This is of course intended as a representation of the manners of the low, or, at least, the middling class of people in America.

The four travellers, of whose works we are giving an account, made extensive tours in every part of America, as well in the old as in the new settlements; and generally speaking, we should say their testimony is in favour of American manners. We must except, perhaps, Mr. Fearon; and yet he seems to have very little to say against them. Mr. Palmer tells us, that he found his companions, officers and farmers, unobtrusive, civil, and obliging;-that what the servants do for you, they do with alacrity; - that at their tables-d'hôte ladies are treated with great politeness. We have real pleasure in making the following extract from Mr. Bradbury's tour.

'In regard to the manners of the people west of the Alleghanies, it would be absurd to expect that a general character could be now formed, or that it will be, for many years yet to come. The population is at present compounded of a great number of nations, not yet amalgamated, consisting of emigrants from every State in the Union, mixed with English, Irish, Scotch, Dutch, Swiss, Germans, French, and almost from every country in Europe. In some traits they partake in common with the inhabitants of the Atlantic States, which results from the nature of their government. That species of hauteur which one class of society in some countries show in their intercourse with the other, is here utterly unknown. By their constitution, the existence of a privileged order, vested by birth with hereditary privileges, honours, or emoluments, is for ever interdicted. If, therefore, we should here expect to find that contemptuous feeling in man for man, we should naturally examine amongst those clothed with judicial or military authority; but we should search in vain. The justice on the bench, or the officer in the field, is respected and obeyed whilst discharging the functions of his office, as the representative or agent of the law, enacted for the good of all; but should he be tempted to treat even the least wealthy of his neighbours or fellow-citizens with contumely, he would soon find that he could not do it with impunity. Travellers from Europe, in passing through the western country, or indeed any part of the United States, ought to be previously acquainted with this part of the American character; and more particularly if they have been in the habit of treating with contempt, or irritating with abuse, those whom accidental circumstances may have placed in a situation to administer to their wants. Let no one here indulge himself in abusing the waiter or ostler at an inn: that waiter or ostler is probably a citizen, and does not, nor cannot conceive, that a situation in which he discharges a duty to society, not in itself dishonourable, should subject him to insult: but this feeling, so far as I have experienced, is entirely defensive. I have travelled near 10,000 miles in the United States, and never met with the least incivility or affront.

The Americans, in general, are accused by travellers of being inquisitive. If this be a crime, the western people are guilty; but, for my part, I must say that it is a practice that I never was disposed to complain of, because I always found them as ready to answer a question as to ask one, and therefore I always came off a gainer by this kind of barter; and if any traveller does not, it is his own fault. As this leads me to notice their general conduct to strangers, I feel myself bound, by gratitude and regard to truth, to speak of their hospitality. In my travels through the inhabited parts of the United States, not less than 2000 miles was through parts where there were no taverns, and where a traveller is under the necessity of appealing to the hospitality of the inhabitants. In no one instance has my appeal been fruitless; although, in many cases, the furnishing of a bed has been evidently attended with inconvenience, and in a great many instances no remuneration would be received. Other European travellers have experienced this liberal spirit of hospitality, and some have repaid it by calumny.' - (Bradbury, pp. 304-306.

We think it of so much importance to do justice to other nations, and to lessen that hatred and contempt which race feels for race, that we subjoin two short passages from Mr. Hall to the same effect.

'I had bills on Philadelphia, and applied to a respectable store-keeper, that is, tradesman, of the village, to cash me one : the amount, however, was beyond any remittance he had occasion to make, but he immediately offered me whatever sum I might require for my journey, with no better security than my word, for its repayment at Philadelphia: he even insisted on my taking more than I mentioned as sufficient. I do not believe this trait of liberality would surprise an American; for no one in the States, to whom I mentioned it, seemed to consider it as looked for, in similar circumstances: but it might well surpris an English traveller, who had been told, as I had, that the Americans never failed to cheat and insult every Englishman who travelled through their country, especially if they knew him to be an officer. This latter particular they never failed to inform themselves of, for they are by no means bashful in inquiries: but if the discovery operated in any way upon their behaviour, it was rather to my advantage; nor did I meet with a single instance of incivility betwixt Canada and Charleston, except at the Shenandoah Point, from a drunken English deserter. My testimony, in this particular, will certainly not invalidate the complaints of many other travellers, who, I doubt not, have frequently encountered rude treatment, and quite as frequently deserved it; but it will at least prove the possibility of traversing the United States without insult or interruption, and even of being occasionally surprised by liberality and kindness.' - (Hall, pp. 255, 256.)

