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A WORD AT STARTING. LY : WHAT! another book upon America ? What! with Lyell, Dickens, Basil Hall, Mrs. Trollope, Mackay, Lady Stuart Wort- ley, Marryat, and a host of others, staring you in the face, to have the effrontery to add to their excellences, or absurdities (as a jury of readers may determine), and not satisfied with writing, venture to publish what you have written! “ Certainly, Sir,"I* say we, in the concise and determined language of American re- sponse. A very few words upon our object in writing, and what we are going to write about, will suffice. Every man with a pair of eyes in his head may see as far as - his fellow; but he may take a different view of things coming within the scope of his observation. We are not bound to accept the ipse dicit of any one for a fact, when it is recollected that prejudice, ignorance, doubt, or intention, may have warped and · misdirected his judgment. If we had implicitly believed one- half of what we have read upon the subject, we should either never have visited America, or have speedily returned from it in disgust. If our aim were rather to criticize the commentary of others than to place a reliance on our own, we might possibly detect a series of misstatements, equally unjust in their fabrica- ition, as dangerous in their tendency. There is nothing after all like judging for'oneself, even if the conclusions you arrive at sub- . ject you from others to the same degree of severe condemnation you may have extended to them. We do not all see with the : * The more accepted mode of answering, nowadays, when an Ame- rican means there should be no mistake, is, “ Yes, Sir-ee." A WORD AT STARTING. same eyes, or think with the same mind; and it is lucky for us that we do not. We are not about to write any history (natural or unnatural); nor on any especial geography, topography, or any other 'ogra- phy; nor on psychology, biology or any other 'ology; nor on the stratum or substratum of an empire, and their component quali- ties. Our purpose is to book you by the button-hole, and have a cozy chat with you over many things which you have not scen, and many more you ought to see ; to "tako a drink, stranger," with you, and over it make you laugh at matters that made us laugh-in short, to have neither more nor less than a colloquy about the sayings and doings of a great land; in which none can take a more absorbing interest than the people of the great land from which we write. There are plenty of other writers, and far better, to tell you of the exact circumference of any city, or the circumvallation of any fort; of what peculiar brick this is built of, or the extraordinary granito that is composed of; of primeval caves and coeval. forests, where untamed beasts and wild Indians once held savage companionship. We may make reference to wondrous places, where the wonder is peculiarly apparent; and we shall talk of great men, where we can extract any amusement out of their greatness; but we must, eschew the duties of the dry historian, the rigid inquirer, and the poring student, not as- piring, as a mighty bard expresses himself, “ To have, when tho original is dust, Ad---d bad picture, and worse bust." Should we be detected indulging in any particular style, we should prefer the accusation of being as easy in our writing as if we were conversing; and while bearing in mind the sound advice of Polonius, to be “familiar, but by no means vulgar," we shall aim at the accomplishment of the one, and endeavor to avoid any commission of the other, as far as in us lies. We, therefore, meet, good stranger, on very fair terms. You know what you have to expect, because we have told you what we are going to give you; and if, having honestly read through A WORD AT STARTING. these pages, you can honestly say you do not regret having en- tered upon the undertaking, our ends will be mutually accom- plished. A work we published some years since, entitled “The Stage both Before and Behind the Curtain," obtained, we may say, without any nonsensical swagger, a more than ordinary success ; an event which led to its being pirated in America, and published, as soon as possible after its publication in London. Having en- joyed the courtesy of being placed, as a free visitor, on the books of the New York Society Library immediately on our arrival, in the first page of its catalogue we opened, we found the said work duly registered, as printed by Messrs. Lea and. Blanchard of Philadelphia, and sold for them by Mr. A. Hart,* of the same place, at the charge of a dollar, we believe-the price in this country having been £1 11s. 6d. This is putting your finger in another man's pie, to à pretty good purpose ; for the said cheap edition had a rapid sale, is entirely out of print, nor could we procure a copy of it for love or money. It must be apparent to any one that such a state of things as this ought not to exist; and that, as international copy-right treaties have been concluded upon and exchanged between England and France, similar treaties should at once be established between the only two countries on earth whose mother tongue is the same. The product of somo men's brains may not, to be sure, be worth much; but at all events, it must be worth something, when people are to be found who think it of sufficient importance to filch it, and realize a profit out of what they cannot honestly have any kind of interest in, and certainly no right to.t * Tho author is in error respecting A. Hart's name being on the title of the work, as at that time the firm was Carey & Hart, and neither their name nor his own appeared on the title-page, nor were they intcrested in its publication.-[AMERICAN PUBLISHER.] + The practice is universal-that is, where the work is considered one that will pay for the expenso of pirating-and though it has been enforced in the case of many “ a worthier son of Sparta” than ourselvos, wo only speak for ourselves. We were introduced to Messrs. Hall and Son, musio- vi A WORD AT STARTING. generally has been directed to this subject; and it was hoped that a treaty, drawn up and executed between the representatives Congress, previous to its dissolution; an expectation warmly indulged in by Mr. Crampton, the British Minister, and Mr. Everett, at that time the American Secretary of State-with both of whom we had the honor of conferring at Washington, after the treaty had been submitted to the Senate. In addition to public opinion at large, the matter has been gravely considered by all principal transatlantic publishers, gentlemen of high talent and high standing, and (just before the late transfer of any dis- .cussion hereon to the next session, in December) by a leading one, Mr. Putnam, of New York, who announced, at full length, through the columns of the press, his entire approval of the measure.* The outcry that has been made about the supposititious ruin it would inflict upon the paper-mills, type-foundries, printing- offices," binderies,” &c., which so plentifully contribute to the manufacture of books there, as here, was a case of unadulterated fudge—a true specimen of that venerable proverb, "great cry and little wool;" for any dog in office, however obtuse the lining of his skull may be, can frame a clause whereby protection may be extended to every man, woman, and child engaged in such operations. The treaty, slightly modified perhaps, will very probably pass during the next session of Congress; but, as it too frequently happens that while the grass is growing the steed is starving, we have taken the liberty of procuring the animal some provender, for consumption during the interreg- .num. sellers, in Broadway, and perceiving their counters strewn with American copies of almost every ballad we have been guilty of writing, we in- quired, in a half-jocular tone, whose permission they had for doing all that. Upon which one of the firm replied, “Oh, we live in a country where it is not necessary to ask any one's permission but our own.". ..* See chap. xviii. page 232. A WORD AT STARTING. vii Being a resident, for some time, in the southern district of New York city, we were enabled to avail ourselves of an Act of Congress, which secures to such resident (only!) the copyright, in the United States, of any work he may there publish or sell ; and we beg to subjoin a true and faithful transcript thereof, for the benefit of all "land-rats and water-rats, water-thieves, and land-thieves—we mean pirates," and of ourselves in particular : “Southern District of New York, S.S. “Be it Bemembered, That, on the thirtieth day of May, Anno Domini 1853, Alfred Bunn, of the said dis- trict, hath deposited in this Office the title of a book, “the title of which is in the words following, To wit: «OLD ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND, UNITED in a series of Views taken on the Spot.' By Alfred Bunn, Author of The Stage, Before DISTRICT and Behind the Curtain ;' and other works, the right whereof he claims, as Author and Proprietor, in conformity with an Act of Con- gress, entitled ' An Act to amend the several acts respecting Copyrights.' (Signed) “GEO. W. MORTON, "Clerk of the Southern District of - New York. STATES SEAL. “N.B. A copy of the above work must be de- posited in this office, within three months from the publication hereof, to secure the Copyright."* * The Author is in error as respects copyright. ---As a temporary resi- dent he cannot hold one; he, however, receives without regard to copy- right a sum of money for the early sheets of this work, sent out to this country for republication. [AMERICAN PUBLISHER.]. viii A WORD AT STARTING. There, transatlantic gentlemen booksellers and publishers, the murder is out! Read us, and approve us according as the milk of human kindness may flow in your veins ; if you have none, why cut us up root and branch. Print us, if you will; do any- thing but publish what you print; or, as Billy Lackaday says of falling between two stools, "you may”? between those of printing and publishing, "happen to break the small of your back !” CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. America's account of its own greatness General acquiescence therein- Importance of a trip across the AtlanticStrange notions of that undertaking—The best way to combat them — Georgian luggage --- A wonderful table-cloth--Monotony, and some people's notions of it -General explanation . . . . . . . 13-19 CHAPTER II. Boston-Its importance. Its general appearance and character-Puritan- ism and republicanism-Bunker Hill wit-Tbe Pilgrim Stone Down East-Irishmen at a premium-Sleighing-Jews versus Yankees-A game supper-Anecdote of a one-horse cutter-A new species of crop. 19-28 CHAPTER III. Institutionş and Lyceums of New England Their character and their advantages—A house of prayer turned into a den of thieves—Laugh- ing forbidden-The laity mistaken for the clergy_A Mexican's skull turned to a good account-More jokers than Sir Thomas More and Anne Boleyn-Libraries and books-An evening with Longfellow, at one of the homes of the American poets_6 The day is done." 28-37 CHAPTER IV. American hotels Food for body as well as soul-How to get a good din- ner, and how to eat it-Curious statistics Shirt washing and bathing- One advantage of a long beard-How to take in your meal and your CONTENTS. landlord—Maine liquor law-Preaching and horse racing—Strong- minded and strong-bodied women-Wine and spirits of divine origin How to turn a collector out of office-Lord Coke's private opinion. 37-47 CHAPTER V... New York—Indian summer-Something more thun a nibble; a regular bite—Some idea of emigration-An argument between New York and Boston--Bridals, and their chambers—Deference to woman—Target- men and their targets—The Kerbstone Rangers-Oyster saloons-"A dream at sea”-A good sized cemetery-Plank roads-Public mourn- ing, and public monuments--A very dirty account-An election- Leviathan steamer- A black swan-A Dutch lady-Two sorts of bus- bandıy-Shakers-Rights of women-Petticoat government–The press of America-Horses and horsemanship--Patriotism-Go-aheadism. 47—65 :: CHAPTER VI. Spiritual rappings—Their extent and their exposure—Visit of his mother's spirit to the author-The spirit moveth tables and chairs, as well as itself-Spirits turn bankers, and get a rap on their own knuckles Battle, murder, and sudden death exemplified-Now marriage code- Singular advantage of becoming at medium-A nobleman's inexpres- sibles . . . . . . . . . . 65–81 CHAPTER VII. The last intervention-National gullibility-Kossuth in New York-His reception and entertainment--Found in everything, and found out in the main thing-Illustrated by Charles Incledon-His notion of car- rying out a principle-The dollar exaction and the establishment, in fact, of the independent Hungarian Government-Chances of his return to America--Paying the piper with a vengeance . .. 81–87 CHAPTER VIII. Philadelphia and the approach to it--A sure plan of finding your way in it-Girard's College, and its founder-A Californian digger at the mint-Diddle's bank-Pennsylvania deemed partially a slave State How to get a good business back again-William Penn's elm_Young America's idea of the word “boy'-Tan-yard wit-Franklin's tombe CONTENTS. xi Marketing—Advantages of weighing a pound of butter-Delaware fishing-Pros and cons of solitary.confinement-Smoking in a chapel - Philadelphin society-A. Mexican general-The Alleghany Mountains -A word of advice about them—The chances of reaching Pittsburg—, Darkness visible when you got there--A good hotel to go to, and an excellent proprietor as long as you are in it . . . 81–101 CHAPTER IX. - The growth of cities—Thoir romantic titles-Log cabins, Daniel Webster and General Harrison-Trade of the far west—The Manchester of Old England, and the Manchester of New England-Wondrous statistics- A model factory girl-Baltimore and its monuments—Duck shooting and its delights-Poaching extraordinary-Street shooting-Origin and anecdote of a bowie-knife-Pretty good specimens of personality- Its consequences--Scene in a law court-Cocktails and Coffins-Moving a house, as well as its furniture Working double tides". 102–110 CHAPTER X. Mrs. Stowe-Uncle Tom's Cabin-More than one “Key to it” - English gullibility out-Heroding Herod_The “Sutherland”? Manifesto, and “Ex-Presidential” rejoinder-Pros and cons of slavery–The white slave as well as the black one-Dr. Parker-Two sides to every ques- tion . There's no harm in a guinea"-The best mode to stow any quantity of them away . . . . . 111-125 CHAPTER XI. Washington-Presidential inauguration, and its scenes_Visitors on the occasion Election statistics—Advantage of an echo--Duties of the Senate-A wigwam supper-The Arkansas gentleman--Colt and his revolvers—Summons of Indian chiefs in council-America's offer to get England out of a mess-Tharaoh's hosts, and Faro's guests-Tho White House-Something like a President, and some idea of his last levee- Kissing hands and shaking hands” . . . 126-142 CHAPTER XII. Travelling, and the various modes of undergoing the process-Steamers and state-rooms-Equality and fraternity--The Thames and the Hud- son—The slavery of freedom-Sketch of an American traveller-Some xii CONTENTS. doubts as to which is white or black-Murders by wholesale-How to recover a lost dinner- A short cut down a precipice—Novel form of prayer-A tip into the water-The Good Samaritan medically em- ployed. A nice “look-out”-Punctuality the soul of business. : 142-152 CHAPTER XIII. Lake Erie-The British fleet swallowed at one mouthful—England's only chance of salvation-Statistics of the lake country--Lake poetry—The Falls of Niagara-What to do when you get to them-Every joke, Sheridan's—Difference between saying and doing—British and Ameri- can ground not half a mile apart—Taking a "wet,” inside and out- A thundering * * *-The Windsor sentinel-Sappho and the Lover's Leap-Any quantity of water you please-Buffalo city, its advantages, and its pretensions-No end to a street in it-The odds against arriv- ing at the Falls of Niagara . . . . . . . 152-161 CHAPTER XIV. . A word or two about Ireland, and its utility in America—Three things to avoid in life-Difference between emigration and procreation—The shortest way of becoming an American citizen-The virtue of an oath- A real land of liberty-A country fighting against itself—The different charges for one man thrashing another-Thomas Francis Meagher-His own account of his return from transportation—The exact value of patriotism—The star-spangled banner-Draft to be swallowed every other hour in America Ingredients for making a rebel-A highly- gifted champion . . . . . . . . 161-172 CHAPTER XV... Origin of the American stage-Pros and cons—The legislature and the people have a difference of opinion - The earliest and the latest "stars"-G. F. Cooke-John Wilson Croker-Mr. and Mrs. Bartley in a mess-Reward offered for Mr. Kean-A derogatory letter- Booth and his nose-Conway, “John Bull," and Theodore Hook - Macready and his nose Something like a riot-Charles Kean's suc- cess---Another riot-A singer knocked out of tune-Sinclair and an empty pit-Fanny Kemble and her correspondence-Her opinions of her husband's country and its people—Mr. and Mrs. Wood, and one more riot-Power, an actor, a naval and military commander, and a CONTENTS. xiii wonderful pedestrian-Ranger (not in the “Suspicious Husband") -- Madame Vestris Charles Mathews, and his French and English cor- respondence-The Press and its privileges-Henry Phillips-Braham and his tour-Effect of foreign upon native talent-List of those who have produced that effect-Fashion opposed to judgment. 172-200 CHAPTER XVI. Other foreign talent besides English in America—The diet of Sontag and Alboni-Jenny Lind's pipe, and paying the piper -The ingredients of quackery—The American showman, and his show-Agents, and their avocations—Advantages of baving more mothers than one, if you know how to get them-A new mode of selling hats--An auction of tickets - A manager turns his own auctioneer-A remarkable tea-kettle—The duties of a husband-Charity that went abroad, but settled at home. Singers' airs and dancers' dollars—The player and the president differ- ently remunerated—The golden pavement of America-Difference be- tween principle and interest The decay of art, how to prevent it, and when that object is likely to be attained . . . . 200-208 CHAPTER XVII. American Dramatic Fund-Samples of histrionic talent-Mr. Forrest , and his castle-Mrs. Forrest and her character—Treading the stage, and treading the ceiling-Fourrier's doctrines and their inoculation- Low prices and low people-Wallack's theatre-William Tell outdone --An actress quarrels with her dress—A genuine Yankee manager- How to carry on the war--Cheap literature-One way of keeping & day "holy-A learned lord chamberlain--Virtue of Vox populi- Value of patent rights-"Dyeing a martyr”_Characteristics of opera singers—The many airs they give themselves, and the few they give · the public-Downfall of old Drury- Italian opera doings-Poets and pensions--Pope's opinion of all puppets-Performers' opinions of themselves . . . . . . . . . . 208–221 CHAPTER XVIII. American notions, and some of them very funny ones How to pare an apple-Thick skins and thin skins-Amour propre, and too much of it -All America's great people are not Americans“A mistake about her discoveries rectified_Jonathan's mode of regulating hotel charges- The Cuban question-Shooting Spaniards and shooting sparrows- xiy : :CONTENIS: 3 Lord John Russell and "Mi". Everett_Jamaica pörtli looking after 66 Eliseos and as if fully explained. Not to be poor and seem so, at the : "same time-The only beggar in America -- Copy-right question, and the best way tờ settle it-The distinction between high and low prices Congress make dots; and the people repealithena - Interest the only set- tler of disputes—Early rising, and the benefit thereof–Opinions of Lord Byron and Sir Jolin Sinclair theroon-Exemplification of it by a Bond Street tradesman-How to get bailed----Habits of doing business, and of taking pleasure-Ancient building up, and moderni pulling down -American enthusiasm and English apathy-Chester Walls and Chester " railways—Another den of thieves, and another house of prayer - Es- traordinary sight at Temple Bar—Stage-coaches, and their conse- quencës-Roads, and their l'ascalities=Two legs better than one, at all events in England-Common sense sometimes nonsense-Politics and ploughshares-Difference betivecn living in clover and mowing it The farmer and president-A regicide's last thought, and its exact ' value i i i ' . . . 222-249 . . CHAPTER XIX. The yellow fever and its victims-An important ’ism-Clearing out of a whole country-American gold going to buy up all England—The Isle of Wight carried away upon wheels, and a rape committed on the Great Exbibition—Turning the tablos_Home; sweet Home," sung very får away from it-Where a man goes to when he goes out-Two sides to a question-Shakspeare's opinion to be preferred to any other person's An emigrant's duties-What he has to Heat, drink, and avoid-Sonio of the advantages of emigration-Autographs and their collectors Captain Sutter and Mr. Hargieaves—The reward of merit not always merit awarded-What to do with one's money-Madeira wretchodness and Madeira vino-Extraordinary value of a glass of it-Calling things by their right names, without fear of Scylla or Charybdis--Gold your only multiplier-Exhibitions of Castle Garden and Hyde Park: com- pared_Jullien's baton, and Jonathan's. bandA player on the form apt to blow his own head off . . . . . . . . 250—263 CHAPTER XX. . . . . . The qunntity of land, and the quantity of people who livě on it-The constitution of a man pitted against the constitution of a horse-Cli- mate and its effect' upon health-Limit of American life--Spitting, and · where to spit.-Hitting the mark at any distance-A sure way to have CONTENTS. XV dyspepsia, and a sure way not to get rid of it-Advice to young ladies, “married and single"-Women's rights, and what to pay for them- Delicacies of the season-Cowhiding and Lola Montez-A Californian marriage--Art at a discount, and gold at premium- Official” statis- tics not to be doubted—Surplus at a nonplus-America's aristocratical notions-Importance of a title-Names misnamed-Difficulty of a let- terreaching its destination-How an Englishman's idea of independence differs from an American's - How to address & man at his own house in Indiana--More modes of pronunciation than one-How to choose American wines, or rather wines in America-Definition of a flimsy character-Not a shop in all the United States, Paper currency and its virtues--Young America at full length--The habits of all America --"A perfect character?--Contrast of the English and American Custom-house . . . . . . . . . . 264--289 CHAPTER XXI. A WORD AT PARTING. Writers on America, and the nature of their writings -The comic versus the serious— Politics and their prevalence-Shakspeare's value of pub- lic opinion-The respective merits of General Scott, Daniel Webster, and General Pierce-A President's " turn out”-A new railroad intro- . duced by the African slave--Cavaliers of the south and Puritaus of the north-An American barrister and an English judge—Prevalent priu- ciples of Boston--Humor of Haliburton--Provisions and the price of them- A famous family receipt-Jonathan's opinion of Trafalgar and - Waterloo--The reputed source and present extent of swaggering--Pigs, and a spoedy way of disposing of them--The spirit of inquiry, and what point to carry it to--American méfiance and English openness- The only difference which ought to be between the two countries- Peep at America a hundred years hence-The only way to visit Ame- rica--The distance to accomplish it - A Californian-Four drinks to one dollar --One way to visit England - Boston sauce and Boston sweets - An Indian menl - Respect in 1773, and bounce in 1853– Eighty years have done wonders—Mount Auburn and other cemeteries -Places for the living to cry in, and for the dead to lie in-Adieu to America-Chances of the Author's returning there . 289-315 _ OLD ENGLAND AND NEW ENGLAND. CHAPTER I. America's account of its own greatness-General acquiescence therein ) Importance of a trip across the Atlantic_Strange notions of that undertaking. The best way to combat them - Georgian luggage as A wonderful table-cloth--Monotony, and some people's notions of it --General explanation. "? GREAT country, sir !" and "We are a great people !" is the standard extract from an American's vocabulary. There can be no question of the truth of this, his hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, annual expression ; but it would be equally true; if he left other people to say what he is for ever saying himself. We yield to no man in a proper estimate of our own country; but only bigots or fools ever deny the greatness of others; and not coming, we hope, within the pale of either de. nomination, it will be our object and desire to do the utmost justice to the delightful land we have recently returned from, without being prejudiced or swayed by the opinions of another. Though self-praise is no recommendation, it is much more agree- able after all to listen to it from the lips of a genuine patriot, than to hear the unblushing tirade which malcontents are for ever issuing against the nation that gave them birth. In this point of view, we admire the heartiness with which an American lauds everything belonging to himself and his soil. He will hear of no disparagement, he will admit of no inequality; and he very naturally calculates that what he is forever asserting, and dinning into the cars of the whole world, it is more than probable the whole world will at last believe to be true. 14 OLD ENGLAND There can be no doubt that England does not know enough of America; indeed, it would not be very far from the mark to say that she knows nothing; and her natural desire to know more is too frequently thwarted by the distorted representation, the fool- ish undervaluation, and the ungrateful detraction of many, who think the surest way to gratify their countrymen's taste and pre- dilections is either to deny the excellencies, or to turn into ridicule the peculiarities of a rival empire. This is a task which self-im- portance too often delights to labor on, and it arises out of that weakest of all weaknesses, yanity. It is the verification of a valuable line in Apollo's famous song of “Pray Goody," wherein he says - “Remember, when the judgment's weak, the prejudice is strong;" and to that score must it principally be laid down. A better state of things is, however, beginning to manifest itself, the dif- ferences so long existing are now softening down, and the bad feeling they created is rapidly dying away in the distance. We begin to understand one another, and consequently to like one another as parent and offspring should, were there no other cause for such proper agreement; and the more we see of each other, the firmer will the bonds of that amity become. Steam naviga- tion* has done more to bring about such an important state of things than all the diatribes on either view of the question that * The importance of the respective vessels belonging to the Cunard (British) and the Collins (American) lines, requires something more than à passing observation. There are no finer ships that sail the seas, nor any abler commanders than theirs to be found. Their rank is a passport into the best society on either shore, their nautical skill gives confidence to the timid, and “assurance doubly sure” to the trusting, while their urbanity imparts real gratificatiou to all. Let it not be forgotten that into their hands are committed matters affecting the destiny of the two greatest empires in the world; to their protection are handed over the lives of thousands of their fellow-creatures, and dependent upon their conduct are the joys of happy hearts, or the sorrows of aching and break- ing ones. Only those who have watched the bearing of these noble mariners in hours of difficulty and danger, where the weak of spirit be- come paralyzed, and the stout of heart quail, can fully appreciate the firmness and energy with which their sternest duty is fulfilled. While we have the pleasure of being acquainted with several of these distin- guished gentlemen, we feel certain of giving no offence to the whole body by selecting one we intimately know, because we can offer no eulogy upon him that we have not heard expressed in better language, and with equal feeling, from their own lips. We allude to Captain Harrison-as good a fellow, and as good a scaman, as ever held command-in whose splendid ship, the “ Africa,” we have crossed the Atlantic twice, in ten days and a half each time. AND NEW ENGLAND. 15 have ever been written. It has established a confidence too long withheld on both sides, and has materially silenced the conflict of opinion. A voyage across the Atlantic was even recently con- sidered something tantamnount to a national undertaking, and the preparations for entering upon it, after mature deliberation, were of the most complex and alarming character. Additional life 'assurance was the first thing determined upon, and that was ra- pidly followed up by extensive purchases of every personal com- fort imaginable. A cartload of packages were filled with extra- ordinary suits of wearing apparel, adapted to every change of climate; triplicate sets of everything were in instant requisition, and luggage enough for a regiment of soldiers was the allotinent of an individual traveller.* But all these false notions have been abandoned ; for people have found out that every produc- tion of the one country is to be met with in the other, and sur- plusage has been given up altogether. We take it for granted that, after the thousand and one de- scriptions of “the note preparative" for a sea voyage, and of the various incidents passing during its period, with which every scribbler crams his page at the expense of his reader's patience, any additional contribution to the standard stock would be voted inflictive; and we will therefore dismiss the matter by just sub- mitting å doggrel account of “confusion worse confounded," which we witnessed on leaving Liverpool :- Hundreds rushing up the gangway, And sailors rushing down, Swearing oaths in every slang way, Breaking one man's luggage, and another fellow's crown! "Come, bustle there, you lubber," Said the officer où watch; “Give your hands and legs a turn, Or I'll make in both a notch, And you'll jump like Indian-rubber From the forc'sle to the stern !" Take care of my portmanteau," Says a gentleman in black. “ Take care yourself.” “I can't-oh!" “ Then you'd better, Sir, go back.” LL * A kuowledge of the exact necessaries requisite for a transatlantic trip is a very important point to arrive at. An Englishman's investment is, naturally enough, ridiculed in America, where a small quantity of tra- velling equipage goes a great way. In Georgia, especially, the baggage considered essential for a journey of any distance consists of a shirt-col- lär and a pair of spurs; and when we asked a native of that State how he managed about a shirt, “Why, look here, I can't spare the time to wait awhile they're a cleaning on it; and if I could, it's almost as cheap to buy a new one, as it is to pay for the washing of an old ’un." 16 :: OLD ENGLAND * That old girl's boxes, hoist hers In the luggage-hold, below." " Throw overboard those oysters, For they stunk a week ago! The eggs and fish the cook give- To all the fruit a look give- On the ice the butter lay, Or it all will melt away- D- n that box! you've broke my toe!” Thus spoke the mate. A little maiden Both with bile and grief o'erladen, Said: "An accident befel me As I left the shore, do tell me, My bonnet-box fell overboard, And is it now in safety, and where, Sir, is it stored ?” -"In the locker for lost property, where every feller owns his.” “Will you tell me where that locker is ?” “Why, Miss, its Davy Jones's.” “Here's a chap that's sick already- Pour him out a glass of liquor, And if then he can't walk steady, Why he'll be a d-d deal sicker Before Holyhead's in sight, Or he pass the Skerries light.” “Go to h--!” “Ay, ay, Sir, going.” Then, with chests and cases stowing, Lots of blast-the blast, too, blowing- Friends on shore once more appearing, Some gentle eye a tear in, At which hardened hearts will scoff! Some with hope, and some with fear, inspired- Hark! a brace of guns are fired- : We are off! And off we were, sure enough. We do not purpose making you sick, gentle reader, with any account of other people being so, or giving you any minute description of the supposed mono- tony of a sea voyage. We say “supposed," because the general impression inclines to that way of thinking, but to us it appeared quite the reverse. Should the voyageur have such weather as we bad, reading and writing furnish ample employment, which can be relieved by any simple game of chance or science that may be agreed upon. For those who patronize gastronomy, it is enough to say that the vessels of either line can boast of an ex- cellent cuisine, and that what between breakfast, lunch, dinner, tea, and supper (if you choose to order it), the cloth is scarcely ever off the table ;* and as for wines and spirits, there is abund- '* When Charles Mathews (I mean the block himself, and not the chip of it) was asked to give some account of what he saw on his voyage to America, he said, that all he did see was a tablecloth, which reached from Liverpool to New York ! AND NEW ENGLAND. 17 ance in all conscience, and if they are not particularly good, there is no question about their being particularly dear, especially when it is borne in mind that they pay no duty. To us there is no more imposing sight than the performance of divine service on shipboard, and the assemblage thereat of as many of a hardy ciew as can be spared from duty, dressed in their best, and lis- tening with modest devotion to the law of their Maker. Mono- tony! Why the meridian observation, the heaving of the lead, the calculation of the ship's progress, the magical effect of the boatswain's whistle, the occasional signaling of passing ships, the evening pastimes of the sailors, and the sometime visit of the stormy petrel, as the vessel sails by its imaginary habitation, have no possible connection with Monotony! And the aforesaid petrels? Did you ever meet with these lines upon them? 6 Whither come they, and where do they go ? -Their Maker, and they, alone can know! Where doth the mother build her, nest? Under the wave? or upon its breast? A thousand miles, or it may be more, Are they sporting now from the nearest shore, Yet they flutter with wing as restless and free, And under the sunlight hold revelrie, As a gentle linnet on hawthorn-tree. Mystic stranger! that leavest no track Whether thy course lie onward, or back, Tell us the tidings which thou dost bring, As thou sailest by with such rapid wing! Whether of human joy or woe? Whence dost thou come, and where dost thou go? —Thou, and thy Maker, alone can know! Monotony! Can there be the slightest semblance to such a phrase in gazing upon the huge bodies of whales sporting in their own mighty element, and sending up fountains of water from their mammoth nostrils, as they stream through the unfathomable depths they dwell in ? The mind becomes very soon associated with scenes and subjects like these, and you at last begin to think no more of a shoal of whales, than you would of a shoal of mackerel. Monotony! Oh! is it nothing to gaze for the first time on a colossal iceberg, with a brilliant sun shining upon it, and imparting to it all the appearance of a fairy palace, “Set in the silver sea." We grant you, it is much better to see it at a distance (the one we saw was about three miles off); but it is astonishing what a change it effects in the atmosphere during the period you are passing nearest to it. No, no, there is no monotony with those 2* 18 OLD ENGLAND who think, and feel, and marvel, and worship, where there is ample opportunity for the indulgence of every scope of human thought. Well, that's over, and we are now in the United States of America, the boasted soil of freedom, and the abused soil of slavery, the wonder of the world at large, and of itself in par- ticular, the refuge of the best and the worst of mankind-in short, one mighty link in the chain which binds together the uni- verse. We repeat that it is foreign to our purpose to enter upon any minute history of this marvellous country, or upon the essen- tial qualifications of character which distinguish its people--a task that has been accomplished from time to time by abler pens than our own; our aim is rather to point out peculiarity, habit, and system, where it can be done with possible advantage to our- selves, and without discourtesy to others, and where observation may be turned into amusement. We are not going over any. beaten track, for the marvellous growth of the place, the enlarge- ment of idea, the rapidity of invention, the earnestness of action, is such, that no sooner has one publication gone fairly through the press, than food presents itself for the composition and issue of another. We shall hope to raise a laugh out of the most humorous body of people in Christendom, but most certainly shall not do it at their expense ; and grieved indeed should we be if, at the termination of our travail, we could be accused of sport- ing with the amour propre, or wounding the feelings, of a single inhabitant of the broad lands of Columbia. The title we have given to this unpretending volume will sufficiently speak for itself; for while we shall supply the reader, who is bold enough to wade through its pages, with a suffi- cient quantity of general matter, our attention will be more espe- cially directed to an examination of New England, from which so much of the actual greatness of America has sprung, and which constitutes so much of it at the present bour. It is the cradle in which, when an infant, the giant was pursed; and due notice must therefore be taken of mother and child. We mean no disrespect to the miraculous city of New York, when we say that it gives by no means a fair representation of a genuine American capital ; at least one-third of its vast popula- tion is the spawn of other lands, for to every three natives you have at least one foreigner-the predominance of those sons of immigration being Irish and German. The census of New York, if strictly scrutinized, would be found to consist of human con- tributions from every part of the habitable globe, who tend very much to disfigure the genuine character of the natives. This is AND NEW ENGLAND. 19 not so much the case in any other State of the Union, though we by no means wish it to be inferred that every portion of it is not, to a certain extent, so inflicted. In New England, it is clearly less discernible; and the genuine American character is nowhere so conspicuous as in the peculiar realm of Yankeeism. We are perfectly well aware that a New Yorker would feel him- self regularly insulted if you were to designate him as a Yankee, and so would a Yankee if you were to call him anything else—but this aim at distinction is foreign to the purpose.. We shall talk about New York, and other parts of the States, as much as from time to time may appear necessary, and just as much as we like. In the meanwhile, we shall direct our immediate attention to New England. It seems almost part and parcel of Old England; and as they better understand each other than nearly all other portions of the great Republic, there can be no possible objection to its holding thé first position--the place d'honneur, if any such there be-in these our perambulating observations. Some, perhaps, will think that we are too laudatory in our opin- of national examination, and that we are altogether cautious, instead of being critical. Nonsense! We can praise without the slightest appearance of servility, or any fear of our eulogium being open' to the charge of truckling. We can hold up other people, without letting down ourselves. Vainglory and idle we fight for, wherever they are to be met with. Proper reliance is far better than injudicious confidence—that alone we stand by. We shall speak of men and things as we have found them, and only hope we shall encounter the same condition of both, wher- ever the compass may direct our course; but read on, reader, and judge for yourself. CHAPTER II. Boston-Its importance-Its general appearance and character-Puritan- ism and republicanism-Bunker Hill wit–The Pilgrim Stone-Down East-Irishmen at a premium-Sleighing-Jews versus Yankees-A game supper-Anecdote of a one-horse cutter-A new species of crop. In entering into an examination of the general feature which · New England presents to the observer, and of the peculiarities 20 · OLD ENGLAND connected therewith, it is best to begin at the fountain-head; and as Boston is its metropolis; and one of the most important places in the States, we cannot do better than make that our starting-post. It is as delightful a city to gaze upon, and as de- lightful an one to live in, as any beneath the blue canopy that encircles all. It has more the appearance of the best of English towns than any we have visited, and its inhabitants follow the fashion of their locality, and are more like ourselves in character than any others. It is unnecessary to state that. Boston was the landmark of the earliest display of Puritanism which was im- ported by the Pilgrims, and of the Republicanism which followed that importation; and we question whether, from the first moment a footstep was imprinted on Plymouth Rock* to the present hour, the spirit of either inspiration is much abated or altered. We have not space to descant on the exact remaining quantity of the aforesaid rock, nor on its partial removal to Pilgrim Hall, nor on all the associations connected therewith, nor on the en- chanting locality of Burying Hill * The Pilgrim Stone, or Forefather's Rock, like many other relics of antiquity, is rather the worse for wear; and when we visited Plymouth, it seemed to us to betray strong symptoms of gradual disappearance. Wo presume it is generally known that the forefathers of America loft Ply- · mouth in Old England, and landed at Plymouth in New England, in 1620. A recent controversy has arisen in Southampton as to that town being the one from which the Pilgrims finally departed—which is not the caso. On their return from Leyden they touched at Southampton, thence pro- ceeded to Plymouth, and from that port they bado adieu to their native land. They issued on arrival their famous manifesto (which is the first of American Constitutions) on board tho “May-flower," on the 11th of November, 1620, as will be seen by this copy of it, and in tho following month landed on the rock aforesaid :- : "In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the grace of God of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, defender of the frith, &c., having undertaken for the glory of God, and the advancoment of the Christian fnith, and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the prosence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together in a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the end aforesaid; and by virtuo hercof, to enact, constituto, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be. thought most meet and convenient for tho general good of the colony. In witness whereof, we have hereunder subscribod our names. Cape Cod, 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James of England, France, and Irelaod, tho eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, A. D. 1620. · AND NEW ENGLAND. 27 "The bill of hallowed brow, Where the pilgrim sleepeth now," .. nor to indulge in those feclings which so highly and honorably excite the American's bosom upon this subduing topic; but if the corroding band of time should ever pulverize the last morceau of this renowned stone, the memory of the spot it first was trod on will live forever in these few lines by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes :- The weary pilgrim slumbers, His resting-place unknown- His hands were crossed, his lids were closed, The dust was o'er him thrown: The drifting soil, the mouldering leaf, Along tho sod were blown, His mound has melted into earth, His memory livos alone. So let it live, unfading, The memory of the dead, Long as the pale anemone" Springs where their tears were shed: Or raining in the summer's wind In fakes of burning red, Tho wild rose sprinkles with its leavos The place where once they blod ! Yes, when the frowning bulwarks That guard this holy strand Have sunk beneath the trampling surge In bods of sparkling sand; While in the waste of ocean One loary rock shall stand, Be this its latest legend- Hero was rub PILGRIM'S LAND! The general character of New England is, to a very great ex- tent, embodied in the people of Boston, the constitution of either of the six States differing in reality very little. They may each have some extra form of internal government, some fluctuating code of by-laws, or some local distinction; but the system, social and civil, is the same. The best society of Boston is highly re- fined, and every class of its society is highly intellectual--indeed, the latter qualification is one of the grand ingredients of an Ame- rican's constitution--one of the great secrets of his success in life, and of the standing of his country in the scale of nations. A fool is a rare fellow to find in most parts of the Union; for the small urchin, from the earliest dawn of reason, would think his family and himself forever disgraced, if the badge of a block- 22 OLD ENGLAND head could be fixed upon his brow. They are a reading public: from the daily literature on a newsvender's counter; to the thoughtful volumes of the scholar's study, nothing escapes their attention; and to such a pitch is this determination to acquire knowledge carried, that the coachman who drives you to hear a lecture will pay bis money to go in and attend its delivery. It is a perseverance of the highest character, and most honorable to the energies of a nation. Boston is, in fact, the Athens of America, and its own insti- tutions, with the institutions and lyceums of other parts of New England, stand out as literary landmarks, which seem to draw a vast line of distinction between those and other States of the Union. Though a seaport, and a most extensive emporium of commerce, the city always possesses a tranquil, genteel, and un- pretending aspect-somewhat bordering even upon primitiveness; and though as forward in the march of advance as any of its neighbors, it is remote in all respects from that principle of go-aheadism which distinguishes someespecially New York. You may parade the streets of Boston without being run over by a flight of omnibus, hack, or car, at every step you take, and without the fear of a house falling on you, or a sewer falling in with you, as you musingly thread your way. Coachmen and carmen rein up as they approach a crossing, to let pedestrians pass over unsmashed ;* and indeed civility and propriety are dis- tinguishable features, in gentle and simple. The inhabitants of Boston are a strictly religious community, there being no less than ninety-seven churches and chapels, wherein some ministers of eminent learning and piety fulfil the duties of their respective creeds. On our first attendance, at Divine service, we were struck for the moment with the natural, but peculiar, substitution in the form of prayer in our ritual of" The President of the United States” in lieu of “ Queen Victoria," as it hath been our wont to hear; and moreover with such pronunciation as doo for dew, of dooties for duties, of booty for beauty, and so on. There is generally at Episcopal churches a collection after worship, the clergy here having no tithings—no “one pig out of ten," and the like. The collectors pass a velvet bag into each pew, and then hand the bag to one of the three officiating priests (between whom the various portions of the service and its ceremonies are * We were within an inch of being annihilatod at a corner street in Broadway, New York, and on asking the drayman why he did not knock us down at once, he replied: "Well, I guess I should if you'd a-staid there a minute longer." AND NEW ENGLAND. 23 : performed) to which the congregation most cheerfully contribute. Their charity is coextensive with their wealth, and they never allow the ancient principle of its beginning at home to enter their minds. Then the ladies of New England, standing as they do pre-eminent in beauty, vie for pre-eminence in mental acquire- ments with their lordly possessors. We are quite aware that if you stroll down Washington Street, Baltimore, from three to five on a bright sunny day, and on the right side of that street, you will gaze upon some of the sweetest faces out of which eyes have ever shone ; but still we cannot deny the pervading charm of those who light up the balls and the hill-sides of New Eogland, for ever reminding us of "Woman, oh, woman! whose heart and whose soul Are the pulse and the life of each path we pursue ; Whether sunned in the tropics, or chilled in the pole, If woman be there, there is happiness too !" Taken altogether, “ Down East''* is a rare part of creation, and where one might with infinite satisfaction (or at least with as much satisfaction as attends such ceremony) repose the final collection of one's bones. As long as the present tide of immigration rolls on, Boston will be subject, like all other parts of America, to a vast increase in its census, from foreign arrivals, especially from that lively spot, facetiously termed " The Emerald Isle ;' and oppressed as it is by an incubus which cannot, we fear, be thrown off, the best precautions are taken, to prevent some of the evils attendant thereon taking too deep a root. The numberless daughters of Erin who arrive there enceinte, or who become so very soon after they arrive, bestow upon the charities of the community a popu- lation for whom there is no possible hope of any provision- shirtless, shoeless, and foodless, is the prospect before every new- born breathing urchin. To stem this torrent of misery, and to prevent, as far as possible, too great a portion of it being visited on the already inflicted native, in one district alone, half-a-dozen gentlemen have clubbed together and established a school, where they personally superintend the education of poor Irish children situated as described. We were present at an examination of them by a friend whose day of tuition it was, and certainly a more ragged troop were never collected together from the gutters, * The best way to define, for English comprehension, this common phrase, is to observo, that when you are in New York the people call Boston «down East;" and when you are in Boston they call “ down East" the remotest part of Majue; and when you reach Maine, “down East” is nowhere. 24 OLD ENGLAND alleys, lanes, or hovels where wretchedness is wont to reside; but We saw the utmost attention paid to the improvement of their minds, and were led to understand that, according to merit, ulti- mate provision was made for their bodies. We shall have a word or two more to say, by-and-bye, upon the subject of Irish-Ame- ricanism. We do not deny that there are to be found English, Scotch, Welsh, Germans, Jews (no, not Jews !)* who have for- saken their own banners, and have sworn allegiance to that of the Stars and Stripes, but the preponderance to an awful extent is-Irish:! as we shall see hereafter. The environs of Boston are not to be surpassed in beauty ; and nowhere will you behold a wider or a more picturesque dis- play of mansion, villa, cottage, and cabin, than that which studs the whole landscape. The fanciful structure of wooden houses in their painted garb of green, white and yellow ; the rich foli- age clustering around them, the lofty eminences on which they stand, and the verdant trees amongst which they lie embosomed, impart an 'air of indescribable loveliness to the whole surround- ing scene; while the drives, and the roads through which they serpentine, are equal to all elsewhere, and may, in some places, vie with the best in Old England. The view is here and there relieved by the appearance of some monument, lifting its head in air, commemorative of events that have passed on the spot, and are endeared either to the national or the mistaken feelings of those who erected them. Conspicuous amongst these is the column erected on Bunker's Hill, to bring to native recollection one side of the question connected with the struggles the Yan- kees there made for emancipation and independence. The other side of that question is, naturally enough, taken no notice of; and as every one knows the best thing to do, when he goes to Rome, it is superfluous to say that we followed the olden maxim.t In these vicinities are some excellent restaurants, and few suburban localities can boast of better cheer than Roxburg, * We were remarking to a gentleman, who was affording us much pleasant and general information, how few Jews one met in New England; and asking if he could assign any reason, he replied: "Oh yes, the rea- son is, that no Jew on earth is a match for a Yankee." † We cannot, however, withhold an anecdote told us, respecting this one-sided view of things. An American, with a sufficient quantity of national pride, without any great quantity of politeness, in pointing out this monument, said: “That is to commemorate our licking you Brit- ishers;" and when the Englishmen rejoined, “Well, and what about White Plains ?” the Yankee replied, “Oh, that's a battle in which we took no kind o interest!" Anglicè, because that is one of the places where the Britishers licked them ! . AND NEW ENGLAND. 25 Brighton, and Cambridge. If the reader should chance to visit these places in winter, as well as summer, and be an eye-witness to one of those American pastimes called "Sleighing," he will behold a carnival unequalled by any in America, and equalled by few elsewhere. It may be called the great equestrian feature of New England; for although its trotting-matches, cart-drives, and other trials of quadruped quality, are equally exciting and peculiar, yet nothing can be compared to its sleighing. The nearest approach with us to anything of the kind, and quite as singular of its sort, is the annual event of Epsom Races—at the celebration of which, every animal, from a race-borse to a jack- ass, harnessed to every species of vehicle, from swell drags to “ Carts with two-and-twenty in 'em,” struggle with their fellows for pre-eminence in speed and para- phernalia.* The gaiety of the carriages, the caparison of the horses, the hilarity of the company, their natural tendency to- wards the good things of this life, with the fullest determination to assail then the high-road race, the side-road inn, the strife and the shout, the victory and the defeat, designate each of these national diversions-rendered, to be sure, singularly different, while so strikingly similar in all other respects, by the different period of the year selected for celebration-the one in the old country, when spring has put forth all her blossoms, when the green grass is rising, the trees are bursting, and their young tenants warbling" the sweetest of all human music and the other, in the new country, when the whole land is cased in snow, when every town is ice-olated, when the trees are leafless, and the birds have emigrated to sunnier lands to issue forth their carols. In every other point of view, the same animus pervades the scene. . A sleigh of first-rate pretension (such as are “ Cleopatra's Galley," and the "Mayflower,'') is a remarkably beautiful turn- out." The build resembles that of a galley, rising at the stern to give elevation to the seats, which, in the largest “craft,” can accommodate from thirty-five to forty persons. The interior is lined with black bear-skins, while quantities of party-coloured rugs and wrappers are provided for the general warmth of the person. The driver is elévated at the prow of this vessel, and drives six, eight, or even twelve horses in hand, according to arrangement, the charge varying from thirty to forty dollars (from £6 to £8) per day. Parties club together to this amount, 26 OLD ENGLAND and then invite their friends, embracing a due proportion of that sex, without which the world were "A world without a sun." In the vicinity of Boston (and New York as well) are some of the most famous resorts for enjoying “every luxury of the sea- son;" especially game, which gives to these places the same de- gree of repute and enticement that white-bait gives to Greenwich and Blackwall. Here is a bill of fare for one of those remark- able réunions to which we had the honor of an invite, being sleighed out of town and into it again, in a splendid“ team and six.” Nineteen different kinds of game, for a supper party, are somewhat startling items in the routine of worldly provision ! TAFT'S HOTEL, WEST ROXBURY. GAML SUPPER FOR TWENTY GENTLEMEN. January 14, 1853. BILL OF FARE. ROAST. 1. Wild turkey, from Illinois. 2. Wild goose. 3. Canvas-back ducks. 4. Red-head ducks. 5. Black ducks. 6. Grey ducks. 7. Black-head ducks, from Virginia. 8. Brant, from Delaware. 9. Blue-bill widgeon. 10. Sprig-tail ducks, fronı Georgiav. 11. Mallard duck, from North Carolina. 12. Blue-wing teal. 13. Green-wing teal. 14. Widgeon tcal. 15. Grouse, from Illinois. 16. Quails, larded. 17. Partridges, larded. 18. Spruce partridges, from Canada. 19. Venison with grape and currant jelly. PUDDINGS. Custard., Bread. PASTRY. Meat pies. Squash pies. Apple pies. Lemon pies. AND NEW ENGLAND. 27 ICE CREAMS. Sherbet, Lemon, Vanilla. Calf's-foot Jelly, Blanc Mavge. DESSERT. Grapes, Pears, Apples, Raisins, Dry Fruit. COITEE. A goodly repast; wanting, in this instance, but that one grand essential, s. The light that lies In woman's cyes.” The horses, if the weather be unusually severe, have scarlet cloths under their harness; and either round the girth, or on the head, or on the saddle, have a string of bells, * which, in addition to the merry note they impart, are ordered by the State, to pre- vent, by their sound, any accident that might arise from the noiseless approach of the carriages; for at the height of the sleighing season any conveyance on wheels would be a perfect curiosity. The appearance of one of these mammoth machines, propelled by a team of high-bred and valuable horses, gliding over the surface of the ground to the accompaniment of their tinkling bells, the beauty of the women in their rich apparel, the bilarity of the men breaking out through their muffled forms, and the gaudy decoration of the whole, is quite exciting. Cold must the heart be, and prejudiced the mind, that would not pro- nounce this to be one of the inost joyous scenes of public amuse- ment which any nation can boast of. Accidents are of very rare occurrence; the only one we heard of, was that which happened to a gentleman, allied to a principal actor in a bloody tragedy of recent notoriety, who was thrown out of his sleigh,* and whose horse made off at full speed with his master's vehicle. As soon as the reverend man had emerged from the snow-drift in which he had been deposited, and had partially recovered from the shock his system had sustained, he proceeded in search of his property; and meeting a stranger, he. inquired if he had seen a horse and sleigh. “Well, not an en- tire one,” said the other; "but I saw the balance of 'em go down the precipice yonder, and they're both in - by this time, I guess; so you're on the right side of the hedge, for once in your life.” * Or, as they express it, the horses have bells on their sides, and tho men have belles by their sides. + Humorously termed "a one-horse cutter." . 28 OLD ENGLAND If it were not for fear of prolixity, we could give a succinct account of the ice-cutting at Freshpond hereabouts, and in seve- ral otber parts of New England, and of all the machinery and manoeuvre connected therewith, for the procuration of an article of luxury which has become almost a matter of necessity—at all events, å sine quâ non, to every civilized table-but content our- selves by observing that the "ice-crop" (as it is drolly called) of the past winter proved to be a fair average one. Of a verity, these things are marvellous and amusing, and there are plenty more of the same kind to follow. CHAPTER III. Institutions and . Lyceums of New England-Their character and their advantages-A house of prayer turned into a deu of thieves—Laugh- ing forbidden-The laity mistaken for the clergy A Mexican's skull turned to a good account-More jokers than Sir Thomas More and Anne Boleyn-Libraries and booksAn evening with Longfellow, at one of the homes of the American poets- The day is done." THE literary character of the New England community con- stitutes its main distinction from many other States, and gives it a very enviable position in a foreigner's estimate of America. It is the fashion to class. Boston, the chief town in it, under the denomination of the “ City of Notions ;' but we respectfully suggest that it would be quite as well if those who bestow the title would carry out its import at home. Her notions are based upon those principles of right and sound sense which learning delights in establishing. The State of Massachusetts has given birth to many eminent men of departed days, and at this moment can claim, as its offspring, or its resident people, Lougfellow, Lowell, Sprague, Hawthorn, Whipple, Emerson, Holmes, and a long list of others, whose mental acquirements reflect upon it the highest honor and renown. Its seats of learning, and its various institutions, Lyceunis, and literary associations, claim the eulogy of erery tongue, and require, in some measure, especial notice. Having been intimately mixed up with many of these establishments, not only a feeling of gratitude, but a strong im- pulse of observation, induces us to devote a page or two to this particular matter. AND NEW ENGLAND. 29 There is no country that can boast, either in number, in cha- racter, or in position, of such institutions for the acquirement of universal knowledge, as those which are already established, to say nothing of those in course of establishment, throughout the whole extent of New England. In the States constituting this part of North America, there is scarcely a village that has not some institute for the delivery of lectures, the formation of a library, and the study of various acquirements; while in all their cities and large towns there are at least two and sometimes three.* Lecturing is the prevailing pursuit of the public at large, and has become so popular, that places of ordinary amusement are com- paratively deserted. It is strong evidence of a correct taste, and possesses a powerful influence in the manner in which it operates, more especially on the middle classes of society. We must not be understood to infer that the literary institutions of New England possess a very striking advantage over those of our own country which are in active operation; but still they bave peculiarities and carry out in their intentions, and in the fulfilment of those intentions, precepts that are well worth following, as well as bene- fits that are worth bestowing. A brief outline of their constitu- tion may not be altogether without interest. The principal institution in Massachusetts, from which so many others derive their form of government, and by whose system they are chiefly regulated, is “The Mercantile Library Association," of Boston, wliose members comprise, to the num- ber of something like 2,300, most of the young employés in that city. Its funds have been very largely contributed to by per- sonages of such consequence as the Lawrences, Appletons, Stur- gis's, Cushings, Shaws, &c. ; but its annual resources spring from the contributions of the whole body. Its affairs are di- rected by committees selected from that body, the representatives of which are mostly under twenty-five years of age. An ex- tensive library of some 13,600 volumes, a reading-room, with above one hundred of the popular journals (weekly and semi- weekly) and magazines of the day, the most of them sent gra- tuitously, a saloon for recitation, and other official apartments, constitute the household establishment; while for their course of lectures they have rented the recently-erected Music Hall (owing to the increased number of their contributors), in which we had the honor of lecturing before upwards of 3,000 auditors. They have an annual income of more than 7,500 dollars, be- LU * We bave been told there are upwards of three hundred in the six States. 3* 30 OLD ENGLAND sides funded property to the amount of 19,250 dollars, and have been enabled to give this past season a double course of lectures, for which they paid a handsome remuneration to various profes- sors. The smaller establishments of smaller towns are based upon this one, and mostly take date from its proceedings ; in fact, as the substantial endorsement of a bill renders it negotiable, so does the prestige of the Mercantile Library Association in Bos- ton give a lecturer his passport to all others. It is more surprising in remote and comparatively insignificant places, than in a crowded city like this, to examine the character and the position of the various parties who compose the body corporate of Lyceums, and who contribute to their upholding. The principal people in such places form a certain class of supporters, but the mechanic and the operative are the chief ones; and it is a matter of wonder- ment, gratifying in the highest degree, to witness the youthful workman, the overtired artisän, the worn-out factory girl, and others of the laboring community, rushing from their busy scene of labor, the moment the toil of the day is over, into the hot at- mosphere of a crowded lecture-room—the body at work at five in the morning, and then the mind setting to work at eight in the evening. "Going to lecture," is the next important duty to "going to church;" and he who seeks to impart information, must be well read (or, as they more mercantilely express it, well “posted up') in what he talks about, or he will find many amongst his hearers who can correct him, and put him to rights. · Not only is the emolument they give their lecturers liberal, but they pay every reasonable expense from the moment of your leaving home until your return to it; and in many instances you are most hospitably entertained at the residence of some princi- pal member, or the secretary of the Lyceum where you lecture, instead of going to a comfortless hotel. Their attention in this respect is unique and highly complimentary, to which we should be doing deep injustice if we did not say, that in the mental and corporeal enjoyment thereof we have passed many a delightful hour. In several localities, the institutions are not wealthy enough to erect a hall of their own, and in that case, churches are their general resort. It seems alniost sacrilegious, on the first blush of the thing (and indeed it struck us most forcefully), that a. building erected for the worship of the living God, should be polluted by any other proceeding taking place in such sanctuary ; and that from its pulpit, whence the doctrincs of Holy Writ alone should emanate, matter profane, however learned, should AND NEW ENGLAND. 31 be delivered. These odd notions may be the result of habit or prejudice; but as hàbit, especially if it be a bad one, should be abandoned, and prejudice should never be indulged in, we followed with the stream; and the repugnance we felt, and the objections we made, were overruled on being informed that, apart from the performance of divine service, the churches were used for all public occasions town's meetings, con- certs, orations, political réunions, and the like, being inva- riably held in them;* and it did not, therefore, become us to ob- ject to follow in the path where that ablest of essayists and lec- turers, Edwin Whipple, and many of his eminent countrymen, had led the way. Our first attempt in a semi-clerical character was in the good town of Chelsea, some three miles distant from Boston, to which we were conveyed in a carriage, under convoy of a sober-sided gentleman, whose demureness of manner savored very strongly of puritanical inspirations. As we journeyed along, he took oc- casion to say that, having heard' us lecture the preceding evening in Boston, it was as well to let us know at once, though he him- self laughed “some,” yet they never laughed down at Chelsea. We naturally inquired how they got on without such a pleasant companion, in life's rough journey, as a hearty laugh. “Don't know-can't say nothin' about that, I guess, but they don't laugh down at Chelsea," said he. “Odd folks," thought we; but we made our way to the dais beneath the pulpit, † and took (for the first time from such a spot) a full survey of a full con- gregation Directly under our very nose were seated a body of youths and their lasses. “They unust laugh," thought we, and * The first verse of an epigram (stuck upon the doors of Drury Lane Theatre on an oratorio evening in the dnys of the olden time) may not be inappropriately applied to these proceedings:- Good reader, if you've time to spare, Turn o'er St. Matthew's leaves, You'll find that once a house of prayer Became a den of thieves ! But now the times are altered quite, Oh, rcformation rare, This modern den of thieves to-night Becomes a house of prayer! . Just as we were entering the church, our guide whispered in our car: "Where would you like to do it, on the floor, or up in the pulpit?” Our first impression was to ejaculate: “DO WHAT ?" but considering the sanc- tity of the place, and suddenly catching what we supposed to be his mean- ing, we replicd sollo voce: "On tie floor!” 32 OLD ENGLAND resolving to make an experiment, we ventured upon the smallest. and quietest of all possible jokes. The consequence was a sup- pressed laugh, which, upon our embarking in another bit of fun, emerged into a titter, and ended, on our making a farther appeal to their risible faculties, in a downright roar! The good. Samaritan accompanied us home, and before we parted, we ventured to observe: “Why, friend, we understood you to say that they never laughed down at Chelsea.” To which he replied: “Well, can't understand it, nohow; but won't our pastor 'give 'em all fits,' next Sunday !" The pious man could go into Boston, like a stray sheep, and have a good laugh by himself, when freed from the observation of his brethren; but denied even the existence of such a propen- sity, when he returned once again into the flock. It is but natural to suppose that matters arise out of these meetings, which partake rather of a bumorous than a serious character, and set at defiance all legitimate association with the spot wherein they take place—a curious instance of which we were, in some measure, a party to. The tenets of the Rev. Theodore Parker, though a gentleman of high literary attain- ments, are objectionable to a great portion of the thinking world; and in some institutions those objections are carried so far, that the directors will not engage him as a lecturer. At Manchester in New Hampshire, this repuguance was so strong, that it was with great difficulty a vote was carried for the engagement of his services. When the day came for the delivery of his lecture, he: was so indisposed as to be unable to give it; and the Committee, not wishing to disappoint the public altogether, telegraphed to us, inquiring if we were free, and if we would accept their prof- fered stipend, whereupon- "Obedient Yamen, Answered 'Amen,' And did As he was bid.” We reached Manchester too late for any general notification of the change in man and matter being made, and consequently some portion of the audience were really ignorant that they were not listening to the very party whose precepts they came, with much reluctance, to hear—that is, in the hope of their tenacity being removed, but in the fear of its being confirmed. We pro- ceeded, and were fortunate enough to elicit throughout incessant laughter; but at the termination of our lecture, an individual of a very rigid party (believing he had been listening to the Rev. Mr. Parker, instead of the irreverend Mr. Bunn), said to his AND. NEW ENGLAND. 33 fellow of a somewhat wavering party: “Now, my friend, are you convinced ? Here is a man ascending the pulpit, and, instead of delivering pure and unmixed matter for the hearers' spiritual, advantage, throws the congregation into horse-laughter, by talking about Shakspeare and the players.” This is a round-about, toss-about world, and if its sayings and doings of every day could but be chronicled, what irresistible fun we should be in the enjoyment of. We have a great predilection for a joke, inasmuch as the ordinary avocations of life are, gene- rally speaking, sufficiently serious to render anything approaching to the comic quite a relief. We have found this feeling preva- lent amongst the most reflective members of these institutions, before whom men of the deepest research and most extensive ac- quirements week after week appear and lecture. Discourses upon astronomy and physiognomy, on theology and psychology, on gas, chemistry, freedom and slavery, together with other abstract questions, are certainly edifying and most important matters to dilate upon; but after the first half-hour of the speaker's appli- cation (particularly if he should read, rather than indulge in ex- temporaneous delivery, and occasionally chance to turn over two. leaves at a time), the hearer's attention becomes “ divided in its . allegiance," and some question arises as to the exact possibility of keeping his eyes open. It is then that some humorous wan- derer, some retailer of the jokes of others, if he can make none of his own, some arch wag may spy an opening, and dropping in between an harangue on the alleged evils of primogeniture, or the undoubted consequences of electricity, produce for the nonce a perfectly spasmodic effect. What reflections does not such a slight event as this lead one into! We were “holding forth” at Newbury Port; and being in want of a skull (at that moment of as much import to us as our own), that we might deliver Shakspeare's wondrous apostro- phe from “Hamlet,' we were accommodated therewith by a medical gentleman, connected with the Lyceum. We had not proceeded beyond the opening sentence, “Why might not this be the skull of a larvyer ?” when we received a very satisfactory answer to the query—for directly under our eye was a gash some fire inches in length; and turning round the said skull to get rid of the “unreal mock- ery,” we put our finger into a hole made expressly to order by one of the biggest of imaginable bullets. It was pretty clear that the original owner of this property had been a soldier, instead of a lawyer; and on inquiring into the matter, the worthy doctor 34 told us that the said proprietor had been sabred and riddled in the Mexican war; that he himself had had his head scraped and cleaned, and that he brought it home as a contribution to his laboratory. The idea of a man, one side of whose skull had been turned into a sword-sheath, and the other into a bullet-mould, with the inside of that skull having been scooped out on the bat- tle-field; and the outside been peeled off in a porridge-pot, being addressed for one moment as a lawyer, did seem to us the acme of human absurdity. The poor Mexican little thought when he poked his prominent forehead, and flattened nose into the scene, where the thickest of war's tempests lowered," that the os frontis of the one, or the cartilage of the other, would ever have become the subject of Shaksperian dissertation. Religion and learning are the pillars which sustain the State of Massachusetts, and of its principal city, Boston ; and in pro- portion as a nation must decay which is not supported by these mighty props, so must it rise and flourish in the world when it can boast of their wondrous influence. The Lyceums to which we have herein made a pardonable, but' by no means as copious . a reference as we could wish, have been called into existence by. the doctrines which religion and learning respectively inculcate, - and by their precepts are integrally maintained.* We have already alluded to the statistics of their Church, and will simply mention those connected with their literature, by ob- serving that while in the New England States there are published four hundred and twenty-four daily, weekly, monthly, and other periodical newspapers, in the city of Boston, alone, there are one hundred and twenty-one! The thirst of the people after know- ledge may be farther traced to the fact of there being in this cited * If Sir Thomas More joked upon the scaffold, ud Anne Boleyn on her way to it, wo may be forgiven, while talking of the sublime, for mention- ing anything that touches on the ridiculous. It is the fashion in some of these Lyceums for the President, during his tenure of office, to announce the name of the lecturer for the evening to the assembled audience, and this was the result of his so doing on one occasion. After giving "a copy. of his mind" to sonic urchins, who, however intellectually disposed, now and then indulged in cracking nuts and jokes at the expease of the more sober part of the meeting, he said, in a subdued tone, “Brethren, the lecture of this evening will be delivered by Arthur Buna of London," and down he sat by my side, inquiring if that were right. I merely whispered : "It is of no moment, but by name is Alfred." Upon which he jumped up, and to my perfect amazement, returned to the charge, and bellowod out: “Oh! the gontleman says his name is Alfred !” We are ashamed to admit having been indecorous enough to burst out laughing. AND NEW ENGLAND. 35 part of the Union (New England), five State libraries, forty-two social libraries, fourteen college libraries, forty-one students' libraries, twenty-one academical and professional school libraries, sixteen scientific and historical society libraries, and seven hun- dred and ninety-one public school libraries which, collectively, contain the large number of seven hundred and forty-one thou- sand, nine hundred and seventy books ! If we consider the vast importance to which this early colony has risen, and the influence it exercises over other States of the Federal Union-remembering, at the same time, the contracted límit of its territory, and the consequent paucity of its inhabit- ants--it is unquestionably owing to these guiding-stars of her existence that so much greatness has been obtained. Uncle Sam (Anglice, America) has many a bright feather in his plume, but not one more brilliant than that which has been contributed to it by the six States of New England. It would be an unpardonable omission if, in speaking of the literary character of America in general, and of New England in particular, an especial reference were not made to Professor Longfellow, one of the most delightful writers of any age, or of any country, and whose genius reflects such high renown upon his native land. We cannot be suspected of intending the slight- est disrespect, in making this selection, to the poetical eminence of any other State, and, above all others, to the world-renowned representative of verse and prose in New York city, Mr. W. C. Bryant, to whom we had the pleasure of being introduced; but we saw more of Mr. Longfellow; we sojourned some length of time amongst his own immediate friends, and found him, in every sense of the term- “The poet of all circles, and the idol of his own.” We are charmed with his style of composition, with the mind and the music of every line, and the peculiar melody of thought running through them; and all that we had fancied of the bard, we instantly recognized in the man. We had letters of intro- duction to him, and went out to his residence at Cambridge (a short distance from Boston) to deliver them. It is delightfully situated, in a quiet locality, commanding an extensive view; and in addition to the beauty of the position, it has the farther charm of having been the residence of General Washington, when he was ordered to join the Army of the North. Whether the local attraction of a lovely landscape, or the patriotic interest associated with the place, prompted the poet's selection, it is not necessary to inquire; but those who wish to form a perfect idea of so dis- 36 OLD ENGLAND tinguished a spot, should refer to a work recently published, ens. titled “The Homies of the American Poets.". The private-room of Washington, and the boudoir of his lady, remain in the same state as when they were tenanted by them, and the house itself has, we believe, undergone but slight alteration. · In answer to our ringing the bell, the door was opened by the Poet himself; and we had barely got of our mouth the first words of the very necessary inquiry, “Is Professor Long—" when we stopped short, observing that it was almost unnecessary to make the inquiry, for we felt assured, from the fidelity of the prints we had seen, that we stood in his very presence. He ad- mitted the fact, and welcomed us in. We told him our name; and that our sole object in visiting him was to do homage at the shrine of genius. He appeared extremely flattered and gave us à cordial welcome, as a public character whom he had long heard of. Our conversation then became general, inclining chiefly to literature and the drama. Though he had been three times to Europe, he has spent comparatively little time in England, his more favorite resort having been Les Pays Bas, his love .of which is plainly demonstrated in his poems. He dwelt with peculiar delight on the somewhat primitive character of that part of the Continent, his partiality to which he carried out by selecting for his inn at Bruges the unpretending one of "La Fleur de Blé," from the mere simplicity of its name. He has a library of some very choice books; and amongst other literary treasures he seemed to prize, was a duodecimo edition of the Italian and French drama-each of them in three volumes which had evi- dently been the property of Garrick, from the fact of his coat of arms, with his well-known signature, being prefixed to the leaf facing the title-page. He picked them up on a book-stall in New York, for a mere trifle; and the only wonder is, how they ever found their way across the Atlantic. . On joining the evening's repast, to which his courtesy had invited us, we found Mrs. Longfellow presiding over its hospi- tality-a delightful lady, without reserve, yet without the slight- est approach to forwardness-elegant in her manner, without the least alloy of affectation-gentle, uuostentatious, and kind-a wife worthy of such a poet, the brightest and boldest flight of whose captivating fancy could not be better employed than in hymning her praise; for a more incomparable lady, as far as our limited means of observation extended, it has never been our good fortune to gaze upon, or to read of. We can call to mind no recollection of a more thoroughly delightful evening, during which intellect and sociability vied with each other to give wel- AND NEW ENGLAND. 37 come to a perfect stranger. Any one should become a better and a wiser man, after passing an evening with Longfellow; and if we gained nothing thereby, it can only be attributed to inherent stupidity. We left him, however, in the conviction that we had progressed somewhat in each respect; and with a mind wrapped up in enthusiasm, and a body in a greatcoat, we returned to Boston, musing on "The Day is Done, and that brilliant termi- nation of it : - And our nights shall be made of music, And the cares which infest the day Shall fold their tents like the Arabs, And as silently steal away.” CHAPTER IV. American hotels-Food for body as well as soul-How to get a good din- ner, and how to eat it-Curious statistics-Shirt washing and bathing- One advantage of a long beard-How to take in your meal and your landlord— Maine liquor law-Preaching and horse racing-Strong- minded and strong-bodied women--Wine and spirits of divine origin- How to turn a collector out of office-Lord Coke's private opinion. WE are told, on the highest authority, that man cannot live by bread alone; at the same time, it is pretty clear he cannot live without it, and it behoves us, therefore, to tell him where he can get any quantity of it, with other things to match, in the land of which we are treating. Having dilated upon the wondrous manner in which the people of New England, and indeed of most other States, provide for the improvement of the mind, we feel bound, for consistency sake, to show the reader how they manage to take care of the body. It is utterly impossible for those who have not visited the hotels of America, to form any idea of the scale upon which they are conducted. They are carried on upon one principle throughout the Union, varying only according to the extent and convenience of the population, and the size of the establishment. The Americans live more out of their private houses than in them-families, as well as individuals, “boarding" at all the principal hotels. The general charge for board and lodging (sup- posing you dwell in the house) is two dollars a day; for which you have a comfortable bed-room, and as much to cat as you 38 OLD ENGLAND please, paying extra for anything you drink beyond tea or water; and also for the washing of your apparel, baths, fires, and meals in your bed-room, &c. This is, per annum, about £146 of our money, which will sound a beavy item to English ears; but it must be borne in mind that the living is of the most varied and recherché quality, and dealt out with an unsparing hand. The tables are covered from six in the morning until twelve at night, being continually supplied with clean cloths, finger-napkins, plate, glass, &c. You have, moreover, the use of large reception- rooms, and the still more important one of a reading-room, where the principal papers of the town you reside in, and of the Union, are filed. Your own apartment is plentifully supplied with linen, water, soap, lamp and candles, and the attendance is prompt and profuse. Of course, we must be understood to speak of the leading hotels in the leading cities; in many others, service is below par, and civility at an alarming discount. Having lived for some time at one of, if not the, best in the whole Republic, “ The Revere House,” Boston, we cannot do better than furnish the reader and the rover with the "statistics” of this wondrous dwelling-house-par excellence, the model hotel of the country whereby he may form a tolerable notion of similar babitations. Let us begin by submitting a general bill of fare, placed by the side of every one at the dinner-table--a fac-simile of the one whose contents we made an attack upon, the first time we sat there. The variation of dishes from day to day depends upon the fancy of the chef de cuisine, and the provision which happens to be in season; the cooking is in the best style of that potential art, and the wines as fine as wines can be, if rated only by their several prices ! REVERE HOUSE. BILL OF FARE.. SOUP. Chowder. FISH. Baked Cod Fish, Claret Sauce. BOILED. Leg of Mutton, Caper Sauce. Corned Beef and Cabbage. Turkey and Oysters. Ham. Chickens and Pork. Tongue. COLD DISHES. Boiled Ham and Tongue, Pressed Corn Beef. Boned Turkey. AND NEW ENGLAND. SIDE DISHES. Mutton Cutlets, Madeira Sauce. Fillet of Beef, with Olives. Blanquette of Veal. I Escaloped Oysters. Macaroni, Baked. Ducks, with Turnips. Chickens, à la jardinière. : . Tripe, à la Maître d'Hôtel. Calf's Liver, à l'Italienne. Lobsters, Anchovy. Currie of Chicken. Pigs' Feet, Piquante Sauce. Rice Croquettes. Hominy. ROAST. Beef. Chickens. Ham, Champagne Sauce. Turkey. Leg of Mutton. Geese. Veal. Ducks. PUDDING AND PASTRY. Cabinet Pudding. Apple Pies. Squash Pies. Quince Pies. Damson Meringues. Jelly Puffs. Macaroons. DESSERT. Lemon Ice Cream. Apples. Almonds. Raisins. English Walnuts. Breakfast, half-past Seven to Ten; Dinner, Ladies' Ordinary, half-past Two; Gentlemen's Ordinary, half-past Two; Tea, from Six to Nine; Sup- per from Nine to Twelve. SUNDAY–Breakfast at Eight; Dinner at half-past One; Tea at half- past Five; Supper, Nine to Ten. Gentlemen having friends to dine, will please give notice at the office. Meals sent to rooms will be charged extra. Early Dinners served in Ladies' Ordinary from One to Two only. Persons wishing early Dinner will please notify the office. Children occupying seats at the table will be charged full price. Din- ner for children and nurses from One to half-past One. The entire management of Revere House, and all such houses, is conducted by clerks, under the direction of the proprietor, who occupy an office, conspicuously situated, from which every in- struction throughout the establishment is issued, and whose orders are carried out by a whole army of servants. There is an appendage to this office of a remarkable character called an “Annunciator," invented, we believe, by Jackson, of New York city, whereby all the bell-pulls of the house are brought within one focus. It is entirely under the control of the clerks, who, when the label that covers the number of any roomfalls and displays that number, announce it to any waiters in attendance, who fly off to answer the bell. Thus, the bell of any room having been rung, the label over 40 OLD ENGLAND. it falls down and discovers the number, and as soon as the room is answered, the clerk has a private "pull,” which instantly re- covers that number. It is a vast' improvement upon the old- fashioned mode of having all the bells hung in the hall, with a number attached to each--the noise attendant upon which in a large hotel being literally insufferable. If any one should open his eyes on perusing this recited "bill of fare," in the same degree he would open his mouth in partak- ing of a due portion of its contents, to what extent will be not open them when he examines this compendium of the average - weekly consumption, whereby such a series of breakfasts, din- ners, teas, and suppers, are served up, through a daily routine of nearly eighteen hours ? . 10 66 • 400 66 AVERAGE WEEKLY CONSUMPTION AT REVERE HOUSE, BOSTON. Beof 2,000 lbs. Chocolate.. . 10 lbs. Mutton and Lamb 1,500 5 Cocoa Veal . . Tea . . 40 " Pork . . • 300 66 Coffee'. . . 150 66 Tish . • 400 " Eggs . . 500 doz. Poultry 2,000 6 Butter . 1,000 lbs. Game . . 500 56 Macaroni • 2066 Hams. · 350 Vermicelli . . 4 16 Tongues . 100 Sugar 1,200 66 Tripe. • 50 lbs. Tapioca 4 66 Oysters . 100 galls. Sago. 36 Vegetables. . 21 bbls. - Rice. • 2006 Fruits. 666. Salt .. 1 bbl. Rough Ice. 6 tons. Salad Oil 4 galls. Milk . . . 800 galls. . 800 gau Mustard 1 case. Flour. . . 14 bbls. Cayenne 4 lbs. Coals. . . 8 tons. Sauces Oil . . 20 galls. Vinegar . . 8 " Candles . . 1 case. Pepper . . 3 lbs. Gaş . . . $200 . 150 66 Water . . 65,000 galls. Soap . . • 300 66 Here is “ food for the convent" with a vengeance; and having shown the quantity demolished, let us see who are the denio- lishers. - GUESTS.*_There are about 450 daily boarders in the summer, and 215 in the winter months. 30 galls. Starch * One of the most distinguishing features of these American dinners is the lasty manner in which, contrary to all refined notions, they are disposed of. A worthy fellow sits down, attacks in rapid succession everything he can lay bis hands on, or find room for in his mouth; mas- ticates, or else swallows without mastication, all he fancies; and by the time well-regulated appetites have only got as far as the soup, and while AND NEW ENGLAND. 41 CLERKS.--Tour in the office, and two at the bar. HOUSEK ELPER. –One. STEWARD.-One. WAITERS.—Sixty. In this house they are white men- chiefly Irish, with a slight interlarding of Scotch and Germans, very few English, and no Americans; the latter would rather want bread than serve to gain it, they having especial notions of freedom and equality! The darkies are the best waiters, but the biggest thieves; the Irish the worst, and the most insolent. There can be no sight more laughable than to see a whole troop of these niggers, under the command of a head one. (who mar- shals them every morning, and whose word of command" is a whistle), strutting about in a semi-military manner, and with dishes in one hand and knives and forks in the other, making as pompous a parade as if they were going through the manual and platoon exercise. The pay of these people is about fifteen dol- lars a month, and of one thing you may be sure—they live on the fat of the land. CHAMBERMAIDS.--Twelve: all we were ever attended upon by—Irish. CONFECTIONER.-One, in whose department the almost incre- dible quantity of seven tons of preserves are annually made. COOKS.-Eight. KITCHENMAIDS.-Nine. SCULLIONS.-Five. BAKERS.—Two. Every species of bread and pastry is baked in the house. IRONINGMAIDS.—Ten. WASHERTVOMEN.-Eight. The whole of the washing, * starching, ironing, mangling, &c., of the establishment, and its guests, is done in the house. CARPENTER.One." Boots.--(Black as the liquid they use). Four. KNIFICLEANERS.-Two. . what he has eaten is sticking in his throat, he darts out as if life and death depended upon some appointment he has to keep. This system of bolting a meal, without digesting it, is one of the causes of those inces- sant attacks of dyspepsia, to which the Americans are subject; spitting, on which we shall elsewhere dilate, is another. * With such rapidity is this done, that it frequently happens a gen- tleman orders a bath, and before the process of ablution is gone through, his dirty shirt is brought to him, washed, ironed, and completely “got up," the time occupied in such operation being less than twenty-five minutes! 4* 42. OLD ENGLAND . LAMPMEN.---Three. PORTERS.—Tour. ENGINEMEN.