugliing throng —
the elegant saloons of Tortoni, with all their va-
rieties of cooHng nectar — were all remembered. Is
it an European prejudice to deem that the sohtary
90
DOMESTIC MANNERS
dram swallowed by the gentlemen on quitting
an American theatre indicates a lower and more
\-icious state of manners, than do the ices so
sedulously offered to the ladies on leavdng a French
one
*
*
*
*
The museum contains a good collection of ob-
jects illustrative of natural history, and some very
interesting specimens of Indian antiquities ; both
here and at Cincinnati I saw so many things
resembling Egyptian relics, that I should like to
see the origin of the Indian nations inquired into
more accurately than has yet been done.
The shops, of wliich there appeared to me to be
an unusually large proportion, are very handsome ;
many of them in a style of European elegance.
Lottery offices abound, and that species of gam-
bHng is carried to a great extent. I saw fewer
carriages in Philadelphia than either at Baltimore
or Washington, but in the winter I was told they
were more numerous.
Many of the best families had left the city for
different watering-places, and others were daily
following. Long Branch is a fashionable bathing
OF THE AMERICANS. 91
place on the Jersey shore, to which many resort,
both from this place and from New York; the
description given of the manner of bathing ap-
peared to me rather extraordinary, but the account
was confirmed by so many different people, that I
could not doubt its correctness. The shore, it
seems, is too bold to admit of bathing machines,
and the ladies have, therefore, recourse to another
mode for ensuring the enjoyment of a sea-bath with
safety. The accommodation at Long Branch is
almost entirely at large boarding-houses, where all
the company live at a table dliote. It is customary
for ladies on arriving to look round among the
married gentlemen, the first time they meet at
table, and to select the one her fancy leads her to
prefer as a protector in her pm-posed visits to the
reahns of Neptune ; she makes her request, which
is always graciously received, that he would lead
her to taste the briny wave ; but another fair one
must select the same protector, else the arrange-
ment cannot be complete, as custom does not
authorise tete a tete immersion.
92 DOMESTIC MANNERS
CHAPTER XXVI.
»
Quakers — Preshyteriajis — Itinerant Methodist
Preacher — Market — Influence of Females in so-
ciety.
I HAD never chanced, among all my wanderings,
to enter a Quaker Meeting-house ; and as I thought
I could no where make my first \isit better than
at Philadelpliia, I went under the protection of a
Quaker lady to the principal orthodox meeting
of the city. The building is large, but perfectly
without ornament ; the men and women are sepa-
rated by a rail which divides it into two equal
parts ; the meeting was very full on both sides,
and the atmosphere almost intolerably hot. As
they glided in at their different doors, I spied
many pretty faces peeping from the prim head
gear of the females, and as the broad-brimmed
males sat down, the welcome Parney sup-
OF THE AMERICANS. 93
poses 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 could hardly persuade
mvself 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 deep groan, and as it were by
the same effort uttered, " Keep thy foot." Again
he was silent for many minutes, and then he con-
tinued for more than an hour to put forth one word
at a time, but at such an interval from each other
that I found it quite impossible to follow his
meaning, if, indeed, he had any. My Quaker
friend told me she knew not who he w^as, and that
she much regretted I had heard so poor a preacher.
After he had concluded, a gentleman-like old man
(a physician by profession) arose, and delivered a
few moral sentences in an agreeable manner ; soon
after he had sat down, the whole congregation
rose, I know not at what signal, and made their
94 DOMESTIC MANNERS
exit. It is a singular kind of worship, if worship
it may be called, where all prayer is forbidden ;
yet it appeared to me, in its decent quietness, infi-
nitely preferable to what I had witnessed at the
Presbyterian and Methodist Meeting-houses. A
great schism had lately taken place among the
Quakers of Philadelphia; many objecting to the
over-strict discipline of the orthodox. Among the
seceders there are again various shades of differ-
ence ; I met many who called themselves Unitarian
Quakers, otliers were Hicksites, and others again,
though still wearing the Quaker habit, were said to
be Deists.
We \asited many churches and chapels in the
city, but none that would elsewhere be called hand-
some, either internally or externally.
I went one evening, not a Sunday, \\dth a party
of ladies to see a Presbyterian minister inducted.
The ceremony was woefully long, and the charge
to the y ung man awfully impossible to obey, at
least if he were a man, like unto other men. It
was matter of astonishment to me to obsei've the
deep attention, and the unwearied patience with
which some hundreds of beautiful young gu'ls who
OF THE AMERICANS. 95
were assembled there, (not to mention the old
ladies,) hstened to the whole of this tedious cere-
mony ; surely there is no country in the world
where religion makes so large a part of the amuse-
ment and occupation of the ladies. Spain, in its
most catholic days, could not exceed it : besides, in
spite of the gloomy horrors of the Inquisition, gaiety
and amusement were not there offered as a sacrifice
by the young and lovely.
The religious severity of Philadelphian manners
is in nothing more conspicuous than in the number
of chains thrown across the streets on a Smiday to
prevent horses and carriages from passing. Surely
the Jews could not exceed this country in their
external observances. What the gentlemen of
Philadelphia do with themselves on a Sunday, I
will not pretend to guess, but the prodigious
majority of females in the churches is very re-
markable. Although a large proportion of the
population of this city are Quakers, the same ex-
traordinary variety of faith exists here, as every
where else in the Union, and the priests have, in
some circles, the same unbounded influence which
has been mentioned elsewhere.
96 DOMESTIC MANNERS
One history reached me, which gave a terrible
picture of the eiFect this power may produce ; it
was related to me by my mantua-maker ; a young
woman highly estimable as a wife and mother,
and on whose veracity I perfectly rely. She told
me that her father was a widower, and lived with
his family of three daughters at Philadelphia. A
short time before she married, an itinerant preacher
came to the city, who contrived to obtain an in-
timate footing in many respectable families. Her
father's was one of these, and his influence and
authority were great with all the sisters, but par-
ticularly with the youngest. The young girl's
feehngs for him seem to have been a curious mix-
ture of spiritual awe and earthly affection. When
she received a hint from her sisters that she ought
not to give him too much encouragement till he
spoke out, she showed as much holy resentment
as if they had told her not to say her prayers too
devoutly. At length the father remarked the sort
of covert passion that gleamed through the eyes
of his godly visitor, and he saw too, the pallid
anxiovis look which had settled on the young brow
of his daughter ; either this, or some rumours he
OF THE AMERICANS. 97
had heard abroad, or both together, led him to forbid
this man his house. The three girls were present
when he did so, and all uttered a deprecating
" Oh father !" but the old man added stoutly, " If
you show yourself here again, reverend sir, I will
not only teach you the way out of my house, but
out of the city also. The preacher withdrew, and
was never heard of in Philadelphia afterwards ;
but when a few months had passed, strange whis-
pers began to creep through the circle which had
received and honoured him, and, in due course of
time, no less than seven unfortunate girls produced
living proofs of the wisdom of my informant's
worthy father. In defence of this dreadful story
I can only make the often repeated quotation, " I
tell the tale as 'twas told to me ;" but, in aU sin-
cerity I must add, that I have no doubt of its truth.
*******
I was particularly requested to visit the market
of Philadelphia, at the hour when it presented the
busiest scene ; I did so, and thought 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
VOL. II. F
98 DOMESTIC MANNERS
confide to no deputy the important office of ca-
terer. The neatness, freshness, and entire ab-
sence of every thing disagreeable to sight or smell,
must be witnessed to be believed. The stalls were
spread ^vith snow-white napkins ; flowers and
fruit, if not quite of Paris or London perfection,
yet bright, fresh, and fragrant ; with excellent
vegetables in the greatest variety and abundance,
were all so dehghtfully exhibited, that objects less
pleasing were overlooked and forgotten. The
dairy, the poultry-yard, the forest, the river, and
the ocean, aU contributed their spoil ; in short, for
the first time in my life, I thought a market a
beautiful object. The prices of most articles were,
as nearly as I could calculate between dollars and
francs, about the same as at Paris ; certainly much
cheaper than in London, but much dearer than at
Exeter.
My letters of introduction brought me acquai^ited
with several amiable and interesting people. There
is something in the tone of manners at Philadel-
phia that I liked ; it appeared to me that there
was less affectation of ton there than elsewhere.
There is a quietness, a composure in a Philadel-
OF THE AMERICANS. 99
phian drawing-room, that is quite characteristic of
a city founded by William Penn. The dress of
the ladies, even those who are not Quakers,
partakes of this ; they are most elegantly neat,
and there was a delicacy and good taste in the
dress of the young ladies that might serve as a
model to the whole Union. There can hardly be
a stronger contrast in the style of ch-ess between
any two cities than may be remarked between Bal-
timore and Philadelphia ; both are costly, but the
former is distinguished by gaudy splendour, the
latter by elegant simphcity.
It is said that this city has many gentlemen
distinguished by their scientific pursuits ; I con-
versed vsdth several well informed and intelhgent
men, but there is a cold dryness of manner and an
apparent want of interest in the subjects they
discuss, that, to my mind, robs conversation of all
its charm. On one occasion I heard the character
and situation of an illustrious officer discussed,
who had served with renown under Napoleon, and
whose high character might have obtained him
favoiu' und^r the Bourbons, could he have aban-
doned the principles which led him to dislike their
F 2
100 DOMESTIC MANNERS
government. This distinguished man had re-
treated to America after the death of his master,
and was endeavouring to establish a sort of Poly-
technic academy at New York : in speaking of him,
I observed, that his devotion to the cause of free-
dom must prove a strong recommendation in the
United States. " Not the least in the world, ma-
dam," answered a gentleman who ranked deser\--
edly high among the literati of the city, " it might
avail him much in England, perhaps, but here we
are perfectly indifferent as to what people's prin-
ciples may be."
Tliis I believe to be exactly true, though I never
before heard it avowed as a national feature.
The want of warmth, of interest, of feeling, upon
all subjects which do not immediately touch their
own concerns, is universal, and has a most para-
lysing effect upon conversation. All the enthu-
siasm of America is concentrated to the one point
of her o^\^^ emancipation and independence ; on
this point nothing can exceed the warmth of her
feelings. She may, I think, be compared to a
young bride, a sort of Mrs. Major "Waddle ; her
independence is to her as a newly-won bride-
OF THE AMERICANS. 101
groom ; for him alone she has eyes, ears, or heart ;
— the honeymoon is not over yet; — when it is,
America will, perhaps, learn more coquetry, and
know better how to faire Vaimable to other na-
tions.
I conceive that no place in the known world
can furnish so striking a proof of the immense
value of Hterary habits as the United States, not
only in enlarging the mind, but what is of infi-
nitely more importance, in purifying the manners.
During my abode in the country I not only never
met a hterary man who was a tobacco chewer
or a wliiskey drinker, but I never met any who
were 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 of
Cincinnati : surrounded by a society totally in-
capable of appreciating, or even of comprehending
her, she holds a place among it, as simply and
unaffectedly as if of the same species ; yovmg,
beautiful, and gifted by nature with a mind sin-
gularly acute and discriminating, she has happily
F 3
102 DOMESTIC MANNERS
found such opportunities of cultivation as might
distinguish her in any country ; it is, indeed, that
best of all cultivation which is only to be found in
domestic habits of hterature, and in that hourly
education which the daughter of a man of letters
receives when she is made the companion and
friend of her father. This young lady is the more
admirable as she contrives to unite all the multi-
farious duties which usually devolve upon Ame-
rican ladies, with her intellectual pursuits. The
companion and efficient assistant of her father's
literary labours, the active aid in all the household
cares of her mother, the tender nurse of a dehcate
infant sister, the skilful artificer of her own always
elegant wardrobe, ever at leisure, and ever pre-
pared to receive with the sweetest cheerfuhiess her
numerous acquaintance, the most animated in con-
versation, the most indefatigable in occupation, it
was impossible to know her, and study her cha-
racter, without feehng that such women were " the
glory of all lands," and, could the race be multi-
pKed, would speedily become the reformers of all
the grossness and ignorance that now degrade her
own. Is it to be imagined, that if fifty modifica-
OF THE AMERICANS. 103
tions of this charming young woman were to be
met at a party, the men would dare to enter it
reeking with wliiskey, their lips blackened with
tobacco, and convinced, to the very centre of their
hearts and souls, that women were made for no
other purpose than to fabricate sweetmeats and
gingerbread, construct shirts, darn stockings, and
become mothers of possible presidents ? Assuredly
not. Should the women of America ever discover
what their power might be, and compare it with
what it is, much improvement might be hoped for.
Wliile, at Philadelphia, among the handsomest, the
wealtliiest, and the most distinguished of the land,
their comparative influence in society, with that
possessed in Europe by females holding the same
station, occurred forcibly to my mind.
Let me be permitted to describe the day of a
Pliiladelphian lady of the first class, and the in-
ference I would draw from it will be better under-
stood.
It may be said that the most important feature
in a woman's history is her maternity. It is so ;
but the object of the present observation is the
social, and not the domestic influence of woman.
F 4
104 DOMESTIC MANNERS
This lady shall be the wife of a senator and a
lawyer in the highest repute and practice. She
has a very handsome house, wdth white marble
steps and door-posts, and a delicate silver knocker
and door-handle ; she has very handsome drawing-
rooms, (very handsomely furnished, there is a side-
board in one of them, but it is very handsome, and
has very handsome decanters and cut glass water-
jugs upon it) ; she has a very handsome carriage,
and a very handsome free black coachman ; she is
always very handsomely dressed ; and, moreover,
she is very handsome herself.
She rises, and her first hour is spent in the
scrupulously nice arrangement of her dress; she
descends to her parlour neat, stiff, and silent ; her
breakfast is brought in by her free black footman ;
she eats her fried ham and her salt fish, and cbinks
her coffee in silence, while her husband reads one
newspaper, and puts another under his elbow ;
and then, perhaps, she washes the cups and
saucers. Her carriage is ordered at eleven; till
that hour she is employed in the pastry-room, her
snow-white apron protecting her mouse-coloured
silk. Twenty minutes before her carriage should
OF THE AMERICANS. 105
appear, she retires to her chamber, as she calls it,
shakes, and folds up her still snow-white apron,
smoothes her rich dress, and with nice care, sets
on her elegant bonnet, and all the handsome et
ccetera ; then walks down stairs, just at the moment
that her fre^ black coachman announces to her
free black footman that the carriage waits. She
steps into it, and gives the word, " Drive to the
Dorcas society," Her footman stays at home to
clean the knives, but her coachman can trust his
horses wliile he opens the carriage door, and his
lady not being accustomed to a hand or an arm,
gets out very safely without, though one of her
own is occupied by a work-basket, and the other
by a large roll of all those indescribable matters
which ladies take as offerings to Dorcas societies.
She enters the parlour appropriated for the meet-
ing, and finds seven other ladies, very like her-
self, and takes her place among them ; she pre-
sents her contribution, which is accepted with a
gentle circular smile, and her 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 paper, and the
F 5
106 DOMESTIC MANNERS
minikin pins with which the table is already
covered ; she also produces fii-om her basket three
ready-made pincushions, four ink-wipers, seven
paper matches, and a paste-board watch-case;
these are welcomed with acclamations, and the
youngest lady present deposits them carefully on
shelves, amid a prodigious quantity of similar
articles. She then produces her thimble, and
asks for work; it is presented to her, and the
eight ladies all stitch together for some hours.
Their talk is of priests and of missions ; of the
profits of their last sale, of their hopes from the
next; of the doubt whether young Mr. This,
or young Mr. That should receive the fruits of it
to fit hmi out for Liberia ; of the very ugly bonnet
seen at church on Sabbath morning, of the very
handsome preacher who performed on Sabbath
afternoon, and of the very large collection made
on Sabbath evening. This lasts till three, when
the carriage again appears, and the lady and her
basket return home ; she mounts to her chamber,
carefully sets aside her bonnet and its appur-
tenances, puts on her scolloped black silk apron,
walks into the kitchen to see that all is right, then
OF THE AMERICANS. 107
into the parlour, where, having cast a careful
glance over the table prepared for dinner, she sits
down, work in hand, to await her spouse. He
comes, shakes hands with her, spits, and dines.
The conversation is not much, and ten minutes
suffices for the dinner ; fruit and toddy, the news-
paper and the work-bag succeed. In the evening
the gentleman, being a savant, goes to the Wister
society, and afterwards plays a snug rubber at a
neighbour's. The lady receives at tea a young
missionary and tlu'ee members of the Dorcas
society. — And so ends her day.
For some reason or other, wliich Enghsh people
are not very likely to understand, a great number
of young married persons board by the year, in-
stead of " going to house-keeping," as they call
having an estabhshment of their own. Of course
this statement does not include persons of large
fortune, but it does include very many whose rank
in society would make such a mode of life quite
impossible with us. I can hardly imagine a con-
trivance more effectual for ensming the insigni-
ficance of a woman, than marrying her at seven-
teen, and placing her in a boarding-house. Nor
F 6
108
DOMESTIC MANNERS
can I easily imagine a life of more uniform dulness
for the lady herself ; but this certainly is a matter
of taste. I have heard many ladies declare, that it
is " just quite the perfection of comfort to have
nothing to fix for oneself." Yet despite these
assurances, I always experienced a feeling which
hovered between pity and contempt, when I con-
templated their mode of existence.
How would a newly-married Englishwoman
endure it, her head and her 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 the hour appointed for breakfast, or she
will get a stiff bow from the lady president, cold
coffee, and no egg. I have been sometimes greatly
amused upon these occasions by watching a little
scene in which the bye-play had much more
meaning than the words uttered. The fasting, but
tardy lady, looks round the table, and having
ascertained that there was no egg left, says dis-
tinctly, " I will take an egg if you please." But
OF THE AMERICANS. 109
as this is addressed to no one in particular, no one
in particular answers it, unless it happen that her
husband is at table before her, and then he says,
" There are no eggs, my dear." Whereupon the
lady president evidently cannot hear, and the
greedy culprit who has swallowed two eggs (for
there are always as many eggs as noses) looks
pretty considerably afraid of being found out. The
breakfast proceeds in sombre silence, save that
sometimes a parrot, and sometimes a canary bird,
ventures to utter a timid note. When it is finished,
the gentlemen hxu'ry to their occupations, and the
quiet ladies mount the stairs, some to the first,
some to the second, and some to the third stories,
in an inverse proportion to the number of dollars
paid, and ensconce themselves in their respective
chambers. As to what they do there it is not very
easy to say ; but I believe they clear-starch a little,
and iron a little, and sit in a rocking-chair, and
sew a great deal. I always observed that the ladies
who boarded, wore more elaborately-worked collars
and petticoats than any one else. The plough is
hardly a more blessed instrument in America than
the needle. How could they live without it ?
no DOMESTIC MANNERS
But time and the needle wear through the longest
morning, and happily the American morning is not
very long, even though they breakfast at eight.
It is generally about two o'clock that the board-
ing gentlemen meet the boarding ladies at dinner.
Little is spoken, except a whisper between the
married pairs. Sometimes a sulky bottle of wane
flanks the plate of one or two individuals, but it
adds notliing to the mirth of the meeting, and
seldom more than one glass to the good cheer of
the owTiers. It is not then, and it is not there,
that the gentlemen of the Union drink. Soon,
very soon, the silent meal is done, and then, if
you mount the stairs after them, you will find
from the doors of the more aflfectionate and indul-
gent wives, a smell of cigars steam forth, which
plainly indicates the feHcity of the couple within.
If the gentleman be a very polite husband, he
vrill, as soon as he has done smoking and drink-
ing his toddy, offer his arm to his wife, as far as
the corner of the street, where his store, or liis
office is situated, and there he will leave her to
turn wliich way she likes. As this is the hour for
being full dressed, of course she turns the way slie
9
OF THE AMERICANS. Ill
can be most seen. Perhaps she pays a few visits ;
perhaps she goes to chapel; or, perhaps, she
enters some store where her husband deals, and
ventures to order a few notions ; and then she
goes home again — no, not home — I will not give
that name to a boarding-house, but she re-enters
the cold heartless atmosphere in which she dwells,
where hospitality can never enter, and where in-
terest takes the management instead of affection.
At tea they all meet again, and a little trickery is
perceptible to a nice observer in the manner of
partaking the pound-cake, &c. After this, those
who are happy enough to have engagements,
hasten to keep them ; those who have not, either
mount again to the sohtude of their chamber, or,
what appeared to me much worse, remain in the
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 remarked that the gen-
tlemen were generally obliged to go out every
evening on business, and, I confess, the arrange-
ment did not surprise me.
It is not thus that the women can obtain that
112 DOMESTIC MANNERS
influence in society which is allowed to them in
Europe, and to which, both sages and men of the
world, have agreed in ascribing such salutary
eiFects. It is in vain that *' collegiate institutes"
are formed for young ladies, or that " academic
degrees" are conferred upon them. It is after
marriage, and when these young attempts upon all
the sciences are forgotten, that the lamentable in-
significance of the American woman appears ; and
till this be remedied, I venture to prophesy that
the tone of their drawing-rooms will not improve.
Whilst I was at Philadelphia a great deal of
attention was excited by the situation of two cri-
minals, who had been convicted of robbing the
Baltimore mail, and were lying under sentence of
death. The rare occurrence of capital punishment
in America makes it always an event of great in-
terest ; and the approaching execution was re-
peatedly the subject of conversation at the board-
ing-table. One day a gentleman told us he had
that morning been assured that one of the criminals
had declared to the ^^siting clergyman that he was
certain of being reprieved, and that notliing the
clergyman could say to the contrary made any
OF THE AMERICANS. 113
impression upon him. Day after day this same
story was repeated, and commented upon at table,
and it appeared that the report had been heard in
so many quarters, that not only was the statement
received as true, but it began to be conjectured
that the criminal had some ground for his hope.
I learnt from these daily conversations that one of
the prisoners was an American, and the other an
Irishman, and it was the former who was so
strongly persuaded he should not be hanged.
Several of the gentlemen at table, in canvassing
the subject, declared, that if the one were hanged
and the other spared, this hanging would be a
murder, and not a legal execution. In discussing
this point, it was stated that very nearly all the
white men who had suffered death since the de-
claration of Independence had been Irishmen.
What truth there may be in this general state-
ment I have no means of ascertaining ; all I know
is, that I heard it made. On this occasion, how-
ever, the Irishman was hanged, and the American
was not.
114 DOMESTIC MANNERS
CHAPTER XXVII.
Return to Stonington — Thunder-storm — Emi-
grants — Illness — Alexandria.
A FORTNIGHT passed rapidly away in this gi'eat
city, and, doubtless, there was still much left
unseen when we quitted it, according to previous
arrangement, to return to our friends in Maryland.
We came back by a different route, going by land
from Newcastle to French To^vn, instead of pass-
ing by the canal. We reached Baltimore in the
middle of the night, but finished our repose on
board the steam-boat, and started for Washington
at five o'clock the next morning.
Our short abode amid the heat and closeness of
a city made us enjoy more than ever the beautiful
scenery around Stonington. The autumn, wliich
soon advanced upon us, again clothed the woods
in colours too varied and gaudy to be conceived
OF THE AMERICANS. 115
by those who have never quitted Europe ; and the
stately maize, waving its flowing tassels, as the
long drooping blossoms are caUed, made every
field look like a little forest. A rainy spring had
been foUowed by a summer of unusual heat ; and
towards the autumn frequent thunder-storms of
terrific violence cleared the air, but at the same
time frightened us ahnost out of our Avits. On
one occasion I was exposed, vdtli my children, to
the full fury of one of these awful %-isitations. "We
suffered considerable terror diiring this storm, but
when we were all again safe, and comfortably
sheltered, we rejoiced that the accident had oc-
curred, as it gave us the best possible opportunity
of witnessing, in all its glory, a transatlantic
thunder-storm. It was, however, great imprudence
that exposed us to it, for we quitted the house,
and mounted a liiU at a considerable distance from
it, for the express purpose of watching to advantage
the extraordinary aspect of the clouds. When
we reached the top of the hill half the heavens
appeared hmig with a heavy ciu'tain ; a sort of
deep blue black seemed to colour the very air;
the buzzards screamed, as with heavy wing they
116 DOMESTIC MANNERS
sought the earth. We ought, in common pru-
dence, to have immediately retreated to the house,
but the scene was too beautiful to be left. For
several minutes after we reached our station, the
air appeared perfectly without movement, no flash
broke through the seven-fold cloud, but a flicker-
ing hght was visible, darting to and fro behind
it. By degrees the thunder rolled onward, nearer
and nearer, till the inky cloud burst asunder,
and cataracts of Hght came pouring from behind
it. From that moment there was no interval,
no pause, the lightning did not flash, there were
no claps of thunder, but the heavens blazed and
bellowed above and round us, till stupor took
the place of terror, and we stood utterly con-
founded. But we were speedily aroused, for sud-
denly, as if from beneath our feet, a gust arose
which threatened to mix all the elements in one.