' I fell into very pleasant society at Washington. Strangers who intend staying some days in a town usually take lodgings at a boarding-house, in preference to a tavern: in this way they obtain the best society the place affords; for there are always gentlemen, and frequently ladies, either visitors or temporary residents, who live in this manner to avoid the trouble of housekeeping. At Washington, during the sittings of Congress, the boarding-houses are divided into messes, according to the political principles of the inmates; nor is a stranger admitted without some introduction, and the consent of the whole company. I chanced to join a democratic mess, and name a few of its members with gratitude, for the pleasure their society gave me Commodore Decatur and his lady, the Abbé Correa, the great botanist and plenipotentiary of Portugal, the Secretary of the Navy, the Secretary of the Navy Board, known as the author of a humorous publication entitled, "John Bull and Brother Jonathan," with eight or ten members of Congress, principally from the Western States, which are generally considered as most decidedly hostile to England, but whom I did not on this account find less good-humoured and courteous. It is from thus living in daily intercourse with the leading characters of the country that one is enabled to judge with some degree of certainty of the practices of its government; for to know the paper theory is nothing, unless it be compared with the instruments employed to carry it into effect. A political constitution may be nothing but a cabalistic form, to extract money and power from the people; but then the jugglers must be in the dark, and "no admittance behind the curtain." This way of living affords, too, the best insight into the best part of society; for if in a free nation the depositaries of the public confidence be ignorant, or vulgar, it is a very fruitless search to look for the opposite qualities in those they represent; whereas, if these be well informed in mind and manners, it proves at the least an inclination towards knowledge and refinement in the general mass of citizens by whom they are selected. My own experience obliges me to a favourable verdict in this particular. I found the little circle into which I had happily fallen full of good sense and good humour, and never quitted it without feeling myself a gainer, on the score either of useful information or of social enjoyment.' - (Hall, pp. 329-331.)

In page 252. Mr. Hall pays some very handsome compliments to the gallantry, high feeling, and humanity of the American troops. Such passages reflect the highest honour upon Mr. Hall. They are full of courage as well as kindness; and will never be forgiven at home.

Literature the Americans have none no native literature, we mean. It is all imported. They had a Franklin, indeed; and may afford to live for half a century on his fame. There is, or was, a Mr. Dwight, who wrote some poems; and his baptismal name was Timothy. There is also a small account of Virginia by Jefferson, and an epic by Joel Barlow: and some pieces of pleasantry by Mr. Irving. But why should the Americans write books, when a six weeks' passage brings them, in their own tongue, our sense, science, and genius, in bales and hogsheads? Prairies, steam-boats, grist-mills, are their natural objects for centuries to come. Then, when they have got to the Pacific Ocean - epic poems, plays, pleasures of memory, and all the elegant gratifications of an ancient people who have tamed the wild earth, and set down to amuse themselves. This is the naturall march of human affairs.

The Americans, at least in the old States, are a very religious people: but there is no sect there which enjoys the satisfaction of excluding others from civil offices; nor does any denomination of Christians take for their support a tenth of produce. Their clergy, however, are

fluence. The places of worship in Philadelphia in 1810 were as follows: - Presbyterian, 8; Episcopalian, 4; Methodists, 5; Catholic, 4; Baptist, 5; Quakers, 4; Fighting Quakers, 1; Lutheran, 3; Calvinist, 3; Jews, 2; Universalists, 1; Swedish Lutheran, 1; Moravian, 1; Congrelaticosualists, 1; Unitarians, 1; Covenanters, 1; Black Baptists, 1; Black Episcopalians, 1; Black Methodists, 2. The Methodists, Mr. Palmer tells us, are becoming the most numerous sect in the United States. Mr. Fearon gives us this account of the state of religion at New York.

Upon this interesting topic I would repeat, what indeed you are already acquainted with, that legally there is the most unlimited liberty. There is no state religion, and no government prosecution of individuals for conscience sake. Whether those halcyon days, which I think would attend a similar state of things in England, are in existence here, must be left for future observation. There are five Dutch Reformed churches; six Presbyterian; three Associated Reformed ditto; one Associated Presbyterian; one Reformed ditto; five Methodist; two ditto for blacks; one German Reformed; one Evangelical Lutheran; one Moravian; four Trinitarian Baptist; one Universalist; two Catholic; three Quaker; eight Episcopalian; one Jews' Synagogue: and to this I would add a small Meeting which is but little known, at which the priest is dispensed with, every member following what they call the apostolic plan of instructing each other, and "building one another up in their most holy faith." The Presbyterian and Episcopalian, or Church of England sects, take the precedence in numbers and in respectability. Their ministers receive from two to eight thousand dollars per annum. All the churches are well filled; they are the fashionable places for display; and the sermons and talents of the minister offer never-ending subjects of interest when social converse has been exhausted upon the bad conduct and inferior nature of niggars (negroes); the price of flour at Liverpool; the capture of the Guerrière; and the battle of New Orleans. The perfect equality of all sects seems to have deadened party feeling: controversy is but little known.' (Fearon, pp. 45, 46.)

The absence of controversy, Mr. Fearon seems to imagine, has produced indifference; and he heaves a sigh to