-Two. With all these mouths to feed, a sufficient quantity of broken victuals is still left to produce, sold at a mere song, the weckly sum of seventy-five dollars. We obtained all this astounding in- formation at the fountain-head, where the parties candidly ad- mitted they could not really give any reliable account of the quantity of table-cloths, sheets, pillow-cases, towels, dinner-nap- kins, doyleys, blankets, &c.; nor of china, crockery, plate, glass, hardware, &c., with the weight of which the shelves of the build- ing literally groaned. In addition to the refectories, which are of vast dimensions, there are thirty-seven parlors, and nine drawing-rooms. There is the usual bar for taking a drink," and obtaining a cigar; and there is the all-important barber's shop,* without which an American's comfort would be altogether incomplete. We do not pretend to fathom any other person's ideas of the marvellous, but for ourselves, we were perfectly flab- bergasted when the foregoing statistics of this mighty caravansary were first submitted to our observation. · It is quite astonishing how so much order and regularity is maintained in such an immense establishment; and though the proprietors do now and then get“ taken in and done for,'t yet instances of that kind are not of frequent occurrence. * Very few Americans, comparatively speaking, shave themselves (though in Wall Street, New York, they shave other people in good style) ; consequently to every hotel, and cven to their larger steamboats, a hairdresser's shop is attached. In that of the St. Nicholas Hotel (re- cently opened in New York at an expenso scarcely to be believed), it is no uncommon sight to see some twenty gentlemen at a time under the tonsor's hand, and others washing, brushing, and perfuming themselves, in all the glory of Eastern luxury. In these extraordinary emporiums, such is the run of business, that they could furnish ample occupation for the mother of the famous Nan Clarges (afterwards Duchess of Albe- marle) and the four other women barbers, of whom the old ballad says- 6 Did you ever hear the like, Or ever lear the same, Of five women barbers, That lived in Drury Lane?" On asking an American why his countrymen generally wore so much hair, he replied, “Why, if we should happen to tell a lie, it's as well not to tell a barefaced one. + Mr. Stetson, the well-known and esteemed proprietor of the Astor House, told us that a fellow came one day and took apartments at his hotel, where his style of living was profuse, his manner pleasant, and his air quite patronising. As, however, no symptoms of payment manifested *. AND NEW ENGLAND. 43 To Perhaps this is the most fitting place for alluding to a question which, though immediately connected with establishments such as we have herein referred to, is one that affects, in a most seri- ous manner, the entire community of the United States--the Maine Liquor Law. Tbe idea of America calling itself a free country has rather a comical sound with it; for to us it seems that, not only are its people slaves to themselves, but incessantly slaves to one another. We are not going to bore the peruser of our en passant remarks, by going into the original introduction of this notorious enact- ment-our desire is to take a transient glance at the consequences it seeks to prevent, and those to which it actually leads. It is neither more nor less that an attempt to carry out, vi et armis, the hitherto peaceful precepts of temperance professors. If it were simply a determination entered into by a whole community to put a stop to the disgraceful dealings of low retail spirit-stores, which, like the gin-shops of London, lead to premature decay while living, and become “A sore decayer of your whoreson dead body," we should go heart and soul into the necessity of its adoption ; but this enactment is neither more nor less than a direct attack on the liberty of the subjectmanother branch of that general line of business which the saints of New England carry on with such puritanical success. Tlie idea of one body of the people presuming to dictate to the other what they are to drink, and what they are not to drink, seems to us about the broadest farce ever yet acted. It is just as reasonable that they should lay down a law for the control of any other taste or habit; and while they are about it, they might, with equal propriety, insist upon the prohibition of beef, and the exclusive substitution of mutton. Theul'eformers of the day, to whom ordinary notions are offen- sive, might just as well regulate apparel as appetite ; and thus, according to the stringency of their ideas, compel the victims of tlieir policy to go about without raiment as well as without rum. The preachers against, instead of the practisers of, the ars bidendi, themselves, the waiter had orders to apply for the amount of his bill: he might as well have asked him to swallow at one mouthful the various items in it. At last, Stetson himself went to demand it, and perceiving by the culogistic manner in which he spoke of everything, that he meant to pay for nothing, Stetson said: “Well, I see how it is; and if you'll go and play this trick at the American Hotel,' I'll forgive you the whole account.” Upon which, the varlet coolly and instantly replied, “Oh, I've been there, and they sent me liere !" 44 OLD ENGLAND. are the principal gainers after all; for it is almost impossible to believe what vast contributions are made to the one to enable them to persecute the other. In Washington alone, we saw no less than eight of these fellows holding forth at the corners of as many different streets, habited as sanctifiedly as a head of lank hair, hanging down like straight candles (eight to the pound), a white “tie,'' à full suit of sables, with demure manners to match, can make a person possibly appear.* They spouted by the hour, amidst the yells and derision of the mob; and all this scene pass- ing on the day we are commanded to keep holy! If their efforts could put down the vice of intemperance in the better, as well as in the lower classes, of life-could empty the overburdened cel- lars of the high born and the rich, at the same time they assault the scanty vaults of struggling poverty, and break down every barrier of distinction, there would be at least the quality of con- sistency in their actions, fruitless though the attempt might be; but, as things stand, the prohibition is tyranny of African re- finement, and esclavage of Siberian savageness. Private families, as private families ought to do, may imbibe any quantity of wines and spirituous liquors they think proper ; clubs may do the same; in fact, “society" at large may act upon Shakspeare's definition of Venetian immorality- “Their best conscience Is, not to leave't undone, but keep't unknown !" But the poor man, striving to increase his pauper's meal by the sale to others of what perchance he never touches himself; or the jaded laborer strengthening his frame, after a day of hard toil, by a glass of innocuous spirit, is hauled up before the tri- bunal of justice, and prosecuted with all the malignity of party. If book-making were our object, by filling these pages with paragraphs and advertisements, after the fashion of those tem- perance and pious couple, Professor and Mrs. Soowe, we could transfer from the newspapers some hundred instances ;t but the following, being a remarkably simple mode of proceeding, will * A gentleman told us that he heard one of these Mawworms (pointing to him) farther down South, thus address his congregation : "Beloved brethrén, this is to give notice, there'll be some horse-racing after Divine Service tother side of the water, and tickets can be had of the deacon, down in the vestry-room; price fifty cents !!!" † One mode which these tartuffes have of exemplifying their argu- ments, is that Government land costs on an average one dollar an acre, and champagne two dollars a bottle; and thus, by laying in his wine instead of laying out his grounds, many a man has died landless, and swallowed a fertile township, trecs, quarries and all. · AND NEW ENGLAND. do duty for all the rest. It is headed "strong-minded,” but we imagine the fitter title would be, “strong-bodied.” "STRONG-MINDED WOMEN MOVEMENT.--The Cleveland He- rald says on Tuesday evening, that some thirty strong-minded women,' of Ashland County, Ohio, well backed by gentlemen, proceeded to the grocery of Anthony Jacobs, and asked him to discontinue the sale of liquor and the use of a 'bagatelle’ board, which had enticed many of the youth and some of the married men from their homes. He refused, and the ladies chopped his "bagatelle' table into kindling wood, and emptied his liquors. They then visited another grocery and a tavern, both of which capitulated. Mrs. Witz, better known as 'Mother Younkers,' was obstinate, and the spigots were pulled from her whiskey barrels. She had no bagatelle for them to lay hands on, and so they retreated in good order.” Let us turn for a moment to the consequences too frequently resulting from a fear of the enforcement of this arbitrary law, or from a firm determination to resist it. Every species of evasion that can be invented is naturally resorted to. “Houses,” headed, “Depôt of French Millinery,” “Gallery of Art," and so on, are nothing else than decoys to wine-stores in some remote part of the building, and thousands have been introduced, under the specious announcement of “fancy articles for sale, to the more fanciful varieties of spirituous liquors and compounds. But a deeper sin lies at the door of those prohibitors than any of mere mundane commission. Upon the principle laid down that the Devil himself can quote Scripture when it happens to answer his purpose, parties are not wanting to bring into their arguments the law of Moses, whereby they seek to prove that “strong drink,” denounced by man, was countenanced by his Maker. Whoever will turn to the 14th chapter of Deuteronomy, will find these words at the verses indicated : “23d. Thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God, in the place which He shall choose to place His name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds, and of thy flocks. “24th. And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it, or the place be too far from thee, “25th. Then shalt thou turn it into money, and bind up that money in thine hand. “26th. And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strony drink, or for WHATSOEVER thy soul desireth; and thou 46 OLD ENGLAND shalt eat there before the Lord thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household.” This profane ribaldry is carried to a still greater pitch than this; for they tell you the following anecdote : A temperance preacher was detected coming out of a liquor-store, and he only escaped lynching by a promise to denounce from the pulpit the very law he had hitherto upheld there. He exposed its hollow- ness in this simple specimen of the facetious: “On mature re- flection and further reading, my brethren, I am prepared to prove that the Maine Liquor Law is contrary in purpose to the edicts of Sacred Writ; and that instead of drinking being prohibited by some of our inspired writers, it was not only indulged in, but miracles were wrought by such indulgence-for Samuel himself used the horn,* and David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling."ot There is no end, on the one hand, to the shameful measures which this law calls into operation, nor on the other hand, to the absurdities to which it gives rise. I A temperance gentle- man was recently appointed collector of one of the ports, and not exactly knowing his duties, he asked information of his prede- cessor. "Why,” replied he, “amongst other things, you have to brand with your name every cask of spirits passing through the Custom House.” “What,' replied the uninitiated, “haye my pure name appear on some two thousand barrels of brandy, rum, and whiskey, in all the various towns where I am known to be a temperance man ? “Yes," was the rejoinder, “and what's more, you must, according to law, taste every barrel before you put your name on it." “What," ejaculated the son of sober sorrow, “take a drink out of two thousand pipes of spirits ! I'll go and resign the appointment!” This was exactly what the explainer wished him to do. It may be law, but it is oppression in the highest degree; and, as Lord Coke says in his " Commentary on Magna Charta," “That is the worst oppression which is done under the color of justice.” * Samuel, chap. xvi. v. 13. + "Gin-sling," an Americau drink. 1 Samuel, chap. xvii. v. 50. 1 Spirits are, in many places, allowed to be kept solely for medicinal purposes; and, consequently, in towns where such licence is granted, there are more sick people, requiring medicine every half-hour, than in all the strictly sober communities put together! AND NEW ENGLAND. . . 47 CHAPTER V. New York-Indian summer-Something more than a nibble; a regular bite--Some idea of emigration--An argument between New York and Boston—Bridals, and their chambers-Deference to woman-Target- men and their targets-The Kerbstone Rangers-Oyster saloons—"A dream at sea". A good sized cemetery—Plank roads--Public mourn- ing, and public monuments-A very dirty account-An election- Leviathan steamer-A black swan-Å Dutch lady-Two sorts of hus- bandry_Shakers Rights of women-Petticoat government–The press of America–Horses and horsemanship-Patriotism-Go-alcadism. THE visitor to America is always strongly urged to land in New York, because all the marvels of the country are said to burst upon his observation at once. By the same course of argu- ment, any one writing upon America would be expected to begin his remarks with New York. We have adopted a very different line of procedure, and opened our campaign with the fourth city of the Union, in point of population, from the fact of New Eng- land being, in our belief, the source from which the actual glory of the whole Republic has emanated, and of Boston being the focus from which the importance of New England has radiated. However, as we have already stated, it being our intention to go far beyond the confines of those primitive States, as inclination or occupation may direct, we find ourselves now, not only in the most wondrous city of the Western World, but, excepting only London and Paris, the most wondrous one on the surface of the earth-New York, or Manhattan Island, Gotham, or any other alias by which the place may be designated. Its harbor, extend- ing from Sandy Hook to the Narrows, a distance of eighteen miles, is as fine as can be conceived; while the bay, a distance of about eight miles more up to the city, in we presume we are safe in saying, the finest in the world. In. The saying of " see Naples and then die,” may, with even greater justice, be applied to the bay of New York; but whether the revision of that say- ing, “sce Naples and you will die," as applicable to its dirt, heat, plague, flies, &c., can be borne out with reference to sundry drawbacks in the city of New York, remains to be inquired into presently. 1 We were informed that we had arrived at the most favorable 48 OLD ENGLAND . period for beholding the mingled beauties of the surrounding scene-when summer, though on the retreat, had not thrown off the richness of her garb, nor had the slightest approach to winter deprived its hues of their bright coloring; when the feverish heat of July and August had partially subsided, and the balmy air of September and October had come to relieve its intensity; when the trees had not strewn the plains with their leaves, but were reflecting their variegated tints in the'waters flowing beneath them; when the winds were in their caves, the sun-light up in heaven by day, and the moon sailing along in her silver galley by night; in short, what is termed the Indian Summer. All true enough. We could dilate upon this vast magnificence unto the end of the chapter; but we have foresworn whatever might lurn out wearisome detail, or be deemed unnecessary recapitula- tion; and, therefore, perch ourselves at once in New York city. What a vast emporium of wholesale commerce, of retail busi- ness, of universal bustle! Flags flying in every direction- streamers with their owners' trade or calling printed on them, floating out of windows, or waving from one side to the other of every street; flights of omnibus, hack, and car, sailing through broad thoroughfares; lofty stores, rich shops, crowded cellars, choking up every “block;" huge hotels, restaurants, coffee- houses, oyster-saloons, here, there, and everywhere; man in every variety of costume, and woman in the loveliest of all costumes her own native beauty—parading every promenade, and the grandest of their dwellings ensconced behind verdant trees, form- ing countless avenues, and ranging between the stately mansions* of Union Square, “up town, and the shaving-saloons of Wall * Upon this point, the Hon. J. A. Dis made the following remarks in a lecture he delivered before the Historical Society; but that will not stop the rage for building: “Nothing can be more unwise than the erec- tion of costly buildings, which can only be maintained by princely for- tuues. At the death of the head of the family, and the division of its .property, no one of the children, as a general rule, has enough to sup- port the establishment, and it passes into other hands. · Nothing can be more cruel to children than to bring them up with expectations which cannot be fulfilled, and with habits of life they are compelled to abandon. The parent, for the sake of a few years' ostentation, invests a large por- tion of his estate in a splendid dwelling, with the certainty that his death will be a sigual for the expulsion of his children from it. Nothing can be more inconsiderate, if it be done without reflection, or more unfeeling, if it be done with a full view of the inevitable consequences. Look for the splendid mansions of thirty years ago, and see what has become of them. Scarcely one remains in the family by which it was constructed. They are boarding houses, or places of public exhibition, or the work- shops of fashion." AND NEW ENGLAND. * 49 Street, “down town," where the yearly interest on a cent a-day is hourly calculated with the greatest nicety, and where a dollar is the only deity; warehouses abovc disgorging their contents into magazines below, and then replenishing them from the forests of shipping lying all around, glimpses of which can be caught from various side streets branching from main ones ; tele- graph posts, high up in air at every corner, and their wires roving about the city, by walls and chimneys, over out-houses, through trees; pavements broken and unbroken, strewn over with bales, chests, barrels, casks, cans, &c., obstructing the way of all foot passengers; houses undergoing the process of being built up, and others that of being pulled down, in every direction ; troops of militia, and of target men, preceded by sonorous bands, marcbing and counter-marching through all open spaces; fire- bells incessantly going, and engines going at their call; inhabit- ants of every nation to be found in every crevice, smoking, chew- ing, and spitting, according to their respective propensities;- these, amongst other peculiarities, distinguish one of the gayest and most extraordinary places under the sky. Before, however, telling you anything more about New York, let us give you a piece of advice. If you should happen to arrive here at the delightful period we did-by-many degrees the pleasantest time to arrive, every night you retire to rest, be sure to have a broad net suspended from the cornices of your bed, so as entirely to cover in your person ; after which, as Othello says, “put out the light, and then—" for if you do not, you will find yourself in the morning eaten up by mosquitoes (whom the.can- dle has attracted to your room), and presenting the appearance of your having been either pelted with black currants, or sud- denly seized with the measles. Not only is there no end to New York, but there never will be; for though you may think yourself pretty well out of it by the time you get up to eighteen and twenty streets, yet, if (as, . was the case with us) a friend should drive you to High Bridge- that stupendous aqueduct across the Haerlem River, through which the Croton Water is conveyed from Westchester County to New York-you will read, a little before you turn out of the main road, marked up in legible letters, 157th Street; and the only sure way to calculate the probable eventual extent of the city, is to understand that Manhattan Island from the Battery at the southern point, to King's Bridge at the northern extrem- ity, is thirteen miles in length, and it is intended to build upon every inch of it! New York is less of a downright American city than any other - 50 OLD ENGLAND we sojourned in, from the fact of its being so thickly populated with foreigners, as we observed in a previous chapter, and on which fact it is necessary to speak farther. Within three days of the last month (May), the tide of emigration flowed into this port with wondrous rapidity, 9,132 human beings baving arrived in thirty-one vessels. But look over the list of ships and pas- sengers, and you can pretty well guess what part of the wide world the rovers chiefly come from. At this rate, “ Ould Ire- land” will be very shortly decimated : NO, or 1853. VESSEL'S NAME. WHERE FROM PASSENGERS. May 28.-Hannah Kerr .. Londonderry 141 " James Wright . . Liverpool. 445 Figaro . Bremen . 101 Mary Morris, Glasgow . 200 29th--Isaac Webb. Liverpool. 720 · Admiral . . Havre. . 370 London . . London .. 440 Commerce .. Liverpool . 616 Ariel . . do. . Premier . . Newport, Wales. Roger Stewart. Antwerp 41 Rheiu . . Hamburg 190 Cosmo . .. Bristol 141 Leander . . Bremen 119 Ebenezer. . Norway 85 30th.-Union . . Liverpool 231 Mercury . 538 Liberty . . do. 272 Caroline . 584 J. G. Costar . 403 Agnes Leeds. • Liverpool 297 Western Empire do. Equator. do. Copernicus Hamburg 209 Patria . .. do. 202 Adonis . Greenock 277 Hansa i . Hamburg Copernicus , Bremen 230 Oceanus .. 135 Sophie . 130 Lawrence Forestal :: Waterford. .. 592 12 Havre, do. do. 807 30d 211 do. do. . . 89 Total number of Passengers . 9,132 Total number of Vessels . . . : 31 The people of the Empire City, the title given to New York, or which New York gives to itself, are not behind the rest of the world in thinking a great deal of themselves--most certainly they have good reason for indulging in such thoughts and they natu.. AND NEW ENGLAND. 51 rally lord it over all they come in contact with. To this mode of self-estimation, and asserted superiority, Boston, particularly, does not feel disposed to give way; and incessant fun arises out of their mutual disparagements. Their argument is stoutly maintained, that New York may be a fine city, but Boston is a capital one; that the clipper ships of the one may be faster, but. those of the other are surer; that if Gotham has most of the China trade, Boston claims a greater part of the East Indian and Russian commerce; in short, that the 'Newtown Pippin' may be very good, but the Boston 'Nonsuch' is equally so; and, in order to bring the matter to a proper conclusion, if New York has more business, Boston has more brains. This is the style of discussion amongst themselves; but if a luckless foreigner should interfere, and assert that his own particular country has this or the other advantage over those it traffics with, all their aim at individual superiority is abandoned, and they unite their powers of undervaluation, directing them against the unhappy wretch who has dared to deny that America is the greatest country under the sun! Some people would take umbrage at this. Take umbrage at what? If you do not believe all that you hear peo- ple say, you can laugh at it; and that's the best thing you can do after all. Where shall we take you, reader, by way of a beginning ? To the hotels ? be it so. But as we have already given you an analysis of them-especially the monster establishments and maintain what we have said, there is very little to be added upon ihe subject. The olden partiality for the “ Astor House" still exists, and the “Irving House" keeps up the notoriety it ob- tained by the visits of Jenny Lind, Kossuth, and their respect- ive suites; and the " Metropolitan” has made an attempt to eclipse both, in which it might have succeeded, as far as “mon- strosity” is concerned, had not the “St. Nicholas" suddenly started into existence, and in some respects outstripped them all. Any detail of its pretensions would be misplaced here, and we therefore bestow only a passing word on the peculiar feature which, at starting, brought such shoals of people to gaze at its marble halls. A room, called a bridal-chamber (originally intro- duced, we understood, in the huge steamboats of the various rivers), has been fitted up in the most luxurious and fascinating manner at the aforesaid " St. Nicholas." Upholstery cannot be more expensively or more tastefully carried out; the entire arti- cles of bed furniture (save and except a lace counterpane of Va- lenciennes lace, said to have cost six hundred francs !) of window curtains, chair and toilet covers, &c. being made of rich white satin, 52 OLD ENGLAND and the walls of the room fluted with the same, while the China ware is delicately colored, and ornamented in burnished gold. To the beauty or expense of these apartments, whether on land or water, there can be no possible objection; but we protest in the most emphatic manner against the apparent purpose to which they are devoted. The cheek of a brazen woman might be lighted up on her being ushered into such a sumptuous apart- ment, at the very outset of her bridal tour; but that of a modest one would be diffused with blushes at the bare idea of being gazed upon by any eye save that of the partner of her heart. The coarse joke, the impudent inquiry, the vulgar innuendo, or the respect, the delicacy, and sanctity that ought to be maintained on such solemn and interesting occasions. If there be one feature more striking than another in Ameri- can character, it is the boundless attention they pay to woman; she is with them as she should be with all-supreme; they are the creatures of her will; they of course rise when she enters or leaves a room, but they carry such proper ceremony still farther by vacating all the seats of a public conveyance into which she may come, until she has chosen that which she may prefer. * No attention is considered too great to pay her; and she is the only ruler to whom he bows with the amplest submission. It does appear, therefore, to us a very gross violation of his well-earned and established fame for such delicate attention and such scru- pulousness, to make a sort of public display of that event over which the veil of purest whiteness should be thrown, and the chastest words, made up of whispers, should be breathed. It does not matter so much in cases where the mind can be so vulgar- ized as to select " shipboard" as the scene for speaking nuptial vows; but in an elegant hotel, where chaste minds associate, and pure thoughts alone should be exchanged, we think the mat- ter gross in the extreme; and one which it behoves the citizens of America to forbid any farther entertainment of The fanfare you hear now in the streets is sent out into the air by the instruments belonging to some particular body of tar- get men, who have been out for hours amusing themselves * It is vastly funny to see, now and then, an old girl claiming those attentions peculiarly due to the young one. We lately saw a venerable personage sail into a railway car, with as many bandboxes as she could pull in after her. She cast her eye over every seat, and fixing upon one to her mind, turned out the gentleman by whom it was occupied ; and, depositing herself on one half of the settee, distributed her goods over the other, and enjoyed her otium cum dignitate, alone! AND NEW ENGLAND. 53 D with the practice of ball-Gring, in which most of them excel in a high degree ; and they invariably march into town with colors flying, bands playing, and the target swung aloft to show how it has been perforated. We have been told, however, that on occa- sions when the corps have had a bad day's sport, the commanding officer has been heard to say: “Now, boys, this won't do, no how; the target must be hit; so go-ahead ; walk in pace after pace until you well riddle it, and then as you go home, none but yourselves can tell at what distance you hit it !" Tbis, in sporting phraseology, is “marking down to some purpose. These sharp-shooters have, we are told, at one time belonged to that warlike body called The Kerbstone Rangers, who, until they are sufficiently exercised to fall into rank in the street and carry mus- kets, undergo drilling on the outer edge of the pavement, and practise with mops instead of more dangerous weapons. These and other events keep the whole city alive from almost cockcrow to sundown. You should go into the oyster-saloons, those under-ground re- ceiving-houses, established, and, to use an American phrase, “in full blast (Anglice, haring a great run of business), in whatever place an oyster can be obtained. In New York, their number is legion. They are fitted up after the fashion of Vauxhall, with the pleasant addition of curtains to inclose you in your box. And here you will meet judges, generals, colonels, majors, pär- sons, and captains, partaking of " Shrewsberries" of the rarest quality; you may meet other folks besides, assisting at a similar operation--no matter. A first-rate American oyster is as big as a cheese-plate, and half a dozen are enough for a dinner; they are served up in various ways, on the half shell, stewed, fried in batter, roasted, converted into soup, and so forth ; eaten some- times, from their size, by instalments; but however cooked, or however demolished, there is no denying their excellence. The traffic in them, at New York, is a formidable item in the year's commerce. But you have yet a thousand things to gaze upon, and a thou- sand places to go to, if you want to know anything about New York, and its environs. Go out of the one into the other, and drive through Greenwood Cemetery,* taking yourself, carriage and horses in the gigantic ferry-boat which will land you at * Nearly as extensive as those in the neighborhood of London, clumped together. We inquired whether it was for the final resting-place of the New York, or Brooklyn people, and the answer was: “Well, I guess it's for the whole tarnation, Gauden world; it's quite large enough.” 5* OLD ENGLAND Brooklyn. A lovelier spot of hill, dale, and water, cannot be imagined ; and before you leave it, do not forget to visit the monument of Cbarlotte Canda, whose premature and sad death broke more hearts than one. Neither should you fail to drive by the graves of those referred to in the great bard's great line, . “Whom the Gods love die young,” where you will behold the tombstones of children borne early to a brighter and happier sphere; and, resting on the small tumuli beneath which their brittle bones are buried, the very toys. they were wont to play with, and on which it may be supposed their little affections rested. The idea may be ridiculed by the heart- less and the cold, but the sight created in us a feeling of great regard and sympathy. . While you are in Long Island, drive by Newton and Flushing, the only parts of a most infernal road that are rendered passable by being planked-not, understand, a wooden pavement like the detestable ones laid down one day and taken up the next, in some of our leading thoroughfares--but a high road with long planks lying at full length each side of it (the centre unplanked !) which there would be no means of crossing “in winter and rough weather," but for such odd method of mending one's ways. 1 ded with all kinds of habitations, and its trees tinted with every variety of foliage, are so surpassingly beautiful, that the sight will repay you, even if in driving you should have your very liver jerked into your mouth. It would delight you more, could you sail over its bosom in such a gallant yacht as the “Dream," in which we had “ once upon a time" a long and delightful sail ; but that dream became a sad reality, for she now lies under the ware, instead of floating on it, having been run into by a far larger craft. Could you have done, or could you do this, you would perhaps do another thing we did-always admitting that you would do it far better that is, at the request of a charming voyageuse in that yacht, renture to inscribe, in a few lines, a dedication to “Flora's Album," a title the fair lady had given to her collection of poesie. Here they are; and all we have to say is, not "go and do thou likewise," but go and do a hundred times better, which will be no very difficult task to accomplish : AND NEW ENGLAND. 55 FLORA'S ALBUM. DEDICATED TO MARY C. S— R. The chaplet of Flora ! 'tis really quite charming, As all of that goddess's chaplets must be; But wreath'd with its flowers, there'd be no great harm in The matter, if one or two more we could see. There are plenty of roses, but still I doubt whether In the tints of each varied and exquisite streak, If the sweetness of all were united together 'Twould equal the modest one lighting your cheek. Oh, where is the heliotrope, whose erasure Herefrom, must be set down to envy alone? And the harebell? but she, percbance, feared that the azure Of her eye vould have to contend with your own? Where is the fuchsia the vernal wind blows on, Drooping in beauty, and graceful in fall ? The violet, lovely as any that grows on The wild banks of nature, and sweeter than all ?. I miss the verbena--in perfume they rank it As fragrant as any bright child of the sun- But'tis clear they each fear'd to sit down at a banquet Where the essence of all would be centred in one ! Yet if, not the charm of the wreath to endanger, The ne m'oubliez pas could be added thereto, It might, now and then, cause you to think of a stranger Who will think with respectful devotion of you. Go back and dine, if you can,* with one of the merchant princes, resident here in Upper Ten," hallst as gorgeous as those of our first nobility, and you will be received there, as you will find yourself received everywhere, with the utmost hospi- tality. You will be sumptuously entertained, having been cor-- dially welcomed, and if you don't like to smoke, why don't do it, but do not.object to other people sinoking ; because, in the first place, it would be bad manners, and moreover it would not pre- * We were, on one occasion, favored with an juvitation to dinner, and with great difficulty decyphered the letter. On mentioning this to our host, he said: “Why, look here, I write three different handsone that I can read myself, another that my friends can just read, and one that no soul alive can read." † In admitting, as we fully do, the enlargement of idea, the grandeur of design, and the munificence of expenditure, which characterize America, especially for so young a country, it must not be forgotten that she has had opportunities without end of gleaning from the old country, and other European lands, all they possess of the great and the glorious, and of addling thereto her own conceptions. 56 OLD ENGLAND vent their smoking. No, Sir, no national prejudices wherever you go, if you please, and you will get on all the better for it, you may be certain. Considering how backward the progress of art must be where so few years, comparatively speaking, can have been devoted to its cultivation, it is astonishing to what extent its protection is carried out, and how highly it is patronised. The national spirit directs this taste; for their love of country allows no great man to depart from amongst them, without erecting an honorable tri- bute to his memory-a lesson the mother country.ought to learn, especially as respects the literary men of her dominion, who are mostly monumentless. Look alone at Edinburgh, not to mention other parts of Scotland, where you may gaze in one street alone on the colossal monument to Scott, and the scarcely less one to Burns; while England suffers the mighty bard “Who was not of an nge, but for all time,” to be without any record of his greatness but his works--enough, in all conscience; but the nation bad no hand in them. (We pass over, of course, the family monument at Stratford-on-Avon, and the cenotaph in Westminster Abbey.) We ought to wipe away what, in the opinion of every foreigner, is a matter of such deep reproach. “Washington Monuments” are as plentiful all over the States as blackberries; and they are now finishing one in Washington itself to surpass all others extant-being raised by the contributions, in money and material, of every part of the Union. We cannot say much for their latest undertaking in art, the Crystal Palace. Though not a national affair, and cried down, as it well may be, by the better judges in the community, yet we have heard many patriots of New York descant upon its wonders, and end their colloquy by saying: “From all we hear, it will lick the British one in Hyde Park into fits." When we saw it, the end of May, just thirty days after it ought to have opened, it looked at the distance, from the dome downwards, like a very large rat trap! · The form of mourning for the death of an eminent man is very striking. The outward signs of sable sorrow for the demise of Henry Clay had, on our arrival, scarcely been removed, when they were replaced by others for that of Daniel Webster ; the window-franies, colunins, doors, the halls and entries of every house, being literally cased in black. In public buildings such decorum was more strictly preserved, even up to the very ceil- ings; while prints and busts of the deceased were exhibited in most shops and private dwellings, enveloped in the most dismal of jet crape. AND NEW ENGLAND. 57 If we were to dilate upon all the real greatness of this city, and on all the vast things it has done, and, of course, means to do, we could tell you of its institutions, its clubs especially that most agreeable one at Hoboken, " The Yacht Club," materially made so by the Presidency and contributions of Commodore Stevens, who brought that famous craft the “America,” to the Isle of Wight-its billiard-rooms, some of them with sixteen tables in them, its mass of shipping, its wharfage, its churches, its chari- ties, its places of amusement, with that greatest of all amusements -its swagger-in fact, its everything, we should set you to sleep; not from want of material to write upon, but from want of ability to ayrite as we could wish. Having, however, shown you the bright side of the question, we turn over to the darker one. New York is one of the dirtiest places we were ever in, and while there are numerous reasons why it should be so, there is not one why the evil should not be reme- died. We can perfectly understand that, as in their most popu- lous and broad thoroughfares they demolish a house a day, and cover the streets with mountains of bricks and hills of mortar for the purpose of replacing them that, as the said streets are not very familiar with water, and are trampled over by horses and couveyances of every kind, every minute, from daylight until midnight-that, as there is one continuous volume of smoke, and one ceaseless flow of saliva distributed freely and incessantly in every "location"'--that, as foundries, smithies, and workshops of every kind of manufacture are ceaselessly in operation, there must be no small quantity of mud when it rains, and of clouded dust when it don't. But making every possible allowance for such an inroad of filth, one could never be prepared for it in its fullest extent. One tells you the sewers are badly managed, another that the streets are negligently watered, a third that they are never watered at all; this one, that the ashes are thrown out into those streets, t'other one that the manure is never swept off them -and so on to the end of the song. We cannot determine whether all this be the case, or not-we can only speak as to the dirt of the place, about which there can be no possible mistake ; and having mentioned this subject to a gentleman at table, he came to the conclusion that “if it were a dirty place, it ought not to be”-an argument le maintained by presenting us with the following copy of a very amusing report of the office, of cleaning streets, for the past year, 1852; to which we have only to add, if, with all this purifying, it is still so dirty, what in Hicaven's name would it be, if it were not puri- fied at all? 58 OLD ENGLAND ZCI, DOLLARS. CENTS. The Appropriation was 289,000 30 Expended . . . . . . . . 288,917 11 Balance . . . 82 89 Cleaning streets . . . . . . . 229,129 09 Lighting, &c. .. . . . . . : 25,447 41 Ward Inspectors . . . . . . 8,108 00 Lime, as per resolution 1,879 70 Making and repairing dumping boards 1,616 01 Removing incumbrances . 3,100 00 Hard and tin ware , , 801 88 Corporation yard . 262 50 Assistant clerk . . 600 00 Advertising, manure-inspectors, ticket-men, help- ers on heaps, sharpening picks and forks, build- ing ticket offices at the foot of Roosevelt, Stanton, and Jefferson Streets, &c., contingencies, &c. : 17,972 82 Balance . . . . . . . . 82 89 Total . 289,000 30 Returned to the City Chamberlain : : : 30,077 90 Net expense of cleaning city . . . 258,222 10 The amount of dirt, garbage and ashes removed from the city is 597,807 loads, as follows:- TOTAL NO. OF TOTAL NO. OF TOTAL NO. OF VARDS. LOADS OP DIRT LOADS OF ASHES LOADS OF ASHES AND DIRT CARTED. REMOVED. REMOVED. 8,974 17,652 26,626 7,700 14,667 22,367 13,298 24,389 37,687 12,480 17,901 30,381 9,536 27,371 36,907 11,833 28,931 40,764 4,287 23,330 27,617 8,292 22,450 30,744 1,505 26,414 27,919 3,664 16,303 19,967 16,400 17,086 33,486 1,504 15,465 16,969 20,721 19,299 40,020 8,243 15,146 23,389 21,995 21,715 43,710 26,759 23,337 50,096 31,573 18,459 50,032 19 3,335 3,374 6,709 20 20,933 11,484 32,417 Total . . 233,032 364,775 597,807 Manure . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180,323 loads. AND NEW ENGLAND. 59 Think of this, reader! Five hundred and ninety-seven thou- sand, eight hundred and seven loads of dirt and ashes, and one hundred and eighty thousand, tbree hundred and twenty-three loads of manure ! and the city still undeniably dirty! The only way thoroughly to cleanse the land, ." And purge it to a sound and pristine health;” would be to make the Aldermen and the Honorable Board of Common Council take off their coats, and set to work in earnest themselves! One of the most remarkable occasions on which we were wit- ness to the city and its inhabitants “kicking up a dust," more than we ever believed there was in it, and which, for the time being, all the waters of the Croton River could not allay, was this. We happened to be in New York at the period of the Presidential election, and the scene was one of vast excitement. Business might be said to be at a stand-still, warehouses and stores had turned their proprietors into the streets, and counting- houses had sent forth their clerks into all the hotels and betting saloons of the city, that could find room for them. The telegraph wires, which are in tolerable requisition at all times, now seemed to be almost on fire, being brought incessantly into action as fast as hands could keep them so. To such an extent is "the electric chain" thrown about the whole land of the republic, that very -shortly after the closing of polls in its remotest districts, the state of them was made known at this great scene of attraction, and the result was instantly dispatched by the local wires of every office, from one end of the town unto the other. The bettings of dollars, hats, oyster suppers, cocktails, brandy smashes, and all kinds of wearables, eatables and drinkables, was diverting in the extreme; and “When evening her mantle had flung o’er the scene," Tammany Hall, the veriest hotbed of democracy that can be con- ceived, presented an appearance which threatened at one time to become the personification of battle, murder, and sudden death. And now comes one great peculiarity of the American character. There is no force of action, no violence of language, they will not adopt in the heat of political controversy. They will sacrifice means, time, health, to the furtherance of the given object, but once decided, whether in accordance with their own notions or not, they cease to give the subject a second consideration, and faithfully, nay scrupulously, obey the law of the land, when it once becomes such, despite their aversion, their predilection, or - .. . 60 OLD ENGLAND their judgment. "Down with your dust," it is pretty evident, is the best way to pay your bets, and also to clean your streets. Little as we know of this marvellous part of the world, we have a chance of knowing a great deal wore, should a project now entertained, be ever brought to bear. We were presented with the engraving of a leviathan steamer, which it is proposed to build, for doing duty between New York and Liverpool. She is to have sixteen chimneys, and to be of 5,000 horse power; to be able to carry 3,000 passengers ! and to make the passage in five days, the minimum speed being twenty-five miles, and the maximum thirty miles per hour. The next thing we shall hear of will be that of passengers being blown in a gale of wind, or shot by a flash of lightning, across the Atlantic, and then time and space will both be satisfied. Puck tells Oberon. that "He will throw a girdle round about the earth in forty minutes," and it would seem that America has given Puck a very good engagement. It must not be supposed by our entering into no particular account of the various and numerous public establishments with which this city abounds, that we are unacquainted with them; on the contrary, we have examined most of them, as is our prac- tice to do wherever we happen to sojourn. We do not profess to be historians, but rather, to use the language of our almost inspired Master, “ the abstract and brief chronicle of the times,''. to blend instruction and amusement together, wherever we can find there's a chance of uniting them. We have met with this combination even in places of public worship, from the Dutch Reformed* down to the Shakers, unreformed, and in institu- tions of the gravest character. The lectures given in them, and in other balls, permit now and then of a similar construction being placed upon them; so much so, that we may be pardoned * We were told, at one of these religious meetings, of an old Dutch lady who went about groaning all day long, deeming her soul to be in considerable jeopardy; and on the minister inquiring with much concern into the cause of her trouble, she told him “ that she couldn't pray in English, and she was afraid the Lord didn't understand Dutch." † There are two places by the name of Lebanon, in one of which agri- culture is followed up with great success; and the other inhabited by a religious sect called * Shakers," where marriage is strictly forbidden- which gave rise to the following cpigram: " One Lebanon on husbandry so thrives, That acres by the thousand now are ploughed there; Another Lebanou as well contrives To live, though husbandry is not allowed there!" AND NEW ENGLAND. 61 : for dropping a remark or two. Having lectured for some con- siderable time in many parts of the Union, we cannot of course object to comment being made upon us in the same degree (more or less, as it is thought proper) that we make it on others. One day we visited Metropolitan Hall to hear the lady calling her- self “The Black Swan” (recently arrived in our own little village?'), partly impelled to the adventure by a schoolboy's recollection of Ovid's line, “Rara avis in terris, nigroque simillima cygno," and partly by the singular announcement of “No colored per: son will be admitted.” Having heard, from the earliest moment we could hear and understand anything, that “a cat may look at a king," the idea of one nigger not being allowed to look at ano- ther, did strike us as the height of all human-impudence ? no, let us say, drollery. We did hear that the delicate dis- tinction between “blackey' on the stage and "blackey' in the audience, ended by a place being set apart in the gallery of this huge assembly room for the especial accommodation of the peo- ple of Africa, who might desire to listen to the strains of one of their sisterhood. We visited the same hall the following day, to hear Miss Lucy Neale (Stone, we beg, the lady's pardon) assert the rights of woman, and a very fine flourish she made of it. The doc- trines which this lady preaches are become all the rage in America; and since Mrs. Bloouer put into force the old proverb of “women wearing the b---S," they are more followed up and acted upon than ever. The simple apparel (in which, by the way, Miss Stone was habited) did not at all satisfy her views of men and things—she seemed bent upon going, what is elegantly termed "the whole hog!” Having graduated, herself, from Oberlin College, Ohio, she demanded cqual educational facilities for her whole sex, to prevent their being disqualified, from want of scholastic acquirements, for fulfilling the duties of any avocation of life they might think proper to select. She insisted upon their right to vote, in all governmental and local matters-con- sidering women far better judges in most cases than men. She had no idea of allowing any one on earth to legislate for her, nor any gentleman she might marry taking care of her property, and disposing of it in payment of his debts, or in an allowance to his mistress="certainly not,” said she; and in short, she seemed bent upon carrying out petticoat government in its most exten- sive form. If a husband chose to carry on a liaison, to gamble, to drink, to race, to bet, and so on, she could not possibly under- OLD ENGLAND stand why a wife should not be allowed to pursue the same game, if she thought fit to do either one or all; and in claiming these privileges for her own particular pleasure, she did not ap- pear, while reversing the established order of things, to care a fig about public opinion. As one of the rankest disciples of Mary Wollstoncraft, it is only to be hoped that, in the event of her finding any matrimonially disposed gentleman, bold enough to “undertake" her, she will not, at the most trying moment of a woman's life, act upon that lady's notion, which terminated hers, by becoming sage-femme to herself! It now becomes a necessary duty to speak of as important a feature as there is in the whole character of America, and conse- quently a very leading one in that of New York--we allude to its Press. A newspaper, there, is the most serious of all daily considerations, inasmuch as no one can do without that, but any one can do without his breakfast: ergo, the first thing a man does is to see what he has to read, and the second, what he can get to eat. A newspaper constitutes the very breath of Jona- than's nostrils; it is the guide of his opinion, the furtherance of all his views and its influence therefore over him is incredible. There are nearly three thousand papers of one description or another in the United States, which circulate, according to au- thoritative statistics, upwards of four hundred and twenty mil- lions of copies per annum! Every hotel and coffee-house, down to the lowest cabaret in town or country, takes in one or two. They are sold at all corners of the streets-hawked from door to door-displayed upon public stalls—paraded through every rail- way station directly the cars stop_cried about on the decks of every steamer, and trumpeted forth from pillar to post. Stroll through the streets, and you will see the urchin who sells them, often detain his customer until he has finished his column. Go into the markets : the butcher cuts open his paper before he cuts up his pork—the fishmonger digests the leading article” before he troubles himself about selling any other article—and the greengrocer looks through the market pages before he thinks of regulating his own prices. It is no uncommon thing for persons, on entering a railway- carriage, to stuff their pockets with half-a-dozen different jour- . nals, some members of their family preferring this, and others that. In quality of paper and style of printing, they are one and all inferior to ours; but then, they are for the most part, in- finitely cheaper the papers of largest circulation, such as the New York Herald, the Philadelphia and Baltimore Sun, the Boston Times, and some others, being only one penny or one AND NEW ENGLAND. balfpenny each! And yet, at this small charge, their columns contain some of the ablest articles which can be, or at least usually are, written in periodical publications. In point of sta- tion, we believe it is conceded on all hands, that the New York Heralıl takes the lead; but in making this statement, we are only echoing the opinion we gathered on the spot, for learning it. Certain it is, that in places the most remote from the Ein- pire City, the very instant the mail delivery takes place, that newspaper is proclaimed for sale in any corner where two: or three cents are to be collected. Its morning and evening circu- lation is about 55,000, and if any other does top it in circulation, none other possesses its extraordinary ascendancy over the public mind. It has been gravely asserted by many of her own people, and such assertions have been published at the hands of foreign- ers, that the Press of America is venal to the last degree. Let her own people fight their own battles; but we think it ill be- comes the stranger, who sets foot upon her shore, to promulgate affirmations so utterly at variance with truth. Having experienced the courtesies of the American Press to & degree of indulgence, which, while beyond our merit, it is like- wise beyond our powers to duly acknowledge, it may be thought that our observations smack rather of gratitude than truth; but it is not so—for, notwithstanding that we feel deeply indebted for the favors we received, we would compromise the one rather than sacrifice the other. We do not deny that we have had under our perusal occasional articles of scurrility and injustice, but they have rarely emanated from an American's pen, and have been traced to the venom of some expatriated foreigner, who having left his own country for his country's good, has never done good to any country that he has visited We were invited to the Press Club of New York, which we found composed of gentlemen of high education, great acquire- ments, and polished manners. We were received by “hands with hearts in them," and have seldom sat down to a more re- cherché entertainment-it was a réunion of proprietor, editor, and general writer, between whom matters of learning and re- search, wit and repartee, were exchanged-imparting alike infor- mation and amusement. Institutions of a similar character would coufer honor upon any intellectual country in the world, and be the means of connecting together, by the electric link of mind, those whose profession it is to direct, to instruct, and to please their fellow-passengers in the journey of life. What more would you like to know about Gothain, the won- der of America, and, we may as well add, of the wide world ? If 64 OLD ENGLAND you would like to know something about its places of amusement, or of Peter Barnum, the showman, and factotem of so many of them, turn to the chapter devoted thereto. Are you curious in equestrian and vehicular matters? Well, the trotting-horses of -America are as superior to all others, as are the race-horses of England; but their carriages will bear no comparison with ours. We had seen them here, and disliked them we saw more of them there, and disliked them more. They seem made on pur- pose to be run away in, and if the animal that whirls them along is not held extra tight in hand, they will run away. There is no such personage as á graceful "whip’-one to whom driving is a pleasure, not a labor, in whose hands the ribbons are held so lightly, and yet firmly, that the slightest motion of a finger will guide the most dashing animal. An American “dragsman” holds à rein in each band (his whip stuck in by his side), and appears to pull at his horse much harder than his horse pulls at the car- riage. It has all the appearance of a “bolt, especially as they invariably go at a slapping pace. At the same time, they have singular control over their animal by word of mouth-inasmuch as "go alang." from a gentleman, or the abbreviated “g'lang' from a cabman, will set them off, as the sort of plaintive tone in which they say "oh, ho!'' will stop them. Their stables are laid down with planks, instead of being paved as ours are-which, from becoming saturated, must very speedily rot; and then, instead of the familar sign of "horses taken in to bait and stand at livery,” you may read stuck up, "boarding-house for horses," as if they were a set of human beings; by which it would seem, the horses and their stables are both boarded. Like other places of importance, New York has derived valu- able assistance in the formation of her public institutions by the munificence of her millionaires—men who liave sprung literally from nothing, but with the true feelings of patriots, have devoted a vast portion of their means to improve the city, in which they have amassed those means. John Jacob Astor stands in the same relation to New York as Stephen Girard does to Philadel- phia; his magnificent gift and endowment of the Astor Library is unsurpassed by the benefaction of any country. Such is a very rough and condensed outline of this remarkable locality, with the delights of which the reader will suppose us to have fallen hicad over cars in love. Not a bit of it; we would not live in New York if “board and lodging" were given us gratis ; it is too dirty, too noisy, too "go-abeadish” to suit our quieter taste. But to say that we do not look upon it with ad- miration and astonishment, that we do not admit its fullest in- portance, and that we do not dearly regard the many bright AND NEW ENGLAND. 65 spirits and noble hearts who welcomed us on its shores, would be to dip our pen in falsehood, and steep our hearts in ingrati- tude. CHAPTER VI. Spiritual rappings-Their extent and their exposure--Visit of his mother's spirit to the author-The spirit moveth tables and chairs, as well as itself-Spirits turn bankers, and get a rap on their own knuckles Battle, murder, and sudden death exemplified New marriage code- Singular advantage of becoming a medium-A nobleman's inexpres- sibles. We are about to devote a page or two to one of the most ex- traordinary delusions that any country or any age has yet been visited by—surpassing in its extent, and unfortunately in its influence, all preceding inflictions that have, thus far in the lapse of ages, been heaped upon mankind. It is, in the conclusion which a very able writer* upon the subject has arrived at, the grand climax of soothsaying, astrology, witchcraft, phrenology, psychology, clairvoyance, Tourierism, Millerism, Mormonism, fanaticism, and all other isms, impositions and superstitions that ever have been, or that probably ever will be. Its foundation was laid in the State of New York, and therefore while we are in the neighborhood, we may as well introduce the subject here. There is scarcely a community of any importance throughout the United States, in which the principle, or rather traffic of Spiritual Rappings is not carried on, in the most flourishing of all possible conditions; and as, like other profitable commodity, it has at length been imported into Great Britain, a brief notice of it is unavoidable. We are not going to enter upon the sub- ject minutely-its character having been rigidly examined, and successfully laid open by several writers of distinction, as well as the baneful consequences arising out of its exercisc. Ridicule is a weapon that sooner or later brings all pretension, all error, all crime, to its proper level; castigation of the bitterest and the sharpest nature may effect much, but a joke or two (whether based upon fiction or fact, matters little), will do infinitely more good. As it is our intention to give this new creed the benefit * Rev. H. Mattison. 6* 66 Y OLD ENGLAND of our profoundest contempt, and the fullest extent of our jocu- larity, we will enter upon the undertaking, in the first instance, as regularly as possible. During a sojourn last winter at Boston, a city tolerably well infested with professors of this black art, we were invited to spend an evening under the hospitable roof of Colonel Mitchell; and we had not long assembled, before it was proposed, amongst other amusements, to send for a "medium," and see if we could pos- sibly have a communication, of some sort or kind, with the spirits of another world-a species of friendly chit-chat between the past and present-a meeting for the purpose of what world- lings call “comparing notes, and of seeing in which sphere, and on which side, the balance of comfort lay. Almost any quantity of readers we may be so fortunate as to meet with, will be anxious to know the precise definition of the term "medium," and so we give it, in both a spiritual and substantial sense. The first members of this body corporate were two young ladies of the name of Fox, resident in the city of Rochester, in the State of New York; and since the miraculous increase of their family, the he-tribe of creation have considerably swelled the list.* They pronounce themselves to have been selected as a means whereby manifestation frona those who are no more may pass with the living, and who profess to be literally purveyors of gossip between the quick and the dead. At the meeting referred to, an interesting young woman entered the drawing-room, accom- panied by her husband, who always attends to the dollar depart- ment, while his wife superintends the less substantial part of the business. On taking our seats round a respectable-sized table, we were invited to put ourselves, through the influence of the * Amongst the most remarkable members of this fraternity may be mentioned: Brittan, editor of the - Telegraph” and “Shekinah," papers devoted to mental and spiritual science; the Rer. Charles Hammond, author of the “ Pilgrimage of Thomas Paine,” Charles Partridge, pub- lisher of the aforesaid papers; R. P. Ambler, author of the - Spiritual Teacher;" J. M. Spear, author of " Messages from the Superior Štate;"> A. J. Davis, author of the “Great Harmonia;" J. Post, author of "Voices from the Spirit World;" A. W. Hoar, author of " The Bible as a Book ;”? Mr. Winchester, editor of the "Mountain Cave Journal;” Adin Ballou, in the Universalist preaching business, and at present a Fourierite one; Jacob Harshman, author of Love and Wisdom from the Spirit World;" W. Boyton, author of “Spirit Unfoldings;" and S. C. Hewitt, editor of the “New Era ;' not forgetting Mr. Furney, the Cincinnati Lecturer, the most famous dealers in spirits, and every possible compound of atheism, deism, heresy, false doctrine, profanation, abomination, corruption, pol- lution-in short, of erery species of the most daring infidelity that printed paper has ever imparted. AND NEW ENGLAND. 67 “medium," in communication with any departed relative or friend, and we accordingly asked leave to indulge in a few inter- rogations respecting our much-beloved mother, deceased. The medium presented us with a card, on one side of which were the letters of the alphabet, printed at random, and not following in succession; and on the other, figures running from No. 1 on- wards; and being informed that the spirit of our departed parent was present, we asked the following pertinent questions, being led to understand that when the spirit meant to imply "yes," we should hear three raps, and when “no” was to be the word of command, we should only bear one. Armed with the card already alluded to in one hand, and with a pencil in the other, we went to work in downright earnest : MR. BUNN, (addressing the spirit.)-Can you tell me what was my mother's name? SPIRIT.-Yes ! (id est, three raps.) : MR. BUNN, (passing the pencil slowly over the tops of the let- ters.)—When we come to the letters forming the name, rap three times.--And accordingly, as we passed the pencil, we heard three distinct rappings on reaching each of the letters M, A, R, T, H, A,! (the very name!) MR. BUNN.—Can you tell me where she died and was buried ? MR. BUNN, (passing the pencil as before,) heard three as dis- B, L, I, N, (the very place !) MR. BUNN.—How many years has she been dead ? (And crossing the figures with the pencil, three rappings were very audible when passing over 1, 9. The very time !) MR. BUNN.-Can you tell how old she was? SPIRIT.-Yes! (three raps as before !) MR. BUNN, passing the pencil over the figures, heard the usual three l'aps over 7, 3. (The very age !) We cannot say whether the reader is astonished—we were ! Not a soul in the assembly ever knew our parent, nor could by possibility have the slightest knowledge of her nomenclature ; nor are we aware of there being any memorial of her age, beyond that recorded over her remains; but certain it is, that her first name was Martha, and that she died in Dublin in 1833, at the age of seventy-three, which at the period of the spirit's commu- nication, was nineteen years since. If this, however, partake of the marvellous, what will the reader say to the sequitur ? The medium asked us if we should like to hear from our mother; and upon expressing our wish to that 68 OLD ENGLAND effect, she took the pencil from us, and seizing some writing- paper, with a hand shaking as if its owner were in strong con- vulsions, she traced, beginning at the bottom of the sheet, as we could distinctly read on reversing it, these words :—. MY DEAR SON, “I am happy to meet you in this pleasant circle. I love you much, and guard you carefully, moreover. "M. C. B.” The point of curiosity in this communication is, that although our parent could lay claim to the Christian names of Martha Charlotte, we never mentioned but the first; yet here are the initials of both distinctly written, and the signature is almost a facsimile of hers. To us it was then, as it is now, a matter of downright amazement; but the occurrence actually took place on the 5th of last December, at the house of Colonel Mitchell, in the presence of that popular artiste, James Wallack, Colonel Schouler, at that time one of the proprietors of the Bostou “Atlas,” and several others, to whom reference can easily be made. We instituted minute inquiries of the medium, as to her power of being able to arrive at such strictly true conclusions, and all we could elicit from her was a belief that she was gifted with some magnetic influence, and charged with some electrical matter, existent in very few; and she added that, when her hand and arm were in the excited state we have referred to, her hus- band had frequently, but vainly, tried to arrest it by main force. There reader, you have it exactly as we witnessed it, and are at liberty to attach whatever degree of credence to it you may think proper. Having recovered from the partial state of belief into which we were thrown at the moment, we have directed our attention to the subject from time to time, on numerous occasions to which its delusions have given rise, and have come to the conviction that more atrocious scenes of absolute blasphemy have been, and daily are, committed by these self-denominated spiritualists, than theannals of the world have hitherto chwnicled. Immortal Will says in his wondrous tragedy of “Macbeth,” “Stones have been known to move, and trees to speak; Augurs and understood relations, have By maggot-pics, and cloughs, and rooks, brought forth The secret'st man of blood ! _" But, Lord bless you ! that is nothing to what the spiritual rap- pers have brought about. By their agency, AND NEW ENGLAND. 69 Chairs have been known to move, and walls to speak- Tables to dance and stand upon one leg ! Pokers, and tongs, together with the fender Poised up in air in various position; Pianos played on, chests of drawers removed. Settees thrown up, and then again set down, And not by any understood relations, Nor by relations, nor by friends at all- but by bonâ fide spirits, invisible themselves, yet making all their pranks more visible than agreeable. Amongst other facts announced, Mrs. Hone, of Laugus, who, previous to her "shuf- fling off this mortal coil,” had never been guilty of writing poetry, published a string of good versification in the Boston “Times” of last February, which she publicly stated she composed by the spiritual dictation of Edgar A. Poe, one of America's charming poets. Then, Miss Catherine E. Beecher (these Beechers are, one way or the other, making a pretty good thing of it just now), announces the satisfactory conclusion she has arrived at, which is, that spirit manifestations, mysterious rappings, alphabetic read- ings, table talkings, medium writings, &c., are all produced by currents of electricity. Then, at the request of the Brooklyn Association of Congregational Ministers, the Rev. Charles Beecher of Newark, New Jersey, investigated the whole subject; and hav- ing to accompany his sister, Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, to Eng- land, on her more important mission of dollars and Uncle Tomism, requested his brother in his absence to publish the result of such investigation, which accordingly appeared in the pages of the “New York Tribune," and runs to the following effect :- "1. The idea that these ‘ Rappings,' or whatever they may be called, are the product of mere juggle, or intentional imposture, is not to be entertained by any one even imperfectly familiar with facts abundantly verified. “2. The bypothesis that these phenomena have their origin in some hitherto latent action of electricity, magnetism, or any other natural and physical force, creates many more difficulties. than it overcomes, and is also inconsistent with some of the best attested facts. "3. In like manner, the idea that these phenomena are caused by some unconscious, involuntary mental action of some person or persons still in the body, is equally unphilosophical, equally at odds with the attested facts, and equally open to the objection that it magnifies the marvel it professes to explain. "4. The assumption that disembodied spirits cannot communi- cate with persons still in the flesh, is opposed to the whole tenor, not merely of Hebrew and Christian, but also of Pagan History. 70 OLD ENGLAND The possibility of such intercourse-nay, the fact that it has occurred-has always been believed by the great mass of man- kind. “5. The phenomena known as spiritual are really caused by the spirits of the departed, but not by the spirits of the blest. It is essentially one with the demoniac possession whereof the Gospels often speak—that is, by the control and use of the bodily organs of living human beings by disembodied human spirits, incorrectly termed 'devils' in our English version of the Scrip- tures." The exact meaning of the Rev. Charles Beecher's gibberish, the reader must get at as well as he can ; we are but narrators of other people's narrations. He will, however, have to get at much more, if he has any desire to follow the professors and proselytes of this ars divina in their manifold statements and disclosures. Every impulse of the human mind has been tam- pered with to produce the effects necessary for their purpose, and one of the safest things to harp upon with an American is his patriotism. We have, therefore, through these media, a whole catalogue of communications from the spirit world, through which George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Clay, and others of their inighty dead, announce that they still keep a watchful eye over their country, and even intimate given lines of conduct to be pursued. Amongst other things, a bauk was opened in Chicago, Illinois, by Seth Paine, under the alleged direction of Washington and other spirits, by whose advice payments were made or suspended, moneys impounded, and every kind of fraud committed, until a commission of lunacy was issued against the head of the concern; and that led to a general meeting of the mediums, who, professing to have received decided communica- tions from the spirit-world, and by advising the partners to resist any mortal interference with their mode of doing business, had nearly been the cause of bloodshed and of murder. The parties were consequently held to trial at the County Court in Chicago, when one of the mediums, named Drisdell, being asked if he had any counsel, replied, “Yes-God!” He further counselled the head of the bank, who had been declared a lunatic, to shoot any one who meddled with his affairs, because, having been declared “insaue” by a jury, he could not be harmed for any act of a madman. Funny as this may appear, it is nothing to the follow- ing brief extract from the examination of a medium, Mrs. Her- rick, arraigned like the others on an indictment for inciting to a riot:- “Mrs. 'Herrick-had been in Chicago some months; had AND NEW ENGLAND. 71 been employed in the bank to take money and pay it out; gave advice to Mr. Paine to open the bank on Tuesday, and let one person in at a time; this advice was given by the spirit of George Washington ; did not know of any other communications; might have received one from Henry Clay'; does not know who got a communication about the smoking; Henry Clay's spirit told them to receive all the bills and redeem them ; received communications three or four times a week; a rule of tbe bank was not to redeem money for any person who came in smoking; did not know of any revelation not to redeem money for dishonest persons. The jury in the case were out all night, and came into court this morning. Could not agree, and were discharged.”—Chicago Journal, Feb. 16, 1851. - This singular case, however, with all it rogueries and its drol- leries, is but one out of a thousand instances equally glaring and audaciousa bare recital of which would positively fill volumes. Here is a rough idea of what “spiritual rappings" are, and a par- tial revelation of what spiritualism can do; but there is a world to be revealed yet, and “Coming events cast their shadows before” with marvellous rapidity and effect. The communications which now hourly pass between mortals and immortals are effected, as hath been shown, through media, by “raps" and "taps ;” and it was long maintained that this important discovery was made by Benjamin Franklin. If, however, such a book as Warren's "Supernal Theology" should ever fall under our reader's eye, he will, on referring to page 54, find the following denial thereof, in a private interview which the said Warren had with a spirit on the subject:-.. “This mode of communicating with you by raps was not dis- covered by Benjamin Franklin, as has been alleged, though it is possible he has interested himself in the matter from the early. stages of the discovery. It was discovered by a spirit, who, when he was on earth, was very much interested in electricity, magnetism, and things of a kindred nature. His name was James G. Shenck. I have had some trouble in finding it out for you; but I was aware you were anxious to know, and so I have been diligent in my inquiries.” Can there possibly be a more accommodating spirit than Mr. Warren's friend, who must have travelled in every portion of Spiritualdom, by.steamboat, rail- road, or any other attainable conveyance, to have obtained this important piece of intelligence? .' Amongst other charming pranks of this unembodied party, 72 OLD ENGLAND John M. Spear, a medium, and author of "Messages from the Superior State,” gives an account at pp. 37–8 of his paying a visit to a lady who had been struck by lightning, and was appa- rently in great agony. After communing with a spirit, he placed the palm of his hand opposite hers; and, to use his own expres- sion," he took the lightning from its lodgings, and gave it again to nature.” We have often heard of “taking the shine out of a person," but never knew the origin of the saying before. Now for another vagary which may perhaps be extremely edi- fying, as well as acceptable, to the fair portion of the creation. The spirits give out that the present order of courtship and mar- riage is entirely to be turned topsy-turvy; the petticoats are to make choice of any partner they think proper, and everything in the shape of restraint is to be abolished. Read No. 8 of a work called “The Spirit Messenger," and you will stumble over these expressions : - " The female—the negativemas society is now based, is com- pelled to attract the positive, in order that a union may be formed; must, without an advance, win the object that is to com- panion her through life—an isolated rudder lying in wait for a pilot! Can woman, thus shackled by society's fetters, be reason- ably expected to form a correct alliance?-get a good pilot? So long as woman is compelled to remain the thing of circumstances, the wooed instead of the wooing, the sought for instead of the seeking party, just so long there must be of necessity incorrect unions, or she be forever stigmatized an old maid! Is it not a sin—to say nothing of shame—that existing restraints compel women to remain at home? ---then pitch fashion to the dogs.” Now, ladies, let us examine into the doctrines laid down, and see to what extent you are prepared to admit the importance of the prerogatives which you are invited to claim. “Spiritual courtship’ is, undoubtedly, pleasant enough, as all courtship is, but "spiritual wifeisu" secus to be of a different character, as the following narration, listened to on the spot, will testify:- « William Smith, brother of the Mormon prophet, Joe, is be- fore the Circuit Court of Illinois, sitting in Lee County, on a charge of having more wives than the law allows. One of the female members of the church has made affidavit that she had been induced to believe that it was necessary for her salvation that she should become his spiritual wife; the result of which was the same that usually accompanies cases where no spiritiral- ism is claimed. Smith has himself poi pending in the same court, an application for a divorce, on the ground that his wife, AND NEW ENGLAND, 73 while at Nauvoo, was initiated into the mysteries of, and as he says, 'took seven degrees' in, spiritual wifery. So that it seems, according to the ideas of the doctrines of that particular branch of the church militant, what is sauce for the goose is not sauce for the gander.'” We could go on increasing these memoranda without end, and point out the extent to which spiritual rapping, or tapping, is carried. We could carry you into the very land of spiritualism, and show the scenes, detailed to us by their own revelations in good mundane print, wherein 6 Black spirits and white, Blue spirits and gray, . Mingle, mingle, mingle- You that mingle may !" We have, especially according to the pages of “ Supernal Theology," a full view of the manner in which the spirits of the departed world pass their time, their habits, their peculiarities, their partialities, and so forth. In some spheres they have occa- sionally a rubber of whist, in others a ball; in the fifth spliere they play a round game, and in the sixth they have a well-or- ganized concert. The reader will not be astonished to find that, like all gamblers, they occasionally want money; for we are told, notwithstanding they had a bank open at Chicago, as we have already demonstrated, that (see page 70), " the spirits stood in need of a certain sum of bank-notes, but said they would pay it back soon." There can be no doubt of their wanting money, and none, alas! of their getting it in any quantity; but the paying it back is quite another affair. We could go on to the end of the chapter, and make it a long one too, in detailing the alarm- ing, the multitudinous attempts at everything in the shape of imposition to which this cajolery has led; but it would require at least as many volumes to refute their pernicious tendency, as the revealers hare published in a vain attempt to establish it. The recital would grow tedious; and the best way to sum up, is to point out some of the fearful consequences it has entailed, and to leave all sensible people to judge for themselves. Upon the principle laid down by Mrs. Stowe in her “Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin,' we subjoin a series of newspaper extracts bearing strongly on the point. The first is from the “Boston Herald” of March 23, 1853 :- "A girl about fourteen years of age, named Adeline C. Moore, was brought before the Police Court yesterday, charged upon complaint of her father, Jonathan Moore, of East Boston, with 74 OLD ENGLAND being a stubborn child. There was evidence that the girl did not stay at home, but went from place to place as her fancy dic- tated; but it did not appear that she was wilful or stubborn, and upon her promising to go home with her father, she was dis- charged. Two or three years ago, the girl became interested in the spirit rapping' mania, and was what is called a 'medium.' Since then she has exhibited symptoms of insanity, and wandered about in East Boston and Chelsea. She is a pretty and interest- ing girl, intelligent and modest, and we hope she will hereafter shun those delusions which have misled her." Then comes a bit more from the “ Albany Register" of Feb- ruary 14:- “A young woman was removed from this city to the Asylum at Utica this week, she having become insane in consequence of witnessing some experiments in Berkshire County, Mass., a few days ago. Since that time she has thought and read of nothing else, and being of an imaginative and excitable disposition, her mind became much affected, and she is now wild with the delu- sion." Another yet, from the “Rome Sentinel" of April 5th :- “MORE OF THE RAPPINGS.—Ebenezer Pope, a respectable citizen of Milton, hung himself in his barn on Thursday. He leaves a family. Insanity resulting from the rapping delusion, caused the mournful act. He was one of the select men of the town." "A fourth! start eyes !” and many more to come! but even this is not to be compared with the case that will follow it. For the moment look back to the columns of the “Brooklyn Daily Eagle," of February 25, 1852, and there you will find that a highly respectable farmer of Flusbing, Long Island (not far from New York), by the name of George Doughty, and a man of con- siderable wealth, became highly excited by the reported doings of these mediums, and made up his mind to seek out one of the body, and have a dip at once into the mystery. He proceeded to the city of Pittsburg, in the State of Pennsylvania, and there was introduced to a professed medium, named Mrs. French, whom, after a short acquaintance, he invited to visit himself and family in Long Island, where she was treated in reality as one of them. : Without entering into the minutiæ of the proceeding, it is enough to record that the effect of his spiritual intercourse with the medium was, to unbalance his mind, and deprive him of the proper use of his reasoning faculties. Advantage was of course taken of this, and it ended in his making over to this wretch all AND NEW ENGLAND. his fortune, amounting to some fifteen thousand dollars, with which she took French-leave, accompanied by a scoundrel who, she told the farmer, was about writing an interesting legend of · the spirit land, and neither party has since been heard of. It finally wound up by his friends having him arrested and conveyed to the New York Asylum, where he now remains a confirmed lunatic. The victim of this conspiracy is the father of two most interesting daughters, and has a numerous circle of respectable friends and connections, whose feeling with regard to the sad event may be easily imagined. This is pretty well; but a few more slips from the American papers will not be thrown away: * Worville Hatch, of Franklin, Conn., has become insane, he baving devoted considerable attention to the subject of spirit rap- pings.”-New York Times, August 20, 1852. "Miss Melissa Haynes, of Cincinnati, was sent to the lunatic department of the Commercial Hospital a few days ago. The Times there says the true cause of her insanity is spiritual rap- pings.”- St. Louis Republican. “Robert G. Shaw, known everywhere as one of the most wealthy and influential merchants of Boston, the 'Titchburg Reveille' says is crazy. He has been for some time deeply inte- rested in spiritual manifestations; and it is to him the spirit of Daniel Webster is said to have communicated, and given, as an evidence of its identity, Webster's signature, which, by critics in such matters, could not be distinguished from the signature to an unpaid note of one thousand dollars which Mr. Shaw holds against Mr. Webster."-Detroit Journal, February 10, 1853. Alas! and alas ! but, as we have already said, there is not space for the manifold individual cases which could be adduced.. Yet a general recital might be summed up by observing that, according to the admirable statistics of the Rev. H. Mattison, there were last year admitted into the different lunatic asylums of the country, ninety patients, entirely bereft of reason, owing to this precious spirit rapping. So'much for madness. Now for one specimen, amongst others, of murder! " A poor printer, named Langdon, had been unfortunately thrown in the way of some acolytes of this pretended science. Having, like most of his craft, received the dangerous gift of a ‘little learning,' he was unable to weigli accurately the merits and demerits of theories expounded to him, and his simple, un- suspecting nature was incapable of subjecting' the motives of his ensnarers to a proper test. He read a couple of newspapers de- 76 OLD ENGLAND voted to the propagation of the imposture, and became a believer. Ever since he began to read them,' says his wife, his mind seemed wholly absorbed in them. He neglected his child, and in obedience to the dictates of some of his fellow-maniacs, devoted his evenings to silent contemplation, and sat gloomily brooding over the pretended mysteries. He was told that a steady course of meditation, pursued during a certain period of time, would en- able him to penetrate the veil of death, and behold the form of his deceased daughter. Thus acted upon, alternately by his fears, his imagination, and his parental love, the wretched man gradu- ally drooped, grew more and more morose, abandoned his work, seemed unconscious of the existence of his family, and finally re- solved to terminate his agony by self-destruction. It is at this point that the dangerous tendencies of this new superstition are the most apparent. His attempt to commit suicide was unsuccess- ful. Though he contrived to inflict an incision two inches in length on the thyroid cartilage, the surgeon succeeded in bringing the lips of the wound together, and undercareful management it is not impossible that he might have recovered. But he was bent on death. 'He had been influenced,' he said, 'by spiritual manifest- ation to commit suicide.' When in the hospital, he would at times refuse all medicines, spoke of the certainty of death, and seemed desirous to die;' and finally, after a struggle of some hours, he succumbed, 'the cause of his death being exhaustion from mental excitement, and from his wound.'"-New Yoric, January 10, 1853. Yet with a knowledge of these, and other equally glaring in- stances, so great a country as America allows itself to be ridden over by these demons in human form ! Surely it is time for some power to be given to the law, if the law does not already possess power enough, to hurl these professors of imposture far beyond the pale of human society. Whole families brought to ruin, the happiness of many a lovely girl destroyed forever, the tranquil mind shattered, the-firmest nerves unstrung, and the fondest be- lief shaken ! these are but the pastime of a set of wretches, who laugh at the very credulity they create. America is wise, and is cautious enough to frame her own code of legislature, and to take care of the souls of her sons, as far as human precaution can do; therefore, let us speak for ourselves, and in the same manner as our laws have punished gambling and other traps laid for the un- wary, so ought they to be enforced to drive out from their dens every professor of this bumbug, now resident in our own kingdom. It is a farce to proach to society, because as long as the world AND NEW ENGLAND. teems with charlatans, so long will the people flock to gaze at their charlatanry—the bull must be taken by the horns. Talk as long as you please to the modesty of female character, or to the youthful imagination of rising manhood, but the curiosity innate in the human composition will beat all that down; and as you cannot drive away the enticed, you must drive away the en- ticer. Having given as much serious attention to this matter as our limits will afford, let us dismiss it by laying bare the shameless trickery of the whole system. It cannot be a matter of astonish- ment to the reader to be told that these media live in first-rate style, and keep up the first order of establishments, simply because their receipts from the unwary are something enormous. They bave weekly newspapers and monthly publications, all devoted to what they term mental and spiritual developments; and in addi- tion to all this, they have a whole bevy of authors, as we have already catalogued, at their beck and call; in short, if a reader would wish to form some notion of the extent to which the lite- rary department alone of their business is carried out, he has only to read the following advertisement from a bookselling firm in New York: "SPIRITUALIST'S LIBRARY.-Partridge and Brittan, New . York, bave a complete assortment of Books and Periodicals de- voted to the facts, philosophy, and advocacy of Spiritualism, which they will supply in any quantity, and on the most favor- able terms. We refer to the Spiritual Telegraph' for a list of our Books, prices, rates of postage, &c. “The Spiritual Telegraph is a weekly paper, devoted to the elucidation of Spiritual Phenomena, and contains a record of the most interesting facts, &c. A very interesting discussion of the facts and philosophy of the Manifestations, is now in course of publication, between Dr. B. W. Richmond and S. B. Brittan. All the back numbers can be furnished. Subscription price, one dollar and fifty cents per annum. Specimen copies sent free. “The increasing interest and rapid occurrence of facts, demand more space and additional services, and the Telegraph' (Volume II. to commence in May next) will be greatly enlarged, after which the price will be two dollars. "The Shekinah,' Volume II. is being issued monthly, and is devoted to Mental and Spiritual Science. It contains many im- portant facts and profouod expositions of the psychological laws on which they depend. Each number contains at least forty-eight pages of original matter, from the ablest contributors, and is em- 7* 78 OLD ENGLAND bellished with a portrait on steel of some Spiritualist or Reformer. Terms, three dollars per annum. bound, and its intrinsic merits and artistic beauty entitle it to a place in every library. Price, in morocco, lettered and gilt, three dollars; in muslin, two dollars and fifty cents. “A liberal discount made to the trade. Address "PARTRIDGE AND BRITTAN, "No. 3 Cowtlandt Street, New York. “ New York, February 25, 1853.” The evil day, however, is coming with hasty strides, and the law of retribution may perhaps save any other law a vast deal of trouble. Medium after medium begins to find out that confession is a better trade than imposition, and that the barriers of credulity have been reached. The Fox girls, who began the fun, have been found out, it having been clearly proved that all their rappings came from their knee-joints! A very pretty trade for young ladies to embark in. Then another of their works of art, which con- sisted in “table moving," has received the grand coup d'état. Dr. Charles Andree, of Bremen, a scientific man of the highest character, recently wrote to the Augsburg “Allgemeine Zeitung," stating that the moving of tables, on the plan of our wonder- mongers, was exciting the greatest attention in the Hanseatic cities, and gave this account of an experiment at which, although incredulous, he was present :- “Eight persons, three men and five women, sat around a mahogany centre-table, weighing some sixty pounds. Their seats were so far apart that there was no contact of their garments to interfere with the process. Their hands were laid gently on the table, their fingers touching so as to form a chain or circle. and left the table; the others formed the chain again, and after some thirty minutes more the table began to move, first on its axis, and then across the room in a northerly direction, the per- sons who composed the circle following it; their chairs were re- moved by some spectators the instant the movement began. A slight attractive force was felt drawing their hands to the table. After the movement had continued four minutes, it was suggested that the persons sliould touch each other with their arms, though keeping their hands in the same position. This they did, and the movement stopped. On standing as before, it presently began again. Dr. Andree regards the existence of a current of some sort AND NEW ENGLAND. causing the movement, as demonstrated, and calls upon scientific men to institute experiments for the determination of its nature." Bravo! However, before Dr. Andree summons any farther conclave of doctors upon the subject, we recommend to his most attentive perusal the following statement about tables and their properties, recently submitted to the American public by Pro- fessor Mattison. “Having been called upon by Professor Mattison, in relation to certain tables made by me for parties in this city, I am free to state that I have made two 'medium tables' during the last year; both of which had machinery concealed in them, for producing raps'* at the will of the operator. The beds, 'Ti inch thick, were cut out in the centre, so as to admit the machinery, and then carefully covered so as to leave a hollow, and make the sounds louder. Wires were carried out to the legs of the table, inside the cover and the legs, by which the machinery was worked. I am not sufficiently acquainted with the machine, and the man- * Parker's Journal," a work of great talent and infinite humor, pub- lished the following mode of accounting for these raps, furnished by one scientific gentleman:- " The only true and legitimate manner of accounting for the taps, is the physiological defects of the membraneous system. The obtuseness of the abdominal indication causes the cartilaginous compressor to coagulate into the diaphragm, and depresses the duodenum into the flandango. Now if the taps were caused by the rogation of the electricity from the extremities, the tympanum would also dissolve into spiritual rinctum, and the olfactory would foment and become identical with the pigmentum. Now this is not the case; in order to produce taps, the spiritual rotun- dum must be elevated down to the spiritual spero. But, as I said before, the inferior ligaments must not subtend over the dignitorium sufficiently to disorganize the stericletum.” Which was followed up by the subjoined difference of opinion from an- other equally learned authority:- " He must dissent in toto from the idea that the depression of the quotendum into the flandango' could, by any possibility, cause the olfac- tory ossification to ferment and become identical with the pigmentum." He says the thing cannot be done; and after quoting several learned authorities on the subject, winds up the argument by the remark that " the vibratory motion communicated in the tunica albergonia by the par- turition of the areola process effectually disintegrates the pericardio in- fluences of the epigastrium, and produces a compound corpuscular movement of the lymphatic glands; which abnormal and diagnostical state of the nervous system deteriorates a preponderance of the lacteal fluid to the posterior portion of the cerebellum, and predisposes the pa- tient to preternatural distension of the auricular membraneous orifice, in which case the rappings become painfully and distinctly audible.” Thore; reader, is the whole secret!!! 