Torrents of water seemed to bruise the earth by
their violence ; eddies of thick dust rose up to meet
them ; the fierce fires of heaven only blazed the
brighter for the falling flood ; while the blast
almost out-roared the thunder. But the vdnd was
left at last the lord of all, for after striking with
OF THE AMERICANS. 117
wild force, now here, now there, and bringing
worlds of clouds together in most hostile contact,
it finished by clearing the wide heavens of all but
a few soft straggling masses, whence sprung a glo-
rious rainbow, and then retired, leaving the earth
to raige her half crushed forests; and we, poor
pigmies, to call back our frighted senses, and
recover breath as we might.
During this gust, it would have been impossible
for us to have kept our feet ; we crouched down
under the shelter of a heap of stones, and, as we
informed each other, looked most dismally pale.
Many trees were brought to the earth before our
eyes ; some torn up by the roots, and some mighty
stems snapt off several feet from the ground. If
the West Indian hurricanes exceed this, they must
be terrible indeed.
The situation of Mrs. S****'s house was con-
sidered as remarkably healthy, and I believe justly
so, for on more than one occasion, persons who
were suffering from fever and ague at the distance
of a mile or two, were perfectly restored by passing
a week or fortnight at Stonington ; but the neigh-
bom-hood of it, particularly on the side bordering
118 DOMESTIC MANNERS
the Potomac, was much otherwise, and the mor-
tality among tlie labourers on the canal was
frightful. «
I have elsewhere stated my doubts if the labour-
ing poor of our country mend their condition by
emigrating to the United States, but it was not till
the opportunity which a vicinity to the Chesapeake
and Ohio canal gave me, of knowing what theu'
situation was after making the change, that I be-
came fully aware how little it was to be desired for
them.
Of the white labourers on this canal, the great
majority are Irishmen ; their wages are from ten to
fifteen dollars a month, with a miserable lodging,
and a large allowance of whiskey. It is by means
of this hateful poison that they are tempted, and
indeed enabled for a time, to stand the broiling
heat of the sun in a most noxious climate : for
through such, close to the romantic but unwhole-
some Potomac, the line of the canal has hitherto
run. The situation of these poor strangers, when
they sink at last in " the fever " which sooner or
later is sure to overtake them, is dreadful. There
is a strong feeling against the Irish in every part
OF THE AMERICANS. 119
of the Union, but they will do twice as much
work as a negro, and therefore they are employed.
When they fall sick, they may and must look
with envy on the slaves around them ; for they are
cared for ; they are watched and physicked, as a
valuable horse is watched and physicked : not so
the Irishman, he is literally thrown on one side,
and a new comer takes his place. Details of their
sufferings, and unheeded death, too painful to
dwell upon, often reached us ; on one occasion a
farmer calling at the house, told the family that a
poor man, apparently in a dying condition, was
lying beside a little brook at the distance of a
quarter of a mile. The spot was immediately
visited by some of the family, and there in truth
lay a poor creature, who was already past the
power of speaking ; he was conveyed to the house,
and expired during the night. By inquiring at
the canal, it was found that he was an Irish
labourer, who having fallen sick, and spent his
last cent, had left the stifling shanty where he lay,
in the desperate attempt of finding his way to
Washington, with what hope I know not. He did
not appear above twenty, and as I looked on his
120 DOMESTIC MANNERS
pale young face, which even in death expressed
suifering, I thouglit that perhaps he had left a
mother and a home to seek wealth in America. I
saw him buried under a group of locust trees, his
very name unknown to those who laid him there,
but the attendance of the whole family at the
grave, gave a sort of decency to his funeral which
rarely, in that country, honours the poor relics of
British dust ; but no clergyman attended, no
prayer was said, no bell was tolled ; these, indeed,
are ceremonies unthought of, and in fact unattain-
able without much expense, at such a distance
from a town ; had the poor youth been an Ameri-
can, he would have been laid in the earth in the
same unceremonious manner. But had this poor
Irish lad fallen sick in equal poverty and destitu-
tion among his own people, he would have found
a blanket to wrap his shivering limbs, and a kin-
dred hand to close his eyes.
The poor of great Britain, whom distress, or a
spirit of enterprise tempt to try another land,
ought, for many reasons, to repair to Canada;
there they would meet co-operation and sympathy,
instead of malice, hatred, and all uncharitableness.
OF THE AMERICANS. 121
I frequently heard vehement complamts, and
constantly met the same in the newspapers, of a
practice stated to be very generally adopted in
Britain, of sending out cargoes of parish paupers to
the United States. A Baltimore paper heads some
such remarks with the words
"INFAMOUS CONDUCT!"
and then tells us of a cargo of aged paupers just
arrived from England, adding, " John Bull has
squeezed the orange, and now insolently casts the
skin in our faces." Such being the feeling, it will
be readily believed that these unfortunates are not
likely to meet much kindness or sympathy in
sickness, or in suffering of any kind. If these
American statements be correct, and that different
parishes are induced, from an excessive popula-
tion, to pay the voyage and out-fit of some of their
paupers across the Atlantic, why not send them to
Canada ?
It is certain, however, that all the inquiries I
could make failed to substantiate these American
statements. All I could ascertain was, that many
English and Irish poor arrived yearly in the
VOL. II. G
122 .DOMESTIC MANNERS
United States, with no other resources than what
their labour furnished. This, though very dif-
ferent from the newspaper stories, is quite enough
to direct attention to the subject. It is generally
acknow^ledged that the suffering among our labour-
ing classes arises from the excess of our popula-
tion ; and it is impossible to see such a country as
Canada, its extent, its fertility, its fine climate,
and know that it is British ground, without feeling
equal sorrow and astonishment that it is not made
the means of relief. How earnestly it is to be
wished that some part of that excellent feeling
which is for ever at work in England to help the
distressed, could be directed systematically to the
object of emigration to the Canadas. Large sums
are annually raised for charitable purposes, by
weekly subscriptions of one penny ; were only a
part of the money so obtained to be devoted to
this object, hundreds of families might yearly be
sent to people our own land. The religious feel-
ing, which so naturally mixes with every charit-
able purpose, would there find the best field for
its exertions. Where could a missionary, whether
Protestant or Catholic, find a holier mission than
9
OF THE AMERICANS. 123
that which sent him to comfort and instruct his
countrpnen in the wilderness ? or where could he
reap a higher reward in this world, than seeing that
wilderness gro^^^ng into fertile fields under the
hands of his flock ?
*******
I never saw so many autumn flowers as grow in
the woods and sheep-walks of Maryland ; a second
spring seemed to clothe the fields ; but \^'ith grief
and shame I confess, that of these precious blos-
soms I scarcely knew a single name. I thuik the
Michaelmas daisy, in wonderful variety of form and
colour, and the prickly pear, were almost my only
acquaintance : let no one ^dsit America without
having first studied botany ; it is an amusement,
as a clever friend of mine once told me, that helps
one wonderfully up and do\ni hill, and must be
superlatively valuable in America, both from the
plentiful lack of other amusements, and the plen-
tiful material for enjoyment in this ; besides, if one
is dying to know the name of any of these lovely
strangers, it is a thousand to one against his finding
any one who can tell it.
The prettiest eclipse of the moon I ever saw
g2
124 DOMESTIC MANNERS
was that of September, of tHs year, (1830.) We
had been passing some hours amid the solemn
scenery of the Potomac falls, and just as we were
preparing to quit it, the full moon arose above the
black pines, with half our shadow thrown across
her. The effect of her rising thus eclipsed was
more strange, more striking by far, than watching
the o-radual obscuration ; and as I turned to look
at the black chasm behind me, and saw the deadly
alder, and the poison-vine waving darkly on the
rocks around, I thought the scene wanted nothing
but the figure of a palsied crone, plucking the fatal
branches to concoct some charm of mischief.
Whether some such maga dogged my steps, I
know not, but many hours had not elapsed ere I
again felt the noxious influence of an American au-
tumn. Tliis fever, " built in th' eclipse," speechly
brought me very low, and though it lasted not so
long as that of the preceding year, I felt persuaded
I should never recover from it. Though my fore-
bodings were not verified by the event, it was
declared that change of air was necessary, and it
was arranged for me, (for I was perfectly incapable
of setthng any thing for mpelf,) that I should go
OF THE AMERICANS. 12.)
to Alexandria, a pretty towii at the distance of
about fifteen miles, which had the reputation of
possessing a skilful physician.
It was not without regret that we quitted our
friends at Stonington ; but the prescription proved
in a great degree efficacious; a few weeks' resi-
dence in Alexandria restored my strength suffi-
ciently to enable me to walk to a beautiful Httle
grassy terrace, perfectly out of the town, but very
near it, from whence we could watch the various
craft that peopled the Potomac between Alexandria
and Washington. But though gradually regaining
strength, I was still far from well ; all plans for
winter gaiety were abandoned, and finding our-
selves very well accommodated, we decided upon
passing the winter where we were. It proved
unusually severe ; the Potomac was so completely
frozen as to permit considerable traffic to be car-
ried on by carts, crossing on the ice, from Mary-
land. This had not occurred before for thirty
years. The distance was a mile and a quarter,
and we ventured to brave the cold, and walk
across this bright and slippery mirror, to make a
visit on the opposite shore ; the fatigue of keeping
G 3
12C) DOMESTIC MANNERS
our feet was by no means inconsiderable, but we
were rewarded by seeing as noble a winter land-
scape around us as the eye could look upon.
When at length the frost gave way, the melting
snow produced freshes so violent as to carry away
the long bridge at Washington ; large fragments of
it, with the railing still erect, came floating down
amidst vast blocks of ice, during many successive
days, and it was curious to see the intrepidity vdth
which the young sailors of Alexandria periled their
lives to make spoil of the timber.
The solar ecHpse on the 12th of February, 1831,
was nearer total than any I ever saw, or ever shall
see. It was completely annular at Alexandiia,
and the bright ring which surrounded the moon's
shadow, though only 81" in breadth, gave hght
sufficient to read the smallest print ; the darkness
was considerably lessened 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 the open air, on a rising ground
near the river ; in this position many beautiful
effects were perceptible ; the rapid approach and
OF THE AMERICANS. 127
change of shadows, the dusky hue of the broad
Potomac, that seemed to drink in the feeble light, l|
which its snow-covered banks gave back to the air,
the gradual change of every object from the colour-
ing of bright sunshine to one sad universal tint of
dingy purple, the melancholy lowing of the cattle,
and the short, but remarkable suspension of all
labour, gave somethmg of mystery and awe to the
scene that we shall long remember.
During the following months I occupied myself
partly in revising my notes, and arranging these
pages; and partly in making myself acquainted,
as much as possible, with the literature of the
comitry.
While reading and transcribing my notes, I
underwent a strict self-examination. 1 passed in
review all I had seen, all I had felt, and scrupu-
lously challenged every expression of disapproba-
tion ; the result was, that I omitted in transcrip-
tion much that I had written, as containing unne-
cessary details of things which had displeased me ;
yet, as I did so, I felt strongly that there was no
exaggeration in them; but such details, though
true, might be ill-natured, and I retained no more
G 4
128
DOMESTIC MANNERS
than were necessary to convey the general impres-
sions I received. While thus re^iewing my notes,
I discovered that many points, which all scribbling
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.
OF THE AMERICANS. 129
CHAPTER XXVIII.
American CooMng — Evening Parties — Dress —
Sleighing — Money-getting Habits — Tax - Ga-
therers Notice — Indian Summer — Anecdote of
the Duke of Saxe- Weimar.
In relating all I know of America, I surely must
not omit so important a feature as the cooking.
There are sundry anomalies in the mode of serving
even a first-rate table ; but as these are altogether
matters of custom, they by no means indicate
either indifference or neglect in this important
business ; and whether castors are placed on the
table, or on the side-board ; whether soup, fish,
patties, and salad, be eaten in orthodox order or
not, signifies but Httle. I am hardly capable, I
fear, of giving a very erudite critique on the sub-
ject ; general observations, therefore, must suffice.
The ordinary mode of Kving is abundant, but not
G 5
130 DOMESTIC MANNERS
delicate. They consume an extraordinary quan-
tity of bacon. Ham and beef-steaks appear morn-
ing, noon, and night. In eating, they mix things
together with the strangest incongruity imaginable.
I have seen eggs and oysters eaten together ; the
sempiternal ham with apple-sauce ; beef-steak
with stewed peaches; and salt fish with onions.
The bread is everywhere excellent, but they
rarely enjoy it themselves, as they insist upon
eating horrible half-baked hot rolls both morning
and evening. The butter is tolerable, but they
have seldom such cream as every little dairy pro-
duces in England ; in fact, the cows are very
roughly kept, compared with ours. Common ve-
getables are abundant and very fine. I never saw
sea-cale or cauliflowers, and either from the want
of summer rain, or the want of care, the harvest
of green vegetables is much sooner over than with
us. They eat the Indian corn in a great variety
of forms ; sometunes it is dressed green, and eaten
like peas; sometimes it is broken to pieces when
dry, boiled plain, and brought to table hke rice ;
this dish is called hominy. The flour of it is
made into at least a dozen different sorts of cakes ;
OF THE AMERICANS. 131
but in my opinion all bad. This flour, mixed in
the proportion of one-third with fine wheat, makes
by far the best bread I ever tasted.
I never saw turbot, sahnon, or fresh cod ; but
the rock and shad are excellent. There is a great
want of skill in the composition of sauces; not
only with fish, but with every thing. They use
very few made dishes, and I never saw any that
would be approved by our savants. They have
an excellent wild duck, called the Canvass Back,
which, if deHcately served, would surpass the
black cock ; but the game is very inferior to ours ;
they have no hares, and I never saw a pheasant.
They seldom indulge in second courses, with all
their ingenious temptations to the eating a second
dinner; but almost every table has its dessert
(invariably pronounced desart), which is placed on
the table before the cloth is removed, and consists
of pastry, preserved fruits, and creams. They are
*' extravagantly fond," to use their own phrase, of
puddings, pies, and all kinds of " sweets," parti-
cularly the ladies ; but are by no means such
connoisseurs in soups and ragoiits as the gas-
tronomes of Europe. Almost every one drinks
g6
132 DOMESTIC MANNERS
water at table, and by a strange contradiction, in
the country where hard drinking is more prevalent
than in any other, there is less wine taken at
dinner; ladies rarely exceed one glass, and the
great majority of females never take any. In fact,
the hard drinking, so universally acknowledged,
does not take place at jo\'ial dinners, but, to speak
plain EngHsh, in solitary dram-drinking. Coffee
is not served immediately after dinner, but makes
part of the serious matter of tea-drinking, which
comes some hours later. Mixed dinner parties of
ladies and gentlemen are very rare, and unless
several foreigners are present, but little conversa-
tion passes at table. It certainly does 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 the other ; but it is very rarely that you find it
otherwise.
Their large evening parties are supremely dull ;
the men sometimes play cards by themselves, but
if a lady plays, it must not be for money ; no
ecarte, no chess ; very Httle music, and that little
lamentably bad. Among the blacks I heard some
good voices, singing in tune ; but I scarcely ever
OF THE AMERICANS. 133
heard a white American, male or female, go through
an air without being out of tune before the end of
it ; nor did I ever meet any trace of science in the
singing I heard in society. To eat inconceivable
quantities of cake, ice, and pickled oysters — and
to show half their revenue in silks and satins,
seem to be the chief object they have in these
parties.
The most agreeable meetings, I was assured by
all the young people, were those to which no
married women are admitted ; of the truth of •
this statement I have not the least doubt. These
exclusive meetings occur frequently, and often last
to a late hour ; on these occasions, I believe, they
generally dance. At regular balls married ladies
are admitted, but seldom take much part in the
amusement. The refreshments are always pro-
fuse and costly, but taken in a most uncomfortable
manner. I have known many private balls, where
every thing was on the most liberal scale of ex-
pense, where the gentlemen sat down to supper in
one room, while the ladies took theirs, standing, in
another.
^Hiat we call pic-nics are very rare, and when
134 DOMESTIC MANNERS
attempted, do not often succeed well. The two
sexes can hardly mix for the greater part of a day
without great restraint and ennui; it is quite
contrary to their general habits ; the favourite in-
dulgences of the gentlemen (smoking cigars and
drinking spirits) can neither be indulged in with
decency, nor resigned with complacency.
The ladies have strange ways of adding to their
charms. They powder themselves immoderately,
face, neck, and arms, with pulverised starch ; the
effect is indescribably disagreeable by day-light,
and not very favourable at any time. They are
also most unhappily partial to false hair, wluch
they wear in surprising quantities; this is the
more to be lamented, as they generally have very
fine hair of their own. I suspect tliis fashion to
arise from an indolent mode of making their toilet,
and from accomplished ladies' maids not being
very abundant ; it is less trouble to append a
bunch of waving curls here, there, and every
where, than to keep their native tresses in perfect
order.
Though the expense of the ladies' dress greatly
exceeds, in proportion to their general style of
TiiilK Tii>jiL)J!;'ir
OF THE AMERICANS. 135
living, that of the ladies of Europe, it is very far
(excepting in Philadelphia) from being in good
taste. They do not consult the seasons in the colours
or in the style of their costume ; I have often
shivered at seeing a young beauty picking her way
through the snow with a pale rose-coloured bonnet,
set on the very top of her head : I knew one young
lady whose pretty little ear was actually frost-bitten
from being thus exposed. They never wear muffs
or boots, and ajipear extremely shocked at the
sight of comfortable walking shoes and cotton
stockings, even when they have to step to their
sleighs over ice and snow. They walk in the
middle of winter with their poor little toes pinched
into a miniature slipper, incapable of excluding
as much moisture as might bedew a primrose. I
must say in their excuse, however, that they have,
almost universally, extremely pretty feet. They
do not walk well, nor, in fact, do they ever appear
to advantage when in movement. I know not
why this should be, for they have abundance of
French dancing-masters among them, but some-
how or other it is the fact. I fancied I could often
trace a mixture of affectation and of shyness in
136 DOMESTIC MANNERS
their little mincing unsteady step, and the ever
changing position of the hands. They do not
dance well ; perhaps I should rather say they do
not look well when dancing ; lovely as their faces
are, tliey cannot, in a position that exhibits the
whole person, atone for the want of tournure, and
for the universal defect in the formation of the
bust, which is rarely full, or gracefully formed.
I never saw an American man walk or stand
well ; notwithstanding their frequent mihtia drill-
ings, they are nearly all hollow chested and round
shouldered: perhaps this is occasioned by no
officer 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 the population,
both male and female, are strikingly handsome, but
they know not how to do their own honours ; half
d& much comeliness elsewhere would produce ten
times as much effect.
Nothing can exceed their acti\'ity and perse-
verance in all kinds of speculation, handicraft, and
enterprise, which promises a profitable pecuniary
result. I heard an Englishman, who had been
/ H(r%uu fi*2'
i Du^.rtfil f^cff" a -^f-TtM.
WALKllHG HP} TBLE S^©W.
OF THE AMERICANS. 137
long resident in America, declare that in following,
in meeting, or in overtaking, in the street, on the
road, or in the field, at the theatre, the coffee-house,
or at home, he had never overheard Americans
conversing w^ithout the word dollar being pro-
nounced between them. Such unity of purpose,
such sympathy of feeling, can, I believe, be found
nowhere else, except, perhaps, in an ants' nest.
The result is exactly what might be anticipated.
This sordid object, for ever before their eyes, must
inevitably produce a sordid tone of mind, and,
worse still, it produces a seared and blunted con-
science on all questions of probity. I know not a
more striking evidence of the low tone of morahty
which is generated by this imiversal pursuit of
money, than the manner in which the New Eng-
land States are described by Americans. All
agree in saying that they present a spectacle of
industry and prosperity delightful to behold, and
this is the district and the population most con-
stantly quoted as the finest specimen of their
admirable country ; yet I never met a single indi-
vidual in any part of the Union who did not paint
these New Englanders as sly, grinding, selfish,
138
DOMESTIC MANNERS
and tricking. The Yankees (as the New Eng-
landers are called) will avow these qualities them-
selves with a complacent smile, and boast that no
people on the earth can match them at over-
reaching in a bargain. I have heard them un-
blushingly relate stories of their cronies and
friends, which, if believed among us, would banish
the heroes from the fellowship of honest men for
ever; and all this is uttered with a simphcity
which sometimes led me to doubt if the speakers
knew what honour and honesty meant. Yet the
Americans declare that " they are the most moral
people upon earth." Again and again I have
heard this asserted, not only in conversation, and
by their writings, but even from the pulpit. Such
broad assumption of superior virtue demands exa-
mination, and after four years of attentive and
earnest observ^ation and inquiiy, my honest con-
viction is, that the standard of moral character in
the United States is very greatly lower than in
Europe. Of their religion, as it appears out-
wardly, I have had occasion to speak frequently ;
I pretend not to judge the heart, but, without any
uncharitable presumption, I must take permission
OF THE AMERICANS. 139
to say, that both Protestant England and Catholic
France show an infinitely superior religious and
moral aspect to mortal observation, both as to
reverend decency of external observance, and as to
the inward fruit of honest dealing between man
and man.
In other respects I tliink no one will be disap-
pointed who visits the country, expecting to find
no more than common sense might teach him to
look for, namely, a vast continent, by far the
greater part of which is still in the state in which
nature left it, and a busy, busthng, industrious
population, hacking and hewing their way through
it. AVliat greatly increases the interest of this
spectacle, is the wonderful facility for internal
commerce, furnished by the rivers, lakes, and
canals, which thread the country in every direc-
tion, producing a rapidity of progress in all com-
mercial and agricultural speculation altogether
unequalled. This remarkable feature is percept-
ible in every part of the Union into which the
fast spreading population has hitherto found its
way, and forms, I tliink, the most remarkable and
interesting pecuharity of the country. I hardly
140 DOMESTIC MANNERS
remember a single town where vessels of some
description or other may not constantly be seen in
full activity.
Their carriages of every kind are very unlike
ours ; those belonging to private individuals seem
all constructed with a view to summer use, for
which tliey are extremely well calculated, but they
are by no means comfortable in winter. The
waggons and carts are built with great strength,
which is indeed necessary, from the roads they
often have to encounter. The stage-coaches are
heavier and much less comfortable than those of
France ; to those of England they can bear no
comparison. I never saw any harness that I could
call handsome, nor any equipage which, as to
horses, carriage, harness, and servants, could be
considered as complete. The sleighs are delight-
ful, and constructed at so little expense that I f
wonder we have not all got them in England, Ipng '^
by, in waiting for the snow, which often remains
with us long enough to permit their use. Sleigh-
ing is much more generally enjoyed by night than
by day, for what reason I could never discover,
unless it be, that no gentlemen are to be found
OF THE AMERICANS. 141
disengaged from business in the mornings. No-
thing, certainly, can be more agreeable than the
gliding smoothly and rapidly along, deep sunk in
soft furs, the moon shining with almost mid-day
splendour, tlie air of crystal brightness, and the
snow sparkling on every side, as if it were sprinkled
with diamonds. And then the noiseless movement
of the horses, so mysterious and unwonted, and
the gentle tinkling of the bells you meet and
carry, all help at once to soothe and excite the
spirits : in short, I had not the least objection to
sleighing by night, I only wished to sleigh by day
also.
Almost every resident in the country has a car-
riage they call a carryall, which name I suspect to
be a corruption of the cariole so often mentioned
in the pretty Canadian story of Emily Montagu.
It is clumsy enough, certainly, but extremely con-
venient, and admirably calcidated, with its thick
roof and moveable draperies, for every kind of
summer excursion.
Their steam-boats, were the social arrangements
somewhat improved, would be delightful, as a
mode of travelling ; but they are very seldom em-
I
142 DOMESTIC MANNERS
ployed for excursions of mere amusement : nor do
I remember seeing pleasure-boats, properly so
called, at any of the numerous places where they
might be used with so much safety and enjoyment.