80 OLD ENGLAND ner of working it, to describe them in detail; my business was simply to make the tables for the reception of the 'spirits;' and that I have done this in two instances, and am ready to do it in two or twenty more, if I can be paid for it, I am willing to assert. And if people will give a dollar a-piece to hear a little hammer strike inside a table-bed, and run crazy about it, is it my fault? “ HIRAM PACK. « 448, Pearl Street, “ New York, March 25, 1853." We shall now wind up this catalogue of sin and absurdity, by pointing out to the reader one advantage, at all events, of becom- ing a 'medium,' or having to do with them, which was stated to have been made manifest at St. Louis, in the “Despatch” påper of that city A young fellow, who from a sneering sceptic had become a believer, retired to rest, after having had his nervous system partially destroyed by the information, through the spirit of his grandfather, that he would shortly become a powerful % me- dium." He was in his first comfortable snooze, when a clinking noise in the direction of the door awoke him. He listened atten- tively; the noise still kept on, very like the raps of the spirits on the table! He mustered up courage, and asked :- “Who is there?” There was no answer, and the noise stopped. “Anybody there ?" No answer! “It must have been a spirit,” said he to himself, “and I must be a medium. I'll try.” Then aloud :- “If there is a spirit in the room, will it please to rap three times?" Three distinct raps were given in the direction of the bureau. “Is it the spirit of my sister ?" No answer. "Is it the spirit of my inother ?” Three raps! “Are you happy ?” Nine raps. “Do you want anything ?” A succession of very loud raps followed !!! “Will you give me a communication if I get up ?” No answer. “Shall I hear from you to-morrow ?” AND NEW ENGLAND. 81 ? Loud raps again, in the direction of the door. “Shall I ever see you ?” The raps then came from the outside of the door. He waited some time for an answer, but none came. The spirit had gone; and after thinking over the extraordinary visit, he turned round, and “addressed himself again to sleep." On getting up in the morning, in a state almost of bodily nudity, he found that the spirit of his mother had walked off with his breeches,* and the watch and purse he had put in the pockets of them. All things considered, the conclusion we have arrived at, is this, that the spirits may be the rappers, but the public are decidedly the tippers. CHAPTER VII. The last intervention National gullibility-Kossuth in New York-His reception and entertainment-Found in everything, and found out in the main thing-Illustrated by Charles Incledon-His notion of car- rying out a principle-The dollar exaction and the establishment, in fact, of the independent Hungarian Government-Chances of his return to America-Paying the piper with a vengeance. It has often been asserted, and to a certain extent has been proved, that England is the most gullible nation under the sun, and that when humbug is at a discount in all other countries, it is generally above par in this. Many occurrences of bygone * A little anecdote, though not exactly analogous to this subject, is so exceedingly droll, that we cannot resist telling it. A sheriff's officer came upon the stage of Drury Lane, some years since, with a process against the late Mr. Elliston, but without the least desire to annoy him. After our inquiry if he had much business on hand ? he replied: "These d- d lords give one more trouble nor anybody else. There is a pocket- book full of small hexecutions against Lord --, but I never could get into his house until to-day. Seeing the maid washing the steps, I asked if my Lord was in-she didn't know, but she'd ask the walet. So I fol- lowed her, and soon after followed him, into his Lordship's bed-room. My Lord sprung up, and finding what my business was, cried out, You can't touch anything here, for they are all my mother's! Upon which, I seized hold of his breeches, lying on a chair, and holding 'em up, cried out, I suppose these ain't your mother's! As he had not long come home from Crockford's, where he had been a large winner, there was money enough in their pockets to pay all the hexecutions in mine !" 82 OLD ENGLAND days, and some existent at the present moment, go a great way towards the establishment of this assertion upon the basis of truth; but in making such admission, we are not blinded to the fact of America being even more open than the mother country to the glaring impositions of the day. The exigencies of an ex, citable community must ever be met, some way or other; and if a live lion cannot be procured, why you must pay for the manu- facture of one; and it matters very little what kind of one, or who may be the object selected. I shall have to introduce to the reader's attention, before my pen be thrown aside, more than one of the genus referred to, and in the meantime it is impossible to select a better sample than Louis Kossuth. The figure which this Hungarian chieftain cut on the arena of European politics in 1850, opened a wide field for the indulgence of republican principles; and the inculcation of those doctrines · being more in unison with the taste of American than of English people, the different reception of this heroic mountebank in the two countries is very easily accounted for. The landing of Kos- suth in England, the tom-foolery enacted on his account at South- ampton, the failure of any such attempt in London, together with the listless parade in the public streets, and his even more list-less private levees, are matters too well knowu here to require more than bare mention; they were indicative of public opinion at the time, and their propriety has been fully justified by the issue of events.* In America, however, matters assumed quite another bearing; and without the slightest notion of what Kossuth could do for Jonathan, Jonathan determined to show what he could do * When Kossuth found that there was no game to be played in Eng- land, and a very good one to be played in America, amongst other rhodo- montade he thus spoke of one scene of the earliest struggles between the two countries, at a reception that was given to him by the authorities of Charleston, in Monument Square:- "My voice shrinks from the task to mingle with the awful pathos of that majestic orator-silent like the grave, yet melodious like the song of immortality upon the lips of cherubim! a senseless, cold granite, and yet warm with inspiration like a patriot's heart; it looks like a prophet! and speaks like an oracle! In bowing in adoration, my eyes meet the soil of Bunker Hill—the spirits of the past rise before me-all the spirits of that most eventful victory, under the name of defeat !!! We have looked up at the said monument very often; but it never gave us an idea of looking in the least like a prophet; and never having heard it speak, or sing, we cannot pass a verdict upon the pathos of its oratory! or the melody of its song! but every drama must have a beginning, and this uncxampled specimeu of impudent bombast and inflated figure scrved very well to pave his way to the attainment of his object. AND NEW ENGLAND. 83 . for Kossuth. Public harangues in all such matters go in reality for nothing, and it is unnecessary, therefore, to bring back to the reader's attention any further part of the false and fulsome stuff that was barked out on the occasion of this national visitation. There would be no fun in that, as it has been too unpleasantly testified; our business is with that portion of the affair in which there is fun, and if we mistake not, a rare lot of it. The com- munity at large, in its private* as well as public capacity, seemed bent upon carrying out Shakspeare's famouş aphorism- “Being as easily led by the nose as asses are," and vied with one another for pre-eminence in the race of ab- surdity. The crowning triumph of all these efforts, perhaps, was the generous determination of the Mayor and Corporation to let in their fellow-citizens for the entertainment of Kossuth and his suite, during their sojourn in this first of American cities. Here's an “intervention' for you, of much more importance to the Hungryarians as one of the Common Council called them-than sending a fleet of steamers, with twenty thousand target-men, to the immediate relief of their oppressed country. Only imagine a set of fellows, whose possible consumption of the good things of this life, when at home, might consist of an occasional slice of doubtful meat, black bread and Sauerkraut, with the periodical variation of a pipe, being cast upon the sympathies of a people who think no more of a bottle of champagne, than a Hungarian does of a pint of bad beer! Fancy these marauders attacking the larder · of one of the first hotels in the United States, with an appetite that had, most likely, never been appeased before! Can you fancy it? or, what is more to the purpose, can you believe it? To put the matter beyond the possibility of a doubt, we give the sceptic full particulars. The“ Kossuth Reception Committee,” including the Mayor in their number, entered into an arrangement with the landlord of 'Irving House,' in Broadway-not for the expense of a single public dinner, and there's an end on't, but for the board of Kossuth and his suite during the whole period of their stay in New York! A bargain was struck at the rate of two dollars a day per head, the exact amount of which may be arrived at, by a perusal of the subjoined aocount, transcribed verbatim : * One of the merchant princes of New York, told me that he was one of six who went to the expeuse of sending down a steamer expressly to bring Kossuth up to that city; but after hearing his harangue upon the deck of the vessel, he felt perfectly ashamed of himself, and from that moment never saw him, and never expended- a single cent upon any mis- placed hospitality showu him. Gotham had one wise man, at all events. 84 OLD ENGLAND Corporation of the City of New York To D. D. Howard, Dr. TD DOL. CENT. 1851–To entertainment of Hungarians, by direction of the Special Committee of the Common Council, from 11th November to the 21st December, 1851 . . Deduction, as proposed . . . . . . . 14,299 87 1,000 00 13,299 8 Cr.-By cash . . . . . . . . . . 10,000 00 3,299 87 1852—To board for forty for five days (at which time the Committee stated the Common Council would be no longer responsible) at 14 dollars per week, with sundries, 65 dollars . . . 400 00 Sundries for same time, (cigars, &c.) . . . . 39 78 Balance due . . . . . 3,739 65 New York, January, 5, 1852. This is a copy of a bill furnished to the Corporation, respecting the balance of which, in November last, a strong debate arose in the councils of the aforesaid body corporate. Alderman Smith thought himself much more of a gentleman than Alderman Stur- tevant, and moved for payment in full-Alderman Sturtevant doubted Smith's self-appreciation, resisted the fulness of pay- ment, and followed it up by telling Smith that he didn't speak the truth, which led to Smith telling Sturtevant that he-did. However, the bill was ordered to be paid (the whole of the ex- penses, it is said, amounted to 20,800 dollars)—paid ! to uphold a man whose name they are positively ashamed at this moment to mention. It was indescribably droll to hear Sturtevant's ac- count of these beggars' proceedings. It seems they indulged in all the excesses of this go-ahead city—such as going up to the bar in the morning! and each man ordering a bottle of cham- pagne to “his own cheek" (Anglicè, for his own consumption) and filling his pockets with the best Habana cigars, which cost sixty dollars a thousand ; then coming in at noon on a rainy day, and lying down on satin sofas or clean beds, in dirty boots, and other incredible specimens of uñadulterated sang-froid. The only “intervention” which has thus far arisen out of Kossuth's visit here, was the intervention of several Aldermen to prevent, if possible, the payment of the above-recited bill. These warlike gourmands must have gone away, laughing in their sleeves at the extraordinary placidity and generosity of their AND NEW ENGLAND. 85 worthy hosts. Twenty thousand dollars! why that sum would have equipped as many Hungarians, to have fought over again the battle for freedom. Of one thing, however, you may be as- sured, that there was not a man amongst them who did not pre- fer the present mode of expending that romantic amount. . We believe it is Mr. Dangle in “The Critic," who says, “Give these fellows a good thing, and they never know how to make enough of it;" a doctrine which seems to have been acted upon by the lionised Louis Kossuth. It was not deemed, apparently, by any means sufficient to have board and lodging found himself and his companions for more than fifty days-that was all very well, as far as the lining of the body was concerned but the lining of the purse was of still graver consideration ; and an expedient was hit upon, which surpasses every notion of empyrics yet concocted. The veriest stroller in “wakes, and fairs, and market towns," the essence of all gagging that an itinerant tumbler ever resorted to, the impudence of every bottle conjuror in existence, could not, and cannot, equal the splendid scheme created by this Hungarian Dulcamara. He gave a course of lectures or harangues at various places, the admission to which was the purchase, by virtue of an American dollar, of-of what does the reader imagine? A note " payable on demand one year after the establishment in fact of the independ- ent Hungarian Government, at the National Treasury !” “In fact” is a very important part of the undertaking to pay! After the establishment, &c. ! why he might just as well have said, “after the day of judgment," while he was about it. A gentle- man with whom I have the pleasure of being acquainted, told me that he was conferring with Kossuth shortly before his de- parture from this scene of profitable spoliation, and that he was forcibly struck by these parting words of the notable chief : “I came here in the hope that your countrymen would assist me in carrying out a great principle; but I find that their only idea of a great principle is a dollar !!** If this be true, both parties seem to be pretty much of the same notion, after all; for, without saying a word of what Kossuth carried out, there is no question of his having carried ott, a remarkably handsome suun of money. I doubt whether, in the whole routine of the world's gullibility, a stronger instance of it than this can be adduced- * Charles Incledon, the famous singer, expressed the same opinion years ago, in America, only in better language. He said: “Iu my country the first words a child is taught to say, are 'papa' and 'mamma;' but the first word they are made to pronounce here is dollar !!” 86 OLÒ ENGLAND attended, moreover, as it has been, by the usual result of all such blind idolatry. The name of the man is almost forgotten, and those who have not forgotten it; wish they had. Those who knelt at his feet would now stamp on his neck, and to sum up all, " their curses now - • Live where their prayers did,” and finally, the Corporation we have referred to made a bold but unsuccessful attempt to repudiäte, in their antipathy, the balance of a bill they had sanctioned in their enthusiasm. How truly did the Dean of St. Patrick write when he said : “Party is the madness of many for the gain of a few;" and all that has arisen out of the madness of thousands touching this Hungarian question, designated by the lawyers " in ne Kossuth," has been the gain to himself of a vast sum of money, and to his followers of a vast quantity of provisions. These remarks are not written in any political spirit, the writer being far removed both by the absence of position and talent, from anything approaching to a political character. They are the result of observation on the movements of the world, as they pass by in review before the eye, appearing, at all events to us, to possess no small quantity of wondrous drollery. As an ardent admirer of such a patriot as Thaddeus Kosciusko, we can fully comprehend that grand line of Campbell, " And Freedom shrieked when Kosciusko fell,” but we certainly do not think that Freedom will do anything of the sort, at least in America, when the champion of Hungary shall join the champion of Poland, and "sleep the sleep that dreams not." · AND NEW ENGLAND. CHAPTER VIII. Philadelphia and the approach to it-A sure plan of finding your way in it-Girard's College, and its founder-A Californian digger at the mint-Diddle's bank-Pennsylvania deemed partially a slave State How to get a good business back again-William Penn's elm-Young America's idea of the word "boy-Tan-yard wit-Frankliu's tomb***, Marketing-Advantages of weighing a pound of butter-Delaware fishing-Pros and cons of solitary confinement-Smoking in a chapel. -Philadelphia society-A Mexican general—The Alleghany Mountains --A word of advice about then-The chances of reaching Pittsburg Darkness visible when you get there-A good hotel to go to, and an excellent proprietor as long as you are in it. It is by no means a pleasant road, nor a pleasant mode of travelling over it, between the two greatest cities of the United States. A railway through a dull country, over two ferries, and across a dozen rivers, more or less, is neither interesting, agree- able, nor secure. A circumstance which might have turned oạt fatal will be found recorded in the pages of a subsequent chapter, and the only observation we can add thereto, is an expression of our wonder that such occurrences do not happen more frequently., You start from the State of New York, and commence your journey in a ferry-boat, without which you could not arrive in the State of New Jersey; and on reaching Camden you have to get into another, without which you could not arrive in the State of Pennsylvania, and in its enormous city, Philadelphia. We presume no one need be told the full particulars of William Penn and his two thousand followers having landed from Eng- land at Newcastle, on the banks of the Delaware, in 1682, for the purpose of pitching on some tract of land where the disci- ples of his persuasion might retire and pass their days, unmo- lested by those persecutions which beset them in the mother country. The tract he did pitch upon was granted to him by Charles II., in consideration of services his father, Sir William Penn, had rendered to the Crown; and from this said grant sprung up, what has turned out to be, the celebrated Quaker City. Its very appearance, to say nothing of that of a large por- tion of its inhabitants, is neat and demure, as are all matters con- nected with the professors of that creed. The building of its streets comes under the denomination of right angles, and lying 88 : OLD ENGLAND between the Delaware and Schuylkill, they run in parallel linés from river to river; and so unbroken are those lines, that, not- withstanding we individually admire the unique view they pre- sent, we can fully understand the feeling of a writer who said “it would be quite a relief if one could get only a glimpse of a the wags call the city "improper,” both of which have distinct governments of their own, as they form separate municipalities. The stranger will be considerably puzzled at first to find out the various localities of this huge place, his attention being now directed to South-East Street, then to North-West Street, one minute to the corner of Fourth and some other, and then to the end of Eighth Street, and so on; therefore whenever you find yourself bewildered, make a bolt for the Central Avenue (Broad Street), and having got this popular rhyme by heart, keep on repeating it each way from that point, and you'll find out the street you want, for all the principal streets, inward from their respective rivers, verge to it: “ Chestnut, walnut, spruce, and pine, Mulberry, cherry, race, and vine !" Philadelphia, every reader may not know, was the seat of go- vernment until the year 1800, when it was transferred to Wash- ington, and from the steps by which you ascend to Independence Hall-a building as dear to this city as Fanueil Hall is to Bos- KA drawn up and signed in a chamber at the east end of that old building, a copy of which remains there, the original having been taken to the Patent Office, at Washington. It is not un- frequently called the Keystone State, as being the centre one of the original thirteen which subscribed to the Declaration, as will be seen by referring to the six which preceded it to the north, and the six who came after it to the south, and as the line of demarcation between the free and the slave states :- 1. New York. :8. Delaware. 2. New Jersey. .. 9. Maryland. 3. Massachusetts. ) 10. Georgia. Slave 4. Connecticut 1 New 11. Virginia. . 7 States. 5. New Hampshire. | Englanıl. 12. North Carolina. 13. South Carolina. . 7. PENNSYLVANIA. The cleanliness of this vast thoroughfare, owing in a great measure to its excellent draining, is one of its striking charac- teristics, which, coupled with the uniformity of its buildings, faced with and sometimes half composed of white marble, quar- AND NEW ENGLAND. 89 ried in some counties at no great distance from the city, imparts an air of neatness and comfort nowhere else so discernible through- out the whole.empire. We shall go no farther into historical or descriptive disquisi- tion than we have done elsewhere. But if we did nothing else, it would be impossible to pass orer, unnoticed, one of the most remarkable institutions in that, or any other place the Girard College. This immense establishment was called into existence by the benevolence and piety of one man, who from the position : of an humble mariner, became probably the greatest and wealth- iest of America's merchants. Without entering too miņutely into the history of Mr. Girard, we may just say he was a French- man, born at Bordeaux, in 1750; that he selected the dominion of Neptune for the exercise of his talents; that at the age of twenty-seven, after being buffeted about from sea to sea, and possessing but small means, he entered the waters of the Dela- ware, and landed in Philadelphia, becoming shortly after a citi- zen of the United States. During a long career of active exer- tion and honorable dealing, Mr. Girard died in 1831, leaving behind him a fortune of 7,500,000 dollars, two millions of which he appropriated for the erection and endowment of this College. This is unquestionably one of the grandest monuments ever erected by man to commemorate bis own greatness, while con- tributing to the advancement of his fellow-men. It was opened on the 1st of January, 1848, and the remains of the founder, which had been temporarily deposited in a Roman Catholic Church, were removed to a sarcophagus built in the vestibule, in front of which stands a full length statue of himself, said to be a wondrous resemblance. The object of this charity is to clothe, feed, and thoroughly educate three hundred orphan chil- dren, at a time; preference being given, first to orphans born in - the city of Philadelphia; secondly, to those born in any other part of Pennsylvania; thirdly, to those born in the city of New York; and, lastly, to those born in the city of New Orleans. We could give a copy of the donor's will, a history of the College, an exact account of its constitution, and everything, in short, of or belonging to the subject-matter, but that would be prolixity in the extreme, a dull attempt at book-making, and a dry case of statistics; but having drawn up in his will the exact plan, upon which he desired the Institution to be conducted, we cannot re- frain from introducing this singular clause relative thereto:- “I enjoin and require that no ecclesiastic, minister, or mis- sionary of any sect whatsoever, shall ever hold or exercise any station or duty whatsoever in the said College; nor shall any OLD ENGLAND such person ever be admitted for any purpose, or as a visitor, within the premises appropriated to the purposes of the said College. In making this restriction, I do not mean to cast any reflection upon any sect, or person whatsoever; but as there is such a multitude of sects, and such a diversity of opinion among them, I desire to keep the tender minds of the orphans, who are to derive advantage from this bequest, free from the excitement which clashing doctrines and sectarian controversy are so apt to produce; my desire is, that all the instructors and teachers in the College, shall take pains to instil into the minds of the scholars the purest principles of morality, so that, on their en- trance into active life, they may from inclination and habit evince benevolence towards their fellow-creatures, and a love of truth, sobriety, and industry, adopting at the same time such religion as their matured reason may enable them to prefer." .. We had an opportunity of examining very minutely the whole establishment, and it is not possible for language to say too much in its praise. It is wondrous, indeed, to see such an effort of human industry, and of human charity; and a sight not to be surpassed to behold the urn enfolding the giver's cold remains, in the very temple where so many recipient's of his bounty can, after rendering homage to their God, breathe forth their strains of gratitude to so bright a patron of a true worshipper. In an upper apartment of the building are deposited the papers, private knick-knacks, books, &c., of this extraordinary man. Not the least remarkable articles among them are the identical clothes-trow- sers patched at the knee, and colors all faded—which he was wont to wear, the whole of which, for their intrinsic value, would not fetch five shillings !! Here is one, indeed, "who did good by stealth, and blushed to find it fame." You should really go to the Mint, while you are here, inas- much as it is well worth seeing, and is the only governmental department which was not removed, we believe, to Washington, wbeu that was nominated the scene of national diplomacy. We were intently occupied in examining every room, and inquiring into the several duties performed in them, under the obliging guidance of the Chief Coiner, Mr. Franklin Peale. When passing through an office where the precious metal.is vended, our attention was arrested by a digger from California, who had arrived there to dispose of his treasure. His countenance, strongly marked, was partially concealed by an extensive straw hat: but not so much so as to prevent our perceiving his dark eye sternly fixed upon each small leathern bag of gold-dust, which, from time to time, he pulled forth from the pocket of his AND NEW ENGLAND. 91 vest. The earnestness with which he emptied each bag, the care with which he weigbed its contents, the grasp with which he seized the bag again, scraping and fillipping corner after corner, to possess the smallest remaining particle of the talismanic ore, which he had travelled so many thousand miles in search of, was. one of the most curious sights we remember to have witnessed. Another singular thing was mentioned to us, when permitted to enter the room where a troop of females were weighing a given quantity of coin. Not only is the floor covered with an iron lattice, operating as a sort of scraper to prevent the least portion of even golden powder adhering to the shoc; but when leaving work, the women are all required to wash their hands, under the sur- veillance of an overseer, that no adhesion to the fingers, after handling so much money, may be losto: for in the course of one year there has been collected from the dirty.water upwards of four hundred dollars. O'Tis gold Which makes the true man kill'd, and saves the thief; Nay, sometimes hangs both thief and true man: what Can it not do, and undo ?” Every Englishman should look in at the Custom-house--not for the purpose exactly of seeing what quantity of business is there going on, and the mode in which it is executed—but to have a peep at what was formerly the bank, where Mr. Nicholas Biddle (whose name should have began with a D) issued the no- torious Pennsylvanian bonds, that burnt the fingers of so many of our Stock Exchange dabblers which may be paid before the seas go back to their sources, and the earth fades away from the face of creation, but at present there is no symptom of approach- ing liquidation. It is an imposing building, not of course so “im- posing" as this defunct gentleman who directed its affairs, but as they went to a place, the profane denominate by a fearful mono- syllable, perhaps he is at this moment verifying what was said of a celebrated auctioncer.* Upon the subject of this flimsy-paper issue, which has impo- verished and caused so much bitter invective, which has reduced wealth to a bare subsistence, and riches to the depth of poverty, the following epigram was let off: "Pennsylvania is not a slave-state 'tis known, But to some sort of slavery clearly is prone; For all are awwe, any question beyond, If it does not hold serfs, it holds thousands in bond!". * When George Robins died, some one observed, in the hearing of the lato John Hamilton Reynolds, that his great business would now go to ****, to which Reynolds instantly replied: "Then he'll get it again!" 92 OLD ENGLAND We attended one of the Courts of Law, for the purpose of wit- nessing the trial of an awful miscreant, b.y the name of Arthur Spring, who, for some years past, appeared to have made murder a sort of pastime, and who on this occasion was arraigned for the slaughter, in a most inhuman manner, of two helpless females. The wretch attempted to fix the crime upon his own son; and without seeing the sang-froid, the suppressed titter, the ridicule, and the "pooh!" with which he listened to the revolting evidence which that son was compelled to give against his own parent, you would not deem it possible. We were favored by Judge Kelly with a seat to hear him pass sentence on this matchless villain; and, on expressing to a stander-by our surprise, at first, to see so young a man (without wearing any official gown, robe, wig, or cap) dispensing the grape law of life and death, he replied : “Well, look here now, we appoint our judges at that time of his existence when man is supposed to be in full possession of his faculties, and don't wait as you do, to make a chap a judge when he hasn't brains enough left to know what he is about.” We heard a bit of ready wit on coming out of the Court. A gentleman seeing the streets strewed over with tan, to prevent interruption to the business going on inside by the noise of ve- hicles outside (a precaution such as we adopt to procure quiet in cases of severe sickness), inquired the reason for doing this, when the party he addressed rcplied: "Oh, there's a man inside, who is not expected to live long !"* Those who travel about the world should leave their disbelief and prejudices behind them, for an indulgence in either one or the other will be sure to mar the pleasure of their progress. If, as it has been said by an illustrious writer, that baving "stood upon Achilles's tomb And heard Troy doubted, time will doubt of Rome,” it is not at all unlikely that succeeding places will undergo the same chance of oblivion and of doubt from succeeding generations; nevertheless, visit a spot in the district of Kensington, where once stood the great elm-tree, under which William Penn concluded those negotiations with the Indian chiefs that led to the founding of a colony, which the course of events has turned into the fair city of Philadelphia. The scene has been rendered somewhat * We cannot vouch for the authenticity of this other piece of humor in the same Court, but we were assured of the fact. A lad being sub- ponad as a witness, the Judge said: "Put the boy up in evidence." . 93 AND NEW ENGLAND. familiar by West's fine picture, and therefore any recollection of it will be agreeable. To us there is an indescribable gratification in going back as far as possible into the source of all that arrests our attention- in arriving at the fountain-bead, from which greatness and good have continuously sprung, and in marking thereby what wondrous events the flight of time brings to bear. By trusting somewhat to memory, and something to imagination, you may believe your- self for the moment beneath the umbrageous shelter which covered alike the men of England and those of the Algonquin race, and listening to the peaceful tenets of the self-exiled Quaker, and the compliance of the confiding Indian. That neither one party nor the other ever dreamed that conference could lead to those results which civilization has effected, we can readily believe; but though man may have hewn down the forest, and peopled its locality, he has been unable to alter the course of the Delaware and the Schuylkill, or remove their surrounding mountains; and thus we may re-people the past, and turn fancy into the sternness of reality. In the plenitude of our faith we visited the spot, and we should strongly recommend any wanderer to Philadelphia a similar act of homage. - It will require no stretch of credulity to visit another scene which is peculiarly dear to the memory of an American. Pre- suming that you have seen, in the Patent-office of Washington, the old-fashioned printing-press at which Benjamin Franklin worked in London, you cannot feel otherwise than curious to see his final resting place. Though born in New England, he be- came, at seventeen years of age, an inbabitant of Philadelphia, which he may be considered as having altogether adopted ; and to the formation of its literary and other institutions, his wisdom and his patriotism mainly contributed. Well, at the north-west corner of the churchyard of Christ Church, you will behold, covering an unostentatious grave, il marble slab, with these words engraven thereon : BENJAMIN ) · AND FRANKLIN. DEBORAH 1790. Beneath this slab repose the bones of the great philosopher- “simplex munditiis," we may well exclaim. Next to Boston, the city of Philadelphia is one with which an Englishman will be more pleased than with any other in the States; it is bonâ fide of English extraction, created by, and en- larged upon, English notions; it has the same order, the same OLD ENGLAND peatness, the same appearance which characterize Qur.ojn topus, and you feel at home as soon as you put foot in it. One of the most striking features amongst the many which present them-. selves, is "the Market"-we adopt the singular, though there : are several ; but the one is in Market Street, of an almost in- credible length, and presenting an equally incredible nicety of arrangement and cleanliness of appearance. The State of Penn- sylvania is, famed for its pasturage, and thus the 'butter and, cheese-stalls. cut a very conspicuous figure in the range of this building. We were particularly struck: by the manner of a gen- tleman dressed in full black, followed, as we presumed, by his servant; who seemed'intent upon the weiglit of a pound of butter which we took it for granted he was puichasing, and we felt some degree of astonishment at any one being so exceedingly particụ- lar about so very trilling a matter ; but passing him again in another part of the market, and perceiving him similarly em- .ployed, we inquired into the nature of his occupation, and found that he was neither more nor less than the clerk of the market, whose duty it is to weigh a pound of butter promiscuously se- lected from every tub that may happen to be brought into it; and if he finds a deficiency of half an ounce, the whole lot of some fifty or sixty pounds becomes forfeited, and its produce goes into the city funds. We could not help feeling the neces- sity and value of such a precaution at home, where many a stated quantity is shorn of its due proportion, and many a customer thereby defrauded of his natural rights. One of the grand products of the Delaware is a fish called the shad, a great delicacy, and consequently held in considerable es- timation; and being caught, as it were, on the spot, it will be readily understood that the market abounds with them. : We visited one of the scenes of action, where, the--season's slaughter takes place, and were much interested with the whole proceeding: The parties who rent that portion of the water we were on, pay a considerable annual sum for it. They have a large cottage, or hut, or hovel, or whatever it may be termed, erected on the shore for their fishermen, whom they pay twenty-eight dollars (we un- derstood) a month each, and provide them moreover with every kind of provision, and a comfortable hammock to sleep in. These are swung up aloft, while the lower apartinents consist of a room for mealing in; a store-room, and a kitchen, the duties of which were superintended most efficiently by a darkie. We were hos- pitably pressed to partako of an excellent dinner to which these rough sons of the waters were sitting down, with an assurance of some whiskey that could not be surpassed elsewhere. That AND NEW ENGLAND. .. . 95 . . . - We felt perfectly certain of, and only regretted that the repast of al friend, ait whose house we were on a-visit, was waiting our return. . .. ; . In a bright spring morning, when the early flowers have been just gathered, and retain their natural odor, when fresh vegeta- : bles make all their first appearance this season;" when the butchers are arrayed in the whitest of linen aprons and sleeves, and the venders of butter; milk, eggs, and other domestic com- modities, are decked out in their plaited and primitive caps, lawn handkerchiefs, and mittens' to meet their long-sleeved gowns; we. cannot picture, nor imagine a prettier sight of rustic simplicity. Considerable discussion from time to time has arisen upon the subject of solitary confinement.-a species of punishment which is a distinguishing feature of the Eastern Penitentiary of Phila- delphia. On the one hand, it is deemed a lenient and safe mode of correcting crime, and on the other a superhuman principle of torturę Pseudo-philanthropy has become now-a-days à very fashionable propensity, practised to a degree actually amounting to broad faroe. At the time that pleasant couple, Mr. and Mrs: Manning; departed this life under an universal impression that they bad sent: Mr. Patrick O'Connor out of it a short time be- fore, there were those to be found who added to the countless throngs that witnessed the execution, and who the following morn- ing denounced in the public journals the absolute necessity of abolishing capital punishment, and stopping thereby that fearful tendency the people always manifest to be present at such spec- tacles. At this rate, à man and his wife may dispose of their lodger by blowing his brains out, and burying his body under the hearth-stone of the kitchen-range ; but the olden cry of blood will have blood, the slayer for the slain," must not be heard ; for the mob will flock to such sights, and their habits, already * sufficiently depraved, only becoine more so. Well, then, in this prison they don't hang; you only lock à mån up for five or ten years of his life, and keep him entirely to himself, that he may neither become more contaminated than he is, nor contaminate other people. In comes mawkisliness again, roundly asserting that such chas- tisement is nothing short of a slow but certain process of murder; that it terminates in early death or confirmed lupacy, and stamps altogether the brand of shame on the legislative brow of the coun- try. It is impossible to arrive at the aim of these people, who pander to the very worst babits of the community by admitting- nay, maintaining--that their highest crimes are capable of ex- tenuation. At this rate of going on, we shall shortly find our- LI 96 . OLD ENGLAND selves sitting at table by the side of a fellow who has cut a friend's throat, or taking wine with the forger who has brought a whole family to ruin, or sipping a cup of tea with every patron or pro- fessor of petty larceny in one's parish. By the showing of these scribes, to murder a man outright, and have done with him, is an act capable of palliation; but to murder him by slow degrees (which they deem this), to give him ample time for the repent- ance of sin and to implore forgiveness, is an act of infamous bar- barity, compared to the horrors of which, the wheel and the thumb-screw of the Inquisition were merciful. We did hear that, contrary to the opinion of the authorities, some alteration in the system upon which this Penitentiary is conducted was about to be effected; but not under the slightest idea that any of the re- sults depicted by these precious pseudo-philanthropists were at all likely to occur. While thus roving about from "gay to grave, from lively to severe,' we must caution any sojourner in this bright spot against committing, seriatim, a supposed error into which we fell, in- tentionally, by way of joke. Having obeyed the summons of one of the most charming families this city contains to accompany them to mass, to hear some good music, we were witness to the ceremonies with which the affair wound up; and in referring to the eddies of what Johnson calls “visible effluvium,” that were whirling round the high altar and parts adjacent, we observed to a neighbor : “We had no idea that smoking was allowed in a Ro- man Catholic chapel!” “What do you mean?'' said the astound- ed disciple; "that's not smoke, it's incense !" . But after all the preamble and peroration into which we have entered, to know Philadelphia well, you must know its people, enjoy their society, partake of their hospitality, join in their pur- suits, and cultivate in every possible degree their valuable ac- quaintance. The first means of accomplishing this, is to go up to the western extremity of Chestnut Street, and gazing upon the dullest-looking house in all that vast thoroughfare, you will in- stantly come to the conclusion that it is an hospital or alms-house, for such it appears to be; but get an introduction to the proprie- tress of it, Mrs. Rush, and the doors of one of the stateliest mansions ever crected will be thrown open to you. In selecting, for mention by name, any particular member of private society, we may be pardoned when that one holds almost the position of a public character. This lady is a millionaire resident of Phila-, delphia, whose liusband, Dr. Rush, is a brother to a former Minister at the Court of St. James's, and she is "the observed of all observers," as may readily be imagined. Of Mrs. Rush's taste and acquirements some idea may be formed in an examina- AND NEW ENGLAND. 97 .: tion of the palace in which she resides; but they may be more generally understood, when we state that she is one of the most accomplished women of the day, a ripe scholar, an extraordinary linguist, a good musician, and a general student. Beneath her fretted and golden roof, the wealthy and the wise, the young and the beautiful, the robust and the gay, assemble from all parts, on any of her grand galas; while to her weekly levees every Saturday, not merely the inhabitants known to her, but the stranger that is within their gates, flock, and are courteously re- ceived-in short, to live in Philadelphia, and not know Mrs. Rush, is to argue yourself unknown. One might be pardoned, with equal propriety, for bringing into what further notice these light pages can give him, so eminent a character as General George Cadwallader, one of the most distin- guished of American citizens. It is said there is no end of his wealth-certainly there is none of his hospitality; and that he is le plus brave des braves, the annals of the Mexican War can fur- nish ample testimony. Neither have we the same reserve we feel in so many other instances, when we single out Mr. Pierce Butler (the General's brother-in-law), whose various accomplishments, suavity of manner, and noble principles, won him so much esteem when he visited England, and where an universal sympathy for his ill-assorted inarriage prevails with all who have the pleasure of knowing him. Having been brought for the time being into an unenviable notoriety in matters connected with that branch of public life, in which he had been happier had he never associated, we shall bave occasion to make a slight reference to him in an- other chapter, and now simply mention him as another amongst a long list, whom all who visit the city of brotherly love should endeavor to know. It is a place of pleasantness all over; it has one of the pleasantest clubs, with some of the pleasantest mem- bers a club can be composed of. The principal conductors of its journalism demonstrate how pleasaut men of high literary attain- ments can be; in short, to steal a holy thought from a boly volume,"its ways are ways of pleasantness, and all its paths are peace." By the margin of its fine rivers we have strolled, and thought over all these things; and we shall think of them for many a long day to come, bearing in mind, and acting upon its principle, the concluding stanza of the Hibernian lyrist on the same scene of enchantment: The stranger is gone, but he will not forget When at home he shall talk of the toils he has known, To tell with a sigh what endearments he met, As he roved by tlie waves of the Schuylkill alone! 98 OLD ENGLAND . If you want to go from Philadelphia in a westward and then a north-westward direction, as circumstance or inclination may de- termine, it is a puzzle' which route to select, where the perils of travel least abound. If you return to New York, and proceed viâ that city to Buffalo, and thence onward towards Ohio, you, have to recross the Rancocus Creek, and other watery, cemeteries, we have written elsewhere upon, and then to dash across the Hudson River, skimming the top of that uncertain element for nearly 160 miles; if you think of the Cumberland and Ohio Rail- way, you will think also of last April;* and then you have only one other horror to approach, and that is, the Alleghany Moun- tains. We therefore determined to approach them, and took the railroad cars for Pittsburg. The danger which so many associate with the travel over then, from the fact of the heaviest trains being propelled by ropes up and down inclined planes, in which progress the snapping of a cord might hurl numbers to immediate perdition, is to our way of thinkiog no danger at all, compared with that which seems impending over more than 200 miles of ground before you reach them, and after you have turned your back upon them. There is no question of one thing, that should the ropes break, the passengers would also break—their necks; and it is impossible to deny that it is a complete case of travel- terror; but look at the prospective and retrospective view. One moment the road lies over bridges thrown across precipices more than 150 feet high, then on rails laid down round imountain passes, whence the slightest curve might send one in to the realms of space. The gauge of the track being narrow, and the sides of the cars projecting over the wheels, you rarely see from the win- dows of either any portion of the road, the eye encountering, at an immense depth below you, either rapid rivers, deep ravines, forests hanging midway down, or glens even below them. It gives you some idea of sailing in the air; and if the mind could be thoroughly divested of apprehension, the panorama around you so surpassingly beautiful, would charm you. The best thing we can do, before we say anything more upon the subject, is to give the traveller this piece of advice : Before you cross over the Alleghany Mountains, Be sure that you settle all your little countings- With wife; with parent, sister, or with brother, In this world, at all events, Lest any of the small events Which happen up there should send you to the other! .. * See the article on travelling, chap. xii. AND NEW ENGLAND. - If you've done any wrong, immedintely redioss it, · Or committed any sin, immediately confess it If you haven't paid your washing; or any little bet, You certainly will rue it, For after you've paid Nature's debt, 'Twill be too late to do it! Without going into every particular, If you should be thrown down Rocks, at the least half a mile perpendicular, If you crack nothing else, you'll of course crack your crown!; Then 'twould make your eyeballs stare, And all your flesh quiver, To find yourself suddenly hanging by the hair :: . From the branches of a tree hanging o'er à river!. Then let us ask you, is it not abhorrent . From nature, to feel you're only one leg remaining, And, soused over head and ears, borne down a torrent, After the other with all your might straining ? To be drawn up by team Of ropes, instead of steam, · Is-a novel way, and not a very pleasant one- But is not a matter of selection, · Or rejection, For of other modes of travelling there is not, at the present, one. [Nota bene. We hope, Without the least offence, that we may say, ... If it is to be our lot To go out of the world by virtue of a rope, Pray is it not Best to do so at once by the regular way?] Then, A very hollow glen, , And a very deep raviné, Are all very well if at a distance they are seen. ... But here there's nothing at all romantic in it; For you're rolled into either in a minute! The rover. On the top of a mountain, and a misty ’un, : .... Would be sorry to see From its summit e'en a donkey thrown over; Then pray what must be His feelings, when this happens to a Christian? · No-no! Do not go! *For if your thoughts aspire By going so much higher To breathe the purer air Which circulanteth there, COL: C 2 ) * irerea 100 OLD ENGLAND It is much more like to choke you, From the rapid rate they drive at, And, the end ere they arrive at, In some decp morass they'll soak you... Or, should you idly dream Of finding in those regions Of fairies bright-wing d birds, and flowers, legions- All lovely things that have their birth In sweet localities above dull earth, : And which so spotless seem, That nothing e'er can harm, and nothing grieve 'em- Whoever tells you so, do not believe 'em- For neither warblers, plants, parterres, or fountains, Are ever to be found among the Alleghany Mountains! When we arrived at the “summit,” we had the pleasure of resting there three hours, owing to a car which preceded ours, full of luggage and goods, having broken down right across our path; and shortly after we were relieved from this difficulty, and night had hospitably drawn her curtains round our beads, at a distance of sixty miles from our destination, and in a desolate spot where no immediate assistance could be rendered, one of the pipes of our engine broke. Well, to cut the matter short, instead of reaching Pittsburg at six in the evening, we alighted there at half-past two in the morning, where the only refreshment to be obtained, was a remnant of candle to light you into bed. We told you, some time ago, that New York was one of the dirtiest places te ever happened to have been in, but the Iron City (as Pittsburg is called), this “Birmingham of America," : throws it completely into shade, being the dirtiest spot, we pre- sume, under the sun. On a clear day, when that sun can pene- trate the dense sinoke in which the city is generally enveloped, the junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers, which by their union form the Ohio, with the fleet of floating citadels (the steam-boats of the western waters*) lying on them, at their moorings, and the mountains rising around them on either side, are sights as marvellous as any in this land of marvels.. But the quarries of coal, which form the strata of these mount- ains, their consumption in the city for the boundless manufac- ture of iron, and other things, together with blazing furnaces and * How far a traveller may like to sail on these waters, is his own affair; but we may just as well observe, for his guidance, that, by a Con- gressional return, it appears that up to the year 1849 there had been lost on them (principally on the Mississippi) 736 vessels, 419 of which were lost by snagging; and in one year, ending July 1, 1851, there had been lost 69, and the ascertained loss in money amounted to $18,342,320 ! AND NEW ENGLAND. 101 their incessant blastings, forever here at work, render “dark- ness" the chief thing really “visible.” At a distance from this funereal scene of action, in a retired rural spot, we passed some happy hours with a valued friend and his family, there resident, from which locality may be seen as much verdant beauty as was ever offered up at the shrine of May. And it is indeed a singular sight to gaze upon hills clothed in all the gaudy attire of nature, even up to their very summits, at the moment such masses of bitumen are, day by day, extracted from their interiors. We should have seen all this wonderment sooner, and have staid to look at it longer-in our May—that period of life, when fancy is ever as bright as the fields, and reality little thought about; for, as a delightful poet,* resident in this city, has beautifully sung, "Oh, life! it is far too brief, And you waste its spring in bowers of ease, And its autumn in cells of grief !” We have, hereafter, said a few words on the construction and . accommodation of the stupendous steamers which lie at their ease (until their-turn of departure arrives) along the banks of the Monongabela River, and nothing can be added to that ac- . count; but having a little call to make in the neighborhood-at Cleveland, in the State of Obio, only 100 miles off-we got up early one fine morning, dashed the "blacks” from our eyes, and the soot from our visage, which the dark city never failed to leave there, and departed from one of the best hotels in the Union (Monongahela House), conducted by the most obliging of pro- prietors (Mr. Crossian), having fully made up our minds to sleep upon the waters of Lake Erie, on the margin of which the forest city of Cleveland abuts; and having done what we intended to do, we shall by-and-bye inflict upon your patience some account of what we dich do. * MR. SHIRAS.--It is not often the case that a manufacturing town can boast of great literary pretension; but, without forgetting our own renowned bard of Sheffield, and the famous Corn Law Rhymer, the genius of Mr. Shiras, of Pittsburg, is one that any city, in any country, may be proud of. 9* 102 OLD ENGLAND CHAPTER IX. The growth of cities-Their romantic titles-Log cabing Daniel Webster and General Harrison-Trade of the far west-The Manchester of Old England, and the Manchester of New England— Wondrous statistics A model factory girl-Baltimore and its monuments-Duck shooting and its delights--Poaching extraordinary--Street shooting-Origin and anecdote of a bowie-knife-Pretty good specimen's of personality Its consequences--Scene in a law court-Cocktails and Coffin's Moving a house, as woll as its furniture-Working double tides. THE growth of cities, towns, villages-places coming under any denomination you please forms one of the most remarkable features in the history of America. Some of the great cities (or the principal ones, amongst which we have already delivered a few comments), are thus romántically designated :- New York is called .. The Empire City: Philadelphia 66.. .. The Quaker City. Boston 66 The Pilgrim City. Baltimore . . . The Monumental City. Washington " The City of Magnificent Distances. New Orleans 66 The Crescent City. Pittsburg The Iron City. Chicago o ii . The Prairie Čity. Cleveland 16 .. The Forest City. New Haven The City of Elms, and so on. If we were to take you farther a-field, into the States of Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan, we could submit to you a statistic account with which we were favored ; wherein it will be found, as a fact admitting of no question, that half a century since there were not in them all 50,000 inha- bitants, and the log-cabins* of the enterprising pioneer and G * When General Harrison was candidate for the office of President, and some imputations were cast upon him from having been born in a log cabin' the late Duniel Webster thus retorted upon those worthless Sarcasms :- "Gentlemen, • It is only shallow-minded pretenders who either makc distinguished origin matter of personal merit, or obscure origin matter of personal re- proach. Tount and scoffing at the humble condition of early life affect nobody in this country but those who are foolish enough to indulge in : ; 103 AND NEW ENGLAND. ... frontier settlers, in this wondrous stretch of territory, stood at very respectable distances. There were in those, comparatively speaking, recent days, but about 5,000 acres of improved land in all these States; while their prairies and forests, their rivers and lakes, were mostly in the undisturbed possession of the untamed savage'; and the Indian trail, the bark canoe, and the bridle path, were the only means of internal communication. At this moment these five States have a joint population of 4,500,000, have 44 representatives in Congress, raised (in 1850) 40,000,000 bushels of wheat, 177,000,000 bushels of corn, and made 24,000,- 000 pounds of cheese, and 67,000,000 pounds of butter; with Macadamized roads, canals, and railroads; with myriads of splendid steamers plying upon their rivers and lakes, and tele- graphic communications between all their chief cities and towns, as well as other parts of the Union ; with churches, colleges, school-houses, and innumerable public institutions, which meet the eye wherever vision wanders... To conduct the reader to all those portions of this vast empire, where its growth has made such a huge stride, would be in reality to take him over the whole extent, for the spirit of improvement. has broken out in all directions. Look only at the growth of Cincinnati, Chicago, and Milwaukie, in the western hemisphere, and then hurry back to Boston, Lowell, and Lawrence in the north, skipping over hundreds of intermediate places similarly . them, and they are generally sufficiently punished by public rebuke. A nan who is not ashamed of himself, noed not be ashamed of his early condition. 6 Gentlemen, "It did not happen to me to be born in a log-cabin, but my eldest brothers and sisters were born in one, raised and the snow-drifts of New Hampshire, at a period so carly, as that when the smoke first rose from its rude chimney, and curled over the frozen hills, there was no similar evidence of a white man's habitation between it and the settle- ments on the rivers of Canada. Its remains still exist. I make to it an annual visit. I carry my children to it, to teach them the hardships en- dured by the generations which have gone before them. I love to dwell on the tender recolloctions, the kindred ties, the early affections, and the touching narratives and incidents which mingle with all I know of this primitive family abode. I weep to think that none of those who inba- bited it are now among the living; and if ever I am ashamed of it, or if ever I fail in affectionate veneration for him who raised it and defended it against savage' violence and destruction, cherished all the domestic virtues beneath its roof, and througủ the fire and blood of a seven years' revolutionary war, shrank from no danger, no toil, no sacrifice to serve his country, and to raise his children to a condition better than his own, may my name, and the name of my posterity, be blotted for ever from the memory of mankind." 104 OLD ENGLAND circumstanced. Why, twenty years ago Cincinnati could only lay claim to 25,000 inhabitants, but by the census of 1850 its population amounted to 115,338! Chicago in 1832 contained only five small stores, and was inhabited by 250 souls--eighteen years after (1850), it had a population of 30,000! while Mil- waukie, which in 1834 consisted of only two log-houses, in 1850 had a population of 22,137! Then East Boston, in 1830, exbi- bited the desolate aspect of a barren island, with one solitary fisherman's hut upon it, while at this moment it presents the appearance of a large city, with extensive warehouses, wharfs, shipping, &c., and a population of 12,000! But even these are Tess wonderful than the growth” of Lowell, termed the “Man- chester of America," and a proud rival of the great original, if you take into consideration the respective ages of the manufac- turing town of Old England, and then that of New England. In 1820, Lowell was only peopled by 200 inhabitants. The first purchase towards the establishment of manufactories here was in 1821 ; the first piece of cloth was woven in 1823; it became a city in 1836; and, at the present writing, has a population of 35,000. We should strongly advise the cotton lords of our own land to look over this wonderful table of statistics of Lowell ma- nufactures, and learn to lower their haughty crests an inch or two. : There are other manufactories in this city than those specified above, of a value of $1,500,000, employing a capital of $400,000, and about one thousand five hundred hands. It is not, however, the vast extent of these manufactories that we would desire so specifically to talk about, as it is with reference to those extraor- dinary establishments erected for the comfort, the nourislıment, and the morality of those who work in them—the boarding- houses. The reader will have directed his attention to the wages of the operatives, male and female, the payment of which (board and Wages) is monthly, and which, after allotting to these houses the sum apportioned for the maintenance of their inmates, leaves an average sum of some eight shillings a-week to females, and eighteen shillings a-week to males, as unincumbered wages. These tenements present an appearance of uniformly built rows of houses, modestly but comfortably furnished, where a whole- some table is provided, and every possible precaution taken to protect the unsuspicious, and the innocent nature of early youth. When the toil of the long, heavy day is over, the wearied laborer does not retire to the dirty cottage, the squalid hovel, the ener- vating beer-house, and other filthy purlieux, that, in some manu- STATISTICS OF LOWELL MANUFACTURES,, JANUARY, 1850. d4 COMPILED FROM AUTHENTIC SOURCES. Co. 1840 : .. .. : pet : : : Merrimack Hamilton Lowell Suffolk Lawrence Lowell Boott Massachusetts Lowell CORPORATIONS. Manufacturing Manufacturing) Appleton Co. Manufacturing Middlesex Co. Manufacturing|Tremont Mills. Manufacturing| Bleachery. Cotton Mills. Cotton Milla. Machine Shop. Total. Co. Co. Co. i Co. Incorporated. 1822 1825 1828 1828 1830 1830 1830 1830 1832 1835 1839 1845 Commenced Operations 1823 1825 1828 1828 1830 18:32 1832 1833 & 1834 1832 1836 1945 Capital Stock . . . . 12,500,000 dols. | 1,200,000 600,000 1 1,500,000 1,000,000 600,000 600,000 1,500,000 210,000 1,200,000 1,800,000 600,000 13,210,000 1 Spinning 6 and Print 4 and Print- Number of Mills . Bleachery and 4 and 3 Dye- . . 1 Carpet 2 sbops, smithy ., 60 works. works. houses Dye-yorks 1 Cotton and foundry 4,200 Wool Spindles . . . . . 1 68,768 38,416 17,920 7,142 Cotton 16,310 14,448 14,560 44,800 47,632 45,720 319,916 220 Cotton 124 Power Car- 75 Broadcloth Looms . . . . 2,012 . 1,124 600 590 557 1,364 1,432 1,459 328 Cassimere 9,885 Females employed 1,500 040 400 550 730 400 400 1,200 870 1,250 8,260 Males employed . 262 including mule. . . . 645 367 120 225 100 575 100 200 250 700 i tenders 3,741 12,000 yds.car- 16,587 Cassi- 2,710,000 cotton, pet, 40 rugs. Yards, made per week . mere . 200,000 . 310,000 20,477 woollen, 140,000 95,000 yards | 3,890 Broad- 120,000 140,000 260,000 270,000 475,000 12,000 carpets, cotton cloth 40 rugs 4,500 tons Cotton consumed per week, pounds) 67,000 60,000 50,000 50,000 48,000 42,000 95,000 85,000 150,000 wrought & cast 653,000 iron per ann. Wool consumed per week, pounds 36,000 33,000 .. ..... .. .. .. 69,000 75,000 printed Yards dyed and printed Cotton & vool345,000 printed ...! 270,000 *.. .. 9,500,000 dyed Drillings, No. 14 15,000 dyed lon manufac'ry 9,516,000 dyed Prints and Sheetings, Prints, flannels Sheetings and Carpets, ruge, Broadcloth Sheetings, No. Printing cloths, 4,500,000 lbs. Shirts Sheetings, 13 Locomotives & Shirtings, Kind of Goods made sheetings and Sheetings, No. / and Sheetings, Sbirtings, No. Cassimere and cotton Drillings, 14 sterin.cngines, No. 30 Sbirtings, 14 mnchinist tools 22 to 40. 14: 14 to 40 Sbirtings, No. shirtingy 14 to cloth Plain & Fancy annum Cloths, Drillings, 14 und mill-work. 1,500 tons hard Tons Anthracite Coal, per annum 6,800 3,780 850 2,600 340 1,000 3,000 1,100 2,700 27,620 300 chal. soft Charcoal, bushels per annum 3,555 2,148 1,000 2,000 2,000 2,500 900 3,000 1,800 2,000 15,000 35,903 Wood per annum, cords . . 400 200 700 50 150 120 500 70 100 100 2,300 Lard, 27,000 82,917 oil Oil per annum, gallons Lard, 8,000 . . 15,000 9,000 5,400 Sperm, 5,000 3,600 Sperm, 8,000 8,217 12,000 2,000 3,000. 7,100 35,000 lard 2 Turbines, (17 fect, and 2 centre Breast, 30 feet 5 Turbines, each 8 ft. 4 in. vent wheels, as im 17 feet Water-wheels, diameter ... Turbines 12 and 17 feet 13 feet 13 feet 17 feet 13 feet Turbine, 5 feet 3 Breast wheels diam. proved by Mr. Fran 2 Turbines 1 do. 5 ft. 8 in. cis, 9 ft. 4 in. diam. 23, 21, and 45 Length of do. for each Mill . Breast, 24 feet 62 feet 62 feet 60 feat. 60 and $0 feet | feet 60 feet 46 feet in all Starch, lbs. per annum 200,000 130,000 75,000 .. .. .. .. .. .. 100,000 75,000 140,000 260,000 150,000 220,000 1,380.000 Flour, barrels, per annum . 425 200 600 40 1,305 How warmed Steam Steam Steam Steam Furn. & Steam Steam Steam Steam Steam Steam Steam Steam Wm. S South Name of Agent . i . . 1. Hinckley John Avery George Motley Alox. Wright 0. H. Perry John Wright C. L. Tilden | C. A. Babcock Linus Child Joseph White Wm. A. Burke worth : 14 bleached per Printing 14 30 4.000 350 4,600 100 80 Average wages of females clear of board, per week Average wages of males clear of board, per day . Medium produce of a loom, No. 14 yarn, yards per day Medium produce of a loom, No. 30 yarn, yards per day Average per spindle, yards per day . . . . . . 13 The Middlesex Company makes use annually of 6,000,000 teasels, 1,716,000 lbs. fine wool, 80,000 lbs. glue, 60,000 dollars' worth of dyestuffs, and 17,000 dollars' worth of soap. They also own the Wamesit Carpet Mill, on the Concord River, where are consumed annually, 93,600 lbs. coarse wool, and 36,400 lbs. of worsted yarn, producing 01,000 yards ingrain carpeting. The Lowell Machine Shop, included among the above Mills, can furuish machinery complete for a mill of 1,000 spindles in three months, and a mill can be built in the same time. The several manufacturing companies have established a Hospital for the convenience and comfort of persons employed by them respectively when sick, which is undor the superintendence of one of the best surgeons and physicians. There are two Institutions for Savings, the Lowell and the City. The Lowell had on deposit, the first Saturday in October, 18.10, from 4,650 depositora, 792,291 dollars, 90 conts. The City, at the same tipie, had on deposit, from 615 depositors, 75,970 dollars, 51 cents. The operatives in the mids are the prin al depositors in the above banks. [TO FACE PAGE 104.] AND NEW ENGLAND. 105 facturing towns we could name, are the places of their resort for spending their means, and misspending their time; but to an abode fit for any member of the middling classes of life, where the strictest order and decorum are preserved. None but opera- tives are allowed to live in these houses; their doors are closed at ten o'clock in the evening, and no one is admitted after that time. The keepers of these houses must give an account, as often as required, of the numbers, names, and employment of all inmates, and must report the names of all who are guilty of improper conduct, or are not in the constant habit of attending public worship. These and other useful regulations are strictly enforced, whereby the factory-girl becomes a pattern to her sex; and turns out, after years of hard work, a model fit to become the wife of any respectable man, or an example by which he may select one. Don't run away with any absurd prejudice, or any stuff of that kind; but read all this, digest its matter, and then, ye sons and daughters of the loom in some parts of Old England, . either blush yourselves, or get somebody to blush for you. But to what lengths are we suffering ourselves to be led, about other people and places, when, in the growth of cities, we are anxious to say a few words about another, which has swollen, in the period herein chronicled, from a population of eighty thousand to one of one hundred and seventy thousand! We mean Balti- more, drolly christened the City of Monuments; for no reason that we could learn, beyond the fact of there being exactly one monument and a half in its precincts-it not being, elsewhere, the habit to call cathedrals, churches, institutions, universities, schools, &c., by any but their right names. Baltimore, however, is a delightful place, either for a man of bustle and business, or a man of quietude and pleasure; for the one will find himself in a flourishing port of entry, of immense traffic, of numerous manu- factures, and about the largest market for tobacco and flour in the Union, while the other may enjoy all the advantages of its sereral literary and scientific institutes, roam about the exquisite scenery of the surrounding country, or at the proper season go and revel in the far-famed sport of duck-shooting, the very men- tion of which sets American mouths watering, and would those of other people if they could attack them in equal perfection. We are not going to enter into any ornithological history of the duck tribe, nor into any minute account of the various modes adopted to possess these doomed devils; and therefore it will be only necessary to say that amongst them the genus the can- vas-back takes precedence of all others, from its exquisite flavor; then comes the red-head, and after that the black head, the bald- **OLD ENGLAND pate, the mallaid, and the dipper. They foed upon the wild celerý or grass, which is only to be found in this particular region. The usual period of their arrival is in October, and that canvas-backed ducks,, unless shot between tho middle of Decem- ber and the middle of January, aro not worth eating. The legitimate mode of shooting theso birds is from the interior of a sort of pon, called a blind, so obscured by grass or underwood as, to prevent the temporary inhabitant being visible; but the vi- športsmanlike gunner will rosort to the decoy method of sending painted wooded ducks out into the stream, where they are soon joined by a flock of real ones, and then wholesale slaughter begins. Tolliūg, netting, coffin-boats, &c., constitute othér ille- gal modes of sporting, which end very frequently in the prac- tisers of sảch unworthy methods getting as many pellets into their own legs, or those of their dogs, as they drop into the cor- poreal system of their unsuspecting victims. The battle-ground lies along the banks of the Potomac and Susquehanná rivers, the chief locality of which is Maxwell's Poirt, about seventeen 'miles from Baltimore, and the principal proprietor thereof is General Georgo Cadwallader, one of the wealthiest, the bravest, and the best of Pennsylvania's sons, whose courtesies we shall ever re- member with affectionate respect in thinking of those days, as we have already observed, "When we roved by tho waves of the Schuylkill alone." The cockney may be intimately acquainted with many of the ine taste of a canvas-back duck, unless he has partaken of one at the house of Mr. Ricketts, on the Point. , There is good shooting in the city of Baltimore, as well as outside of it; for, while lolling on the steps of our hotel (Bar- num's), our attention was directed to those of an opposite one whero a man had been standing; and another who had "a sus- picion well-grounded that the delinquent had taken undue liberties with the petticoat part of his property, aimed at him in open day, and brought him down as if he had beon a red-head! Maryland is the first of the Slave States, going south, conse- quently the “Free” thero very often make more free than wel- come, and the gun and bowie-knife* are in constant requisition. * A circumstanco, connectod with this fearful instrument and its in- ventor, is of too parkod a character to be passed by: James Bovic, & planter on tho Red River, invented this alaming weapon (to which ho AND NEW UNT. . . R !. .. .. " . L H ii . - C n ' y . . ' ENGLAND. We do not wish it to be understood that this private " ball prac- tico" is confined to the city of Baltimore=certainly not, Sir; for a very lively specimen thereof occurred, a little before our visit to Washington, in that city. A poster, written in a most abusive style, against James W. Schaumburg, by Edward H. Huller, adorned one fine morning the city walls devoted to the purposes of public exposure; and we, question whether such a composition had ever before made its appearance in the garb of the English, or any other language." Personality ought at all times to be avoided; and above all personalities of a violent character. This placard' led to a per- sonal collision between thom, in which Fuller was shot, and se- riously, but not fatally, injured. Baltimore is a mighty pleasant VAUI TAV 0, .. SA gavo his namo), to onable him to resist the incessant incursion of the .' > safety. All his wondrous achievements would, by narration, load us into greater lengths than this slight publication aims at; but it is im- possible to omit mention of one. A neighboring planter (21- Spaniard) laad become so offensive to Bowie, through political and other offences, that he was apprehensive, having to pass his estate cvory evening, he might in some fino twilight have a sword run through his thigh, or a bullot lodged in his thorax;" and he therefore openly defied him to mors tal combat in any mannermost agreeable to him, whether with wifles, guns, blunderbusses, pistols, &c., loaded after the most approved fashion. His cartol was refused-until the Spaniard, finding himself universally branded as a coward, and the finger of scorn pointed everywhere against him, seut Bowie word he would fight him with his own invented knives, cach naked, and strapped down by thongs to a tressel-scarcely imagin- ing that Bowie would accopt such a wild and barbarous mode of defiance. He little know his man, for Bowie did accept it; and the combatants met, nocompanied by five-and-twenty friends on each side. After being woll strapped down, and parying some time, the Spaniard stuck his knife through the fleshy part of Bowie's left arin, whose natural strength . was enabled to hold his adversary's weapon fast between the sinews and bone of that arm. He then grasped his own knife, and with an effort of almost suporhunan strength plunged it into the bowels of his opponent, and, as the blooding sergeant related of Macbeth, .. . ..“ Unseam’d him from the nave to the chaps," .? when to use Bowie's own words- as ho belchod forth his entrails" in & wild shriek of agony, Bowie simply said his own knife in his right hand, and tho expiring Spaniard's still sticking in his left eum), “Now, gentlemen, unthong mo !"). Tho original instrument (the blado of which is 124 inches long, and 18 inch wido) that did the deed, is now in the iated tho story. 1 .. 108 OLD BNGLAND: . - STI A place; women of beauty, and men of heart and hospitality illu- mine its streets, and impart a charm to its houses; it has one of the best clubs in America, within whose walls the stranger is most warmly welcomed, and where wit and humor are super- abundant. A worthy member came in from one of the law- courts, and relatod to us this pioce of absurd dialogue between lawyer and delinquent: LAWYER.---Will you, on your. solemn oath, swear that this is not your handwriting ? DELINQUENT. I reckon not. LAWYER.Does it resemble your handwriting? DELINQUENT:-Yes, I think it don't. . : LAWYER.—Will you swear it don't resemble your writing? DELINQUENT. Well, I do, old head. LAWYER.—Then you take your solemn oath that this writing does not resemble yours, in a single letter ?.. DOLINQUENT.--I guess I do... ..... . LAWYER:--Now, sir, how do you know? DELINQUENT. -'Cause I can't write! After one hearty laugh, our friend said: "Of course you know that Baltimore is famous for cocktails,* so let us go and have a couple." We did so, and then indulged in another fit of worri- ment as loud as the former. We began this chapter with some account of the growth of cities, and the increase of inhabitants and habitations all over this: leviathan land; and we will close it with an account of one brief mode, at all events, by which this enlargement and location" of dwellings is brought about. They do nothing on a small scale in America; their territory is large, and their ideas are as large as their territory; their hotels are built as if they were meant to hold one-half of the people, and their steamboats as if designed to carry over their rivers and lakes the other half. A mau of dollars they think little about, and only begin to talk about him when he is master of millions. They build up fabrics on a most gigantic scale one year, and seeing a mode of turning them to bet- ter account, they pull them down the next year, and re-elect them * Tho most absurd request for this boverago we over board of, ooour- rod at New Orleans, at that foarful period, when the visitation of the cholera was decimating its population dnily, ay, hourly. A waiter ran ' up to tho bar of tho St. Charles Hotel, and gavo this order, in tho usual rapid, curtailed mode of delivery those personagos indulge in. "Two brandy cocktails for No. 24, a gin-flip for No. 26, and a coffin for No. 29; the two first are in a hurry-tothor ou wait!" AND NEW ENGLAND. -109 on a still more extensive plan.* In our quiet country we think it a great effort, and at all times an unpleasant one, to move ono's furniture; in America they think nothing of moving their houses! Throughout the republic, and especially in New England, even the principal erections are of wood; the houses, the pampement of the streets, the fuel, &o., all, in fact, but the people, are wooden. Horests are there what olay-pits and coal-mines are bere; and the chief commodity of each country is necessarily called always into requisition. We have seen a ten roomed house moving off, not oxactly at full gallop, but at as stately a pace "ås" if going to attend a funeral.' At Milwaukie, one of the cities justi referred to, a gentleman told us, that, seeing an auction-going on in an empty hotel, he inquired of a looker-on how it happened. that so large a, concorn was selling off its stock? The answer was that "he didn't know; that for the last five or six years it had been changing its street once a year! but no change of situ'awi tion seemed to do it any good."."Changing its street ?" ex- claimed our informant. "Yes,” snid the other, "and next week it is going to try South Stroet!" which turned out to be the fact: The same party told us that the upper end of Centre Street, in block of buildings obstructed the proposed alterations, they out it in two, and moving one-half to the other side, newly faced * At the village of Westerley, in Washington County, Rhode Island, they have a very singular modo of doing things twico over. One-half of tho inhabitants aro Seventh-day Baptists, who, believing Saturday to bo the real Sabbath, koop it with bocoming solomnity, and abstain from all kind of work. The other half entertain a different belief, and keep holy Sunday as the actual Lord's day, when they rost from their labor. Con- soquently there aro two Sabbaths in one sense of the word, and not ono in tho other, for on onoh day tho disciples of the opposite orood open their stores, hammor away in their manufnotorios, and to the quietude of oonscientious roligion, exhibit all the noise and bustle of business, a cir- cumstanoo which gavo rise to thao following opigram: THE FOURTH COMMANDMINT. . The Sabbath thou must holy keep- This preoept over bou in mind- When thou must tend nor ox nor shoep, Nor labor do of any kind ! Not knowing which day they should proach, Tho Westerloy "devout" koop two! And labor not to lose, on each They “ do all that they have to do!" . . Rom. 10 110 : OLD ENGLAND each division, and they formed two very respectable sides of the street!, "Can such things be, And overcome us like a summer cloud Without our special wonder ?” Certainly not; but wondering does not alter the business. Only imagine the bare possibility of going to rest some evening quietly in the Strand, and finding yourself the following morning up at the other end of Oxford Street! They are not satisfied with taking your bed from under you, but they take your house, your bed, and all! We do not use these words in their literal sense, because we never yot heard of an American who would not much rather give you a bed than take one away from you. We speak perhaps somewhat tropically, but at the same time we speak of things that have been and that are in operation. Sceptics there will be unto the end of time, and in all such cases the only sure way of solving a doubt is to do exactly what we did, stranger-open your purse-strings, cross the Atlantic, and you will very speedily have occasion to open your eyes.. AND NEW ENGLAND, 111 CHAPTER X. Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin-More than one “Key to it”-English gullibility out-Heroding Herod - The “Sutherland" Manifesto, and * Ex-Presidential” rejoinder-Pros and cons of slavery~The white slave as well as the black one-Dr. Parker-Two sides to every ques- tion-- There's no harm in a guinea"-The best mode to stow any quantity of them away. Any one writing at the present moment upon America, or on tbings at all connected with that country, and not mentioning Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, would lay himself open to a charge of high crimes and misdemeanors. If there be certain objec- tions against the name and the subject matter connected with it, in very numerous classes, it carries with it a talismanic effect in others, and of a verity their name is legion! The view we take of the whole business may probably differ, at the threshold, from that entertained by either one party or the other; but acting upon the principle which invariably guides us, we shall speak out at the risk of giving offence. We have never entertained, from the very onset, but one opinion of the object of the publication now under consideration, deeming it tho result of a general movement amongst our old undying friends, the Saints, whose energies in America have been ceaseless, despite defeat, occasional oppression, evil and good report, since the memorable twenty-second of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty - , when a goodly de- tachment of them first set foot upon Plymouth Rock, in the State of Massachusetts, oommonly called in that and other parts of New England, Forefathers' Day! The first position to take up, is the work itself; the next is to enter upon the immediate reason of its publication. Mrs. Stowe says :- "The object of these sketches is to awaken feeling and sym- pathy for the African race, as they exist amongst us; to show their wrongs and sorrows under a system so necessarily cruel and unjust, as to defeat and do away the good effects of all that can be attempted for them, by their best friends under it.” Had this been the sole motive which actuated Mrs. Stowe, in sending forth “Uncle Tom's Cabin' to the sensitiveness of the world, we should be the first to render homage to her intentions; · *112 OLD ENGLAND but we do not believe one syllable of such assertion. The first aim of the authóress, or of the party by whom she had been egged on to the commission of this offence, was to enlist the sympathies of the Church, and array them in open hostility to the established institutions of her country; running the awful - risk and incurring the fearful responsibility, of disuniting that bond which links together the electric chain of thirty-one united states ; and the second drift was that of self-aggrandisement and reward. It was à question at one time, whether this glaring attempt of religious fanaticism would not have been crowned with success, arising out of the fearful agitation to which it gave rise-until at length the better judgment of the community at large was aroused, and their decision has received recent confirmation from the highest authority, as will be hereafter shown. “Abolition versus Slavery” is a reckless game to play, taking into necessary calculation the serious consequences that must arise from even a partial triumph in the struggle; and these consequences might be more perilous than all the speciousness of Mrs. Stowe's party could foresee, or any subsequent reaction on either side could prevent. The book of this priestess is one far more of fiction than of fact, conceived in a coarse spirit, and executed in a vulgar style; and “The Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin," which has cunningly followed it, only makes the matter infinitely worse. Supposing that every syllable therein submitted to our perusal, were strictly true, which is giving one's imagination a very convenient stretch, the prudence of communicating their truth to the world would be highly questionable, while the falsity of so many of the premises renders the communication little less than criminal. The abolition of slavery in the United States would lead to more disastrous results, if possible, than those which have fol- lowed the commission of that act in our West Indian colonies; which, we need hardly say, has led to the manifest ruin of the master, without ameliorating the condition of the serf. Not to enter, for the moment, upon the bare matter of right or wrong, of sympathy or cruelty, of alleviation or infliction, let us simply ask the movers in this alarming question, whether they have ever weighed in their minds the national results which would ensue from the success of their pretended desires ? It is not to determine whether involuntary servitude be just or unholy, but to meet the graver question of an almost total dismemberment of a vast portion of American territory, the consequent revolt of AND NEW ENGLAND. 113 American Unionists, and the convulsion of an important portion of the whole civilized world, that argument must be upheld. Laying aside, for the time being, all notion of adequate com- pensation to those whom the abolition of slavery would so seriously affect; let us inquire into the means whereby the prosperity of the Southern States, in their extensive cultivation of cotton, rice, and tobacco could then be maintained, and how the exigencies of other countries (and most especially of our own) could by pos- sibility be supplied? Have the cotton lords” of Liverpool, Manchester, and Glasgow, who have lately been enacting the cha- racters of dustnien to Mrs. Stowe's chariot wheels, ever weighed in their minds the utter annihilation of that wondrous trade with these States which has enabled them to acquire the princely for- tunes which they now revel in the possession of? or, satisfied with the sterling poundage they have amassed, do they seek to close the doors of their traffic against the enterprising spirit of their successors? We know perfectly well, we shall be answered by the hackneyed assertion that white labor is more than capable of competing with the toil of the dark. But this is an argument of theory, not of practice. The free-born son of England or America, or of any other climate from which he might be enlisted, would sink beneath the intensity of a southern sun, in whose rays the African would revel; the foetid air of the languid night, in a wide plantation of rice, wherein the colored man could freely breathe and enjoy his brief repose, would suffocate the rover from any northern region ; and such argument presents too terrible a prospect, toi hazard for an instant the chance of arriving at the truth. In this point of view alone, were there none other to be taken, the affected assumption of Mrs. Stove's trash is seriously to be con- demned. If taken up in a religious light, it is even more seriously to be censured, for scoffing and contempt besprinkle its pages in every unceremonious manner imaginable. The ministers of the Gospel are passed by in review, as if they were mere tools in the hands of this fanatical body, and slie does her utmost, most cer- tainly, to render them odious by incessantly attributing to them sentiments equally unworthy men and Christians. With that cunning which characterizes the modern ruling school of philan- thropy, Mrs. Stowe conducted these attacks in a general manner, giving no authority to sustain her assertions, and no name to afford a warranty to their truth, until, in an unlucky moment, she pounced upon the Rev. Joel Parker, of Philadelphia, into whose mouth she presumed to put language that never happened 10* 114 OLD ENGLAND to have come out of it. By referring to pages 190 and 191 of the first volume of "Uncle Tom's Cabin,” the reader will find this passage :- “Tom had watched the whole transaction from first to last, and had a perfect understanding of its results. To him it looked like something unutterably horrible and cruel, because, poor, ig- norant black soul, he had not learned to generalize, and to take enlarged views. If he had only been instructed by certain mi- nisters of Christianity, he might have thought better of it, and seen in it an every-day incident of a lawful trade; a trade which is the vital support of an institution which an American divine* tells us has' no evils but such as are inseparable from any other relations in social and domestic life. But Tom, as we see, being a poor ignorant fellow, whose reading had been confined entirely to the New Testament, could not comfort and solace himself with views like these. His very soul bled within him, for what seemed to him the wrongs of the poor suffering thing that lay like a crushed reed on the boxes." Mrs. Stowe drew her conclusions from this passage in Dr. Parker's controversy with the Rev. Mr. Rood: "What, then, are the evils inseparable from slavery? There is not one that is not equally inseparable from depraved human nature in other lawful relations, which is a different affair altogether, as Mrs. Stowe found out to her cost. Dr. Parker, in three separate let- lers, all unanswered, demanded a full contradiction of this per- version of his language, and consequently this libel on his sacred character; and when a response was at last received, it contained a justification of her assertions, and a refusal to retract them. Dr. Parker then“ let the law take its course," laying his damages at twenty thousand dollars; but as this would be a serious baul out of the “Uncle Tom's Cabin" fund, a meeting took place between the Rey. H. W. Beecher and the Rev. Dr. Parker, to discuss the matter; immediately after which, one letter bearing the lady's signature, and one that of the Doctor, apparently heal- ing up all difference, appeared in the New York papers; but, we presume, the reader will be startled to learn that the Doctor's was neither written, signed, nor sanctioned by him! We have in our possession the whole of the correspondence, to which we are requested to give additional publicity; but we have said quite enough to mark the designing character of this notorious publi- cation. We now wish to say a word upon it in another important respect. * Dr. Joel Parker, of Philadelphia. AND NEW ENGLAND. 115 It has long been an outcry with the great reading portion of the American public, that English writers, visiting their shores, have, whether it be in the wit and humor of one, in the coarse- ness of another, in the prejudices of this, or the extravagances of that person, done their utmost to ridicule that country, and to. bring it into odium with other nations of the earth. There is a great deal of honest assertion and of plain-spoken truth in such decla- ration:' and much is it to be regretted that men, capable of writing better things, should have degraded their talents in such ill-jådged pursuit, and for the sake of a partial response from the prejudices of the ignorant, have sullied their reputation by compromising their dignity, leaving entirely out of the question such an ungra- cious return for the extension of national hospitality. .: But let us ask those who thus complain (who are certainly justified in raising the said outcry), if they really believe that any British pen has ever done one-half so much to sully the character of Amerima, as their own scribbling countrywoman, Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, has done in the trashy and impudent advocacy of abolition, entitled " Uncle Tom's Cabin ?” She has literally stuck at nothing to render her country odious in the eyes of the whole world; confounding in her apparently philanthropic attempt, the high, the intellectual, the enlightened, and the just, with the mer- cenary, the uninformed, the cruel, and the criminal. She has levelled a blow, which it was hoped would be deadly, against one of the most conspicuous and important institutions of her own country, and has endeavored to enlist in her reckless cause the sympathies of the mother country. Our scribes may have sported with the peculiarities, jested over the manners, ridiculed the bear: ing, or disparaged the pretensions of the American people, as we regret to admit some of them have unscrupulously done; but they have neither been such fools nor such knaves, as to depreciate the importance of her institutions, especially those on which the wealth of some of their own so materially depends--all this “heaping coals of fire" upon her nation's head; was reserved' for the deli- cate shovel of Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe. We have deplored this occurrence in another respect, which partakes rather of personal than a general application-we have grieved to see the noble House of Sutherland,* not to mention * We went to a theatre at Baltimore-a city, it is hardly necessary to say, in a slave State-attracted by the advertised representatiou of a piece called “ The White Slave," wherein a noble lady is brought over to Georgia to be an eye-witness of the comfortable condition of the African race, in answer to her supposed interference in their behalf; and we committed the great indiscretion of laughter, amounting almost to a 116 OLD ENGLAND many others, involved in this party controversy. The "mani- under the impression, stated at a convention of its subscribers previous to the publication of that document, that the fact of its exclusively bearing the signatures of ladies, would carry with it a conviction of its embodying no political purpose; but the so- phistry of such argument was instantly seen through; and nothing could convince an American reader that the lords of the parties thus aiming at abolition were not bonê ficle the veritable abo- litionists. Her Grace must surely have foreseen the kind of re- sponse her address was likely to meet; and could never, it is presumed, have imagined that the partial success of Mrs. Stowe's puritanical rhodomontade could have drawn over, to her view of the question, the myriads opposed to it by principle or by interest. ' An ordinary acquaintance with the history of the respective coun- tries would have anticipated the reply which this appeal has drawn houses and stones. When one sees the whole body of Puritans in the north now throwing themselves in open array against the planters of the south, in their denunciation of slavery, the memory is naturally conducted back to those days of inutual enterprise, when the pilgrims at Cape Cod and the colonists on James River entered upon their several missions, and when the romance of the · Princess Pocahontas and Captain John Smith was the burthen of northern as well as southern minstrelsy. It was not at all likely, had the Duchess withheld such fact from the page of her ill-advised document, that even the space of two hundred and thirty or forty years could have obliterated Virginia's recollection, that the first institution of African slavery on her soil was by the very land which now, in the person of her Grace and her associates, sought the abolition of a system which it originally introduced. There can be no question whatever that Mrs. Tyler, in her reply to the Sutherland manifesto, has altogether the best of the argument, and conveys à rebuke to the noble party which it addresses, equally humiliating and offensive. It is impossible to confute Mrs. Tyler's arguments, and therefore they should never have been called into existence. The ephemeral popularity of “Uncle Tom's Cabin" would have subsided, in proportion as the very doubtful character of its matériel became developed; but when its unblushing speciousness was aided by the plausible approbation which this aristocratic manifesto, would imply, the success of that scream, on hearing a darkie announce her arrival in these words: “ Here come her habolitionist highness, de Duchess of Tother land !" AND NEW ENGLAND. work, and of the party who called it into currency, which had otherwise been transient, would almost seem to be permanent. It. was not alone the pen of Mrs. Tyler which was called into requi- sition, but other home-thrusts of a peculiarly personal character were brought to bear upon the occasion. We could furnish the reader with several outbrealis of this kind, but the following from the “Boston Daily Advertiser" will be quite sufficient for the purpose :- "The ladies of England are unfortunate in the place of their meeting, from which to vent their indignation at the participation of their sisters in America in the evils of negro slavery. There are some reminiscences, connected with Stafford House and the family of Sutherland, which do not chime well in this connection. We give the following extract from a work of the eloquent philo- sopher and philanthropist, Sismondi, entitled, 'Etudes sur l'Eco- nomie Politique,' published in 1837. "Since the commencement of the present century, the Gaelic nation, the remains of the ancient Celts, now reduced to three hundred and forty thousand individuals, have been almost wholly driven from their hearths, by those whom they considered as their chiefs, by the lords to whom they had shown for long ages an en- thusiastic devotion. All the lands which they had cultivated, from generation to generation, under fixed rents and services, have been torn from then. The fields which they cultivated have been destined to the pasturage of sheep, under foreign shep- herds, their louses and villages have been razed to the ground, or destroyed by fire, and the only choice left to the mountaineers. of the expelled nation, was the erection of cabins on the sea- shore, to endeavor to maintain a miserable existence by fishing, within sight of the mountains from which they had been driven, or to cross the sea to seek their fortune in the deserts of America. "As this operation took place at the distance of eight hun- dred miles from London, in a country nearly barbarous, with a language unintelligible to all the rest of the kingdom, it was for some time unknown, or at least excited very little attention. But when England learned that soldiers had been called in to drive from their villages, certain inhabitants of the north of Scotland, that sometimes they had repelled them with stones; when they had been heard to beg to be massacred with their wives and chil- dren on the graves of their fathers, rather than be sent to perish in misery and desertion, in a world whicli would not receive them, where no place was reserved for them—the resistance roused up the compassion of a generous people. Among the Scottish lords who drove their countrymen from the soil on which they had 118 OLD ENGLAND . . been born, the Marchioness of Stafford, heiress of the county of Sutherland, attracted particular attention, by the extent of her domains, by the activity with which she pressed the accomplish- ment of her designs, and by the enormous amount of capital which she employed in changing the entire administration of the country. “It appeared that about fifteen thousand peasants had been forced by her to quit a territory as large as some of the depart- ments of France, and that these unfortunates were the only re- mains of the numerous vassals of the family, for which they had _shed their blood through so many generations. " To compel them to retire, the agent charged to clear the country, put fire to their houses. It was even said that an old man having refused to abandon his cabin, to meet exile and misery, his presence did not arrest the incendiary, and that the victim perished in the flames. Public indignation then broke forth in a manner, which in a free people could neither be mis- construed nor set at defiance.' “ The Marchioness of Stafford, afterwards Duchess of Suther- land, mother of the present Duke, found it necessary to meet this torrent of indignation. "Her agent, Mr. Locke, wrote a book of three hundred and fifty pages to prove that she only did what was warranted by law that the change was made with the greatest regard to humanity, much more than in many similar cases, and that the result was a greatly increased value in the property. “M. Sismondi is not satisfied with the transaction on the score of humanity. After a long review of it, he uses the following language : ‘If the Marchioness of Stafford had the right to re- place the people of a whole province by twenty-nine families of strangers, and some hundred thousand sheep, we ought to hasten to abolish, for her and all others, so odious a right.” - They who live in house of glass, Should not throw stones at those who pass." It is not easy to deny the force of that venerable recommenda- tion, to look at home before you venture abroad. The spirit of emulation which fired the ladies of the quondam fashionable locality of Bath was one more instance of the folly of the original i proceedings; and although the philanthropic character* of that * One of the most absurd instances of this was a town's meeting some years since, of these good people of Bladud, who, forgetting the fact that lobsters are boiled alive, met in conclave to protest against driving wooden AND NEW ENGLAND. 119 worthy city of ablution is tolerably well understood and appre- ciated, it only served to render Mrs. Stowe and the whole affair more culpable. If the reader has the slightest doubt of the league entered into between Mrs. Stowe and her fanatical party, we would just direct his attention to the fact of the conferences held from time to time in relation to the subject of her crusade, the climax of which was reached at one of the New England meetings,* as herein laid down: pegs into their claws. Theodore Hook styled them the “ Anti-peggery Company," and used to give a humorous account of a lady there present, singing Rosetta's song in “ Love in a Village,” .And is there, then, no saving clause : Against tyrannic sway?” * Without entering into all the pros and cons advanced by different contioversialists on the subject of slavery, in a religious point of view, it will be quite enough to give a synopsis of the opinions of the chief belligerents:- THE NORTH, through its mouthpiece, Mrs. Stowe, says: “Hear the beautiful language of St. Paul: "He hath made of one blood all nations of men, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation, that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after and find, though IIe be not far from every one of us.' "A day of grace is held out to us. Both North and South bave been guilty before God! and the Church of Christ bath a heavy account to answer. "At the Last Judgment, will He not say to you: "I have been in the slave-prison, in the slave-coffle! I have been sold in your markets; I have toiled for nought in your fields; I have been smitten on the mouth in your courts of justice ; I have been denied a hearing in my own church —and ye cared not for it. Ye went, one to his farm, and another to his merchandise.' And if ye shall answer, Whom, Lord ?' He shall say unto you: "Inasmuch as ye have done it to the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me!'” THE SOUTI, maintains by its ministers that the whole system of the Slave-trade, in buying, selling, holding, and bequeathing; &c., was established by God Himself, as laid down in the following verses from the 25th chapter of Leviticus:-- "38. I am the Lord thy God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Cannan, and to be your God. “ 39. And if thy brother that dwelleth by thce be waxen poor, and be sold unto thee, thou shalt not compel him to serve as a bond-servant. • 44. Both thy bondmen and thy bondmaids which thou shalt have! 120 OLD ENGLAND “At the session of the Methodist Conference at Ipswich to-day, Monday, May 2, 1853, the Committee on Slavery reported the following series of resolutions, which, after considerable discussion, were adopted : : “1. That as a Conference we are as fully and deeply convinced as ever that all voluntary slave-holding, or the holding of slaves in bondage for the sake of the gain, under any circumstances, is a flagrant sin against God and humanity. 52. That it is our deliberate and settled opinion, no more persons guilty of the sin of slave-holding should be admitted as members into our Church. “3. That we are fully persuaded that if a proper discipline were duly administered, or if the spirit even of our present dis- cipline were fully carried out, all voluntary slave-holders would soon be either brought to repentance and reformation of life, or, for the sin of slave-holding, be expelled from the Church. " 4. That as there is a difference of opinion as to whether our discipline, as it now reads, would exclude such persons from our - communion, it is the sense of this Conference, that the discipline should be so altered and amended as to include a well-defined and clearly-expressed rule, prohibiting their reception into the communion of the Methodist Episcopal Church.” So much for "Uncle Tom's Cabin.” Now for "The Key” to it, a publication full of little matter beyond law reports, negro- advertisements, newspaper criticisms, traffic trials, scraps of Scripture, and other specious documents, got together for the sole purpose of creating a greedy sale, and may be looked upon as the joint production of all the professors, lawyers, pleaders, divines, and other notable abolitionists in the whole of Mrs. . shall be of the heathen that are round about you, of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids! « 45. Moreover, of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they begat in your land; and they shall be your possession. "46. And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children ! after you, to inherit them for a possession! They shall be your bondmen for ever"; but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule oue over another with rigor. “47. And if a sojourner or a stranger wax rich by thee, and thy brother that liveth by him wax poor, and sell himself unto the stranger or so- journer by thee, or to the stock of the stranger's family; "48. After that lie is sold he may be redeemed again; one of his brethren may redeem lim; “49. Either his uncle, or his uncle's son may redeem him; or any that is nigh of kin unto him of his family may redeem bim! or if he be able, he may redeem himself!" AND NEW ENGLAND. 121 Stowe's acquaintance. As soon as it became manifest that Messrs. Jewett and Co., of Boston, had paid this lady, in the space of nine months, upwards of twenty thousand dollars for her interest in the publication of the first work, it was evident that such an unexpected draft of “fishes” would lead to further angling; and accordingly it did so. Mrs. Stowe was invited by the rabid party she represented to visit England, and her departure was heralded by every species of preparatory puffing. The Ameri- can papers teemed with the announcement, that an address, con- taining no less than 562,848 signatures, was to be presented to her the instant she set foot on the quay of Liverpool ; that every form of idolatry was to be proffered to her; and that money would not be wanting to further any principle of procedure she might suggest. Amongst other jéréniades of worship, was circulated a letter from Dr. Wardlaw, President of the “Glasgow Female New Association for the Abolition of Slavery," to which the object of his worship returned the following answer, which at once let the whole secret out :- “DEAR SIR, "I was most deeply and gratefully touched by your kind letter, and by its certainly very unexpected contents. That Christian hearts in good old Scotland should turn so warmly toward me, seems to me like a dream; yet it is no less a most pleasant one. For myself, I can claim no merit in that work which has been the cause of this. It was an instinctive, irresistible outburst, and had no more merit in it than a mother's wailing for her first- born. The success of the work, so strange, so utterly unexpected, only astonishes me. I can only say that this bubble of my mind has risen on the mighty stream of a divine purpose, and even a bubble can go far on such a tide. I am much of my time pressed down with a heavy sadness, for the hurt of the daughter of my people;' it is so horrible, so sad—such a dishonor to Christ and His cause. “But, again, when I see that a spirit above me is issuing this feeble work-book-choosing the weak things of this world to confound the mighty—then I have hope. Why has He given it this success, unless He means some mercy to the cause? Please to say to those Christian friends who have sent me the invitation in your letter, that I gladly accept it; though, when I get there, I fear that they may be disappointed. I never tas much to see; and now I am in feeble health, worn and weary. I am now put- ting through the press another work, ‘A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin,' containing all the facts and documents which confirm the 11 122 OLD ENGLAND story; truth darker and sadder, and more painful to write than the fiction was; I shall call heaven and earth to witness the deeds which have been done here. Alas,! that I should do it! Should God spare my life till April, I trust to mingle prayers. and Christian affection with the Christians of Scotland. “Yours in the Gospel of Jesus, “H. B. STOWE.". "Putting through the press another work !" The magical expression was no sooner made public, than something like half a million copies of the said work were ordered ; and loaded with that portion of the sacred argosie intended for England, the pious. authoress sailed for this country on the 30th of last March. In this latest publication, Mrs. Stowe has painted the state of slavery in the southern parts of the Union in the most alarming and hideous colors.* We do not profess to have visited all those vicious dens of iniquity from which this lady would wish us to understand she has collated her materials, never having gone farther south than the States of Virginia and Kentucky; but in every slave district we have visited, the doctrines of Mrs. Stowe have been proved to be perfectly fabulous. A gentleman in Maryland, at whose house we were on a visit, showed us over the whole of his estate, and we were forcibly struck by the neat and comfortable cabins of his numerous slaves, with the wholesome- ness and quantity of their food, and with the excellent arrange- ments that were everywhere made for their general accommoda- tion. Plenty when they were in health, medicine and all possi- ble attendance when they were sick, indulgence in moderate re- creation, and even permission for carrying on a little private trading, were the characteristics which everywhere presented themselves. Our friend further added that, in all his recollection, not one of his slaves had ever been beaten. . In answer to the numerous advertisements and statements of à most revolting nature, which cut such a flourish in the pages of "The Key," we could cite a whole bundle of counteracting : * The best bit of "trading" that came to our knowledge was this; and as it may serve to fill a gap in Mrs. Stowe’s next work, we give her the benefit of it. A man married a dark girl, and finding out, shortly after- wards, that she pleaded guilty to maternity, and had in reality living evidence thereof, he went to his lawyer to consult him as to what was best to be done. " Done!” said the lawyer, “why nothin' on arth's easier; give me the proof, and I'll get you a divorce in no time.” “Di- vorce be d d !" replied the client; "all I want to know, is, if I can sell the litt ; AND NEW ENGLAND. 123 : matter; but one or two will be ample for our purpose. The following fact we copy from the "Richmond Inquirer:"- "Two slaves belonging to the estate of William Teft, deceased, of Parksburg, Virginia, who fled to Ohio some two years since, have recently returned voluntarily, because they were suffering from want of food, and could not procure work among those who had deluded them. Three other slaves, who ran off at the same time, were anxious to return with them, but were prevented by the abolitionists." This is a cut at abolition with a two-edged sword; but it is far surpassed by the following article we found in the columns of the Cleveland (Ohio) Journal:” "Two weeks since, a little affair occurred at Oberlin, which, to say the least, was a singular one. Two old women, slaves, who some two years since were sent out of Virginia to prevent their sale for debt, had found a home at Oberlin. They had several times written their former master that they wished to return to him, and at length their request became so urgent, that he visited Oberlin. Here was an opportunity for excitement, which was readily embraced by the earnest abolitionists of that famous town. It was determined that the slaves should not re- turn, and the master was so informed. He replied that he had come at their own solicitation, and not because he wished the women; and that he did not desire to take them back unless they desired to go. If they did so, they would go, and he should take care of them. Every argument was used to induce them to stay, and a correspondent of the Oberlin Times,' a rank abo- lition sheet, says : 'We endeavored to put the matter before them in its proper light. We dwelt upon the possible contin- gencies in the case. The possibilities of another execution upon their master's property, &c. &c. It was all to no purpose.' “The writer adds: These slaves, from the time they came among us, have been desirous to return to their owners. They have written them for this purpose. We are not surprised that the slaveholder should come for them. In the elder of the two. our interest has been a good deal enlisted. She reminds us of Uncle Tom's Aunt Chloe. It is said that the morals of the other are not good. . The editor says this is the only instance which has fallen under his notice of a preference for slavery, since the establishment of the 'underground railroad.' A case oc- curred in Cleveland two years ago, where a mob was not able to force a negro woman on board a steamboat, and she insisted on returning south with her mistress.” The reception which Mrs. Stowe has met with in Old England 124 OLD ENGLAND was anticipated, from the manner in which the way had been paved for her in New England, the extent of which is matter of too much notoriety to require any detail here. The purpose bas been gained ; pounds sterling have taken precedence of the other- wise immortal dollar, and money* enough has been collected, from the penny subscription of £1,000 in Edinburgh to the minor ones in other parts of British rule, to fit out a colony of Stowes, on any new expedition of disinterested philanthropy. In this, however, as in other controversies, the cloven foot has more than peeped out—it has shown itself in all its deformity, until a whole empire has been aroused, and the voice at length of the Chief Magistrate has been lifted up, with a full deter- mination to crush its farther progress. We were present at the Presidential Inauguration of General Pierce, on the 4th of March, 1853, and heard him deliver his first address, from which we submit the following extracts: “In briefly expressing my views of an important subject, which has recently agitated the nation to almost a fearful degree, I am moved by no other impulse than a most earnest desire for the perpetuation of that union which has made us what we are. "The field of calm and free discussion in our country is open, and will always be so; but it never has been, and never can be, traversed for good in a spirit of sectionalism and uncharitable- ness. “I believe that involuntary servitude as it exists in different States of this confederacy, is recognized by the Constitution. I believe that it stands like any other admitted right, and that the - States where it exists are entitled to efficient remedies to enforce the constitutional provisions. I hold that the laws of 1850, commonly called the 'compromise measures,' are strictly consti- tutional, and to be unhesitatingly carried into effect. I believe that the constituted authorities of this Republic are bound to * The subjoined extract from the American papers, disposes of this subject in a very concise manner :- - WHAT SHE IS GOING TO DO WITH IT.—We have ascertained at last what Mrs. Stowe is going to do with the alms she receives in Great Bri- tain. The Detroit Democrat of Thursday furnishes the following expla- nation:- "6"It should be known that Mrs. Stowe has devoted all she may receive above what is necessary to pay for her house in Andover, to the esta- blishment of an institution for the education of the colored race in America.--Syracuse Chronicle.' "Above what is necessary to pay for her house in Andover!' Great guns! does she expect to beg enough in England to pay for that house in Andover?'—Buffalo Com. Advertiser'." AND NEW ENGLAND, 125 regard the rights of the South, in this respect, as they would view any other legal or constitutional right, and that the laws to enforce them should be respected and obeyed, not with a reluc- tance encouraged by abstract opinions as to their propriety in a different state of society, but cheerfully and according to the decisions of the tribunal to which their exposition belongs. Such have been, and are, my convictions; and upon them I shall act. I fervently hope that the question is at rest, and that no sec- tional, or ambitious, or fanatical excitement may again threaten the durability of our institutions, or obscure the light of our prosperity.” We beg to lay these important observations before Mrs. Har- riet Beecher Stowe, for her attentive perusal, and then, as King Henry VIII. said to Cardinal Wolsey, “ to breakfast, with what appetite she may.” 126 OLD ENGLAND CHAPTER XI. Washington-Presidential inauguration, and its scenes—Visitors on the occasion-Election statistics--Advantage of an echo-Duties of the Senate—A wigwam supper-The Arkansas gentleman-Colt and his revolvers–Summons of Indian chiefs in council-America's offer to get England out of a mess—Pharaoh's hosts, and Faro's guests—The White House-Something like a President, and some idea of his last levee—“ Kissing hands and shaking hands.” HOWEVER enthusiastic a man's mind may be, or however determined his spirit of enterprise, and his consequent disposi- tion to wander into the extremest points of the United States, he would be spared a great deal of trouble, should be happen to visit the famous city of Washington, the capital of the District of Columbia,* at the period of the Presidential Inauguration (which takes place every fourth year); inasmuch as he will fall in with the most extraordinary characters there assembled, from every State of the Union, whom, in their respective localities, he might probably have never had a chance of meeting, flocking hither, reckless of distance, as far as from St. Francisco in one direction (at the least 8000 miles), from Mississippi in another (1200 miles), tben Arkansas (some 1400), Texas, Louisiana, and Flo- rida, each much more, New Orleans, a good 2000, and numerous other places of minor mileage, alarming as they would sound to European ears. Habit, association, or what you will, are apt to inspire one with the notion that the capital city of any place (especially that where National Senatorial Meetings are held) will be found cha- racterized by refinement of manner, elegance of pursuit, and * The European reader, who may be uninformed upon the fact, must understand that the District of Columbia is not comprised in the thirty- one States of the Union, but is a distinct tract, originally of ten miles square, ceded by Maryland and Virginia, for the purpose of being occu- pied, agreeably to the selection of President Washington, as the seat of the Federal Government, and consequently the residence of the President, the heads of departments, foreign ambassadors, &c. It has no local representative in the National Assembly. By the withdratyal, in 1846, of the city and county of Alexandria, the laws of Maryland are here enforced, unless superseded by: special Acts of Congress. AND NEW ENGLAND. 127 purity of taste : but it would puzzle a conjurer to find much of either of these ingredients in the good city of Washington. It is one of the dirtiest districts imaginable; the only distinction in the quality lying between mud and dust-the incessant rains inun- dating the streets with the one, and the sudden bleak winds drying up that one, in the perfection of the other. It is face- tiously called the City of Magnificent Distances;" and it car- ries out the name as far as distance is concerned; for Pennsyl- vania Avenue (or rather one-half of it, in an unbroken line from Congress Hall to the Presidential residence) is one good mile in length, and there are not houses enough in it to fill up one- quarter of that distance. Washington, like the ancient city it aspires to ape, bas its Capitol and its Tiber; but the resemblance ceases with the titles; still, standing on the steps of that Capitol, and looking over the gorgeous panorama spread out before the eye, it is palpable how splendid a place it might let us hope in time it will become. All these drawbacks, however, are atoned for by occurrences of the passing hour, and by characters who are · the chief actors in them. . Come and occupy, by our side, å stall in the entrance-hall of one of the filthiest hotels* in the wide realms of Christendom, and there you will behold a motley group, the fellow to which * The “National," for fear of a mistake; but as “any port in a storm” is a truism, we were fortunate enough to get a berth even here, as the following dialogue will demonstrate. Arriving late in the evening, we went up to the office, and made this inquiry :- MR. BUNN.—What room can I have?. CLERK. - None, MR. Bunn.- What do you mean by “None ?” CLERK.-- What I say. *Mr. Bunn.-Am I to sleep in the street, then ? CLERK.—That's your affair. If you wait an hour or two, I'll see if there's a spare bed out of the fourteen made up on the ground floor, in the big-room. MR. BUNN.-I am not in the habit of sleeping in promiscuous company. Where's the landlord ? Enter LANDLORD. LANDLORD.—What's the row? MR. BUNN.-Your clerk says I can't have a room.. LANDLORD.— I guess he's right. Mr. Bunn.--Here's a letter for you. (Giving him one from “ Revere House," Boston.) LANDLORD (after reading it.)-01- 0h; that's another affair. (Hal- looing to a Nigger.) Here, you, take this gentleman's luggage up to 296. (Then to Mr. B.) Here's the key, and mind and keep holdfast on it, or prehaps you'll find some feller in your bed, by-and-bye. 128 OLD ENGLAND has never been elsewhere gazed upon. That short, thickset man, with a fur-cap on (beneath which a profusion of uncombed hair clusters and falls down over his shoulders), in dark fustian jacket, scarlet waistcoat, trowsers turned up at the bottom (as it were to protect from dirt what is too dirty already to admit of any increase)-Well, that man is known to be an Abolitionist; but being in utter ignorance as to what line of politics the in-coming President may adopt on the Slave Question, he has ventured into the very hot-bed of slavery to see what chance he has of obtaining the postmastership of the town he comes from. Not many paces from him is a wealthy slave-owner from Richmond, whose hardened visage bespeaks the iron character of his heart : he is here in pursuit of a fugitive son of Africa, yet at the same time means to see the Inauguration, thereby blending pleasure and business together. It is a question whether he was ever shaved in his life, nor is there any striking evidence of his having been too much washed; his head is encased in a straw-hat, and a colored blanket, thrown about him, does duty for an over-coat; he smokes in every person's face, and spits in every direction. That well-dressed, gentlemanly-looking man, whose sunken eye, expansive forehead, and extended fore-finger denote the cal- culating spirit of his mind, has come here with an evident pur- pose. He has influenced, in his capacity of editor of a paper, the democratic party of his town to “go strong." for General Pierce; and he has clearly no intention of leaving the metropo- lis without General Pierce going equally strong for him. He does not aspire to anything beyond a collectorship, but upon that or its equivalent, his mind is bent. He is delivering his senti- ments to a tall, bony individual (arrayed in a Kossuth hat, low in the crown, a drab coat, no waistcoat, dirty shirt, and faded blue pants, overlaying huge thick shocs), who keeps a store in the same town, and is endeavoring to point out to the aforesaid editor the feasibility of killing two birds with one stone; that is, of getting some little berth for him, as soon as he bas provided for himself. Then run in little rascals in all directions, bellow- ing out: “New York Herald, jist arrived, only a fip," (a fip is five pence halfperny)pfollowed by others offering every species of doubtful ware for sale. There is a cotton-planter yonder, in a smock-frock tucked up round his loins, and a great-coat over it, striking a bargain with a merchant from New Orleans for a given quantity of bales, the latter of whom has a telegraphic despatch in his hand, just arrived, giving the very latest-state of the market. Up in a corner is a round-faced, smirking, but shrewd fellow, dressed in a suit of becoming black, and a white tie, who AND NEW ENGLAND. 129 keeps a hell “up town," and is endeavoring to impress upon the mind of an officer of the United States Army the propriety of paying the one hundred and fifty dollars he lost to him the pre- ceding night. · Serpentining through the hall is a personage bent upon push- ing his way through the world, as well as through the crowd, who accosts every one, exhibits to them samples of his penman- ship, makes each of them a present of a lithographic likeness of himself, and offers to write their names on fifty cards, in a super- fine copperplate manner, for the small sum of three dollars. There is a faded beau, well known to the community, displaying å somewhat threadbare suit of sables, a hat encircled with crape -once black, now brown--a profusion of linen of a by-gone whiteness, and his whole frame enveloped in a cloak covered over with filagree, whose monthly occupation is to ask every man he has ever once spoken to for the trifling donation of twenty-five cents, on which he subsists in comfortable feather. There are place-hunters* of every grade and station, independ- ent merchants, who would not accept a place, small dealers come from the far west to arrange their spring purchases, and large dealers from New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, come to meet them. A lawyer and a landowner are seen busily settling a sale, or determining a mortgage, and a shivering client stand- ing by, awaiting their important decision. You may see yonder a shrewd Scotchman, “calc'lating" his probable percentage in a purchase he has just made of the very best “Habana," and two thinly clad Irishmen offering their services to any one who will give them a dollar more than they are receiving from their pre- * We were told an anecdote of an individual who luckily got what he came here to hunt for a place. A commissioner, deputed by law to ex- amine the newly-appointed clerks, found seated at one of the official desks, a raw sample of Kentuckian manufacture, of about six feet four inches in stature, in his shoes, and the following dialogue narrated to us as nearly as we can remember, passed between them: COMMISSIONER. -Do you know who was the ablest officer in the Phoeni- cian Fleet? KENTUCKIAN.-Can't say I do. COMMISSIONER.-Can you tell the exact interest on three hundred dol- lars at eighteen and a half per cent. for three quarters of a day? KENTUCKIAN.---No-I can't. COMMISSIONER.-Can you tell the precise distance between the sun and the moon, when one is rising and the other setting? KENTUCKIAN.—No, I can't; but there's one thin' I ken tell yer, which is, that I've licked five fellers since I've a been here, and I'm agoin' to lick you, if you ask any more of your * * * * * * * ques- tions. 130 OLD ENGLAND, sent employer. Here and there are to be seen Senators and Representatives making promises to every one, which they keep to no one. Then, clearing all before them, rush in a host of blacks, carrying the huge trunks of newly-alighted passengers ; while, to add to the din which all this congregation necessarily creates, a bell—just such an one as that which Othello said was enough to fright the Isle of Cyprus from its propriety-keeps up an incessant ringing. There you see every form of every dress in every definable color; and coverings for the head, to the manufacture of which every kind of flimsy and solid material has respectively contributed. This is a free country, and each citizen of it has a right, or claims it, to enter any hotel, whether he lives in it or not, and whether he has any business in it or not-he has a right to smoke, and "that” wherever he pleases; if he has nothing par- ticular to do, he comes here in the bopes of getting something; there are gratuitous fires to warm him, chairs and sofas for him to sit down and lounge upon, and plenty of lights for him to read by. It is a caravansary of the very worst description ; and while on the one hand there is a continual interchange of warm-heart- edness and good fellowship, there is on the other hand such an unceasing system of swearing and blasphemy, that polite ears cannot but be shocked at it. It must be apparent to the commonest observer, that it was a wise determination which removed the seat of Government, whether national or local, from the larger cities of the Union to some of its smaller ones. Take, for example, New York city, which styles itself, from its extent, the metropolis of America, but which in reality cannot be termed a metropolis at all, the legislative locality of that State being the good city of Albany ; but supposing for one moment the sittings of Congress had been held in New York, the scenes we witnessed (not to mentiou the hundreds we did not witness) in Washington would have thrown the community at large into an insurrection. These pleasantries enormities, if you please may pass over tolerably well in a population like this of some 40,000 people, but would assume a' totally different aspect in one like New York of 515,500. These remarks are applicable to almost every State of the Union, as those who are curious in such matters may see at a · glance, by casting an eye over the following table. It is based upon the census of 1850, and the numbers indicated have been obtained by research and interest the official account up to the middle of 1853 not having yet been published. Although no numbers appear against those places marked with an asterisk (*), AND NEW ENGEAND. : 131 I. Þet the same disproportion, we have been assured, will be found to exist in them: 1 . Noul State of the Union. 7 Its legislative city or town, and its population. Its largest city or town,;. i analits population. 11工1 12 1. New York. Albany, 50,763 New York :515,507 2 Pennsylvania Harrisburg 8,000 | Philadelphia 408,815 3. Maryland Annapolis* . Baltimore 189,084. 4 Massachusetts Bostont :: 136,871 | Boston : 136,871 61 Louisiana . Baton Rouge* New Orleans 116,848 .6 Ohio . Columbus Cincinnati : 115,436 Missouri Jefferson City* : St. Louis 82,774 Kentucky Frankfort* Louisville 43,1.90 South Carolina Columbia* Charleston 42,985 101 Rhode Island | Newport : 9,563 Providence 41,512 11 | New Jersey Trenton 6,766 Newark 38,894 Springfield* Chicago 29,693 13 | Virginia...... Richmond : 27,482 Richmond. 27,482 '14 California Benicia* St. Francisco 25,000 15 | Michigan... Lansing 1,229 Detroit 21,019 16 | Maine joista . 8.231 Portland 20,816 17. Alabama Montgomery* : Mobile....: 20,513 18 Connecticut Hartford , 13,355 New Havopi 20,345 19 Wisconsin Madison : 1,871 Milwaukie. 20,06:1 Georgia : Milledgeville* Savannah : 15,000 Indiana Indianapolis* Lafayetto Delaware Dover* Wilmington 13,979 23 New Hampshire Concord ... 8,584 Manchester 13,932 24 Vermont ... Montpelier 2,310 Burlington 7,505 Mississippi Jackson* Tennessee. . Nashville* 27 Iowa Iowa. City* Arkansas .. Little Rock* 29 North Carolina Raleigh* : Florida Tallahassee* Texas Austin * 20. 21 25 30 These observations apply to the state of Washington at this period, and are the result of strict scrutiny; but they have, of course, no reference to the many noble hearts we met resident there, who showered on us unlimited hospitality, the mention of whose names would, in their modest estimation, deprive the com- pliment they paid us of its intrinsic value. + Boston stands as an extraordiuary and almost solitary exception to this arrangement, when you bear in mind that it is the fourth largest city in the Union; but the peaceful disposition of its community, its intel- lectual pro-eminence, and its comparativo refinemont, are full warrant for so great and so prominent a distinction. 132 OLD ENGLAND This, after all, is but an account of one detachment of the mi- gratory natives who flocked hither in such numbers; and baving taken a hasty glance at the people, let us go up to the Capitol, and look at their representatives. We were introduced into the Senate by the member for Boston, the Honorable Charles Sum- ner, whose eininent talents and high station won him golden opinions on his visit to Great Britain ; and by his courtesy we became acquainted with several others, amongst whom was General Houston, the member for Texas. One subject of our conversation was General Cass, at that, as at other times, making himself busily ridiculous; or ridiculously busy, about the sup- posed encroachment of “The Britishers" upon American soil. * I mean shortly," said the General, “ to have a brush with Cass; he is a filibuster, and I look upon filibustering as the eldest daughter of humbug." We were much interested with the de- bates and the comparative decorum which pervaded the assembly; and of course surprised, like all European travellers, at seeing ladies in galleries reserved for their occupation—at rich carpets disfigured with spittoons, and more so. at finding ourselves in a scene, enacted there in the middle of the day, which with us is enacted in the middle of the night. The House of Repre- sentatives is a very different affair altogether, possessing neither the repose, the steadiness, nor the lofty beariug which for the most part characterizes the Senate. In the first place, if there should by any accident be a debate of interest going on, there is such an extraordinary echo in the building, that it is sometimes impossible to catch å sentence of it, or even to know who is' speaking. It may, perhaps, have one advantage, which is, that it may deter many members from speaking at all, an instance of prudence exemplified in this epigram :- Old growling P , from Tennessee, Speaks very little in this meeting, Simply because ('twixt you and me) His speeches will not bear repeating. * If, however, there be nothing singularly good that comes out of the mouths of any particular party in the body of the house, there are many things remarkably good that go into their mouths, in some of the ante-rooms, to the enjoyment of which the members invite a stranger with all the warmth of their natu- ral hospitality. We had an opportunity of seeing a vast deal of American * There can be no question of the truth of this line, on the occasion of his giving a brother member, in open Senate, the lic! AND NEW ENGLAND. . 133 . “ life," during our stay in this " magnificent” city, an instance or two of which will bear recital. There was a Wigwan club here at the time, the Arkansas chiefs of which, in council, summoned us to meet the Honorable R. W. Johnson, senator from that State, to supper, facetiously subscribing their names thus :- his PIKK x Pricipat Camanche. Park. . bis FLOURNOY X Ouasasche mark his RECTOR X Apsarookes. mark. s CHASE X Piankoskaw. mark his BURWELL X Kickapoa. mark his SEBASTIAN X Qurpaw. mark his BISCOE X Arapaho. mark his REYBURN X Gros Ventre, mark. At this repast were assembled some of the choicest specimers of the land, including senators and representatives of contending politics, some retiring placemen, and several expectants; the planter from Arkansas and the merchant from New Orleens (as it is pronounced), fierce Democrats and spouting Whigs, loud in speech, and ready, it would seem, to eat each other up; and while courtesy forbids our introducing the names of individuals, strictly of private station, we do not consider ourselves bound to observe any such delicacy towards public men of public repute. We had the pleasure of being introduced on the spot to Mr. Gentry, representative from Tennessee, who, after a cordial shake of the hand, very kindly extended to us this valuable piece of patronage. “You are a John Bull, I take it," says he. “Yes," nodded we! “Well, I like John Bull, and you tell'em all, from me, that if they are likely to get into any trouble with thoso d-d Frenchmen, we'll come over and lend 'em a helping hand, 12 134 OLD ENGLAND : , and lick those fellows into fits.* We whipped you Britishers, and the devil's in it if we can't whip them." . We bowed our acknowledgments for such an important proffer of service, anda then took the liberty of bursting out into a horselaugh. We had the further pleasure of becoming known to one whose literary and social qualifications are of the most enviable distinc. tion-we allude to Albert Pike, of Little Rock, Arkansas, † one of America's distinguished poets, whose name heads the list of chiefs just enumerated. To his brilliant conversation the table owed a great part of its diversion, and to his wit the fullest amount of its hilarity; the following instance of which last-named ingre- dient is far too good to be passed over few of our humorous writers having contributed to the amusement of the world any equal number of lines of a more sparkling nature. It was intro- duced, for the first time, at this festival, and sung by one of the brightest spirits there present-a parody clearly upon the “ Fine Old English Gentleman:"- SONG. THE FINE ARKANSAS GENTIEMAN! 1. Now all good fellows listen, and a story I will tell Of a mighty clever gentleman who lives extremely well In the westeru part of Arkansas, close to the Indian line, Where he gets drunk once a week on whiskey, and immediately sobers himself completely on the very best of wine; A fine Arkansas gentleman, close to the Choctaw line! II. This fiue Arkansas gentleman has a mighty fine estato Of five or six thousand acres or more of land, that will be worth a great deal some day or other, if he don't kill himself too soon and will only condescend to wait; Aud four or five dozen negroes that would rather work than not, .* We mentioned to Gentry our acquaintance with Colonel Colt, and a salutation with which the great "revolver” favored us at the first divner- table we niet him. As soon as the ladies had left the room, the Colonel crossed over to a vacant chair at our side and said: - Stranger, you seem to me a man I should like to know more of, and I'll therefore tell you something I would not tell to every one. I've been over every part of Eu- rope, and you're as much superior to all other countries, as we are supe- rior to you!” Gentry merely observed : “Well, I guess Colt's right!" † Arkansas as it now is, not as it was, in the days of that highly res spectable adage : "One year credit, one year law, The next year off to Arkansas !" AND NEW ENGLAND. - 135 And such quantities of horses, and cattle, and pigs, and other poultry, that he never pretends to know how many he bas got: This fine Arkansas gentleman, close to the Choctaw line ! ' III. This fine Arkansas gentleman has built a splendid house On the edge of a big prairie, extremely well populated with deer, and hares, and grouse; And when he wants to feast his friends he has nothing more to do Than to leave the potlid off, and the decently behaved birds fly straight into the pot, knowing he'll shoot 'em if they don't, and he has a splendid stew, This fine Arkansas gentleman, close to the Indian line!. IV. This fine Arkansas gentleman makes several hundred bales, Unless from drought, or worm, a bad stand, or some other d-d contin- · gency, his crop is short, or fails; And when it's picked, and ginned, and baled, he puts it in a boat, And gets aboard himself likewise, and charters the bar, and has a devil of a spree, while down to New Orleans he and his cotton float, This fine Arkansas gentleman, close to the Choctaw line ! 211 And when he gets to New Orleens he sacks a clothing store, And puts up at the City Hotel, the St. Louis, the St. Charles, the Veran- dah, and all the other hotels in the city, if he succeeds in finding any more; Then he draws upon his merchant, and goes about and treats Every man from Kentucky, and Arkansas, and Alabama, and Virginia, and the Choctaw nation, and every other d-d vagabond he meets ! This fine Arkansas gentleman, close to the Choctaw line! VI. The last time he was down there, when he thouglat of going back, After staying about fifteen days, or less, he discovered that by lending and by spending, and being a prey in general to gamblers, hackmen, loafers, brokers, hosiers, tailors, servants, and many other individu- als, white and black, He'd distributed his assets, and got rid of all his means, And had nothing left to show for them, barring two or three headaches, an invincible thirst, and an extremely general and promiscuous ac- quaintance in the aforesaid New Orleens; This fine Arkansas gentleman, close to the Choctaw line ! VII. Now how this gentleman got home is neither here nor there, But I've been credibly informed that he swore worse than forty-seven pirates, and fiercely combed his hair ; * * The gentleman on whom this was written (and who was present) has hair as long as a woman's, and fastened on the top of his head by a comb, just as women fasten theirs. 136 OLD ENGLAND · And after he got safely home they say he took an onth That he'd never bet a cent again at any game of cards, and, moreover, for want of decent advisers, he foreswore whiskey and women both; This fine Arkansas gentleman, close to the Choctaw line! VIII. This fine Arkansas gentleman went strong for Pierce and King, And so came on to Washington to get a uice fat office, or some other mighty comfortable thing; But like him from Jerusalem that ivent to Jericho, He fell among the thieves again, and could not win a bet whether he coppered or not, so his cash was bound to go This fine Arkansas gentleman, close to the Choctaw. line ! IX. So when his monies all were gone he took unto his bed, And Dr. Reyburn* physicked him, and the chambermaid, who had a great affection for hin, with her arm held up his head; And all his friends came woeping round, and bidding him adieu, And two or three dozen preachers, whom he didn't know at all, and didn't care a curse if he didn't, came praying for him too, This fiue Arkansas gentleman, close to the Choctaw line ! X. They closed his eyes and spread him out all ready for the tomb, And merely to console theriselves they opened the biggest kind of a gamo. of faro right there in his own room ; But when he heard the checks he flung the linen off his face, And sung out just precisely as he used to do when he was alive, “ Prin- dle,t clou't turn! hold on! I go twenty on the king, and copper on the ace!” . This fine Arkansas gentleman, close to the Choctaw line! Having a desire to see something more of “Twenty on the king, and copper on the ace," we were introduced (solely for the purpose of observation, be it understood) to the aforesaid Prindle, at his celebrated “hell”-in plainer phraseology, we had a pcep at the lion in his deu-and we found a very civil lion, and a very pleasant den. His modus operandi surpassed even that of the defunct fish monger of St. James's—for Crockford only stood suppers, while Prindle stands dinners in addition, at which every delicacy of the season, with champagne and other “ drinks" to match, are provided "free, gratis, and for nothing." At one of his tables we saw, playing at “faro," a judge, a sharper, two senators, three representatives, a broken-down lawyer, a planter, a large slave-owner, two officers of the United States' Army, and, amongst others, one who, when President P-'s private secretary, won, on this spot, sixty thousand dollars—"a motley mixture of * A famous Washington physician. + The Crockford of Washington. AND NEW ENGLAND. 137 the great and base," amongst whom passion overpowers intellect, and vice stamps her iron hoof. upon the soul of virtue. We picked up this epigram on the floor, and as it is not the worst of the bad, we give it a corner:- PHARAOH'S HOSTS. Here man may be consumed, or may consumo, After one precious fashion or another, With “guests" of Pharaoh eating in one room, Or "hosts” at Faro eaten in another! We could tell you, gentle reader, if we had room, and you had patience, of many a thing to be spoken of, that we saw in the city of Congress-some word or two on the Smithsonian In- stitution (the noble gift of a noble Englishmad); some about the Patent Office, the Franklin Press, and the original “Declaration of Independence" there in safe custody, of Washington's monu- ment (that is to be, but isn't), and of other stately buildings but it may not be; and we will therefore terminate with a slight reference to one that it is impossible to pass by unnoticed-the President's residence, facetiously called “The White House," as if every other one in the city were black ! We have been among the people, and amongst those who make their laws, amongst choice "spirits” and those who drink them, in high and in low life, and in various scenes of both, and we will now climb up to the top of the tree, and see what is grow- ing there. We brought letters of introduction to the now ex- President Fillmore, and, by virtue thereof, Lad the honor of an introduction. We found a perfect gentleman of the old school, of polished manners, courteous demeanor, easy, affable, highly intellectual, full of information, and seeking to obtain more upon all points of conversation, and communicative upon all points he was master of a man evidently able to govern himself, and therefore able to govern others. Not aspiring to the dignity of a politician, we have neither the desire nor the power to enter into any party questions; but from what we witnessed, what we have heard, and what we have read, we should consider his ex-Excellency Millard Fillmore one of the most capable men that ever sat in the curule chair at Washington, and one whose place it would be no easy task adequately to fill. The period of his retirement from office being at hand, his last- levée was officially announced, and, as a mark of respect, was more numerously attended than had been the case for years. We had the gratification of being present at it; and having also been. an eye-witness of those held at home, we could easily see the 124 138 OLD ENGLAND difference between formally "kissing hands” at St. James's, and cordially “shaking hands at Washington. In these and in many other mundane matters, quantity is one thing, but quality is another; and having admitted the first, we are desirous of giving the uninformed some impression of the second ingredient, to do full justice to which, we have been obliged to call in the Comic Muse to our assistance : THE PRESIDENT'S LEVEE. As you've travelled through the cities of the Union's varied climes, You may have been in Washington, perhaps a hundred times; But unless you there have been At the grand “ Inauguration,”. And the President have seen Declaring to the nation: What plans he has in view, . And his fixed determination The right path to pursue: [Though which that is he tells not, And on its merits dwells not, i Then promises much níore than he ever means to do; Or seen him at the Hall Making his declaration, Why you've seen--next to nothing at all! But even supposing that you were There! Why that sight's nothing to compare To the drama acted o’er Six or seven days before! The levée of the President! but should you be in doubt With which one to begin- It is not be that's coming in, But he that's going out! You who have read the reports Of European Courts : (And as a sample Our own take, for example), Can form some notion of the rare Transcendant beauty there; And whether her chief lustre lies Most in her diamonds, or her eyes. How her rich tresses Perfume The ante- and reception-room ; How her fine dresses Display The wonders of the whole world's loom In unsurpassed array! Of chivalry, with waving plume Bending almost beneath the weight AND: NEW ENGLAND. · 139 Of decoration, star, and string,: ... . And other bauble-thing Which make it so elate; Of purple vest and .ermined robe, Red and blue uniforms, with golden hems, Some of whose wearers have sailed round the globe, Some only on the Thames! Of hosts in bag-wigs, ruffs, and swords, Streaming along the regal boards, With servants all dressd out such state in, They look much more like. “lords.in waiting," Because, as things run nowadays much faster, The man looks, mostly, finer than his master. Well, this sounds mighty grand in London, But in America it's all left undone! Still, at that Court some wondrous things there be, As you shall see. If you have watched a bevy Of oxen, cows, and calves, and sheep, Geese, turkey-cocks, and hens, On market-day, all in a heap, . Before they are divided into pens, You can have then a distant notion Of the myriads in motion, Of woman, lovely as the world e'er blest, Only not knowing how she should be dress'd;. Of man not knowing, and not caring What mixed apparel he was wearing; Of the gaudy and the gay, Of those who shun display, Of the calm, and the unsteady For any outbreak ready; Of minds of all intentions, Of forms of all dimensions, Of all in heart light, though their bodies might be heavy, Who went to the President's Levée! Some came up by an omnibus or hack, The greater part of them walked there and back, And smoked up to the door, Where they could smoke no more. Within the hall, crammed here and there, Under a table, on a chair, Upon a mantle-piece, or open door, Also upon the floor, All kinds of coats were stowed, and hats- That's A name they have for what's worn on the head, and whether Made out of beaver, felt, straw, skin, or leather. (N. B. When you have shaken The President's hand, and taken Your leave of him, then make 140 OLD ENGLAND As much haste as you can, and take Your hat, or some smart chap who saw you Come with a good one on, will take it for you.) What generals and majors • . And colonels, too, by scores, Swearing, and laying wagers, . While jammed 'twixt folding doors (I can't answer, understand, How many could show scars !) Then, some judges-of the land, Some-of brandy and cigars ! Then senators from Texas, Virginia, Tennessee, Whose mixed costumes perplex us. To think what they can be Blue coat, and figured handkerchief, A party-color'd vest With trowsers striped in bold relief, And boots make up the rest, Built thick for walking, and but one thing lacking- They had been long divorced from blacking! There was Mrs. Polk, from Iowa Escorted by a rain beau, And dressed in all the colors of the rainbow, Who on Mrs. Cass, from Arkansas, look'd down, For though her diamond rings she saw, She'd on a cotton gown! There was Mrs. Clay, from Florida, And Mrs. Sac, from Wisconsin, · Both walking stately in ! But can any sight be is horrider," (Rather an absurd Kind of new word,) Than a gaudy, satin gown to wear, Aud show (it's really shocking!) While holding up the train with care, A dark blue worsted stocking! There came Mrs. Dodge, from Illinois, Upon her husband leaning; Dress'd oddly, but most showy- (Her milliner must charge enough, For Mrs. D is large enough, A dozen more for screening!) A skin (we thought a rabbit's) seem'd to deck Her most extensive neck! A droll thing to behold, But perhaps she had a cold! Then, à long cloak from her shoulder Which, plainly, kept her warm, If it did not quite enfold her, AND NEW.. ENGLAND. 141 Yet concealed her pulpy form; Shed a green merino dress, of Wondrous make, with flounce and slash, Both scarlet, and a yellow sash- A mixture ne'er yet sung, or said, Nor to immortal music wed In Seven Dials ballad, Whose varied hues were made a mess of, Just like a monstre lobster-salad ! Sweet Mrs. Yalabusha came From the Mississippi side, With a youthful husband known to fame, Though rather tanned his hide: Around her neck she wore a ruff, And from her head a veil, And feathers in that head enough To make a peacock's tail ! "The Pearl of Alabama" passed away Like the last sunbeams which illume the day, Leaving behind, for the embrace of night, A rosy halo of unchequered light! Had not one charm concealed, by fold misplaced; She looked and moved around, as fair a thing As if she were a seraph taking wing From the dull earth to some serener air, After one little moment resting there, A starlike radiance far away to shed, When every other star had gone to bed! Then, there of “Young America” was plenty, Running from twelve years old to twenty, Brought up from infancy to spit and smoke Just entering Life, and venturing On their first joke! (Let it be stated here in a parenthesis, For fear of a mistake, that when this is Matter of question, as of course 'twill be, For 'tis the only unsoil'd spot In all America, where they spit not!) Still there were some, by manners, dress, and birth, . Who honor would confer, We must aver, On any court of earth ; But then they were, as must be plainly seen, "Like angels' visits, few- and far between !" me . We did hear there were some Who thither had come, 142 OLD ENGLAND . So light in motion, one had not the slightest . Idea which were the lightest, Their own fair hands, so dexterously they hid them, Or others' pockets into which they slid them!* Then came back and other coachmen, Who thought, on setting down their fare, They'd as good right to approach men Of however high degree Their rank, or name might be, As any others there! Thus, looking the list through Of those brought here to view, It cannot be denied, That samples of chivalry and beauty, Of some who had no business, others who were con duty," Many of countless wealth Some who do good by stealth," And be it understood, Others intent on stealth, more than on good, Rare specimens of great Columbia's pride, Of father, mother, child, uncle, aunt, niece and nevy, Attended the President's Levée! CHAPTER XII. Travelling, and the various modes of undergoing the process-Steamers and state-rooms—Equality and fraternity—The Thames and the Hud- son-The slavery of freedom--Sketch of an American traveller- Some doubts as to which is white or black-Murders by wholesale--How to recover a lost dinner--A short cut down a precipice-Novel form of prayer-A tip into the water—The Good Samaritan medically em- ployed--A nice “look-out”—Punctuality the soul of business. It is unnecessary to say that the American is a locomotive personage- - Like Noah's faithful dove," there is no rest for the sole of his foot; and as he cannot remain * A gentleman in a high official situation at Washington, told us, that, when Macready expressed to him a wish to go to the President's Levée, he replied: "Oh, it is not a place for you to go to !” But he went, and calling the next day on our informant, he said : “You were right; it was not a place for me to go to, for I had my pocket picked of one hun- dred dollars !! AND NEW ENGLAND. 143 i any length of time in one place, it naturally follows that he must be off to another; whether his “whereabouts" be confined to the town, or extended to the country-be is forever on the move; and if he has no particular business that calls him away, he will go for his particular pleasure. Admitting that point, and it is no use disputing it, let us inquire into the modes of conveyance by which this incessant transitus is effected. The conveyances from one end of a town to the other, or from any intersecting points, consist of hack, cab, omnibus, railroad car, &c., and from place to place between which any river or sheet of water flows, of ferry-boats. The hacks are infinitely superior in their fitting-up-to any in England, and in some instances are quite as good as auy private carriage; but the regulation of the fares is singularly inferior, in any town we visited, save and except our well-beloved city of Boston. The imposition in New York is unendurable, for there you cannot get the shortest “set down”. for less than a dollar ; and though every one tells you that the legal charge for a mile is but half that sum, yet only propose it to your Jarvey, and you will get a double "setting down”-one from him, and the other from his carriage. The omnibus so far differs from ours, that it has no conductor, but the passenger wishing to alight, pulls a leather connected with the door and the driver, and pays him at the aperture through which the thong passes. The vehicle is calculated to hold twelve (six a-side), but there is no hesitation in letting twelve more sit on the laps of the first dozen, and six more stand upin the centre, thus inflicting (peace be to the manes of the late Mr. Martin, of Galway!) thirty passengers, exclusive of the outsiders, upon the sinews of two horses. In such large cities as New York and Philadelphia, there are railroads laid down in the public streets, where the sight of a huge machine sailing along, generally in the most crowded : thorough- fares, is really something marvellous. They carry twelve a-side, but seventy individuals have been known to stow themselves away, here, there, and everywhere. They are propelled easily by two horses, which are barnessed in front, the driver stopping the vehi- cle (on hearing a bell rung by the conductor), by a drag, which he winds on or off, at pleasure; and arrived at his destination, he merely removes the bars by a spring, takes the horses round to the other end of the carriage, and returns to the place from whence he came an incessant roving between one terminus and the other from sunrise unto midnight. The fares of these ponderous pro- perties being but five and six cents (twopence halfpenny and threepence of our money), they supersede all other modes of loco- 144 OLD ENGLAND motion, and invariably present à most heterogeneous collection of mortality. All these public accommodations fall infinitely short, either in peculiarity or utility, of the ferry-boats, to which we have made reference, which, between New York, Brooklyn, Staten Island, Hoboken, New Jersey, &c., far surpass any in the whole Union, and are unquestionably miraculous constructions, of vital import- ance where bridges cannot possibly be erected, equally for the passage of man and horse. Hundreds of passengers, on the deck and in the cabins, light carriages, heavy stage-coaches, loaded carts, and every description of land conveyance, pass to and fro, every five minutes, from one landing to the other. The machinery is in the centre, an alley each side of it for coach and cattle, and an outer cabin each side, respectively for ladies and gentlemen. They have rounded ends which fit into the bridge at the ferry station of each shore, which bridge is elevated or lowered to meet the deck of the boat, according to the state of the tide. There is a pilot-box up aloft at each end (the chimney rising between them), likewise two rudders, and when one is in use at the stern, the other is made fast, and does duty as the prow. The intro- duction of such boats in the "pool,” of our river, plying between the populous districts in Middlesex and Surrey, would be of in- describable value, if the crowded state of the shipping would admit of it, though it would put one more nail in the coffins of the al- ready.expiring "watermen." Let us now say a word about travelling vessels of a much loftier character, and of much larger dimensions, the equals of which are not to be found elsewhere, on the waters of the great globe- we allude to the river steamers, the grand mode whereby the voyageur roams through the States, wherever waves extend and vessels breast them. The two finest that came under our scrutiny, were the “Francis Skiddy," plying between New York and Albany, and the “Crystal Palace," between Pittsburg and Cin- cinnati. We can assure the worthy owners of the finest steamer which ever yet entered the Thames, that it would open their eyes somewhat beyond their usual aperture, to gaze upon and to ex- amine either of these marvellous structures. The “Francis Skiddy,” for instance, is 325 feet in length, 381 feet beam, 111 feet depth of hold. Her engine is of one beam, 70.inch cylinder, and 14 feet stroke; her water-wheel is 40 feet in diameter, 12 feet face, 33 inch bucket. She has four low- pressure boilers, 24 feet long, 9 feet face, capable of 70 lbs. of steam, with a blowing engine attached to each, of 12 inch cylin- der and 12 inch stroke, and consumes 2,000 lbs. of fuel per hour, AND NEW ENGLAND. 145 and her draft of water 57 feet! Her precautions against the con- tingency of fire, or other accident, are unsurpassed, she baving three fire pumps-two to work by hand and one by steam, with 650 feet of hose attached, together with fire buckets, a life-pre- server for every passenger, and an adequate supply of metallic life-boats, &c.; and while in point of speed she is capable of going twenty-five miles an hour, she is rarely tested to her fullest power, it being the determination of the proprietors to protect her from the possibility of accident. The appointments of the “Francis Skiddy" are on a par with her other arrangements. The main cabin is 300 feet in length, and can seat 500 people. Then there is an immense saloon, opening upon 60 ample state and bridal* rooms, the dome or arched roof of which is covered with variegated stained glass, and cost, per sé, it is said, £2,000! She is a large floating hotel, the rooms of which are almost as capacious, and far more elegantly furnished than many on shore. The ladies' saloon, especially, is supplied with stands, tapestry, velvet carpets, china ware, deco- rated and colored, to correspond with the furniture of the room, while the best sleeping apartments are provided with gilded fur- niture and china, figured satin curtain hangings, gold cornices, &c., presenting to the eye a rare combination of elegance and comfort; and the miraculous part of the whole business is, that the passage pioney of a hundred and sixty miles is one dollar and fifty cents (6s. 3d. of our money), and one dollar more if you choose to occupy a state room! The“Crystal Palace” is fitted up with corresponding elegance, having, however, double decks for the more extensive conveyance of that mass of commodity which is forever borne over the bosom of the Western Waters. They have a first-class cuisine and cui- sinier, bath-rooms, hair-dresser's shop, confectioner's, dairy, &c.; distinct nurseries for children, and reading-rooms for “children of a larger growth ;' in short, everything that can be called com- fort. By this boat, the fare from the two western cities named is, for a distance of about five hundred miles, five dollars; and therein are included dinners and other meals, profusely and ele- gantly served up, during any period the vessel may chance to be on her voyage. The extortioners who demand six or seven shil- lings for a ricketty trip of some seventy or eighty miles to Mar- * See page 51, ante. Though aware of the principle of equality carried out here, we asked the captain if that dirty man (pointing to a laborer) would be allowed to sleep in these chambers, and he replied: "Certainly, Sir, if he paid the same price as a clean one." 13 146 OLD ENGLAND gate, and charge about half as much for a miserable dinner (which. most of the unhappy passengers generally refund), or those demi- pirates who exact some eight sor ten shillings for crossing about twenty-two miles of sea between England and the Continent; might learn a beneficial lesson from these speculative caterers of the younger country.. Now come we to the climacteric of travelling, not merely in the United States of America, but throughout the whole world—the: railroad cars. Many of our readers may not know how materially they differ, especially in their construction, in the two countries; those in America being of an extraordinary length and width, capable of accommodating about fifty-six people each, having on either side fourteen seats, holding two porsons each (with a roomy, passage in the oentre of the car), the backs to which turn on & pivot either way, according to the destination of the carriage. There is no room to deposit any small articles under one's feet, and even if there were they would be spit upon to a certainty:; indeed, even in the event of dropping money on the floor, no decent person could venture to wade through the stream of saliva -. floating thereon, unless be put on an old glove. . ? It being a land of liberty, where a man may do anything he. likes (except to take the liberty of drinking in any Stato where the Maine Liquor Law is in forco, and where consequently he is a-slape), the moment the cars stop, a string of filthy lads stream in, offering for salo sweetmeats, apples, * newspapers, books, and other important ware; and they are succeeded by travellers, who, can they find no other accommodation, stand up in the middle of the cars, and spit away ad libitum. In summer, they have blinds to the numerous windows on each side ; and in many trains they band round tumblers of cold water every now and then to the pas- sengers; while in winter, both by day and night, there is a stove to each car, plentifully supplied with fuel. In these respects, they are infinitely superior to ours;t as also in the vital point of having * It is utterly impossible to mistako an. American for any one ölse, en route-ho has either bis feet upon the seat of the car next to him, which he turns over for the purpose; or if it be occupied, he sits with his knees "let in' to the back of it; ho either sucks a pioco of sweetment, bites a pioce of wood, or chows a bit of tobacco, keeps on oontinually spitting, and invariably rerds a newspaper. of There is another point to which we would direct tho immcdinte atten- tion of those who control tho affairs of our railroads--we allude to the checking of baggage. On roaching tho depôt, you deposit your luggage with a baggago mastor, who fastens a check to cach separato article, giving you tho corrosponding check of each; and thus, whether you chango cars, or get into steamboats, or what not, you need not trouble AND NEW ENGLAND). 147 a communication through the whole line of carriages by means of. a string, which is attached to a huge bell, giving notice to the driver of a necessity for stopping. The engineer and driver sit in an inclosed box, the conductor acting merely as a collector, or general servant (no, we beseech the gentleman's pardon, there being no such thing as a servant in America, no man there having a master !)-a gent, we should say! Now, in some of these in- stances, we should do our public, and ourselves of course included, great service, were we to copy the novelty and excellence of such ideas; but we fear that with those points of difference all preference must end. Being in a land of equality, as well as liberty, all dis- tinction is unknown; and consequently you see yourself sur- rounded by cvery class of passenger, there being but one price for ladies, gentlemen, workmen, mechanics, laborers, dustmen, &c.; so if a fellow found himself, decked out in his best, sitting by the side of a sweep, and changing it to another where he might chance to sit beside a miller, it would be a difficult task even for a lawyer to determine whether a black or a white coat was the order of the day. All this, however, is comparatively of little consequence, when the matter of safety comes to be considered ; and herein America is lamentably below all other nations. Though its railroads, like our own, are matters of public speculation, they are under no control of Government, excepting as respects the transmission of the mails, and consequently the companies are subject to no authority or surveillance beyond that of the general body of the people." Go a-head !" is the grand doctrine of every son of Columbia, and, as a general principle, be does not care how that is effected, as long as it is effected. Forests are cut down, and roads cut through them; rivers are forded, and bridges thrown over them; mountains, deemed hitherto almost inaccessible, are penetrated to the centre, levelled, or ascended ; precipices are swept over, and carth itself made subject to the will of the monarch of iron and steam. No matter whatsoever the conse- quence, go a-head you must, the star-spangled banner flying aloft, and bearing for its motto, “ Every man for himself, God for us all, and the devil take the hindmost.” The occurrence of accidents along shaky sleepers, narrow gauges, crossings over deep waters by virtue of a few planks, misnamed bridges, through projecting freight-trains, misplaced yourself about your property, but on reaching your destination, give your checks to the conchman who drives you to your hotel, and all your effects will either bo safoly delivered, or in caso of an accident (which lnrely happens), be made good by the company. 148 OLD ENGLAND signals, and so on, are alarming in the highest degree; and there can be no doubt of there being hundreds, the casualties* of which have never been made known, it being deemed advisable not to agitate people's nerves to fever-pitch. What may, in reality, be termed tragedies, are quite frequently enough performed, and made known, to keep the community in a continual state of sus- pense and agitation; and four of these having occurred almost under our very nose, we venture to say a word or two thereon. The first of these horrors bears date the 6th of January, when we were steaming to Boston at the very time the President elect of the United States, General Pierce, was accompanying his lady and son from Boston; and our respective cars had not passed each other two minutes, when the axletree of the car in which he was broke asunder, and the passengers were precipitated down an embankment of twelve feet. In the presence of father and mother, the hope of their house, and the beloved one of their hearth, their only son, was crushed to pieces, and his brains dashed out, and lying-scattered at their feet! Such an appalling scene would be bad enough at any time, “When young hearts lie withered · And fond ones are flown,” but how doubly dreadful must it be, when a man (just chosen by his countrymen to fill the highest office of the State) should have all his faculties free, all his thoughts unfettered, all his nerves unshackled. The only wonder to us is that the wretched, how- ever illustrious, individual could so far recover bis equanimity, as to go through the inaugural pageant we subsequently wit- nessed, and it will be more than a wonder if the distracted mother should ever be thoroughly able to restring the chords of her fond but shattered heart. Of course it was pobody's fault. Why, Jack did not break the axletree, and Bill greased the wheels before they were put in motion--to be sure they did, as usual; no per- son could be blamed; the axletree broke of its own accord ; but * A friend of ours, near whose country residence the Haerlem railroad runs, invited a few friends to dine with him, bringing down a fine piece of roasting, beef. When they quitted the cars, which had got again into motion, it was discovered that the beef had been forgotten, and was almost then out of sight. "We shall lose our dipper after all,” said a guest. "No we shan't," said the host; " for that train generally meets with an accident about a mile farther on, and then we shall get it again.” They ran on, and sure enough an accident did happen. On coming up with the cars, and ascertaining that the beef was in safety, without troubling themselves about the passengers, they recovered their meat, and walked -off with it. AND NEW ENGLAND. 149 where was the merciless rascal whose duty it was, or at all events should have been, to examine every particle of a machine, to the capabilities of which the lives of so many were entrusted ? In the beginning of last April, another awful calamity occurred on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, about three o'clock in the afternoon, when a train, consisting of a baggage and three passen- ger cars, drawn by one heavy and one small engine, passing the eighty feet filling, on section seventy-six, descending a curved grade of 116 feet to Cheat River, about seventy miles west of Cumberland, "parted company,” the large engine having started some nails that bound the rails to the chestnut cross-ties. All got over safely but the two last passenger-cars, which, in conse- quence of the parting of the track, were thrown down to the river-side, over 100 feet, making four somersaults in the descent, and presenting a frightful list of killed and wounded. * . The nervous system of the timid, and the astonishment of the .courageous, had barely recovered its equilibrium, when another hideous event took place on the 23d of the same month. Many people will tell you that there is more danger in going from New York to Washington, than there is in crossing the Atlantic, from the several rivers and broad sheets of water that have to be passed over (on small piles overlaid with slight planks) by trains, some- times. at full speed and recent occurrences, would seem to bear out the sad conclusion. On the day in question, the two o'clock train from Philadelphia ran off the draw into Rancocus Creek, about twelve miles from that city. The draw was opened by the bridge-tender for the passage of the steamboat." Rancocus," which was then approaching the bridge. It was stated, but we cannot take upon ourselves to say it was believed, that an island and a bend in the road prevented the engineer from seeing the steam- boat, and no signal being raised, the train was not entirely checked until too late, although running at no greater speed than four miles an hour when the accident occurred. The engine and car, with all the baggage, &c., were precipitated into the creek, * We had an opportunity of speaking with one of the survivors, and Venturing, as delicately as possible, to inquire if he had any recollection of what was passing in his mind, as the car was rolling over, he replied: “Oh y-eas, I perfectly remember saying, 'Lord have mercy upon us, and don't be long about it, for there a’nt a minute to spare.” It reminds one of the prayer of an old negro who was crossing a river one night, on his way home, and having the misfortune to lose both his oars, was within an inch of being drowned. Bethinking himself that the moment had arrived for him to do what he had never done before, he dropped down on both knees, and ejaculated : "Oh, Massa Lord, if you am eber gwine to help old Sambo, now is de time!" 13* 150 OLD ENGLAND in fifteen feet of water, and mostly disappeared from the view. The breakman had a leg and three ribs broken, and was other- wise injured. The mailand most of the baggage was "' fished up,". soaking wet, while the “express” sunk out of sight, together with some thirty thousand dollars, and other valuable packages. Well, the usual inquiry* took place, ending as all such farces generally do; and perhaps the matter would never have been thought of again, but for a catastrophe far more awful that hap- pened a fortnight afterwards, arising out of the same system of neglect, On the 6th of May, now past, the climax of all horrors was reached, when a wholesale murder of forty-four human beings, and the hacking and disfiguring of above one hundred and thirty more, rendered Norwalk, in Connecticut, a place to be remem- bered forever as the slaughter-house of the country. There is not on record the history of such a domestic misfortune, where the thread of life has been so suddenly cut in two-the chain that links life together so awfully snapped and the severance, the struggle, the gasp, so momentary! In the dreamless sleep of security, the babe reclining on its mother's breast, father and mother watching that slumber, friend and acquaintance, and stranger, all caged in as it were in a wooden den, from which there was no possibility of escape, hurled in an instant beneath the depths of the river, where no ear could hear the bubbling shriek of death, and no hand could be extended to the relief of the dying, presents to the mind a picture that will not admit of thinking of, much less of writing about. We convérsed with the eminent surgeon whose high attainments and intense application enabled him to save the lives of so many of his fellow-creatures, and bis vivid description of the scene was perfectly appalling. In rooms of scanty accommodation, with scarcely a bed, and straw pallets on the floor being the principal depository for the dying and the dead, with a noble spirit, hour by the hour, he knelt over human frames, extracting broken glass and splinters, bath- ing the bleeding features, and closing the gaping wounds of those living in torture or expiring in agony, while his attention was alternately called off to find out the name and address of some departed victim, and to see his body decently inclosed in * The examination of the fellow whose duty it was to move and re- move the draw, led to a reply unprecedented, either in sangfroid, or inno- cence, as the reader may determine. His answer to the question put to him was, that, “his orders were to open the draw whenever a steam-boat came along that he had simply obeyed them, and had never 'tipped' a train into the water before." AND NEW ENGLAND. 151 11 one of the metallic coffins that had arrived for the occasion, and have them, one after the other, sent away, as if it were a bale of merchandise, by the next train !* It is useless to say more upon the subject. Since the beginning of the year, up to the period we are referring to a space of four months-about forty accidents have occurred, whereby more than one hundred and twenty individuals have been almost suddenly " sent to their account with all their imperfections on their head, and more than two hundred have been mutilated and maimed for life ; and yet no director has been hung, no official been hurled into the waves where his negligence has immersed so many of his fellow - creatures, and no vagabond stoker has been thrown into the boiler he is appointed to feed. To be sure, it is no business of ours, and if people choose " to be in love and pleased with ruin,”? let them be so by all means—we only lift up a warning voice to our own kith and kind, to induce them, at all events, to be as cautious as possible in all their transatlantic travelling arrange- ments. .. The whole system is wrong from first to last--the construction of the cars, the construction of the trams--the total absence of even ordinary precaution, and want of the protective hand of government. Their railroads traverse the centre of cities, fly across all public roads, and cleave the most crowded thorough- fares, and the only notice given to the passer-by, is a large board, with the word : " Look out for the enginet when the bell rings !" Good fun, that! They are not required to "look out” that they don't run over you, but you are required to "look out" that you are not run over! In the comparatively few instances where our railroads traverse either a high or a by-way, large gates, as we all know, are erected on either side, and a policeman is stationed at them to prevent man or horse crossing until the expected train has gone by; and by this arrangement a very proper "look out” is kept for you, instead of your being obliged to keep it for your- self; and until this and other precautionary measures (amongst others, doạble lines of rail) arc adopted, and above all until two *The Yankee, though “in the midst of life he is in death,” as long as he is not actually dead, will have his joke. A fellow who had gone down in one of the cars, luckily rose to the surface, and alighting upon a rafter, he was seen feeling in his pockets, and at length pulling out three gold dollar-pieces, he was heard to exclaim, while spitting out mouthfuls of mud and water: “Here they are-hold on—I don't menn to spend my money in this did hole when does the next train come on ? f Invariably pronounced en-gine. 152 OLD- ENGLAND or three directors have in the delicate language of Newgatie) undergone the extreme penalty of the law, the lives of the tra- velling community in America will be at a very serious discount. Most parties connected with the actual hourly operation of these railroads are trumpery men of business, and it is grievous to find that while they are capable of introducing such excellent arrangements as some we have expatiated upon, they do not carry out a similar principle in all connected with such undertakings. One thing is tolerably certain, that if they pursue the reckless course now in existence, their census, when the time shall arrive for taking it again, will have undergone some considerable dimi- nution. There are many things to be done, and many, to be left undone; and while they are making amendments, let one consist of enforcing greater punctuality than they are at present guilty of-exactness in business is its very vitality--and if not ģene- rally practised, the people there know what it is; for they tell you a story of a man who was so scrupulously exact in : all his dealings, that whenever he paid a visit, he would insist upon taking a receipt for it. : CHAPTER XIII. Lake Erie--The British fleet swallowed at one mouthful-England's only chance of salvation--Statistics of the lake country--Lake poetry---Tho Falls of Niagara-What to do when you get to them—Every joke, Sheridan's—Difference between saying and doing British and Ameri- can ground not half a mile apart-Taking a "wet,” inside and out- A thundering * * *-The Windsor sentinel-Sapho and the Lover's Leap--Any quantity of water you please-Buffalo city, its advantages, and its pretensions-No end to a street in it-The odds against arriv- ing at the Falls of Niagara. We parted company some time since, good reader, at the town of Cleveland, or rather (not to pay it any disrespect) the Forest City; but we did not stay there longer than it took us to go from the railway station to the wharf, alongside of which was moored a huge steamer entitled the “Northern Indiana," and the dis- tance being about two hundred and fifty yards, it occupied a cool five minutes. This vessel forms one of those floating hotels which are constructed for the inland navigation, and which form such a wondrous feature in the shipping statistics of the United AND NEW ENGLAND. 153 States. This ponderous boat plies between Cleveland and Buffalo,.. across the waters of Lake Erie; and being intent on sailing over the one, as a more preferable mode of arriving at the other, we did so; and now we will presume ourselves to be on the aforesaid lake. You must make up your mind when traversing this sheet of water, to be entertained with an enormous yarn about the wondrous victory obtained hereon by Commander Perry in 1813, on which occasion he swallowed up the British fleet in no time, and thereby enrolled his name amongst the greatest naval com- manders of the wide earth. At the same time, they scrupulously avoid making any mention of the disparity of force in the two armaments, and of the inferiority of that force in the British one. They don't say a word of Perry having three brigs, five schooners, and one sloop, opposed to a wondrous fleet of two ships ! one brig! one schooner! and one sloop! chiefly manned by Canadians, while in the enemy's ranks were to be found many an actually born Briton! How truly did the late Duke of Wellington say that England could never afford to carry on "a little war." Yet this is a spe- cimen of the silly warfare she pursued with the United States in 1812, 1813, and 1814, when, satiated with all her vast victories in Europe, she treated America far more as a dependent than an equal, and thereby enabled her to display that power which," on fair ground," she had not wade so manifest. Your genuine American will swagger about the “Constitution," with 55 guns and 480 men, capturing, after a desperate conflict, the “Java," with 46 guns and 377 men--and of the “Hornet" sloop of war, and 116 men-but he will not breathe a syllable (cunning dog, not be!) of the “Shannon," of 45 guns and 330 men, having captured, in fifteen minutes, the “ Chesapeake," of 49 guns and 440 men, or of the “ Pelican," of 18 guns and 116 men, having placed her paw upon the "Argus," of 20 guns and 127 men, in something like the same brief period. We should be sorry, could it be implied that these remarks have any reference to the eminent and intelligent citizens of America, who know with our- selves, the exact position of each country, and who would be the last, as would all lovers of this land, to desire to see it embroiled in difficulties with one bound to it by the ties of consanguinity, regard, and interest--we allude solely to those very fast people who talk about “whipping all creation, only give them time they really begin to think it is true. What stuff all this is ! The prowess of England has been a feature in the world's history 154 OLD ENGLAND for century after century, and her position, depend upon it, is firmly based, despite all the nonsense of demagogues in her own or any other empire, upon Shakspeare's imperishable couplet:- "Nought can make us rue . If England to herself do rest but true.”. That of America needs neither praise nor flattery at our hands; her courage is unquestioned, her power extensive, and she holds a high and honorable position in the world's estimate, which none but a fool would venture to dispute. But let the advantage, whatever it be, and whenever it shall arise, lie on whichever side it may, we cannot perceive any particular cause for idle boasting. It is, after all, flesh and blood combating with itself, one branch of a family fighting with the other, kindred opposed to kindred, and those who should always be friends, being fools enough to become enemies. We should always look upon a British over- coming an American power, in the light of a father chastising his offspring; and regard that of an American defeating a British force, as an insubordinate act of a scion to its parent stock-pro- ceedings of which both parties ought to be, at all times, perfectly ashamed; therefore, let us take a pleasant sail on the bosom of Lake Erie, now that it is neither shaken by the tempests of heaven, vor “thunder-stricken” by those of battle, leaving each land to bear in mind Bacon's famous aphorism, that You will naturally have a shrewd supposition that we are bent on a voyage of observation, whose livit extends at least to Niagara Falls; and your supposition is, beyond any question, a certainty. We have, however, something to say to you before we arrive at that acme of the sublime and the beautiful. We are of opinion the source of that mighty cataract on the Niagara River, is almost as interesting to inquire into, as it is to gaze upon the wonder itself; and in that belief, we must take you up into those other inland reservoirs, whose contributions help to bring about this marvellous freak of nature. It is almost unnecessary to apprise the general reader of the character or extent of the great lake district of America. We, of course, refer to the five principal ones constituting that tract of country, all leading to the one awful concentration. Lake Superior, the principal one, is concluded to be the largest body of fresh water on the surface of the habitable globe, though not the largest lake in the United States; inasmuch as a very con- siderable portion of it washes the shores of Canada, and conse- AND NEW ENGLAND. 