How often did our homely adage recur to me,
" All work and no play would make Jack a dull
boy;" Jonathan is a very dull boy. "We are by
no means so gay as our hvely neighbours on the
other side the Channel, but, compared with Ame-
ricans, we are whirligigs and tetotiuns ; every day
is a hohday, and every night a festival.
Perhaps if the ladies had quite their own way,
a little more relaxation would be permitted ; but
there is one remarkable peculiarity in their man-
ners which precludes the possibility of any dan-
gerous out-breaking of the kind : few ladies have
any command of ready money entrusted to them.
I have been a hundred times present when bills
for a few dollars, perhaps for one, have been
brought for payment to ladies living in perfectly
easy circumstances, who have declared themselves
vdthout money, and referred the claimant to their
husbands for payment. On every occasion where
immediate disbursement is required it is the same ;
OF THE AMERICANS. 143
even in shopping for ready cash they say, " send
a bill home %\'ith the things, and my husband ^vill
give you a draft."
I think that it was during my stay at Wash-
ington, that I was informed of a government regu-
lation, which appeared to me curious ; I therefore
record it here.
Every Deputy Post-Master is required to insert
in his return the title of every newspaper received
at his office for distribution. This return is laid
before the Secretary of State, who, perfectly know-
ing the political character of each newspaper, is
thus enabled to feel the pulse of every limb of the
monster mob. This is a well imagined device for
getting a peep at the politics of a country where
newspapers make part of the daily food, but is it
quite consistent with their entire freedom? I do
not beheve we have any such tricks to regulate the
disposal of offices and appointments.
I believe it was in Indiana that Mr. T. met with
a printed notice relative to the payment of taxes,
which I preserved as a cui'ious sample of the man-
ner in which the free citizens are coaxed and rea-
soned into obeying the laws.
144 DOMESTIC MANNERS
" LOOK OUT DELINQUENTS.
** Those indebted to me for taxes, fees, notes, and
accounts, are specially requested to call and pay
the same on or before the 1st day of December,
1828, as no longer indulgence will be given. I
have called time and again, by advertisement and
otherwise, to little effect; but now the time has
come when my situation requires immediate pay-
ment from all indebted to me. It is impossible
for me to pay off the amount of the duphcates of
taxes and my other debts without recovering the
same of those from whom it is due. I am at a
loss to know the reason why those charged with
taxes neglect to pay ; from the negligence of many
it would seem that they think the money is mine,
or that I have funds to discharge the taxes due to
the State, and that I can wait with them until it
smts their convenience to pay. The money is not
mine ; neither have I the funds to settle amount
of the duplicate. My only resort is to collect ; in
doing so I should be sorry to have to resort to the
authority given me by law for the recovery of the
same. It should be the first object of every good
OF THE AMERICANS. 145
citizen to pay his taxes, for it is in that way go-
vernment is supported. Why are taxes assessed
unless they are collected ? Depend upon it, I shall
proceed to collect agreeably to law, so govern your-
selves 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 IndianopoHs ;
I wish as many as can pay to do so, to enable me
to forward as much a^ possible, to save the twenty-
one per cent, that will be charged against me after
the 8th of December next.
*'J. S."
The first autumn I passed in America, I was
surprised to find a great and very oppressive
return of heat, accompanied with a heavy misti-
ness in the air, long after the summer heats were
over ; when this state of the atmosphere comes on,
they say " we have got to the Indian summer."
On desiring to have this phrase explained, I was
VOL. II. H
146 DOMESTIC MANNERS
told that the phenomenon described as the Indian
summer was occasioned by the Indians setting
fire to the woods, which spread heat and smoke
to a great distance ; but I afterwards met with the
following explanation, which appears to me much
more reasonable. " The Indian summer is so
called because, at the particular period of the year
in which it obtains, the Indians break up their
village communities, and go to the interior to pre-
pare for their winter hunting. This season seems
to mark a dividing line, between the heat of
summer, and the cold of winter, and is, from its
mildness, suited to these migrations. The cause
of this heat is the slow combustion of the leaves
and other vegetable matter of the boundless and
interminable forests. Those who at tliis season of
the year have penetrated these forests, know all
about it. To the feet the heat is quite sensible,
whilst the ascending vapour warms every thing it
embraces, and spreading out into the wide atmo-
sphere, fills the circuit of the heavens with its
peculiar heat and smokiness."
This unnatural heat sufficiently accounts for the
sickUness of the American autumn. The effect of
OF THE AMERICANS. 147
it is extremely distressing to the nerves, even when
the general health continues good ; to me, it was
infinitely more disagreeable than the glowing heat
of the dog-days.
A short time before we arrived in America, the
Duke of Saxe-Weimar made a tour of the United
States. I heard many persons speak of his unaf-
fected and amiable manners, yet he could not
escape the dislike which every trace of gentlemanly
feehng is sure to create among the ordinary class
of Americans. As an amusing instance of this, I
made the following extract from a newspaper.
" A correspondent of the Charlestown Gazette
tells an anecdote connected with the Duke of
Saxe-Weimar's recent journey through our coun-
try, wliich we do not recollect to have heard be-
fore, although some such story is told of the
veritable Capt. Basil Hall. The scene occurred
on the route between Augusta and Milledgeville ;
it seems that the sagacious Duke engaged three or
four, or more seats, in the regular stage, for the
accommodation of himself and suite, and thought
by this that he had secured the monopoly of the
veliicle. Not so, however ; a traveller came along,
H 2
148 DOMESTIC MANNERS
and entered his name upon the book, and secured
his seat by payment of the customary charges.
To the Duke's great surprise on entering the stage,
he found our traveller comfortably housed in one
of the most eligible seats, wrapt up in his fear-
nought, and snoring Hke a buffalo. The Didce,
greatly irritated, called for the question of consi-
deration. He demanded, in broken English, the
cause of the gross intrusion, and insisted in a ver}'^
princely manner, though not, it seems, in very
princely language, upon the incumbent vacating
the seat in which he had made himself so impu-
dently at home. But the Dujce had yet to learn
his first lesson of republicanism. The driver was
one of those sturdy southrons, who can always,
and at a moment's warning, whip his weight in
wild cats : and he as resolutely told the Duke, that
the traveller was as good, if not a better man, than
himself ; and that no alteration of the existing
arrangement could be permitted. Saxe-Weimar
became violent at this opposition, so unhke any
to which his education hitherto had ever subjected
him, and threatened John with the application of
the bamboo. This was one of those threats which
OF THE AMERICANS. 149
in Georgia dialect would subject a man to ' a row-
ing up salt river ;' and, accordingly, down leaped
our driver from his box, and peeling himself for
the combat, he leaped about the vehicle in the
most wild-boar style, calling upon the prince of a
five acre patch to put his threat in execution.
But he of the star refused to make up issue in the
way suggested, contenting himself with assuring
the enraged southron of a complaint to liis excel-
lency the Governor, on arriving at the seat of go-
vernment. This threat was almost as unlucky as
the former, for it wrought the individual for whom
it was intended into that species of fury, which,
though discruninating in its madness, is neverthe-
less without much limit in its violence, and he
swore that the Governor might go to , and for
his part he would just as leave lick the Governor
as the Duke ; he'd like no better fun than to give
both Duke and Governor a dressing in the same
breath ; coidd do it, he had little doubt, &c. &c. ;
and instigating one fist to diverge into the face of
the marvelling and panic-stricken nobleman, with
the other he thrust him down into a seat alongside
the traveller, whose presence had been originally
H 3
150 DOMESTIC MANNERS
of such sore discomfort to his excellency, and bid-
ding the attendants jump in with their discom-
fited master, he mounted his box in triumph, and
went on his journey."
I fully believe that this brutal history would be
as distasteful to the travelled and polished few
who are to be found scattered through the Union,
as it is to me ; but if they do not deem the possi-
bility of such a scene to be a national degradation,
I differ from them. The American people (speak-
ing of the great mass) have no more idea of what
constitutes the difference between this " Prince of
a five acre patch," and themselves, than a dray-
horse has of estimating the points of the elegant
victor of the race-course. Could the dray-horse
speak, when expected to yield the daintiest stall
to his graceful rival, he would say, " a horse is a
horse ;" and is it not with the same logic that the
transatlantic Houynnhnm puts down all superiority
with '^ a man is a man ?"
This story justifies the reply of Talleyrand,
when asked by Napoleon what he thought of the
Americans, " Sire, ce sont des fiers cochons, et des
cochons fiers."
OF THE AMERICANS. 151
CHAPTER XXIX.
Literature — Extracts — Fine Arts — Education.
The character of the American literatm*e is, gene-
rally speaking, pretty justly appreciated in Europe.
The immense exhalation of periodical trash, which
penetrates into every cot and corner of the country,
and which is greedily sucked in by all ranks, is
unquestionably one great cause of its inferiority.
Wliere newspapers are the principal vehicles of the
wit and wisdom of a people, the higher graces of
composition can hardly be looked for.
That there are many among them who can v/rite
well, is most certain ; but it is at least equally so,
that they have Kttle encouragement to exercise the
power in any manner more dignified than becoming
the editor of a newspaper or a magazine. As far
as I could judge, their best writers are far from
being the most popular. The general taste is de-
H 4
152 DOMESTIC MANNERS
cidedly bad ; this is obvious, not only from the mass
of slip-slop poured forth by the daily and weekly
press, but from the inflated "tone of eulogy in which
their insect authors are lauded.
To an American writer, I should think it must
be a flattering distinction to escape the admiration
of the newspapers. Few persons of taste, I ima-
gine, would like such notice as the following, which
I copied from a New York paper, where it followed
the advertisement of a partnership volume of poems
by a Mr. and Mrs. Brooks ; but of such, are their
literary notices cliiefly composed.
" The lovers of impassioned and classical num-
bers may promise themselves much gratification
from the muse of Brooks, wliile the many-stringed
harp of liis lady, the Noma of the Courier Harp,
wliich 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 of composition, which is
thought necessary for persons called well edu-
cated. There may be reason for deprecating the
lavish expense of time bestowed in England on
OF THE AMERICANS. 153
the acquirement of Latin and Greek, and it may
be doubtful whether the power of composing in
these languages, with correctness and faciHty, be
worth all the labour it costs ; but as long as letters
shall be left on the earth, the utility of a perfect
famiharity with the exquisite models of antiquity
cannot be doubted. I think I run no risk of
contradiction, when I say that an extremely small
proportion of the higher classes in America pos-
sess this familiar acquaintance with the classics.
It is vain to suppose that translations may suffice.
Noble as are the thoughts the ancients have left
us, their power of expression is infinitely more
important as a study to modern writers ; and this
no translation can furnish. Nor did it appear to
me that their intimacy with modern literature was
such as to assist them much in the formation of
style. What they class as modern Hterature seems
to include little beyond the English publications of
the day.
To speak of Chaucer, or even Spenser, as a
modern, appears to them inexpressibly ridicu-
lous ; and all the rich and varied eloquence of
Italy, from Dante to Monti, is about as much
H 5
154
DOMESTIC MANNERS
known to them, as the Welsh effusions of Urien
and Modred to us.
Rousseau, Voltaire, Diderot, &c., were read by
the old federalists, but now they seem known more
as naughty words than as great names. I am much
mistaken if a hundred untravelled Americans could
be found, who have read Boileau or La Fon-
taine. Still fewer are acquainted with that de-
lightful host of Frencli female WTiters, whose
memoii's and letters sparkle in every page '\\ith
unequalled feKcity of style. The Kterature of
Spain and Portugal is no better known; and as
for " the wits of Queen Anne's day," they are laid
en masse upon a shelf, in some score of verj' old-
fashioned houses, together wdth Sherlock and
Taylor, as much too antiquated to suit the im-
mensely rapid progress of mind wliich distinguishes
America.
The most perfect examples of English writing,
either of our own, or of any former day, have
assuredly not been produced by the imitation of
any particular style ; but the Fairy Queen would
hardly have been written, if the Orlando had not ;
nor would Milton have been the perfect poet he
9
OF THE AMERICANS. 155
was, had Virgil and Tasso been unknown to him.
It is not that the scholar mimics in wTiting the
phrases he has read, but that he can neither think,
feel, nor express himself as he might have done,
had his mental companionship been of a lower
order.
They are great novel readers, but the market is
chiefly furnished by England. They have, how-
ever, a few very good native novels. Mr. Flint's
Francis Berrian is delightful. There is a vigor
and freshness in his writin^r that is exactlv in
accordance with what one looks for in the litera-
ture of a new country ; and yet, strange to say, it
is exactly what is most wanting in that of Ame-
rica. It appeared to me that the style of their
imaginative compositions was almost always af-
fected and inflated. Even in treating their great
national subject of romance, the Indians, they are
seldom either powerful or original. A few well-
known general features, moral and physical, are
presented over and over again in all their Indian
stories, till in reading them you lose all sense of
indi\-idual character. Mr. Flint's History of the
Mississippi Valley is a work of great interest and
H 6
156 DOMESTIC MANNERS
information, and will, I hope, in time find its way
to England, where I think it is much more likely
to be appreciated than in America.
Dr. Chauning is a writer too well known in Eng-
land to require my testimony to his great abihty.
As a preacher he has, perhaps, hardly a rival any
where. This gentleman is an Unitarian; and I
was informed by several persons well acquainted
with the Hterary characters of the country, that
nearly all their distinguished men were of this
persuasion.
Mr. Pierpomt is a very eloquent preacher, and
a sweet poet. His works are not so well known
among us as they ought to be. Mi*. Everett has
written some beautiful lines ; and if I may judge
from the specimens of his speeches, as preserved
in the volume intitled " Eloquence of the United
States," I should say that he shone more as a poet
than an orator. But American fame has decided
otherwise.
Mr. M. Flint, of Louisiana, has published a
volume of poems which ought to be naturahsed
here. Mr. Hallock, of New York, has much fa-
cihty of versification, and is greatly in fashion as
OF THE AMERICANS. 157
a drawing-room poet, but I think he has somewhat
too much respect for himself, and too httle for his
readers.
It is, I think, Mr. Bryant who ranks highest as
the poet of the Union. This is too lofty im emi-
nence for me to attack ; besides, " I am of another
parish," and therefore, perhaps, no very fair judge.
From miscellaneous poetry I made a great many
extracts, but upon returning to them for transcrip-
tion, I thought that ill-nature and dulness (" Oh
ill-matched pair!") would be more served by their
insertion than wholesome criticism.
The massive Fredoniad of Dr. Emmons, in forty
cantos, I never read ; but as I did not meet a single
native who had, I hope this want of poetical enter-
prise v,-ill be excused.
They have very few native tragedies ; not more
than half a dozen I believe, and those of very
recent date. It would be ungenerous to fall
heavily upon these ; the attempt alone, nearly the
most arduous a poet can make, is of itself honour-
able ; and the success at least equal to that in any
other department of literature.
Mr. Paulding is a popular writer of novels ;
lo8 DOMESTIC MANNERS
some of his productions have been recently repub-
lished in England. Miss Sedgwick is also well
known among us ; her " Hope Leslie" is a beautiful
stor3\ Mr. Washington Irving and Mr. Cooper
have so decidedly 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 their scientific works ; but some papers
which I read almost accidentally, appeared to me
to be written with great clearness, and neatness of
definition.
It appears extraordinary that a people who
loudly declare their respect for science, should be
entirely without obsers^atories. Neither at their
seats of learning, nor in their cities, does any thing
of the kind exist ; nor did I in any direction hear
of indi^iduals given to the study of astronomy.
I had not the pleasure of making any acquaint-
ance with Mr. Bowditch, of Boston, but I know
that this gentleman ranks very high as a mathema-
tician in the estimation of the scientific world of
Europe.
Jefferson's posthumous works were very gene-
OF THE AMERICANS. 159
rally circulated whilst I was in America. They
are a mighty mass of mischief. He wrote with
more perspicuity than he thought, and his hot-
headed democracy has done a fearful injury to his
country. Hollow and unsound as his doctrines
are, they are but too palatable to a people, each
individual of whom would rather derive his im-
portance from believing that none are above him,
than from the consciousness 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 of the law and the Gospel.
As it is, his principles, though happily not fully
put in action, have yet produced most lamentable
results. The assumption of equality, however
empty, is sufficient to tincture the manners of the
poor ^^dth brutal insolence, and subjects the rich
to the paltry expediency of sanctioning the false-
hood, however deep their conviction that it is such.
It cannot, I think, be denied that the great men
of America attain to power and to fame, by
eternally uttering what they know to be untrue.
160 DOMESTIC MANNERS
American citizens are not equal. Did "Washington
feel tliem to be so, when his word out-weighed
(so happily for them) the votes of thousands ? Did
Franklin think that all were equal when he shoul-
dered his way from the printing press to the cabi-
net. True, he looked back in high good humour,
and wth his kindest smile told the poor devils
whom he left behind, that they were all his equals ;
but Franklin did not speak the truth, and he knew
it. Tlie great, the immortal Jefferson himself, he
who when past the three score years and ten,
still taught young females to obey his nod, and so
became the father of unnumbered generations of
groaning slaves, what was his matin and his
vesper hymn? " All men are born free and
equal." Did the venerable father of the gang
believe it ? Or did he too purchase liis immortahty
by a lie ?
ly ^ ^ ^ 7p 9p ^
From the five heavy volumes of the " Eloquence
of the United States," I made a few extracts,
wliich I give more for the sake of their political
interest, than for any purpose of literary criticism.
Mr. Hancock (one of those venerated men who
OF THE AMERICANS. 161
signed the act of independence), 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 destiny of that once powerful kingdom is in-
scribed." It is impossible not to regret that Mr.
Hancock should thus have let "I dare not, wait
upon I would." It would have been exceedingly
edifying to have known beforehand all the terrible
things the republic was about to do for us.
This prophetic orator spoke the modest, yet
awful words, above quoted, nearly sixty years
ago ; in these latter days men are become bolder,
for in a modern 4th of July oration, Mr. Rush,
wdthout waiting, I think, for Divine command,
gives the following amiable portrait of the British
character.
" In looking at Britain, we see a harshness
of individual character in the general view of it,
which is perceived and acknowledged by all Eu-
rope ; a spirit of unbecoming censure as regards
all customs and institutions not their own ; a
ferocity in some of their characteristics of national
manners, pervading their very pastimes, which
162 DOMESTIC MANNERS
no other modern people are endued with the
blunted sensibility to bear; an universal self-
assumed superiority, not innocently manifesting
itself in speculative sentiments among themselves,
but unamiably indulged when with foreigners, of
whatever description, in their own country, or
when they themselves are the temporary sojourners
in a foreign country ; a code of criminal law that
forgets to feel for human frailty, that sports with
human misfortime, that has shed more blood in
deliberate judicial severity for two centuries past,
constantly increasing, too, in its sanguinar}' hue,
than has ever been sanctioned by the jiuispru-
dence of any ancient or modern nation, civilized
and refined like herself; the merciless whippings
in her army, pecuhar to herself alone, the con-
spicuous commission and freest acknowledgment
of vice in the upper classes ; the overweening
distinctions shown to opulence and birth, so de-
structive of a sound moral sentiment in the nation,
so baffling to virtue. These are some of the traits
that rise up to a contemplation of the inhabitants
of this isle."
Where is the alchymy that can extract from
OF THE AMERICANS. 163
Captain Hall's work one thousandth part of the
ill-will contained in this one passage? Yet
America has resounded from shore to shore
with execrations against his barbarous calum-
nies.
But now we will listen to another tone. Let us
see how Americans can praise. Mr. Everett, in a
recent 4'th of July oration, speaks thus : —
" We are authorised to assert that the era of
our independence dates the establishment of the
only perfect organization of government." Again,
" Our government is in its theory perfect, and in its
operation it is perfect also. Thus we have solved
the great problem in human affairs." And again,
" A frame of government, perfect in its principles,
has been brought down from the airy regions of
Utopia, and has found a local habitation and a
name in our country."
Among my miscellaneous reading, I got hold of
an American pubUcation, giving a detailed, and,
indeed, an official account of the captmre of Wash-
ington by the British, in 1814. An event so long
past, and of so Httle ultimate importance, is, per-
haps, hardly worth alluchng to; but there are
164
DOMESTIC MANNERS
some passages in the official documents which I
thought very amusing.
At the very moment of receiving the attack of
the British on the heights of Bladensburgh, there
seems to have been a most curious puzzle among
the American generals, as to where they were to
be stationed, and what they were to do. It is stated
that the British threw themselves forward in open
order, advancing singly. The American general
(Winden) goes on in his narrative to describe what
followed, thus : —
" Our advanced riflemen now began to foe, and
continued it for half a dozen rounds, when I ob-
served them to run back to an orchard. They
halted there, and seemed for a moment about
returning to their original position, but in a few
moments entirely broke, and retii-ed to the left of
Stanburg's hne. The advanced artillery immediately
followed the riflemen.
" The first three or four rockets fired by the
enemy were much above the heads of Stansburg's
line ; but the rockets having taken a more hori-
zontal direction, an universal flight of the centre
and left of tliis brigade was the consequence. The
OF THE AMERICANS. IG.')
5tli regiment and the artillery still remained, and
I hoped would prevent the enemy's ap2)roach, but
they advancing singly, their fire annoyed the 5th
considerably, when I ordered it to retire, to put it
out of the reach of the enemy. This order was, how-
ever, immediately countermanded, from an aversion
to retire before the necessity became stronger, and
from a hope that the enemy would issue in a body,
and enable us to act upon him on terms of equality.
But the enemy's fire beginning to annoy the 5th
still more, by wounding several of them, and a
strong colmnn passing up the road, and deploying
on its left, I ordered them to retire ; their retreat
became a flight of absolute and total disorder."
Of B call's regiment, the general gives the follow-
ing succinct account — " It gave one or two ineffec-
tual fires and fled."
In another place he says piteously, — " The
cavalry would do any thing but charge."
General Armstrong's gentle and metaphysical
account of the business was, that — " Without all
doubt the determining cause of our disasters is to
be found in the love of life."
This affair at Washington, wliich in its results
166 DOxMESTIC MANNERS
was certainly advantageous to America, inas-
much as it caused the present beautiful 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 with the patriotic purpose
of cheering the country under it ; one triplet struck
me as rather alarming for us, however soothing to
America.
" Supposing George's house at Kew
Were burnt, as we intend to do,
Would that be burning England too?"
I tliink I have before mentioned that no work
of mere pleasantry has hitherto been fomid to
answer ; but a recent attempt of the kind has been
made, with what success cannot as yet be decided.
The editors are comedians belonging to the Boston
company, and it is entitled " The American Comic
Annual." It is accompanied by etchings, some-
what in the manner, but by no means with the
spirit of Cruikshank's. Among the pleasantries
of this lively volume are some biting attacks upon
us, particularly upon our utter incapacity of speak-
OF THE AMERICANS. 167
ing English. We really must engage a few Ame-
rican professors, or we shall lose all trace of classic
purity in our language. As a specimen, and ra-
ther a favourable one, of the work, I transcribed
an extract from a little piece, entitled, " Sayings
and Doings, a Fragment of a Farce." One of the
personages of this farce is an English gentleman,
a Captain Mandaville, and among many speeches
of the same kind, I selected the following. Collins's
Ode is the subject of conversation.
*' A r, A — a — a it stroiks me that that you
manetion his the hode about hangger and ope and
orror and revenge you know. I've card Mrs.
Sitdowns hencored in it at Common Garden and
Doory Lane in the ight of her poplarity you
know. By the boye, hall the hactin in Amareka
is werry orrid. You're honely in the hinfancy of
the istoryonic hart you know; your performers
never haspirate the haitch in sich vords for in-
stance as hink and boats, and leave out the tv in
wice wanity you know ; and make nothink of
homittin the h in somethink."
There is much more in the same style, but,
perhaps, this may suffice. I have given this pas-
168 DOMESTIC MANNERS
sage chiefly because it affords an example of the
manner in which the generahty of Americans are
accustomed to speak of English pronunciation and
phraseology.
It must be remembered, however, here and
every where, that this phrase, " the Americans,"
does not include the instructed and travelled por-
tion of the community.
It would be absurd to swell my little volumes
with extracts in proof of the veracity of their con-
tents, but having spoken of the taste of their lighter
works, and also of the general tone of manners, I
cannot forbear inserting a page from an American
annual (The Token), which purports to give a scene
from fashionable life. It is part of a dialogue be-
tween a young lady of the " highest standing" and
her " tutor," who is moreover her lover, 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, by general consent,
even mine, " motley's the only wear?" '
" ' Am I so grave, Miss Blair V
" 'Are you so grave. Miss Blair? One would
OF THE AMERICANS. 1G9
think I had not got my lesson to-day. Pray, sir,
has the black ox trod upon your toe since we
parted ?"
" Philip tried to laugh, but he did not succeed;
he bit his lip and was silent.
" * I am under orders to entertain you, Mr.
Blondel, and if my poor brain can be made to
gird this fairy isle, I shall certainly be obedient.
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 know whether Miss Blair is a fever
or an ague. How did you catch it, sir ?'
" * Really, Miss Blair—'
" * Nay, I see you don't Hke doctoring ; I give
over, and now I'll be sensible. It's a fine day, Mr.
Blondel.'
" ' Very.'
" ' A pleasant lane, this, to walk in, if one's
company were agreeable.'
" * Does Mr. Skefton stay long?' asked Philip,
abruptly.
" ' No one knows.'
VOL. II. I
170 DOMESTIC MANNERS
" ' Indeed! are you so ignorant?'
" ' And why does your wisdom ask that ques-
tion ?' "
In no society in the world can the advantage of
travel be so conspicuous as in America. In other
countries a tone of unpretending simplicity can
more than compensate for the absence of enlarged
\iews or accurate observation ; but this tone is
not to be found in America, or if it be, it is only
among those who, having looked at that insig-
nificant portion of the world not included in the
Union, have learnt to know how much is still
unkno^vn within the mighty part which is. For
the rest, they aU declare, and do in truth believe,
that they only, among the sons of men, have wit
and wisdom, and that one of their exclusive
privileges is that of speaking English eleganthj.
There are two reasons for this latter persuasion :
the one is, that the great majority have never heard
any EngKsh but their own, except from the very
lowest of the Irish ; and the other, that those who
have chanced to find themselves in the society of
the few educated English who have visited America,
have discovered that there is a marked difference
OF THE AMERICANS. 171
between their phrases and accents and those to
which they have been accustomed, whereupon they
have, of course, decided that no Englishman can
speak EngHsh.
The reviews of America contain some good
clear-headed articles ; but I sought in vain for the
playful vivacity and the keenly-cutting satire,
whose sharp edge, however painful to the patient,
is of such high utility in lopping oif the excres-
cences of bad taste, and levelling to its native
clay the heavy growth of drdness. Still less could
I find any trace of that graceful familiarity of
learned allusion and general knowledge which
mark the best European reviews, and which make
one feel in such perfectly good company while
perusing them. But this is a tone not to be found
either in the writings or conversation of Americans ;
as distant from pedantry as from ignorance, it is
not learning itself, but the effect of it ; and so
pervading and subtle is its influence, that it may be
traced in the festive halls and gay drawing-rooms
of Europe as certainly as in the cloistered library
or student's closet ; it is, perhaps, the last finish of
highly-finished society.
I 2
172 DOMESTIC MANNERS
A late American Quarterly has an article on a
work of Dr. Von Schmidt Phiseldek, from which I
made an extract, as a curious sample of the dreams
they love to batten on.
Dr. Von Phiseldek (not Fiddlestick), who is
not only a doctor of philosophy, but a knight of
Dannebrog to boot, has never been in America,
but he has written a prophecy, showing that the
United States must and will govern the whole
world, because they are so very big, and have so
much uncultivated territory; he prophecies that
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 the precise
period at which this will take place. This Danish
prophecy, as may be imagined, enchants the re-
viewer. He exhorts all people to read Dr. Phi-
seldek's book, because " notliing but good can
come of such contemplations of the future, and
because it is eminently calculated to awaken the
most lofty anticipations of the destiny which
awaits them, and will serve to impress upon the
nation the necessity of being prepared for such
OF THE AMERICANS. 17
o
high destiny." In another place the reviewer
bursts out, " America, young as she is, has become
already the beacon, the patriarch of the struggling
nations of the world ;" and afterwards adds, " It
would be departing from the natural order of
things, and the ordinary operations of the great
scheme of Prondence, it would be shutting our
ears to the voice of experience, and our eyes to
the inevitable connexion of causes and their
effects, were we to reject the extreme probability,
not to say jnoral certainty, that the old world is
destined to receive its influences in future from
the new." There are twenty pages of tliis ar-
ticle, but I \n\\ only give one passage more ; it
is an instance of the sort of reasoning by which
American citizens persuade themselves that the
glory of Em-ope is, in reality, her reproach.
" Wrapped up in a sense of liis superiority, the
European reclines at home, sliining in his borrowed
plumes, derived from the product of every corner of
the earth, and the industry of every portion of its
inhabitants, with which his own natural resources
would never have invested him, he continues revel-
ling in enjoyments which nature has denied him."
I 3
174 DOMESTIC MANNERS
The American Quarterly deservedly holds the
highest place in their periodical literature, and,
therefore, may be fairly quoted as striking the key-
note for the chorus of pubhc opinion. Surely it is
nationality rather than patriotism which leads it
thus to speak in scorn of the successful efforts of
enlightened nations to win from every corner of
the earth the riches which nature has scattered
over it.
*******
The incorrectness of the press is very great;
they make strange work in the reprints of French
and Italian ; and the Latin, I suspect, does not
fare much better: I believe they do not often
meddle with Greek.
With regard to the fine arts, their paintings, I
tliink, are quite as good, or rather better, than might
be expected from the patronage they receive; the
wonder is that any man can be found with courage
enough to devote himself to a profession in wliich
he has so little chance of finding a maintenance.
The trade of a carpenter opens an infinitely better
prospect ; and this is so well known, that nothing
but a genuine passion for the art could beguile any
I
OF THE AMERICANS. 175
one to pursue it. The entire absence of every
means of improvement, and effectual study, is
unquestionably the cause why those who manifest
this devotion cannot advance farther. I heard of
one young artist, whose circumstances did not
permit his going to Europe, but who being never-
theless determined that his studies should, as
nearly as possible, resemble those of the European
academies, was about to commence drawing the
hmnan figure, for which purpose he had provided
himself with a tliin silk dress, in wliich to clothe
his models, as no one of any station, he said, could
be found who would submit to sit as a model with-
out clothing.
It was at Alexandria that I saw what I consider
as the best picture by an American artist that I
met with. The subject was Hagar and Ishmael.
It had recently arrived from Rome, where the
painter, a young man of the name of Chapman,
had been studying for three years. His mother
told me that he was twenty-two years of age,
and passionately devoted to the art; should
he, on retm-ning to his country, receive suffi-
cient encouragement to keep his ardour and
I 4
176 DOMESTIC MANNERS
his industry alive, I think I shall hear of him
again.
*******
Much is said about the universal difiusion of
education in America, and a vast deal of genuine
admiration is felt and expressed at the progress of
mind throughout the Union. They beheve them-
selves in all sincerity to have surpassed, to be
surpassing, and to be about to surpass, the v^^hole
earth in the intellectual race. I am aware that
not a single vv^ord can be said, hinting a different
opinion, which will not bring down a transatlantic
anathema on my head ; yet the subject is too in-
teresting to be omitted. Before I left England I
remember listening, with much admiration, to an
eloquent friend, who deprecated our system of
pubKc education, as confining the various and
excursive faculties of our children to one beaten
path, paying little or no attention to the peculiar
powers of the individual.
This objection is extremely plausible, but doubts
of its intrinsic value must, I think, occur to every
one who has marked the result of a different system
throughout the United States.
OF THE AMERICANS. 177
From every inquiry I could make, and I took
much pains to obtain accurate inforaiation, it
appeared that much is attempted, but very little
beyond reading, writing, and book-keeping, is tho-
roughly acquired. Were we to read a prospectus
of the system pursued in any of our public schools,
and that of a first-rate seminary in America, we
should be struck by the confined scholastic routine
of the former, when compared to the varied and
expansive scope of the latter ; but let the exami-
nation go a little farther, and I believe it will be
found that the old-fashioned school discipline of
England has produced something higher, and
deeper too, than that which roars so loud, and
thunders in the index.
They will not afford to let their young men
study till two or three and twenty, and it is there-
fore declared, ex cathedra Americana, to be un-
necessary. At sixteen, often much earlier, educa-
tion ends, and money-making begins ; the idea that
more learning is necessary than can be acquired
by that time, is generally ridiculed as obsolete
monkish bigotry; added to which, if the seniors
willed a more prolonged discipline, the juniors
I 5
178 DOMESTIC MANNERS
would refuse submission. When the money-getting
begins, leisure ceases, and all of lore which can be
acquired afterwards, is picked up from novels,
magazines, and newspapers.
At what time can the taste be formed ? How
can a correct and pohshed style, even of speaking,
be acquired ? or when can the fruit of the two
thousand years of past thinking be added to the
native growth of American intellect ? These are
the tools, if I may so express myself, which our
elaborate system of school discipKne puts into the
hands of our scholars ; possessed of these, they may
use them in whatever direction they please after-
wards, they can never be an incumbrance.
No people appear more anxious to excite ad-
miration and receive applause than the Americans,
yet none take so little trouble, or make so few
sacrifices to obtain it. This may answer among
themselves, but it will not with the rest of the
world; individual sacrifices must be made, and
national economy enlarged, before America can
compete with the old world in taste, learning, and
liberality.
The reception of General Lafayette is the one
OF THE AMERICANS. 179
single instance in which the national pride has
overcome the national thrift ; and this was clearly
referrible to the one single feeling of enthusiasm of
wliich they appear capable, namely, the triumph
of their successful struggle for national inde-
pendence. But though this feeHng will be uni-
versally acknowledged as a worthy and lawful
source of triumph and of pride, it will not serve
to trade upon for ever, as a fund of glory and high
station among the nations. Their fathers were
colonists ; they fought stoutly, and became an
independent people. Success and admiration, even
the admiration of those whose yoke they had
broken, cheered them while Kving, stills sheds a
glory round their remote and untitled sepulchres,
and will illumine the page of their history for
ever.
Their children inherit the independence; they
inherit too the honour of being the sons of brave
fathers ; but this will not give them the reputation
at wliich they aim, of being scholars and gentle-
men, nor will it enable them to sit down for ever-
more to talk of their glory, while they drink mint
julap and chew tobacco, swearing by the beard of
180 DOMESTIC MANNERS
Jupiter (or some other oath) that they are very
graceful, and agreeable, and, moreover, abusing
every body who does not cry out Amen !
To doubt that talent and mental power of every
kind exist in America would be absurd ; why
should it not ? But in taste and learning they are
woefully deficient ; and it is this which renders
them incapable of gi'aduating a scale by which to
measure themselves. Hence arises that overween-
ing complacency and self-esteem, both national and
individual, wliich at once renders them so extremely
obnoxious to ridicule, and so peculiarly restive
under it.
If they will scorn the process by wliich other
nations have become what they avowedly intend
to be, they must rest satisfied with the praise and
admiration they receive from each other ; and
turning a deaf ear to the criticisms of the old
world, consent to be their " own prodigious great
reward."
*******
Alexandria has its churches, chapels, and con-
venticles as abundantly, in proportion to its size,
as any city in the Union. I visited most of them.
OF THE AMERICANS. 181
and in tlie Episcopal and Catholic heard the ser-
vices performed quietly and reverently.
The best sermon, however, that I listened to,
was in a Methodist church, from the mouth of a
Piquot Indian. It was impossible not to be touched
by the simple sincerity of tliis poor man. He gave
a picture frightfully eloquent of the decay of liis
people under the united influence of the avarice and
intemperance of the white men. He described the
effect of the religious feeling which had recently
found its way among them as most salutary. The
purity of his moral feehng, and the sincerity of
his sympathy with his forest brethren, made it
unquestionable that he must be the most valuable
priest who could officiate for them. His Enghsh
was very correct, and his pronunciation but slightly
tinctured by native accent.
« 4t « « « « -H^
While we were still in the neighbourhood of
Washington, a most violent and unprecedented
schism occurred in the cabinet. The four secre-
taries of State all resigned, leaving General Jackson
to manage the queer little state barge alone.
Innumerable contradictory statements appeared
182 DOMESTIC MANNERS
upon this occasion in the papers, and many a cigar
was throwTi aside, ere half consumed, that the
disinterested poHtician might give breath to his
cogitations on this extraordinary event ; but not all
the eloquence of all the smokers, nor even the ultra-
diplomatic expositions which appeared from the
seceding secretaries themselves, could throw any
light on the mysterious business. It produced,
however, the only tolerable caricature I ever saw
in the country. It represents the President seated
alone in his cabinet, wearing a look of much dis-
comfiture, and making great exertions to detain
one of four rats, who are running off, by placing
his foot on the tail. The rats' heads bear a very
sufficient resemblance to the four ex-ministers.
General Jackson, it seems, had requested Mr. Van
Buren, the Secretary of State, to remain in office
till liis place was supphed ; tliis gave occasion to a
hon mot from his son, who, being asked when his
father would be in New York, replied, " "WTien the
President takes off his foot."
"II
J r-'lc^t.:-. /.,(t.,:-.;.t'MuH--,^ la.te
■t M,-,y,.'ii •!,('
TM£ PR^STJD'KJVT OjF THE UITITJBB STATJSS
1 1
OF THE AMERICANS. 183
CHAPTER XXX.
Journey to New York — Delaware River — Stage-
coach — City of New York — Collegiate Institute
for Young Ladies — Theatres — Public Garden
— Churches — Morris Canal — Fashions — Car-
riages.
s
At length, spite of the lingering pace necessarily
attending consultations, and arrangements across
the Atlantic, our plans were 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 began our preparations for departure.
We took our last voyage on the Potomac, we bade
a last farewell to Virginia, and gave a last day to
some of our kind friends near Washington.
The spring, though slow and backward, was
184 DOMESTIC MANNERS
sufficiently advanced to render the journey plea-
sant ; and though the road from Washington to
Baltimore was less brilhant in foliage than when I
had seen it before, it still had much of beauty.
The azalias were in full bloom, and the delicate
yellow blossom of the sassafras almost rivalled its
fruit in beauty.
At Baltimore we again embarked on a gigantic
steam-boat, and reached Philadelpliia in the
middle of the night. Here we changed oui boat, J
and found time, before starting in the morning, to ""^
take a last look at the Doric and Corinthian por-
ticos of the two celebrated temples dedicated to
Mammon.
The Delaware River, above Philadelphia, still
flows through a landscape too level for beauty,
but it is rendered interesting by a succession
of gentlemen's seats, which, if less elaborately
finished in architecture, and garden grounds, than
the lovely villas on the Thames, are still beautiful
objects to gaze upon as you float rapidly past on
the broad silvery stream that washes their lawns.
They present a picture of wealth and enjopnent
that accords well with the noble city to whicli
OF THE AMERICANS. 185
they are an appendage. One mansion arrested
our attention, not only from its being more than
usually large and splendid, but from its having
the monument which marked the family resting-
place, rearing itself in all the gloomy grandeur of
black and white marble, exactly opposite tlie door
of entrance.
In Virginia and Maryland we had remarked
that almost every family mansion had its little
grave yard, sheltered by locust and cypress trees ;
but this decorated dwelling of the dead seemed
rather a melancholy ornament in the grounds.
We had, for a considerable distance, a \dew of
the dwelKng of Joseph Bonaparte, which is situ-
ated on the New Jersey shore, in the midst of an
extensive tract of land, of which he is the pro-
prietor.
Here the ex-monarch has built several houses,
which are occupied by French tenants. The
country is very flat, but a terrace of two sides has
been raised, commanding a fine reach of the Dela-
ware River ; at the point where this terrace forms
a right angle, a lofty chapel has been erected,
wliich looks very much like an observatory ; I
186 DOMESTIC MANNERS
admired the ingenuity vdih which the Cathohc
prince has united his rehgion and his love of a fine
terrestrial prospect. The highest part of the build-
ing presents, in every direction, the appearance of
an immense cross ; the transept, if I may so ex-
press it, being formed by the projection of an
ample balcony, which surrounds a tower.
A Quaker gentleman, from Philadelphia, ex-
claimed, as he gazed on the mansion, " There
we see a monument of fallen royalty ! Strange !
that dethroned kings should seek and find their
best strong-hold in a Republic."
There was more of philosophy than of scorn in
liis accent, and his countenance was the svmbol
of gentleness and benevolence ; but I overheard
many unquakerlike jokes from others, as to the
comfortable assurance a would-be king must feel
of a faithful alliance between his head and
shoulders.
At Trenton, the capital of New Jersey, we left
our smoothly-gliding comfortable boat for the most
detestable stage-coach that ever Christian built to
dislocate the joints of his fellow men. Ten of
these torturing machines were crammed fidl of the
OF THE AMERICANS. 187
passengers who left the boat with us. The change
in our movement was not more remarkable than
that which took place in the tempers and counte-
nances of our fellows-travellers. Gentlemen who
had lounged on sofas, and balanced themselves in
chairs, all the way from Pliiladelphia, with all the
conscious fascinations of stiff stays and neck-cloths,
wliich, while doing to death the rash beauties
who ventui-ed to gaze, seemed but a whalebone
panoply to guard the wearer, these pretty youths
so guarded from without, so sweetly at peace
within, now crushed beneath their armour, looked
more like \ictims on the wheel, than dandies armed
for conquest; their whalebones seemed to enter
into their souls, and every face grew grim and
scowHng. The pretty ladies too, with their ex-
pansive bonnets, any one of which might hand-
somely have filled the space allotted to three, — how
sad the change ! I ahnost fancied they must have
been of the race of Undine, and that it was only
when they heard the splashing of water that they
could smile. As I looked into the altered eyes of
my companions, I was tempted to ask, " Look I
as cross as you ?" Indeed, I believe that, if pos-
188 DOMESTIC MANNERS
sible, I looked crosser still, for the roads and the
vehicle together were quite too much for my phi-
losophy.
At length, however, we found ourselves alive on
board the boat which was to convey us down the
Raraton River to New York.
We fully intended to have gone to bed, to heal
our bones, on entering the steam-boat, but the
sight of a table neatly spread determined us to go
to dinner instead. Sin and shame would it have
been, indeed, to have closed our eyes upon the
scene which soon opened before us. I have never
seen the bay of Naples, I can therefore make no
comparison, but my imagination is incapable of
conceiving any thing of the kind more beautiful
than the harbour of New York. Various and
lovely are the objects which meet the eye on every
side, but the naming them would only be to give
a hst of words, without conveying the faintest idea
of the scene. I doubt if ever the pencil of Turner
could do it justice, bright and glorious as it rose
upon us. We seemed to enter the harbour of New
York upon waves of Kquid gold, and as we darted
past the green isles which rise from its bosom, like
OF THE AMERICANS. 189
guardian centinels of the fair city, the setting sun
stretched his horizontal beams farther and farther
at each moment, as if to point out to us some new
glory in the landscape.
New York, indeed, appeared to us, even when
we saw it by a soberer light, a lovely and a noble
city. To us who had been so long travelling
through half-cleared forests, and sojourning among
an " I'm-as-good-as-y ou " population, it seemed,
perhaps, more beautiful, more splendid, and more
refined than it might have done, had we arrived
there directly from London; but making every
allowance for this, I must still declare that I think
New York one of the finest cities I ever saw, and
as much superior to every other in the Union
(Philadelphia not excepted), as London to Liver-
pool, or Paris to Rouen. Its advantages of posi-
tion are, perhaps, unequalled any where. Situated
on an island, which I think 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
190 DOMESTIC MANNERS
the waters of the harbour into the north and east
rivers ; on this point stands the city of New York,
extending from river to river, and running north-
ward to the extent of three or four miles. I think
it covers nearly as much ground as Paris, but is
much less thickly peopled. The extreme point is
fortified towards the sea by a battery, and forms
an admirable point of defence ; but in these piping
days of peace, it is converted into a public pro-
menade, and one more beautiful, I should suppose,
no city could boast. From hence commences the
splendid Broadway, as the fine avenue is called,
which runs through the whole city. This noble
street may vie with any I ever saw, for its length
and breadth, its handsome shops, neat awnings,
excellent trottoir, and well-dressed pedestrians.
It has not the crowded glitter of Bond Street
equipages, nor the gorgeous fronted palaces of
Regent Street ; but it is magnificent in its extent,
and ornamented by several handsome buildings,
some of them surrounded by grass and trees.
The Park, in which stands the noble city-hall,
is a very fine area. I never found that the most
graphic description of a city could give me
9
OF THE AMERICANS. 191
any feeling of being there ; and even if others have
the power, I am very sure I have not, of setting
churches and squares, and long drawn streets, be-
fore the mind's eye. I will not, therefore, attempt
a detailed description of this great metropolis of
the new world, but will only say that during the
seven weeks we stayed there, we always found
something new to see and to admire ; and were it
not so very far from all the old-world things which
cling about the heart of an European, I should
say that I never saw a city more desirable 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 in
London ; the cheffoniers, slabs, and marble tables
as elegant; and in addition, they have all the
pretty tasteful decoration of French porcelaine,
and or-molu in much greater abundance, because
at a much cheaper rate. Every part of their
houses is well cai-peted, and the exterior finish-
ing, such as steps, railings, and door-frames, are
very superior. Almost every house has handsome
192 DOMESTIC MANNERS
green blinds on the outside; balconies are not
very general, nor do the houses display, externally,
so many flowers as those of Paris and London;
but I saw many rooms decorated within, exactly
like those of an European petite maitresse. Little
tables, looking and smelling like flower beds, port-
folios, nick-nacks, bronzes, busts, cameos, and
alabaster vases, illustrated copies of lady-like
rhymes bound in silk, and, in short, all the pretty
coxcomalities of the drawing-room scattered about
with the same profuse and studied negUgence as
with us.
Hudson Square and its neighbourhood is, I
beheve, the most fashionable part of the to^vn;
the square is beautiful, excellently well planted
with a great variety of trees, and only wanting our
frequent and careful mowing to make it equal to
any square in London. The iron railing which
surrounds this enclosure is as high and as hand-
some as that of the Tuilleries, and it will give
some idea of the care bestowed on its decoration,
to know that the gravel for the walks was con-
veyed by barges from Boston, not as ballast, but
as freight.
OF THE AMERICANS. 193
The great defect in the houses is their extreme
uniformity — when you have seen one, you have
seen all. Neither do I quite like the arrangement
of the rooms. In nearly all the houses the dining
and drawing-rooms are on the same floor, with
ample folding doors between them ; when thrown
together they certainly make a very noble apart-
ment; but no doors can be barrier sufficient be-
tween dining and drawing-rooms. Mixed dinner
parties of ladies and gentlemen, however, are very
rare, which is a great defect in the society ; not
only as depriving them of the most social and
hospitable manner of meeting, but as leading to
frequent dinner parties of gentlemen without
ladies, which certainly does not conduce to re-
finement.
The evening parties, excepting such as are ex-
pressly for yoimg people, are chiefly conversa-
tional ; we were too late in the season for large
parties, but we saw enough to convince us that
there is society to be met with in New York,
which would be deemed delightful any where.
Cards are very seldom used ; and music, from their
having very little professional aid at their parties,
VOL. II. K
194 DOMESTIC MANNERS
is seldom, I believe, as good as what is heard at
private concerts in London.
The Americans have certainly not the same
besoin of being amused, 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 Hcensed by fashion, but the Bowery is infi-
nitely superior in beauty ; it is indeed as pretty a
theatre as I ever entered, perfect as to size and
proportion, elegantly decorated, and the scenery
and machinery equal to any in London, but it is
not the fashion. The Chatham is so utterly con-
demned by bon ton, that it requires some courage
to decide upon going there ; nor do I think my
curiosity would have penetrated so far, had I not
seen Miss Mitford's Rienzi advertised there. It
was the first opportunity I had had of seeing it
played, and spite of very indifferent acting, I was
delighted. The interest must have been great, for
till the curtain fell, I saw not one quarter of the
queer things around me : then I observed in the
front row of a dress-box a lady performing the
Tfrvtcii citl^
^4 fffi^/^ts l^ttJi*f9.S^Marf^fi*/^a77f .
B&X ^^T TMJS TM^.'^T/M'/^:
OF THE AMERICANS. 195
most maternal office possible ; several gentlemen
witliout their coats, and a general air of contempt
for the decencies of life, certainly more than usually
revolting.