155 quently is subject to the sovereignty of Great Britain. It is no fiction to say that, although its navigation is entirely inland, yet. its waters are as stormy, and quite as dangerous, as those of the Atlantic-an assertion easily enough to be believed, when it is borne in mind that the lake is upwards of 380 miles long, that its breadth exceeds 128 miles, its circumference 1500, and its depth 900 feet. One island alone on its bosom, Isle Royal, is 100 miles long and thirty-eight' miles broad, and thirty odd rivers are its tributaries. We would direct especial attention to the fact of the surface of this extraordinary sheet of water being 610 feet above the level of tide-water, a fact on which we purpose to rest one main point of our observation. Lake Michigan, the second of the five, but, as we observed, the largest American lake, being exclusively in that territory, is 330 miles in length, and somewhere about sixty miles wide, the same depth as its Superior, and claiming a contribution of water from the St. Joseph, the two Calamicks, the Kalamazoo, Grand River, Maskegon, Pent Water, White, Père Marquette, Sandy, Carp, Ottawa, and several other rivers, especially the Menomoneo and Fox, and this lake is 600 feet above tide-water. Lake Huron is the third in the great chain issuing from Cana- da West, and proceeding through the United States; and though of less pretension in length and breadth (being but 260 miles from the straits of Mackinac to the head of the St. Clair River), yet its profundity is greater than either of the preceding two, it being fully 1,000 feet deep. The dwellers on its shores pride themselves on this grand fact of pre-eminence; and on an inti- mation of their opinions thereon to the inhabitants of the Upper Lake, the following reply is said to have been forwarded :- « In matter of depth you, perhaps, are superior, But in all other points you are vastly inferior; And thus Lake Supcrior, you may be sure on, Is very superior to that one which you're on."* This lake, following the scale of the evident decrease in descent, is 580 feet above the level of tide-water; it is the recipient of the other two; and the three uniting in the small river of St. Clair, pass through it into the comparatively insignificant lake of St. Clair; from whence the whole four glide through Detroit River, into Lake Erie. This latter one, the fourth great lake, is the point of attraction from which we started on this watery tour, and to which we now return on our onward course to the grand scene of action. The * Printer's Devil-Huron. : : OLD ENGLAND waters of the four lakes unite at the eastern end of Lake Erie by the outlet.of Niagara River, and rolling on for twenty miles, they form the Rapids; and two miles beyond them, they—-stop for a moment's argument. This lake is 550 feet above the level of tide-water; and after the volume of water which these four contribute to the wonders of the Falls, the whole body passes into Lake Ontario, which is but 216 feet above the level of tide- water. We wish, therefore, to direct attention to their pheno- menon in the descent of water from Lake Superior to the Falls, - in one continuous line, thus :- ' Lake Superior is 640 feet above tide-water. : 66 Michigan - 600 1 66 (40 feet less.) ... 66 Huron 66580 66 66 66. 6066 ) Erie "550 66 ..16 1906 - ) And (having passed the Falls) « Ontario is but 216 feet above tide-water (424 " .5") The difference in the height of the surface above tide-water between Lake Superior and Lake Ontario (the Alpha and Omega), will thus seem to be 424 feet, there being between each of the < < tween the two last alone appearing to be a gradual fall of 334 feet. You therefore can (taking into account the declivity in the second, third, and fourth lakes, as well as that in the rivers they roll through, and in the rapids they create), form a tolerably clear account of the precipice on which we have to speak ! Niagara Falls! Why we have read of them since we could spell, and heard of them since we could comprehend. Thousands and tens of thousands have flocked to see them, and the Atlantic has been crossed for no other purpose. The first appearance of this demonstration of Almighty power is unquestionably disap- pointing; whether it be that your mind has been over-wrought by the marvellous descriptions it has from time to time revelled in the recital of, or whether that mind be utterly incapable, for the moment, of confronting the aspect of such sublimity, we can- not pretend to determine; but leave it, and return to it-linger, and leave it, and return to it again, and you will find " Its grandeur overwhelms thee not; And why? it is not lessened; but thy mind, Has grown colossal.” View it in cvery possible direction ; stand over it, sail under it, look down upon it, look up to it; be alone--no one should dis- turb you in the solemnity of the hour, or break the silence of that awful scene when you prostrate yourself in worship of AND NEW ENGLAND. 157 Almighty God. The fall of waters! Oh! they are rolling for- ever and forever, like the tide of human thought, called into existence before thought was engendered, and will be existent when the torrent of thought, with its puny tempests or its sternest intensity, shall be altogether hushed. This is the spot for self- study; the place of all others for man to determine his own im- portance, or rather his own insignificance-to gaze, to wonder, and then to be humiliated. What can be said of Niagara Falls which has not been said a thousand times, and unquestionably a thousand times more effectively? Yet to say nothing, would argue insensibility or ignorance. To adjudge them in all their immensity you should explore every crevice connected with them; place yourself in every position where you miay be im- pressed with the sublimity of the scene, before you pronounce a final opinion.. The Rapids, which may be considered le commencement de la fin, struck us with as much awe and wonder as even the abyss itself into which they eventually roll; and when you have par- tially recovered from the effect they produce upon your system, prepare yourself for an extra sensation of the marvellous and the horrible, by a descent into the cave of the winds," directly behind the Central Fall, where that sheet of water before you, with a gigantic projecting rock above you, presents a spectacle not elsewhere to be gazed upon. The ceaseless roar of the cata- ract, and the conflict of winds bounding from one part of the rock to the other, as if struggling to escape from the confines of their prison, hold your very brain in a state of desperate sus- pense. We could not help feeling, while looking upon the tor- rent, and listening to the howling sounds echoing through this fearful recess, drenched by the spray, and scarcely able to retain footing, and with a conviction that the slightest slip would wind up one's worldly accounts, the force of the sarcasm which Sheri- dan applied to his son (of course everything in the shape of a joke is given to Sheridan), who, on the father expostulating with him about going up in a balloon, observed that it was something to say you had been up in one..“Then why don't you say so, without going?!' was the rejoinder. It is all very well to say you have been in the cave of the winds;" but after having been there, the question is whether you would not have preferred the saying to the doing! When you return, and arrive at the edge of the precipice, being on a line with it, you do not obtain a good view of the American Fall; but you can remedy this by going to the lowest extremity of Goat Island. However, there can be no question 14 158 OLD ENGLAND of the only perfect site for looking at the whole panorama, being the Canadian side, and the shortest way to get there is by de- scending (facile est descensus, in this instance) a stairway, if you are afraid of riding, or by virtue of a railway, if you are not, the car of which is pulled up and down an inclined plane by a wheel at the bottom of that plane, turned by water. It is im- possible not to be reminded of that domestic plan of drawing water by two buckets in a well; and certain it is that, in the event of a sudden jerk pitching you head foremost, you would reach your journey's end long before the carriage arrived there to take up again your scattered remains. If your object be merely to hurry across the ferry, there is a boat ready to do duty for you; but if you like to get on board the “Queen of the Mist," a small steamer, which will take you as near to the Falls as safety will warrant, make a rush to the captain, and implore of him the same quantity of oil-skin clothing to render you impervious to the torrent of foam which streams over the deck, which you were habited in when you visited the wiuds in their disquieted home. The landing on the Canadian side, where at a distance of nearly 4000 miles from home you set foot on a territory ruled over by your own sovereign lady, the Queen, creates an almost indescrib- able feeling; that is, it did in us. Wild though the scene be, and as unlike anything English as it well can be, still the vast space between England and America, and even the mighty At- lantic in which that space is embodied; seemed reduced to the narrow passage of the Niagara River, little more than the third of a mile; literally, only a small slip of water dividing these two mighty dominions. On ascending the upland by a broad winding road, the whole prospect bursts upon your eye in its fulness of majesty and boundlessness of beauty. The Rapids, as far as vision can reach, gallopading from rock to rock, scattering around a perfect halo of colored vapor in the rapidity of their flight. Then the boiling torrent, the American Fall! The smaller one, the Central! The double Iris, spanning the abyss- - On the verge From side to side, beneath the glittering morn, An Iris sits, amidst the infernal surge, Like Hepe upon a death-bed, and unworn Its steady clyes, while all around is torn By the distracted waters, bears serene Its brilliant hues with all their beams unshomn;" with Goat Island, Bath Island, and Luna Island intersecting the foaming stream; and finally, to your right, the glory and marvel of the whole, the Horse-shoe l'all. All this sublime embodi- AND NEW ENGLAND. 159 ment is seen to the best advantage from the extensive crag of Table Rock, hanging over the river at a height almost as great as the preeipice itself you are gazing upon from its summit; and after satiating your mind with contemplating this surpassing sight, dress yourself for the third time in oil-skin apparel, to avoid sa- turating your body, and go down the shaft beneath the said Table Rock, whence, by the assistance of a guide, you will speedily find yourself behind the whole expanse of this gigantic element, bound- ing and flashing down into a gulf of more than 850 feet in depth.* Get away from it as soon as you can, and thank your God that you have got away; and while your sable conductor is peeling off your drenched garments, imbibe any quantity of brandy you can lay your hands upon. The final view to take of this development of horrible beauty should be from a suspension-bridge thrown over the river, at a distance of about two miles from the scene you will have just left; and, returning home, you will at once be convinced that you are fit for nothing, but to remember, as far as may be possible, the magnificence, the sublimity, the terror, and the fearful truth of the scene that has been laid out before you. It is in such · immutable displays as these that the true worship of the Creator becomes manifest, where, as it has been beautifully expressed, a thought of the centuries through which the voice of God, as the sound of many waters," here has thundered its eternal peal, leaves mere man his only táskếto wonder and adore. The anecdotiana connected with the place, some arising out of calculation, others from hearsay, some from fiction, some from fact, are points upon which every visitor must draw his own con- clusions. If you are told that seven hundred thousand tons of water are carried over the Niagara precipice every minute, and, finding that amounts to forty-two million tons an hour, you be- gin to doubt; always remember that you are not bound to believe it. If you overhear a person say that the Falls can be heard thirty miles off, or sometimes as far as Toronto, which is more than forty miles off, you are at liberty to question his veracity, unless you happen to recollect the circumstance of the sentinel at Windsor, who was accused of being asleep on his post at twelve o'clock at night, and who was acquitted, because he swore to his having heard the clock of St. Paul's, London, (twenty-one miles off!) strike thirteen instead of twelve, which turned out to be the fact! Tor our own part, we can only say that, whether the wind had set in in a wrong direction, or whether the railway * Some say, unfathomable ! 160 OLD ENGLAND carriages made the greater noise of the two-points .we cannot decide—but we caught nothing of the thunder said to outpie the cannon's roar, until we got within half a mile of its rolling. That ships have been sent down, and, like the luckless “Caroline," have been heard no more of; that birds have drooped upon the wing when approaching too near the verge of the torrent, just as if they had been shot; that fish of all kinds attempting, like Sap- pho, to take the fatal leap, have been confounded with the ele- ments to which they belong, are matters, we think we may say, beyond dispute ; and also that other lovers, besides the poetess, we have alluded to, have here, after that lady's example in Leu- cadia, put a suicidal termination to their blighted affections, may be credited; but the safest way in all such cases is to hear a great deal, and believe a small quantity of it. Buffalo, the starting-point from which you reach Niagara, is another of those American cities which were forests, and are streets. When we say there is one here two miles long, it is only necessary to add that it does not contain houses enough to . front one-fourth part of such distance, and that the interstices are dotted with a church or two, a stray livery stable, a huge hole where an hotel is to be built, and a pile of ruins where one has just been pulled down. Buffalo is, notwithstanding, a very important place, because, heading as it vere, Lake Erie, it may be looked upon as the high road between the west and the east- a turnpike at which an immense quantity of toll is annually taken. You have direct communication from this city with all parts of the Union; with New York direct, a distance of nearly five hundred miles, in the short space of fifteen hours, by what they term "lightning expresses”- to the focus of New England, turning off at Albany, a greater distance, in very little more time; while, to the westward, it has a lake navigation exceeding 1450 miles—to say nothing of its interminable communications with innumerable places, by virtue of the Erie canal, to which. wondrous construction it mainly owes its great prosperity. Buffalo can boast of a Young Man's Literary Association, equal to any of its size in all America, and amongst its citizens are some gentlemen of considerable scholastic eminence; while in its several journals may be found writers as distinguished as any attached to the periodical press of the country; and a great feature in the institution of which we have just made mention, is one of the very best lecture-rooms we were ever in, where may be heard in the winter months, at respective periods, the bril- liant essays of Whipple, the sparkling flashes of Starr King, the learned solemnities of Emerson, and the generalities of other AND NEW ENGLAND. 161 sons of genius and learning. This association, in its well-as- sorted library, its orgauization, and in the main principles upon which it is conducted, has all the solidity, with much less of the pretension, we have found in other establishments assuming to hold a higher character. . · Buffalo, being the gathering point for visitors to the Niagara Falls, inay be considered more of a fashionable watering-place than any other.commercial city of America can aspire to be; and as getting to it presents a choice of difficulties, the traveller must make his own selection. In using this term, we allude to those trifling obstructions which voyaging anywhere must necessarily encounter, of course more in this go-ahead country than in any other, and the chances, therefore, lie between a burst out on the lake and a pitch out on the road-one of which, a steam-boat speed of twenty-miles an hour, the other, a railway pace of "lightning of sixty-five miles an hour, are not altogether un- likely to bring about. The "odds” against a safe arrival at Niagara Falls, via Buffalo, have been thus calculated :- “If you travel by land, 'ere you fix your abode there, Depends on what ‘falls' you may meet in your road there ; If by water, it then depends whether you're blowu up, Or half of your inside by sickness is thrown out." CHAPTER XIV. . A word or two about Ireland, and its utility in America-Three things to avoid in life-Difference between emigration and procreation—The shortest way of becoming an American citizen-The virtue of an oath- A real land of liberty-d country fighting against itself—The different charges for ouc man thrashing another-Thomas Francis Meagher--His own account of his return from transportation-The exact value of patriotism-The star-spangled banner-Draft to be swalloted every other hour in America—Ingredients for making a rebel-A highly- gifted champion. It would be a difficult thing to say anything new about Ireland, on this side of the Atlantic. From the memorable day when, according to the old saw, By the ford of Brig and Bunu Ireland was lost and won," until the present hour of locomotive celerity, when 14* 162 OLD ENGLAND A journey to Ireland now through the Tubular Is as short as a trip to the old Norwood New Beulalı, there has been little change, unless it be for the worse. We may apply to this lovely land the exquisite apostrophe addressed to that of the East, a spot." where all but the spirit of man is divine ;" and there is no mistake about it. We haye no intention of follow- ing up Thomas Moore's native and natural illustration that it is the "First flower of the earth, and first gem of the sea," yet we are willing to admit that it is one of them; but why it should be called the Emerald Isle, unless it be from the greenness of so many of its inhabitants, it would be difficult to determine; for there are other islands quite as verdant, and some even more so. All this, however, is a matter of opinion, not worth while stopping to talk about. It is an enchanting part of creation for the eye to gaze upon, but not equally so for the body to dwell in. The outcry of Ireland is, the inisrule of England-a natural sequitur', that they who could not and cannot govern themselves, invariably object to the domination of others. The mystery, if there be any in the matter, is easily solved; they are priest-ridden to the highest degree, and credulous to the last degree ; and then, being gifted with faith to a much greater extent than with com- mon sense, they easily become victims of a false belief. That extensive portion of the community coming under the denomina- tion of the lower classes, have been humbugged with an impres- sion that they are "the finest pisantry" under the sun; and hav- ing had the cry of freedom thrust into their ears by the sophistry of oration, and the blandishment of poetry, from all their gifted speakers and writers, they hold industry at an alarming discount; and though they certainly can dig, they infinitely prefer to beg. Their defunct mouth-piece lost sight of that rhapsody of Brutus, or at all events paid no attention to it:- By heaven! I had rather coin my heart, And drop my blood for drachmas, than to wring From the hard hands of peasants their vile trash By any indirection" and thus, between the priest and the orator, being "eased” of what little an ordinarily slothful nature may have amassed, they ruin their country by remaining in it, and endeavor to ruin it still more by running away from it. Their importunity may awaken, as it incessantly does, the best sympathies of the sister country, but their ingratitude blunts the very feelings which un- ceasing solicitation excites. That Ireland has possessed, and still possesses, some of the most gifted men under the sun, admits of AND NEW ENGLAND. 163 no dispute ; but their patriotism has ever been a huge mistake; it has never proceeded from a love of country, but from love of self; and the pursuit of a different line of conduct in all their silly movements-miscalled popular-would have solidly benefited the empire they have so often aided to dismember. From their first to their latest attempt at emancipation from that rule their. forefathers originally solicited, all their movements have had in- dividual aggrandizement in view; the most recent instance of which we shall by and by refer to. If advice could be of any avail to the misguided people whom the doctrines of such advo- cates go so far to direct, we should impress this axiom on their memories : "Take heed of an ox before, an ass behind, and A MONK on all sides." The attempt of the Irish to ruin their country by running away from it, is becoming every day more and more demonstrated, the tide of emigration flowing on with resistless force, and its current setting in principally towards America. Alarming as the state of the last census of Ireland appeared to be, we shrewdly suspect the condition of the next one will tell a more lamentable table. The population of that large portion of Great Britain is month after month perceptibly thinned-a fact in itself bad enough; but when it is recollected that this draft of people goes to swell, the numbered (not yet number-less) inhabitants of another empire, the case becomes infinitely worse. The reader is unusually astounded when he is frequently told, that the population of such or such a place in the United States has doubled itself in the in- credibly brief space of ten years, and he begins to think what a procreative set of people the children of Jonathan must be; but he forgets all the while that immigration, and not procreation, is the grand contributor to this extraordinary exuberance. The extent of this immigration, and the consequences arising, and that may arise, out of it, can only be adequately adjudged by a resi- dence in the immediate scene of action. In an earnest desire to populate their comparatively uninha- bited country, the Government of the United States offers unu- sual advantages to those who feel any wish to visit their shores; - and the ties of fatherland are very speedily snapped asunder by the temptations held out by adoption. The prospect of bettering their condition elsewhere, without honestly attempting to better it at home, is the first impulse which leads to action; the second, and perhaps the most powerful, is the idea of following in the paths of freedom, and flying away from British rule, without the remotest idea of what other rule they may happen to come under. The streets of America, the houses, hotels, and stores of America -164 OLD ENGLAND we had wellnigh said the forests of America---are crammed with self-expatriated “Exiles of Erin;" and wherever you encounter them, they deal plentifully in praises of the new country, and execrations of the old. After a sojourn of five years in the land of liberty they have sailed to, emigrants are eligible for the distinguished honor of be- coming citizens of the Union; and iņ a vast many cases, they avail themselves of that privilege, by virtue of an oath which, with a magic exclusively Hibernian, can substitute months for years, without fearing any unnecessary attempt at detection. It is quite curious to examine the eagerness with which this oath is administered whenever a Presidential or local election is at hand; an occasion on which quantity is of far greater importance than quality, and numbers are treated with a degree of respect they are by no means entitled to... The enormous extent to which railroads have been carried, could only have been accomplished by Irish navvies (we believe that word is, in modern phraseology, descriptive of laborers on public roads); the incessant operation of pulling down and building up could not be undertaken but by the sons of the hod whom St. Patrick has sent here plentifully; hotels could not be attended to, and their guests attended upon, were it not for these wander- ing emigrants; and half the stores in half the cities one travels through, would be, but for them, shorn of a great portion of their. daily traffic. An Irishman will tell you that he can be sure at all times of making at least a dollar (4s. 2d. of English money) per day, whereas, "In the land of potatoes and sweet Inneshoen,” he could not obtain more than one-third of that sum; and that, moreover, he can enjoy all the rights and immunities of citizen- ship, which are denied him at hoine. This is a pleasant refuge of argument to have resort to, without telling more of the truth than may ansver the purpose. Were every man, imbued with the spirit of migration, to make the same exertions for subsistence in his own land, which he finds himself compelled to make, when he has once finally left it, that country (Ireland to wit) would be amongst the most prosperous of nations; and the proper principle of subordination by which that country is ruled, would be considered its greatest blessing. But no! they have been told, by their tampering monks and their political mountebanks, that America is a great country, likely ere long to take precedence of England in the scale of nations; that a man has a right to do there just whatever he pleases; that gold may be picked up by J AND NEW ENGLAND. 165 only stooping down to reach it; that he can vote on all public questions according to the thermometer of his conscience, or the barometer of his pocket; and that (a greater temptation than all others) in the event of a war springing up between the two coun- tries, be can have the superlative gratification of fighting against Great Britain, instead of fighting by her side. These are amongst some of the inducements which tempt so many, rovers across the deep, and in the enjoyment of which they delight to revel. Excepting in cases where “service” is performed by people of color, we have rarely found any servants but Irish, in the hotels wherein we have sojourned; and nothing but the idea of getting some gratuity (attendance in all being included in the daily charge can induce them to be ordinarily civil to an English- man-a system by virtue of which the cloven foot peeps out more frequently than it should do. America may rejoice in this momentary success of a principle whereby she is enabled to populate her many deserts; but the license which she extends to her newly-acquired denizens will sooner or later be turned against herself. In some of her most important places, the recent elections of her President and Vice- President were entirely carried by Irish influence; the priests first, and the parishioners next, were the presiding deities, and their fiat became law. Had they been otherwise, directed, they could have as easily ejected, as elected, General Pierce, and anarchy had then been fully in the ascendant. This strength is daily becoming more and more 'manifest; and it will eventually be so apparent, that America will have to do what England has for centuries done before-enforce the breakers* of the peace to keep it; but at the same time, America is not without more objects than one in this national affiliation. It is impossible for her to conceal her desire herein to cripple Great Britain, and if not to make ber appear odious in the eyes of her own people, at least to encourage them to do so for her. She hails any out- break of Irish animosity with all the recollected rankling of her own former animosity, and cheers them on, as it were, in the paths of disloyalty. * The cost of “ breaking the peace” varies according to locality. You may give a fellow a drubbing in Washington for a mere nothing, that will cost you a good sum in New York—something upon this Irish principle: a man was fined £5 by a magistrate at the College Police-office, Dublin, for assaulting another; and as he paid the money into court with con- siderable reluctance, he shot a glance at the victim of his indiscretion, and said : “Wait till I get you in Limerick, where beating's cheap, and · I'll take the change out of you." 166 OLD ENGLAND . . A remarkable instance of this kind occurred during our recent tour in the United States, and the hero of that instance was one styled “a gentleman' in America, and "a convict” in England, whose name (Thomas Francis Meagher) the Irish pronounce Mare, and the Columbians Maigre, and whose body, as all are aware, was transported from the shores of Britain to those of Van Diemen's Land. In all the relations of social life, in all the transactions which distinguish man's character through that life, and in all the denotements of honorable bearing, we have ever understood Mr. Meagher to be sans peur et sans reproche. Of his private life we would not, for we could not, speak other- wise than in terms of the highest eulogy ; but in his public career, we have a fuller warranty for speaking of his conduct than he had for pursuing it. The first aim of Meagher was to effect his escape from the scene of his banishment; the next, to turn that escape to the best possible account--and a finer field for both pur- poses could not present itself than the broad land of Columbia. He had the luck to arrive there, and was received with a degree of enthusiasm which is ordinarily bestowed only upon the best, the bravest, and the wisest of mankind ; his landing at New York, and his progress thoughout the Union, having been scenes of surpassing triumph. He was instantly solicited -by his own countrymen, and through their influence by the community at large, to deliver a lecture upon the position of the land he had escaped to, and had just come from. The "solicitors” might have had some remote idea of gaining all possible knowledge of this land of promise, in order to carry out their cherished notion of annexation, that as one golden climate (California) had recently become the thirty-first State of the Union, the other one (Aus- tralia) might as well become the thirty-second! We give them credit for entertaining this notion ; but the paramount feeling in their minds was to hear Meagher's account of the little rebel- lion he and his comrades cooked up in Ireland, their punishment for so doing, and how he at all events escaped from the grasp of English power. All this he did before an audience which filled the largest hall in New York; and for which ebullition the afore- said Thomas Francis pocketed the sum of sixteen hundred dol- lars--in plain terms, £320 for unlimited abuse of England, the parent country, and now on terms of friendship and alliance with her. They hurraed every word he said ; and the sentiment once aroused, ignited the whole land. Boston, determined at all times to be “alongside" of New York, and if possible to sail by her, received the gentleman (who candidly told them he had just returned from transportation) with AND NEW ENGLAND. : 1.67 the same wild demonstrations he had elsewhere experienced. 'Mobs of his own countrymen met him at the railway station, and setting adrift the horses of a carriage hired to convey bim to his hotel, drew him there vi et armis (or rather by ropes). There was no such thing as getting a waiter to attend upon you, or a chambermaid to fetch you a towel on that memorable day-all were intent on looking at Misther Ma'er, the champion of Irish liberty, or shouting for the hero, not of a hundred fights, but of one in a hundred, and that one in the hundred of Ballingarry, under the command of Field-Marshal Smith O'Brien, and on hurraing for the victim of English despotism ! and “no small blame to him” for leaving Lake Sorrell, in the district of Camp- beltown, without a ticket, though he had a “ ticket of leave” to remain there as long as he thought proper. Boston filled its Music Hall (and Thomas Francis his pockets, with nearly seven- teen hundred dollars), gave him a supper to match, and a ball to follow, though every fool who so yelled and called him a patriot, kuew him at the same time to be a rebel! No matter-the very fact of his being a traitor to England insured him a welcome to America.' One thing is quite certain, that although by his trip to, and his flight from Australia, Meagher has made a good thing of it, his country is none the better for his patriotic interference ; but what his deluded bearers, the sons of the soil, got, or ever will get, by their patriotism, is briefly summed up by their own gifted writer, Maturin :- «(.Patriotism! It is the age's foppery, and the beggar Gives his last fagot to his country's pile, Forgetting, as he eyes the straw-fed blaze, He must be cold to-morrow !” To follow “the gifted champion of liberty'' (as the gentleman is generally styled in most of the American papers) through the rhodomontade of his lectures from one end of the Union to the other would be a task of supererogation ; for what he said in New York, he repeated in New Orleans, and the sound thereof was echoed and re-echoed through Massachusetts and other adjacent States. We will give an example, leaving the reader to draw his conclusion from this one instance. · Mr. Meagher favored the sons of New England with an episode directed against Old Eng- land, in giving an account of the rebellion in which lie took so lively an interest and acted so conspicuous a part, after the fol- lowing fasbion, which may be looked upon as a sort of floundering between the sublime and the ridiculous : "As for an insurrectionary movement, they did not contem- 168 OLD ENGLAND plate it until early in the spring of 1848. Two great events con- spired to bring this about the Irish famine and the French revolution of February. The famine had wrought a hideous devastation. Not Egypt, when the darkness came upon the land; not the city of the Holy Temple, when the Roman crossed her wall; not Venice, when the plague struck her, and she lay a blackened corpse upon the Adriatic ; not the gardens and the vineyards of the Lombard, when the steeds of the Scythian tram- pled through them; not London, in the days of which De Foe and Lingard, on imperishable pages, have left us paintings as appalling as the Judgment of Angelo ; not in any of those climes and cities, in those their days of deepest dismay and tribu- lation, did a scene so terrible, meet the eye of Heaven as that which, in the land of his fathers, in such hideous coloring had been revealed. Finding the worst come--their country all but gone-her commerce gone, trade gone, credit gonerall her inter- ests, all her faculties destroyed—bankruptcy, destitution, desola- tion, death-death by the minute, death by the million, utter ruin, utter annihilation coming upon her, and coming with speed, and the bowl of the gale in the Tropics, they who had been true to the island, true to her in the face of all, the worst even--the distrust and detestation of many amongst her own people, who had been 'faithful to her freedom' as they are now faithful to her fall,' they felt the time had come to make a bold attempt to cut adrift the dismantled craft, and, with the remnant of the crew and fortune, save her from the ROYAL PIRATE to which she had been lashed. Who were opposed to the movement? The O'Connellites, almost to a man. In Waterford, the most vigor- ous of them were sworn in as 'special constables,' to put down the 'Irish rebels.' So, too, the Orange party, who thought their church and anniversaries were in danger, and só buckled on their armor of righteousness, and pitched their tents under the lion and unicorn. So, too, the landlords, who have lived upon the sweat and blood of the people, and now tremble lest the grave would give up the dead, and the victims of their evictions and exactions-swelling the army of the poor-would precipitate upon their beads, their houses, and their idle children, a crush- ing retribution. So, too, the Castle folk, who had their opera- glasses, their bouquets, their scented gloves, of pink or primrose, their genteel servility, their handsome beggary, their eligible daughters to protect and provide for. So, too, the merchant, the tradesman, the railroad, and every other speculator-all, in a word, who had any amount of money in the bank-they believ- ing that a wholesale depredation, or a communistic distribution AND NEW ENGLAND. 169 of property, was the one thing contemplated-being beaten into this belief by the lurid scribes AND SCOUNDRELS OF THE ENG- LISH PRESS!".. And then, calling in the muse of Thomas Davis to his assist- ance, he barked forth this anathema. against England and her allies :- “See! Russia preys on Poland, where Sobieski reigned, " And Austria on Italy the Roman eagle chained; Bohemia, Servia, Hungary-within her clutches gasp, And Ireland struggles gallantly in England's tightening grasp! Oh!: would all these unite, or battle alone, Like Moor, Pushtani, or Cherkess—they soon · Would have their own! That glorious noon, . God send it soon! Hurrah! for human freedom !" . Why, the people shouted as if the whole British nation had but one head, and they, having obtained the grand desideratum of the pious Emperor Nero, bad chopped it off at one blow. The climax of his outpouring was finally reached, when he announced to the assembled gapers. his having become a citizen of the United States. We have told you that the period of probation which a foreigner has to undergo in America, before he can clothe himself in the garb of a citizen, is five years; at the same time we ventured to hint that the children of Hibernia now and then mistook years for months, and taking the necessary oath, very shortly after their arrival become enrolled at once. It would appear that either Thomas Francis Meagher was more scrupulous than some others of his countrymen, or that the laws of America had been modified for his particular accommodation, for after a sojourn in this land of freedom for twelve, instead of five months, we find him enrolled as an American citizen ! à fact announced by hinself on the 25th of last May, at Metropolitan Hall in New York, in the following delicious rhapsody to the “star-spangled banner":- "May that flag never fail to find less eager champions than you have been, to shield it from disgrace, and bear it like a charmed robe, unhurt through the flames of war. May that flag never lose one star ; but as the Old Thirteen have multiplied in time, may others, no less brilliant, be added thereto; and may the constellation which first shone out through the tempest and the lightnings, and has now become fixed in the blue expanse of peace, on every sea be seen; and may the nations, journeying, like the kings of old, to a nobler worship, be led to a new faith 15 170 OLD ENGLAND. and destiny by.'the light it gives! May it mount to where the Amazon leaps forth from its cradle in the Andes; may it be seen upon the rivers that wash the hidden treasures of Japan; and, in the effulgence which it sheds, side by side with the ruder structures of your making, may the graces of life spring up; may literature and the arts flourish; may the canvas become inefface- ably impressed with the great conceptions of your sons; and may the chisel and furnace contribute to the genius of America the fame of Phidias and Canova, as we have seen that genius im- mortalizing the beauty of Greece in her nakedness and chains, and, later still, unveiling that famous production which fronts the White House, in which the features of nature are not only copied, but the laws of nature, by the dumb charger, are obeyed ! "To this republic—renouncing all foreign powers and" poten- tates have I taken the oath of allegiance;* and, in the new sphere and citizenship which is opened to me here, do I trust to prove. the sincerity with which that oath was taken, and my deep sense of the duties which, by that act, devolve upon me. "And why should I not stand, with a proud love and courage, to this republic-her interests, her laws, and institutions ? There is more than one good reason for so doing. It is not alone that I am grateful for the protection and the citizenship insured to me; it is not alone that I regard this form of government, and this condition of society, as the finest and most truthful exprés- sion of the national will, necessities, intellect, and ambition, which anywhere on this earth exists; but that I recognize in the stability of the republic a. source of strength to other nations, and in her success an incentive with them to a courageous emula- tion." After this important declaration, he delivered himself of a part- ing fling at the old country: "You have not forgotten Washington, nor Warren, nor Mont- gomery, nor Jackson. That scene upon Breed's Hill; that off Fort Moultrie; that upon the Delaware; that upon the snow- piled bastions of Quebec; that at the Bayou Bienvenue, where the English columns were swamped before the fire which opened upon them from the cotton bales of Louisiana~those scenes are no less visible to the memory of the republic than to the eye of the stranger are those paintings, which, in such noble proportions, decorated the halls of Congress." We think it unnecessary to say more of this “gifted cham- * In a subsequent letter of last September 21, Mr. Meagher states he has not yet become a citizen of America. AND NEW ENGLAND. 171 pion." He has found the flummery and the bounce of his own country acceptable and intelligible to the ears of the land of his adoption, and thus far, at all events, it has answered his purpose capitally. He must have studied the first principles of medicine, and have ascertained the modus operandi of this recipe : Rec. Of a touch of Freedom . . . . gr. 3. Of a slap at England, . vi. Of a Declaration of Independence. Z xvi. (With cigars and a drink to match) which is a draught that most of Mr. Meagher's followers readily swallow. The subjoined few words on the first of these ingredients were the last we heard the patriot deliver :- “The cause of freedom was everywhere the same-in every clime, elicited the like sentiment and passion. The fruition of it by all nations would eventuate in an unanimity of peace and good-will, and a serene glory to the aggregate of humanity.” . These words must be very fine, judging by the sound of them but what the gentleman meant by the fruition of freedom eventuating in a “serene glory to the aggregate of humanity," we did not understand then, and are just as far from compre- hending at this present writing. * We would not be thought to direct these remarks against thousands upon thousands of the right-thinking people of America, who participate with ourselves in the good feeling happily exist- ing between the two countries; we but allude to those folks rabid in their own nature, and rendered more so by imported associations. At the same time, we were sincerely grieved to witness the fact of several eminent men in the enlightened and tranquil city of Boston, heralding in an individual, then under the ban of English law, with the greatest enthusiasm, and joining in the plaudits his malediction of England elicited. We do not think it matters much, however conspicuous any ordinary indi- vidual may make himself in such matters; but public function- aries, whatever may be their feelings, surely ought to be, at least in appearance, neutral. * Meagher's rhodomontade attained, however, its meridian when he styled Lord Edward Fitzgerald, Wolfé Tone, and Robert Emmett, the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, of freedom-a somewhat unlucky reference, considering that neither of this party, who aspired to be “set over the affairs of the province of Babylon," came unscathed out of “the burning fiery furnace," as the suicide of one, the exile of another, and the execution of the third, unluckily testify. 172 OLD ENGLAND D We feel that we have no apologies whatever to offer to Mr. Meagher for this honest delivery of our sentiments. We have expressed ourselves in the handsomest terms of his private cha- racter; but when he places himself in the ranks of sedition, becomes an associate with those whose aim is to subvert the government of our country, and who speaks of that country in the most audacious terms of detraction, we are fully justified in "discussing" him in this, his, public capacity. Mr. Meagher had evidently taken a one-sided view of the adage, "Aut Cæsar aut nihil," inasmuch as, finding he never could become the first, he disdained the thought of subsiding into the other; and there- fore leaped from the respectability of a patriot into the crimi- nality of a traitor! It is such dangerous spirits as this person has proved himself to be, who have reduced the fair island in which they were born to the condition he has described it to have been in, who wofülly pervert the high talents with which Nature has endowed them, and attribute to the misgovernment of others that which has altogether been brought about by their own misdirection. Truly, and beautifully withal, has Erin's, chosen bard, Thomas Moore, thus sung of his native land:- "Oh, let grief come first, O'er pride itself victorious, Thinking that man hath curst What Heaven hath made so glorious!" CHAPTER XV. Origin of the American stage-Pros and cons—The legislature and the people have a difference of opinion-The earliest and the latest < stars”—G. F. Cooke-John Wilson Croker-Mr. and Mrs. Bartley in a mess—Reward offered for Mr. Kean-A derogatory letter- Booth and his nose-Conway, "John Bull," and Theodore Hook- Macready and his nose-Something like a riot-Charles Kean's suc- cess-Another riot-A singer knocked out of tune-Sinclair and an empty pit-Fanny Kemble and her correspondence-Her opinions of her husband's country and its people—Mr. and Mrs. Wood, and one more riot-Power, an actor, a naval and military commander, and a wonderful pedestrian-Ranger (not in the « Suspicious Husband")— Madame Vestris---Charles Mathews, and his French and English cor- respondence-The Press and its privileges-Henry Phillips--Braham and his tour-Effect of foreign upon native talent-List of those who have produced that effect- Fashion opposed to judgment. It will naturally be expected that, from the long period we have held sway in this histrionic kingdom of the Old World, we AND NEW ENGLAND. 173 should have something to say on a similar rule in the New World; that, being tolerably well versed in matters dramatic, from the earliest to the latest days of the English Stage, we should desire to scrape as much acquaintance as possible with the American Stage, and that what we should chance to learn, we should take the first fitting opportunity to impart; and accordingly, having obtained some information, we take the liberty of communicating the amount of it. The American Stage can boast of few chroniclers,* which may be accounted for by the fact of there being but very few things worth chronicling, beyond the introduction thereon of European art, its position while there, and its remuneration therefrom. The Americans abuse themselves, just as we do ourselves, for the small quantity of patronage they extend to native talent, and for the great countenance they invariably give to that of all foreign countries. The argument, if there be any, is simple enough; they desire to learn from the best samples of all that is best, in every branch of science and of literature, with an utter indiffer- ence as to the source from which such superiority may come; but whenever eminence displays itself at home, none can support it to a greater extent than they do. It is just the same with us; or rather, it is worse with us, for we neglect our own sterling talent, t to follow in the wake of any new importation from “ for- eign parts." This train of reasoning, however, had better be reserved for a later moment; the present one must be devoted to drier detail. The origin of the American Stage is highly interesting, more especially as it is so closely connected with the progress of our own; for, while its very existence is but of a century's duration, yet that century comprises the brightest, or, to use a more back- * The “ History of the, American Theatre," by Dunlap, is as dull a work, as if it had been written by our late sepulchral dramatist, James Boaden-dull as an auctioneer's catalogue--and yet it is considered the best authority as regards data. Its insipidity has been, however, recently atoned for, by 6 A History of the Boston Stage,” now in course of com- pletion, collated by Mr. Wm. Clapp, Jun., proprietor and editor of the Boston “Evening Gazette," whose brilliant talents qualify him for the accomplishment of any literary task his fine taste may prompt him to undertake. + This has been the case, and will be to the end of time. Look at its verification, in the instance of Garrick playing with Mrs. Cibber, in “Macbeth,” to the degrading receipt of £3 6s. 6d., in Drury Lane Theatre, on the same night that of Covent Garden was crammed to suf- focation to hear Mr. Beard and Miss Brent, in the " Beggar's Opera !" Gay versus Shakspeare! 15* 174' OLD ENGLAND neyed expression, the palmiest days of the English Stage. It would seem as if the brilliancy of Garrick's star drove every other luminary out of the theatrical hemisphere; for, to drop metaphor, and come to fact, when he left Goodman's Fields (the cradle of his genius), those who had acted there with him event- ually left it also, and became the creators of the stage in the New World, as we shall proceed to show. Most people, familiar with the statistics of our Stage, know that Garrick made his first appearance in London at the Good- man's Fields Theatre in 1741,* under the management of Gif- fard ; that his success was so great as to arouse the attention of the patentees of the two large houses, and that, in consequence of their determination to avail themselves of the well-known Act of Parliament passed in the reign of George II. a compromise was made, whereby Fleetwood (the Drury Lane patentee) ob- tained the services of Garrick, and shortly afterwards entered into an engagement with Giffard and his wife. This was in 1742, when William. Hallam (brother of the Hallam whom Charles Macklin, o the Jew That Shakspeare drow," accidentally killed in Drury Lane green-room, on the 10th of May, 1735) succeeded to the managerial chair which Giffard had vacated, and remained in it until the year 1750, when he failed. Upon this untoward result of his administration, he directed his attention to the establishment of a theatrical com- pany in America. Having imparted his scheme to his brother Lewis, who was a member of his late company, they organized an efficient force, with which Lewis sailed in the beginning of May, 1752, and landed at Yorktown, in Virginia, in the middle of June, leaving his brother William, the original projector, at home, to forward all materiel they might from time to time re- quire. They moved on to Williamsburg, at that time the capital of the State, and on the following 5th of September (having ob- tained permission of the Governor to erect à theatre) a regular company of English performers made their firstt appearance in Ainerica, with the view of establishing the drama there. * October 19. + We believe that two or thrce minor members of this troupe went "starring" in the previous July, to Annapolis (the present capital of Maryland), while the Williamsburg theatre was in progress of erection- on the principle, which scems always to have guided a histrio's career- that of playing Solanio ("* Merchant of Venice') in the company he be- longs to, but Shylock, tho moment he gets into a company belonging to AND NEW ENGLAND. 175 Mr. V There can be no question as to Hallam having made a judi- cious selection in directing his course to the south ; inasmuch as the puritanical notions of New England (the north) were in- finitely more rigid than they are now, and could not hold out to him the slightest prospect of encouragement, as will presently be made apparent. Well, on the said September 5th, the said theatre opened, the play chosen for the occasion being, in humble imitation of Garrick's opening Drury Lane in 1747, the "Mer- chant of Venice;" and in case there may be now existent any branches of the original histricnic emigrators, we subjoin the “cast” of the play, which may be termed Shakspeare's debut in the United States : ANTONIO (the Merchant-of Venice) . . . . . . Mr. Clarkson. BASSANIO (his friend) . . . . . . .Mr. Rigby. SOLANIO (doubled with the Duke) .. . . . Mr. Herbert. SALARINO ( doubled with Gobbo) . . . . . . . LAUNCELOT (doubled with Tubál). Mr. Hallam. GRATIANO (friend to Bassanio) . . . . . . . Mr. Singleton. SHYLOCK (a Jew) . . . . . . . . . . . Mr. Malone. BALTHAZAR (servant to Portia) . . . . . Master Lewis Hallam. (His first appearance on any stage.) PORTIA (a rich heiress). . . . . . . . . . Mrs. Hallam. NERISSA (her waiting-maid) . . . . . . . . Miss Palmer. JESSICA (daughter to Shylócl) . . . . . . . Miss Hallam. Mr. Singleton, who it will be seen enacted Gratiano, wrote a prologue, which Mr. Rigby delivered; and, as a matter of dra- matio curiosity, we subjoin a copy of it:- PROLOGUE. WRITTEN BY MR. SINGLETON AND SPOKEN BY MR. RIGBY, ON THE OPENING OF THE WILLIAMSBURG THEATRE, SEPT. 5, 1752, BLING THE INTRODUC- TION OF THE DRAMA IN AMERICA. To this new world, from famed Britannia's shore Through boist'rous-seas, where foaming billows roar, The Muse, who Britons charm'd for many an age, Now sends her servants forth to tread your stage; Britain's own race, though far removed, to show Patterns of every virtue they should know. Though gloomy minds through ignorance may rail, Yet bold examples strikc, where precepts fail. The world's a stage where mankind act their parts ; The stage a world, to show their various arts; While the soul touched by Nature's tend'rest laws, another. When “Utility” Claremont told Jolin Kemble he hud, in the Covent Garden recess, been playing Hamlet, Kemble replied: "Not twice in the same town, I presuno!” The case, we conclude, with theso trans- atlantic rovers. 176. OLD ENGLAND: Has all her passions roused in virtue's cause. Reason we hear, and coolly may approve, But all's inactive, till the passions move. Such is the human mind, so weak, so frail, "Reason's her-chart, but Passion is her gale." .... Then raise the gale to waft fair virtue o'er. . The sea of life where reason points the shore. But ah! let reason guide the course along; Lest passion listening to some syren's song Rush on the rocks of vice, where all is lost, And shipwrecked virtue renders up the ghost. . Too oft, we own, the stage with dangerous art In wanton scenes has played the syren's part. Yet, if the Muse, unfaithful to her trust, - Has sometimes stray'd from what is pure and just, Hás she not oft, with awful, virtuous rage : Struck home at vice, and nobly trod the stage? Made týrants weep, the conscious murderer stand ! And drop the dagger from his trembling hand ? Then, as you treat a favorite fair's mistake, Pray spare her foibles for her virtue's sake, And while her chastest scenes are made appear, (For none but such will find admittance here,) The Muse's friends, we hope, will join our cause, And crown our best endeavors with applause. A still greater curiosity is the price of admission, which will somewhat startle the reader-viz: Boxes, 10s.; Pit, 7s. 6d.; Gal- dery,.5s. ; especially when he considers what the talent then was, and what it now is, with prices (one hundred years later) about one-fifth of that amount. It is ünnecessary to follow the pro- gress of the art, or rather perhaps of the artists, through all parts of the States; and it will be enough to say that the follow- ing year (1753) they opened the first theatre in New York, and the subsequent year (1754) the first one in Philadelphia, not- withstanding a vigorous opposition entered upon by the broad- brimmed descendants of William Penn. In Boston, however (as in Baltimore), the determination of the people was too strong to be overcome, and the feelings of the former place regulated that of every part of New England. As far back as 1750, this antipathy manifested itself by the following proclamation of a prohibitory act of the Legislature. e. . : "AN AOT TO PREVENT STAGE PLAYS AND OTHER THEATRI- CAL ENTERTAINMENTS. * “For preventing and avoiding the many and great mischiefs which arise from public stage plays, interludes, and other thea- trical entertainments, which not only occasion great and unne- AND NEW ENGLAND. .177 cessary expenses and discourage industry and frugality, but like- wise tend generally to increase immorality, impiety, and contempt of religion, .“ SECTION I. Be it enacted, by the Lieutenant-Governor, Council, and House of Representatives, that from and after the publication of this act, no person or persons whosoever shall or may, for hire or their gain, or for any price or valuable consider- ation, let or suffer to be used and improved, any house, room, or place whatsoever for acting or carrying on any stage plays, interludes, or other theatrical entertainments, on pain of forfeit- ing and paying for each and every day or time such house, room, or place, shall be let, used, or improved, contrary to this act, £20 (twenty pounds). “ SECTION II. And be it further enacted, that if at any time or times whatsoever, from and after the publication of this act, any person or persons shall be present, as an actor or spectator of any stage play, interlude, or theatrical entertainment, in any house, room, or place where a greater number of persons than twenty shall be assembled together, every such person shall for- feit and pay, for every time he or they shall be present as afore- said, £5 (five pounds). The forfeiting and penalties aforesaid to be one half to His Majesty for the use of the Government, the other half to him or them that shall inform or sue for the same; and the aforesaid forfeitures and penalties may likewise be recovered by presentment of the Grand Jury, in which case, the whole 'of the forfeitures shall be to His Majesty for the use of this Government."* This stringent law was extended over the whole. States, and even in a more stringent manner in 1774, when Congress came to a resolution to abolish theatres altogether throughout the Union, in order that the undivided attention of the people might be directed to the question of their Independence, and thereby keeping to themselves the fines and forfeitures that had hitherto been handed over to “ His Majesty;" in short, they were too intent upon an alienation from the mother country to think of anything else. This enactment led to the dispersion of the va- * The authorities of New England do not stand upon trifles in the enforcement of these enactments ; for in November, 1792, Sir Peter and Lady Teazle, playing in Boston, in défiance of this act, were swalked off” by virtue of a peace-warrant, and in the following month, Harper, the manager, was similarly disposed of; and to bring such matters down nearer to our own times, Mr. and Mrs. Bartley were proceeded against, in 1819, by the Attorney-General of Connecticut, for giving readings and recitations at an assembly-room at Hartford, in that State, in alleged violation of what was, if we remember rightly, termed the “ Blue Law!" 178 OLD ENGLAND rious companies which had branched out from the first one, and to the flight of the principal part of them to the West Indies, where they remained until 1784, when, the said law being par- tially 'abrogated, they returned. No alteration, however, took place in Boston until 1794, when the Federal Street Theatre opened, the Legislature of Massachusetts having repealed the prohibitory law already cited (in Baltimore, the first theatre was opened in 1786), and the drama once more got on its legs. . It cannot be otherwise than interesting to trace the growth of the Dramatic Art in a remote land, colonized by England; and now. become one of the greatest countries on the habitable globe, especially when it is the only one where the British drama can be spoken and rendered intelligible, as written in the com- mon language of both empires. We must not, however, dwell too much upon the subject, but content ourselves with noting down leading events, and the leading performers who figured ini them.; for the said drama in both countries is in such a perilouš position, that the interest at 'one time attached to it is perceptibly dying away. The year 1786 was somewhat replete with excitement, inas- much as the “Hamlet” of Shakspeare and the “ School for Scandal” of Sheridan were, for the first time, represented to an American audience; and the first ray of American dramatic literature beamed upon that stage--a comedy, in five acts, called 64 The Contrast," written by Mr. Tyler, of Boston, having been successfully produced at New York. It is hardly worth while wasting the time of either reader or writer to mention the appearance, in 1790, of the first American born actor, John Martin; or the arrival, in 1793, of the first English actor, called in America a star, but only known with us as a provincial performer of moderate repute, John Hodgkinson; or even in the same year of two sisters of Mrs. Siddons (Mrs. Hat- ton and Mrs. Whitlock) having crossed the Atlantic; but a word or two may be necessary respecting Mr. Cooper, who, as well as Mrs. Merry (sister of the Countess of Craven, wife of the seventh Baron, and aunt to our accomplished actress, Mrs. Yates), came to the United States in 1796. This gentleman has been generally designated " American Cooper," from his having gained, we pre- sume, what reputation he possessed in the United States. He was born in England in 1776, and brought up under the auspices of the eminent writer, William Godwin, aided by the counsel of Thomas Holcroft, the dramatist;* but neither of them could * His estimable widow married our late popular author, James Kenney, and has just died (July 17, 1853) in Paris, where, as everywhere, her AND NEW ENGLAND. 179 make him an actor acceptable to a London audience, and in this conviction he sought the New World, where he became a favorite actor and manager, Cooper returned to England in 1803, and went back again to America in 1804, heralding his “march upon the deep," to the manager there, by a letter concluding thus: “I shall endeavor to get a new play or two for you, but I cannot promise anything. As to actors, I have not seen one in England that should arrive in America with the sanction of my recom- mendation, except only a comedian called Emery."'*. From the days of Solomon's injunction (“Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him)" down to the present hour, there have been a rare lot of these wise men, but assuredly none equal to Mr. Thomas Abthorpe Cooper, who could write this specimen of ignorance, untruth, and puppyism, at the time when such actors as Kemble, Cooke, Mun- den, Dowton, Bannister, Elliston, Mathews, Suett, Palmer, cum multis aliis, were before the public. We will say no more about the “sanction" of Cooper's "recommendation,” than observe that one of the foregoing actors (Cooke), who, it seems, should not arrive there with the said “recommendation," was literally, brought over there by Cooper himself six years afterwards. Cooper's daughter, Priscilla, married the son of a former Presi- dent of the United States (Mr. Tyler), at whose house he died in 1849; and that is all it is necessary to record of him. We saw Mr. Cooper in 1827, and thought him " a hard actor," and not so identified with his part as to prevent his thinking as much of himself as of the character he was representing. In 1808, Stephen Price (lessee of Drury Lane from 1826 to 1829) became joint manager of the Park Theatre with Cooper aforesaid. In 1809, Howard Payne came forth as the ". Ame- rican Roscius;"+ and in 1810 occurred the first absolute era in the dramatic history of the country, the arrival of George Fre- derick Cooke, whose performances turned the heads of the people completely topsy-turvy. He performed in several parts of the States until July, 1812, and died on the 26th of foīlowing Sep- tember, in the house at the corner of Park Place, now an hotel, where we, resided during a sojourn of a week or two, in New various accomplishments charmed all who had the pleasure of her ac- quaintance. : * At least so says Dunlap. + He subsequently appeared at Drury Lane, in 1813, and was the suc- cessful author of some excellent pieces (chiefly adaptations) performed at both houses, to wit, “ Brutus," - Clari,” Therese," Charles the Second," 6 The Lancers," " Peter Smink," &c. 180 OLD ENGLAND York. The monument erected to his memory in St. Paul's Churchyard, in that city, by Edmund Kean, in 1821, and re- paired by Charles Kean, in 1846, is familiar to the play-going community, by more than one engraving of it which has been published. The success of Cooke led to a succession of transatlantic trips. The first who followed him was Holman, who arrived there with his daughter in 1812, and, after considerable success up to 1817, died at Long Island on the 24th of August in that year. Then rather lampooned, by the Right Hon. John Wilson Croker, in his “ Familiar Epistles," published in Dublin, in 1804:- “ Phillips, writhing in grimaces, And tott'ring in his girlish paces, With feeble voice, yet sweet and true, Where taste has done what taste can do; But of his pipe so vain withal, That faith, he never sings at all!” . Phillips was, however, a fine musician, as well as a delightful singer, and his sad fate in 1841 (having been killed by an acci- dent on the Grand Junction Railroad), deprived the public of a great favorite, and society of a great ornament. Following in the path of these artistes, came, in 1818, one of the most talented actors that ever trod the English, or was ever transplanted to the Anterican, Stage-James Wallack. Although of youth, manly beauty, and professional acquirements, he first roused the attention of the Columbian public, he still holds the the midst of sickness and consequent sorrow, he shines out, like a star in the darkest night, amongst those he may happen to play with, in either country. We reserve a word for him in another position than that of an actor. Mr. and Mrs. Bartley then kept up the succession of English starsma system that will destroy what actual dramatic taste there is in America, as it has completely undermined the small quan- tity belonging to our "home department;" they were highly re- spected, but their talent was not as highly appreciated. The cli- macteric of " starring" thus far, was at length reached by the arri- val in 1820, of Edmund Kean, whose appearance created a perfect furor; but through ebullitions, such as even genius is sometimes misguided by, he became embroiled with the public, and left the scene of his triumphs in disgrace. By refusing to play to a thin house (occasioned by the heat of the weather, and an unfashion- . 181 AND NEW ENGLAND. -able part of the year), he incurred the displeasure of a commu- nity which in fifteen nights had put in his pocket about $5,500 (£1,100), and he who had been lauded to the skies was abused after this- fashion, in a newspaper of the day, published in Bos- ton, which place Kean had styled "the literary emporium of the New World.” "ONE CENT REWARD! “Ran away from the literary emporium of the New World a stage-player calling himself Kean. He may be easily recog- nized by his misshapen trunk, his coxcomical, cockney manners, and his bladder actions. His face is as white as his own froth, and his eyes are as dark as indigo. All persons are cautioned against harboring the aforesaid vagrant, as the undersigned pays no more debts of his contracting after this date. As he has violated his pledged faith to me, I deem it my duty thus to put my neighbors on their guard against him. “PETER PUBLIC." The Boston ban stuck to him in New York, and after erecting (as we have already mentioned) a monument to Cooke, he left America in June, 1821. We go a little out of the regular routine to say, that Kean returned to America in 1825, after the action of Cox versus Kean had jeopardized him with a Lon- don audience; and whether it was thought that Kean imagined an American less scrupulous than an English audience, or that a recollection of former grievances weighed upon the public mind, it is not worth while to inquire; but the riots, from which he fled in 1821, were renewed in 1825, despite an address he issued on landing, which as a singular composition, derogatory to any. man, but degrading to one of so much eminence as Kean, we deem important enough to place upon record :- “TO THE EDITORS OF THE NEW YORK GAZETTE.' " Sirs, “With oppressed feelings, heart-rending to my friends, and triumphant to my enemics, I make an appeal to that .country famed for hospitality to the stranger, and mercy to the conquered. Allow me to say, Sirs, whatever are my offences, I disclaim all intention of offering anything in the shape of disrespect to the inhabitants of New York; they received me at first with an en- thusiasm, grateful in those hours to my pride, in the present to my memory. I cannot recall to iny mind any act or thought that did not prompt me to an unfeigned acknowledgment of their 16 182 OLD ENGLAND favors as a public, and profound admiration of the private worth of those circles in which I had the honor to move. “That I have committed an error appears too evident from the all-decisive voice of the public; but surely it is but justice to the delinquent (whatever may be his enormities) to be allowed to make reparation where the offences were committed. My mis- understanding took place in Boston. To Boston I shall assuredly go to apologize for my indiscretion. “I visit this country now under different feelings and auspices than on a former occasion. Then I was an ambitious man, and the proud representative of Shakspeare's beroes. The spark of ambition is extinct, and I merely ask a shelter in which to close my professional and mortal career. I give the weapon into the hands of my enemies; if they are brave, they will not turn it against the defenceless. “EDMUND KEAN. “Washington Hall, Nov. 15, 1825.” He humiliated himself to no purpose. Boston on this occasion imitated the example of New York; and after a few perform- ances in other towns, the greatest actor America ever saw, or is likely soon again to see, departed forever from her shores. In 1822, another star-ay, one of the greatest magnitude shot forth in the American hemisphere-Charles Mathews, the Charles Mathews, the marvellous and the inimitable, of whom it is only necessary to say that he was received there, as everywhere else, with the utmost enthusiasm; that be amassed a considerable sum of money, and would have done equally well on his subse- quent visit in 1834, had not that malady which terminated his existence overtaken bim. We could record much of one of the most distinguished artistes and best men that ever lived, had not the task* been already gracefully accomplished by her who deems it her greatest sorrow to have survived him. In the same year, appeared in New York an actor, esteemed in America of the highest order, but in England of a very dif- ferent caliber, Junius Brutus Booth, who died (during our recent visit to the States) the 26th of November, 1852. Booth was brought into the notice of a London audience by breaking an engagement at Covent Garden to play at Drury Lane, in con- junction with Kean; and then, by breaking that, and returning to Covent Garden, to play in opposition to him. He was con- * Memoirs of Charles Mathews, Comodian, by Anu Mathews, Bentley, 1839. AND NEW ENGLAND. 183 sidered by many of his admirers in the New World superior to Kean; but had they seen them side by side, as we did on the memorable evening they met, they would have easily distinguished the difference there is between originality and imitation. He was, in our humble estimate, a good actor in the absence of a better; but he trusted more to the effect of countenance than delivery, and consequently grimace now and then took precedence of elo- quence. He was, certainly, what John Kemble said of Kean, “very much in earnest,” which made his effects sometimes start- ling. He went beyond imitation of Kean in his irregularities, one mark of which was imprinted on his nose* to the day of his death. We are happy in adding that, despite his eccentricities, his numerous aberrations amounting to occasional lunacy, and his frequent disappointments to the public, he died in comfortable circumstances. In the following year appeared Conway, a performer of far more merit than was ever awarded to him; possessing a mind of very considerable culture, though a prey to the most unhappy sensitiveness, which led him, who possessed an extensive circle of friends, to believe most of them his enemies. His highly in- teresting history is briefly summed up. After terminating, in 1816, an engagement of three years at Covent Garden, where he divided with Charles Kemble the particular line of business in tragedy and comedy which fell to their lot, he "skirred the country" as a star until 1821; when, on Mr. Morris forming an independent company for the opening of the new Haymarket Theatre, he was engaged as the leading performer thereofma period memorable for the establishment of the John Bull news- paper. * Something of the same kind of accident which befell a bass singer at Bath, whom a Mr. Little caught in flagrante delicto, aind, scizing a knife on the supper table, nearly severed his nose in two'; which gave rise to this squib' in one of the journals of the said city:- 66 A little I wanted, .. A little I chose; But who, for that little, Would ever suppose That, by little and little, I lost half my nose !" + Booth's Othello was much liked in America. An old Yankee, Who had never seen a plny, was taken to witness Booth's performance of the Moor; and on being asked, at the termination of the piece, if he liked it, he replied: “Ye-as, amazing; but cus me if I don't guess that little nigger (Othello) played as well as any o' the white fellors—if not better!” 184 OLD ENGLAND It may not be generally known that Mr. Conway was the na-, tural son of Lord George Seymour, by Mrs. Rudd, housekeeper in the family, and when it is remembered, by those conversant with the matter, who was à most important contributor to that journal, the subjoined rascally attack upon poor Conway may be easily traced, as far as information goes, to the parent source. No. 34 of that paper, speaking of the Haymarket company, said: “These persons were suffered to annoy us night after night, and were thrust upon us in principal characters, headed by a fantas- tical person of the name of Rudd, who, with the deplorable cox- combrý of such persons as Peter Proctor; alias Barry Cornwall, has rechristened himself with the romantic name of Henry* Augustus Conway !". : Mr. Conway, meeting Theodore Hook (beyond any question the writer, who gained the information from AUTHORITY) a night or two afterwards, asked him if he was the author of the para- graph, and he would undoubtedly have annihilated him, had not Hook' denied "the soft impeachment.” This occurrence so affected Conway, that he resolved on acting no more in London, and be actually threw up a salary of £14 a week as actor, and accepted one of £4 a week as prompter, in this very theatre. He had just before this attracted the attention of the famous Mrs. Piozzi, resident at the time in Bath, where, at a period of Conway's illness, we had the pleasure of seeing a good deal of this celebrated lady; and although no one could attribute impro- priety to the partiality of one in her eightieth year, yet she made herself so ridiculous in the business, that Conway became the subject of many a joke upon the matter. His nervous system was unequal to the endurance of this combination of annoyance, and having extracted from his mother a confession of his parent- age, he applied to his father for the loan of £200, to enable him to go to America, promising to return the money, but never to return-himself. His request was abruptly refused, but his friends enabled him to accomplish the object. He was highly successful, and after remitting every farthing he owed, and making some provision for his mother, he committed suicide, by throwing himself overboard, from a vessel in which he was sailing to Havana. He was eminent in some characters, especially in Lord Townley, Mr. Oakley, &c., and only surpassed by John Kemble in" Coriolanus.In his case, Lord Byron's reference to the death * His name was William Augustus Conway. † A very creditable attempt was made, under Mr. Macready's manage- ment of Covent Garden Theatre, to produce this tragedy; but his per- sonal disqualification, leaving out of the question any other, did not con- AND NEW ENGLAND. 185 of Keats, owing to a review of his works in the “Quarterly," was fully borne out :-.. "Strange that the mind, that very fiery particle, Should let itself be snuff'd out by an article.” We allude no farther to the appearance at this time of the en- chantress, Madame Malibran, than to say that she had not fully developed those transcendent powers which, on her return to Europe, made her the public idol.. Then came Hamblin, with his wife (daughter of our quondam excellent delineator of minor comic parts, Blanchard). Hamblin finally settled in America, was, “ off and on," for a long time pro- prietor and manager of the Bowery Theatre in New York, and, while in its directorship, died there on the 8th of last January (1853). The American Stage had thus far seemed entirely dependent upon European resources, when an actor of no ordinary preten- sions, who had been for several years following his profession in various small towns of his native land, attracted the attention of his countrymen in no ordinary degree, in New York, Philadel- phia, and Boston; we allude to Edwin Forrest, of whom we shall presently speak more fully. At the same time (1826) Mr. Macready arrived from England, and went through the routine of those characters, suited to his peculiar abilities, with considerable success. * 0 tribute to its success--a point humorously disposed of, thus, by James Smith, of “Rejected Addresses” memory:- “What varied beauties does each scene disclose, Where all is Roman—save the hero's nose!" * Mr. Macready's last engagement in America, 1848–49, was abruptly terminated by one of the most awful riots that ever took place in an arena of public entertainment. The circumstances connected with it are toler- ably well known; but still, it is necessary to place on record a short ac- count of them. Mr. Forrest, while playing an engagement at the Princess's Theatre, London, in 1845, considered that a planned opposition to him had been got up by the partisans of Macready-which, knowing the par- ties accused, we think very likely. In 1846, Forrest, when in Edinburgh, publicly hissed Macready—not with reference to any foregone impression, but solely in a scene of “Hamlet," wherein Macready introduced what Forrest termed a pas de mouchoir, and a thorough desecration of the scene. On Macready's final visit to America, in 1848, he thanked the American audience (notwithstanding repeated instances of their unmistakable dis- pleasure!) for their flattering reception, which had baffled the intentions of his unprovoked antagonists; and at Philadelphia (Forrest's native place.) he told the public that Forrest had once openly hissed him. Upon this, Mr. Forrest published a severe tirade against Macready, which led 16* 186 OLD ENGLAND There subsequently came over flights of minor stars; one of the most melodious of composers, and the most husky of singers, Charles Horn; then Miss Povey, Clara Fisher, Mrs. Austin, Madame Feron (a most excellent artiste, Thomas Comer had preceded them, and now worked in with them), and others; when in 1830. Charles Kean made his appearance, and was received with a degree of favor denoting that all trace of his father's wanderings was entirely obliterated from the people's memory. Charles Kean paid a second visit to this country in the autumn of 1839, immediately following his triumph at Drury Lane; and a third visit, with his wife (late Miss Ellen Tree*), in 1846, and after to Macrcady's thinking it necessary to obtain from London certain replies from various parties, with the view of falsifying Forrest's assertions--all of which amounted to nothing. In this state of speaking, writing, and publishing a great deal of nonsense, all tending to chafe'a sore which might have healed up, Mr. Macready appeared at the Astor Place Opera House, New York, on the 7th of May, 1849, on the very night that For- rest was fulfilling an engagement at another theatre in that city, when "the eminent" (as Mr. Macready has been ludicrously and waggishly called) was groaned at, hooted, and pelted with eggs and other missiles. He would not have appeared again, had not a body of some fifty gentlemen addressed him, urging bim to do so, and promising to sustain him. This, which was considered tantamount to a threat, aroused the persons hostile to Mr. Macready, and a riot took place that ended in the death of eighteen or nineteen persons, shot by the military, who had been called out for the occasion. The question of calling out the militia in any of the large American towns for the natural protection of the citizens has always been a grave one; but it has ever, we believe, been considered a main feature in the Constitution of the country. There was an attempt to mix up Mr. introduced to the party who took off his own apparel to lend it to Macready, in which, upon the back of some quadruped, the actor effected his escape, whichi, at all events, in appearance, must have been a spectacle wavering between tragedy and comedy. • We do not believe Mr. Forrest was at all involved in this matter, for the Americans are sufficiently patriotic to resent, without instigation from others, any injustice they consider done to themselves, or their country. The best joke we heard upon the subject related to a militia . brigadier-general (of the firm of William Hall and Sons), who cut rather a couspicuous figure in this sauguinary affair. Notwithstanding there is such a superfluity of generals, colonels, majors, captains, &c,, throughout tho States, still, one of the uninitiated in such matters asked if Hall were really a general ? and the reply was: “ Yes, he's a general music-seller * * For the information of our transatlantic friends who may not have heard it, we subjoin one of the best epigrams ever written, on the cele- brated singer, the ci-devuni Maria Trce, sister of Mrs. Charles Kean, by "On this tree if a nightingale settles, and sings, The tree will just give it as good as it brings.” AND NEW ENGLAND. 187 some engagements at the Haymarket and in the provinces, follow- ing upon his last return to England, he became lessee of the Princess's Theatre in 1850--for that season in conjunction with Mr. Keeley, and subsequently, as the Americans call it, “on his own book.” Mr. Kean, having long basked in the smile of Court favor, has directed the Windsor theatricals since they were first established; and with the countenance arising therefrom, with the popularity of himself and charming partner, and his able and strenuous exertions as director, he is amassing fortune, and add- ing to his reputation, as much as he can desire; and we have no hesitation in saying that none can deserve either more than he does. Another of those scenes, peculiar to the American Stage, we have already introduced, occurred in 1831, on the visit of Mr. and Mrs. Anderson (the latter, a sister to Madame Vestris) to the New World, which arose out of a squabble between the said Anderson and a son of Jonathan, on board the vessel in which they crossed the Atlantic. Anderson has not only a tendency to pugilistic displays, but boasts too much of his science in that department of blackguardism, whereby he is sometimes in a po- sition, not where he beats, but where he is beaten. We believe this was the case on shipboard—and though bad began, yet worse remained behind, for he was not suffered to appear on the New York stage, owing to an accusation being generally propagated of his having spoken disrespectfully of the American people. This is a very summary mode of treating private delinquency in a public character, and one which can only be justified in very extreme cases--reflecting seriously on the respectability of the theatre in which such occurrence takes place. Then emigrated Sinclair, the best singer (barring Incledon) who had been heard on the other side of the Atlantic (whose daughter, as will be presently seen, married Mr. Forrest). His success was tolerable, but after the fashion of many others, he put an intolerable price upon his services when he returned from America, either under the idea that he had become a better singer by his sojourn in that country, or that his absence had created an unusual desire to hear him; and when he was endea- voring to impress upon Reynolds, the dramatist, who was acting for the manager, the notion of there being an overflow on his rentrée, old Fred replied: “I'll bet you your salary there'll be holes in the pit the first night, and there were nearly three hundred! The next important engagement contracted for the United States was that of Mr. Charles Kemble and his daughter Fanny, 188 . OLD ENGLAND who reached New York in August, 1832, an expedition which led to the lady's introduction to, and marriage with, on the 7th of June, 1834, Mr. Pierce Butler, of Philadelphia. · After sun- dry crossings and recrossings of the vast Atlantic, on impulses, or for purposes we have no desire to enter upon, we were (on one of these flights to London) favored with this letter from the lady:- “SIR, “It is my intention to return for the present to the stage, and as I should prefer acting either at Drury Lane or the Haymarket (Covent Garden being out of the question), you will oblige me by informing me whether it will suit you to enter into any arrange- ment with me for the purpose. I am at present at No. 10, Park Place, St. James's, but leave town on Wednesday morning. A letter directed to me at Bannister's, Southampton, will reach me, however; and I shall be glad of an answer at your earliest con- venience. "I am, Sir, “Your obedient servant, "FRANCES ANNE BUTLER. “Monday, January 4, 1847.” This was followed up instanter from Southampton by another missive, entering upon family matters, which it would be unbe- coming to disclose, and an answer was dispatched, requesting to be favored with her terms, and conveying a natural wish that the treaty should be kept secret; to which the following reply was received: " Bannister's, Southampton, "Friday, January 8, 1847. "SIR, “I regret. that the secrecy which you desire with regard to my arrangements with you is not likely to be possible, inasmuch as my friends are perfectly aware of my application to you and of - my views in making it. “I proceed, according to your request, to name the terms for which I will act. For the first ten nights of my reappearance £100 a night, and after that £75 pounds nightly, as often as I perform; in this engagement, however, I do not include the re- presentation of my own pieces, about which, as I before informed you, I should choose to make some more specific arrangement. "If you desire a personal interview with me, I will return to town, as I am merely here to recruit from the fatigue of my AND NEW ENGLAND. 189 journey, and am prepared to return to London whenever you may judge it expedient that I should do so. "I am, Sir, “Your obedient servant, ... FRANCES ANNE BUTLER.” · This startling demand led to the subjoined correspondence :- " London, January 9, 1847. 16 Madam, "In entertaining the question you were polite enough to sub- mit to me--that of your return to the stage-I was actuated by a sincere desire to resuscitate, as far as the limited talent of the country would admit, the precarious position of the drama-an effort only to be made, with a chance of success, through the moderate expectation of its professors. The establishment of Drury Lane, being at present exclusively devoted to opera and ballet, would require considerable reinforcement to admit of your performances being sustained in a manner due to the public, to yourself, and to the character of the theatre. My present ex- penses are nearly £200 per night, and I could not calculate on a less nightly addition than £50 in the engagement of extraneous talent, and in preparation. If then to this £250 per night be added the £100 demanded by you, there would be a certain lia- bility of £350 on each of your performances. I question if an average receipt could be realized to that amount, to say nothing of the detriment caused to three nights in the week by a pre- dominant attraction on the others. If it would suit you to lend your powerful co-operation to the re-establishment of the drama on the highest terms awarded to your illustrious relative, Mrs. Siddons-viz. £50 per night I would devote all my means to the fartherance of so laudable an undertaking, and immediately negotiate with those artistes essential to the upholding of it. "I have the honor to be, "Madam, “Your obedient servant; :“A. BUNN. " To Mrs. Butler. “P. S.--If, however, your performances were confined to readings and to dramatic scenes, I think the nightly sum you ask might be realized.” 190 OLD ENGLAND Mrs. BUTLER'S REPLY. “Bannister's, Southampton, “Sunday, January 10. “Sir, “You desired that I would state my lowest terms for acting at Drury Lane, and I did so. I regret that they do not suit you. "I am, Sir, '“Your obedient servant, “FRANCES ANNE BUTLER. "To Alfred Bunn, Esq." [Exit Manager with a flea in his ear. Mrs. Butler returned to America in 1848, and after Mr. But- ler obtained his divorce from her, she gave Shaksperian readings in that country, with wondrous success; thereby proving that the Americans sometimes run after those who abuse them most,* * In support of this observation, we submit an extract, or two from Mrs. Butler's published Journal. "It is not to be wondered at that foreigners have spoken as they have of what is termed fashionable society here; or have condemned, with unqualified censure, the manners and tone prevailing in it. Their con- demnations are true and just as regards what they see; nor perhaps would they be much inclined to moderate them, when they found that persons possessing every quality that can render intercourse between rational beings desirable, were held in light esteem, and neglected, as either bores, blues, or dowdies, by those so infinitely their inferiors in every worthy accomplishment. The same separation, or, if anything, a still stronger one, subsists in Philadelphia, between the self-styled fashionables and the really good society. The distinction there is really of a nature perfectly ludicrous. A friend of mine was depicting to me a family whose manners were unexceptionable, and whose mental accom- plishments were of a high order; upon my expressing some surprise that I had never met with them, my informant replied: "Oh, no, they are not received by the Chestnut Street set !" If I were called upon to define that society in New York and Philadelphia which ranks (by right of self-arrogation) as first and best, I should say it is a purely dancing society, where a fiddle is indispensable to keep its members awake; and where their brains and tongues seem, by common consent, to feel that they had much better give up the care of mutual entertainment to the feet of the parties assembled; and they judge well. To an Englishman, this fashionable society presents indeed a pitiful example of lofty preten- sions without adequate foundation.”—Mrs. Butler's Journal, Vol. I. pp. 203–4. " It were much to be desired that Americans had a little more national vanity or national pride. Such an unhappily sensitive community surely never existed in this world; and the vengeance with wbich they visit people for saying they don't admire or like them, would be really terrible if the said people were but as mortally afraid of abuse as they seemed AND NEW ENGLAND. 191 however much they may vent their wrath upon minor delinquents. We take this opportunity of recording the gratification of our recently renewing in his country the acquaintance which was began in our country in 1842, of Mr. Pierce Butler, whose high character, station in society, and varied acquirements, point him out as one of the most distinguished citizens of America. That luckiest and unluckiest of men, poor Power, made a con- siderable sensation, and a considerable sum of money, in the States; but selecting the wrong ship for returning home, he shared the fate of the unfortunate “President,? wrecked in the year 1841 ; a circumstance which enlisted the sympathies of both countries to an unusual degree. Power (whose real name was, it is understood, Powell, and he himself a Welshman) was a humorous representative of Irish character, in the opinion of those who had never seen Jack Johnstone. He was, in society, very entertaining, notwithstanding his alarming propensity to ex- aggeration! By his own account, he had been at Trafalgar and Waterloo, and was frequently taken, in company, for both a naval and a military character, besides various others, of whose duties he had some smattering. He never suffered himself to be de- feated in argument, nor would be yield to any authority, how- ever high, that might be quoted in opposition to his assertions ; a singular instance of which occurred some years since, in our own house, and in our presence. Power had observed that the Rus- sians, having crossed the Balkan, and entered Trebisond, would be in Constantinople in about six hours afterwards; and being assured by a most intelligent gentleman of the party that it was impossible, for the places were six hundred miles apart, with the Black Sea between them, Power vociferously exclaimed : “Pooh! I've walked it before breakfast!” It would seem here as if art were to be incessantly made matter of secondary consideration, by being compelled to give way to prejudice or party feeling, and by the theatre being selected as an arena for the discussion, or rather settlement, of individual to be. I would not advise either Mrs. Trollope, Basil Hall, or Capt. Hamilton, ever to set their feet upon this ground again, unless they are ambitious of being stoned to death. I live myself in daily expectation of martyrdom; and as for anybody attempting to earn a livelihood here, who has but as much as said he prefers the country where he was born to this, he would stand a much better chance of thriving if he were to begin business after confinement in the Penitentiary. This unhappy species of irritability is carried to such a degree here, that if you express an unfavorable opinion of anything, the people are absolutely astonished at your temerity.”