At the Park Theatre I again saw the American
Roscius, Mr. Forest. He played the part of
Damon, and roared, I thought, very unlike a
nightingale. I cannot admire this celebrated per-
former.
Another night we saw Cinderella there; Mrs.
Austin was the prima donna, and much admired.
The piece was extremely well got up, and on this
occasion we saw the Park Theatre to advantaare,
for it was filled with well-dressed company; but
still we saw many " yet mirazored lips " polluted
with the grim tinge of the hateful tobacco, and
heard, without ceasing, the spitting, wliich of
course is its consequence. If their theatres had
the orchestra of the Feydeau, and a choir of angels
to boot, I could find but little pleasure, so long as
they were followed by this ruiming accompaniment
of tJiorough base.
Whilst at New York, the prospectus of a
fashionable boarding-school was presented to me.
K 2
196 DOMESTIC MANNERS
I made some extracts from it, as a specimen of
the enlarged scale of instruction proposed for
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 ; Intel-
lectual and Practical Arithmetic finished ; Dr.
Barber's Graimnar of Elocution ; Writing, Spell-
ing, 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 Sacred Geography ;
Studies of Poetry ; Short Treatise on Rhetoric ;
Map Dra^\-ing, Composition, SpelUng, and Vocal
Music.
OF THE AMERICANS. 197
Fourth Class.
Csesar's Commentaries ; first five books of
Virgil's ^neid ; Mythology ; Watts on the Mind ;
Political Geography, (Woodbridge's large work) ;
Natural History ; Treatise on the Globes ; An-
cient History ; Studies of Poetry concluded ; Eng-
lish Grammar, Composition, Spelling, and Vocal
Music.
SENIOR DEPARTMENT.
Third Class.
Virgil, (finished) ; Cicero's Select Orations ; Mo-
dern History ; Plane Geometry ; INIoral Philo-
sophy ; Critical Reading of Young's Poems ; Per-
spective Drawing; Rhetoric ; Logic, Composition,
and Vocal Music.
Second Class.
lAxy ; Horace, (Odes) ; Natural Theolog}^ ;
small Compend of Ecclesiastical History ; Fe-
male Biography ; Algebra ; Natural Philosophy,
(Mechanics, Hydrostatics, Pneumatics, and Acous-
tics) ; Intellectual Philosophy ; E\-idences of Christ-
ianity ; Composition, and Vocal Music.
K 3
198 DOMESTIC MANNERS
First Class.
Horace, (finished) ; Tacitus ; Natural Pliilosopliy,
(Electricity, Optics, Magnetism, Galvanism) ; As-
tronomy, Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Geology;
Compend of Political Economy ; Composition, and
Vocal Music.
The French, Spanish, Italian, or Greek lan-
guages may be attended to, if required, at any
time.
The Exchange is very handsome, and ranks
about midway between the heavy gloom that hangs
over our London merchants, and the hght and lofty
elegance which decorates the Bourse at Paris.
The churches are plain, but very neat, and kept
in perfect repair wdthin and \\ithout ; but I saw-
none which had the least pretension to splendour ;
the CathoHc Cathedral at Baltimore is the only
church in America which has.
At New York, as every where else, they show
within, during the time of service, Kke beds of
tulips, so gay, so bright, so beautiful, are the long
rows of French bonnets and pretty faces; rows
but rarely broken by the unribboned heads of the
OF THE AMERICANS. 991
male population; the proportion is about the
same as I have remarked elsewhere. Excepting
at New York, I never saw the other side of the
picture, but there I did. On the opposite side of
the North River, about three miles higher up, is
a place called Hoboken. A gentleman who pos-
sessed a handsome mansion and grounds there,
also possessed the right of ferry, and to render
this productive, he has restricted his pleasiire-
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; a broad belt of Hght underwood and
flowering slurubs, studded at intervals with lofty
forest trees, runs for two miles along a cliff which
overhangs the matchless Hudson ; sometimes it
feathers the rocks down to its very margin, and at
others leaves a pebbly shore, just rude enough to
break the gentle waves, and make a music wliich
mimics softly the loud chorus of the ocean. —
Through this beautiful Httle wood a broad well-
gravelled terrace is led by every point wliich can
exliibit the scenery to advantage ; narrower and
wider paths diverge at intervals, some into the
K 4
200 DOxMESTIC MANNERS
deeper shadow of the woods, and some shelving
gradually to the pretty coves below.
The price of entrance to this little Eden, is the
six cents you pay at the fea-ry. We went there on
a bright Sunday afternoon, expressly to see the
humom-s of the place. Many thousand persons
were scattered through the grounds ; of these we
ascertained, by repeatedly counting, that nineteen-
twentieths were men. The ladies were at church.
Often as the subject has pressed upon my mind,
I think I never so strongly felt the con\-iction that
the Sabbath-day, the holy day, the day on which
alone the great majority of the Christian world
can spend their hours as they please, 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!"
OF THE AMERICANS. 201
How is it tliat the men of America, who are
reckoned good husbands and good fathers, while
they themselves enjoy sufficient freedom of spirit
to permit their walking forth into the temple
of the living God, can leave those they love best
on earth, bound in the iron chains of a most
tyrannical fanaticism? How can they breathe
the balmy air, and not think of the tainted
atmosphere so heavily weighing upon breasts still
dearer than their own ? How can they gaze upon
the blossoms of the spring, and not remember the
fairer cheeks of their young daughters, waxing
pale, as they sit for long sultry hours, immured
with hundreds of fellow victims, listening to the
roaring vanities of a preacher, canonized by a
college of old women? They cannot think it
needful to salvation, or they would not withdraw
themselves. Wherefore is it? Do they fear these
self-elected, self-ordained priests, and offer up
their wives and daughters to propitiate them?
Or do they deem their hebdomadal freedom more
complete, because their wives and daughters are
shut up four or five times in the day at church or
chapel? Is it true, that at Hoboken, as every
K 5
202 DOMESTIC MANNERS
where else, there are reposoires, which as you
pass them, blast the sense for a moment, by reek-
ing forth the fumes of whiskey and tobacco, and it
may be that these cannot be entered with a wife
or daughter. The proprietor of the grounds, how-
ever, has contrived with great taste to render these
abominations not unpleasing to the eye ; there is
one in particular, which has quite the air of a
Grecian temple, and did they drink wine instead
of whiskey, it might be inscribed to Bacchus ; but
in this particular, as in many others, the ancient
and modern Republics differ.
It is impossible not to feel, after passing one
Sunday in the churches and chapels of New York,
and the next in the gardens of Hoboken, that the
thousands of well-dressed men you see enjoying
themselves at the latter, have made over the
thousands of well-dressed women you saw ex-
hited at the former, into the hands of the priests,
at least, for the day. The American people arro-
gate to themselves a character of superior mo-
rality and religion, but this division of their hom-s
of leisure does not give me a favourable idea of
either.
OF THE AMERICANS. 203
I A-isited all the exhibitions in New York. The
Medici of the RepubKc must exert themselves a
little more before these can become even respect-
able. The worst of the business is, that with the
exception of about half a dozen indi\iduals, the
good citizens are more than contented, they are
dehghted.
The newspaper lungs of the Republic breathe
forth praise and triumph, nay, almost pant with
ecstacy in speaking of their native chefd'oeuvres. I
should be hardly behoved were I to relate the in-
stances which fell in my way, of the utter igno-
rance respecting pictures to be found among per-
sons of the first standing in society. Often where
a liberal spirit exists, and a wish to patronise
the fine arts is expressed, it is joined to a pro-
fundity of ignorance on the subject almost incon-
ceivable. A doubt as to the excellence of their
artists is very nervously received, and one gentle-
man, with much civihty, told me, that at the pre-
sent era, all the world were aware that competition
was pretty well at an end between our two nations,
and that a little envy might naturally be expected
to mix with the surprise with wliich the mother
k6
204 DOMESTIC MANNERS
country "beheld the distance at which her colonies
were leaving her behind them.
I must, however, do the few artists with whom
I became acquainted, the justice to say, that their
own pretensions are much more modest than those
of their patrons for them. I have heard several
confess and deplore their ignorance of drawing,
and have repeatedly remarked a sensibility to the
merit of European artists, though perhaps only
known by engra\'ings, and a deference to their
authority, which showed a genuine feehng for the
art. In fact, I think that there is a very consider-
able degree of natural talent for painting in Ame-
rica, but it has to make its way through darkness
and thick night. When an academy is founded,
their first care is to hang the walls of its exhibi-
tion room with all the unutterable trash that is
oifered to them. No hving models are sought for ;
no discipline as to the manner of study is enforced.
Boys who know no more of human form, than
they do of the eyes, nose, and mouth in the
moon, begin painting portraits. If some of them
would only throw away their palettes for a year,
and learn to draw ; if they would attend anato-
OF THE AMERICANS. 205
mical lectures, and take notes, not in words, but
in forms, of joints and muscles, their exliibitions
would soon cease to be so utterly below criticism.
The most interesting exhibition open when I
was there was, decidedly. Colonel Trumbold's ; and
how the patriots of America can permit this truly
national collection to remain a profitless burden on
the hands of the artist, it is difficult to understand.
Many of the sketches are masterly ; but like his
illustrious countryman. West, his sketches are his
chef (Tosuvres.
I can imagine nothing more perfect than the
interior of the public institutions of New York.
There is a practical good sense in all their ar-
rangements that must strike foreigners very for-
cibly. The Asylum for the Destitute offers a hint
worth taking. It is dedicated to the reformation
of youthful offenders of both sexes, and it is as
admirable in the details of its management as in
its object. Every part of the institution is deeply
interesting ; but there is a difference very remark-
able between the boys and the girls. The boys
are, I think, the finest set of lads I ever saw
brought together ; bright-looking, gay, active, and
206 DOMESTIC MANNERS
full of intelligence. The girls are exactly the
reverse ; heavy, listless, indifferent, and melan-
choly. In conversing with the gentleman who is
the general superintendant of the estabhshment, I
made the remark to him, and he told me that the
reality corresponded with the appearance. All of
them had been detected in some act of dishonesty ;
but the boys, when removed from the evil influ-
ence which had led them so to use their 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 poor girls, on the con-
trary, can hardly look up again. They are as dif-
ferent as an oak and a lily after a storm. The one,
when the fresh breeze blows over it, shakes the rain-
drops from its crest, and only looks the brighter ;
the other, its silken leaves once soiled, shrinks
fi'om the eye, and is levelled to the earth for ever.
y^ W ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
"We spent a dehghtful day in New Jersey, in
visiting, with a most agreeable party, the inclined
planes, which are used instead of locks on the
Morris canal.
OP THE AMERICANS. 207
This is a very interesting work ; it is one among
a thousand which prove the people of America to
be the most enterprising in the world. I was in-
formed that this important canal, which connects
the waters of the Hudson and the Delaware, is a
hundred miles long, and in this distance overcomes
a variation of level amounting to sixteen hundred
feet. Of this, fourteen hundred are achieved by
inclined planes. The planes average about sixty
feet of perpendicular lift each, and are to support
about forty tons. The time consumed in passing
them is twelve minutes for one hundred feet of
perpendicular rise. The expense is less than a
third of what locks would be for surmounting the
same rise. If we set about any more canals, this
may be worth attending to.
This Morris canal is certainly an extraordinary
work ; it not only varies its level sixteen hundred
feet, but at one point runs along the side of a
mountain at thirty feet above the tops of the
highest buildings in the town of Paterson, below ;
at another it crosses the falls of the Passaic in a
stone aqueduct sixty feet above the water in the
river. This noble work, in a great degree, owes
9
208
DOMESTIC MANNERS
its existence to the patriotic and scientific energy
of Mr. Cadwallader Golden.
There is no point in the national character of
the Americans which commands so much respect
as the boldness and energy with which public
works are undertaken and carried through. No-
thing stops them if a profitable result can be fairly
hoped for. It is this which has made cities spring
up amidst the forests with such inconceivable ra-
pidity; and could they once be thoroughly per-
suaded that any point of the ocean had a hoard of
dollars beneath it, I have not the slightest doubt
that in about eighteen months we should see a
snug covered rail-road leading direct to the spot.
********
I was told at New York, that in many parts of
the state it was usual to pay the service of the
Presbyterian ministers in the following manner.
Once a year a day is fixed, on wliich some member
of every family in a congregation meet at their
minister's house in the afternoon. They each
bring an offering (according to their means) of
articles necessary for house-keeping. The poorer
members leave their contributions in a lar^re
OF THE AMERICANS. 209
basket, placed for the jiui'pose, close to tlie door
of entrance. Those of more importance, and
more calculated to do honour to the piety of the
donors, are carried into the room where the com-
pany is assembled. Sugar, coffee, tea, cheese,
barrels of flour, pieces of Irish Knen, sets of china
and of glass, were among the articles mentioned
to me as usually making parts of these offerings.
After the party is assembled, and the business of
giving and receiving is dispatched, tea, coffee,
and cakes are handed round ; but these are not
furnished at any expense either of trouble or
money to the minister, for selected ladies of the
congregation take the whole arrangement upon
themselves. These meetings are called spinning
visits.
Another New York custom, which does not
seem to have so reasonable a cause, is the chang-
ing house once a year. On the 1st of May the
city of New York has the appearance of sending
off a population flying from the plague, or of a
town which had surrendered on condition of carry-
ing away all their goods and chattels. Rich fur-
niture and ragged furniture, carts, waggons, and
210 DOMESTIC MANNERS
drays, ropes, canvas, and straw, packers, porters,
and draymen, white, yellow, and black, occupy the
streets from east to west, from north to south, on
this day. Every one I spoke to on the subject
complained of this custom as most annoying, but
all assured me it was unavoidable, if you inhabit a
rented house. More than one of my New York
friends have built or bought houses solely to avoid
this annual inconvenience.
There are a great number of negroes in New
York, all free ; their emancipation ha^ing been
completed in 1827. Not even in Philadelphia,
where the anti-slavery opinions have been the
most active and violent, do the blacks appear to
wear an air of so much consequence as the}' do at
New York. They have several chapels, in which
negro ministers officiate ; and a theatre, in which
none but negroes perform. At this theatre a gal-
lery is appropriated to such whites as choose to
visit it ; and here only are they permitted to sit ;
folloAving in this, with nice etiquette, and equal
justice, the arrangement of the white theatres, in
all of which is a gallery appropriated solely to the
use of the blacks. I have often, particularly on a
!H II , A r !|; A, ! I II D W I B II ll'' «-; IH E A 'JJ X
OF THE AMERICANS. 211
Sunday, met groups of negroes, elegantly dressed ;
and have been sometimes amused by observing the
very superior air of gallantry assumed by the men,
when in attendance on their belles, to that of the
whites in similar circumstances. On one occasion
we met in Broadway a young negress in the ex-
treme of the fashion, and accompanied by a black
heau, whose toilet was equally studied ; eye-glass,
guard-chain, notliing was omitted; he walked beside
his sable goddess uncovered, and with an air of the
most tender devotion. At the window of a hand-
some house which they were passing, stood a very
pretty white girl, with two gentlemen beside her ;
but alas ! both of them had their hats on, and one
was smoking !
If it were not for the peculiar manner of walk-
ing, which distinguishes all American women,
Broadway might be taken for a French street,
where it was the fashion for very smart ladies to
promenacle. The dress is entirely French ; • not
an article (except perhaps the cotton stockings)
must be English, on pain of being stigmatized as
out of the fashion. Every thing English is de-
cidedly mauvais ton; English materials, English
212 DOMESTIC MANNERS
fashions, English accent, Enghsh manner, are all
terms of reproach ; and to say that an unfortunate
looks like an Enghsh woman, is the crudest satire
wliich can be uttered.
I remember \dsiting France ahnost immediately
after we had made the most offensive invasion of
her territory that can well be imagined, yet, despite
the feehngs which lengthened years of war must
have engendered, it was the fashion to admire
every thing Enghsh. I suppose family quarrels
are more difficult to adjust; for fifteen years of
peace have not been enough to calm the angry
feelings of brother Jonathan towards the land of
his fathers,
" The which he hateth passing well."
It is hardly needful to say that the most cour-
teous amenity of manner distinguishes the recep-
tion given to foreigners by the patrician class of
Americans.
Gentlemen, in the old world sense of the term,
are the same every where ; and an American gen-
tleman and his family know how to do the honours
of their country to strangers of every nation, as
OF THE AMERICANS. 213
well as any people on earth. But this class, though
it decidedly exists, is a very small one, and cannot,
in justice, be represented as affording a specimen
of the whole.
TP 7^ TP 7p Tit ^ ^
Most of the houses in New York are painted on
the outside, but in a manner carefully to avoid dis-
figuring the material which it preserves : on the
contrary, nothing can be neater. They are now
using a great deal of a beautiful stone called Jersey
freestone ; it is of a warm rich brown, and ex-
tremely ornamental to the city wherever it has
been employed. They have also a grey granite of
great beauty. The trottoir paving, in most of the
streets, is extremely good, being of large flag stones,
very superior to the bricks of Philadelphia.
At night the shops, wliich are open till very late,
are brilliantly illuminated with gas, and all the
po|)ulation seem as much alive as in London or
Paris. This makes the solemn stillness of the
evening hours in Philadelphia still more remark-
able.
There are a few trees in different parts of the
city, and I observed many young ones planted.
214 DOMESTIC MANNERS
and guarded with much care ; were they more
abundant it would be extremely agreeable, for the
reflected hght of their fierce smnmer sheds intoler-
able day.
Ice is in profuse abundance ; I do not imagine
that there is a house in the city without the luxury
of a piece of ice to cool the water, and harden the
butter.
The hackney coaches are the best in the world,
but abominably dear, and it is necessary to be on
the qui vive in making your bargain with the
driver ; if you do not, he has the power of charging
immoderately. On my first experiment I neglected
this, and was asked two dollars and a half for an
excursion of twenty minutes. When I referred to
the waiter of the hotel, he asked if I had made a
bargain. " No." " Then I expect" (with the
usual look of triumph) " that the Yankee has been
too smart for you."
The private carriages of New York are infinitely
handsomer and better appointed than any I saw
elsewhere; the want of smart Hveries destroys
much of the gay effect, but, on the whole, a New
York summer equipage, with the pretty women
OF THE AMERICANS. 215
and beautiful children it contains, look extremely
well in Broadway, and would not be much amiss
any where.
The luxury of the New York aristocracy is not
confined to the city; hardly an acre of Man-
hattcn Island but shows some pretty villa or stately
mansion. The most chosen of these are on the
north and east rivers, to whose margins their lawns
descend. Among these, perhaps, the loveliest is
one situated in the beautiful village of Blooming-
dale ; here, wdthin the space of sixteen acres,
almost every variety of garden scenery may be
found. To describe all its diversity of hill and
dale, of wood and lawn, of rock and river, would
be in vain ; nor can I convey an idea of it by com-
parison, for I never saw any thing like it. How
far the elegant hospitality which reigns there may
influence my impressions, I know not; but, as-
suredly, no spot I have ever seen dwells more
freshly on my memory, nor did I ever find myself
in a circle more calculated to give dehght in meet-
ing, and regret at parting, than that of Woodlawn.
21G J)OMESTIC MANNERS
CHAPTER XXXI.
Reception of Captain Basil HalVs Book in the
United States.
Having now arrived nearly at the end of our
travels, I am induced, ere I conclude, again to
mention what I consider as one of the most re-
markable traits in the national character of the
Americans; namely, their exquisite sensitiveness
and soreness respecting every thing said or \\Titten
concerning them. Of this, perhaps, the most re-
markable example I can give, is the effect pro-
duced on nearly every class of readers b} the
ajapearance of Captain Basil Hall's " Travels in
North America." In fact, it was a sort of moral
earthquake, and the vibration it occasioned through
the nerves of the Republic, from one corner of the
Union to the other, was by no means over when I
left the country in July, 1831, a couple of years
after the shock.
OF THE AMERICANS. 217
I was in Cincinnati when these volumes came
out, but it was not till July, 1830, that I procured
a copy of them. One bookseller to whom I ap-
plied, told me that he had had a few copies before
he understood the nature of the work, but that
after becoming acquainted with it, nothing should
induce him to sell another. Other persons of his
profession, must, however, have been less scrupu-
lous, for the book was read in city, town, village,
and hamlet, steam-boat, and stage-coach, and a
sort of war-whoop was sent forth perfectly unpre-
cedented in my recollection upon any occasion
whatever.
It was fortunate for me that I did not procure
these volumes till I had heard them very generally
spoken of, for the curiosity I felt to know the con-
tents of a work so \dolently anathematised, led me
to make inquiries which elicited a great deal of
curious feeling.
An ardent desire for approbation, and a delicate
sensitiveness under censure, have always, I believe,
been considered as amiable traits of character ; but
the condition into which the appearance of Capt.
Hall's work threw the Hepublic, shows plainly that
VOL. II. L
218 DOMESTIC MANNERS
these feelings, if carried to excess, produce a weak-
ness wliich amounts to imbecility.
It was perfectly astonishing to hear men, who,
on other subjects, were of sane judgment, utter
their opinions upon this. I never heard of any
instance in which the common sense generally
found in national criticism was so overthrown by
passion. I do not speak of the want of justice,
and of fair and liberal interpretation : these, per-
haps, were hardly to be expected. Other nations
have been called thin-skinned, but the citizens of
the Union have, apparently, no skins at all ; they
wince if a breeze blows over them, unless it be
tempered with adulation. It was not, therefore,
very surprising that the acute and forcible observa-
tions of a traveller they knew would be Kstened
to, should be received testily. The extraordinary
features of the business were, first, the excess of
the rage into which they lashed themselves ; and,
secondly, the puerility of the inventions by which
they attempted to account for the severity with
which they fancied they had been treated.
Not content v^dth declaring that the volumes
contained no word of truth from beginning to end
OF THE AMERICANS. f219
(which is an assertion I heard made very nearly as
often as they were mentioned), the whole country
set to work to discover the causes why Capt. Hall
had visited the United States, and why he had
published his hook.
I have heard it said vdth as much precision and
gravity as if the statement had been conveyed by
an official report, that Capt. Hall had been sent
out by the British govermnent expressly for the
purpose of checking the growing admiration of
England for the government of the United States,
— that it was by a commission from the Treasury
he had come, and that it was only in obedience to
orders that he had found any thing to object to.
I do not give this as the gossip of a coterie ; I
am persuaded that it is the belief of a very con-
siderable portion of the country. So deep is the
conviction of tliis singular people that they cannot
be seen without being admired, that they vnW not
admit the possibility that any one should honestly
and sincerely find aught to disapprove in them, or
their country.
At Philadelpliia I met with a little anonymous
book, written to show that Capt. Basil Hall was in
l2
220 DOMESTIC MANNERS
no way to be depended on, for that he not only
slandered the Americans, but was himself, in other
respects, a person of very equivocal morals. One
proof of this is given by a quotation of the follow-
ing playful account of the distress occasioned by
the want of a bell. The commentator calls it an
instance of " shocking coarseness."
" One day I was rather late for breakfast, and
as there was no water in my jug, I set off, post
haste, half shaved, half dressed, and more than
half vexed, in quest of water, like a seaman on
short allowance, hunting for rivulets on some un-
known coast. I went up stairs, and down stairs,
and in the course of my researches into half a dozen
different apartments, might have stumbled on some
lady's chamber, as the song says, which considering
the phght I was in, would have been awkward
enough."
Another indication of this moral coarseness is
pointed out in the passage where Capt. Hall says,
he never saw a flirtation all the time he was in the
Union.
The charge of ingratitude also was echoed from
mouth to mouth. That he should himself bear
OF THE AMERICANS. 221
testimony to the unvarying kindness of the recep-
tion he met vdih, and yet find fault witli the
country, was decLared on all hands to be a proof
of the most abominable ingratitude that it ever
entered into the heart of man to conceive. I once
ventured before about a dozen people to ask whe-
ther more blame would not attach to an author, if
he suffered himself to be bribed by individual kind-
ness to falsify facts, than if, despite all personal
considerations, he stated them truly ?
" Facts !" cried the whole circle at once, " facts !
I tell you there is not a word of fact in it from be-
ginning to end."
The American Re\aews are, many of them, I
believe, well known in England ; I need not, there-
fore, quote them here, but I sometimes wondered
that they, none of them, ever thought of translating
Obadiah's curse into classic American ; if they had
done so, only placing (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 at length to peruse these tremendous
volumes ; still less can I do justice to my surprise
L 3
22^2 DOMESTIC MANNERS
at their contents. To say that I found not one
exaggerated statement throughout the work, is by-
no means saying enough. It is impossible for any
one who knows the country not to see that Captain
Hall earnestly sought out things to admire and
commend. Wlien he praises, it is mth e\-ident
pleasure, and when he finds fault, it is with evident
reluctance and restraint, excepting where motives
purely patriotic urge him to state roundly what it
is for the benefit of his country should be knoA\'n.
In fact, Captain Hall saw the country to the
greatest possible advantage. Furnished, of course,
wth letters of introduction to the most distin-
guished individuals, and with the still more influ-
ential recommendation of his own reputation, he
was received in full dra\%ing-room style and state
from one end of the Union to the other. He saw
the country in full di-ess, and had little or no
opportunity of judging of it imhouselled, un-
anointed, unannealed, with all its imperfections on
its head, as I and my family too often had.
Captain Hall had certainly excellent opportu-
nities of making himself acquainted ^\^th the form
of the government and the laws ; and of receiving,
OF THE AMERICANS. 223
moreover, the best oral commentary upon them, in
conversation with the most distinguished citizens.
Of these opportunities he made excellent use ;
nothing important met his eye which did not re-
ceive that sort of analytical attention which an
experienced and philosophical traveller alone can
give. Tills has made his volumes highly interest-
ing and valuable ; but I am deeply persuaded,
that were a man of equal penetration to %dsit the
United States with no other means of becoming
acquainted with the national character than the
ordinary working-day intercourse of life, he would
conceive an infinitely lower idea of the moral at-
mosphere of the country than Captain Hall ap-
pears to have done ; and the internal convdction
on my mind is strong, that if Captain Hall had
not placed a firm restraint on liimself, he must
have given expression to far deeper indignation
than any he has uttered against many points in
the American character, with which he shows,
from other circumstances, that he was w^ell ac-
quainted. His rule appears to have been to state
just so much of the truth as would leave on the
minds of his readers a correct impression, at the
L 4
22i DOMESTIC MANNERS
least cost of pain to the sensitive folks he was
writing about. He states his own opinions and
feelings, and leaves it to he inferred that he has
good grounds for adopting them; but he spares
the Americans the bitterness which a detail of the
circumstances would have produced.
If any one chooses to say that some wicked an-
tipathy to twelve millions of strangers is the origin
of my opinion, I must bear it ; and were the ques-
tion one of mere idle speculation, I certainly 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 country-
men, there are hundreds, nay, I fear thousands,
who conscientiously believe that a greater degree
of political and rehgious liberty (such as is pos-
sessed in America) would be beneficial for us.
How often have I wished, during my abode in the
United States, that one of these conscientious, but
mistaken reasoners, fully possessed of his country's
confidence, could pass a few years in the United
States, sufiiciently among the mass of the citizens
to know them, and sufiiciently at leisure to trace
effects to their causes. Then might we look for a
OF THE AMERICANS. 225
Statement which would teach these mistaken phi-
lanthropists to tremble at every symptom of demo-
cratic power among us ; a statement which would
make even our sectarians shudder at the thought
of hewing down the Established Church, for they
would be taught, by fearful example, to know that
it was the bulwark wdiich protects us from the
gloomy horrors of fanatic superstition on one side,
and the still more dreadful inroads of infidelity on
the other. And more than all, such a man would
see as clear as light, that where every class is occu-
pied in getting money, and no class in spending
it, there will neither be leisure for worshipping the
theory of honesty, nor motive strong enough to
put its restrictive doctrines in practice. \Vliere
every man is engaged in driving hard bargains
with his fellows, where is the honoured class to
be found, into which gentleman-like feelings, prin-
ciples, and practice, are necessary as an intro-
duction ?
That there are men of powerful intellect, bene-
volent hearts, and high moral feeling in America,
I know : and I could, if challenged to do so, name
individuals surpassed by none of any country in
L 5
226 DOMESTIC MANNERS
these qualities; but they are excellent, despite
their institutions, not in consequence of them. It
is not by such that Captain Hall's statements are
called slanders, nor is it from such that I shall
meet the abuse which I well know these pages
will inevitably di'aw upon me ; and I only trust I
may be able to muster as much self-denial as my
predecessor, who asserts, in his recently published
*' Fragments," that he has read none of the Ame-
rican criticisms on his book. He did wisely, if he
wished to retain an atom of lais kindly feeling
toward America ; and he has, assuredly, lost but
little on the score of information, for these criti-
cisms, generally speaking, consist of mere down-
right personal abuse, or querulous complaints of
his ingratitude and ill usage of them ; complaints
which it is quite astonishing that any persons of
spirit could indulge in.
The following good-humoured paragraphs from
the Fragments, must, I think, rather puzzle the
Americans. Possibly they may think that Captain
Hall is quizzing them, when he says he has read
none of their criticisms; but I think there is in
these passages internal evidence that he has not
OF THE AMERICANS. il27
seen them. For if he had read one-fiftieth part of
the vituperation of his Travels, which it has been
my misfortune to peruse, he could hardly have
brought himself to write what follows.
If the Americans stiU refuse to shake the liand
proffered to them in the true old John Bull spirit,
they are worse folks than even I take them for.
Captain Hall, after describing the hospitable
reception he formerly met with, at a boarding-
house in New York, goes on thus : — " If our
hostess be still alive, I hope she will not repent of
ha\ing bestowed her obliging attentions on oaie,
who so many years afterwards made himself, he
fears, less poprdar in her land, than he could wish
to be amongst a people to whom he owes so much,
and for whom he really feels so much kindness.
He still anxiously hopes, however, they will be-
lieve him when he declares, that, having said in
his recent publication no more than what he con-
ceived was due to strict truth, and to the integrity
of history, as far as his observations and opinions
went, he still feels, as he always has, and ever must
continue to feel towards America, the heartiest
good-will.
L 6
228 DOMESTIC MANNERS
" The Americans are perpetually repeating tliat
the foundation-stone of their liberty is fixed on
the doctrine, that every man is free to form his
own opinions, and to promulgate them in candour
and in moderation. Is it meant that a foreigner
is excluded from these privileges ? If not, may I
ask, in what respect have I passed these limita-
tions ? The Americans have sui'ely no fair right
to be offended because my views differ from
theirs; and yet I am told I have been rudely
handled by the press of that country. If my
motives are distrusted, I can only say, I am sorely
behed. If I am mistaken, regret at my political
blindness were surely more disrnified than anf?er on
the part of those with whom I differ ; and if it
shall chance that I am in the right, the best con-
firmation of the correctness of my views, in the
opinion of indifferent persons, will perhaps be
found in the soreness of those, who mnce when
the truth is spoken.
" Yet, after all, few things would give me more
real pleasure, than to know that my friends across
the water would consent to take me at my word ;.
and, considering what I have said about them as:
OF THE AMERICANS. 229
SO much public matter, which it truly is, agree to
reckon me, in my absence, as they always chd,
when I was amongst them, and, I am sure, they
would count me, if I went back again, as a private
friend. I differed with them in politics, and I
differ with them now as much as ever ; but I sin-
cerely wish them happiness individually ; and, as
a nation, I shall rejoice if they prosper. As the
Persians >\Tite, ' A\niat can I say more V And I
only hope these few words may help to make my
peace with people who justly pride themselves on
bearing no mahce. As for myself, I have no
peace to make ; for I have studiovisly avoided
reading any of the American criticisms on my
book, in order that the kindly feelings I have
ever entertained towards that country should not
be ruffled. By this abstinence I may have lost
some information, and perhaps missed many op-
portunities of correcting erroneous impressions.
But I set so much store by the pleasing recollec-
tion of the journey itself, and of the hospitality
\vith which my family were every wdiere received,
that whether it be right, or whether it be wrong, I
cannot bring myself to read any thing which might
230 DOMESTIC MANNERS
disturb these agreeable associations. So let us
part in peace ; or, rather, let us meet again in cor-
dial communication ; and if this little work shall
find its way across the Atlantic, I hope it will be
read there without reference to any thing that has
passed between us ; or, at all events, with reference
only to those parts of our former intercourse, which
are satisfactory to all parties." — Hall's Fragments,
Vol. I. p. 200.
I really think it is impossible to read, not only
this passage, but many others in these delightful
little volumes, without feeling that their author is
as little likely to deserve the imputation of harsh-
ness and ill-will, as any man that ever lived.
In reading Capt. Hall's volumes on America, the
observation which, I think, struck me the most
forcibly, and which certainly came the most com-
pletely home to my own feelings, was the following.
" In all my travels both amongst Heathens, and
amongst Christians, I have never encountered any
people by whom I found it nearly so difficult to
make myself understood as by the Americans."
I have conversed in London and in Paris with
foreigners of many nations, and often through the
9
OF THE AMERICANS. 231
misty medium of an idiom imperfectly understood,
but I remember no instance in which I found the
same difficulty in conveying my sentiments, my
impressions, and my opinions to those around me,
as I did in America. Whatever faith may be
given to my assertion, no one who has not visited
the country can possibly conceive to what extent
it is true. It is less necessary, I imagine, for the
mutual understanding of persons conversing toge-
ther, that the language should 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
sympathy between the Americans and us ; but
whatever the cause, the fact is certainly as I have
stated it, and herein, I think, rests the only apology
for the preposterous and undignified anger felt
and expressed against Capt. Hall's work. They
really cannot, even if they wished it, enter into
any of his views, or comprehend his most ordinary
feelings ; and, therefore, they cannot bebeve in the
sincerity of the impressions he describes. The
candour which he expresses, and evidently feels,
they mistake for irony, or totally distrust ; his
232 DOMESTIC MANNERS
unwillingness to give pain to persons from whom
he has received kindness, they scornfully reject as
affectation ; and, although they must know right
well, in their own secret hearts, how infinitely
more they lay at his mercy than he has chosen to
betray, they pretend, even to themselves, that he
has exaggerated the bad points of their character
and institutions ; whereas, the truth is, that lie has
let them off with a degree of tenderness which may
be quite suitable for him to exercise, however little
merited; while, at the same time, he has most
industriously magnified their merits, whenever he
could possibly find any thing favourable. One
can perfectly well understand why Capt. Hall's
avowed Tory principles should be disapproved of
in the United States, especially" as (with a ques-
tionable policy in a bookselling point of \dew, in
these reforming 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 only
holds stoutly to Church and State, but that he
conceives the English House of Commons to be,
if not quite perfect, at least as much so for all the
OF THE AMERICANS. ^33
required purposes of representation as it can by
possibility be made in practice. Such a dowTi-
right thorough-going Tory and Anti-reformer, pre-
tending to judge of the workings of the American
democratical system, was naturally held to be a
monstrous abomination, and it has been visited
accordingly, both in America, and as I understand,
with us also. The experience which Capt. Hall
has acquired in visits to every part of the world,
during twenty or thirty years, goes for nothing
with the Radicals on either side the Atlantic : on
the contrary, precisely in proportion to the value
of that authority which is the result of actual ob-
servation, are they irritated to find its weight cast
into the opposite scale. Had not Capt. Hall been
converted by what he saw in North America, from
the Wliig faith he exhibited in his description of
South America, his book would have been far more
popular in England during the last two years of
pubHc excitement ; it may, perhaps, be long before
any justice is done to Capt. Hall's book in the
United States, but a less time will probably suffice
to establish its claim to attention at home.
234 DOMESTIC MANNERS
CHAPTER XXXII.
Journey to Niagara — Hudson — West Point —
Hyde Park — Alhaiiy — 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 most agreeable people in
either hemisphere. But we had still a long journey
before us, and one of the wonders of the world was
to be seen.
On the 30th of May we set off for Niagara. I
had heard so much of the surpassing beauty of the
North River, that I expected to be disappointed,
and to find reaUty flat after description. But it is
not in the power of man to paint mth a strength
exceeding that of nature, in such scenes as the
Hudson presents. Every mile shows some new
and starthng effect of the combination of rocks,
OF THE AMERICANS. 2S5
trees, and water ; there is no interval of flat or in-
sipid scenery, from the moment you enter upon the
river at New York, to that 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 its perpendicular form,
and Kneal fissures, is called the Palisados. Tliis
wall sometimes rises to the height of a hundred
and fifty feet, and sometimes sinks down to twenty.
Here and there a watercourse breaks its uniformity;
and every where the brightest foliage, in all the
splendour of the chmate 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 gradually assumes a wild and rocky character,
but ever varying; woods, lawns, pastures, and
towering cliffs all meet the eye in quick succession,
as the giant steam-boat cleaves its swift passage up
the stream.
For several miles the voyage is one of great in-
236 DOMESTIC MANNERS
terest independent of its beauty, for it passes many
points where important events of the revolutionary
war took place.
It was not without a pang that I looked on the
spot where poor Andre was taken, and another
where he was executed.
Several forts, generally placed in most com-
manding situations, still show by their battered
ruins, where the struggle was strongest, and I felt
fto lack of that moral interest so entirely wanting
in the new States, and without which no journey
can, I think, continue long without wearying the
spirits.
About forty miles from New York you enter
upon the Highlands, as a series of mountains
which then flank the river on both sides, are
called. The beauty of this scenery can only be
conceived w^hen it is seen. One might fancy that
these capricious masses, A\atli all their countless
varieties of light and shade, were thrown together
to show h9w passing lovely rocks and woods, and
water could be. Sometimes a lofty peak shoots
suddenly up into the heavens, showing in bold
relief against the sky ; and then a deep ravine
OF THE AMERICANS. 237
sinks in solemn shadow, and draws the imagina-
tion into its leafy recesses. For several miles the
river appears to form a succession of lakes ; you
are often enclosed on all sides by rocks rising
directly from the very edge of the stream, and
then 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, and has no picturesque effect to atone
for the painful images it suggests ; the " Sleepy
Hollow" of Washington Irving, just above it, re-
stores the imagination to a better tone.
West Point, the military academy of the United
States, is fifty miles from New York. The scenery
around it is magnificent, and though the buildings
of the establishment are constructed with the hand-
some and unpicturesque regularity which marks
the work of governments, they are so nobly placed,
and so embosomed in woods, that they look beau-
tiful. The lengthened notes of a French horn,
which I presmne was attending some of their mili-
tary manoeuvres, sounded with deep and solemn
sweetness as we passed.
238 DOMESTIC MANNERS
About thirty miles further is Hyde Park, the
magnificent seat of Dr. Hosack ; here the misty
summit of the distant Kaatskill begins to form the
outHne of the landscape ; it is hardly possible to
imagine any thing more beautiful than this place.
We passed a day there with great enjojTnent ;
and the following morning set forward again in
one of those grand floating hotels called steam-
boats. Either on tliis day, or the one before, we
had two hundred cabin passengers on board, and
they all sat down together to a table spread abun-
dantly, and with considerable elegance. A con-
tinual succession of gentlemen's seats, many of
them extremely handsome, borders the river to
Albany. "We arrived there late in the evening,
but had no difficulty in finding excellent accom-
modation.
Albany is the state capital of New York, and
has some very handsome public buildings ; there
are also some curious relics of the old Dutch in-
habitants.
The first sixteen miles from Albany we travelled
in a stage, to avoid a multitude of locks at the
entrance of the Erie canal ; but at Scenectedy we
OF THE AMERICANS. 239
got on board one of the canal packet-boats for
Utica.
With a very delightful party, of one's own ,
choosing, fine temperate weather, and a strong
breeze to chase the mosquitos, this mode of tra-
velling might be very agreeable, but I can hardly
imagine any motive of convenience powerful
enough to induce me again to imprison myself
in a canal boat under ordinary circumstances.
The accommodations being greatly restricted,
every body, from the moment of entering the boat,
acts upon a system of unshrinking egotism. The
library of a dozen books, the backgammon board,
the tiny berths, the shady side of the cabin, are
all jostled for in a manner to make one greatly
envy the power of the snail; at the moment I
would willingly have given up some of my human
dignity for the pri\ilege of creeping into a shell
of my own. To any one who has been accus-
tomed, in travelling, to be addressed with, " Do
sit here, you will find it more comfortable," the
" You must go there, I made for this place first,"
sounds very unmusical.
There is a great quietness about the women of
240 DOiMESTIC MANNERS
America (I speak of the exterior manner of per-
sons casually met), but somehow or other, I should
never call it gentleness. In such trying moments
as that oi fixing themselves on board a packet-
boat, the men are prompt, detenuined, and will
compromise any body's convenience, except their
own. The women are doggedly stedfast in their
will, and till matters are settled, look Kke hedge-
hogs, with every quill raised, and firmly set, as if
to forbid the approach of any one who might wish
to rub them down. In circumstances where an
English woman would look proud, and a French
woman nonchalante , an American lady looks grim ;
even the youngest and the prettiest can set their
lips, and knit their brows, and look as hard and
unsocial as their grandmothers.
Though not in the Yankee or New England
country, we were bordering upon it sufficiently
to meet in the stages and boats many dehghtful
specimens of this most peculiar race. I Uke them
extremely well, but I would not wish to have any
business transactions with them, if I could avoid it,
lest, to use their own phrase, " they should be too
smart for me."
OF THE AMERICANS. 241
It is by no means rare to meet elsewhere, in
this working-day world of our's, people who push
acuteness to the verge of honesty, and sometimes,
perhaps, a little bit beyond ; but, I believe, the
Yankee is the only one who will be found to
boast of doing so. It is by no means easy to give
a clear and just idea 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
turned righteous and notable. Matthews did very
well, as far as " I expect," " I calculate," and
" I guess ;" but this is only the shell ; there is an
immense deal within, both of sweet and bitter. In
acuteness, cautiousness, industry, and perseverance,
he resembles the Scotch ; in habits of frugal neat-
ness, he resembles the Dutch ; in love of lucre he
doth greatly resemble the sons of Abraham ; but
in frank admission, and superlative admiration of
all his own peculiarities, he is like nothing on earth
but himself.
The Quakers have been celebrated for the per-
tinacity with which they avoid giving a direct
answer, but what Quaker could ever vie with a
VOL. II. M
242
DOMESTIC MANNERS
Yankee in this sort of fencing ? Nothing, in fact,
can equal their skill in evading a question, ex-
cepting that with which they set about asking
one. I am afraid that in repeating a conversation
which I overheard on board the Erie canal boat,
I shall spoil it, by forgetting some of the little
delicate doublings which delighted me — yet I
wrote it down immediately. Both parties were
Yankees, but strangers to each other : one of them
having, by gentle degrees, made himself pretty
well acquainted with the point from which every
one on board had started, and that for which he
was bound, at last attacked his brother Revnard
thus : —
" Well, now, which way may you be travel-
ling?"
" I expect this canal runs pretty nearly west."
" Ai'e 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 ?"
OF THE AMERICANS. 24.3
" Business must be minded, in stojDping and in
stirring."
" You may say that. Well, I look then you'll
be making for the Springs ?"
" Folks say as all the world is making for the
Springs, and I expect a good sight of them is."
" Do you calculate upon stopping long when you
get to your journey's end ?"
" 'Tis my business must settle that, I expect."
" I guess that's true, too ; but you'll be for
making pleasure a business 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 good rules ?"
" My health don't trouble me much, I guess."
" No ? Why that's well. How is the markets,
sir ? Are bread stuffs up ?"
" I a'nt just capable to say."
" A deal of money's made by just looking after
the article at the fountain's head."
M 2
244- DOMESTIC MANNERS
" You may say that."
" Do you look to be making great dealings in
produce up the country ?"
" 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."
" AVliy, that's right down true. What may be
your biggest article of produce ?"
" I calculate, generally, that's the biggest as I
makes most by."
" You may say that. But what do you chiefly
call your most particular branch ?"
" Wliy, that's what I can't justly say."
And so they went on, without advancing or giving
an inch, 'till I was weary of listening ; but I left
them still at it when I stepped out to resume my
station on a trunk at the bow of the boat, where I
scribbled in my note-book this specimen of Yankee
conversation.
*******
The Erie canal has cut through much sohd rock,
and we often passed between magnificent cliffs.
The little falls of the Mohawk form a lovely scene ;
OF THE AMERICANS. 245
the rocks over which the river runs are most fan-
tastic in form. The fall continues nearly a mile,
and a beautiful village, called the Little Falls, over-
hangs it. As many locks occur at this point, we
quitted the boat, that we might the better enjoy
the scenery, which is of the wildest description.
Several other passengers did so hkewise, and I
was much amused by one of our Yankees, who
very civilly accompanied our party, pointing out
to me the wild state of the country, and apologis-
ing for it, by saying, that the property all round
thereabouts had been owned by an Englishman ;
" and you'll excuse me, ma'am, but when the
English gets a spot of wild ground like this here,
they have no notions about it like us ; but the
Englishman have sold it, and if you was to see it
five years hence, you would not know it again ; I'll
engage there will be by that, half a score elegant
factories — 'tis a true shame to let such a privilege
of water lie idle."
We reached Utica at twelve o'clock the follow-
ing day, pretty well fagged by the sun by day,
and a crowded cabin by night ; lemon juice and
iced-water (without sugar) kept us alive. But for
M 3
246 DOMESTIC MANNERS
this delightful recipe, feather fans, and eau de
Cologne, I think we should have failed altogether ;
the thermometer stood at 90".
At two, we set off in a veiy pleasant airy car-
riage for Trenton Falls, a delightful drive of four-
teen miles. These falls have become \^^tlun the
last few years only second in fame to Niagara.
The West Canada Creek, which in the map shows
but as a paltry stream, has found its way through
three miles of rock, which, at many points, is
1 50 feet high. A forest of enormous cedars is on
their summit ; and many of that beautiful species
of white cedar which droops its branches like the
weeping-willow, grow in the clefts of the rock,
and in some places almost dip their dark foliage
in the torrent. The rock is of a dark grey lime-
stone, and often presents a wall of unbroken sur-
face. Near the hotel a flight of very alarming
steps leads dow^l to the bed of the stream, and on
reaching it you find yourself enclosed in a deep
abyss of solid rock, with no \isible opening but
that above your head. The torrent dashes by
with inconceivable rapidity ; its colour is black as
night, and the dark ledge of rock on which you
OF THE AMERICANS. 217
stand, is so treacherously level with it, that nothing
warns you of danger. Within the last three years
two young people, though surrounded by their
friends, have stepped an inch too far, and disap-
peared from among them, as if by magic, never to
revisit earth again. This broad flat ledge reaches
but a short distance, and then the perpendicular
wall appears to stop your farther progress; 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 of gunpowder a sufficient quantity of the
rock has been removed to afibrd a fearful footing
round a point, which, when doubled, discloses a
world of cataracts, all leaping forward together in
most magnificent confusion. I suffered considera-
bly before I reached the spot v/here this grand
scene is visible ; a chain firmly fastened to the rock
serves to hang by, as you creep along the giddy
verge, and this enabled me to proceed so far ; but
here the chain failed, and my courage with it,
though the rest of the party continued for some
way farther, and reported largely of still increasing
sublimity. But my knees tottered, and my head
swam, so while the rest crept onward, I sat down
M 4
218 DOMESTIC MANNERS
to wait their return on the floor of rock wliich had
received us on quitting the steps.
A hundred and fifty feet of bare black rock on
one side, an equal height covered with solemn
cedars on the other, an unfathomed torrent roaring
between them, the fresh remembrance of the
ghastly legend belonging to the spot, and the idea
of my children cUnging to the dizzy path I had
left, was altogether sombre enough ; but I had not
sat lons^ before a tremendous burst of thunder
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 no longer
leisiu'e to think of fear ; my cliildren immediately
returned, and we enjoyed together the darkening
shadows cast over the abyss, the rival clamour of
the torrent and the storm, and that delightful ex-
altation of the spirits which sets danger at defiance.
A few heavy rain drops alarmed us more than all
the terrors of the spot, or rather, they recalled
our senses, and we retreated by the fearful steps,
reaching our hotel unwetted and unharmed. The
next morning we were again early a foot ; the last
OF THE AMERICANS. ^49
night's storm had refreshed the air, and renewed
our strength. We now took a different route, and
instead of descending, as before, walked through
the dark forest along the cliff, sufficiently near its
edge to catch fearful glimpses of the scene below.