--Mrs. Butler's Journal, Vol. II. pp. 141-2. 192 OLD ENGLAND differences. Mr. and Mrs. Wood visited the United States on three separate occasions; the first time in 1833, opening at the Park on the 9th of September in that.year; again in 1835; and finally in 1840. On their second visit they had just concluded an engagement at New York, when, from the mere circumstance, of Mrs. Wood selecting for her benefit an opera which was -to be performed for that of some local actress, she was hooted off the stage, and left a country which had hitherto highly patronized and remunerated her, in ineffable disgust. This should not have been, for Mrs. Wood was, by many degrees, the finest soprano who had ever crossed the Atlantic, and was entitled to the utmost favor, with which no basty squabble, of a mere temporary nature, ought to have interfered. Although Catherine Hayes, Madame Bishop, Anna Thillon, Miss Shirreff, Miss Hughes, Povey, Poole, George, and others, have sought and won the suffrages of an American audience, yet, without any disparagement to either of them, there can be no question of Mrs. Wood having been emi- nently superior to one and all. On their third arrival, Mrs. Wood only appeared; but whether from a sense of the injustice which had been done Mr. Wood, or from the very great favor in which he had always stood with that audience, Mr. Wood was DEMANDED, and participated in the enthusiasm with which his lady had been hailed. It was in 1827 we first heard Mr. Wood sing at the Dublin Theatre, and we pointed out to the then patentee (the late Mr. Henry Harris) Those remarkable qualifications which eventually placed Mr. Wood at the summit of his profession, the advantages of which he is now enjoying at his pleasant estate in Yorkshire. "Miss Ellen Tree, in 1836, imparted to the New World that charm of expression, blandishment of manner, and sweetness of voice, with which she had before subdued the Old World, and which few predecessors, and no contemporaries, have possessed to so high a degree. Mr. Ranger visited America in 1838, and became an esta- blished favorite there. On the several occasions when we have had an opportunity of witnessing the performances of this gentle- man, we have remarked how thoroughly he identifies himself with the character he assumes, and that he has less of the actor, and more of the artiste, in all which he undertakes. No one, whom we have seen, not excepting Farren himself in his best day, has presented to our humble judgment a more perfect portraiture of Lord Ogleby; and it does seem a wonder (which perhaps Mr. Ranger alone can explain) why the London Stage, in its present AND NEW ENGLAND. 193 state of dramátic poverty, is without that valuable support he has on all his occasional visits contributed to it.. The appearance this year (1838) of Mr. Charles Mathews and Madame Vestris (married July 18th, previous to their departure), was an instance of inexplicable failurem-for such, comparatively speaking, it was. Whether Jonathan had worked himself up into a fit of prudery, whether the general seclusion of the lady from the curious eyes which were so anxious to gaze upon her, the cancans of Saratoga Springs, or other ills which fesh (thea- trical) is heir to, we do not take upon ourselves to determine; but certain it is, that a charmer who had turned the heads of half Europe, turned very few in America, and we question whether the result was either profitable or agreeable. Our opi- nions on this delightful actress have long since been recorded, and the talent of herself and her liege lord is too well known to require further notice. Mathews is so excellent an actor, that it seems almost a pity he does not confine his abilities to the sphere which it is evident Nature intended them to adorn; for he sel- dom rushes into print prudently. Flippancy of style, however agreeably manifested, is not the most convincing mode of carry- ing out argument, and rarely conceals the point at issue, however much it may mystify it. We have but a few words to bestow, for a very few are necessary, on his letter to the dramatic authors of France. We can have no possible objection to his classifica- tion of Drury Lane Theatre, or to the reference to ourselves while we were in the management of it;* our objection is, that he did not equally anatomize the Lyceum, which his letter began by pro- mising to do. Instead of simply admitting that in 1851, two pieces, “from the French,” were produced there, he had better have confessed at once that the success of his theatre has ever been entirely dependent on the French resources of that prince of adapters, Mr. Planché, and on the inventive genius of that admirable artist, Mr. Beverley ; and as to "les bêtises des con- ducteurs sur ses affiches,” we cannot do better than refer him to * “Drury-Lane (l'autre ex National,) hélas ! ressemble plutôt à un omnibus qu'à un théâtre, un grand omnibus qui fait des petites courses à bon marché mais à grand fracas--qui change tous les jours de cocher et qui pour attirer lie bas peuple (sans l'attraper toutefois) imprime les bêtises des conducteurs sur ses affiches. Il y a peu à en espérer pour les auteurs. Le Directeur actuel, Poète-librettiste, ne rêve qu'opéra an- glais et ballet. Pleurez Messieurs, et passez en silence--c'est le Mau- solée de Shakspeare.”-Lettre de C. Mathews, pp. 6–7. † The Countess D'Anois's tales have for some years furnished the groundwork of the Lyceum spectacle-burlesques. 17 194 OLD ENGLAND his own affiches.* Unluckily for his authorities, at the very time he was depicting us as only dreaming of opera and ballet, we were performing a farce of French origin, entitled, “Too Late for the Train," by Mr. Madison Morton, the fertility of whose pen requires no eulogy from ours. Mr. Mathews's French is far better than his argument, though the latter is full of good-humor, if it has no other qualification. On his recently published corre- spondence, which may be regarded as a sort of tilting-match with the representatives of the metropolitan press, respecting the pri- vileges of admission extended to the London journals by the London theatres, we have to say more than a few words. This silly hubbub occurred during our absence in America, and was principally conducted by Mr. C. Mathews, Mr. Albert Smith, and Mr. Webster (Mr. Kean, we believe, standing on neutral ground). Mr. Mathews alleged that £25 a night was the amount of “press orders” presented to the Lyceum Theatre, and Mr. Albert Smith complained of a supposititious loss of a similar sum per week at the Egyptian Hall, while Mr. Webster published the subjoined statistical account of free admissions issued by the London news- papers in the years 1850, 1851, and 1852, and presented at the doors of the Haymarket and Adelphi Theatres; a document suf- ficiently curious to warrant our endeavor to give it additional cir- culation to that it has already received :- * Refer to the Lyceum Christmas and Easter playbills, passim. AND NEW ENGLAND. 195 THEATRE ROYAL, HAYMARKET (Boxes 5s.). 1850. 39 WEEKS. 1851. 48 WEEKS. 1852. 42 WEEKS. JOURNALS. No. of persons admitted. No. of persons admitted. No. of persons admitted. £. s. £. s. 331 146 36 10 342 .85 10 267 48 12 0 82 15 367 91 15 326 82 5 309 75 15 56 14 0 272 316 339) 84 15 3351 83 15 309 196 149 0 417 204 5 326 81 10 3701 17 10 355 88 15 328 1990 895 381 95 5 190 1533 1571 395 370194 15 337 184 5 248 '10 271 67 15 371 92 15 341 86 5 68 10 1 90 toro Bertotoo are lo 357 274 36 36 90 370 416 344 92 10 104 0 86 0 1 84 5 371 1.9215 | 85 10 342 . 205 915 . 81 365 363 318 318 ... . 219 54 15 78 19 10 422, 105 10 4031 100 15 366 61 10 359. 89 15 218 54 10 220 56 15 170 42 15 355 88 15 382 95 10 19 4 15 65 388 07 0 381 05 5 312 78 0 339 84 10 248 62 0 212 530 200 63 0 380 157 10 242 Age . . . . . . Atheneum Advertiser; M Atlas . . Belle Assemblée, Thursday .. Bell's Weekly Messenger . Bell's New Weekly Messenger Bell's Life . . . . Britannia. Courrier de l'Eu Court Journal . . . Chronicle, Mornir Daily News Dispatch . Douglas Jerrold's Newspaper Changed to Weekly News Economist . Examiner. Era . . Globe: Herald, Morning Illustrated London : John Bull. Journal of Commerce Lloyd's Newspaper . Lady's Newspaper Literary Gazette Leader . Magnet Mercantile Journal Musical Review Musical World. News of the World Naval and Military Gazette Observer . . Post, Morning .. Punch . Public Ledger. Shipping Gazette Spectator, Standard Sun . Sunday Times The Times. Theatrical Observer United Service Gazette Weekly Chronicle" . . . 252 153 338 317 260 795 65 0 82 .. 92 92 . . 209 . 99 52 5 24 15 23 10 89 . 236 78 95 438 78 14 . 59 0 19 10 23 15 109 10 41 5 86 10 98 10 370 . 37 0. 165 . 373 . 94 357 143 341 314 335 302 132 339 261 309 1 ole others and other or Bobotooooooo bodo ::: . L23 0 10 0 258 64 10 19 10 56 192 10 134 33. 10 359 89 15 93 5 378 94 10 356 1890 230 :57 10 313 78 5 187 46 15 327 81 15 375 93 15 291 72 15 7 15 17 0 369 925 346 86 10 347 394 405 316 184 379 210 381 376 . . 78 10 63 15 75 10 33 0 84 15 65 5 77 5 73 0 14 10 15 5 91 15 94 0 . . . 292 . 58 | 46 0 94 15 52 10 97 15 94 0 84 10 11 10 - 13 5 107 0 24 15 338 46 51 . 61 367 376 53 68 . . 428 379 . Total i . . . 11.,156 2,789 0 | 12,140 3,035 0 | 11,289 . 2,822 5 196 : OLD ENGLAND: THEATRE ROYAL, ADELPHI (BOXES 48.). 1850. 50 WEEKS. 1851. 50 FEEKS. 1852. 50 WEEKS. JOURNALS. No. of persons admitted. No. of persons admitted. No. of persons admitted. I . £. s. 26. es .co 22 . 93 437 324 .338 430 371 366 174 356 466 52 S6 0 74 4 73 . 4 34 16 71 4 93 4 64 16 67 12 42 12 S7 12 79 16 13 12 S1 S 74 12 91 4 1. £. s. 239 47 10 4 8 78 417 362 207 41 8 404 80 16 · 386 774 52 | 10 8 1 10 213 438. 399 68 407 373 456 454 334 5 363 502 425 449. 469 445 89 16 93 16 89 0 90 16 47 O. S G6 16 98 1024 100 16 83 4 95 0 511 504 416 475 340 268 498 425 465 502 462 92 8 372 174 S 409 $1 16 216 43 4 249 49 16 98 16 950 84 4 85. 4. 421 A oo 426 255 250 RI 25 222 452 437 Age Athenæum Advertiser, Morning in Atlas. Bell's Weekly Messenger .' Bell's New Výeckly . Bell's Life . . . Britannir. Courrier de l'Europo Court Journal . . Chronicle, Morning Daily News Dispatch . Douglas Jerrold's Newspaper . Changed to Weekly News Examiner .. . Era . . . . Globo. Herald, Morning Illustrated Nows John Bull . . Journal of Commer per week) . Lloyd's Newspaper . Lady's Newspaper. Literary Gazette . Magnet .. Mercantile Journal (once per weck) . Musical Review (twice per week) News of the World . Naval and Military . Observer. Post, Morning Punch . Shipping Gazetto Spectator, Standard . Sun .. Sunday Times . The Tiines. Theatrical Observer mission per night) United Service. Weekly Chronicle Critic . . . . Total . . . 196 420 176 410 407 is cococoo 425 394 Q 0 24 16 toe. 85 S1 14 370 124 208 250 53 8 59 31 29 40 32 CON 156 162 176 347 48+ 103 156 338 • #cocos • .. 351 · • 35 4 96 S 96 16 67 12 · • . 332 · 5 16 80 150 30 0 419 S3 16 374 74 16 477 1 95 8 439 S7 16 27054 0 171 419 83 16 452 90 8 136 274 53 .. 07 12 764 97 4 70 16 52 16 36 12 84 4 96 0 56 S 282 292 · 486 351 264 183 422 480 215 34 4' · • . 431 • .'. .. ..... 58 S 86 4 96 12 75 4 4 8 453 • • 376 22 #60 47 10 12 • 5.3 493 .... 61 124 501 | 100 4 90 12 2 OS 10 12 98 12 41 12 463 433 11 12 92 12 S6 12 208 13,214 2,642 16 | 11,597 2,319 8 | 11,950 2,398 0 i Gross amount in three years to the Theatres Royal Haymarket and Adelphi. Number of persons, 71,376. In money, €16,004 9s. AND NEW ENGLAND. 197 The two points to be considered herein are, what effect these free admissions actually produced upon the treasuries of the re- spective theatres, and what equivalent was received for the indul- gence extended. We take it for granted that none of these worthy brother managers of ours ever squeaked out, excepting in cases of emergency, when they happened to have a run of good luck; at other times, it is but fair to presume they would have been glad if the Press had written double their usual number of admissions. Orders to the amount of £25 per night or per week, may have been admitted, but we are by no means disposed to believe that they ever excluded that sum of ready money bona fide presented at the doors. But supposing they did, let us regard for a moment the im- measurable advantages derived from the courtesies of the papers (claiming any position) which issued them, wherein ordinary ad- vertisements (however much may have been paid for them) would be partially useless. Fifty people read a paragraph where scarcely ten read a mere formal, humdrum, inflated advertisement. The arrival of any leading artiste, the illness of another, a visit from Royalty (when such things were existent), changes in perform- ances, and other incidental matters, are occurrences most essential to the manager to be made known, yet cannot become so but by courtesy of the journalist, which, we honestly own, was apparent in all the transactions we ever had with the different public jour- nals, during a much longer period than these gentlemen have held sway—and we take it for granted still is. Why, it has sometimes happened to ourselves, that it would be worth any sum to obtain the insertion of a sudden alteration in the announcement forthcoming on the morrow; and while it is clear that, in the observance of the ordinary rules of a newspaper-office, irregular things could not be sanctioned, yet we have ever experienced such kindness, even at so unreasonable an hour as twelve o'clock at night-a privilege, as we have said; of incalculable value. . On the mere question alone of advertisement-price and adver- tisement position, the money would be well laid out, supposing the whole affair a mere matter of business ; for not only is the charge less to managers than to any other class of people, but while their advertisements might be placed with servants out of place, vendors of patent pills, horse-flesh, and other odd com-. - modity, they invariably appear in the most conspicuous and important part of the paper. That the privileges enjoyed until lately by persons supposed to belong to the Press of our metro- polis, have been abused, admits of no question ; but such in- stances are for the most part unknown to the proprietors, editors, 17* 198 OLD ENGLAND critics, conductors, or general writers connected with such jour- nals; and the persons committing these exactions are unworthy of either confidence or employment. At the same time, during the very long period we have from time to time directed the two patent theatres, our resources have ever beep lightly taxed, and we have in return ever met, in all quarters worthy of extending favors, or asking them (if such term be admissible), the utmost assistance; and we candidly confess that if it should ever be our misfortune to stand again in the same managerial position, we shall be sorry to see so pleasant a mode of interchanging civilities in any one way departed from. In America, the general mode observed is, that of placing the principal parties connected with public journals on the free list, and on all special occasions of sending extra complimentary ad- missions, for all of which seats are reserved; and while such attention by no means fetters the judgment of criticism, it ob- tains on all occasions from the editorial columns a friendly reference to the performances announced-equally useful to the theatre and acceptable to the community. However unpleasant reproof may be, one thing is quite certain, that, if the Press did not sometimes remind us of our faults, the chances are we should never correct them; a stern fact, with which courtesy, privilege, or whatever other term you like to use, ought to have nothing on earth to do: but to proceed. Braham, the world-renowned tenor, followed in 1840, without the immense success that was anticipated ; he ought to bave made a rare harvest, for even then he possessed much of his former self. It would appear that, if his name now and then has been of little use to himself, it has been of importance to other people, by its being occasionally used in vain; for we once lighted in our travels upon this circular, which he thought necessary, we pre- sume, to issue, and which is a curiosity of its kind:- “MR. BRAHAM'S “The celebrated Vocalist of the Theatres Royal, Drury Lane, and Covent Garden, &c., Professional Tour. "To the Public.--Whereas several parties have of late been going about the country, announcing Concerts in the name of * Braham,' affecting to be the above celebrated vocalist; “It has been thought expedient, in order to disabuse the pub- lic mind, and to prove the genuineness of the present announce- mcnt, to give the following reference, . “Lewis and Lewis, Esqrs., "Solicitors, “Ely Place, London. AND NEW ENGLAND. 199 "J. D. Robson; Manager--to whom all applications on mat- ters of business are to be made." The inference to be drawn from this is, that the only chance Braham had of being believed, was through an application to his attorney! Henry Phillips, in 1844, introduced that pure style of singing of which he is so eminent a professor; and whether as an artiste (both with voice and pencil), or a man of great research, and one highly accomplished altogether, no more distinguished performer has visited America. We have not space, nor indeed is it necessary, to enter upon the various qualifications of all the British beauties who have paid their respects to this supposed land of promise ; and it will be quite enough to subjoin the following list, which will speak for itself. ENGLISH STARS, AND OTHER PERFORMERS, WHO HAVE VISITED AMERICA, TROM G. F. COOKE'S ARRIVAL IN 1810, TO THE PRESENT YEAR, 1853. Messieurs.--Anderson, Anderson (singer), Abbot. Braham and Son, Barrymore, Burton, Browne, Bartley, Blanchard, Burke, Brougham, Barnett, Booth, Brooke, Blood. Cooke (G. F.), Conway, Comer. Dowton. Fraser. Hatton, Ham- blin, Hammond, Hudson, Horn. Incledon. Kean (E.), Kean (C.), Kemble (C.), Knowles (Sheridan). Lester (J. Wallack), Lover, Lavenu, Latham. Mathews (C.), Mathews (C., junior), Manvers, Mačready, Maeder. Norton. Power, Pearman, Phil- lips (H.), Phillips (Tom), Penson. Rees, Ranger, Russell (H.). Sinclair, Seguin (E.). Vandenhoff and Son. Wood, Wallack (J.), Wallack (H.), Wallace, Wilson, &c. Mesclames.---Austin, Anderson. Barrymore, Bartley, Bishop, Benfett (Julia.) Feron, Fitzpatrick, Fisher (Clara). George. Hayes (Catherine), Hamblin, Hughes. Kelly (Lydia), Keene (Laura), Kemble (Fanny). Phillips, Poole, Povey. Seguin, Sloman, Shirreff. Tree (Ellen), Ternan, Thillon. Vestrise Wood, Warner, &c. We by no means pledge ourselves to the minute correctness of it, for we may, in the flight which memory now and then takes, have made some important omission; and if so, we crave pardon of all whose dignity may be offended by such neglect. It will be seen at once that the highest talent in every branch of the ars dramatica, has been imported from this country into the United States, whereby instruction might have been obtained, 200 OLD ENGLAND and schools maintained, for the introduction and protection of native genius. We shall presently see what really histrionic ability America, with all these advantages of learning, or at least observation, has produced ; and it will be found to be by no means commensurate with her advance in other of the arts and sciences. The "star" system, incessantly kept up here through a long series of years, has been fatal to the encouragement of home talent; novelty is the prevailing pursuit of the American, as it is of every other play-goer, and the mere student of his country's drama, whom his countrymen can see at all times, is generally passed by, and the new-comer welcomed in his stead. We can- not say, with Drunken Barnaby, « Veni Gotham, * ubi multos Sed non omnes vidi stultos," because, in New York, and other large cities, there are to be found some of the ablest of dramatic judges; but the system is altogether rotten, and there will never be a National Stage in America until the said system be altogether abolished. CHAPTER XVI. Other foreign talent besides English in America~The diet of Sontag and Alboni-Jenny Lind's pipe, and paying the piper-The ingredients of quackery—The American showman, and his show-Agents, and their avocations-Advantages of baring more mothers than one, if you know how to get them—A new mode of selling hats--An auction of tickets- A manager turns his own auctioneer--A remarkable tea-kettlez-The duties of a husband-Charity that went abroad, but settled at home Singers' airs and dancers' dollars-The player and the president differ- ently remunerated–The golden pavement of America-Difference be- tween principle and interest—The decay of art, how to prevent it, and when that object is likely to be attained. HAVING enumerated the principal English performers who from time to time have roved from Old to New England, and other parts of the United States, it is necessary to add that other European artistes of renown have sought, and found, great favor * A name for New York, as we have elsewhere observed. AND NEW ENGLAND. 201 there : Sontag,* Alboni, Salvi, Elsler, Bochsa, Celeste, De Begnis, &c. (some of whom were there during our recent sojourn), and one in particular, whose exchange of notes with Uncle Sam, and whose peculiar career in Uncle Sam's country, require especial notice-Jenny Lind! The circumstance of our having been advised by our British Minister at the Prussian court (the Earl of Westmoreland), a high authority in musical matters, and by the renowned Meyer- beer (whose pupil the young lady was), to repair to Berlin, and hear a comparatively obscure singer, who had just made her début there, is well known to all interested in such affairs, from the action we were compelled to bring against her for a disgraceful breach of an engagement we, on the occasion referred to (January, 1846), contracted with her—that singer was Jenny Lind; and while the amount of damages in which she was cast (£2,500) may be considered by some as ample compensation for the loss of her services, yet it falls into utter insignificance, when compared with the thousands which this breach of contract put into the pocket of the party who instigated her to this dishonor, of others who profited by the notoriety with which it encircled her, and into her own. The appearance of this songstress in England, and elsewhere, must be forever regarded as an instance alto- gether without precedent, of a want of faith being deemed integ- rity, and of hypocrisy being looked upon as innocence. The excitement created by this artiste in London, and conse- quently in all parts of England, was marvellous enough, to be sure, for the court and clergy vied for the enviable favor of re- . ceiving her; the highest circles in the realm coursed her chariot- wheels; men swore by her; women dressed after her; and trade itself, for the time being, thrived on her. It was, during this London season, a dangerous thing for any one who valued his personal safety, to deny that Jenny Lind was a model of perfection; and it was indispensable, as a pass- port into society, the adoption of every folly connected with her * There was considerable rivalry during the past winter (1852-53) be- tween Sontag and Alboni, which, like all other rivalry, seriously damaged the chief performers in it. Each of them had hearty partisans, by whom each was lauded to the skies; but a comparison between them was thus humorously drawn by a New York wag, which became at length a sort of received opinion :- “ The only difference, no doubt, 'Twixt Sontag and Alboni, Is that the one eats Sauerkraut, The other macaroni." 202 OLD ENGLAND name. Gants à la Lind, and mouchoirs à la Jenny, were worn and sneezed on, with absolute gravity, and every article of fe- male apparel was discarded; that was not offered for purchase under the talismanic nomenclature. A faithful recital of every absurdity this temporary frenzy led people into the adoption of, would fill more pages than this work contains; and so egregious was its extent, that hundreds of its victims would now be ashamed to own their weakness. Wives delighted in robes d la Suédoise ! their daughters eternally singing the Jenny romance, and dancing the Lind polka ; their sons thinking nothing of two guineas for a stall- "To sit in the bower and hear the bird's song;" and their friends, one and all, deeming no price too high for a box for the same purpose, would have led them the devil's own life, had they dared, for one instant, to exercise a sound discre- tion; and, therefore, the stream rolled on unimpeded in its course. The people, to use their own phrase, paid for their whis- tle, and pretty dearly too; and, among other victims, we may as well class ourselves, having disbursed eleven guineas for a small box-a mere trifle, to be sure, when we could name those who paid more than thirty, to catch even a glimpse of the fair en- chantress. As soon as the system pointed out by Puff in “The Critio" began to develop itself, that never-failing branch of charlatanrie, Charity, was called in; and that was, as a matter of course, speedily followed by Religion; and thus, from matin bell to res- per hymn, Jenny's sins were remembered, and transformed into virtues. But the hour of retribution comes to some, though not to all; for Her Majesty's Theatre was subsequently played the same trick by Mademoiselle Wagner, which Her Majesty's The- atre induced Jenny Lind to play off on Drury Lane. The con- duct adopted by the Royal Italian Opera towards Mr. Lumley is exactly of a piece with that which Mr. Lumley adopted towards us; and therefore, while we sincerely hope he may recover dam- ages in the pending suit, we cannot think he is entitled to the slightest commiseration. Transactions such as these are dis- reputable in the extreme, and turn art altogether into a mere game of speculation. We have admitted all along that John Bull is one of those mortals more easily gulled than almost any other; indeed, we should have looked upon him as having arrived at the perfection of “innocence,” if we had not chanced to have visited America. The parent is "hooked' easily enough; but the child will swal- AND NEW ENGLAND. 203 low hook, line, rod and all. The visit of Jenny Lind to the United States is without any precedent in the annals of empiri- cism; and now that our transatlantic friends begin to laugh at themselves, they cannot be offended at other people joining in that laugh. The reader need hardly be told that the engagement of this songstress to visit America was a speculation on the part of its famous showman, Barnum, keeper of a museum and theatre ad- joining, in New York, proprietor of various travelling caravans, purveyor of Tom Thumb, Bateman, and other children, and wholesale dealer in actors and animals, newspapers, obelisks, temperance speeches, fire annihilators, and every commodity wherein there exists a solitary chance of turning a penny, quo- cunque modo rem; and that, like a shrewd man of business, he set to work betimes. He engaged what in the United States are denominated agents, whose duty it was to prepare the way of the lady, and make her paths straight. An agent, in cases like this, is one who is hired to invent, write, and publish every four-and-twenty hours as much mis- representation, slightly tinged with truth, as he can possibly commit to paper; and having prepared his nostrums, he has to travel from town to town, over a vast tract of country, to test the palates of their respective inhabitants, and to cram them, without any regard to moderation, down the throats of the gaping community. As he lives at his employer's expense, of course he lives well; he treats himself to the best of everything, and then treats everybody who can forward his purpose. He has the use of a pretty long purse, which does not belong to himself, and his expenditure is therefore profuse. He has the unlimited issue of billets d'entrée to the entertainment of which he is fugleman; and if it should turn out to be an attractive one, his power, for the moment, is supreme. His remuneration is either a stipulated stipend, or a percentage, according to circumstances. Imagina- tion is his grand recommendation. If the heroine to whose advancement he is for the time being devoted has no father, so much the better; because it is easy then to assert, what there is none to contradict, that, instead of being some obscure cobbler, he died at the head of his regiment on the field of battle, an event which compelled his daughter to seek her own livelihood. Then, being the pink of virtue, she must always be accompanied by a mother,* whose first duty is * We engaged a French dancer at Drury Lane Theatre three succes- sive seasons, and she came each time with a different mother. You can 204 · OLD ENGLAND to protect it; she must be disinterestedness itself, have a noble heart, be of a very serious turn of mind, and of course "as beau- tiful as Lucifer before he fell.” If by any chance she can have · lost a lover by a fall from a horse, or a whirl down a precipice, and it can be insinuated that for a time she was nearly bereft of reason, the excitement becomes very much enhanced; and any innuendo about an unknown act of charity being eventually traced to her, has a marvellous effect. .. : Out of some such matériel as this, with plenty more added thereto, Barnum's agents plied the suffering populace of the New World fór six months before Jenny Lind's arrival; and when that advent took place, efforts of a more strenuous character were to be made. A steamboat was freighted, and a miniature popu- lation engaged, to witness the departure of the only nightingale that could really sing, for the only land that knew anything about singing i and another one, with a much larger attendance, was procured to witness the bird's arrival there. One wing of an hotel was selected for her accommodation, to which it was arranged to draw her in a hired vehicle by a hired mob; and as soon as decency would permit, she was shouted for, and called out, until she appeared upon a becoming balcony. A band was contracted far, to serenade her at nightfall, and telegraphs were set in motion all over the city to let the public know how she bore the operation. Her début was then announced, and the "agents," it is said, were ordered to promulgate, as a fact, that every ticket was dis- posed of; that the first was sold for something like eight hundred dollars; and that the fortunate holder was a hatter, to whose shop everybody immediately flocked to get a sight of the said talismanic ticket, and, as a matter of course, to buy a hat at the same time. The doubly-done public had no idea that the hatter was a relative of Barnum, and that no such sum ever was paid no, the bait was swallowed ; and as, in many more towns, another hatter was declared to be the fortunate purchaser of every first ticket sold, the inference was that Barnum had a relation in that line of business all over the Union, or that he took a stock one with him for the occasion. As it was some time, in different localities, before her concert tickets were put up to auction, * Irire them in Paris, on the Boulevards du Temple, or thereabouts, for thrée francs a week. : * The English play-goer is not familiar with the American practice of tickets being bought in at the established price, and then being put up to auction for competition, which enables the speculator, or in other words the manager, to turn his commodity' to a profitable account. We AND NEW ENGLAND. 205 thousands of admissions were given away, to convey an idea that they had been sold, which led to their being so, eventually. In some cities empty houses were taken beforehand, and furnished in a costly manner for Jenny and her staff; and on her depart- ure, the goods were immediately announced for sale, and bought with a rabid earnestness, by which the upholsterer gained a large profit. This was the temptation held out to the worthy man who furnished Jenny's domicile in New Orleans, to induce him to do so at a very reduced price, and a description of every item of the sale, after her departure, would make the funniest cata- logue ever printed. At Boston, a newspaper gave out, with solemn announcement, that a man had invented a tea-kettle, which he christened Jenny Lind, from the fact that the moment it was filled with water and put on the fire, it began to sing! In the same city, the coach- man who drove the warbler from the railway station to the “Re- vere House," mounted the steps of that hotel, and, extending his right hand, said : “Here is the hand that lifted Jenny Lind out of the coach, gentlemen ; you can any of you kiss it who choose to buy that privilege for five dollars--children, half price !!* At Newport, in Rhode Island, the landlord of an hotel, even recently, in advertising his house and all its advantages, added this rider to the bill :- “P. S.-The beautiful carriage, drawn by the famous buckskin horses, which conveyed Jenny Lind from the Canonicus,' on her arrival here, can be had at any time, by applying as above. "WILLIAM DEAN." It would fill a volume to detail all the drolleries, all the absurdi- ties, and all the quackery which created them, in connection with this extraordinary engagement-such as had never been heard of before, and never will be again, at least for the next century. It is unnecessary to say that, in America as in England, Jenny turned up her nose at her dupes, the moment she had turned her back upon them, and, as - These violent delights have violent ends, And in their triumph die,” the said Jenny, taking unto herself for a husband, à musical individual by the name of Otto Goldschmidt, subsided into com- were present during an engagement of Anna Thillon's, when her manager turned auctioneer, literally ascended a rostrum, and sold his own tickets to the highest bidder. * See Jenny Lind's tour by C. Rosenberg. 18 206 OLD ENGLAND parative obscurity. Whether this state of quietude be agreeable or not, we cannot take upon ourselves to determine ; but, certes, feelers of divers character have been from time to time circulated in the American Journals. At one time, a paragraph appeared in them, stating that Jenny and her chosen one lived unhappily together; and this was directly followed up by an extract from a letter which Jenny wrote to Mr. Zachrisson, the Swedish Consul in New York, running thus: “We are, God be thanked ! quite well. Otto is very good and kind. He labors always, is at home always, is kind always, is the same faithful friend always, thinks only of my welfare and my happiness, and maintains a calm, still COURAGE in all circumstances.” One would think, on a perusal of this latter passage, that Otto must have been engaged in some dreadful battle, some national crisis, or some other fearful event, from this display of a “calm, still courage;" but as his principal occupations must be playing the fiddle, drinking hock, and eating Sauerkraut, we cannot see that such employment requires any very great degrée of bravery! Then, again, from one end of the Union to the other, paragraphs per- petually appeared heralding forth Jenny's continued acts of be- nevolence, and her incessant distribution of alms. Whether or not these avant-courriers have been dispatched with an ultimate view to a return to the States, time will show ; but in the inte- rim, the following rejoinder to those paragraphs, which imme- diately followed them, must have somewhat damped her ardor. A New York paper, in which it appeared, stated that it came from the Berlin correspondent of the “ London Literary Gazette." "The newspapers of different countries have recently teemed with accounts of Jenny Lind baving disbursed vast sums for es- tablishing charitable institutions in Sweden. Jenny has done nothing of the kind. Since her marriage, she has ceased to be profusely liberal.” To drop, however, the humorous view of the question, and to pass over the limitless scene of humbug which was enacted wherever she appeared, let us seriously inquire, what all this quackery has led to? Jenny. Lind's appearance in America has been a fatal blow to the encouragement and to the honest reward of other talent, by placing it on a pedestal from which it is sure to fall. The monstrous sum of money drawn by Jenny Lind and her “Mr. Merryman," has led to the belief that America is paved with gold, and that an adventurer landing there might pick up any quantity. The consequent pretensions of English and foreign artists, whose services are sought for by American managers, are literally ridiculous; and where “thousands” are AND NEW ENGLAND. 207 demanded, on the one hand, "hundreds” are refused on the other. Singers, giving themselves many more airs than they can sing, the United States ! French dancers stick out for more dollars a year than they ever received francs for their whole lives! actors ask more in principal than they ever received at home in per- centage upon it, and the whole system is one scene of throat-cut- are the victims of their own inordinate vanity :-* they invariably dart their sting into their own brains, or what- ever else their heads may be lined with. They think nothing of their art, beyond what they can make by it, and all alike be- ļieving themselves to be exclusive professors of it, commit their depredations accordingly. Is it any wonder, then, that between quackery, pretension, and rapacity, every branch of this profes- sion is going speedily to decay! for such is the fact, depend upon it. When public performers will be content with the fair remu- neration to which they are entitled, by which they can live, as receivers, and let others live as givers; when their talent relies for support on its real value rather than on its possessor's esti- måte thereof; when reward is meted out by merit, instead of a.s- sumption ; and when modesty takes precedence of impertinence, there may be some hope for the art dramatic, vocal, histrionic, mimic, or whatever denomination it may go by; and all this will come to pass when every professor learns these linest by heart, and the greatest part believe in them-and not one moment sooner :- “How few are found with real talents blest! Eewer with Nature's gifts contented rest. Man from his sphere eccentric starts astray, All hunt for fame, but most mistake the way! Bred at St. Omer's to the shuffling trade The hopeful youth a Jesuit might have made- With various readings stored his empty skull, Learn’d without sense, and venerably dull; Or, at some banker's desk, like many more, Content to tell, that two and two make four, His name had stood in City annals fair, And prudent dulness marked him for a May'r! ' What then could tempt him, in a critic age, * "Le sot a un grand avantage sur l'homme instruit—il est toujours content de lui." · † Churchill's “Rosciad,” beginning at line 585. 208 · OLD ENGLAND. Such blooming hopes to forfeit on & stage ? Could it be worth his wondrous waste of pains To publish to the world his lack of brains ? Or might not Reason e'en to him have shown His greatest praise had been to live unknown; Yet let not vanity, like bis, despair: Fortune makes Folly her peculiar care !" CHAPTER XVII. American Dramatio Fund-Samples of histrionic talent-Mr. Forrest and his castle-Mrs. Forrest and her character-Treading the stage, and treading the ceiling-Fourrier's doctrines, and their inoculation- Low prices and low people-Wallack's theatre--William Tell outdone -An actress quarrels with her dress--A genuine Yankee manager How to carry on the war-Cheap literature One way of keeping a day “holy" —A learned lord chamberlain—Virtue of vox populi- Value of patent rights—"Dyeing a martyr" -Characteristics of opera singers--The many airs they give themselves, and the few they give the public-Downfall of Old Drury- Italian opera doings—Poets and pensions—Pope's opinion of all puppets-Performers' opinions of themselves. On the 11th of last April (1853), the fifth anniversary dinner of the American Dramatic Fund Association was celebrated at Astor House, New York, which, as far as the Stage was con- cerned, seemed to us much more like a celebration of the English, than the American, talent belonging to it. There was but a slight sprinkling of “natives," and the most distinguished of them all, and one who has done more than all put together, for their Stage (Forrest), was among the absentees. The responses to the various toasts proposed partook of a general reference to the dra- ma and its representatives; and as very few artists of distinction, and not one dramatic author, of American origin, were present, it would have been a matter of perplexity to say much about people, who did not think it worth while to come and say any. thing about themselves. However, some of the "outsiders' of the Press, who are allowed, now and then, by their principals, to attend a good dinner and make a report upon it, assailed seve- ral of the speakers, whose misfortune it was to have their healths drank, complaining bitterly that scarcely a word was said of America, nor a syllable of encouragement was addressed to her AND NEW ENGLAND. 209 professors, her authors, her literary and general talent; but that the whole evening was devoted to the eulogy of British genius. We have noticed this fact solely for the purpose of exemplify- ing it, and of showing how these very people carry out our argument. The American Stage being entirely of English pa- rentage and of English growth, it is necessary to inquire to what advantage America has turned the great array of talent which has from time to time arrived on her shores, to uphold her his- trionic pretensions. During the century that Stage has been in existence, has the genius of the various foreign performers she has patronized, or the works of the several foreign authors they have represented, inspired her children with any high order of dramatic power, either in acting or in literature (beyond those to whom we shall make especial reference), which has for a moment commanded the attention of any nation but their own? She has been enabled to boast of a bright array of statesmen, warriors, senators, divines, pleaders, scientific, philosophic, and other gifted men; but it would seem that either the Stage was beneath her notice, or that she was content to look upon it as an amuse- ment rather than an art, and be satisfied with those who could amuse her most, irrespective of the nation they came from. The principal American performers who have visited this country, are Messrs. Forrest, Barrett, Hackett, Hill, Silsby, Risley, Van Amburg, George Jones, a host of equestrians, a singular pedestrian, Mr. Sands,* &c.; Mesdames Cushman, Sharpe, Clifton, Placide, the Bateman Children, Tom Thumb, &c. (the zenith and the nadir of these importations being Mr. Forrest, much above all others, and Mr. George Jones, far be- neath them). In the case of Mr. Forrest, whom we had the pleasure of introducing to a London audience in 1836, we must make a peculiar exception; for not only has he proved himself the most distinguished actor of his country, but he has made unusually strenuous efforts to uphold the dramatic character of it. With every advantage, intellectual and personal; with na- tural genius, taste, grace, melody of voice and expression of countenance, and, coupled with all these, an untiring energy in * To complete the degradation to which Drury Lane has been reduced, this gentleman came from America to teach the art of walking on the ceiling, as well as on the boards, which gave rise to this jeu d'esprit: «Old Drury shows, from age to age, Some novel mode of art revealing, For Mrs. Siddons trod her stage, And Mr. Sands now treads her ceiling." 18* 210 : OLD ENGLAND. : the pursuit of his art, disdaining imitation, and standing “him- selfſ alone,” he has been the architect of his own fortune, and a splendid one it is. Mr. Forrest has amassed considerable wealth, and amongst other possessions, is owner of one of the handsomest edifices in bis , country_Fonthill, a castellated mansion, built under his own superintendence, beautifully situated at Yonkers, on the North River, about fifteen miles from New York. We know of few places where taste in erection, and prospect in situa- tion, are more remarkable. Mr. Forrest has collected a library here of rare works, from different parts of Europe over which he has travelled, and it is perhaps the finest private one in the United States. He built this castle with a view of its being hereafter converted into a dwelling, for the reception of a limited number of his professional brethren, whom chance or misfortune might have brought into decay, and it was his intention to have endowed it with due liberality; but his object has been defeated by some who most probably might have partaken of his bounty, but who bit the charitable hand that was prepared to feed them.* Mr. Forrest married the eldëst daughter of Mr. Sinclair, the singer, during his first visit to England; they lived together for twelve years, and in 1848 separated, from Mr. Forrest's im- pression of the lady's infidelity. Mrs. Forrest, by her own ac- count, is a disciple of Fourrier, and a professor of those doc- trinest wbich are gaining ground with all who, desiring to err, * Something of the same kind of thing happened to the famous actor, Edward Allen, who erected and endowed Dulwich College for a similar subject; of which Wilkes, in his “General View of the Stage,” says: " He designed this college for six men and six women, superannuated persons who belong to the London theatres, with six of their children; but one of the managers refusing to admit a person to be doorkeeper, whom he recommended, he converted his bounty another way, increased the number of children to twelve, to be maintained and educated there from the age of four to fifteen, directed that the governor should be a bachelor, and one of bis own name, with a warden and four fellows." We do not know what may be Mr. Forrest's intentions, but at all events here is something for him to work upon. * Passages, such as these, pretty well explain the views which some ladies take of that part of the ritual of the Episcopal Church, which binds them down “to love, honor, and obey." - There is no justice in the theory that one rational creature is to be subservient to another, nor can there be any high or holy feeling where there is not freedom and independence.”—Extract from Mrs. Butler's pub- lished letter, dated June 20, 1837. “In our present state of society, we cannot openly brave its laws, but it is a despotism which cannot exist forever; and in the mean time those whose minds soar above common prejudice can, if such be united, do much to make their present state endurable. It is a fearful thing to AND NEW ENGLAND. 211 avail themselves of such precepts to justify their errors. Miss Lucy Stone, and other doctrinarians of the "rights of women," have a vast deal to answer for, on the score of moral delinquency, if not in practice, at all events in preaching. This unfortunate affair has altered Forrest's general disposition in all matters, ex- ; cepting those connected with his profession; he still pursues it with ardor, and with a success which none other has enjoyed." It is barely necessary to adduce proofs; but Mr. Forrest has re- cently filled the Broadway Theatre in New York, for sixty-nine successive nights; and in Boston, his attraction has been generally on the increase, for on his first appearance there in 1827, he at- tracted about $4,800 in nine nights, and on his last visit in De- cember, 1852, he drew about $12,000 in twenty nights, and this vast receipt was collected out of that reduced scale of admission from $1 to 50 and 25 cents, which we shall speak of presently. In a private point of view, it is gratifying to Mr. I'orrest's nu- merous circle of friends and admirers to know that these “coals of fire” have not been heaped “upon his own head” by his own hand; and if viewed solely in a public light, he is an artiste whom America has every reason to be, and very justly is, proud of. As portrayers of native character of any marked peculiarity, or of the whims and oddities of sect, Messrs. Hackett, Hill, Rice, and Silsby have exhibited considerable ability; but as personators of the Shaksperian drama, and other delineations of human na- ture at large, we have been favored with the company of no visitor except Forrest, and perhaps Miss Cushman. Although- there is a considerable dearth of histrionic talent in America, yet amongst those professors we saw there, it would be unpardonable to omit mention of Mr. Blake of New York, of Mr. Warren, of the Boston Museum, and Mr. Johnson, whose performance : of Polonius at the National Theatre in that city, we considered equal to any personation of the character we can call to mind. think of the numbers who, after a brief acquaintance, during which they can form no estimate of each other's characters, swear solemnly to love each other while they on this earth do dwell.' Men and women boldly make this vow, as though they could by the magic of these few words enchain forever every feeling and passion of their natures. It's absurd. “There would be fewer family jars if each were pecuniarily independ- ent of each other. The relative position of man and wife must be that of companions; not mastery on one side, and dependence on the other."- Mrs. Forrest, in a published letter, dated June 11, 1848. "I consider it my duty not to submit my conduct to the government of any other human being."- Extract from Mrs. Butler's published letter, dated London, December, 1842. This is what they call perfect companionship, perfect friendship, and perfect lore. 212 OLD ENGLAND The causes which have ever militated, and continue to militate, against their cultivation of native talent, are easily traceable. At the head of all offence stands the "star system.” Year after year has led to the visit of some European celebrity; and the manager of every theatre, relying on an engagemeut with every such celebrity, makes very small provision for a stock company to support it; and thus, comparison being out of the question, emulation becomes equally so. Few, indeed, have the perseverance, or in fact the moral courage, to strive for pre-em- inence, where attention for the most part is directed to individ- ual merit, and where patronage and appreciation are individually bestowed. The same system has been worked upon here, and it has led to the same results. Another cause may be traced to the lowering of the prices of admission throughout the Union ; for, notwithstanding the actual bums ( leaving the fabulous ones quite out of consideration) that were paid to Jenny Lind, the general scale of admission to the theatres, whether for whites, blacks, or whity-browns, is thus laid down in their affiches :- Boxes and Parquet . . . . . 50 cents. Family and Upper Circles . . 25 66 Private Boxes . . 5 and 6 dolls. A portion of the Third Circle has been appro- priated for the accommodation of respect- able Colored Persons---Admission 25 cents. Any advance in this now established scale is only sanctioned in cases of Italian opera performances, and even then the demand of two dollars (8s. 4d. of our money) is looked upon with a very dissatisfied eye. Here again they have followed in our wake, and the issue has been similar in both countries. The reduction of prices has entailed two serious difficulties; it has led, by pro- miscuousness of attendance, to vitiation of taste, and the alarming one of performers always raising their salaries whenx managers lower their prices. This compilation of unpleasant truth may be thus disposed of the Drama has gone to the devil in England, and it is going there as fast as it possibly can in America. We must not forget to mention that arrogance, conceit, neglect of duty to employer, and of respect to the public, and other anec- dotical assumptions this profession deals in, are one and the same thing, in the land of Jonathan as of John. The paucity of dramatic authors is easily accounted for, were there no other reason than the doubtful prospect of remuneration held out to them. With the exception of the tragedies of “Meta- mora," the “Gladiator,'' &c., which the genius of Forrest illus- AND NEW ENGLAND. 213 trated, and the purse of Forrest paid for, there has been scarcely a piece of any consequence from an American pen produced on the American Stage; and the only really able dramatic writer conversant with the drama, its several necessities, and its many advantages (John Howard Payne) produced all his works in England. The American dramatist has, moreover, had hitherto to contend with an absence of all protection from an international copy-right; and thus, while managers have been able to obtain gratuitously nearly all pieces produced on the London stage, that have obtained the sanction of a London audience, they have naturally preferred paying nothing for a good thing, rather than anything for a doubtful one. In these respects, alone, America has been content, and we fear will be content, to rely on the resources of England, instead of any she has had, has, or may have, at home; and the critics we have cited will, therefore, act a wiser part by exciting their countrymen to act and write what is worth seeing and reading, than by abusing them for doing neither. The theatres of America are, for the most part, handsome and commodious buildings, different in construction so far from ours, that the entire area of the auditory is open to the public, and the few private boxes there rise over each other (except in an instance or two) within the proscenium. The buildings are light in appearance, and generally decorated with taste, showing off the auditor to the best advantage, and affording him, at the same time, ample accommodation. The selection of a particular locality for the darkies has a singular appearance; for though this land be a land of equality, this does not extend to the sooty race; and in their isolated position, a volley of bright eyes and white teeth, displayed by any striking occurrence passing on the scene, produces now and then a curious effect. Behind the cur- tain, the American Stage is infinitely inferior to that of England -especially in the art of scene-painting, the productions of which have seldom much respect for architecture or perspective. The pleasant little theatre in Broadway, conducted by James Wallack, is in many respects an exception to the general neglect of stage management; for not only is the scenery infinitely bet- ter, but the scene itself is disposed with that taste which has always distinguished Wallack's direction; and the fidelity of costume is rigidly preserved.* 'Here, too, a higher order of taste * When some one in Drury Lane greenroom was observing, in James Smith's hearing, that an actress (at the moment on the stage) looked very sulky, and was very badly dressed, he replied: “It is easily ac- counted for—she has had a quarrel with her new dress, and has not made it 117)." 214 OLD ENGLAND is manifested; for, notwithstanding Wallack has ever been one of the leading stars in America, he has abolished the star system altogether, and is determined to rely for support on a general rather than on an individual attraction. It is most desirable that his success, thus far transient, may become permanent; for his public have ample means and spirit to patronize, and he has ample means to merit their patronage.* In several parts of America there is a curious combination of theatre and museum under one roof; three of which (at New York, Baltimore, and Boston) we had an opportunity of attend- ing. To that in the last of these cities, we were especially in- vited by the courtesy of Mr. Moses Kimball, proprietor thereof, who expressed a hope, in forwarding us a card of free entrée, that we would visit his "little Yankee theatre." We availed our- selves of his politeness, and the following is a summary of what passed. We found Mr. Kimball in his officema tall, stalworth, lusty-looking fellow, with a marked countenance, in which it was difficult to determine whether the cautious look of the Jew, or the cunning one of the Yankee, preponderated-he gave us a cor- dial welcome ; and being gifted with a volubility of tongue, and laying claim to a selection of language it would be very difficult to compete with, he at once opened fire : "Take a seat,” said he. “I'm d d if I ain't glad to see yer; heard a deal on yer; read all your works, and so I'll tell yer how I've got along." When I observed that I had but a few minutes to stay, he re- plied : “D d that, it won't take yer long. I was formerly a merchant, and made bad affairs on it; but seeing a way o’ gettin on agin, I started fresh ; first of all at Gleason's, now the pictur'- gallery; saw a better chance, and got a fellor to build the Muse- 'um--my own idea; Barnum copied after me. I could tell yer * There can be no question of the Americans being very much disposed to patronize their theatres--the fault too frequently lying, as with us, in what they do patronize. During our sojourn, Forrest's individual attrac- tion was wondrous, Wallack's success was unquestionable, and Burton was doing what histriones call “good business;" but on the other hand, Wood's varnished minstrels, the performance of a Mr. F. S. Chanfrau (which consisted of his personation of a Bowery butcher, who knocked down every one who came near him), and the Chinese Tumblers, brought to- gether an immense collection of people, while Franconi's Hippodrome surpassed in attraction all these put together. The grand achievement of the Chinese threw · William Tell hitting the apple on his son's head” into the shade; for in this instance, one man kept his face steadily against a board, while another, at a considerable distance, threw as many knives at him (which stuck in the board without doing him the slightest injury) as, on his removing himself, formed his profile. AND NEW ENGLAND. 215 many things, how I hit, and how I missed; but the first great go' was the 'Temperance Reform' piece; I made a sort of Tom and Jerry'affair on it; lugged into the piece a young fellow, a quiet, modest person at starting, but who turned out a h- of a drunkard ; then I had a sort of a Logic man to go about with ’un, just to try and keep’un in order, and a Yankee chap to make some fun. We put the thing together among ourselves; and I made Smith my manager-he's a capital fellor, though he can't act; but anything 'll do so I made Smith play the hero. In order to create a proper feeling among the sober classes, I loaned about fifteen black coats, bought as many white chokers, and dressed up fifteen follors in 'em, to look like parsons, and put 'em in the most conspicuous part of the house; and thus we managed to hook in all the clergy, and Christian soft-mouths. The piece drew all b-l. We played it sometimes four times à day; on Christmas Day* we played it six times, beginning at nine in the morning. “Well, we was up in our stirrups—" (here I rose to take my leave)-"Wait a minute; I'll tell yer what I did wi' yer! That 'Bohemian Gal o' yourn-my Ch- t! didn't we go ahead wi' her! I kept in all the situara- tions, sent the vocal music to smash, threw in a couple of Dro- mios for my low comedians, and away we went like fun !". We literally shrieked with laughter, when he added : “Ay, and I shall do the same with your ‘Enchantress,' if I can pick up a couple of funny chaps.” I naturally asked him how much he paid per annum for his literature; when he answered : “About 12 cents (6 d.) every packet that arrives. I get all the last pieces from England—the cheap editions as Lacy publishes; and as soon as they come to hand, I, and Smith, and the box-office fellor, set to work, and lick a bad piece into good shape, in no time !". To this combination of author and manager, it needs only the * Christmas and Thanksgiving days are only kept holy in the morning, when divine service is everywhere performed; but in the evenings of each day the theatres are crammed. to suffocation-a kind of parodox, when it is recollected that the puritanical spirit in this part of New England (Boston) will not sanction any performance on Saturday nights, cousidering they approach too near to Sunday. With the slight substi- tution of Boston for Banbury, the animus of the old versicle would seem to be still carried out:- " To Banbury came I, oh, prophane one ! Where I saw a Puritane one Hanging of his cat on Monday, For killing of a mouse on Sunday !" 216. OLD ENGLAND advertenties tight be in boli addition of low comedian, to make Mr. Moses Kimball one of the most versatile and accomplished men in the good city of Boston. It gratifies us to say that he is rapidly amassing a for- tune, and is deservedly respected by all his fellow-townsmen. The emigration to America, if it only eased us of all the bad actors who infest our stage, would be of the greatest possible advantage ; but as it likewise includes what few good ones we have, their flight leads alike, in the view we have taken, to the decay of the Drama in both countries; in honest phraseology, having ruined our Stage by being allowed to run the gauntlet of starring, they sail off to ruin theirs by the same process. There is one great advantage, we must not overlook, which America possesses, and which is denied to England; her Stage has not to contend with a Lord Chamberlain. The censorship lies there, as it ought to do everywhere else, in the opinion of the people, whose notions of propriety, religion, and common sense, can compete at all times with those of an official. It has frequently happened that passages in plays, which have passed the ordeal of the Chamberlain's office, have been decried by the voice of the people;* and that same powerful authority has approved of others (commonly denominated “as marked in inverted com- mas'') which the licensing potentate of the day has condemned; and one thing there is no disputing, that neither, his Lordship nor his underlings, in nine cases out of ten, have the slightest knowledge of the Stage, or the drama.† . If, however, the spirit for emigration be not dying away, the means of indulging it are gradually decreasing; and as America will thus be speedily left to her own resources, she may now set to work, and do for herself, what she should have done at least half a century ago—that is, establish a National Stage, sup- ported by her own performers, and her own authors, independent of any adventitious aid whatever. The means we allude to are -actors, actresses, and writers. America is tolerably well ac- quainted with any and everything in England, at all worth the trouble and risk of importing, whether it consist of biped, quad- ruped, or commodity; but in case her entrepreneurs may not * At a recent election in New England, a candidate for senatorial : honors being asked if he thought so-and-so would vote for him, replied: "I don't know; but give me vox populi-get him to vote for me, and den the rest; it is the surest guide in all cases." + Ex. gr.-We had a conversation some years since with a noble Lord, high at Court, respecting the selection of a play, and on - Twelfth Night” being proposed, bis Lordship observed : “By the way, who wrote • Twelfth Night ?? AND NEW ENGLAND. 217 know the exact state of the London Stage, on the condition of which their hopes have so long been dependent, we will just give them a hint or two. Drury Lane and Covent Garden Theatres, once called. Na- tional, Patent, and Royal, can now put forward very few claims to either appellation; their nationality consisting of performances that are not national, their patenteeship having been virtually swept away by the Act of Victoria 6 and 7, cap. lxviii (August 22, 1843), and their royalty being bestowed upon Italian operas givën at the latter one. Drury Lane struggled as long as there was anything to struggle for; and when, owing to the continued dearth of dramatic talent, all of eminence dying away, and none of eminence succeeding, the only chance of opening its doors with any prospect of success appeared to us to lie in the introduction, upon a substantial basis, of English Opera. There seemed to be a growing taste for music in all classes of society; and, as the prices and peculiarities of the Italian Opera presented a bar to their enjoyment by those who were in the middling walks (the downright English play-going public after all), it was thought desirable to give them an opportunity of indulging them in their growing propensity. The speculation thrived for some time, and there can be no question that its prosperity would have been permanent, had not those, who had sworn to “die martyrs in the cause,''* allowed the cause to suffer martyrdom, instead of themselves. When Mr. Macready, in a letter he addressed to the proprietors of Covent Garden, respecting a renewal of his lesseeship, stated that the body of performers had fallen into his views, he added : “I can make nothing of your musical fools, and that difficulty is far more serious now than it was then. It is a very sad re- flection, that in this immense metropolis, where every other class of entertainment is given, there should be no English Opera; but such is the fact; nor will it ever be otherwise, while the public suffer the impertinences of the few professors there are to pass over without reprehension-indignities that would be se- riously resented in more dramatic countries than England will * One of the best epigrams ever written upon this phrase, was ad- dressed by Suett to Mrs. Anne Martyr (a popular actress of her day, who kindly consented to black her face and play the character of Wow- ski, in "Inkle and Yarico,” for his benefit):- “Although my thanks I must prefer To all, by ceremony's laws, Yet they are chiefly due to her Who dyes A. Martyr in my cause!" 19 218 .. OLD ENGLAND. ever be. It is not alone the price which these mountebanks set upon their commodity (vox et præterea nihil, God knows !), but the consequence they attach to the possession is incredible. They will sing what they please, and when they please; they will plead inability to appear more than three times a week in the theatre from which they derive their reputation, but they invariably sing the other three nights at some place of amusement opposed to the stage which gives them this reputation; and thus the man- ager would seem to be cutting his own throat with his own wea- pons. They transpose into another key all music which they cannot sing in the original key, and introduce it into any opera, but the one it belongs to, just as it may suit their fancies. It is by no means uncommon with these precious people to be singing in the country when they ought to be doing so in town, and to be at a dinner-table at the very time they ought to be on' the stage. A medical certificate given to these shameless people has a great deal to answer for, inasmuch as it speaks too fre- quently the language of good-nature to the patient, rather than that of truth to the public. It is easily procurable when artistes mean to forego their duty, and it has recently become such a very doubtful appendage to a playbill, as to be utterly dis- credited ; and if a manager takes it on the stage to read to his audience, he is particularly well laughed at during the operation. In America, these delinquencies are rarely practised, because they are severely punished; for there can be little doubt that for the practice of such tricks as we have witnessed, both on the stage and in the concert-room, your singer would be tarred and feathered in double-quick time—a process we recommend those who may practise the principles of conceit, exaction, and neglect of duty, on their emigration to the land of Jonathan, seriously to reflect upon. .. If it were worth while to play the game of " breaking butter- flies upon a wheel,” we could bring down (to use a modern vul- garism) the monkey of some of these pretenders; but we rather leave them where they are, to find out the ruin they have in- flicted upon their art, however insensible they may be to its pros- tration. When Balfe is attuning the sweetness of his harp in Russia; when Wallace is throwing his melody to the winds in the wilds of America, where he has been located; when Lavenu is gone to play to the gold-diggers of California, or perhaps to become one of them; and when others of great repute are skud- ding about here and there, without finding any rest for the soles of their feet, there must be "something rotten in the state of AND NEW ENGLAND. 219 Denmark”--for though we are an undramatic, we are not an un- musical community: With the fall of Opera, Drury Lane has fallen altogether, and the finest Thespian Temple in the world is going visibly into decay. With no fixed season, no fixed company, no fixed price of admission, no fixed “nothing,” its performances take place by fits and starts, as any monstrosity or absurdity may present itself, and thus the whole concern becomes the laughing-stock of the town. Now a race in the ring; then a walk on the ceiling; then a cut in with tragedy; after that, a bit of opera, consisting of one or two principals, and about the same quantity of band and chorus; again, an actor without a drama, and a drama without an actor; and similar incongruities are thrust before the public ,eye, eliciting one fact that, if they have no merit, these things are at least rewarded by a presentation of souffboxes, and a con- gratulation of the nobility* on an enterprise of such wondrous variety. Covent Garden Theatre having become, by virtue of the Act of Parliament just cited, the Royal Italian Opera, it is unneces- sary to connect it with the English Stage. It was established to cut the throat of Lumley and his Italian Opera ; and in so doing, has contrived to cut that of some of its own operators. After the ruin of Mr. Delafield, who left behind him, for the benefit of his successor, a splendidly appointed theatre, it fell into the hands of speculators, some of whom held that position in society which materially advanced their views, and enabled them, from adventitious circumstances, to make a casual profit; but while the annihilation of the rival establishment has been partially achieved, we very much question whether the conqueror will not have to exclaim with Pyrrhus, after his first battle in the Tarentine War: “Another such a victory, and I am undone !" As these establishments were the chief sources from which Americans obtained the extraneous aid their managers required, it is obvious that their requirements here can no longer be com- plied with. Shorn and denuded of talent as the Stage had be- come, even before Parliament took away its only hope of ame- lioration, see what its condition has become since, and then see what prospect there is for any future furtherance of the star sys- * At a réunion in the greenroom of Drury Lane, at which a series of snuff boxes were presented to the officers of the lessce, a noble lord, whose former connection with the State ought to have directed him to a display of far better taste, congratulated the meeting on the fraternal junction of Drury Lane and the Marylebone Theatres ! See the Sun, of January 27, 1853. 220 - · OLD ENGLAND teni in the United States. Since we published a year, or two previous to the passing of this Act our views of “ The Stage both Before and Behind the Curtain," we could still boast of a few names who had shed a long stream of lustre on the theatres they had belonged to; but Mrs. Glover, Mrs. Bartley, Mrs. Gibbs, Mrs. W. Clifford, &c., have gone to "that bourn from which no traveller returns." Miss Kelly, alas ! has fallen into decay, by foolishly expending the profits of a long life of professional en- chantment in erecting an out-of-the-way and unneeded theatre; and William Farren, the genuine successor of Munden, is drop- ping his money (he has no longer any voice to drop !) at the Olympic, in the back slums of Drury Lane, and exhibiting, to feed the vanity of either himself or his sons, the “last remains" of a marvellous talent; while Liston, the unique and inimitable, Richard Jones, Wrench, Dowton, Russell (the Major, and the Jerry Sneak!), the marvellous Ducrow, the ubiquitous Yates, &c., have also joined their ancestors. These personators of our dramatic literature have passed away; and they have been joined in their flight by the ablest of our Writers in that branch of composition, who have disappeared dur- ing the same period. Joanna Baillie, the portrayer of human passion in all its variety of display ; Shiel, who had great, though ephemeral, popularity during the career of Miss O'Neil; those popular dramatists, Reynolds, Morton, Beazley, &c., are all num- bered with the things that were ; while the eminent; the good, the gentle-hearted Sheridan Knowles, is reposing in the comforts of a well-earned pension in Scotland, and John Poole vegetating on a smaller one in Paris ! As very little talent, entitled to note, has succeeded to this vast loss, it is evident that the means of supplying any foreign market, have yearly become diminished. Grisi and Mario, about (it is said !) to visit the States, may fill up a gap for the time being, and their matchless warblings may be followed by the pomposity* of one tenor and the nasality of another; but wiser and better would it be for America, if her many gifted sons would cultivate a taste for dramatic literature, and encourage the * Pope must have had this race of people in his head, when he wrote :-- "Oh you! whom Vanity's light bark conveys. On Fame's mad voyage by the wind of praiso, With what a shifting gale your course you ply, Forever sunk too low, or borne too high ! Who pants for glory finds but short repose, A breath rovives him, or a breath o'erthrows." AND NEW ENGLAND. 221 study of the dramatic profession, rather than trust to any im- portation of foreign conceit, and foreign insufficiency. America has, however, wondrous resources in her Lyceums, and other lecture establishments (to which we have already made reference), that have, to a very great extent, superseded theatres. There is more entertainment, and infinitely more instruction to be found in them, and at an infinitely cheaper rate; moreover, the society in them is not so promiscuous, and thus the student is less interrupted, and the mere learner less embarrassed. The drama can only permanently flourish in a country that is essen- tially dramatic, that does not look to any other for the furtherance of its purposes, but relies on itself for their accomplishment. It is the conservation of this principle which has made these Ly- ceums such important features in the literary character of Ame- rica; for while they do not shut their doors to foreign talent (as the recent brilliant success of my eminent friend Thackeray, and, if we may be pardoned for so much egotism, the contemporary reception of ourselves, bear ample testimony), yet they have names of the highest distinction, as we have previously enume- rated, which their Lyceums have brought into the foremost pha- lanx of fame, from which theatres would, more than probably, have excluded them. The establishment of these admirable in- stitutions is antidotal to theatres in Old Eogland, New England, and all other American States, a truth that it is absurd attempt- ing to deny. Performers all swear to the contrary, because their impression is that all the world are thinking of them; and, con- sequently, “self” being the only doctrine they preach, their opinion is not entitled to the slightest consideration. 19* 222 OLD ENGLAND CHAPTER XVIII. American notions, and some of them very funny ones—How to pare an apple-Thick skins and thin skins-Amour propre, and too much of it -All America's great people are not Americans--A mistake about her discoveries rectified-Jonathan's mode of regulating hotel charges The Cuban question-Shooting Spaniards and shooting sparrows Lord John Russell and Mr. Everett Jamaica worth looking after- - Else” and “if” fully explained-Not to be poor and seem so, at the same time-The only beggar in America Copy-right question, and the best way to settle it—The distinction between high and low prices- Congress make acts, and the people repeal them-Interest the only set- tler of disputes Early rising, and the benefit thereof—Opinions of Lord Byron and Sir John Sinclair thereon-Exemplification of it by a Bond Street -tradesman-How to get bailed-Habits of doing business, and of taking pleasure-Ancient building up, and modern pulling down ---American enthusiasm and English apathy-Chester walls and Chester railways—Another den of thieves, and another house of prayer-Ex- traordinary sight at Temple Bar — Stage-coaches, and their conse- quences-Roads, and their rascalities—Two legs better than one, at all events in England-Common sense sometimes nonsense--Politics and ploughshares-Difference between living in clover and mowing it- The farmer and president-A regicide's last thought, and its exact value. AMERICAN NOTIONS! This expression comprehends a great deal more than it would seem to imply; it is not a matter of mind abstractedly, but has reference equally to men and things. We live in an experimental age; and until we did so, America had notions which came simply under the denomination of opinion ; now she has notions of a much more solid character, employed alike on sound as on unsubstantial matter. The appellation which is given to Boston, “ The City of Notions," might with equal propriety be extended to every place in the Union, as they have each peculiar ones of their own, whether it be in singular ideas on passing events, or in serious or simple inventions, from a steam-engine to an apple-parcr.* It would occupy time and space * This is one of the many knick-knacks called “notions,” in the man- ufacture of which the inventive genius of an American is perpetually indulging; and there are hundreds of others. The trifle herein alluded to is as useless but as clever an article as you will see put upon a table, which, by its peculiar construction, can pare an apple to the greatest AND NEW ENGLAND. 223 very unnecessarily to go into the dissection of every trifle on which the intellect of such a creative set of people is forever employed; they act upon the principle that man should only be in action up to a given period of his life, and when that period is once reached, he should give way to younger minds; and therefore there is much more of the active part of business in America con- ducted by persons under twenty-five, than there is by persons above thirty. The son, at a very early age, is of opinion that his father knows nothing about it, whatever it may be ; that his time is gone by, long ago; that it is enough for him to sup- ply the money, and for himself to spend it; for him to find the wine, and for himself to drink it. In all business matters, where acting for father and son, he very soon substitutes I for we, and, in short, takes the lead in everything. The daughter is not a whit behind her brother; she arranges parties, orders dinners, occasionally heads tables, and gives such general directions that your first impression is, the mother is dead. Young blood must be diffused into every limb of every state, and we all know that young blood cannot keep-quiet. Let us inquire into some of the odd notions which get into the heads of these odd people, and see what operation they effect. · The first grand notion an American entertains, is, that every one who visits his country comes there to lampoon him, and to hold him up to the ridicule of other nations. A man must be very thin-skinned, as well as very faulty, to expect anything of the sort, and this is a notion he ought to guard against. To sup- pose that a reasonable being would cross the Atlantic with the deliberate purpose of ridiculing the weaknesses of those who dwell upon its shores, is taking a very false as well as a very illiberal view of human nature. The impression, however, is so strong as to lead to a belief that a book upun America will not sell un- less it be abusive of American people. If that be a positive nicety in five seconds, and in so fine a manner, also, that the operation of the smallest knife could not surpass it. It would, however, be a curi- ous sight to see a dinner-party of a dozen, each provided with an apple- parer at his side, inasmuch as the power required to peel the apple being produced by strong wire-springs connected with the parer, and the whole being put into action by one handle turning two wheels, it makes during the process an occasional tick, louder than refined ears are accustomed to be saluted with. Its proper place should be the kitchen, where its utility would be perpetually tested in peeling potatoes; but the objection even to this is twofold, for five dollars (its price) is an unnecessary addi- tion to the wages of a cook, whose duty it is to prepare her vegetables, and it would morcover tcach her to be idler, if possible, than she gene- rally is. 224 .. OLD ENGLAND truth (which we have yet to learn), this small publication will be a decided failure. We expect to be read quite as much in one country as the other; and while we give our own people credit for a better feeling than that of enjoying the annoyances of their kinsmen, and laughing at their expense, we think at the same time an American is not such a fool as to purchase abuse of himself, or pay for the ridicule of his neighbors. We were in various parts of the United States, at the time our distinguished countryman, Mr. Thackeray, visited them, and even before his arrival ; and nothing could convince those most disposed to welcome him that, because Mr. Dickens, after having been fêted and tomfooled by them during his sojourn in their land, had published certain remarks neither complimentary nor agreeable to their amour propre, Mr. Thackeray would not follow in his wake, and, after receiving their hospitality and entering into their fellowship, speak out in terms equally unflattering. Mr. Thackeray, however, was received everywhere as was his due, with the utmost cordiality, and rewarded with almost an in- cumbrance of dollars. He acknowledged all this gratefully and respectfully; yet, despite this outward show of appreciating their courtesy, and his own public avowal that it was not his intention to write a work upon America, they would not believe it then, and only believe it now, from his having recently published a very different kind of composition. This is by no means giving a person credit for good intentions, or for good feelings. It does not follow that a man going to the United States, or to any other part of the visitable globe, is to shut his eyes, because the people he may meet there do not like to be looked at, or to shut up his senses because they do not like their characteristics to be examined—that is all fiddle-faddle: we go abroad to learn what we cannot learn by staying at home, and none but a blockhead would let such an opportunity for improvement slip through his fingers. It is another question altogether whether he is to suffer his judgment to be warped, bis faculty of observation to be pre- judiced, his taste to be misdirected, and his good feelings to be deadened ; and none but those who are worse than blockheads would so degrade themselves. Therefore we say unto thee, Brother Jonathan, knock this notion out of thy head as speedily as possible, and supply it with some other more worthy thy en- lightened mind. . Another,odd "notion” an American bas, consists of his believ- ing that every man who has benefited his country belongs to it. They are unquestionably very grateful for services rendered them, and they never can make enough of those who had a hand in the 0 AND NEW ENGLAND. 225 discovery of their land, or in the improvement of it; they reward them while living, and pile up monument after monument to their memories when dead, all of which is very proper; but they have a droll habit of adoption, which almost amounts to the claim of filiation. In looking over, for instance, their picture galleries, whether the subjects be found on walls, or displayed in published engravings, you will find a long list of men who have elevated American character, and shed glory on American annals, on whom she seems to dote with all the fondness of parent for child-not of parent for another person's child-and to regard with all the devotion which the people of any empire entertain towards one of themselves who happens to have benefited themselves; but we have generally found that in eulogizing all the mighty people who have succeeded by their prowess in aggrandizing their native land, an American conveys to you an idea that he is eulogizing them as if they were all his own countrymen. You will find amongst such recipients of their praises, like- nesses (interwoven with those of the genu-ine American) of their earliest discoverer, Christopher Columbus, but he happened to be a Genoese ; and of the next who followed his footsteps, Americus Vespucius,* but he was a Florentine ; then of Sebastian Cabot, but he was born and died in our Bristol; again, one of Captain John Smith, who entered this life and departed it in Old Eng- land; then of Sir Henry Vane, who was born, if we remember rightly, at Hadlow in Kent, and was beheaded in London ; even of William Penn, the founder, to be sure, of Pennsylvania, but who was also born and who died in London; of Sir Martin Fro- bisher, who first saw the light, we believe, at Doncaster; of Alexander Hamilton, born at Nevis; of Kosciusko, the mighty Pole; of General Wolf, in whose birth Westerham, in Kent, re- joices; of General Montgomery, a genuine son of Ireland; of General Burgoyne, of England; of Paul Jones, of Scotland; of Albert Gallatin, of Geneva, together with the effigies of many others whose deeds blaze out in the chronicles of America. Mind, we do not charge America with roundly asserting that all these recited personages, and many others who might be recited, are downright backbone natives; but if you read what their writers write of them, and hear what their speakers say of them, you will come to the conclusion that they are writing and speaking of their * By some blunder there is no accounting for, America is said to have derived her name from this navigator; but we believe, though we are no profound historian, that she was christened long before his first descent upon her shores in 1499. 226 OLD ENGLAND own people. This is a sort of larceny, amounting to the more serious charge of obtaining goods under false pretences, and while it is not punishable, it is clearly reprehensible. America has plenty of her own citizens, on whose chivalric deeds, on whose commercial enterprises, and on whose scientific acquirements she may very justly pride herself; and if it were only on the established principle of giving the devil his due, she should, while bestowing a full share of her praise upon the parties she seeks to distinguish, give a small portion of it to the respec- «tive countries from which they spring. But, no; America must not only be great, but everybody, who helped to make her so must be an American! Suppose Columbus was a Genoese, what has that to do with it? He discovered America, and therefore must be looked upon as an American ; and if Smith explored the coast of Virginia, and for a time effected a settlement there, he must be a Southerner; and if William Penn founded Philadel- phia, of course he must be Pennsylvanian, and neither of 'em any of your d d Britishers! Why, they would call Kossuth an American, if any credit could be reflected on themselves by assigning him the appellation. This is, as we began by saying, a very odd notion; and as the truth is so easily to be arrived at, we suggest to our offspring the propriety of making it as notorious as possible, on every occasion. · Another “notion” Jonathan bas got into his head, creates a question at the present moment whether it be not a very correct one. This notion is, that there is no hotel like an American one. At a time when hotel charges and the general hotel system have become subjects of grave discussion with all classes of Her Ma- jesty's subjects, it is a matter for consideration whether the in- troduction of one in London, on the colossal scale of the Ameri- can; would meet with remunerating patronage. We have alluded to this subject elsewhere, and have given such statistics as will enable any one conversant with the babits of his own country, to determine how far they will assimilate with those of a foreign one. There can be no question, in our mind, that, if ever intro- duced in London, several features which are their peculiar cha- racteristics must be altered, or got rid of altogether. An En- glishman has no idea of his time being circumscribed by any one be considers bimself master of it-and if it be his pleasure to breakfast at ten and dine at seven, he will not allow himself to be rung or gonged (whichever the instrument may be) into the one at eight, or the other at three. A Londoner is accustomed AND NEW ENGLAND. · 227 to take his chop whenever it suits his convenience, and wherever he may chance to be, and he would be very much astonished, on entering a hotel, to be told it was past the time for giving bim his dinner, and that, moreover, there was no room for him to eat it in. The American hotel being conducted entirely on the table d'hôte plan, regularity must be observed, or it cannot be con- ducted at all. The cooks have one routine laid down for them, from which they cannot deviate. To have a dinner in a private room, you must order both, unless you have hired the latter in conjunction with your bedroom. There is no coffee-room laid out with a series of tables for your selection, and you would be starved unless you conformed to established rule. This would require a total change. Then again, few English families would like to live altogether in such a wilderness. They prefer quie- tude, have a partiality for their own rather than for mixed society, and think no place like home. No support would come from thein; and thus the patronage of these hotels, unless their system were to undergo revision, must come almost entirely from travellers and foreigners. The only inducement, in opposition to all this, is the price. While people are now shouting out their complaints against so much per head for meals, so much for the hire of apartments barely used, and for wax lights scarcely burnt, and are protesting against paying waiters, chamber-maids, porters, and shoe-blacks, for literally doing their master's business--the sum of two dol- lars each in plain English, eight shillings and fourpence) pro- vides a fellow, every four-and-twenty hours, with an excellent bed and bedroom, five costly meals if he can by any human contrivance, get rid of so much provender, an elegant drawing- room to lounge in, a large one to read all sorts of papers and publications in, a bevy of creatures to wait upon him, and lights enough all over the house to serve for an illumination. . We were repeatedly consulted by capitalists in America, as to the chance of success which such an establishment would meet with in London, and we candidly confess that our opinion was unfavorable ; but as (we repeat) we have very fully entered into the several items which form the sum total of one of these mammoth concerns, in the fourth chapter of this volume, we again direct the reader's attention thereto,' to enable him more easily to form his own opinion, at a period when every one is coming to some conclusion on the subject of hotels at home and abroad. As regards his own country, Jonathan's notion is de cidedly a right one; but whether it could be carried out satis- 228 OLD ENGLAND factorily to the guest, and profitably to the host in this country, we will not take upon ourselves to determine. Another grand notion” our well-beloved brother (or what- ever relative he may be) has been for some time entertaining is, that Cuba is a mighty fine property for him to lay his paw upon; and be is only calculating how he can best do it without raising up the objections of England, or exciting the bile of France. The territory to be sure belongs to Spain, but he cares no more about shooting a Spaniard than he would about shooting a spar- row. It is the snuggest little settlement imaginable-something of a resting-place between New Orleans and the Isthmus, of Panama, and a sort of half-way house between Florida and Jamaica ; and, perhaps, as the wheel of Time rolls round, when he bas-once quietly ensconced himself there, and finds himself quite at his ease, he may make a grab at the latter island. At all events Cuba, for the present, is a very tempting bait; its spices of all sorts, coffee, sugar, and tobacco enough to supply the whole world, are all very good things in their way, and de- cidedly not to be lost sight of. Then, the island itself is a balmy, fragrant, and fertile place to stroll about in, where he may encour- age or abolish slavery, just as his interest or his fancy may dic- tate, and presents a prospect altogether of so much advantage and enjoyment as to render its possession highly desirable. The flutterings that have recently taken place between the British Lion, the Gallic Cock, and the American Eagle are but renewals of former impressions; for thirty years ago, in a letter Jefferson addressed to President Monroe, he said: "I have ever looked on Cuba as the most interesting addition which could ever be made to our system of States. The control which, with Flo- rida Point, this island would give us over the Gulf of Mexico, and the countries and isthmus bordering on it, would fill up the measure of our political well-being." Can there be any doubt of it? We are only repeating in 1853 what Jefferson asserted in 1833. It is indescribably droll to find the statesman of a country, not then sixty years old, talk- ing of an island, the length of which from cast to west is one hundred and fifty miles more than Great Britain is from north to south, being an interesting addition” to his own, just as if it were a mere garden of roses, or vineyard of grapes. This is a notion, and one which we feel sure Jonathan has had in his head ever since the date of Mr. Jefferson's letter aforesaid ; but as ** Cuba “filling up the measure of his political well-being,” our notion is in diametric opposition thereto. Jonathan himself does not know half what his "measure” will contain; for since this AND NEW ENGLAND. “interesting addition" was talked about, his "system of States" has been carried out by the annexation of Arkansas, Michigan, Texas, and Wisconsin, besides sundry good slices denominated territories; while the "isthmus bordering on the Gulf of Mexico" has been crossed (a railroad cut half-way into it) to reach one more State, California, which makes the present pleasant number of thirty-one! Cuba would make a very "interesting! thirty- second State, the difficulty of looking upon Australia in this light being, for the moment, too great to be surmounted. The only chance General Pierce has got of keeping himself in his position, is by the adoption and display of some extraordi- nary coup de main, and there could not be a better field for it than Cuba. It would not astonish a great many people if the States to the Court of Madrid, having had private instructions to that effect, should some fine morning give Her Majesty Queen Isa- bella the earliest possible intimation of Cuba having been taken possession of by the fleet and army of his government. Mr. Soulé's appointment was always understood to be most offensive to the Cabinet of Spain, from his peculiar views on the Cuban question; and if Spain possessed the courage of a flea, it would have put a veto on his selection; and if, therefore, she be unable to guard her own property, and England and France do not give her a lift, Cuba is doomed, to a dead certainty. We had the pleasure, when at Washington, of being introduced to Mr. Soulé, in whom we found the elements of high mind and polished manners strikingly combined ; and we feel assured he will not consider this slight reference to his public principles, as any infringement on the courtesies of society which we have to acknowledge at his hands. The letter of Lord John Russell, conveying to the Washington Cabinet the joint wish of England and France to enter into an arrangement with America for holding Cuba in its present posi- tion for a period of years, at all cvents, was heartily ridiculed throughout the States; and although the duty did not exactly devolve on Mr. Everett to answer it, his reply was particularly satisfactory to his countrymen, and just such an one as we should imagine his Lordship's letter would have received. We have heard the subject discussed amongst Americans, perhaps fifty times in fifty different companies, and never heard but one con- jclusion arrived at: “We mean to have Cuba, and shortly." It may, perchance, be after all a matter of dollars; for it being Spanish property, we conclude that Spain will consider that she has a right to sell what belongs to her, and as she can't keep it, 20 230 OLD ENGLAND she's a fool if she don't. The question is one entirely for the consideration of ourselves and our opposite neighbors. Jamaica is only some seventy-five miles from Cuba, and would be by no means an unpalatable mouthful for America to swallow, and the problem is one of very easy solution. If France and England make up their minds that they will protect Cuba, and, not mean- ing themselves to put a finger in her pie, determine that no other finger shall be put therein, why they must not send such coquet- tish letters, meaning nothing, to those who are fond of writing long letters which now and then mean a great deal. They might just as well, on an emergency, send popguns instead of sixty-four- pounders. We have stated the case, as it appears to us, very clearly; and as we have only to add that when our friend Jonathan does get a notion into his head, it is a hard matter to drive it out again, it behooves those in whose hands the destinies of nations are placed to keep a very sharp look-out, or else* what may at the moment appear a remote possibility, may turn out, sooner than was expected, an approximate probability. If you express your surprise to an American that you see no beggarst anywhere about his country; no sweeper cleaning the crossings, but dirtying your boots with what he sweeps off them; no sailor with but one hand, and an old hat held out in it; no fellows, who can speak very well and hear every word you say, laying out in colored chalks upon the pavement the miseries of the deaf and dumb; no wretch carrying four babes, and “burnt out” stuck upon his forehead; no rogue trundling himself along on a four-wheeled board, swearing that both his legs were shot off at Navarino; none of the halt and the maimed displaying a sore leg and the stump of an arm ; in fact, no poor of any kind; his instant reply is : “We have none;" and he has a “notion" that such is the fact. But in the purlieus of New York, not to speak of other places, there is as much squalidness and misery to be found as in any part of any other nation; and the back slums of Broadway present quite as awful a scene as the rookery of St. Giles's. It must not be concluded, because these children of sorrow * We all remember the haughty message of the ruler of a certain pro- vince to the governor of a neighboring one: “Pay me tribute, or else " and the appropriate reply: “I owe you none, and if " America may send the “else,” but poor condemned Cuba is not in a position to retort the “if." † Certain it is, that the only one we happened to encounter in our pro- gress was a decrepit Irish woman. AND NEW ENGLAND. 