After some time the j)ath began to descend, and
at length brought us to the shanty, commemo-
rated in Miss Sedgwick's Clarence. This is by
far the finest point of the falls. There is a little
balcony in front of the shanty, literally hanging
over the tremendous whirlpool ; though frail, it
makes one fancy oneself in safety, and reminded
me of the feehng with which I have stood on one
side a liigh gate, watching a roaring bull on the
other. The walls of this shanty are literally
covered with autographs, and I was inclined to
join the laugh against the egotistical trifling, when
one of the party discovered " TroUope, England,"
amidst the innumerable scrawls. The well known
characters were hailed with such dehght, that I
think I shall never again laugh at any one for
leaving their name where it is possible a friend
may find it.
"We retiu-ned to Utica to dinner, and found that
M 5
250 DOMESTIC MANNERS
we must either wait till the next day for the Ro-
chester coach, or again submit to the packet-boat.
Our impatience induced us to prefer the latter, not
very wisely, I think, for every annoyance seemed
to increase upon us. The Oneida and the Ge-
nesee country are both extremely beautiful, but
had we not returned by another route we should
have known little about it. From the canal no-
thing is seen to advantage, and very little is seen
at all. My chief amusement, I think, was derived
from names. One town, consisting of a whiskey
store and a warehouse, is called Port Byron. At
Rome, the first name I saw over a store was
Remus, doing infinite honour, I thought, to the
classic lore of his godfathers and godmothers ; but
it would be endless to record all the drolleries of
this kind which we met with. We arrived at
Rochester, a distance of a hundred and forty miles,
on the second morning after leaving Utica, fully
determined never to enter a canal boat again, at
least, not in America.
Rochester is one of the most famous of the cities
built on the Jack and Bean-stalk principle. There
are many splendid edifices in wood ; and certainly
OF THE AMERICANS. 251
more houses, warehouses, factories, and steam-
engines than ever were collected together in the
same space of time; but I was told by a fellow-
traveller that the stumps of the forest are still to
be found firmly rooted in the cellars.
The fall of the Genesee is close to the town, and
in the com-se of a few months will, perhaps, be in
the middle of it. It is a noble sheet of water, of a
hundred and sixty feet perpendicidar fall; but I
looked at it through the window of a factory, and
as I did not like that, I was obhgingly handed to
the door-way of a sawing-mill ; in short, " the
great water privilege" has been so ingeniously
taken advantage of, that no point can be found
where its voice and its movement are not mixed
and confounded with those of the " admirable
machinery of tliis flouiishing city."
The Genesee fall is renowned as being the last
and fatal leap of the adventurous madman, Sam
Patch ; he had leaped it once before, and rose to
the surface of the river in perfect safety, but the
last time he was seen to falter as he took the leap,
and was never heard of more. It seems that he
had some misgivings of his fate, for a pet bear,
M 6
252 DOMESTIC MANNERS
which he had always taken with him on his former
break-neck adventures, and which had constantly
leaped after him without injury, he on tliis occasion
left behind, in the care of a friend, to whom he
bequeathed him " in case of his not returning."
We saw the bear, which is kept at the principal
hotel; he is a noble creature, and more completely
tame than I ever saw any animal of the species.
Our journey now became wilder every step, the
unbroken forest often skirted the road for miles,
and the sight of a log-hut was an 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 inquiry I could make, the favourite
theory concerning it is, that it was formerly the
boundary of Lake Ontario, near which it passes.
When this ridge ceased, the road ceased too, and
for the rest of the way to Lockport, we were most
painfully jumbled and jolted over logs and through
bogs, till every joint was nearly dislocated.
Lockport is, beyond all comparison, the strangest
looking place I ever beheld. As fast as half a
dozen trees were cut down, a factory was raised
OF THE AMERICANS. 253
up ; stumps still contest the ground with pillars,
and porticos are seen to struggle with rocks. It
looks as if the demon of machinery, having invaded
the peaceful realms of nature, had fixed on Lock-
port as the battle-ground on which they shoidd
strive for mastery. The fiend insists that the
streams should go one way, though the gentle
mother had ever led their dancing steps another ;
nay, the very rocks must fall before him, and take
what form he wills. The battle is lost and won.
Nature is fairly routed, and driven from the field,
and the rattling, crackling, hissing, splitting demon
has taken possession of Lockport for ever.
We slept there, dismally enough. I never felt
more out of humour at what the Americans call
improvement ; it is, in truth, as it now stands, a
most hideous place, and gladly did I leave it behind
me.
Our next stage was to Lewiston; for some miles
before we reached it we were within sight of the
British frontier ; and we made our salaams.
The monument of the brave General Brock
stands on an elevated point near Queenstov/n, and
is visible at a great distance.
254 DOMESTIC MANNERS
We breakfasted at Lewiston, but felt every cup
of cofiee as a sin, so impatient were we, as we ap-
proached the end of our long pilgrimage, to reach
the shrine, which nature seems to have placed at
such a distance from her worshippers, on purpose
to try the strength of their devotion.
A few miles more would bring us to the high
altar, but first we had to cross the ferry, for we were
determined upon taking our first view from British
ground. The Niagara river is very lovely here ; the
banks are bold, rugged, and richly coloured, both
by rocks and woods ; and the stream itself is bright,
clear, and unspeakably green.
In crossing the ferry a fellow passenger made
many inquiries of the young boatman respecting
the battle of Queenstown ; he was but a lad, and
could remember little about it, but he was a British
lad, and his answers smacked strongly of his loyal
British feeling. Among other tilings, the questioner
asked if many American citizens had not been
thrown from the heights into the river.
*' Why, yes, there was a good many of them ;
but it was right to show them there was water
between us, and you know it might help to keep
OF THE AMERICANS. 255
the rest of them from coming to trouble us on our
own ground."
This phrase, " our own ground," gave interest
to every mile, or I believe I should have shut my
eyes, and tried to sleep, that I might annihilate
what remained of time and space between me and
Niagara.
But I was delighted to see British oaks, and
British roofs, and British boys and girls. These
latter, as if to impress upon us that they were not
citizens, made bows and curtseys as we passed, and
this little touch of long unknown civility produced
great effect. " See these dear children, mamma !
do they not look English? how I love them!" was
the exclamation it produced.
256
DOMESTIC MANNERS
CHAPTER XXXIIl.
Niagara — Arrival at Forsythes — First sight of
the Falls — Ooat Island—The Rajnds— Buffalo
— Lake Erie — Canandaigna — Stage-coach ad-
ventures.
At length we reached Niagara. It was the
brightest day that June could give ; and almost
any day would have seemed bright that brought
me to the object, which for years I had languished
to look 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 the hall an open
space, surrounded by galleries, one above another,
and in an instant you feel that from thence the
wonder is visible.
I trembled like a fool, and my girls clung to me,
trembling too, I believe, but with faces beaming
OF THE AMERICANS. 257
with delight. We encountered a waiter who had
a sympathy of some sort with us, for he would not
let us run through the hall to the first gallery, but
ushered us up stairs, and another instant placed us
where, at one glance, I saw all I had wished for,
hoped for, dreamed of.
It is not for me to attempt a description of
Niagara ; I feel I have no powers for it.
After one long, stedfast gaze, we quitted the
gallery that we might approach still nearer, and in
leaving the house had the good fortune to meet an
Enghsh gentleman *, who had been introduced to
us at New York ; he had preceded us by a few
days, and knew exactly how and where to lead us.
If any man Hving can describe the scene we looked
upon it is himself, and I trust he wiU do it. As
for myself, I can only say, that wonder, terror,
and dehght completely overwhelmed me. I wept
with a strange mixture of pleasure and of pain, and
certainly was, for some time, too violently affected
in the physique to be capable of much pleasure ;
but when this emotion of the senses subsided, and
* The accomplished author of " Cyril Thornton."
258 DOMESTIC MANNERS
I had recovered some degree of composure, my
enjoyment was very great indeed.
To say that I was not disappointed is but a
weak expression to convey the sui-prise and
astonishment which tliis long dreamed of scene
produced. It has to me something beyond its
vastness ; there is a shadowy mystery hangs about
it, wliich neither the eye nor even the imagination
can penetrate ; but I dare not dwell on this, it is
a dangerous subject, and any attempt to describe
the sensations produced must lead direct to non-
sense.
Exactly at the Fall, it is the Fall and nothing
else you have to look upon ; there are not, as at
Trenton, mighty rocks and towering forests, there
is only the waterfall ; but it is the fall of 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 with perfect distinctness every thing said
in an ordinary tone when quite close to the ca-
taract. The cause of this, I imagine to be, that it
does not fall immediately among rocks, like the far
noisier Potomac, but direct and unbroken, save by
OF THE AMERICANS. 259
its own rebound. The colour of the water, before
this rebound hides it in foam and mist, is of the
brightest and most dehcate green ; the violence of
the imprdse sends it far over the precipice before it
falls, and the effect of the ever varying light through
its transparency is, I think, the lovehest thing I
ever looked upon.
We descended to the edge of the gulf which re-
ceives the torrent, and thence looked at the horse-
shoe fall in profile ; it seems hke awful daring to
stand close beside it, and raise one's eyes to its im-
mensity. I think the point the most utterly incon-
ceivable to those who have not seen it, is the centre
of the horse-shoe. The force of the torrent con-
verges there, and as the heavy mass pours in,
twisted, wreathed, and curled together, it gives an
idea of irresistible power, such as no other object
ever conveyed to me.
The follov\dng anecdote, which I had from good
authority, may give some notion of this mighty
power.
After the last American war, three of our ships
stationed on Lake Erie were declared unfit for
service, and condemned. Some of their officers
260 DOMESTIC MANNERS
obtained permission to send tliem over Niagara
Falls. The first was torn to shivers by the rapids,
and went over in fragments ; the second filled with
water before she reached the fall ; but the third,
which was in better condition, took the leap gal-
lantly, and retained her form till it was hid in the
cloud of mist below. A reward of ten dollars
was offered for the largest fraofment of wood that
should be found from either wreck, five for the
second, and so on. One morsel only was ever
seen, 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 become of the immense
quantity of wood which had been precipitated ?
What unknown whirlpool had engulphed it, so
that, contrary to the very laws of nature, no vestige
of the floating material could find its way to the
surface ?
Beyond the horse-shoe is Goat Island, and
beyond Goat Island the American fall, bold,
straight, and chafed to snowy whiteness by the
rocks which meet it ; but it does not approach, in
sublimity or awful beauty, to the wondrous cres-
cent on the other shore. There, the form of the
OF THE AMERICANS. 261
miglity cauldron, Into wliich the deluge pours, the
hundred silvery torrents congregating round its
verge, the smooth and solemn movement ^Wth
wliich it rolls its massive volume over the rock, the
liquid emerald of its long unbroken waters, 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 to look upon.
*' Angels might tremble as they gazed ;" and I
should deem the nerves obtuse, rather than strong,
which did not C[uail at the first sight of this stu-
pendous cataract.
Minute local particulars can be of no interest
to those who have not felt their influence for
pleasure or for pain. I will not tell of giddy stairs
which scale the very edge of the torrent, nor of
beetling slabs of table rock, broken and breaking,
on which, shudder as you may, you must take
your stand or lose your reputation as a tourist.
All these feats were performed again and again,
even on the first day of our arrival, and most
earthly weary was I when the day was done,
thou"-h I would not lose the remembrance of it to
I
262 DOMESTIC MANNERS
purchase the addition of many soft and silken ones
to my existence.
By four o'clock the next morning I was again at
the Httle shanty, close to the horse-shoe fall, which
seems reared in water rather than in air, and took
an early shower-bath of spray. Much is concealed
at this early hour by the heavy vapour, hut there
was a charm in the very obscurity; and every
moment, as the light increased, cloud after cloud
rolled off, till the vast wonder was again be-
fore me.
It is in the afternoon that the rainbow is visible
from the British 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 explored Goat Island. The passage across
the Niagara, directly in face of the falls, is one of
the most delightful little voyages imaginable ; the
boat crosses marvellously near them, and witliin
reach of a light shower of spray. Real safety and
apparent danger have each their share in the plea-
sure felt. The river is here two hundred feet deep.
The passage up the rock brings you close upon
9
OF THE AMERICANS. 263
the American cataract ; it is a vast sheet, and has
all the sublimity that height and width, and up-
roar can give ; but it has none of the magic of its
rival about it. Goat Island has, at all points, a
fine view of the rapids ; the furious velocity with
which they rush onward to the abyss is terrific ;
and the throwing a bridge across them was a work
of noble daring.
Below the falls, the river runs between lofty
rocks, crowned with unbroken forests ; this scene
forms a striking contrast to the level shores above
the cataract. It appears as if the level of the river
had been broken up by some volcanic force. The
Niagara flows out of Lake Erie, a broad, deep
river ; but for several miles its course is tranquil,
and its shores perfectly level. By degrees its bed
begins to sink, and the glassy smoothness is dis-
turbed by a slight ripple. The inverted trees, that
before lay so softly still upon its bosom, become
twisted and tortured till they lose their form, and
seem madly to mix in the tumult that destroys
them. The current becomes more rapid at every
step, till rock after rock has chafed the stream to
fury, making the green one white. This lasts for
264 DOMESTIC MANNERS
a mile, and then down sink the rocks at once, one
hundred and fifty feet, and the enormous flood
falls after them. God said, let there be a cataract,
and it was so. When the river has reached its
new level, the precijoice 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 vdth rich
foliage.
This violent transition from level shores to a
deep ravine, seems to indicate some great comoil-
sion as its cause, and when I heard of a burning
spring close by, I fancied the volcanic power still
at work, and that the wonders of the region might
yet increase.
We passed four delightful days of excitement
and fatigue ; we drenched ourselves in spray ; we
cut our feet on the rocks ; we blistered our faces
in the sun ; we looked up the cataract, and down
the cataract ; we perched ourselves on every pin-
nacle we could find ; we dipped our fingers in the
flood at a few yards' distance from its thundering
fall ; in short, we strove to fOl as many niches of
memory with Niagara as possible; and I think
OF THE AMERICANS. 265
the images 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 of the 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, is considered as the
finest general view of the scene. One of our party
was employed in attempting to sketch, what, how-
ever, I believe it is impossible for any pencil to
convey an idea of to those who have not seen it.
We had borrowed two or three chau's from a
neighbom:ing cottage, and amongst us had ga-
thered a quantity of boughs, which, with the aid
of shawls and parasols, we had contrived to weave
into a shelter from the mid-day sun, so that alto-
gether I have no doubt we looked very cool and
comfortable.
A large party who had crossed from the Ameri-
can side, wound up the steep ascent from the
place where the boat had left them; in doing so
theu" backs were turned to the cataracts, and as
VOL. II. N
266 DOMESTIC MANNERS
they approached the summit, our party was the
principal object before them. They all stood
perfectly still to look at us. This first examina-
tion was performed at the distance of about a
dozen yards from the spot we occupied, and
lasted about five minutes, by which time they
had recovered breath, and acquired courage.
They then advanced in a body, and one or two
of them began to examine (wrong side upwards)
the work of the sketcher, in doing which they
stood precisely between him and his object ; but
of this I think it is very probable they were not
aware. Some among them next began to question
us as to how long we had been at the Falls ; whether
there were much company ; if we were not from
the old country, and the hke. In return we learnt
that they were just arrived ; yet not one of them
(there were eight) ever turned the head, even for a
moment, to look at the most stupendous spectacle
that nature has to show.
The company at the hotel changed almost every
day. Many parties arrived in the morning, walked
to the Falls, retiumed to the hotel to dinner, and
departed by the coach immediately after it.
OF THE AMERICANS. g67
Many groups were indescribably whimsical, both
in appearance and manner. Now and then a
first-rate dandy shot in among us, like a falling
star.
On one occasion, when we were in the beautiful
gallery, at the back of the hotel, which overlooks
the horse-shoe fall, we saw the booted leg of one
of this graceful race protruded from the window
which commands the view, while his person was
thrown back in his chair, and his head enveloped
in a cloud of tobacco smoke.
I have repeatedly remarked, when it has hap-
pened to me to meet any ultra fine men among
the wilder and more imposing scenes of our own
land, that they throw oflT, in a great degree, their
airs, 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 his presence ; and more than
once on these occasions I have been surprised to
find how much intellect Im'ked behind the inane
mask of fashion. But in America the effect of
fine scenery upon this class of persons is difi^erent,
for it is exactly when amongst it, that the most
n2
268 DOMESTIC MANNERS
strenuous efforts at elegant nonchalance are per-
ceptible among the young exquisites of the western
world. It is true that they have little leisure for
the display of grace in the daily routine of com-
mercial acti\dty in which their lives are passed, and
this certainly offers a satisfactory explanation of the
fact above stated.
Fortunately for our enjoyment, the solemn cha-
racter of the scene was but little broken in upon
by these gentry. Every one who comes to For-
sythe's Hotel (except Mrs. Bogle Corbet), walks
to the shantee, vnrites their name in a book which
is kept there, and, for the most part, descends by
the spiral staircase which leads from the httle plat-
form before it, to the rocks below. Here they
find another shantee, but a few yards from the
entrance of that wondrous cavern which is formed
by the falHng flood on one side, and by the mighty
rock over which it pours, on the other. To this
frail shelter from the wild uproar, and the blinding
spray, nearly all the touring gentlemen, and even
many of the pretty ladies, find their way. But
here I often saw their noble daring fail, and have
watched them dripping and draggled turn again
OF THE AMERICANS. 269
to the sheltering stairs, leaving us in full posses-
sion 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 it produces !
Why is it so exquisite a pleasure to stand for
hours drenched in spray, stunned by the ceaseless
roar, trembling from the concussion that shakes
the very rock you cling to, and breathing pain-
fully in the moist atmosphere that seems to have
less of air than water in it ? Yet pleasure it is,
and I almost think the greatest I ever enjoyed.
We more than once approached the entrance to
this appalHng cavern, but I never fairly entered it,
though two or three of my party did. — I lost my
breath entirely ; and the pain at my chest was so
severe, that not all my curiosity 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 iEolus reigns here.
Nor was this spot of dread and danger the only
one in which we found ourselves alone. The path
taken by " the company" to the shantee, which
n3
270 DOMESTIC MANNERS
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 toler-
ably easy by its repeated doublings ; but it was by |
no means the best calculated to manage to advan-
tage the pleasure of the stranger in his approach
to the spot. All others, 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 but a few yards from
it, and can in no way, I think, contribute to the
convenience of the descent. The erection of the
central shaft of this spiral stair was a most tre-
mendous operation, and made me sick and giddy
as I watched it. After it had been made fast at
the bottom, the carpenters swung themselves off
the rocks, by the means of ropes, to the beams
which traversed it ; and as they sat across them, in
the midst of the spray and the uproar, I thought I
had never seen life perilled so wantonly. But the
work proceeded without accident, and was nearly
finished before we left the hotel.
It was a sort of pang to take what we knew
OF THE AMERICANS. 271
must be our last look at Niagara; but "we had
to do it," as the Americans say, and left it on the
lOtli June, for Buffalo.
The drive along the river, above the Falls, is as
beautiful as a clear stream of a mile in width can
make it ; and the road continues close to it till you
reach the ferry at Black Rock.
We welcomed, almost with a shout, the British
colours which we saw, for the first time, on Com-
modore Barrie's pretty sloop, the Bull Dog, which
we passed as it was towing up the river to Lake
Erie, the conunodore being about to make a tour
of the lakes.
At Black Rock we crossed again into the United
States, and a few miles of horrible jolting brought
us to Buffalo.
Of all the thousand and one tovnis I saw in
America, I think Buffalo is the queerest looking ;
it is not quite so wild as Lockport, but all the
buildings have the appearance of having been run
up in a hurry, though every thing has an air of
great pretension ; tliere are porticos, columns,
domes, and colonnades, but all m wood. Every
body tells you there, as in all their other new-born
N 4
272 DOMESTIC MANNERS
towiis, and every body believes, that their improve-
ment, and tlieir progression, are more rapid, more
wonderful, than the earth ever before witnessed ;
while to me, the only wonder is, how so many
thousands, nay millions of persons, can be found,
in the nineteenth century, who can be content so
to hve. Surely this country may be said to spread
rather than to rise.
The Eagle Hotel, an immense wooden fabric,
has all the pretension of a splendid estabhshment,
but its monstrous corridors, low ceilings, and in-
tricate chambers, gave me the feehng of a cata-
comb rather than a house. We arrived after the
table d'hote tea-drinking was over, and supped
comfortably enough with a gentleman, who accom-
panied us from the Falls ; but the next morning
we breakfasted in a long, low, narrow room, with
a hundred persons, and any thing less hke comfort
can hardly be imagined.
Wliat can induce so many intellectual citizens
to prefer these long, silent tables, scantily covered
with morsels of fried ham, salt fish and Kver, to a
comfortable loaf of bread with their wives and
children at home ? How greatly should I prefer
OF THE AMERICANS. 273
eating my daily meals with my family, in an
Indian wig-wam, to boarding at a table dliote in
these capacious hotels ; the custom, however,
seems universal through the country, at least
we have met it, without a shadow of variation
as to its general features, from New Orleans to
BuiFalo.
Lake Erie has no beauty to my eyes ; it is not
the sea, and it is not the river, nor has it the beau-
tiful scenery generally found round smaller lakes.
The only interest its unmeaning expanse gave me,
arose from remembering that its waters, there so
tame and tranquil, were destined to leap the gulf
of Niagara. A di-eadful road, through forests only
beginning to be felled, brought us to Avon ; it is a
straggling, ugly little place, and not any of their
" Romes, Carthages, Ithacas, or Athens," ever
provoked me by their name so much. This Avon
flows sweetly with nothing but whiskey and tobacco
juice.
The next day's journey was much more inter-
esting, for it showed us the lake of Canandaigua.
It is about eighteen miles long, but narrow enough
to bring the opposite shore, clothed with rich
N 5
274 DOMESTIC MANNERS
foliage, near to the eye ; the back-gTouiid is a
ridge of mountains. Perhaps the state of the
atmosphere lent an unusual charm to the scene ;
one of those sudden thunder-storms, so rapid in
approach, and so sombre in colouring, that they
change the whole aspect of things in a moment,
rose over the mountains and passed across the
lake while we looked upon it. Another feature in
the scene gave a living, but most sad interest to it.
A glaring wooden hotel, as fine as paint and por-
ticos can make it, overhangs the lake ; beside it
stands a shed for cattle. To this shed, and close
by the white man's mushroom palace, two Indians
had crept to seek a shelter from the storm. The
one was an aged man, whose venerable head in
attitude and expression indicated the profoundest
melancholy: the other was a youth, and in his
deep-set eye there was a quiet sadness more
touching still. There they stood, the native right-
ful lords of the fair land, looking out upon the
lovely lake which yet bore the name their fathers
had given it, watching the threatening storm that
brooded there ; a more fearful one had already
biu-st over them.
OF THE AMERICANS. 275
Though I have mentioned the lake first, the
little town of Canandaigua precedes it, in return-
ing from the West. It is as pretty a village as
ever man contrived to build. Every house is sur-
rounded by an ample garden, and at that flowery
season they were half buried in roses.
It is true these houses are of wood, but they are
so neatly painted, in such perfect repaii", and show
so well witliin their leafy setting, that it is impos-
sible not to admire them.
Forty-six miles farther is Geneva, beautifully
situated on Seneca Lake. This, too, is a lovely
sheet of water, and I think the town may rival its
European namesake in beauty.
We slept at Auburn, celebrated for its prison,
where the highly-approved system of American
discipline originated. In this part of the country
there is no want of churches ; every little \-illage
has its wooden temple, and many of them two ;
that the Methodists and Presbyterians may not
clash.
We passed through an Indian reserve, and the
untouched forests again hung close upon the road.
Repeated groups of Indians passed us, and we
N 6
276 DOMESTIC MANNERS
remarked that they were much cleaner and better
dressed than those we had met wandering far from
their homes. The blankets which they use so
gracefully as mantles were as white as snow.
We took advantage of the loss of a horse's shoe,
to leave the coach, and approach a large party of
them, consisting of men, women and children,
who were regaling themselves with I know not
what, but milk made a part of tlie repast. They
could not talk to us, but they received us with
smiles, and seemed to understand when we asked
if they had mocassins to sell, for they shook their
sable locks, and answered " no."
A beautiful gi'ove of butternut trees was pointed
out to us, as the spot where the chiefs of the six
nations used to hold their senate ; our informer
told me that he had been present at several of
their meetings, and though he knew but little of
their language, the power of their eloquence was
evident from the great efiect it produced among
themselves.
Towards the end of this day, we encountered
an adventure which re^dved om- doubts whether
the invading white men, in chasing the poor
OF THE AMERICANS. 277
Indians from their forests, have done much to-
wards civiHzing the land. For myself, I almost
prefer the indigenous manner to the exotic.
The coach stopped to take in " a lady" at Ver-
non ; she entered, and completely filled the last
vacant inch of our vehicle ; for " we were eight"
before.
But no sooner was she seated, than her beau
came forward with a most enormous wooden
best-bonnet box. He paused for a while to medi-
tate the possibiHties — raised it, as if to place it on
our laps — sunk it, as if to put it beneath our feet.
Both alike appeared impossible ; when, in true
Yankee style he addressed one of our party mth,
" If you'll just step out a minute, I guess I'll find
room for it."
" Perhaps so. But how shall I find room for
myself afterwards ?"
This was uttered in Em-opean accents, and in
an instant half a dozen whiskey drinkers stepped
from before the whiskey store, and took the part of
the beau.
" That's because you'll be Enghsh travellers, I
expect, but we have travelled in better countries
278 DOMESTIC MANNERS
than Europe — we have travelled in America — and
the box will go, I calculate."
We remonstrated on the evident injustice of the
proceeding, and I ventured to say, that as we
had none of us any luggage in the carriage, be-
cause the space was so very small, I thought a
chance passenger could have no right so greatlv to
incommode us.
" Right ! — there they go — that's just their way
— that will do in Europe, may be ; it sounds just
like Enghsh tyranny, now — don't it ? but it won't
do here." And thereupon he began thrusting
in the wooden box against our legs, with all liis
strength.
" No law, sir, can permit such conduct as
this."
" Law!" exclaimed a gentleman very particu-
larly drunk, " we makes our own laws, and governs
our own selves."
" Law!" echoed another gentleman of Vernon,
" this is a free comitry, we have no laws here, and
we don't want no foreign power to tyrannize over
us."
I give the words exactly. It is, however, but
OF THE AMERICANS. 279
fair to state, that the party had evidently been
drinking more than an usual portion of whiskey,
but, perhaps, in whiskey, as in wine, truth may
come to hght. At any rate the people of the
Western Paradise follow the Gentiles in tliis, that
they are a law unto themselves.
During this contest, the coachman sat upon the
box without saying a word, but seemed greatly to
enjoy the joke ; the question of the box, however,
was finally decided in oiu- favour by the nature of
the human material, which cannot be compressed
beyond a certain degree.
For gi'eat part of this day we had the good
fortune to have a gentleman and his daughter for
our fellow-travellers, who were extremely intelli-
gent and agreeable ; but I nearly got myself into a
scrape by ventiuing to remark upon a phrase used
by the gentleman, and which had met me at every
corner from the time I first entered the country.
We had been talking of pictures, and I had en-
deavoured to adhere to the rule I had laid down
for myself, of saying very little, where I could say
nothing agreeable. At length he named an Ame-
rican artist, with whose works I was very familiar.
iiSO DOMESTIC MANNERS
and after having declared him equal to Lawrence
(judging by his portrait of West, now at New
York), he added, " and what is more, madam, he
is perfectly self-taught."
I prudently took a few moments before I an-
swered ; for the equalling our immortal Lawrence
to a most vile dauber stuck in my throat ; I could
not say Amen ; so for some time I said nothing ;
but, at last, I remarked on the frequency with
which I liad heard this phrase of self-taught used,
not as an apology, but as positive praise.
" Well, madam, can there be a higher praise ?"
" Certainly not, if spoken of the individual
merits of a person, without the means of instruc-
tion, but I do not understand it when apphed as
praise to his works."
" Not understand it, madam ? Is it not attri-
buting genius to the author, and what is teaching
compared to that?"
I do not Avish to repeat all my o\\ti bons mots in
praise of study, and on the disadvantages of pro-
found ignorance, but I would, willingly, if I could,
give an idea of the mixed indignation and con-
tempt expressed by our companion at the idea
OF THE AMERICANS. 281
that study was necessary to the formation of taste,
and to the development of genius. At last, how-
ever, he closed the discussion thus, — " There is
no use in disputing a point that is already settled,
madam; the best judges declare that Mr. H*****g's
portraits are equal to those of Lawrence."
" Wlio is it who has passed this judgment,
on
sir c
" 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 which to stop for breakfast, dinner,
and supper. These necessary interludes, therefore,
being generally imjiromptu, were abominably bad.
We were amused by the patient manner in which
our American fellow-travellers ate whatever was
set before them, without uttering a word of com-
plaint, or making any effort to improve it, but no
sooner reseated in the stage, than they began their
complaints — " 'twas a shame " — " 'twas a robbery " —
" 'twas poisoning folks" — and the like. I, at last,
asked the reason of this, and why they did not
282 DOMESTIC MANNERS
remonstrate ? *' Because, madam, no American
gentleman or lady that keeps an inn won't bear to
be found fault with."
We reached Utica very late and very weary;
but the delights of a good hotel and perfect
ci\dLity sent us in good humour to bed, and we
arose sufficiently refreshed to enjoy a day's jour-
ney through some of the loveliest scenery in the
world.
Who is it that says America is not picturesque ?
I forget ; but surely he never travelled from Utica
to Albany. I really cannot conceive that any
country can furnish a drive of ninety-six miles
more beautiful, or more varied in its beauty. The
road follows the Mohawk River, which flows
through scenes changing from fields waving with
plenty to rocks and woods ; gentle slopes, covered
with cattle, are divided from each other by pre-
cipices 500 feet high. Ai'ound the little falls
there is a character of beauty as singular as it is
striking. Here, as I observed of many other
American rivers, the stream appears to run in a
much narrower channel than it once occupied,
and the space which it seems formerly to have
10
OF THE AMERICANS. 283
filled, is now covered with bright green herbage,
save that, at intervals, large masses of rock rise
abruptly from the level turf; these are crowned
with all such trees as love the scanty diet which
a rock affords. Dwarf oak, cedars, and the moun-
tain ash, are grouped in a hundred different ways
among them ; each clump you look upon is love-
lier than its neighbour ; I never saw so sweetly
vvdld a spot.
I was stuprised to hear a fellow-traveller say, as
we passed a point of pecuhar beauty, " all this
neighboiu'hood belongs, or did belong, to Mr.
Edward Ellice, an English Member of Parhament,
but he has sold a deal of it, and now, madam, you
may see as it begins to improve ;" and he pointed
to a great wooden edifice, where, on the white
paint, " Cash for Rags," in letters three feet high,
might be seen.
I then remembered that it was near this spot
that my Yankee friend had made his complaint
against EngKsh indifference to " water privilege."
He did not name Mr. Edward Ellice, but doubt-
less he was the " English, as never thought of
improvement."
284 DOMESTIC MANNERS
I have often confessed my conscious incapacity
for description, but I must repeat it here to apolo-
gize for my passing so dully through tliis matchless
valley of the Mohawk. I would that some British
artist, strong in youthful daring, would take my
word for it, and pass over, for a summer pilgrimage
tlirough the State of New York. In very earnest,
he would do wisely, for I question if the world
could furnish within the same space, and with
equal facility of access, so many subjects for his
pencil. Mountains, forests, rocks, lakes, rivers,
cataracts, all in perfection. But he must be bold as
a lion in colom-ing, or he will make nothing of it.
There is a clearness of atmosphere, a strength of
chiaro oscuro, a massiveness in the fohage, and a
brilliance of contrast, that must make a coloiirist of
any one who has an eye. He must have courage
to dip his pencil in shadows black as night, and
light that might bhnd an eagle. As I presume
my young artist to be an enthusiast, he must first
go direct to Niagara, or even in the Mohawk valley
his pinioned wing may droop. If his fever inin
very high, he may slake his thirst at Trenton, and
while there, he will not dream of any thing be-
OF THE AMERICANS. 285
yond it. Should my advice be taken, I will ask
the young adventurer on his return (when he shall
have made a prodigious quantity of money by my
hint), to reward me by two sketches. One shall
be the lake of Canandaigua ; the other the Indians'
Senate Grove of Butternuts.
During our journey, I forget on which day of it,
a particular spot in the forest, at some distance
from the road, was pointed out to us as the scene
of a true, but very romantic story. During the
great and the terrible French revolution (1792), a
young nobleman escaped from the scene of horror,
ha\'ing with difficulty saved his head, and without
the possibility of saving any tiling else. He
arrived at New York nearly destitute; and after
passing his life, not only in splendour, but in the
splendour of the court of France, he foimd him-
self jostled by the busy population of the New
World, without a dollar between him and starva-
tion. In such a situation one might almost sigh for
the guillotine. The young noble strove to labour ;
but who would purchase the trembling efforts of
his white hands, while the sturdy strength of many
a black Hercules was in the market? He aban-
286 DOMESTIC MANNERS
doned the vain attempt to sustain himself by the
aid of his fellow-men, and determined to seek a
refuge in the forest. A few shillings only remained
to him ; he purchased an axe, and reached the
Oneida territory. He felled a few of the slen-
derest trees, and made himself a shelter that
Robinson Crusoe would have laughed at, for it did
not keep out the rain. Want of food, exposure
to the weather, and unwonted toil, produced the
natural result ; the unfortunate young man fell
sick, and stretched upon the reeking earth, stifled,
rather than sheltered, by the ^\ithering boughs
which hung over him, he lay parched with thirst,
and shivering in ague, with the one last earthly hope,
that each heavy moment would prove the last.
Near to the spot wliich he had chosen for his
miserable rest, but totally concealed from it by
the thick forest, was the last straggKng wigwam of
an Indian village. It is not known how many
days the unhappy man had lain without food, but
he was quite insensible when a young squaw,
whom chance had brought from this wigwam to
his hut, entered, and found him alive, but totally
insensible. The heart of woman is, I beHeve,
OF THE AMERICANS. 287
pretty much the same every where ; the young girl
paused not to tliink whether he was white or red,
but her fleet feet rested not till she had brought
milk, rum, and blankets, and when the suflerer
recovered his senses, his head was supported on her
lap, while, with the gentle tenderness of a mother,
she found means to make him swallow the restora-
tives she had brought.
No black eyes in the world, be they of France,
Italy, or even of Spain, can speak more plainly of
kindness, than the large deep-set orbs of a squaw ;
this is a language that all nations can understand,
and the poor Frenchman read most clearly, in the
anxious glance of his gentle nurse, that he should
not die forsaken.
So far the story is romantic enough, and what
follows is hardly less so. The squaw found means
to introduce her white friend to her tribe ; he was
adopted as their brother, speedily acquired their
language, and assumed their dress and manner of
life. His gratitude to his preserver soon ripened
into love, and if the chronicle spoke true, the
French noble and the American savage were more
than passing happy as man and wife, and it was
288 DOMESTIC MANNERS
not till lie saw himself the father of many thriving
children that the exile began to feel a wish of rising
again from savage to civilized existence.
My historian did not explain what his project
was in visiting New York, but he did so in the
habit of an Indian, and learnt enough of the re-
stored tranquillity of his country to give him hope
that some of the broad lands he had left there
might be restored to him.
I have made my story already too long, and must
not linger upon it 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 a
lawyer at New York), wliile the hero and the
heroine of the tale continue to inhabit the Oneida
country, not in a wigwam, however, but in a good
house, in a beautiful situation, with all the com-
forts of ci^dhzed life around them.
Such was the narrative we listened to, from
a stage coach companion ; and it appears to me
sufficiently interesting to repeat, though I have no
better authority to quote for its truth, than the
assertion of this unknown traveller.
OF THE AMERICANS. 289
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Return to Neiv York — Conclusion.
The comfortable Adelphi Hotel again received us
at Albany, on the 14th of June, and we decided
upon passing the following day there, both to see
the place, and to recruit our strength, which we
began to feel we had taxed severely by a very
fatiguing journey, in most oppressively hot wea-
ther. It would have been difficult to find a
better station for repose ; the rooms were large
and airy, and ice was fui*nished in most profuse
abundance.
But notwithstanding the manifold advantages
of this excellent hotel, I was surprised at the un-
English arrangement communicated to me by two
ladies with whom we made a speaking acquaint-
ance, by wliich it appeared that they made it
their permanent home. These ladies were a
VOL. II. O
290 DOMESTIC MANNERS
mother and daughter ; the daughter was an ex-
tremely pretty young married woman, with two
httle children. Where the husbands were, or
whether they were dead or alive, I know not ; but
they told me they had been hoarding there above
a year. They breakfasted, dined, and supped, at
the table dliote, with from twenty to a hundred
people, as accident might decide ; dressed very
smart, played on the piano, in the public sitting-
room, and assured me they were particularly
comfortable, and well accommodated. What a
life!
Some parts of the town are very handsome ; the
Town Hall, the Chamber of Representatives, and
some other public buildings, stand well on a hill
that overlooks the Hudson, with ample enclosures
of grass and trees arovmd them.
Many of the shops are large, and showily set out.
I was amused by a national trait which met me at
one of them. I entered it to purchase some eau
de Cologne, but finding what was offered to me
extremely bad, and very cheap, I asked if they had
none at a higher price, and better.
" You are a stranger, I guess," was the answer,
OF THE AMERICANS. 291
" The Yankees want low price, that's all; they don't
stand so much for goodness as the English."
Nothing could he more beautiful than our pas-
sage down the Hudson on the following day, as I
thought of some of my friends in England, 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 for an hour together, in all the scenic-
splendour of Drury Lane, or Covcnt Garden, could
give them an idea of it. They could only see one
side at a time. The change, the contrast, the
ceaseless variety of beauty, as you skim from side
to side, the liquid smoothness of the broad mirror
that reflects the scene, and most of all, the clear
bright air through which you look at it ; all this
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 even-
ing fell coolly on the beautiful villas we passed. I
o 2
292 DOMESTIC MANNERS
really can conceive notliing more exquisitely
lovely than this approach to the city. The mag-
nificent boldness of the Jersey shore on the one
side, and the luxurious softness of the shady lawns
on the other, with the vast silvery stream that
flows between them, altogether form a picture
which may well excuse a traveller for saying,
once and again, that the Hudson river can be
surpassed in beauty by none on the outside of
Paradise.
In was nearly dark when we reached the city,
and it was with great satisfaction that we found
oiu' comfortable apartments in Hudson Street un-
occupied ; and our pretty, kind (Irish) hostess wil-
ling to receive us again. We passed another fort-
night there ; and again we enjoyed the elegant hos-
pitality of New York, though now it was oflered
from beneath the shade of their beautiful ^'illas.
In truth, were all America like tliis fair city, and
all, no, only a small proportion of its population
like the friends we left there, I should say, that the
land was the fairest in the world.
But the time was come to bid it adieu ! The
important business of secui"ing our homeward
OF THE AMERICANS. 293
passage was to be performed. One must know
what it is to cross the ocean before the immense
importance of all the little details of accommoda-
tion can be understood. The anxious first look
into the face of the captain, to ascertain if he be
gentle or rough ; another, scarcely less important,
in that of the steward, generally a sable one, but
not the less expressive; the accurate, but rapid
glance of measurement thrown round the little
state-rooms ; another at the good or bad arrange-
ment of the stair-case, by which you are to stumble
up and stumble down, from cabin to deck, and
from deck to cabin ; all this, they only can under-
stand who have felt it. At length, however, this
interesting aflfair was settled, and most happily.
The appearance promised well, and the perform-
ance bettered it. We hastened to pack up our
" trumpery," as Captain Mirven unkindly calls the
paraphernalia of the ladies, and among the rest,
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 do not like America. Now, as it
happens that I met with individuals there whom
o3
291- DOMESTIC MANNERS
I love and admire, far beyond the love and ad-
miration of ordinary acquaintance ; and as I declare
tlie country to be fair to the eye, and most richly
teeming with the gifts of plenty, I am led to ask
myself why it is that I do not like it. I would
Avillingly know myself, and confess to others, why
it is that neither its beauty nor its abundance can
suffice to neutralize, or greatly soften, the distaste
which the aggregate of my recollections has left
upon my mind.
I remember hearing it said, many years ago,
when the advantages and disadvantages of a par-
ticular residence were being discussed, that it
was the " who ?" and not the " where ?" that
made the difference between the pleasant or im-
pleasant residence. The truth of the observation
struck me forcibly when I heard it ; and it has
been recalled to my mind since, by the constantly
recurring evidence of its justness. In applying
this to America, I speak not of my friends, nor of
my friends' friends. The small patrician band is
a race apart ; they live with each other, and for
each other ; mix wondrously little A\-ith the high
matters of state, which they seem to leave rather
OF THE AMERICANS. 295
supinely to their tailors and tinkers, and arc no
more to be taken as a sample of the x\merican
people, than the head of Lord Byron as a sample
of the heads of the British peerage. I speak not
of these, but of the population generally, as seen
in town and country, among the rich and the poor,
in the slave states, and the free states. 1 do
not like them. I do not like their principles, I
do not like their manners, I do not like their
opinions.
Both as a woman, and as a stranger, it might
be unseemly for me to say that I do not like
their government, and therefore I \nll not sav so.
That it is one which pleases themselves is most
certain, and this is considerably more important
than pleasing all the travelling old ladies in the
world. I entered the country at New Orleans,
remained for more than two years west of the
Alleghanies, and passed another year among the
Atlantic cities, and the country around them. I
conversed during this time with citizens of all orders
and degrees, and I never heard from any one a single
disparaging word against their government. It is
not, therefore, surprising, that when the people of
296 DOMESTIC MANNERS
that country hear strangers questioning the wisdom
of their institutions, and expressing disapprobation
at some of their effects, they should set it down
either to an incapacity of judging, or a malicious
feeling of envy and ill-will.
" How can any one in their senses doubt the
excellence of a government which we have tried for
half a century, and loved the better the longer we
have known it ?"
Such is the natural inquiry of every American
when the excellence of their government is
doubted; and I am incKned to answer, that no
one in their senses, who has visited the country,
and known the people, can doubt its fitness for
them, such as they now are, or its utter unfitness
for any other people.
Whether the government has made the people
what they are, or whether the people have made the
government what it is, to suit themselves, I know
not ; but if the latter, they have shown a consum-
mation of wisdom which the assembled world may
look upon and admire.
It is matter of historical notoriety, that the
original stock of the wliite population now inhabit-
OF THE AMERICANS. 297
ing the United States, were persons who had
banished themselves, or were banished from the
mother country. The land they found was favour-
able to their increase and prosperity ; the colony
grew and flourished. Years rolled on, and the
children, the grand-children, and the great grand-
children of the first settlers, replenished the land,
and found it flowing ^^^th milk and honey. That
they should wish to keep this milk and honey to
themselves, is not very surprising. What did the
mother country do for them ? She sent them out
gay and gallant officers to guard their frontier ;
the which they thought they could guard as well
themselves ; and then she taxed their tea. Now,
this was disagreeable ; and to atone for it, the dis-
tant colony had no great share in her mother's
grace and glory. It was not from among them
that her high and mighty were chosen ; the rays
which emanated from that bright sun of honour,
the British throne, reached them but feebly.
They knew not, they cared not, for her kings nor
her heroes ; their thriftiest trader was their noblest
man; the holy seats of learning were but the
cradles of superstition ; the splendour of the aris-
298 DOMESTIC MANNERS
tocracy, but a leech that drew their " golden blood."
The wealth, the learning, the glory of Britain, was
to them notliing ; the haNang their own way every
thing.
Can any blame their wish to obtain it? Can
any lament that they succeeded ?
And now the day was their own, what should
they do next? Their elders drew together, and
said, " Let us make a government that shall suit
us all ; let it be rude, and rough, and noisy ; let it
not affect either dignity, glory, or splendour; let
it interfere with no man's will, nor meddle with
any man's business ; let us have neither tithes nor
taxes, game laws, nor poor laws; let every man
have a hand in making the laws, and no man be
troubled about keeping them; let not our magis-
trates wear purple, nor our judges ermine ; if a
man grow rich, let us take care that his grandson
be poor, and then we shall all keep equal ; let
every man take care of himself, and if England
should come to bother us again, why then we will
fight altogether."
Could any thing be better imagined than such a
government for a people so circumstanced ? Or is
OF THE AMERICANS. 299
it strange that they are contented with it ? Still
less is it strange that those who have lived in the
repose of order, and felt secure that their country
could go on very well, and its husiness proceed
without their hawling and squalling, scratching
and scrambhng to help it, should bless the gods
that they are not repubhcans.
So far all is well. That they should prefer a
constitution which suits 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 such on
theirs, if we feel no inchnation to exchange the in-
stitutions which have made us what we are, for any
other on the face of the earth.
But when a native of Europe ^•isits America, a
most extraordinary species of t}Tanny is set in
action against him ; and as far as my reading and
experience have enabled me to jvidge, it is such
as no other country has ever exercised against
strangers.
The Frenchman visits England; he is ahmt
d'enymi at our stately dinners ; shrugs his shoulders
at our corps cle ballet, and laughs a gorge dtployee
at our passion for driving, and our partial affection
300 DOMESTIC MANNERS
for roast beef and plum pudding. The English-
man returns the visit, and the first thing he does
on arri\-ing at Paris, is to hasten to le Theatre des
Varictes, that he may see ^' Les Atiglaises pour
rire," and if among the crowd of laughers, you hear
a note of more cordial mirth than the rest, seek out
the person from whom it proceeds, and you will
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 wholesome for man ;
he sighs for orange trees, and maccaroni, and
smiles at the pretensions of a nation to poetry,
while no epics are chaunted through her streets.
Yet we welcome the sensitive southern with all
kindness, listen to his complaints with interest,
cultivate our little orange trees, and teach oui'
children to lisp Tasso, in the hope of becoming
more agreeable.
Yet we are not at all superior to the rest of
Europe in ovu' endurance of censure, nor is this
wish to profit by it at all peculiar to the English ;
we laugh at, and find fault with, our neighbours
quite as freely as they do with us, and they join
OF THE AMERICANS. 301
the laugh, and adopt our fashions and our customs.
These mutual pleasantries produce no shadow of
unkindly feeling ; and as long as the governments
are at peace with each other, the individuals of
every nation in Europe make it a matter of pride,
as well as of pleasure, to meet each other fre-
quently, to discuss, compare, and reason upon their
national varieties, and to vote it a mark of fashion
and good taste to imitate each other in all the ex-
ternal emhellishments of Kfe.
The consequence of this is most pleasantly per-
ceptible at the present time, in every capital of
Europe. The long peace has given time for each
to catch from each what was best in customs and
manners, and the rapid advance of refinement and
general information has been the result.
To those who have been accustomed to this state
of things, the contrast upon crossing to the new
world is inconceivably annoying ; and it cannot be
doubted that this is one great cause of the general
feeling of irksomeness, and fatigue of spirits, which
hangs upon the memory while recalling the hours
passed in American society.
A single word indicative of doubt, that any
o02 DOMESTIC MANNERS
thing, or every tiling, in that countiy 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
devoted patriots they call themselves,' they would
surely not thus encrust themselves in the hard,
dry, stubborn persuasion, that they are the first
and best of the human race, that nothing is to be
learnt, but wliat they are able to teach, and that
nothing is worth having, which they do not
possess.
The art of man could hardly discover a more
effectual antidote to improvement, than this per-
suasion ; and yet I never listened to any jiublic
oration, or read any work, professedly addressed
to the country, in which they did not labour to
impress it on the minds of the people.
To hint to the generality of Americans that the
silent current of events may change their beloved
government, is not the way to please them ; but
in truth they need be tormented with no such fear.
As long as by common consent they can keep
down the pre-eminence which nature has assigned
to great powers, as long as they can prevent
OF THE AMERICANS. 303
liuman respect and human honour from resting
upon liigh talent, gracious manners, and exalted
station, so long may they be sure of going on as
they are.
I have been told, however, that there are some
among them who would gladly see a change ;
some, who with the wisdom of philosojjhers, and
the fair candour of gentlemen, shrink from a pro-
fession of equality which they feel to be untrue,
and believe to be impossible.
I can well believe that such there are, though to
me no such opinions were communicated, and
most truly should I rejoice to see power pass into
such hands.
If this ever happens, if refinement once creeps
in among them, if they once learn to cling to the
graces, the honours, the chivalry of life, then we
shall say farewell to American equality, and wel-
come to European fellowship one of the finest
countries on the earth.
THE END.
GILBERT & RIVINGTON, PRIMERS,
St. John's Square, London.
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