231 and of want do not thrust themselves out upon the principal streets, and trust to the sympathy of the passer-by, that they are deterred from so doing by any wondrous stringency in the duties of the police; not a bit of it. Jonathan's pride peeps out quite as much in his destitution as in his prosperity; and therefore, whatever may be his poverty, he is too proud to beg. He does not like starving more than any other man; but he would rather do that, than ask for a loaf to prevent his dying from want. The difference between the beggars of America and England seems to us to amount to this--theirs would not object to knock- ing your brains out if they caught you by any chance in a by. alley, but they would not solicit alms of you in the open streets; while ours would be afraid to commit murder, but would follow you a mile to get a half-penny out of you. In every county of every State of the Union, there is what we used to call the poor or workhouse, and what we now, to speak more fashionably, call the “Union," (in some counties, we believe, there is more than one such house,) erected and kept up for the reception of the poor; but Jonathan having a "notion” that it will never do to be poor and seem poor at the same time, has christened these buildings “ County Houses," and hundreds of his fraternity would rather die in the deepest distress, than become an inmate of any such fearful establishment. - There is a certain dread the poor entertain of these places, no matter what the name you give them, or what the style you build them in, that is not to be over- come; they have an impression that the olden cells of Venetian torture could not be worse; that they present alike scenes of doling life out by slow degrees, in which operation the agony of the mind very frequently prevails over that of the body. Our transatlantic friend having always a “notion" that he is not a proud man, though there is not a man on earth prouder, will tell you that this is not pride, but patience; yet facts speak for themselves. America has an abundance of poor, and an ade- quate supply of houses to receive and provide for them; but the pauper is too proud to admit that he is one, and too consequential to allow himself to be fed by charity, though he has no chance of bcing fed by anything else. A question of considerable importance, to which we have only made reference at the beginning of these volumes as it respects ourselves, must now be examined as respects others_authors of far greater station than we can pretend to be--we allude to the question of copy-right, upon which Americans have long had very- peculiar "notions." We have already referred to the non-exist ence of any international treaty between the two countries, and 232 OLD ENGLAND to the expectation of one being established during the next Ses- sion of Congress, both foreign author and publisher being satis- fied of the propriety and advantage thereof. We had opportuni- ties of conferring with several booksellers of eminence in several parts of the States, who appeared one and all to incline to this opinion, provided that ample protection were given to all parties on either side of the Atlantic, in any way connected with the writers and the trade they write for. A gentleman* whom we were not fortunate enough to meet, but the mention of whose name is quite guarantee enough for the value of bis opinion, and the eminence of his position, took up the subject when in Washington last March, while the matter was under discussion in Executive Session, and had the candor to give publicity to his ideas upon the point; and so convincing are they to our way of thinking, that we are desirous of giving them the utmost publicity—more especially as, however they may have been promulgated abroad, they are comparatively un- known in England, even to our authors, whose interests are chiefly at stake. Mr. Putnam's remarks are entitled to very serious attention, every matter at issue being fully embraced in them : “Publishers are such a hard-hearted, selfish, and mercenary set of men in the estimation of many, that I for one have re- frained of late from any public expression of opinion on this subject, simply because such expression on cither side might be construed into a mere defence of selfish interests. Learning, however, during a short business visit here, that there appears to be some misapprehension afloat as to the position of publishers on this question, and that more light, however little, may be useful, I venture to risk the imputation of presumption and self- ishness, and to say, “1. That the majority at least, and I believe nineteen out of every twenty publishers in the United States, would cordially ap- prove an international copy-right arrangement, based on equitable and obvious conditions, which should give the largest possible benefit to authors of both countries. I say this the more confi- dently, because it so happened that some years since I procured personally the signature of ninety-seven publishers, printers, &c., in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, &c., to a petition in favor of the measure ; and within a few weeks all the leading publish- ers of New York (as I was assured by one of them) had fully * Mr. G. P. Putnam, publisher, of New York. AND NEW ENGLAND.. 233 assented to the measure, provided only it embraced the equitable conditions before mentioned. “Thus much for the alleged opposition, &c., on the part of publishers. I would only beg leave to add a word or two on the measure itself. "1. The objection urged by some that it would laryely increase the price of books in this country, and would be a burdensome tax on the reading community, I believe to be wholly unfounded. It can be shown, I think conclusively, that, with copy-right or without it, the interests of publishers will prompt them to make books cheap*--suited in price to the character of the market- and that in this country at least it is more profitable to publish books at moderate prices, within the means of the largest number of readers, than it is to make them expensive. I have not time now to go into detail, but this point I am confident can be proved to demonstration. “2. The number of original American publications republished abroad increasest so rapidly, that it will soon be, if it is not al- ready, as much for our author's intercst as it is for that of British authors that each should be mutually protected. "But, besides this consideration of expediency, there is a better one-viz. that this reciprocity is called for now by na- tional self-respect, ordinary magnanimity, if not positive equity and justice. The present construction of the English law has already given protection in England to American authors on certain conditions, and they are now reaping its benefit. I hap- pened to be present at a meeting in London in 1851, called to remonstrate against this protection to foreign authors (as given by Lord Campbell's decision), because it took away from English authors the only quid pro quo theỳ had to offer in negotiating with us. But one of the speakers took another ground. Let us,' said he, 'do the right thing, and not act on the principle that two wrongs make one right. Let us pay American authors who send us their books, and I believe that equity and generosity will beget equity and generosity. I believe that the people of the United States are a liberal and magnanimous people, and that if we take this course they will be sure to respond. And on * It is not the mere question of cheap books that we refer to it; is the fact of books being published with us at a high price, and sold in Ame- rica at a low price, that we complain of. + Mr. Putnam is in a better position to know this than we are; but As far as individual observation goes, where we have seen in England one reprint of an American work, we have seen in America at least twenty reprints of English work, 20* 234 OLD ENGLAND - THIS principle, English protection, is now given to American au- thors. Shall we be outdone by England in generosity ? “One word more as to the details and conditions. It seems to me but equitable that this measure should be strictly for the benefit of English and American authors, and that it should not give to English publishers the right to force us to import their editions, or else have none. American authors will be ready to sell their manuscripts to English publishers, to be printed in England in the English modes and dress. Let English authors be required, when claiming protection, to do the same with us; and the American mode of making books for the people-books at MODERATE PRICES for general circulation-will not only yield the English author the most profitable returns, but it will give employment and protection to the very large number of men and women engaged in the manufacture of books in this country; in the paper-mills, the type-foundries, the printing-offices, and the binderies. Thus the author will be paid on each side the Atlantic, industry protected in its proper place, the publisher enabled to manufacture books in a respectable and economical manner, free from the petty rivalries resulting from the present unsound state of things, and the reading public will be supplied with fairly- printed books, which yield the author his equitable percentage without any essential addition to the price. "If I have been too presumptuous in speaking for others in the trade,' I trust they will believe that I do not knowingly misrepresent their views. A large number, whose views on the subject I know, are fully persuaded that an international copy- right law, constructed in the mode here indicated, would be not only equitable and just, but would be politic as a matter of busi- ness. It would essentially benefit authors on both sides; it would be better for the trade, and it would injure nobody.” The criterion of success is regulated for the most part, nowa- days, by the cheapness of the commodity vended; and this, which is the main feature of Mr. Putnam's address, is the characteristic of all American dealings. They go for numbers; and if they can sell thousands at a low price, when they would not sell fifties at a high price, the whole object is achieved. If, upon the prin- ciple Mr. Putnam quotes as having been held out at the London meeting, in 1851, of English publishers paying American authors, American publishers would pay English authors, there would be an end of the entire question ; but that is a notion which has never entered into an American's pericranium. He is not apt to pay for anything as long as he sees a chance of getting it for nothing. And having been hitherto in the habit of making use AND NEW ENGLAND. 235. gratuitously of all our authors have written, which he has thought worth republishing, he has not thus far been disposed to open his purse-strings. It having, however, been made manifcst to him that the in- troduction of an international copy-right act will be to his interest, he has at length given way; and we firmly believe the treaty will be forthwith established. “Should it work, after being in opera- tion, to our disadvantage,” said a publisher of considerable repute to us, “we can always get the act repealed; for Congress must give way at all times to a pressure from without, and you may be sure that a pressure would very soon be made.” That sounds well enough to laugh at; but having removed from our relative's mind the wrong notion that was there existent, we believe, as we hope, the law will be made; and we have no doubt of its work- ing well for all parties. - The wisest “notion” that ever took possession of a man's brain, and which has complete hold upon an American's, is that of early rising. He carries out to the fullest extent the saying of the great Duke, that when once a man begins to turn in his bed, it is high time to turn out of it. However incompatible it may seem to be with the charge of indolence that may with per- fect truth be brought against them, there is no denying that the Americans are very early risers. In this respect they beat us hollow ; for they have done what they consider half the day's work, before we have set about any at all. It is in the advanced - part of the day when their sans souci begins, when they have finished what they began, and do not think it worth while to begin anything else, when an early breakfast very naturally leads to the necessity of an early dinner, and that-leads, as a matter of course, to repose., The adoption as a system of early rising gives a man an incalculable advantage over his fellow, in health, in wealth, and in wisdom, as the proverbial expression has it, and these are the great blessings of life we all hanker after. The mechanic who rises with the sun, will inhale, in the crowdless streets he has to pass through to his work, a purer atmosphere than the man of ton, who professes a dislike to be seen in them, until the rest of the inhabitants have aired them for his recep- tion. When labor gets into full operation, and the manifold odors that labor circulates are rising around one in every direc- tion; when the pestilential exhalations sent out from the dense population of alleys, lanes, and courts, spread over a whole city; and when the smoke of chimneys, the effluvia of manufactures, and the nausea proceeding from many unwholesome trades come mingling with the breeze as it plays about one's head, or goes 236 OLD ENGLAND into one's mouth, man is a very different animal to what he is when he meets “the morning face to face,” when he beholds the unclouded sun with an undimmed eye, when his thought springs up from the repose it has been lulled in, and his mind is free as the air breathing around him. This is the time for transacting business which depends solely on yourself, for reading in soli- tude. (if such be your disposition), and of writing undisturbed by any intrusion. Although we by no means approve of the American plan of leaving off work before the day be half over, yet there is no doubt that more can be done between six in the morning and twelve at noon than in all the other eighteen hours put together., Sir John Sinclair tells us, that "going to bed early and rising betimes has been called the golden rule for the attainment of health and long life;" and human tongue has never preached a sounder doctrine. A tradesman in Bond Street, a man of opu- lence, but (as is the case with a great many of his neighbors, proceeding froin the same cause) often in want of ready money, owing to the large amount of his book-debts, was—in those an- tediluvian days when men used to be dragged out of their own houses and locked up in other peoples', to prevent them from working, that they might pay their way in the world-arrested every other day, and, whenever it happened, a wealthy friend in the same street always became security for him; and on being asked one day if he thought it prudent to do so, he replied : “I'll bail any man who opens his shop at six o'clock in the morning; he must be right in the long-run." This is, for the most part, the case with your American. In New York, and in the town and cities of New England, the people are in full bus- tle before the people in Old England have opened their eyes. Before the sun almost begins his journey, the storekeeper begins to pull down his shutters, the mechanic hastens to his workshop, the clerk to his desk, the maid is whitening the steps, the pavé begins to be peopled, the omnibus to start, the hackman to ply, and by seven o'clock, in that period of the season which will admit of it, the whole town is alive. Nor is there any difference in the hour, from year's end to year's end, beyond that which is necessarily created by the absence or presence of light. You cannot make too early an appointment with an American ; his household is stirring with the lark, and he takes his breakfast quite as soon as that very early riser. At the time of day when we should be fearful of making i morning call, lest we should be looked upon as very primitive people, Jonathan has received and got rid of a round of his acquaintance, transacted all-his AND NEW ENGLAND. 237 business for the day, had his dinner, and smoked the best part of a dozen cigars; and though he deems it high time then to rest from his labors, it is pretty evident he has not allowed the grass to grow under his feet. He never does; he is a calculator in everything, and amongst others, you may be perfectly certain he has calculated the odds between early and late rising, and has adopted that which he considers most useful to his person and his purse.. The main object a foreigner who visits America ought to bear in mind no matter whether the purport of his visit be one of pleasure or of affairs--is this striking feature in the American character; if, in a private point of view, he stands upon the idle ceremony imbibed at home, of waiting till the day be half spent ere he pays his respects to those be is known to be will either find them “out," or sitting at their ease after the fatigues of the dinner-table. If intent upon the discussion of business only, he drop in at a counting-house, he will find that every master is "somewhere about town," and every clerk sitting by the fire with his hat on, reading a newspaper. There is no overcoming the fixed habits of a people, and we should be sorry if thero were, when those habits are good ones; and assuredly this is one of the best. Let every man, bitherto fond of his bed, get out of it at the hour he has too often, perhaps, been accustomed to get into it, and let him apply his faculties, thereby strengthened, to the fulfilment of the day's duties, and he will speedily find himself (if he does not drive off the task until it be too late in life to put it into practice) a very different kind of person to what he can imagine before he enters upon the undertaking. It is conceit alone that refuses to copy the excellence of another ; .and in recommending those of our countrymen to follow, in this respect, the example of their transatlantic relatives, we cannot do it in a more truthful manner than in our lordly bard's ex- pressive language :- - All ye who would be in the right In health and purse, begin your day to date From daybreak, and when confined at fourscore, : Engrave upon the plate you rose at four!" As, in a work entirely belonging to the class denominated light, very light reading, it is necessary to eschew all grave mat- ter, we merely chronicle those, perhaps trivial, things which in our pilgrimage from town to town have passed under our observa- tion. The term "light reading" is not of itself defined by all people alike, for what some writers imagine to be “light” falls now and then very "heavy' on the senses of the readers, and 238 OLD ENGLAND thus the best intention is thwarted; we have, however, no means of determining for ourselves. We stroll along, observe, cominent, and contrast, not only between Old England and New England, but between other parts of the Western World and the mother country. There is a "notion" of your New Englander (and it is in- dulged in by many of his countrymen far afield) we should like to instil into the mind of his mother--if that be the actual re- lationship in which the two nations stand. to one another-it is that of respect for the relics of bygone days, which he reli- giously maintains. It may be argued, we are well aware, that, as he has so few to guard, he is justified in protecting them. That is all nonsense ; for, unless the true spirit of veneration for the past, as well as appreciation for the advancement of the present, be inherent in his nature, the mere fact of his country possessing one solitary mansion of the olden times to our one hundred, would not implant it there. If from the bottom of State Street, Bos- ton, you were looking up to the top of it, and were to suggest to an inhabitant what a vast improvement it would be if the old State House were pulled down, and the two narrow streets on each side of it thrown into one, his first notion would be that you meant to insult him; and as soon as he had recovered from that false impression, he would look upon you as nothing better than a Vandal. By so doing, he would destroy every vestige of the place where the earliest pages of his history were written and the brightest of them were unfolded, where the eloquence of his most renowned countrymen was listened to and acted upon, and where the Councils of his land laid down those principles which ultimately led, as he believes, to his present position. You might as well ask him to pull down Faneuil Hall. Even the old house in Boston (we believe the oldest in the United States), which has stood the wintry blasts of two hundred years, is looked upon. by every person in that city with feelings of great veneration ; and we question if any inducement could prevail upon the autho- rities to raze it to the ground, notwithstanding all their go-ahead doctrines of knocking down anything which lies in their way, as an obstruction to their onward march. They have imbibed the notion that - There is given Unto the things of carth, which Time hath bent, A spirit's feeling; and where he hath leant His band, but broke his scythe, there is a power Aud magic in tho ruined battlement, For which the palace of the present hour Must yield its pomp, and wait till ages are its dower;" AND NEW ENGLANDUTI 239.. . and impressed with this idea, they would not blast the ruined walls of Ticonderoga, or even disturb the wall-flower growing on their summit, though the necessity for a railroad passing through them, however advantageous such scheme might be, called upon them to do so. You might as well ask them to build up a city in Valley Forge; in which undertaking they would fear that the spirit of Washington would rise up before them, and check their impious operations. This is not the case with us; who have such a superfluity of ancient remembrances about us, that we seem always to be de- vising some plan for getting rid of them. The Goth himself, with his grasping hand and iron hoof of desolation, never inflicted more mischief in his course, than the scions of the Anglo-Nor- man are guilty of from day to day, in their demolition of some relic of our past grandeur, about which, as they knew nothing, they care nothing. If we were to occupy ourselves with the recital of all these disgraceful doings, we could fill more chap- ters than this volume contains. Let any man who has a taste for the beautiful, and a vene- ration for the sublime, cross the tubular bridge at Conway, and determine which is the most wondrous sight, that structure or the ruins of the castle the railway monarch rushes by the side of, and a portion of which has been removed to give his iron majesty elbow-room. The one may display, as it unquestionably does, the wonders of modern invention, and may convey an idea of the present power of the country; but the other shows you of what stupendous material the fortresses of your country were in the olden bour composed, and influences the mind with an in- delible impression of the glorious character of its possessors. Modern invention, or modern necessity, may break through the walls that inclosed the good city of Chester, as a consider- ablé portion of them still inclose it; but the act, from whatever cause it may arise, does not make it a less sacrilege to break down the fabric erected by the ancient Roman, to make a path for the steam-engine introduced by the modern Briton. We suppose the old Phonix Tower, whence the unfortunate Charles witnessed the fatal battle of Rowton (whose aide-de-camp, if history lie not, was killed by his side while in conversation with bis Royal master), will ere long be converted* into a signal sta- . * We can believe almost anything, when we find it to be a positive fact, that the celebrated cockpit in Chester, once patronized by tho families of Derby, Grosvenor', &c., has been converted into a Methodist Chapel ! 240 OLD ENGLAND tion, or turned into a lamp-room. For the past year, the Cock- ney Common Council, and other learned city people, have been discussing the propriety, and next to that the necessity, of taking down Temple Bar; and justify the idea by stating that, instead of five hundred, it is only two hundred years old. Poor young thing. We should have imagined they could have employed their time much better in trying to preserve their charter intact, than in thinking for one moment of demolishing one of the re- markable erections in their city. Every other ancient barrier of “London town” has disappeared; and it would really seem as if they wished to get rid of this, to convey an idea that the bound- aries of their authority are limitless. We are not sufficiently learned in such matters to know if the Corporation has the power to do what it threatens; but if it ever does come to pass, we should very much like to see, erect on the topmost arch before its final destruction, the heads of those who caused its demoli- tion ; and should there take place in that case, what was done when portions of Sir John Friend, Sir Thomas Armstrong, Sir Wm. Perkins, &c., figured thereon-glasses lent to look at them, for a penny a peep*—we shall hope to be amongst the foremost of beholders and borrowers. You “loan” (as the Americans call it) an opera-glass to see the leg of a ballet-girl in its most ele- vated position, and surely you may as harmlessly hire one to look at the head of an alderman dangling about much higher... "Out upon time that forever will leave But enough of the past for the future to grieve.” It is all very well to lay these sacrileges at the door of Time; but in this instance, Time is entirely blameless. Jonathan would be utterly ashamed to do anything of the sort, and we get hope to find that John has got into the same way of thinking. An American's “notion” of a stage-coach is the most barbar- ous one that has ever been entertained by mortal man, even in its present construction. What it was before the almost exclu- sive mode of travelling nowadays the (railroad), we can say nothing about, having no desire to give the description of any other writer, however much superior it may be to our own. It is a commodity almost exploded with us, save on the highways of the tourist through the Isle of Wight, and those byways else- where, through which the steam-engine has not yet snorted. Yet every one can remember the light, elegant carriages, fitted up bandsomely inside, and comfortably outside, for the accommoda- * See Walpole's Correspondence, Vol. II. p. 150. AND NEW ENGLAND. 241 tion of four in the one and twelve on the other, wbich used for- merly to dash through our streets, and skim our roads with that wondrous rapidity which four horses, little less than blood ones, could give them. They were hung to as great a perfection of ease, as patent springs and axletrees could possibly bring them. The caparison of the horse was light but strong, and he was tooled by a dragsman of the very highest character of "whip." His regu- lation of speed was from ten to twelve miles per hour, over a fine coating of roading, and rarely less than eight over a bad one. - Having abandoned the apparel and the manner of the old Eng- lish stage-coachman, the modern driver exhibited often a gentle- manly appearance, and gave earnest of educational conduct. In short, at the recent period to which we refer, our stage-coaches were the rarest combination of elegance, comfort, and rapidity which any public conveyance in the world could present; and its effect was such on our foreign European visitors, that it partially humanized the Diligence of France and the Schnelpost of Ger- many, and made then comparatively endurable. They do not seem to have produced any such effect in America ; for, at this moment the public vehicles, which a paucity of railroad cars in certain districts render quite indispensable, as well as the attend- ance of them at various stations for transporting the traveller to his hotel imperatively demands, are things the entrance into which ought always to be matter of very serious consideration. They are constructed to hold nine persons in the interior, but you rarely see any one on the exterior but the coachman, while luggage to any extent is strapped on behind. Three persons on the hindermast seats would face the horses if it were not for three others that sit on a seat extending across the centre from window to window, who, lolling against a leathern belt which serves them for a support, prevent you almost from having a glimpse of day- light, or of those who are sitting on the opposite seat with their backs to the horses. It may not be of any great importance whether you see a man's face or a man's shoulders; but a woman turping her back upon you is un peu trop fort. In addition to a cargo of nine, you run the chance of two or three children being “thrown in," and of half the passengers saying: “Oh, I'll take my carpet-bag on my knees” * So much for the stowing away. Then comes the "trotting along the road," of which endurance only can render a faithful account. At every dozen yards the coach gives a lurch as if she were a ship, and the ground were a rough sea--the head of some mother comes bob- bing in your face wbile the scream of her child is vibrating through 21 242 OLD ENGLAND - your ears. Then some luggage already loose enough, becomes looser, and skips about from lap to lap as if it had no owner. You eventually feel as if every bone were broken beyond the pos- sibility of being reset, your nervous system shaken into the lowest degree of tremulousness, and all the fleshy part of your composi- tion knocked, as the vulgar phrase runs, into a jelly. There are suspended rollers in either corner to rest your head and shoulders. upon; but as they invariably contrive to get into a wrong posi- tion, you are alternately bumped against, and bruised by, the very article intended for your comfort. The carriage is of course driven at a rapid pace to produce all this disaster and danger, and, as you may naturally suppose, the road itself materially assists its operation. With some half-dozen exceptions, every inch of travelling-land (railways excepted). we passed over in the United States is literally monstrous; and the wonder to us is, how the horses can possibly pull the carriages through them, or over them. In winter they are frequently im- passable, and in summer, when the ruts have closed up and be- come mingled with what are called footpaths, the main secret of travelling--safety--may perhaps be relied upon. It is impossible to enjoy the rich landscape which Nature so perpetually presents to the eye in its various rovings over American scenery, in any public conveyance ; for if you embark in a railway-car, you are expedition ; and if you select a stage-coach, there is no means of riveting your gaze for a single moment on any given object, from your whole corporeal system being incessantly battledoored from one side of it to the other.. The fact of it is, they rarely think of two things at a time; and while they are trying to correct the many abuses to which their conduct of railway matters has been subject, they give no more attention to any other mode of travelling than if there were no other roads to journey upon. It is said, and with some degree of truth, that an American has a great deal of common sense, and he himself most certainly has a “notion' that he is in possession of more of that desirable ingredient than the inhabitant of any has now and then a very odd way of making it manifest. He often sees a thing more plainly than he carries it into execution; he will arrive at a correcter conclusion than many he argues with, but there the matter ends, for he rarely takes the trouble to avail himself of the point he had arrived at, and thus the grand point of character he is entitled to credit for, he rarely turns to account: An Englishman reflects upon what an American very frequently AND NEW ENGLAND. 243 - sees in a minute; but the one turns his reflection to much more advantage tban is for the most part derived from the quickness of the other. It is impossible to deny him the possession of a vast quantity of that best of all senses, common sense; but while we candidly admit that we should like to see it called in question on every point on which it might be taxed, some people may think it perfectly unnecessary to direct it to casual matters and casual events. We are all apt to think of ourselves, and how we can best provide for ourselves, whether it concern only the neces- saries or the comforts of our existence; and although, from an American's odd notion upon the point, he may not care a sou whether his stage-coaches are safe or commodious, it matters very much to an Englishman, whether he returns to his native country with one leg or with two. · We have no knowledge of agriculture, however desirous we may be to uphold the pursuit of it, and to see it in full flourish'; our immediate acquaintance with the various produce for which we are indebted to Mother Earth lying with the flower and the kitchen-garden. · We love as much as any admirer of man's la- bor brought to perfection, to bebold the emerald meadow, the golden corn, the purple clover, and the daisied field, but we are profoundly ignorant of the soil best calculated to bear, or the best means to be adopted to rear, these necessary blessings. At the same time, as we journey along, we watch others who are more (they cannot well be less) intimate with the exigencies of the one, and the direction of the other. The entire area of the United States, with few exceptions, is capable of great product, but is not commensurate even with the limited number of people there are to till the ground. The Americans have different notions of the pursuit of agriculture, and the importance of it, and do not as a body hold it in that estimation in which they hold many other occupations of life. The love of it, as far as our limited means of observation ex- tended, as well as the pursuit of it, is more conspicuous in New England than in any other part of the Union; and we question whether some parts of its pasturage is not equal to some of the finest in Old England';' and one thing is beyond dispute, that some of its farmers are as wealthy as any of ours. The land in most parts is highly favored by nature, and art has proved itself not ungrateful for her favors. It has more the appearance of English ground than remoter localities present, being hemmed in and parcelled out by verdant hedges, instead of those strag- gling snake or worm fences which are such an eye-sore in the fields in the South. They are boundaries to be sure, but can be of 244 OLD ENGLAND : no protection, for å passing stream will wash them down, or å riotous animal dance through them. We know that the art of our necessities is strange; and in the younger parts of the States, where thick-set bushes have not bad time to grow, and sturdy trees, whose stumps they cling to, and are supported by, have not yet been cut down, these slighter par- titions may be as good as any other, but being deficient in that richness of foliage and ever-green thickness which permanent and quick-set hedges display, the landscape, leaving the soil out of the question, very materially suffers in aspect. The downright plodding, hard-working Americati farmer ün- derstands his work, and does it, as well as any mortal under the sun; but he who does not apply himself thus heartily to it, affects to despise it. The bare fact of Washington having been designated the Cincinnatus of his country, has led thousands of his worshippers to believe that agriculture must be a grand pur- suit, because their idol followed it, at the very time, perhaps, their thoughts are directed to very different purposes. The Ameri- can's grand notion is to look up, to see no one above him he will not endeavor to emulate, and to follow up that calling best calcu- lated to attain his object. He sees the utility of agriculture, but he does not recognize in it any means of elevation. If viewed in that primary light, the rays of which direct us all-interest he sees far less chance of money-making by the peaceful culti- vation of the soil than by any other principle of action. He naturally seeks to be rich; but as his aim is to become so sud- denly, he does not consider the plough the most likely instru- ment to effect his object. A railway scheme, à mining specula- tion, a Stock Exchange bargain, or any such precarious transac- tion, may bring about in a day what agriculture could not do for him in a year; and thus be imagines himself toiling for nothing. Supposing his views to be political (and one and all, farmers included, are politicians in America), he cannot understand how driving a cart, or following at its tail, can procure him a single step of advancement; he is for sowing the seeds of dissension or cordiality, as the case may be, in a public assembly, instead of sowing turnip-seeds over a ploughed field; he thinks much more about being raised to a place, than of raising a potato, and of living in clover-than of mowing it. He looks upon the deter- mined farmer, whom no other thought can divert from his given occupation, as a man very much to be pitied, who is in a station from which he never can rise, with means he may reduce but never can increase, and with a spirit that may be subdued but never can be excited. A free-born son of Columbia, considering AND NEW ENGLAND. 245 himself, from the earliest dawn of reason, perfectly eligible for President of the United States, thinks, the moment he begins to think at all, that a farmer is the last person in the realm likely to arrive at that point of honor, and consequently he imbibes an aversion to agricultural pursuits at his onset in life. The same feeling operates in his selection of any other pursuit or study, and at last he is quite at a loss to understand how Washington, who was his most glorious of Presidents, could ever be the most enthusiastic of agriculturists. If an American were to follow up the cultivation of his rich pastures, his boundless plains, his fine soil so generally fertile, with the same ardor he manifests in so many other cherished occupations of his active mind, there is no place beneath the sky of boundless blue that could remunerate man's energies more liberally. See what his country, as it is, does not only for herself, but for a considerable portion of the wide world besides. The pro- duce of her plantations, the crops of her fields, her cotton, sugar, tobacco, rice, &c., besides all her bearings of a secondary im- portance, are afloat upon her argosies on every sea, and bound to every port; and thus it would seem as if, from supineness in the pursuit, she were forever committing an agricultural act of felo- de-se. We very much fear that as long as “ party is the mad- ness” —not of many but of all-which turns the head, or at all : events, directs the course of an American, the calmer pursuits of cultivating his country, will have to give way to the wilder one of convulsing it. We would on no account be understood as denying the utmost praise to the American farmer-our only regret was to find there were not more of them. · Politics are not always as profitable as ploughs, and very often lead to a degree of penury the other would not have been sub- ject to an instance of which is worth recital. When Alibaud was under orders of execution, for attempting to assassinate Louis Philippe, he told his advocate (Charles Ledru, if we recollect rightly) that only one thing preyed upon his mind, which was, that he owed a poor man seventy-nine francs, and bc- ing unable to meet the bill he had given him for that sum, he knew it would seriously distress him. Ledru promised to take up the bill, and Alibaud contentedly laid down his head under the edge of the guillotine. Ledru presented the document, sim- ply for the sake of the bandwriting, to Lewis Goldsmith, father of Lady Lyndhurst (as an addition to her ladyship’s autographs), from whom we had the anecdote. “Mad world, my masters !" A French political enthusiast thinks nothing of murdering his king, or, failing in the attempt, of losing his head; but he has 21* 246 OLD ENGLAND not seventy-nine francs (£3 3s. 4d.) on earth, and the thought that the loss of such a sum will ruin his friend, is the only one which is on his mind, in the last hours of his worldly career. In closing these few remarks upon“ American notions," which we might prolong to as many chapters as the present one con- tains pages, it must be obvious to the most cursory of readers how very much some people's notions differ from those of others; and there is no greater difference in many respects than between the English and American, in absolute nothings, as well as in matters of monient. As all our predilections are in favor of what is best, we fearlessly hold the scales, and incline to that which outweighs the other, leaving it to the discrimination of the pub- lic to see justice done to both parties. American "notions" extend to extremes in all things; ours generally adopt a middle course. They attach that grave importance to matters of little moment, which we only bestow upon things of serious conse- quence. If it be true, as Otivay sings, that woman, with all her loveliness, “For an apple damned mankind,” -if, as we believe it to be true, that woman, in the person of the Lady Helen, "lay at length old Troy in ashes," --if it be true, as Shakspeare assures us, that "trifles light as air, are to the jealous confirmation strong as proofs of Holy Writ,' why per- haps it follows that the smallest matter which can be thought of, the very slightest occurrence that can take place, is entitled to deliberate examination. We gave you a hint some time ago what a profitable trade, in most parts of the States, the confectioner's was; that in some towns there were half-a-dozen stores in every street, and that one of the luxuries, or perhaps we ought to say pastimes, of American life, was the demolition of sugar-plums, and the sucking of sweetmeats. On given days, when families, residing at too great a distance from a principal city for masters to attend upon them, bring into town the junior branches of their household to take the lessons they would otherwise lose, it is no uncommon thing for them to assemble at some particular pastry- cook's for the purpose of giving the proprietor a “clearing out." We had the honor of joining one of these pleasant coteries last winter, and the light repast all parties assembled were anxious to partake of, was incessantly interrupted by the discussion of a question, affecting their enjoyment of the very moment, that had arisen from a passage in a popular English publication,* the latest number of which had arrived by that morning's packet. * Household Words, edited by Charles Dickens. AND NEW ENGLAND. 247 The distinguished editor has lucklessly written some things about America which her people do not happen to relish, and should be ågåin visit them, it is not unlikely they will tell him so; but if he had written the following paragraph on their confectionery, which appeared in his publication upon ours, why they might have taken shipping at once for England, and cut his throat off- hand. This is the article, of the truth of which there would seem to be little doubt:-- .“ British confectionery contains plaster of Paris, chalk, starch, sulphate of bárýtes, bronze, copper-leaf, leäf-tin, arsenite of copper, carbonate of copper, verdigris, chromate of lead, orpiment, oxy: chloride of lead, red lead, and vermilion. The minerals here named are all poisonous. Our bright yellow comfits contain a dangerous and insidious poison-chromate of lead, which is used also largely for giving the slight yellow tint to ginger lozenges. Let the British consumer, who has often during the winter season a gin- ger ložėnģe in her mouth, not be surprised at a slight failing in her health. The emerald-green sugar-plums and ornaments in sugar have been colored with a still imore dangerous poison- arsenite of copper. These mineral pills, offered to the young population of Great Britain, do their work. Dr. Letheby states that, to his knowledge, there have been seventy cases of fatal poisoning during three years traced to the use of confectionery made and colored in this country.” In a party met for the express purpose of making an onslaught on palés, preserves, and every classification of pastry which can add “sweets to the sweet," it may be readily imagined that the esplosion of a bomb would not, for the time being, have created a greater consternation than the circulation of this announcement produced. The first impression was that a beautiful girl, busily employed at one of the side tables, might be, at that very moment, devouring the joint of some plaster figure, and that another delicate creature near her might be imbibing the juice of a stewed copper tea-kettle. A third might be revelling in a spoonful of nice-look- ing sour, composed of a lump of lead, refined by a pound or two of starch ; and another might be disposing of a tartlet composed principally of red lead and verdigris. Rather indigestible matter all this, under whatever preparation it may be concealed ! Luckily, however, one of a party, we were close to, hit upon an important word in tnis recited passage, which, in their ansiety for personal safety, the others seemed to have overlooked. Brit- ish! British confectionery! Ay, that's another part of speech altogether! 248 OLD ENGLAND "How should a Britisher know anything about making sweet- meats, I should like to know ?”' asked one. .." Or anything else in comparison with an American ?" sug- gested another. : "Why, we have the finest sugar, the finest flour, the sweetest milk, the rarest fruits anywhere to be met with; and if those in- gredients, at the command of the best hand of a cook anywhere to be picked up,adds a young dangler, in attendance, “won't do the trick, I should just like to know what will ?” Of course they will and of course they have the best of every- thing, or what amounts to the same thing, they have a notion they have; and why should that notion be disturbed when you have always the privilege of adopting your own. The principal point to be deduced from this argument is, that an author, whose excursive eye glances over all things which come within its range, is not to be mercilessly cried down because he happens to give an unfavorable report of this or that, in some particular country his eye may take a peep at. He happened to find some things in America he disapproved of, and be stated his disapprobation. He happened to taste some pastry in Great Britain that made him sick, and he gave the reason why-and a very good reason it is voilà tout! There are a thousand little things we could tell you, on which our worthy offspring entertain very odd "notions," if we had not the fear of prolixity and dulness staring us out of countenance. One more is by no means a bad one. Whether from the fact of so many of the American houses being built of wood, whether from a more than ordinary degree of carelessness, or whether they take a particular pleasure in such light occurrences, certain it is that, in their large cities, a day seldom passes without a fire being announced by sound of bell; and according to the number of strokes the bell gives, people at any distance where they can be heard, know in what ward the fire is raging. It is generally erected in some conspicuous part of the town, from which a man conversant with its several localities can at once pitch upon the right one; and by this ready mode of ascertaining danger, its .consequences are frequently averted. The ceaseless noise this bell creates is extremely grating to the car, keeps the inhabitants in a perpetual state of hot water, and the firemen in continual demand for cold water; but the notion is an excellent one, which we should be glad to see introduced here, at least in neighbor- hoods where it might be done, without leading to "confusion worse confounded." Another “notion" must not be passed over, inasmuch as it is AND NEW ENGLAND. 249 a funny one, although there is a certain degree of common sense in the entertainment of it. Some of the principal cities and towns in America are of considerable extent from end to end, and there is no chance of a man who has to traverse them day by day getting through his business, unless he has some kind of convey- ance. Many, therefore, who can afford it, have a wagon, as they call it, resembling one of our gigs, with a head to it, always in waiting at their office-door, to take them to any distance they may require. It would be foreign to their notions of economy to have a lazy brute holding the reins inside the carriage, or slecping there and letting them fall out of his hands, and there- fore each vehicle is provided with a long and a strong piece of leather, fastened to the horse's bridle at one end, and to the other is fixed a heavy piece of iron or lead, to prevent the animal running off with the machine to which he is harnessed. It has a curious appearance to see a dozen of these in a street, which, by virtue of the weight they are kept back by, remain thero perhaps an hour or two at a time; and the only one drawback to the arrangement, which common sense scems to have lost sight of, in this instance, is, that though the horse and chaise may not run off by themselves, some wanderer about town may run off with both of them. Although our American friends think their own people by far too honest to do anything of the sort, yet it has happened; for in December last, a fellow, who if he did not want a job, at all events wanted a ride, coolly unbuckled the leather which conneoted together the horse's mouth and the pave- ment on which the heavy substance attached to it was resting, put it under the seat on which he took a seat, and trotted off as unconcerned as if the property had boen his own; and whether the lorso had beon converted into dogs' meat, and the wagon into ülrcipood, was not ascertained at tho period of our departure. .: OLD ENGLAND.::. ::i::::;';... OHAPTER XIX::::::::::.. : The yellotý fever and its victims--An inportant:'ism_Clearing out of a ::whole country-American gold going to buy up all England The Isle of Wight carried away upon wheels, and a rape:committed on the great exhibition--Turning the tables.- Home, sweet home;" sung, very far away. from it-Where & mån 'goes to when he goes out. Iwo sides to 'question --Shakspeare's opinion to be preferred to any other person's An emigrant's duties—What he has..! to eat, drink and avoid?. : Some of the advantages of emigration Autographs and their collect- ors--Captain Sutter and Mr. Hargreaves-The reward of merit, not , always merit rewarded--What to do with one's money-Madeira wretch- edness and Mindeira wine-Extraordinary value of a glass of t aull- ing things by their right names, without fear of Scylla or Charybdis 7Gold your only multiplier-Exhibition of Castle Garden and Hyde · Park compared—Jullien's baton, and Jonathan's band player on •. the horn apt to blow his own head off. .. . . THE yellow fever! These are ominous words to begin a chap- ter with, that has any relation to America, at a moment when there is some chance of her southern and western shores being to a very different kind of disease, which ihas nothing to do with the other, beyond its color. We have elsewhere introduced some important Californian statistics, but we have reserved a brief space for more general* remark, both. With reference to England and America, than we have there indulged in... . A comparatively short time has elapsed since the climax of American superiority over everything English was reached, by the discovery of gold on Sutter's farm in California, which, amongst other events, led to the annexation of that land to the existing thirty of the United States. The whole world, including, of course, our little snack of it, was to be demolished at once, as far as regarded their being independencies, and to be brought within the compass of American legislation. The matter at first was looked upon as chimerical, for John Bull is not in the babit * This is sometimes a very convenient term to use. In speaking of a · professor, of very doubtful tenets, we observed to a gentleman we vere conversing with, that the gentleman's doctrine seemed to us a mixture of mormonism and spiritualism, when our friend roplied, “Oh, no; he goes AND NEW ENGLAND. 251 of giving credence to everything that comes across the Atlantic; but Jonathan knew very well what he was about, and, to settle the question, he speedily dispatched a sensible lump of his new- found treasure to undergo the process of British alchymiy, the result of which was, its being finally deposited in the vaults of the Bank of England as genuine ore. The fact of this El Dorado being suddenly pounced upon, and its extension over a vast tract of territory being undoubted, ope- rated upon the mind as a flash of lightning pow and then does upon the eye, which blinds and mystifies for the moment, then clears up, and enables the orb to see plainer than ever. The word "diggings" was the first dissyllable uttered in the morning, and the last pronounced at night. The youth of respectable pa- rentage, who had been plodding his way for some considerable time in hopes of reaching his father's eminence in commerce, was suddenly missed at the family breakfast-table, and not making his appearance at any subsequent meal, the apprehensions which would naturally arise from such an occurrence were appeased by an intimation that, ensconced amongst piles of spades, pickaxes, crowbars, and other necessary implements, the young gentleman had been seen on the deck of a vessel sailing out of the harbor, bound to California. The banker, who had entrusted thousands upon thousands of dollars to a confidential clerk, found, on reaching his office some particularly fine morning, that his notes were where they were, but his cashier was “nowhere." He had gone off to that fertile spot which, unlike the one he left, does not "promise to pay".a trumpery dollar on demand, but actually does pay in the shape of a substantial nugget, at a digging! Works, both public and private, were suspended, because the operatives who had been em- ployed upon them soon got sick of breaking up granite, the mo- ment a prospect presented itself of taking up gold. Ships were commissioned as rapidly as crews could be found for them; and the very rogues who had worked them to their outward destiny, ran away from them the instant they came to anchor, because they happened to hanker, themselves, after something much more to their fancies. The whole country became revolutionized, for - the whole country was on the move, not a soul caring about the possibility of a gradual approach to his settlement in life, while. there seemed to be a probability of obtaining that “consumma- tion devoutly to be wished for” in the twinkling of an eye. . Family after family, of struggling men, youthful wives, and helpless children, sold off every article of property they possessed, and embarked with the pittance its sale produced to this blessed 252 · OLD ENGLAND land of expectation. The millions (of dollars, remember!) which began (and which continue to a certain extent) to be announced as arriving from California in America, literally bewildered the people there, and myriads elsewhere, who rarely, if ever, recollect that it requires five millions of dollars to realize one million of pounds sterling; and thus men's attention became riveted upon that country, which supposes itself long since to have rivalled our own, and by this piece of luck to have infinitely surpassed it. · Nothing seemed impossible for Jonathan to obtain by the length · of his purse. He could transplant the Isle of Wight, which struck his fancy as a very pleasant, fertile, healthy sort of place; he could transport the house of Shakspeare's accredited birth under a glass case; he could put the Great Exhibition itself, as soon as it was finished, upon wheels, and take the whole lot over in Collins's fleet of steamers; in short, to use his own emphatic lan- guage, he could buy up all creation. England had nothing to do all this while, but to look on in positive bewilderment, to see if any of her relics of the olden, and beauties of the present time, were likely to be bid for, and either to make up her mind to guard them, or as to the price she would sell them at. Her most patriotic citizens, her most home- stricken people, her greatest, her wealthiest, and her wiseșt began to think her glory was departing from her; that a new light, re- -- flected from herself, had sprung up in the western hemisphere, and seemed likely to spread its rays over the whole globe; and annihilation was the burden of every one's apprehension-when intelligence was received of a meeting held at Bathurst, whereat it was announced that a gold-mine had been sprung in Australia, which only wanted well-working to be the means of putting a complete extinguisher upon Californią. Jonathan's crop fell as if he had been shot through the head, as his dream of grasping “this thing, that thing, and everything upon God's earth” faded away, and became fine by degrees, and beautifully less. The said dream melted away much faster than he had ever melted all his cherished ingots, and the flutter of the eagle's wing became visibly fainter. From this survey of America's golden disclosure, let us turn a moment to our own, and see what grounds we have for con- gratulation. Month after month has witnessed the announcement of ship after ship sailing for any port which presents a chance of access to the mountains and streams wherewith Australią is pletely inside out as our land in that distant colony, and our very AND NEW ENGLAND. 253 It had been thus far a question of much gravity, a point requir- ing serious consideration, when an English man had entertained the idea of leaving his own country, for any other of the habita- ble world. We are, generally speaking, a homesick set of folks ; we are fond of the fireside our fathers circled around, and of the homesteads they erected; we have a devotion to the old land that grew with our growth, and has strengthened with our strength; and the most acceptable distich or two that ever breathed from the lips of America's muse upon England's ear, was Howard Payne's charming ballad of "Home, sweet home.” But, reader, God bless your innocent soul, if you think the plaintive melody to which Sir Henry Bishop vedded those words is any longer played in our streets! Oh, no! your only chance of hearing it in perfection, is, when trilled in the streets of Melbourne, whistled by a digger at the mines, as he rests for a moment on his axe, after an unsuccessful search, or bummed by some scoundrel be- hind a bush, just before he fires at the unsuspecting passenger. You have little chance nowadays, of finding a friend chez lui; for if you knock at his door, and ask if he is at home, the maid- servant says, “No, Sir, he's not;" and if you prosecute your inquiry by asking if she knows where he is gone, the unruffled answer is, "He's gone to the diggings, Sir." If you go into the mammoth magazines of Regent Street, Ludgate Hill, St. Paul's Churchyard, Cheapside, &c., you will find the counters thinned in attendants, at the very time they are thickened in customers drafts of shopmen having taken their departure weekly, to cut down forests by wholesale, instead of cutting up ribbons by retail, and to measure out parcels of ground instead of measuring and making up parcels of gingham. Every one is off in search of the universal divinity, leaving home duty to be done by those who are fools enough to remain behind. . Ships cannot now be loaded or unloaded as expeditiously as they should be, because half the people who used to assist in that operation have started off, to enter upon another of far greater promise; wharves may be covered with merchandise, but who are to stop it all away ?-and docks may groan with the produce of the world beneath their sheds and within their ware- houses, but who are to cart it all off to its several destinations ? It is bad enough to witness the ties of early years day after day broken asunder--to behold families and individuals with aching hearts where they once had smiling faces--to see the very charm of society dissolving away; but if things continue to go on at the rate they have begun, it will end in our having to black our own boots. 254 OLD ENGLAND The wisest thing both countries could do, would be to forego all nonsensical notions of pre-eminence, and, while giving due encouragement to those adventurers who seek the half-dug womb of California and the undug one of Australia, to point out what has been, and may be, the fate attending their adventures. We may take Shakspeare's fine aphorism, . “Welcome ever smiles, And farewell goes out sighing," . in more senses than one; it may not apply. solely to the welcome, or the farewell, a calculating and a cold world may give one; it may admit of a reference to the sunny look speculation puts on at the beginning of her enterprise, and to “the dejected 'havior of the visage” she assumes, when the issue be known and the tale be told. It is not the simple truth that "ships are but boards, and sailors are but men" that the speculator has to con- tend against; he has that want to meet which gold cannot buy, that privation to undergo which no money can compensate for, that misery to put up with, which certainly, if it does nothing worse, makes him acquainted with more strange bed-fellows than he ever could have expected to lie by the side of. He may accu- mulate wealth and be robbed of it, he may struggle without suc- cess, or he may be most fortunate, yet be cut off in his hour of prosperity, with none but the strap ger to close his eyes, or to see to the disposal of his gaips; in fact, he may form one of thousands who have departed for a given reason, but, for many we could give, have returned no more! One grand point the emi- grants of both. countries ought to guard against, is the character of the ship they sail in, and the captain they sail under-of the exact duties, if any, they have to domand what good things, if any, they have to eat, or they may perhaps find themselves :: iWith but one plank between them and destruction,” and that in a very leaky condition—they may pitch upon a com- mander who will be drunk half the voyage, and they may per- haps--we only say, perhaps have to pump the other half; and, if lured by the sight of roast beef, plum-pudding, and other substantial fare at starting, they anticipate a display of equally good provision until their destination be reached, they may have to put up with biscuit that no process can macadamize, with junk no pose can endure the smell of, and no stomach the taste of, and à gill of doubtful water without any compound in it. These are the things which, beyond the possibility of denial, the speculators of cach land have been, and will be, subject to ; but AND NEW ENGLAND. 255 we fear it is useless talking. They have one and all caught the yellow fever, and they must go through the various phases of the disorder; for nothing, we apprehend, but experience, will con- vince a reader of these slight remarks, that they are written in the spirit of truth. He may, however, be assured of one thing, that we have had nothing but truth for our guide in any observa- tion our pages may contain, and we generally find that only those dislike to hear it, who are afraid to face it; and amongst other truths, we have not chronicled a stronger one than is embodied in these "golden opinions." There is many a lesson, by learning which a fellow may do himself great good, without doing another the slightest harm, and we hold the lesson here laid out for his perusal, which we offer him without fee or reward, to be entitled to his most serious consideration; but if he should be desirous of going to the fountain-head, and take William Shakspeare's opin- ion, we give it in these few words:- "All that glitters is not gold.” Enterprise, notwithstanding any great success it may be crowned by, is not always rewarded with equal justice. Those who have been in America, will remember how eagerly the col- lectors of autographs endeavor to obtain those of any one who has made a stir in the world. They believe, and we candidly confess we incline to that belief, that the character of a man may be traced in his handwriting, and that, when they decipher bis signature, they can discover his nature. It is, moreover, plea- sant to hold a written communion with the quick or the dead, when you have no other means of having any. Captain Sutter, upon whose estate, as we have already said, the first “placer" of gold was found, has, we believe, been very well rewarded for his luck-having participated very largely, as we hear, and as we most certainly hope, in the gains which have accrued therefrom; and he is in the enviable enjoyment of a further reward arising from his fellow-citizens, in every part of the Union, endeavoring to obtain a syllable in his handwriting. We were presented at Boston with the autograph of Captain Sutter, cut from a letter he addressed to the party who obligingly gave it us, from a veri- table letter of business under his own signature, as we express it, or over his own signature, as an American expresses it; and the donor was firmly of opinion he could not pay us a more ac- ccptable compliment—and we both appreciate the compliment and prize the gift. Now, Mr. Hargreaves, who lays claim to the discovery of the golden regions of Australia, does not seem to be held in any such estimation by his own Government, or his own country; 256 OLD ENGLAND for while we have no means of ascertaining what little trading he may have done on his own account, his reward would not be anything to boast of, if it depended entirely on others. It ap- pears that Mr. Hargreaves has been allotted the sum of £5000 for his laying open to his brother mortals' gaze the saffron- colored bosom of Australia, the result of which has led, or will lead, to half as many millions of it being poured into Great Britain. Mr Hargreaves does not think this sum by any means an adequate remuneration, and we are quite of the gentleman's opinion. We have understood that he went from California to Australia at a very great expense, that no eye but such an ex- perienced one as his own could have alighted upon the lucky spot, and no mind but such a practical one as his could have di- rected the operations necessary to work it; and such a reward for such an invaluable acquisition, is as contemptible as anything can well be considered. His services are thus decreed to be worth £5000, and his autograph worth nothing at all-few of those who have followed him, and of the many who have profited by him, caring a fig whether he can write at all. Our Govern- ment (and it matters very little of what party it is composed) has generally been celebrated for profuse promise and scanty performance-to hold out every possible temptation for the ac- complishment of an important undertaking, but to dolo out re- muneration in a somewhat niggardly manner. We can, there- fore, only hope that Mr. Hargreaves has not been quite such a blockbead as to allow his compensation for vigorous conception and active execution, to be entirely dependent upon the will and pleasure of any of the powers that be, that may be, or have been. A man on the spot, and that man one of enterprise and infor- mation, may secure to himself what will render the pittance of £5000 of very little importance; and as he knows where to put his paw upon some stray nuggets, and where to send them to; when they are once in his possession, our hopes in his behalf stand a tolerably good chance of being realized. All this is more than a dream of money-bags_it is REALITY itself staring one in the face, on every arrival from these yellow shores, which unsettles England as it has unsettled America. And what is to be done with this “reality," under the weight of which we are literally sweating? Why, we must pitch upon some territory we have been entertaining grave thoughts of seizing, and, acting upon Yankee fashion, buy it, in order to rid ourselves of such ån embarras des richesses !* * It is sometimes as difficult a thing to know what to do with your money, is it is to get it; we have never been placed in that difficulty AND NEW ENGLAND. 257 · If it be true that the first thing a man has to do in this world- is to make as much money as he possibly can (aud we have certainly pointed out the way. by which a vast quantity. has been made), there can be no doubt that the next thing he should do, is to dispense it properly; and we are bound to say that, in many cases, America's sons set a noble example to the world at large. During the early part of our recent visit to the States, advices were received of the probable annihilation of the Island of Ma- deira, owing to the total failure of her vineyards. Few people require telling that the very existence of this small speck in the ocean, depends upon two things alone—the cultivation of its vines, and the salubrity of its climate, which attracts such num. bers of invalids from all quarters of the globe; and if the one should fail, it must, or it is supposed to, arise from some impu- rity of the atmosphere, which naturally affects the other, and her ruin thereby becomes complete. You might just as well expect a person in his senses to take up his residence in a neigh- borhood where cholera or any other fearful epidemic was raging, as to find a consumptive sufferer sailing to Madeira, when the place is eaten up with blight, and contagion is spreading in every direction. It is infinitely better to remain at home in the hope of living, than to go abroad in the certainty of dying; and while it may be that, at the very height of blasting and desola- tion, Madeira is as healthy as ever, you cannot make people be- lieve so, and the consequences we have reason to apprehend have heen most disastrous. In an emergency so dreadful as this, Boston did a noble action well worthy of imitation by New York, or New York did it for Boston to copy, as it may be-(we should be sorry, by any want of respect or preference, to set these two rival cities to loggerheads) - which was to equip a vessel, and freight her, to the extent of her capacity, with every commodity necessary for the salvation of human life. Clothing and bedding for the naked, food for the hungry, ourselves, but we will mention an anecdote of one who was. An Ameri- can vessel was recently wrecked on the coast of the Pacific, and amongst the passengers was a professed gambler, who, seeing the danger, strap- ped a huge belt of doubloons round his waist, with the view of swimming on shore. But he was not "deep' enough then,he is now ! for the gold outweighed him, and he sank to rise no more, as will be seen from this, the latest account of him- He is now settled down With his plunder and pelf, Where he'll find that it all Is as deep as himself! 22*. 258 OLD ENGLAND medicine for the sick, and money for the needy, were contributed on all sides; and no ship’ever sailed the seas with a more lauda- ble object. Actions such as these elevate the moral character of a country, and give it an enviable station in the estimate of the wide world; they depict the proper use of money in its true colors, and establish the desirability of riches. There has, how- ever, rarely been done a good deed, without some detractive mo- tive being ascribed to it, on the principle, perchance, that they who cannot lay claim to the possession of any excellence of rature themselves, are apt to deny its existence in others. The wags, therefore, will tell you that this sublime act was based altogether upon selfishness, and that America would never have dreamed of doing a deed of such seeming magnificence, if it had not been to serve herself. “As how ?” the reader will naturally inquire. Madeira wine is the grand beverage of the United States, whenever it can be got--in perfection if possible, but in any condition rather than not at all. An American thinks of his finest Madeira, what an Englishman and a Frenchman think of their port and claret, or what a dweller by the Rhine thinks of his hock; and he will pay a far greater price for it, than all these together will disburse for the beverage they prefer. · We had more than one opportunity of tasting, at the table of an American millionaire, white Madeira wine, for wbich the enor- mous price of sixteen dollars (£3 6s. 8d. in English currency) per bottle had been given something very much like 5s. 6d. per glass; and the princely donor remarked that if he knew where it was possible to procure more, he would willingly give the same sum for any quantity of it. While it is impossible to conceive any liquid of a finer flavor, it is equally so to get rid of the idea that you are swallowing molten gold. Men who have the wealth, and who are in love with the wine, would dispatch a steamer at their individual cost, with material enough to keep the whole island in luxury for a year, for the bare prospect of being enabled to poke out some hole or corner there, where any portion of such Madeira as this could be impounded. The philanthropic citizens of America stand, therefore, charged by some of their own kith, with having done a charitable action, the charity of which, like too many others, began at home. We are never inclined to this way of thinking-we prefer looking at the bright side of a question, without inquiring into the cause of its brightness; to feel satis- fied with what is good, without seeking to ascertain the cause of its goodness; and if we become happy by the generosity of our fellow-man, not to trouble ourselves much about the motive which AND NEW ENGLAND. 259 - led to bis generosity. We thought at the time we made these remarks, and we think so now at the moment of making them public, that the timely aid rendered to Madeira in her hour of suffering, by America in her hour of prosperity, is an act worthy of being chronicled in the fairest annals of men and empires. There are two ways of doing a thing, and proceeding upon that of bis dat qui cito dat, the offering of the modern Samaritan was doubly acceptable. In putting upon record, from time to time and from place to place, the various traits of American character that have presented themselves to our observation, we necessarily labor under the impression of having to contend with a double difficulty--the one, of giving dissatisfaction by faint praise, and the other, of incurring displeasure by dealing out censure. The prejudice (if there be any left) in the mind of a British blockhead would probably object to the bestowal of any praise at all on America, her people, and her institutions; while the vanity of an American is not always to be satisfied, unless everything the stranger beholds in his country is laid out in couleur de rose. The one is just as absurd as the other; and say what you will, there is but a steady path to pursue after all-let truth be your motto, and justice be your guide. Amongst the many excel- lences in the system, in the character, in the pursuits, and conse- quent progress of the American, on which we have thus far had the pleasure of commenting, we cannot trace one which reflects higher honor on him than this spontaneous aid to tbe sufferers of “his own loved island of sorrow.” It is not because John Bull is ever foremost in matters of a similar nature (for at various periods of his long and eventful existence, he may be said to have clothed, and to have fed, one-half of the world's suffering huma- nity), that we are to deny the possession by another of the mag- nanimity we practise ourselves. It is the very knowledge of that, our inherent disposition, which induces us to give credit for a , similar feeling wherever we find it predominant. It is, after all, of very little consequence whom we please or whom we displease; and although we should certainly prefer being on the safe side of any question, we have an odd fashion of speaking plainly-of speaking what we think and what we feel—and of trying to keep the balance so nicely poised, that we may be able to say, what others have said before us, “Still may we safe between the dangers steer Of Scylla-flattery and Charybdis-fear!" Amongst other wondrous circumstances which the rage of "the . yellow fever” has brought to light, is the altered position in which 260 .. .. OLD ENGLAND 1756 IIII!! 2,719 I! the population of America now stands. The reader will find more than one reference to this subject, before he and we finally cut our acquaintance; but there is not one so curious as the fol- lowing case of statistics, to which we venture to direct his par- ticular attention. At a former period of their relative conditions, both Boston and Philadelphia could boast of a much larger num- ber of inhabitants than New York, as a glance at this table will show at once. We merely subjoin the consecutive census of Baltimore, as making the fourth of the largest cities in the Union :- Years. New York. Philadelphia. Boston. Baltimore. 1680 about 3,000 4,500 1690 « 3,800 7,000 1696 4,302 1700 about 4,800 6,700 1730 8,628 13,000 1750 about 9,800 .. 7,635 15,731 10,381 1760 about 13,000 15,520 1773 21,876 1776 1777 23,734 1780 10,000 1785 23,614 1790 33,131 : 42,520 18,038. 13,503 1800 60,489 81,005 24,297 26,514 1810 96,373 111,210 35,250 46,455 1820 123,706 137,097 43,298 62,738 1830 202,589 188,961 61,392 80,620 1840 312,710 358,037 93,383 102,513 1850 515,545 408,815 138,788 189,048 The comparison of New York with all the other towns and cities of the United States containing above ten thousand inhabi- tants, in the years 1820, 1830, 1840, and 1850, is presented in the following statement:- 1820. 1830. 1840. 1850. Towns above 10,000., 348,376 592,754 1,017,227 2,316,611 Ditto, excluding Boston, . Philadelphia, and Bal- timore . . . . . 123,015 289,310 615,951 1,581.877 New York . . 123,706 202,589 312,710 515,545 It is a matter of no ordinary interest to examine the progress which each of these marvellous places has made, and the short time in which it has been accomplislied; but it amounts to posi- tive amazement to look at that of New York. We are, of course, well aware that the almost incredible difference which there ap- AND NEW ENGLAND. 261 pears to be between the returns of 1840 and 1850, has been, to a considerable extent, brought about by general emigration to America ; but recollecting what numbers, as soon after their ar- rival as possible, fly away to the distant south, the faran way west, or any other spot where the dots in her wilderness can be substi- tuted by men, it is sheer nonsense to suppose that the compara- tively few who may have settled in New York could amount, in that brief space of time, to something nearly approaching 203,000; it is folly to entertain such a thought. New York being the grand focus of attraction for the diggers and dealers in gold-the general starting-place to the mincs wbich harbor this precious metal- and the principal recipient of all those glittering loads, the mount- ains and cares, the rivers and the running streams of inexhausti- ble California send forth, many other parts of the Union hare assisted in peopling the huge capital, by settling down there, in the hopes of participating in this overgorge of wealth. Simple procreation could not have brought to bear this state of things; emigration could but partially have contributed to it; it has been effected by a general movement of the people towards a given goal. A golden one, remember! And, therefore, unless the hills of California become barren, and its waters become dry, by the time the year 1860 arrives, the population of New York is very likely to amount to half that of London town, for it is a full fourth of it already. We have, many a time and oft, read of the various wonders which gold can effect, of the good it can do, and of the evil it will do, in fact of its universal agency; but it was reserved for the nineteenth century to make manifest that it can people deserts, and cause sterility itself to "be fruitful and multiply." While turning over in one's mind the marvellous means New York possesses, and the opportunities she can command of dis- tributing those means either for her benefit, or for her repute, we have never been able to account for the miserable display of her resources she made at the Great London Exhibition of 1851. It was all vastly fine to see the figure of a huge eagle extending his wings from one side of the building to the other, but vastly ridi- culous to find there was nothing for those wings to brood over no array of art or science which America is so capable of furuish- ing—no specimens of her extraordinary productions in short, no spice of her quality, worth any particular mention. This is the more remarkable, because, within the walls of Castle Garden at the lower end of the city, she holds an annual fair, at which some of the most surprising of her inventions, and the most striking of her manufactures are exhibited. 262 : OLD ENGLAND! S1 We have never seen any ephemeral collection of a nation's pro- duce, excepting the former Parisian exposition, that could for an instant be compared to this American allotment, in the examina- tion of which mapy an hour might be usefully passed. Jonatban must have taken some singular freak in his head, that led to this want of his customary good sense, at the exact nature of which there is no arriving. He might, perhaps, have thought that bis chattels would not be particularly safe; or, even supposing them to be so, that considerable time might be lost in his getting them back again. He might, to be sure, have run away with the no- tion that knowing, as he now and then says, “pretty d d well” what he could do, be did not choose to let the rest of the world know it; and that if nobody else praised him, he could always praise himself. Whatever his motive might have been, there can be no question that his annual parade in Castle Garden, when we saw it, was infinitely superior to his temporary, or rather trumpery, one in Hyde Park Gardens. The mention of the first of these extensive buildings, capable, we believe, of containing some ten thousand souls, leads us to the mention of a remarkable gentleman who is about to occupy it. We allude to M. Jullien, the chef of masqueraders, music pro- menaders, posture masters, and instrumental miracles. The march of this gifted versatilist has bitherto been one of triumph and ovation; and if he has not always had his brows shaded with civic crowns, there can be no question of his having deserved them. His compositions are on every piano-forte, and his coun- tenance is in every shop window; his "sweet sounds” are at the ends of every person's fingers, and his name is on every one's lip; and if this be not popularity, what, in the devil's name, is? In coming over to this country, he will have to encounter a body of people differing—110w and then essentially, but now and then immaterially—from any he has hitherto faced ; and it is a question amougst a vast number of people who know, ter, whether his usual good fortune will attend him. He is a fellow of infinite talent and tact, and he is in the hands of a Lon- don house which, amongst other clever points of character, is remarkable for never giving a chance away; and it will not take the active partner in the firm, who will accompany Jullien, any very long time to study and learn the American disposition; and of New York will be his passport through the States. More- over, we are led to understand that it is not Jullien's intention to bring with him more of his own band than will serve to give · AND NEW ENGLAND. 263 an éclat to his undertaking, but to make the necessary addition to them by gleanings from America's native talent. He could not do a wiser thing, because he hits a point about which Jona- than is as vain às a peacock. There is scarcely a body corporate, society, club, or any other collection of human beings, under whatever denomination they may pass, that does not own its band; and it is no uncommon thing to have your ear assailed with a dozen different ones, play- ing away at the same moment, in as many different quarters as · hearing can extend to. The members strut about in gaudy at- tire, like so many turkey-cocks, and they do their duty with so much determination, that we have heard it stated the horn-player has broken a bloodvessel, and the serpent has been blown from crooked into straight. It is useless to try and persuade an American that any professed player on a wind instrument, come from what country he may, can be at all compared to his; and if it be the case (which may after all be bounce), why Jullien will have saved a large sum of money in passage-money alone; and if it be not so, he will have done a better thing-he will have consulted the amour propre of the people. It can make no matter to Jullien whether those members of any band he may engage should blow their heads off, as long as by the substitu- tion of American for foreign talent, he can manage to fill his coffers. We most sincerely hope he will; and if we entertain a doubt upon the subject, it arises from our apprehension that even the magic of his baton will not keep them in their places; for nothing bas hitherto been invented that can make an Ameri- can stand still for five minutes together. 264 OLD ENGLAND CHAPTER XX. The quantity of land, and the quantity of people who live on it the con stitution of a man pitted against the constitution of a horse-Climate and its effect upon health-Limit of American life-Spitting, and where to spit~Hitting the mark at any distance- A sure way to have dys- pepsia, and a sure way not to get rid of it-Advice to young ladies, "married and single"-Women's rights, and what to pay for them- Delicacies of the season-Cowhiding and Lola Montez-A Californian marriage-Art at a discount, and gold at a premium-- Official” sta- tistics not to be doubted Surplus at a nonplus-America's aristocra- tical notions-Importance of a title-Names misnamed-Difficulty of a letter reaching its destination-How an Englishman's idea of inde- pendence differs from an American's-How to address a man at his own house in Indiana-More modes of pronunciation than one-How to choose American wines, or rather wines in America-Definition of a flimsy character-Not a shop in all the United. States-Paper cur- rency and its virtues-Young America at full length—The habits of all America—"A perfect character"-contrast of the English and American custom-house. LET it not be supposed, for one moment, because the United States of America happen to be some 1600 miles of extrenie length from north to south, and some 2800 miles of breadth from east to west, with only about twenty-three millions and odd inhabitants, according to the last census (“One half-pennyworth of bread to this intolerable quantity of sack”); because you meet with very few cities and towns, comparatively speaking, and when you do meet with them, with very few dwellers therein; because mountains rise up before the eye, as far as its vision can reach, and seas miscalled rivers, roll about in every direction ; because under the brow of the one are plains and prairies bound- less in expanse, and the rocks washed by the other are gigantic in dimension, that, therefore, “from Dan to Beersheba, all is barrenness.” No such thing! for, while God has been bountiful to this mighty land, man has not been unmindful of his Maker's bounty. Throughout the thirty-one States, the District of Columbia. and the four or five “l'erritories' comprised in this stretch of land, there are ranges of bills with their volcanoes, and chains of lakes with their tributaries-diggings with their countless nuggets of gold, mines with their treasures of copper, lead, iron, AND NEW ENGLAND. 265 and mercury, limitless fields of coal and limestone-vast forests where the elm, the birch, the pine, the willow, the maple, &c., have been reared for centuries, and died away with old age- uplands where the oak, beech, sycamore, acacia, walnut, cedar, and sãssafras spread around their umbrageous mantles-pro-. ductive plantations of cotton, sugar, rice, tobacco; salt and mineral springs, and crops in every latitude, of almost every grain and other commodity cultivated by the industry of perse- vering mortals. At the extreme north, while snow has overwhelmed the land with a depth and a severity almost unendurable, and when flori. culture, horticulture, agriculture, and every other culture are in a state of suspension; at the south, flowers are in full bloom, fruit trees in profuse bearing, husbandry in active operation in all its manifold occupations, and Nature altogether in her highest state of pride and beauty, scenes presenting the most marvellous fluctuations and all, be it remembered, under ONE GOVERNMENT. If the population of America were in any degree in proportion to her extent of territory, her means would be more miraculous than would, on the spur of the moment, be credited ; and what she now does, with her circumscribed numbers, is little less won- drous. She could then feed and clothe the whole world, as easily as she now feeds and clothes herself. We end as we began, by saying that we are not attempting to write a history of this extraordinary country. We only profess to make en passant observations upon things worth seeing, and upon people worth knowing; and instead of analizing too minutely, to point out objects and subjects for analyzation by other people, who have more time to devote to the task, and more talent to exercise upon it, than we can lay claim to. In- stead, therefore, of displaying, in farther distinct chapters, the various peculiarities which naturally present themselves in such an astonishing country, and amongst such a surprising set of people, we shall chronicle our crude notions upon matters which we have not yet touched on, under respective headings, some- thing after the fashion of works on geography in the olden time, · and cookery-books at the present time, volumes of worthy family receipts, and other useful compendia. To wit:- . CLIMATE.—The remarks we have just made on the extent of the United States, necessarily imply a singular fluctuation of weather. If we say that the coasts in the north are moister, and of the Pacific milder than those of the Atlantic-if we assert that when Maine is frozen up, New Orleans is revelling in tropical temperature --Wby, we shall be believed, because we are 23 266 : OLD ENGLAND not dealing in any great amount of the marvellous; but it will astonish those who have not witnessed such phenomena, nor suf- fered from their consequences, to know that in New England, especially in Massachusetts, and likewise in New York, the extremes of climate, in alarming variations, are sometimes felt in the brief space of twenty-four hours. One instance is as good as a thousand, where similar ones are of frequent occurrence. We went out one day in the last winter with a sleighing party, : skimming, with exciting rapidity, the earth, or rather the snow, ..which was some eight or ten inches thick on the surface of it. The thermometer was standing at nose-biting point, and icicles hanging at the end of it; fingers were benumbed, tongues dumbed, and the mouths that contained them drawn up into every variety of fantastic form. There was an utter unconscious- ness of pedal power, and your “inward man' stood some chance, like an over-iced bottle of champagne, of being congealed into one solid mass. It was an operation of no ordinary kind, to un- dergo the process of thawing, which could only be effected by virtue of a blazing fire, a bottle of brandy, and the final deposit of your body between a pair of impervious blankets. We woke up in the morning, thawed, and sound again in wind and limb; but, to our perfect astonishment, the snow had followed our ex- ample. A heavy shower had set in during the night, and almost melted it from the surface of the ground; the sun rose in as much splendor and warmth as he is able to command at this period of the year, and disposed of all that the rain had not dis- solved; the drains carried off the superfluous flood, and nature assumed throughout the fore and afternoon an appearance of unusual brilliancy. Why, the constitution of a horse could not stand repetitions of this unaccountable metamorphosis; and this, with other combinations, makes the ordinary career of an Ameri- can of somewhat short duration-an observation which leads us into a consideration of HEALTH.—Dyspepsia is the besetting malady of the entire country, in both sexes. They give themselves no chance, for they do things hourly that shorten life daily; and any remon- strance on the subject generally leads to the conclusion that they consider long life a misfortune. They set down a woman old at twenty-seven, and maintain that a man ought not to live after forty! There can be no question that the climate mate- rially affects their constitutions, but they certainly aid the climate in its operation. The ceaseless habit of smoking, and the nau- seous one of chewing tobacco, are fearful adversaries to contend with, from the excess of saliva to which they necessarily con- AND NEW ENGLAND. 267 tribute. As spitting is the most injurious, so is it the most revolting practice in which a man can indulge; and to such a i serious extent is it here carried, that neither person por place are safe from its filthy effects.* Though spittoons are distributed in all parts of all houses, in churches, and even in their pulpits, that regard to them which ought to be paid is not very frequently observed. They spit, as a matter of course, upon floors, and even costly carpets covering them; in grates, over, or under them; in all public conveyances, all about the streets, in shops, on the decks and in the cabins of all vessels, in theatres and other places of amusement, in both Houses of Congress, all lob- bies leading thereto, and all apartments connected therewith; at all tables, during all meals, in their counting-houses and stores, in passages and bedrooms, which makes it an impossibility to cross them, without either putting on slippers, or "putting your foot in it;' and as no place is sacred from pollution, of course they spit in their Courts of Justice, there being no law against it. They expectorate with as great a nicety as if they were toxopholites, hitting any mark their attention may be directed to, if it be not at too great distance; and they indulge this pro- pensity in whatever society they may happen to be. As affecting health, the habit is undoubtedly most prejudicial; and regarding it in a social light, there can be nothing more utterly disgusting, nor more ungentlemanly. The custom is uni- versal—it is the crowning offence of the community, and is so degrading in the opinion of every one, that it becomes matter of astonishment to strangers, at all events, how men, otherwise so enlightened, cannot overcome this vicious practice. It is not so much indulged in amongst the New England people as in other parts of the States; but even there, it is sufficiently prevalent to be regretted and condemned. * A lady resident in the same hotel with ourselves, assured us that she was coming down the grand staircase one evening, ready dressed, in a rich white satin costume, for an evening party, when a brute going up it, spat upon her robe; and on her remonstrance with him on an act of such grossness, he replied, in the most unconcerned manner: "Well, I guess you'd better take your gown out of the way." † The sure way to remedy the matter would be to avoid the application to the mouth of anything tending to promote expectoration. Independent of the incessant use of tobacco (made up in small squares like so many pieces of India-rubber, and sliced off in shavings with a penknife, as if they were cutting a pencil), the grcatest portion of the people are gene- rally either indulging in some sweetmeat, chewing a bit of wood, sucking- a quill, eating an apple, masticating a piece of straw, or anything else 268 - OLD ENGLAND . As this sin is not to be laid at the doors of the fair sex, it is only necessary to observe that they shorten their days by the want of exercise, by perpetually dwelling in over-heated rooms, and by suddenly emerging from them into a different atmosphere, when they do leave the house for the street. They imbibe the notion of their lordly owners, that time being of consequence, and life they cannot devote much of it to the pleasures of the table; they eat at a rate which induces a belief that they are eating for a wager—they have generally finished dinner before they ought to have finished fish, and thus digestion becomes out of the ques- tion; added to this, we believe few people will deny that breakfast, luncheon, dinner, tea, and supper--five meals a day- all disposed of in this expeditious manner, are drafts upon the stomach's powers, enough to gorge an ostrich. These remarks apply to American women in general, not to American ladies; for it would be equally unjust as untrue, if we did not admit that in many circles where we had the honor of associating, we had the happiness of meeting some of the most refined and delightful creatures on earth, to whom such propen- sities as these we have dilated upon are altogether unknown. As a general principle, if they would not marry at so tender an age, nor have half-a-dozen children before they ought to bave one; » . columns of one of their country's journals, they would not, in the long run, go very wrong :- "Girls who rise early, and walk apace, Steal roses from Aurora's face; But when they yawn in bed till ten Aurora steals them back again." WOMAN'S RIGHTS.—If, as we are prepared to maintain, an American lady, richly and tastefully dressed, as so many of them are, in apparel of the most costly nature, and fashioned after Europe's latest modes, with her beaming eye, bright cheek, chi- selled form, and most intelligent mind, be one of the loveliest sights to gaze upon, bow painful is it to lcok at the reverse of this picture, and contemplate the degradation into which some of that may tickle the palate for the nonce, from the supposed impossibility of their ever being able to keep their tongues quiet. The three approved modes of expressing this, in three different lan- guages, are:- FRENCH. ENGLISH AMERICAN. Taisez-vous ! Hold your tongue ! Shut up! AND NEW ENGLAND. 269 them, acting upon mistaken and dangerous principles, can con- descend to fall. We have already said a few words upon this subject; and in adding a few more, our object is to uphold the beauty, the delicacy, the intellectuality of the pure American female character, in opposition to those "strong-minded” per- sonages, who are a perfect disgrace to it. Unless the doctrines inculcated by Miss Lucy Stone be dispersed to the winds, and the lady herself be taken from the platform where she delivers her daily diatribes, and lodged in the precincts of Sing-Sing,* she is likely to do a great deal of mischief. In addition to the lec- tures she has for a considerable length of time been delivering in New York, the tendency of which is to outrage all the established rules of society, and indeed of common decency, she has called into existence a society called “The Whole World's Temperance Convention," and has recently celebrated it by an entertainment which has called forth the severest animadversions of all classes of the community. It will, in after-days, supposing these pages to survive so long, be a matter of curiosity to know what things of note and peculiarity were going on in 1853; and with this view, we subjoin the bill of fare of the aforesaid Festival : - - TEMPERANCE BANQUET AT METROPOLITAN HALL, On Saturday Afternoon, September 3, at 6 o'clock, UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE N. Y. VEGETARIAN SOCIETY. COMPLIMENTARY TO THE WHOLE WORLD'S TEMPERANCE CONVENTION. Song of Grace PROGRAMME. . . By the Amphions. Lo, the world is rich in blessings! Thankful all, His praise repeat; “Every herb, and each tree yielding Seed and fruit shall be our meat." Nature's banquet, pure and peaceful, Is & "feast of reason," too ; Every healthful sense delighting, Ever changing, ever new. . . . By Rev. P. H. Shaw, of Williamsburg. BILL OF FARE. Prayer . VEGETABLE SOUPS. Tomato Soup, Rice Soup. * The Mount Pleasant State Prison, New York. 23* 270 OLD ENGLAND FARINACEA. Graham Bread, Mixed Fruit Cakes, Fruited Bread, Apple Biscuit, Wheat Meal Cakes, Moulded Rice, Corn Blanc Mange, Moulded Farina, Moulded Wheaten Grits. VEGETABLES. Baked Sweet Potatoes, Stewed Cream Squashes. - PASTRY. Mixed Fruit Pies, Pumpkin Pies. FRUITS. Apples, Melons, Pears, Peaches, Pineapple.. Grapes, RELISHËS. Plum Jellies, Baked Apples. COOKED FRUITS. Cocoanut Custard, Fruited Ice Cream. BEVERAGE. Pure Cold Water. Speeches, sentiments, and songs will succeed the Festival. - Festival Tickets—Gentleman's, 1 dollar ; Lady's, 50 cents. MANAGERS OF THE FESTIVAL H. S. Clubb, Mrs. Asenagh Nicholson, James Cambell, Miss Martha C. Wright, M. F. Baldwin, Mrs. Emily S. Trail. Gallery Tickets, One Shilling, Now, stewed squashes, sweet potatoes, wheaten grits, baked apples, and cocoanut custards, with songs, speeches, and prayers to match, are all very well in their way; and to some people's notions, may be said to comprise “all the delicacies of the sea- son;" and then again "pure cold water" is at all events a whole- some beverage; but when gentlemen are charged four shillings and twopence, and ladies two shillings and a penny, to enable them to partake of this sumptuous banquet; and when it is borne in mind that Metropolitan Hall will hold three thousand people, and that it was FULL, why it is pretty clear that Miss Lucy Stone must have made a very good thing of it. By her account, women are to bave equal rights, and men are to have the exclusive right of paying for them. . But the progress of equality seems to be making rapid strides over every acre of American land ; and a better evidence of the fact cannot be adduced than this paragraph from the “Ohio State Journal” of the 20th of last August: AND NEW ENGLAND. 271 .. "A scene transpired in this city, this forenoon, that is all the talk. A married lady of respectable character had been insulted by a person who wears pants. The knowledge of this insult coming to the ears of the husband and another relative, it was agreed to take summary vengeance on the delinquent. The lady was armed with a raw hide, and the parties went to the place where the guilty one was doing business. The husband and the relative then seized and held him, and the lady administered a severe cowhiding. The affair was witnessed by a large company. It is the latest application of woman's rights, and won't be very popular with that class of delinquents. But the people said Amen." We certainly think the brute was properly served; but whether the “cowhiding," as it is elegantly called, should have been in- flicted by the husband or wife, can only be determined by those who are fully conversant with the rights of women. GOLDEN OPINIONS.-If, in the early days of America, before colonization had been converted into republicanism, men neglected the progress of every art, useful or ornamental, and thought only of their existing position, and their prospective independence, how much more fixed is now such purpose of their action, when, fully aware of their commercial, their political, and their me- chanical advantages, they are not satisfied with those possessions, but study daily and hourly how they can literally go beyond their. strength. If, eighty years ago, when they were struggling for their liberties, and were bent on throwing off the foreigu yoke (the sub jugo they had so long had to pass), they could not stoop to the cultivation of any refined pursuit, how can they be expected to do so at the end of those eighty years, when “ circumstance, that unspiritual god," has thrown in their path temptations even stronger than the reforming of their country, the re-enactment of her laws, and the general aggrandizement of her condition. Art, therefore, in all its various developments, has not become so much farther advanced in this lapse of time as might have been supposed; and thus, intent upon her pursuit of wealth, America rather patronizes by her purse, than protects by, her cul- tivation, the growth of les beaux arts. She infinitely prefers finding such material ready-made at her hands, at any price de- manded, than waiting for the perfection of any accomplishment the gradual march of time can bring about. To use a familiar saying, America has ever had, and most especially has now, "other fish to fry," than to rear anything she can buy already reared; the burden of her song at present is :- : · OLD ENGLAND 272 : 661 " What a god's gold, That he is worshipp'd in a baser temple, Than where swine feed ? 'Tis thou that rigg'st the bark, and plough'st the foam; Settlest admired reverence in a slave: To thee be worship!” Since the discovery of a gold“ placer" at the mills of Captain J. A. Sutter, in 1848,* the exodus of the United States in masses, has been to California; and as the result of that.movement may be unknown to many, we subjoin the statistics thereof, collated from the official report: DOLLARS. DOLLARS. At the various U. S. mints, in 1848, . 44,177 ob 1849, . 6,147,509 66 1850, . 36,074,062 06 " 16 1851. 55,938,232 Manifested shipments to U. S. ports in De- cember, 1851, which did not reach the mints that year · · · · · · 2,910,214 101,114,194 Importations into Chili, in 1851, by official returns from that country . 2,372,000 Shipments per steamers, in 1851, on freight to Europe and various countries, not in- cluding Chili, via Panama, so far as desti- nation was declared on manifests . . 3,600,000 Add, estimates of shipments by the same. course and to same quarters, in 1851, for which the destination beyond Panama was not declared, 50 per cent. of the above . 1,800,000 Known shipments by sailing vessels, in 1851, to various foreign ports . 1,000,000 Add, for amount not manifested, believed to be as large as . . 1,000,000 Total estimate of foreign exports in 1851 . 9,772,000 The early foreign trade was very large, par- ticularly in 1849, from Pacific ports. Re- mittances in this early trade were made chiefly in gold-dust. The aggregate ship- ment to foreign countries for 1848, 1849, and 1850, is, therefore, assumed for the three years to be as large as that of 1851 9,772,000 19,544,000 120,658,194 Estimated amount taken overland to Mexico, and by passengers to Europe, East Indies, Australia, South America (exclusive of * See ante, page 250. AND NEW ENGLAND. 273 6,032,909 1 Chili), manufactured in the United States, and otherwise retained by individuals leav- ing the country, and therefore not repre- sented in the Mint deposits, say 5 per cent. on above . . . i : In bands of bankers, merchants, and traders in San Francisco, per tabular statement, pre- pared Dec. 31, 1851. In hands of bankers and traders in other parts of California and Oregon, Dec. 31, 1851 . . .. Estimated half-month's produce, at.mines not brought forward, Dec. 31, 1851 . . In circulation-gold-dust and California pri- Tate coin, estimated at 20 dollars per indi- vidual, and population estimated at 212,000 5,000,000 2,500,000 2,500,000 4,240,000. 20,272,909 Estimated product to Dec. 31, 1851 - Estimated product from Jan. 1 to June 31, 1852 140,931,103 33,849,774 1 Total estimated product to June 31, 1852 174,780,877 Gentlemen of Lombard Street, of the Royal and Stock Ex- changes, and of other yellow localities in the good city of London, if you will be good enough to look at these statistics--supposing them to be true and who will be bold enough to doubt the veracity of " official" documents ?), you will not fail to recognize an amount of considerably more than twenty-eight millions of money, British currency, dug out the bowels of one of the thirty- one United States of America, in the space of little more than four years! Nice fun, this! The actual result of all these pretty pickings is, that there are about thirty odd millions of dollars in downright specie-no flimsy bits of paper, but the positive produce of Mother Earth-in the United States' Treas- ury, looking at one another, and craving for employment. This sum would wipe off something like half of their National Debt; but the question is, whether it will be so disposed of ? We should say, certainly not. If Jonathan does not think it ad- visable to try and take Cuba, he will make a virtue of necessity, and try his hardest to buy it; or, perhaps having possessed him- self of a tolerably good slice of Mexico, he will do the civil, and purchase another slice, or he will make some European dodge well worth his while; and thus it can readily be believed he does not trouble himself to any great extent about the fine arts. In the mean time, all sorts of arts are thriving in California; and amongst others, those of a lady who has obtained celebrity, not merely in Old and New England, but over the largest portion of the habitable globe-Lola Montez. This notorious personage, 274 OLD ENGLAND : after having left, according to newspaper statement, an impression on the body of many an American gentleman, has at length made an impression on the mind of one, and in consequence thereof has become the wedded wife of a Californian citizen. The cere- mony took place on the 2nd of last July (1853), and is thus chronicled in the San Francisco “Evening Journal” of that day :- “Married this morning, at the Holy Church of the Mission Dolores, by the Rev. Father Flavel Fontaine, Curate, Madame Marie Elise Rosamma Dolores, Countess of Landsfeld de Heald, Baroness of Rosenthal, and Chanoinesse of the Order of St. Therese, to Patrick Purdy Hull, Esq., conductor of the San Francisco' Whig and Commercial Advertiser,' of this city. “ The ceremonies were performed in strict conformity with the rules of the Mother Church, but rendered peculiarly impressive by their pure simplicity. The distinguished bride, on approach- ing the sacred altar, deposited at the feet of the Virgin, with appropriate demonstrations, a beautiful offering. There were present to assist at the solemnities, besides several ladies, the Hon. Beverley C. Sanders, late collector of the Port of San Francisco, Hon. W. C. Hoff, James E. Wainwright, Esq., Clerk of the County, A. Bartott, Esq., ex-President of the Board of Assistant Aldermen of the City, H. M. Gray, M. D., ex-Presi- dent of the Board of Aldermen, His Honor Alexander Wells, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of Cali- fornia, Alexander G. - Abell, Esq., late Consul of the United States for the Sandwich Islands, Louis R. Lull, Esq., Associate Editor of the San Francisco' Whig, Rob. B. Hampton, Esq., B. A. Brinsmade, Esq., John Benson, Esq., James Grant, Esq., late Alderman, and H. J. Clayton, Esq. “ The marriage certificate was duly attested" by James E. Wainwright, Esq., in his magisterial quality of Clerk of the County." We have not heard whether the gentle Lola “cowhided” her lord and master after the ceremony; but, with the remembrance of the poor old King of Bavaria, of Ensign Heald, and other worthy people crowding upon his mind, all we have to say is, 6 the captain's a bold man." ARISTOCRATICAL IDEAS.—If appealed to on the subject, an American will tell you that he holds all degrees of title in the utmost contempt, and that he perfectly agrees with Pope in that fine couplet- “What can ennoble knaves, or fools, or cowards ? Alas, not all the blood of all the Howards !" AND NEW ENGLAND. 275 But there is not too much gospel in his assertions. A prouder or more aristocratic person does not exist than a genuine son of Columbia ; he is forever looking above, and rarely below him he has the most perfect horror of any one beneath him he is, as Dr. Johnson said of Mrs. Macaulay's levelling system, for level- ling down to himself, but never for levelling up to himself. If he were in earnest in this his declaration of equality, we should not find every other man a general, a major, or a captain ; nor a senator termed the “Honorable ;' nor judges, mayors, justices, magistrates, collectors, and other gentlemen of well-merited posi- :: tion, christened "Your Honor," nor even the very head of the nation, "His Excellency." the President-10;. noCitizen, or Mr. So-and-So, would be the order of the day. An American is an aristocrat to the back bone, and would rather gaze upon “a real live lord” (as our Peers who have visited the Western World are there termed), than any other order of created mortal. It appeared to us that half of the attraction of Sontag and Alboni, consisted in one being the Countess Rossi, and the other the Countess Pepoli; and that of Madame Anna Bishop would have been greater had she been permitted to use her actual title of "my Lady.” Why, read even this paragraph in the San Fran- cisco paper just cited, respecting the matrimonial mummery of the lady therein referred to (Lola Montez): " It will be noted as a remarkable event in the history of Cali- fornia, that one of the most conspicuous ladies of her time has bestowed her fortune, hand, and affections upon one of the en- terprising and worthy citizens of this most westernmost State of our free and republican confederacy.” The tomfooleries of poor Sir William Don have been put up with, solely because he is a baronet; and the dancing academy of Mademoiselle Augusta owes a considerable portion of its suc- cess to her being the soi-disant Countess de St. James ; while Captain Harvey Tucket was endured in the character of Falstaff, because he was a relation of an English Marquis. Let them not deceive themselves; for, from the highest character in their broad realm down to the very nigger who christens himself Julius Alexander Constantine Augustus Verulam, they are thorough- going aristocrats in feeling, and no mistake whatever. NOMEN AND COGNOMEN.-In a general point of view we incline to Juliet's opinion, wherein she says, “that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet;" and so it would-at the same time that opinion must not be acted upon in all its va- rious bearings. As respects the human species, it too frequently happens that names, like dreams, go by contraries; and those 276 OLD ENGLAND who have any doubt of it, have only to consult the great authority of James Smith, who, in one of his happy songs says (we quote at random):- “ Mr. Box, though provoked, never doubles his fist, Mr. Burns in his grate has no fuel, Mr. Playfair won't catch me at hazard or whist, Mr. Coward was winged in a duel, Mr. Wise is a dunce, Mr. King is a Whig, Mr. Coffin's uncommonly sprightly, And huge Mr. Little broke down in a gig While driving fat Mrs. Golightly! " Mr. Barker's as mute as a fish in the sea, Mr. Miles never moves on a journey, Mr. Gotobed. sits up till half-after three, Mr. Makepiece was bred an attorney. Mr. Gardener can't tell a flower from a root, Mr. Wilde with timidity draws back, Mr. Ryder performs all his journeys on foot, Mr. Foote all his journeys on horseback!” &c,, &c. &c. . Every day's experience proves all this to be true; for you will not, probably, meet half-a-dozen of your fellow-creatures who are unacquainted with individuals of these common appellations, whose natures are not directly opposite to their "calling." It is the same with places as with those who dwell in them-an oddity of title aptly hit off. in “Don Juan" :- “ Through groves, so-called as being void of trees, (Like lucus from no light); through prospects named Mount Pleasant, as containing nought to please Nor much to climb; through little boxes framed Of bricks, to let the dust in at your ease, With To be let upon their doors proclaimed; Through Rows most modestly called Paradise, Which Eve might quit without much sacrifice.” If such absurdities as these continue to exist in our own and other olden cities of Europe, it is scarcely to be wondered at that they form conspicuous features in the christenings of the New World. It would be a curious thing to trace the origin of names, especially those of localities; for while in England it would not puzzle a conjuror” to account for the baptismal titles of Waterloo Bridge, Wellington and Marlborough Streets, and Trafalgar Square; or in America, for Independence* Hall, Wash- * Some people's notions of Independence differ materially from those of others. A New Englander's view of it is fully laid down in the famous " Declaration," of July, 1776; an Old Englander's was thus laid down AND NEW ENGLAND. 277 ington Monument, and Madison University, &c.; yet he would be at a nonplus when he came to our towns of Old Leake and Wran- gle, Kingskettle, Holton-le-Clay, and so forth.; while in the United States, the towns of Nacogdoches, Schenectady (though ho will be told it signifies "a city beyond the pine plains”), Con- toocook, &c., would turn all his principles of discovery topsy- turvy. The most puzzling of all puzzles, however, to a traveller thoroughly unacquainted with the country, is the error into which he at first will most likely fall, respecting the almost num- berless towas in America bearing the same name. Every State vies with its fellow to do honor to any great man which either of then may have produced or adopted ; aud thus, distributed over various parts of the Union, we find about forty-five places named Washington (after the father of American liberty) and some dozen Mount Vernons (the residence of that famous patriot); then we find above forty Franklins (so called after their eminent philoso- pher), and about twenty-five Warrens (one of their general offi- cers killed at Bunker's Hill); about thirty Jeffersons (one of their Presidents), some twenty-five Madisons (another of their Presidents); a dozen Adams's (likewise a former President), the same quantity of Fultons (inventor of their steam navigation); Lafayettes (the chivalrous French marquis who assisted them in the revolutionary war) in shoals; with Columbias, Columbus's, &c. in limitless profusion. Then there are dozens of Dovers, Rich- monds, Lancasters, Lincolns, Hanovers, Somersets, Windsors, Yorks, Cumberlands, Cambridges, Burlingtons, &c., adaptations that have passed into use from the mother country. So charac- teristic a feature is this, especially in the New England States, that an inhabitant of Old England may imagine for the moment that he is travelling in his own country; for between Connecticut on the occasion referred to. A Jew by the name of Treves having lent the Prince Regent, from time to time, considerable sums of money, be- came a necessary appendage to the royal dinner-table. The Israelite never lost any opportunity, however uncongenial to his host's ears, of talking about his “independence;" and wishing to put a stop to such repetitions of self-importance, the Prince at length said: “M1. Treves, will you be good enough to give us, once for all, your ideas of independ- ence, and then have done with the subject ?” Certainly, your Royal Highness," said Treves, “my hidea of hindependence, is, when a man has got a guinea in his pocket, and don't care a d o for you or your fa- ther either!” We heard this from one of the royal aides-de-camps, who was at the table, and who added, that although the Prince drew up at first with alarming dignity, yet partly recollecting he wight want Treves, and partly from being amused at the fellow's ineffable impudence, he burst out into a fit of royal laughter. 24 278 OLD ENGLAND and Maine he will pass through the following places, which we noted down as we journeyed along, and which we have thrown into alphabetical trim, that the reader may the more easily judge for himself :- Abingdon Coventry Malden Shelburne Acton Cornwall Manchester Shoreham Amesbury Cheshire Marlow Stratford Andover Cumberland Marlborough Stamford Ashby Dalton Meriden Stepney Ashton Dartmouth Mansfield Stirling Ashford Derby Milton Stoy Bangor Dorchester Middlesex St. Albans Barnet Dunstablo Monmouth Sudbury Barton Durham Newington Sunderland Bath Enfield New Haven Sutton Bedford Epping Newbury Swansea Belfast Essex Newport Taunton Beverley Exeter Newmarket Tewkesbury Berwick Grafton Norfolk Tiverton Billerica Glastonbury Northampton Uxbridge Bolton Granby Norwich Wakefield Boston Greenwich Orford Wallingford Bridport Guildford Oxford Wales Brighton Hampton Pembroke Waltham Bradford Hampstead Petersham Wareham Bristol Halifax Plaistow Warwick Bridgewater Hartford Plymouth Westmoreland Buxton Hatfield Pomfret Wentworth Cambridge Highgate Portsmouth Weybridge Canterbury Hyde Park Portland Weymouth Chatham ·Kent Reading Whitehall Chelsea Kensington. : Reigate Winchester Chelmsford Kilkenny Ripley Woburn Chester Lancaster Rochester Woodford Chesterfield Leominster Rockingham Woodstock Chichester Leicester Rutland Woolwich Claremont Lichfield Sandwich Worcester Colchester Lincoln Salisbury Yarmouth Colebrook Ludlow Scarborough Conway Lynn Sheffield Take any direction you will, from the Land's End to John o'Groat's, and even across the Irish Channel, and you cannot escape some one or other of these towns and counties; and the effect is singular enough when you find, after crossing more than three thousand miles of water, that you are still steaming through Gravesend, Rochester, Canterbury and Dover, through Newbury, Bath, Bristol, Exeter, and other such familiar localities. There is, however, one serious disadvantage in this reiterated assumption of title ; for unless a stranger happens to know the State, county, AND NEW ENGLAND. 279 or district in which the place is situated, to which he desires to write, there is some chance of his letter never reaching its desti- nation. While we were at Washington (the seat of government), we received a letter which had been travelling half over the Union, and had been sent back from twenty-three other Washing- tons, scrawled all over: “not known here," "try t'other," "no such person," and so on, and which would have been with us in twelve hours, if our correspondent bad put the letters D. C. (Dis- trict of Columbia) under the word Washington. The system of momenclature is assuming a ludicrous character altogether; for while we were in the States, a citizen complained in the public papers) of the confusion in business, the names given at present to cities and towns led to, inasmuch as his own letters generally miscarried, unless they were addressed to his residence in full, which was :- “ Dresden, “(Close to Vienna), “On the road to Naples, "(Between Antwerp and Corinth), "Indiana." PRONUNCIATION.—Noah Webster, in the Preface to his own “ Dictionary of the English Language,” thoroughly disparages Dr. Johnson's, and most Americans are of Webster's opinion. When Stuart,* their distinguished painter, was introduced to the leviathan of our literature, Johnson, surprised at his speak- ing such good English, asked him where he learnt it; and Stu- art's cool reply was : "Not in your dictionary !” In addition to the use of words which are only to be found in their own vocabu- lary, they have notions of pronunciation that are peculiarly their private property. It is not the fashion with us, as we have already observed, to call "beauty," booty, nor “duty," dooty, nor “due," doo; neither would the adoption of tew for “two," nor of noos, for “news," nor of en-gine for "engine," nor of genu-ine for "génuine, of deefe for “deaf,” of én-quirry for "en-quíry,” and countless similar expressions slip very glibly off our tongues: but if you only ask an American why he so pro- nounces them, he will tell you that he believes it to be the right way; and if you remind liim that there are no such words, as he occasionally uses, in the English language, his answer will be : “There mayn't be in yours, but there are in ours !" AMERICAN WINES. -There can be no question of their being, . * Vide Tuckerman's - Artist-Life,” a work replete with talent. 280 OLD ENGLAND - as we have previously stated, somé splendid wine in the United States; at the same time, it is equally true that it is principally confined in the cellars of private individuals. It would strike an Englishman with astonishment to find those cellars (at least for the preservation of white wines) always arranged at the top of the house, the under-ground ones being devoted-to the reception of red wines, malt liquors, &c.; and the observation of your host, saying, he will go up into his cellar for a bottle of his best ma- deira, sounds oddly in the ear of one who always goes down into his, for any beverage he may want. While we admit that no- thing can be finer than some of the wines we have drank at private tables, it is an undoubted fact that some of the vilest rubbish, called wine, is vended at nearly all the hotels throughout the Union, and that the Americans, as well as the visitors to their country, pay a most exorbitant price for the villainous compounds they imbibe. As respects the price demanded at tables-d'hôte, we may observe that you can get Sauterne from 6s. to 8s. a bottle; claret, from 4s. to 12s.; port, from 8s, to 20s. ; moselle, from 8s. to 10s.; hock, from Ss. to 16s. ; burgundy, from 8s. to 12s.; · and champagne, from 8s. to 10s. (wines, be it understood, to which they do not attach any very great importance); but ma- deira runs from 6s. to 48s. a bottle ; and sherry, from 6s. to 40s. per bottle. You may make up your mind to stand 12s. for a bottle of " Judge Story's judicial wine,” presuming he must be a good judge” of that, if of nothing else; but as you are sipping the legal liquor, it may perhaps turn out to be Monteiros, at 6s.; and when you have screwed up your courage to disburse 48s. for a bottle of Amory's (be sure it has got the letter M marked on it!), or a similar sum for a magnum bonum of the Old City Hotel, you have no guarantee that you are not imbibing a bottle of common sercial," or "London particular,” forgetting that the said letter can be marked on any bottle. We were discussing this subject with a highly intelligent friend, who gave us a graphic illustration of our remarks--so good and so true, that we cannot do better than relate the anecdote em- bodied in his acute description. He was told by the landlord of a very respectable house, in Philadelphia, that the greater por- tion of wine in his cellar cost him from 75 to 80 cents a gallon (a trifle more than 6d. British, per bottle), which wine he sup- plied at his public table at, from two dollars (about 8s. 4d.) to three, four, and five dollars, according to the wine the gentlemen ordered from the wine list. If they call for pale Sherry, two dollars ! Eclipse, three dollars ! very old East India Madeira, K. B. C. H. L. X., black seal, thirty-two years in bottle, five AND NEW ENGLAND. 281 1 dollars! It was, however, all the same wine; but as none of his customers knew the differençė; he made up his mind that there was no difference, and he also made no secret of it. “If,” said he, “I was only to charge 50 cents a bottle for my wine, nobody would drink it. Why, it was but yesterday," continued he, “that that gentleman as sot (sat) at the upper eend (end) of the table, called for a bottle of madaree (madeira). He drank a glass, and turning to me, for I was jist (just) behind, carving the wild ducks : Landlord,' ses he, this is damned bad wine. Well now, he said it so kind o' natural like, that at first I thought he really did know something about it. I am very sorry, Sir,' ses - I, you don't like it; it's ginerly (generally) approved on.' 'Well,' ses he, 'I think it's damn bad; I can't drink it. What's the price of this wine?' Tew (two) dollars a bottle,' ses I. "Oh,' ses he, 'that akeounts (accounts) for it. Landlord, I've been used to drink good wine, and I can't drink bad wine. Send me a bottle of your five dollar wine.' Well, as soon as he said that, I knowed the chap I had to deal with ; so I takes away the de- canter, and goes to the bar, and puts the very same wine into another decanter, and brings it back again at five dollars a bottle instead of tew (two). “Now, Sir,' ses I, here's some wine,' ses I, 'I rayther guess you'll like ; Gineral Harrison dined here one day, and he wouldn't drink no other. Well, he poured out a glass and smelt it; held it up; looked at it mighty knowin'; put it to his lips and smacked 'em. 'Ah! ses he, 'this is something like wine! This is wine fit for a gentleman to drink! 'Ah, Sir ?' ses I, 'I see you know what good wine is, and it taint no use tryin' to make you drink bad wine, nohow. "Why no, land- lord,' ses he, 'lookin' as knowin' as Julus Seezur (Julius Cæsar), I rather guess I git up a leetle too early for that; so don't you try it on; and whenever I call for wine, send me this.' 'I will, Sir,' ses Í—' five dollars instead of tew (two)!'”. PAPER CURRENCY.— With the influx of gold continually pour- ing into America, the circulation of such flimsy* stuff as its paper money, especially dollar notes, is a blot upon the commercial character of the country. There are several banks, of whose "paper" one would have no possible objection to possess a ream, but there are a great many not worth a cent. There is scarcely a * When Sheridan Knowles told Laporte he was a flimsy fellow, Laporte went to every one he knew to ascertain the meaning of the word, lest it should be necessary to call him out Reynolds, the dramatist, to soothe his ire, told him that flimsy was a £1 note; and thus Laporte, thinking that Knowles referred to the substance and not the shadow of his character, became perfectly satisfied with the appellation, 24* 282 : OLD ENGLAND State in which the notes of some bank, long since bankrupted, or closed for fear of becoming so, are not palmed off on the unwary; and-though every exchange agent inay be up to “the dodge;" a stranger has no chance of detecting them; and unless he keeps in his pocket-book a list of every solvent firm, and the houses their notes are payable at, throughout the States, he is sure to be a sufferer. It frequently happens that a clerk of some store,* you have been dealing at, returns to inform you that you gave him a bad note, emphatically observing: “I'll take my path I had it o’you.” Consequently, unless you can take your oath whom you had it from, you will find yourself classed under the term "done.” The substitution of gold vice paper, has already taken place in one or two of the States; and, if only to prevent “accidents,' even of the character we have referred to, it ought to become general. YOUNG AMERICA.-In the main ingredients of character, there is very little difference between Young America and Young Eng- land, both belonging to the precocious, or to what, in phraseology of the day, is termed the “ fast” school; and as the last of the two is pretty well known by his own countrymen, we must devote the few words we have to say, to an examination of the former. Young America calls his father" the governor," his mother "the old 'un,” his sisters "our gals," and his brothers " pals;" he comes into a room with his hat on, and sits down in a lady's pre- sence. He enters a public reading-room, wet through, and, not troubling himself whether any other person is in the same pre- dicament, he sits opposite the fire, with a foot on each bob of the grate, and remains there until he is dry. He smokes all day, and keeps time in spitting; he monopolizes half a dozen news- papers, and leads them with his legs upon the nearest table; he talks as loud as if he were using a speaking-trumpet, patronizes trotting-matches, and insists upon it that " Lady Suffolk” was a faster borse than “Eclipse-Swears that America can “whip" the whole world, and particularly England, and maintains that the “New York Herald” is a "pretty considerable” d id sight better paper than the London “Times;" he calls a lady"Miss,”' and always says “Sir-ee” to a gentleman. He goes out to pár- ties in a Kossuth hat, a white satin choker, and a black paletot, in the pockets of which he keeps his hands; he has a fob in his waistcoat in which he puts his watch, and passes the chain througlı the last button-hole; be congratulates his host on having a good . . Siy “store,” mind, not. " shop,” for foar of consequences. AND NEW ENGLAND. 283 commissary (by which he means a cook), and calls his wine "not bad spill.” . He keeps a wagon, and races every Sunday on the high road, that people may see what a dust he kicks up. He pulls up at an oyster store, takes three " shrewsburys" to wet his appetite, goes hoine late to dinner, and disregards his parents' notions of punctuality. He prefers the use of his knife to that of his fork, and calls the family black servant "my nigger.” He rises late, drops into the counting-house for a flying visit, and speedily drops out again. He has his clothes from England, his boots from France, and his hats at home, which he considers the best in the world. He wears that hat a little on one side, and has a tooth-pick in his mouth which he sucks as he goes along, “for want of thought." He calls every one of his own age "old fellow.'? He sings a bad song, tells a bad story, but makes up for either deficiency by thinking very highly of himself. He orders champagne at à table-d'hôte, to convey an idea that he always drinks it at home; he is forever locomotive, and rather than sit still, he'll ride ten miles out and back, by any train to any place, to imply that he is always on the move." He talks of his lands in Texas, and his going to visit them “next fall,” of " looking at Europe in the spring," of launching a craft when he comes back, because his own bay beats that of Naples into fits; looks upon American clippers as the fastest boats going, and denominates all British steamers washing-tubs, and professes to be able to talk any “inan” out of his “boots." He has other attributes of a similar tendency, far too numerous to mention, save one, which is, that he is highly in favor of a war, no matter where, as young blood will rise to fever beat, unless it's, now and then, let out a trifie. . A PERFECT CHARACTER.--A broken-crowned hat, lanky hair hanging down under it as straight as a string of rushlights, an unwashed face and unshaven beard, an old dirty shirt in rags, ad tattered dark coat and waistcoat, light-blue trowsers, darned in sundry latitudes; white gaiters, considerably soiled; and mis- shapen shoes, patched here and there, constitute the appearance and the apparel of Richard Pean Smith, poet, dramatist, and at present agriculturist, at the Falls, about six miles from Philadel- phia. He has a first-rate dramatic library, and is author of 36 William Penn," "The Divorce," "The Avengers,'' .6 The Disowned," "The Deformed," "The Eighth of January," "A Wife at a Venture,” “ Quite Correct," "The Centinels," "The Pelican,”. “The Recluse.". He was kind enough to show us nver his house, and gave us a hospitable invitation to spend a 284 OLD ENGLAND month there, simply observing that he would find us in board and lodging, but we must find the drink. On mentioning this to a friend of his, he replied : “And get up early about it, or you'll have none; for as Smith is invariably tight' (Anglice; drunk) all day long, he clears out the village about every twenty- four hours !" HABITS. We have no intention to write a diatribe on cos- tume, nor to play punster by talking of customary habits as or- dinary clothes, or of abandoned habits as cast-off clothes, and such like ribaldry; neither do we purpose making any reference to the organization of society, or the general phases it presents. We herein only refer to the existence of certain peculiarities, as We have met with them, whether they relate to habit as dress, or habit as custom. There are no beings under the sun who are more the creatures of habit than the Americans; and in seeing one, you may say, in many respects, you see them all. To ap- pearance, they are one and the same person; they dress upon the same principle, and after the same fashion, especially in the same style of hat, which they wear in the same manner. They all smoke, they are all industrious, and yet (curious anomaly!) they are all indolent to the last degree; they prefer the same viands and wines, and have all the same mode of eating and drinking them; their carriages, horses, and harness are alike, and they all drive alike : they all loll about in rocking-chairs, the men using extra ones to put their feet upon; and, as a farther oddity (which may enable them to do this with greater com- fort), the women wear po stays and the men wear no braces, generally speaking. They know one another in every town, in every State of the Union; they all disparage one another, but allow no one else to disparage them; they are all “posted up,” as they terin it, in everything concerning their own country, and are all of opinion it is the first in the world. There is no earthly reason why they should not, for, upon the principle that “every crow thinks its own the blackest" the people of every other country think their own the greatest. We only just mention these bare facts-not doubting, for a moment, that the Ameri- cans can trace an equal amount of peculiarity in us, to that we cannot avoid detecting in thein. CUSTOM-HOUSE.—Very few travellers have succeeded in keep- ing the equilibrium of their tempers when, after braving every incident by flood and field, they arrive at a frontier town, or a maritime port, and have to undergo the process of inspection, if not personal, at all cvents portmanteau-l. Les Douanes of the Continent are almost as bad as they can be, but those of Eng- AND NEW ENGLAND. 285 land are insufferable. The rummaging at. Dover and Folkestone for a dozen pair of kid gloves, à collar of Mechlin lace, a worked mouchoir, a silk dress, Parisian boots, or any other trifle man delights in presenting to his “ ladye-love,” is positively disgust- ing. It is done in a spirit of bukstering, utterly unbecoming a common delicacy is very often lost sight of. An English custom-house officer is a brute, half-savage, but defying any one to tell which half is civilized. He is “ dressed in a little brief authority," and consequently plays more than a sufficient allowance of "fantastic tricks." He is a sort of blood- hound, save and except that his scent is for fee, instead of for flesh. He is a perfect anomaly, because, while he is supposed to be on guard to protect the law, he is a thorough-bred breaker of it. He is helped to the best of everything on board, in the hope of securing an immediate discharge of his duty; but treat- ing all that as a matter of right, his only idea of fulfilling that duty consists of his neglecting it. His sole thought is what he can make out of the Queen's subjects, irrespective of what pay he receives from the Queen's Government. He will "pass” any reasonable quantity of cigars for another, if he have a given quantity for himself; and, in short, he will put an official mark of examination on anything for which he receives a con-si-de-ra- tion! It is astonishing to see the effect produced, in such cases, by a clouceur, as the thermometer of countenance and manner rises according to "value received." In the United States, the case is altogether different; and the mode of receiving and passing a stranger through the custom- house of the port he lands at, is well worthy of imitation by countries which affect to be more civilized, but are frequently less so, than America. If a man has a ton or two of luggage with him that has rather the appearance of merchandise than the ordinary apparel he is supposed to travel with, the ceremony of opening the boxes it is in, and of passing the hand down the sides of the trunk, is gone through rather as a matter of form than of business, while, in all ordinary cases, the inspector simply asks if you have brought anything subject to duty, and on your as- even uncorded. His address is that of a gentleman, without any alloy of the brusqueness of an ordinary landing-waiter, and is peculiarly gratifying. Whether it arises from an impression that, as half of the humanized part of the world has already visited his shores, it is desirable to treat them civilly for fear the other half should keep away; whether, from the hospitable 286 OLD ENGLAND feeling innate in his character; or whether from an objection he has to waste time upon matters of such slight importance, we know not-yet certain it is, that while an American keeps as sharp a look-out after his dues on all mercantile commodity as any of his fellow douanniers on the face of the earth, yet, as re- gards attention to those who set foot upon his soil, and care of all things coming under the denomination of passengers' bag- gage, his manner is polite in the extreme, and his conduct un-. mistakingly urbane. Should the reader never have happened to meet with the re- verse of all this, we submit to him, for his edification, a doggrel account of a scene that generally occurs on the deck of a trans- atlantic steamer as soon as she has cast anchor by the watery wall of Old England:- Stranger, when you are travelling, Keep this one thing in view, . Though all things worth unravelling You go on, searching through, Yet search not for a custom-house, for it will search for you. If you should land at Liverpool, By the Mersey, that small river, pool, Or whatever name they call it Or off Southampton anchor (Though a second port they rank her) The custom at them both the same is, The right they demand in Her Majesty's name, is Whether you've scores of trunk, chests, case, or other grand box, Or only just a change of linen in a bandbox, To overhaul it! What precious things are done “unknown to fame,” In that most sacred name! On marvels in each bureau of the State We could, at length, dilate; But lest by any accident we miss one, Just for the present we will stick to this one. Just as the vessel's got up to her mooring, The "dogs in office” all on board come pouring- First a surveyor or inspector, Or other principal director, Who you at once see " cock of the walk” is, Whose business to do nothing else but talk, is. And, by his side, the locum tenens of collector; Then an inquisitive and dingy; qucer- Looking fellow, with a pen behind his ear, And an ink-horn in his button-hole, up to snúff, AND NEW ENGLAND. 287 Tobacco (which it's made from), and all sorts of stuff; . Another, with a pair of scales, ready to mesh . The silly smuggler Waiting, like Shylock, for his " pound of flesh”- Or rather of cigars—which he first claims as booty, But courteously lets off, on payment of the duty. Next the cunning juggler Who has brought over a great many oddities, Domestic, and some fanciful commodities, In ivory, or silver, and, deceit abhorring, Lustily swears they're English, and not foreign! In fact, on one, and all, In Her Majesty's name they call The straps outside their luggage to unfold, That they the "traps” inside them may behold. There's an old lady with a monstrous figure, Looking below her waist a great deal bigger Than ladies at her time of life do look, attended By a white-tooth’d, woolly-headed, shiny nigger Who stood in the relation of a lacquey; And all of them began at once to rig her.. “Ma’am," said the officer, “don't be offended, But as we judge a tree by what there grows on, You seem to have a precious lot of clothes on. - Pray might I ask what's in your pockets stowed ?" "Only some dirty linen, Sir," she said. “I'm blowed," Said he, “if by the smell it isn't backy! And I must seize both you and it.” -Seize me?" “(There's quite enough to fill a boat, I see) So all you have about you here I claim In Her Majesty's name! Weigh the old gal, her gown, and all pinned to it.” "Weigh her! I'd like to see the scales could do it!" Another lady's parrots, highly stored, Are seized, and she must à petition send the “Board." Then next, though the recital's really shocking, A poor old German in a dirty stocking Had a large saucisson secured, and Rhenish wine (On some of both of which he used to dine) Were tucked in a pair of trowsers, which, too old The weight of any liquid long to hold, Gave way; and as the searcher poked about, Six or seven bottles, at the least, dropp'd out! ."All these,” said he, “I claim ; In Her Majesty's name.” À wily warehouseman, one Mr. Powell, Who took a transatlantic turn All modes of manufacturing to learn, Though knowing 'gainst the laws 'twas sinning: 288 OLD ENGLAND Had stowed away amongst his linen Samples of shawls, and stuffs, and prints, And every kind of colour'd chintz. “There, said he very coolly, "search and ram about, For there is nothing there I care a d-n about.” The officer then did, As Powell bid, And taking up some things, replied, "are these yours? 'Coz they all form a portion of my seizures!" "Seize! why I took 'em out from Manchester," said Powell. On which, he in authority who chose To put his right hand thumb up to his nose, Answered; “Vy, all on 'em was made at Lowell!* And for the Crown I claim All-in Her Majesty's name." Under that title they presumed to pounce . On bags of gold-dust, weighed out by the ounce- Snatch'd up a bundle of some silk bandana, Suspecting it contained some “best Havana;" Then "pass'd” some hams, and cheese, and seemed to scoff Because the duty had been taken off; Some printed books they left, for those who need 'em, (Simply because the blackguards could not read 'em.) Čases of sweetmeats, hid in casks of apples, . . To retain which, the owner stoutly grapples; . Certain choice liqueurs, that were lying fallow Under a superstructive weight of tallow, And condiments well pack'd away on shelves, To some of which the rascals help'd themselves; Some “ Kossuth Notes,” conceal'd in bags of rice, Which in America had fetched their price, But here worth nothing; fruit that had got rotten From being jammed between huge bales of cotton; And many other goods wl:ereon the law Presumed to clap its avaricious paw; Canvas-back'd ducks, and other kinds of game, Unless you gave a brace, each, of the same, Were what they begg'd to claim In Her Majesty's name! REMEDY. The best way to prevent this state of things, And not to take in vain the name of”-kings Or Queens, is, just to slip (Or, Anglicè, to tip) A sovereign in the palm of the clerk of the surveyor, And one thing is quite certain, that the payer Owns not an article the searcher seizes, * See chap. ix. p. 104. · AND NEW ENGLAND. 289 Who may just walk on shore with what lie pleases; The man liking the “likeness” of that inighty dame Müch more than all that he can claim In Her Majesty's name: CHAPTER XXI. . . . . . . A WORD AT PARTING. A muhod s tabu Writers on. America, and the native of their writings—The comic versus the serious-Politics and their prevalence---Shakspeare's value of pub- lic opinion-Thé respective merits of General Scott, Daniel Webster; and General. Pierce-A President's - turn out,”-A new railroad intro- duced by the African slave-Cavaliers of the South and puritans of the North-An American barrister and an English judgePrevalent principles of Boston-Humor of Haliburton-Provisions and the price of them--A famous family receipt-Jonathan's opinion of Trafalgar and Waterloo-The reputed source and present extent of swaggering- Pigs, and a speedy way of disposing of them-The spirit of inquiry, and what point to carry it to-American méfiance and English open- ness--The only difference which ought to be between the two coun- tries-Peep at America a: hundred years hence-The only way to visit America. The distance to accomplish it-A Californian-Four drinks to one: dollar-One way to visit England-Boston sauce and Boston sweets-An Indian meal-Respect in 1773, and bounce in 1853–Eighty years have done wonders-Mount Auburn and other cemeteries-Places for the living to cry in, and for the dead to lie in- Adieu to America-Chances of the author's returning there. THE-reader will be thoroughly convinced, by this time, that the intention with which we entered upon these pages has been fully carried out; that we pretended not to be, nor' can we be detected in being; historians of the United States of America, but simply chroniclers of the odd sayings and doings that pass under a traveller's observation in every country. he goes through, and in none more plentifully than in: the one under discussion. Aware of the existence of such: authorities as: “Warden's. Ac- count of the United States of America,” of the writings of Bradbury, Mackenzie, Colden, Hearne, and Adair, of Pike's, M'Iver's, and Major Long's, of Franklin's Journal, and Fearon's Travels, of Jefferson's and Hallett's Notes, and Playfare's Out- lines, of James's Expedition, and Hunter's Memoirs of Sketches of the North American Indians, and accounts of South Ameri- 25 290 OLD ENGLAND can adventure, of various histories of the American war, and sundry disquisitions on the American peace, and, in short, of all minutiæ relating to this colossal country, from the early period of its discovery down to the latest moments of its progression, we say, that with all this collection of matter, and plenty more we have already referred to, so thoroughly descriptive of every spot we have visited (leaving out of the question those places we have not, and those people we have had no opportunity of dwelling amongst) lying before us, we should have looked upon ourselves as denuded of common sense to have attempted a serious work upon a nation so minutely analysed as America has been-or in reality to have attempted anything serious, where there is a prevalence of so much of the comic. There are several points upon which any one visiting our transatlantic neighbors, and venturing to publish what he has wit- nessed, will be expected to speak out; but upon many of them we are purposely silent. We are no politicians, but every man in America is one; and to hear him talk, you would think he had nothing else on earth to do but to regulate the affairs of his country. Could any living writer satisfy, or reconcile the views they take of things, when almost every other man he meets is forever taking a different view? As their political bias is per- petually undergoing some change, arising out of circumstance much more than principle, it evidently cannot be relied upon, and therefore should never be appealed to. The want of con- sistency in their political notions is too apparent to entice any one into controversy; and therefore, even if able to sustain it with the utmost fluency of ability, we should prefer not entering upon such dissertation at all. A truer sentence than this one - delivered by Caius Martius, could not be applied to a large body of America's politicians :- “With every minute you do change a mind, And call him noble that was now your hate, Him vile that was your garland.” The last President-election sapored strongly of this character. If America ever gave birth to a man whose gigantic mind was capable of directing her affairs, and of guiding the helm of her State, in whatever turbulent sea she might be floundering, Daniel Webster was that man. If America ever possessed a chieftain, whose military genius and whose renown warranted his elevation to the curule chair, General Scott is that chieftain ; and yet in the absurd fatality of politics, the merits of the one, and the vast services he had rendered his country, were so lost AND NEW ENGLAND. 291 sight of, that his name was not even put in nomination; and the brilliant carčer of the other suffered partial eclipse, while an almost obscure gentleman was dug out of the seclusions of New Hampshire, to be the shuttle-cock of his country.men's political battledoors (something on the same principle that Polk was cbosen vice Clay in 1844). General Pierce, beyond a fair share of prowess in the Mexican war, has done nothing to entitle him- self to the special favor of his fellow-citizens; yet Webster (broken down by the cares of State, and perhaps broken-hearted by the ingratitude of his countrymen), was buried within a day or two of Pierce's election; while the elevation in military rank proposed to be extended to Scott, by way of atonement for his defeat, has never yet been confirmed by Congress. It does not require the brains of a goose to determine what will be Pierce's eventual position. He has displayed no talent-nay, not even common discernment-in the selection of his cabinet, and he appears thus far to have disappointed all his friends. They who pulled him neck and heels into power, and comfortably installed him in “The White House," expected as a matter of .course all sorts of pickings; and although the said Pierce has had thousands of berths at his disposal, he does not seem to have .bestowed them where they were looked for, and many a fool has superseded a wise utilitarian, and many a brawling politician has taken the place of a sound man of business. The fate of General Pierce is now hanging between the disappointment of one party, and the defeat of another; if they remain neutral, his four years of service will pass off, in the absence of any great national movement, amidst the silent contempt of both; and if, by any miracle they were to coalesce, his only hope will lic in abdica- tion. Who then would enter upon any discussion of American politics, in which there is not the vestige of fun, unless he should drop into Congress, and hear their discussion by other people, and in that he will be sure to find plenty ? Well, come to the question of slavery, on which we have in a previous chapter held conference with its puritanical combatant, Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, and respecting which all the mar- vellous writers, who have to this very moment taken up pen, either on the pro or con side of controversy, are unable to add an argument worth the paper they have written upon. Unable to avail themselves of any other tenable precept, the abolitionists are pouring out the full force of their polemics on the “Fugitive Slave” part of the general question ; and if their present efforts could turn the beam, the Union itself would undergo total dis- memberment. The most appalling cases of proceedings adopted I 292 OLD ENGLAND for the recovery of slaves who have run away from their legal owners, are hawked about in every street, and purveyed through every journal of the States, with a view of exciting the sympa- thies of the abolitionist party, and of enticing others to join it. The rallying-point amongst them in America, is the underground railway; in England, it is the Indian railway; and the direction of both of them is to annihilate the cotton-trade, for which, it is presumed, slavery is chiefly upheld—under an impression that if the flight of the slave can be provided for, that is the surest way to abolish the traffic of which he is the victim; and by the esta- blishment of railways in India, the English market can be sup- plied with cotton from our Eastern possessions, without any farther reliance upon the United States. How this latter ar- rangement is to do away with slavery, unless it be proposed to emancipate the East Indian .as we did the West Indian serf, or to set the white man to work on plantations at present worked by the darkey, this deponent sayeth not. The States of New England do not contemplate (or at all events they will not admit so much) any loss in the national finances, should their exertions lead to the abolition of slavery, because they are loud advocates for home consumption, and cal- culate that America cannot produce more cotton than America has occasion for. The Southern doctrinians laugh at that notion altogether, and know the value of exportation too well, to admit for one instant any opposite argument; and the conflict of opi- nion is not therefore likely to cease. Unless the popularity* of * Just before Pierce's election in November, and immediately after his inauguration in March last, there were no bounds to the devotion of his supporters, and Boston, as usual, cut a conspicuous figure in the display of sundry.complimentary tomfooleries. A splendid carriage, and a richly- caparisoned pair of bays, were presented to him, together with numc- rous offerings; and amongst others, a Mr. Armington, the General's family Schneider, positively made him a present of the following suits of cloth- ing:- 1. A fine black dress coat, made from the same cloth which took the premium at the last world's fair in London. Coat superbly lined with satin dechene; sleeve linings also of satin. 2. Undress waistcoat of plain black silk; back of satin dechene,' and lined throughout with white satin. 3. Full-dress vest of plain white silk; back and linings of white satin. On the satin lining of the right side are thirty-one stars, representing the States of the Union, forming a circle wrought in silver. Within this circle of stars is the anchor of hope, worked in gold. Outside of all is an endless circle. Translation of these emblems: “In the union of the States is our only hope-God watches over the Republic-eternal be its duration !" On the opposite white satin lining is wrought a chaplet of AND NEW ENGLAND. 293 General Pierce should continue to decline, as it has already began to do, and his government be unable to keep together, this alarm- ing question may be agitated until his period of office be com- pleted, but it cannot be impeached, as will be manifest from the determination expressed in the President's Inaugural Address of last March. At that time Pierce was the idol of the people, but it would seem that they have come to Shakspeare's view of human nature, and now call- “Him vile that was their garland.” Who then would wish to enter upon this vexed question ? Could we be persuaded to take it up, we should do with it what urchins do with a hot potato-drop it instantly—for no possible good could arise from its agitation. The appeals made from time to time to the whole community of the United States, and the ab- solute call, that has occasionally been made upon Congress to bring about the emancipation of the slave, show how very little the people in this country, so acting, know of America, and consequently how ill it becomes them to meddle in matters of which they are alarmingly ignorant. The mass of Englishmen think that because their Parliament could, as they did by the monstrous Act of 1833, strike off the fetters of their slaves in the West India colonies, that the American Parliament (id est Congress) has the same legislative power; and that the Presi- dent has only to give the word of command, and the said fetters will drop off the nigger's wrist as if by magic. A pack of stuff! Congress has no more the power than if it were not a constituted body; nor is it at all likely that even any recommendation from them upon the subject would carry much weight with the Southern States, whose only principle is “in- terest,” facetiously called “the white man's gold.” The decla- ration of General Pierce, to which we have made reference, is so far important that it goes to confirm the determination of the slave States to maintain their rights; but beyond that it is not bay-leaves, tied at the bottom with a golden knot, outside of which is another circle of gold. 4. Pants of plain black doeskin, of the finest material that can be pro- cured. 5. Undress pants of a plain black, very fine, silk and wool mixture. • Overcoat of plain black, superbly lined, and made in the form of a surtout. The chances now are, that many who were parties to these presenta- tions would subscribe for å rope to hang him and why? He is just as - ſit for their President now, as he was then, and never fit at either time. Popular breath is a fickle reed to lean upon !!! 25% 294 OLD ENGLAND . worth the time he bestowed upon its delivery. If you abolition- ists really want the thing done, make separate application to each of these States, demand (as the clown in a pantomime asks the value of a thing he has some desire to steal) ? how much ?" and if you have got the money, and they have got the will, a bargain may be struck. Every State in the Union being independent of every other, who but the law-givers of each State are to prescribe laws unto it? Can Boston, the glory of the north, with all its high-flown notions of philanthropy, dictate to Georgia, or any other southern State, by what order of handicraft her fields are to be tilled, and her crops are to be gathered ? Why, no more than Georgia or South Carolina can dictate to Massachusetts how her mills are to be worked, and her faotories to be regulated. Though we have abstained from entering the political arena, and more especially from taking up this matter which forms so conspicuous a feature in it, we are quite as sensitive as other people upon the main point. Show us a man capable of solving the said question-of providing against all the alarming conse- quences that abolition would entail, and of satisfying the vast ruin it would heap upon millions, and we would never cease to express our sympathy in the cause he was advocating; but alas! that man is nowhere to be found ; the thought is visionary, and the task impossible. It has been wisely remarked that the plead- ers for the ill-fated African lose sight of one main point involved in the case ; and that is, whether the hapless creature would be happier or better for his freedom. Whether in bondage or out of it, there is no possibility of altering his caste; it must ever be remembered that he is "A slave vrhom Fortune's tender arm With favor never clasped—but bred a dog," and no abolition can alter his destiny. Apart from the flagitious cases that are too often thrust under public observation, where slaves are hunted like the beasts of the forests, and where owners in pursuit of them are apt to pitch upon a wrong one, and thereby subject the innocent to the thraldom of the guilty, it has long been a question whether the mass of the colored population would accept their freedom if it were offered them; a theory, wild as it may seem, that has been incessantly indulged in. We have already said that the emancipation of the nigger would unques- tionably lead to the dismemberment of the country he is now a slave in; and as a more awful blow could not be struck against the interests of full one-half of the civilized world, why we shall say no more about it. C AND NEW ENGLAND. 295 If we have refrained from any political discussion in the pages now drawing to a close, we have also withheld all legal disquisi- tion. We visited the American Courts of Justice; and finding their tenets based for the most part upon those of the old country, our object consisted principally in extracting any of that humor from their displays, which very frequently happens. All the law that Coke and Littleton ever laid down is dull stuff when com- pared to the matter which such learning now and then leads to. Ecce siynuni! A barrister was defending a case with great earnestness and eloquence, and felt tolerably sure of gaining the cause he was engaged in, when the Judge abruptly stopped him-- which led to the following remarks :- JUDGE. You needn't go on any farther; the Court has made up its mind to a nonsuit. Coun. But if your Honor would allow me just to make one observation- JUDGE. It's no manner of use; the Court has made up its mind. COUN. There is a very material point that I anı desirous to bring under your Honor's notice. JUDGE. It's no use, I tell you. (To the Clerk.) Enter up a nonsuit; and down squatted his Honor on the bench. Coun. I was not, continued the barrister, thinking of disput- ing your Honor's decision, which I hold iv the utmost respect. I was merely about to observe, in referring to a similar case in this volume, (pointing to one he had in his hand), what a d-d fool Blackstone must have been !!! We have studiously avoided all approach to religious contro- versy, as a subject too serious to be lightly handled, and as one from which no possible advantage could accrue by dissertation. Discussions upon creed that, after all, must lie between man and his Maker, can lead to little good. The Unitarian faith is the one prevalent in New England, and while the doctrines we hold are IEpiscopalian, there can be no reason why we should wage war against those of a different tendency. We are certainly very much opposed to Puritanism, with which, at the same time, New Enga land is eaten up, because we have suffered too much in this coun- try by its baneful influence, and watched too closely the effects of its specious progress in other countries, to regard it with a tranquil look. The dissatisfaction of the Puritans with the government of James, ended in their emigration to, and coloni- zation of, New England, where they have become from time to time equally dissatisfied. The Purit:ins revolutionized England, and subsequently revo- 296 OLD ENGLAND: lutionized her American colonies, and they would now revolu- tionize the United States, under the specious denouncement of slavery, if it lay in their power. Boston—while we proclaim our love for that delightful city and the many delightful people living in it-we also proclaim, has been and is the hot- bed of puritanism, and has ever been the stronghold of repub- licanism, from the earliest dawn of colonial aspirations for free- dom. Boston aroused whatever portion of the spirit of New England chanced to be dormant. Boston evoked the shout of Liberty in Fanueil Hall-Boston emptied her purse and the veins of her sons, to supply, as far as in her lay, the means that were necessary to keep up an active rebellion against the country her people sprang from; and taken altogether, while she has. ever assumed the rigidity of principle, creed, demeanor and con- dition of the most sanctified children puritanism ever gave birth ito; she has been foremost in the expression of the most violent and desperately democratic notions that republicanism ever en- gendered. We have often been asked if the Americans are not great blasphemers? We cannot deny that, to hear some of them talk, you would suppose they believe there is but this one world. The custom of using irreverent oaths is very common amongst certain classes of the people ; but the application of them an- peared to us to be adopted from a bad habit contracted by asso- ciation, and by no means proceeding from any premeditated offence against divine law. We are not, however, going to dis- sect this or any point of religion, any more than other character- istics we have previously referred to; and the reader may there- fore be tempted to inquire, as he lays down our volume, what has been the general drift of our observations, having professedly eschewed all matters political, legal, and religious, and all ques- tions of slavery, party, and power... Our aim has been to bring before those who have taken the trouble to read us, the peculiarities of one of the most remark- able parts of the habitable globe, and yet to do so in a manner that would create the smile, and not the displeasure, of its peo- ple. There has already been too bountiful a display of ridicule directed against them with a given design; and too little justice withheld, where there is so much due. While, however, we cordially admit that there is by far too great an indulgence in acrimony, amongst some conductors of our public press, upon all transatlantic matters, our friends of the western world must not rụn away with an idea that it all emanates on this side of the gulf which rolls between us. No such thing. The American AND NEW ENGLAND. 297 journals never fail to give us tit for tat, and we see no reason why they should not; but it were a wiser and more honorable course to abandon, on either side, such bitterness altogether. As far as our humble remarks go, we should indeed be sorry if a single word we have herein set down, could give offence to a human soul. We are by no means disposed to look upon the Americans as such thin-skinned .gentry some people represent them to be, having ever found them fond of a joke, even if played off at their own expense. They object to the bitterness of sar- casm, and we should be glad to know who does not? but of their thorough enjoyment of wit and humor, even in the delineation of their country's character, no better evidence can be adduced than the popularity of Judge Haliburton. The sayings of "Sam Slick," are in the mouths of every American, and especially of every Yankee, whose peculiarities the salient writer so admirably hits off; and get the society of Haliburton is courted wherever he happens to be. No one dreams of complaining of the spark- ling.esprit which pervades every line he writes, though the dis- section of character in all its cunning, its speciousness, its calcu- lation and its provoking dryness, is truthful to the letter. There is not:a member of the reading community in America, but who keeps a sharp look-out for any syllable announced to be forth- .coming from Haliburton's pen, though convinced, at the very moment, it will be replete with portraitures of all that is most striking in his own, and in his neighbor's habits. The reason is obvious. There is no sting in his satire, no bitterness in his comment, in fact, no gall in his composition; he is acute in ob- servation, but gentle in bearing, and consequently his favoritism is universal. We have most unquestionably alluded to a series of peculiar- ities for which our transatlantic kinsmen are most distinguished; but not in a matter, we repeat; to give offence. We have only done with them, as they invariably do with us-exchanged a good-tempered sally or two, at which, we will answer for it, they will themselves laugh quite as much as we laughed ourselves, when seeing what we have narrated, or narrating what we have seen. That we have entered upon a crusade against smoking, chew- ing, and spitting, admits of no denial; and we feel certain that the digust created by the extent to which they are all carried, is participated in by every real American gentleman, quite as sensitively as it is felt by ourselves. Smoking, at least to the degree it is there indulged in, is bad enough in all conscience; 298 OLD ENGLAND but the practice being almost as European as American, must, we presume, be put up with, and no more must be said about it. The other two babits are filthy beyond description, and are re- volting enough to put any man adopting them out of the pale of civilized society. On this score, therefore, we have not'the slight- est fear of disturbing the temper of a single friend or stranger in the United States, and shall consequently only add, upon the point, our wish that they would, one and all, smoke less, and not chew or spit at all. We think we hear the gourmand's exclamation that we have said very little about the good things of this life which are to be obtained in America, and nothing of the prices, at which they may be obtained. We have already made a reference to the character of all public cuisines, and we believe the cooks who superintend them have arrived at the highest state of perfection in their art, excepting, perhaps, in the solitary instance recently advertised in Paris, of “how to make stinking fish sweet.” There is no finer beef to be eaten than many parts of America provide, though by no means cut up in the approved style which charac- terizes an English butcher. We priced it at various times in New York, Boston, and elsewhere, and the average demand was 64d. per lb.; but we unhesitatingly say that one of the finest joints of beef ever thrown in the path of a consuming appetite was placed before ours at Washington, and its price was 4 d. per lb., as the obliging hostess stated, in reply to an inquiry we, with many apologies, ventured to make. There is no mutton in the States fit so to be called, however much their swagger about having "everything on airth” might induce you to believe there is; and should you desire to make any friend in America tbe nost acceptable present for his table, send him out a quarter of Southdown, Oakhampton, or Dartmoor, and the only wish he will then have ungratified will be his wish to have you there to partake of it. The land is not sheepless, but the sheep are, comparatively speaking, not worth eating. The pork is plentiful, but not after the English taste by any means. It averages in price from 6d. to 7d.; and the hams, which in New Jersey and Cincinnati are considered remarkably fine, can be purchased from 7d. to 73d. per lb. They are not, to our way of thinking, to be compared to our Yorkshire and Cumberland hams, but they bear a great reputation; and their sausages, to those who like now and then to see a “real Cambridge" on the breakfast-table, are filthy. We never tasted a good piece of veal in any place we visited that would bear a moment's comparison AND NEW ENGLAND. 299 with that viand of England; but then its price, per pound, is at least one-third less. Though the variety and flavor of all their fish is not equal to that which is supplied to the London market, yet they have some kinds that are justly esteemed excellent. If they have not what an alderman looks upon as the very majesty of fish, a turbot, they have the nearest possible approach to its quality, in the sheeps- head, and the shad we have before referred to is a great delicacy. Lobsters and crabs abound, especially on the northern coasts, but prawns and shrimps must be looked for elsewhere. The perfec- tion, however, of shell-fish is supposed to be arrived at in their oysters, the traffic in which we have previously stated to be enor- mous. It may take an Englishman, who astonishes the natives" by eating a dozen or two for lunch, some time to overcome his . partiality for that peculiar 5 breed,” but his patriotism will give way after he has administered to his wants half-a-dozen Shrews- burys. Although of a size almost calling upon you to eat them in detachments, yet their flavor is undeniáble; and whichever of the many ways the Americans dress them may be selected, they are a very great luxury. The poultry in New England is fully as good as that in Old England; and we question if any county in the latter land can equal, certainly not surpass, that of Pennsylvania, in which State. butter also is as fine as it is filthy in most other States. It is now and then positively rank. Tenpence per lb., or even a shilling, there, is not a high price to ask for good butter, but it is an in- famous one to demand for bad. Their game has not, generally speaking, the rich flavor which Saxon pasturage and cornfields impart, yet nothing can surpass that of some of it. Their venison is coarser, and they have no pheasants; but their canvas-back ducks defy comparison, and they have other web-footed fowl of high quality. A new Lord Mayor would pay a good price on the 9th of November for a prairie hen, and grouse from Illinois would make his Lordship's mouth water. Their fruits, growing in orchards rather than green-houses, have not that refined taste which better cultivation would give them; and their vegetables, raised in fields oftener than in gardens, are by no means so delicately flavored as ours; but it is, after all, plainly to be seen that, in whatever part of America a traveller lands, he may go farther and fare worse. Now, Sir-ee, are you satisfied ? . We may not have given you as good a dish of politics, law, religion, and state affairs in gene- ral, as your appetite might crave for; but here is as ample an ac- count of fish, flesh, and fowl as the most fastidious, or the most 300 OLD ENGLAND - capacious appetites of even the Corporation of the City of London, could possibly require.* We have made some brief remarks upon an American's pa- triotism, and it is a subject that will admit of many more being made. You are not bound, always bear in mind, to believe what he says; but you cannot help admiring it to a very great exténti. As a general principle, abstract from his assertions: the conceit, which is sure to form a component part of them, and there will be found an amazing quantity of truth at the bottom of them. When we reflect upon the almost unlimited extent of territory which has become part and parcel of one Government, in the short period which has transpired since the year 1776, we cannot: but wonder that any portion of it consented so long to be a mere colony of a country, however mighty, of such disproportioned boundary, or that the said country, our own beloved England;. did not abandon its possession without the struggle that import- ant year commemorates. It is impossible not to admire the determination, the suffering; the sacrifice, and the energy with which Americakept up the contest--at one time unequal, then doubtful, and always des- perate as well as the industry and application with which she has since improved upon what she at that time won'; but our admi- ration has its limits, and we must not suffer our common sense to: be cajoled by all the nonsense we are perpetually doomed to listen to, as the supposed result of their bravery and their reso- lution. They have obtained well-merited successes; without * Though we disavow all intention of inflicting any other culinary matter, arising out of this commissariat account, upon the readers pa- tience, we really must tax it for one given specimen. There is an Ameri- can soup called. Chowder (a title bestowed upon many things of first-ratė quality), which will bear comparison with some of the best offorts of Ude, Soyer, Francatelli, and others. One of the best makers of it in America is. Commodore Stevens, who brought over the yacht of that name to Eng- land ; and for the benefit of all gourmandise, public or private, of all cor- porations, municipal or bodily, and of all whom it may in any respect con- corn, we subjoin a recipe for its manufacture, which we were assured was an exact copy of one given to our contributor by the worthy Commodore himself- RECIPE FOR MAKING CHOWDER 'SOUP. Four tablespoons of onions fried with pork—1 quart of boiled potatoes, well mashed-2 pilot-biscuits broken- 1 tablespoonful of thyme and sum- mer savory mixed- of a bottle of mushroom catsup- a bottle of port winea nutmeg, grated-a few cloves, mace, and allspice-6 lbs. of fish (cod, or sea-bass) cut in slices. The whole put in a pot, with water enough to cover it about an inch; to be boiled for an hour, and carefully stirred. N. B.--To be washed down by iced punch. AND NEW ENGLAND. 301 erecting monuments to commemorate battles they never won, and have met with heavy reverses, rendering it unnecessary to celebrate those who sank beneath them. This is the conscien- tious opinion of the sober-minded, reflective body of the American people; but, on the other hand, Young America is a concoction of conceit with which it is impossible to cope, without being in- cessantly embroiled in dispute. We had been dining at the house of a friend on the Hudson River, and were returning to New York in one of its numerous steam-boats, when one of our party, who had been reading Southey's "Life of Lord Nelson, started a question as to the want of prudence on one hand, and the exhibition of bravery on the other, of Nelson going into action at Trafalgar, with all hiş "honors thick upon him." The remark had scarcely been deli- vered, when another of our party, who, like Major Galbraith, had more brandy than brains in his composition, interrupted our conversation with this observation: “You Britishers are always swaggering about your Trafalgar and your Waterloo, the only two things you've got to your backs. You know d-d well we never met you but what we licked you, and we shall do so again, whenever we do meet you." We were calculating whether it was advisable to spit in the fellow's face, or to laugh at him, when our host, who was return- ing in the same vessel with ourselves, gave him a setting down (which an American gentleman knows well how to do) that he will most probably remember, as long as his sands of life shall run. Of such inflammable rubbish as this, all Young America is made. They not only intend, upon all possible occasions, to lick the Britishers, but to whip all the rest of creation, forgetting that at such idle nonsense as this, those who hear it either smile, laugh, or sneeze, as may suit their momentary convenience. They are genuine Bobadils, and if you tax them with the vulgar offence of bragging, their reply is, that they learned it of us; and if so, they should learn that other part of the system of bragging which decides that "brag is a good dog, but hold-fast is a better." The patriotism, however, of a genuine offspring of Columbia is not to be mistaken, and is not to be denied. He believes his own country to be the greatest in the world, and his countrymen to be the most gifted set of men in creation. He considers her government to be the best modelled there is, her laws to be the purest that are administered, her institutions the wisest that have been formed, her commerce the most extensive in operation, her 26 302 OLD ENGLAND: shipping the finest ever constructed, her seamen surpassing erery other marine; in fact, herself and all about her to be beyond compare. We have not the slightest objection to his thinking all this; the only objection we make, is to his saying it, because it is not true. That his is a great nation is true, but to say that it is the greatest of all those on the surface of the earth, is a bit of unadulterated “bam.” One's safeguard after all is, as we have already said, in not believing what you are not thoroughly convinced of. On our return from America, we had the pleasure of meeting à very intelligent inhabitant of New Orleans; and on his ex- pression of surprise that we had not visited that city, we observed that it was too late to go so far south, for we had always the fear of yellow fever staring us in the face, and that such apprehension was entertained by our various insurance offices, for they charged three guineas extra per annum,* to allow one of their insured to go farther south than the boundary line of Kentucky and Vir- ginia. The only reply he made to this was, that such precau- tions had, for some time past, been taken at New Orleans, it was morally impossible the yellow fever ever could pay a visit to it again; and yet, since that, his declaration, the aforesaid city has been almost decimated by this frightful scourge, and its ravages are extending over most of the southern districts. It is this principle of self-praise that has unquestionably led to so much disparagement of their country by others, of which America complains, and with some show of justice. Let her think what she likes of herself-there can be no objection to it- the objection is to her promulgating wbat she thinks; because in the absence of its reality, people ridicule the assumption. This, however, does not warrant others taking a false view of that country, and any such attempt at disqualification, to our way of thinking, is equally ill-judged and unjust. If we were to meet a pig in full sail through the streets of any American city, as in several of them we unquestionably have, we should deem it the height of impudence and ignorance to intimate to those unac- quainted with the country, that pigs were the only promenaders of its streets—we should thereby be disseminating a falsehood, and administering to a prejudice unpardonable in the highest degree; on the other hand, if we were to say, as a proof of American ingenuity, industry, and innovation, that in one of her cities (Cincinnati) they can kill and dress a pig in one minute; * We believe the additional premium is only 20s. per cent., as far as 33 degrees of North latitude-£3 3s. beyond that. AND NEW ENGLAND. - 303 and that they can kill, dress, cut up, cure, pack up, and deliver one ready for exportation in ten minutes, we should tell a truth, which reflects the utmost credit on the energy, and is a fair sam- ple of the go-aheadism, of this wondrous country. There are two arguments against any abuse of observation; the grand one is, that you disseminate falsehood in the garb of diversion, and the other is, that it is a most ungracious return for the good- fellowship the Americans seek to establish with, and for the hos- pitality they extend to, all who land upon their soil. If we were seriously bent upon a social and personal analysis of American character, there are traits in it we might be in- duced to question, and others, condemned by many, that we should feel disposed to uphold. The people to a man are of an inquiring disposition, and they rarely let an opportunity escape of satisfying their curiosity, and whether “located” by the side of a native in a railway car, at a table d'hôte, or any other place of general assembly, it is impossible to avoid interrogatory, and dificult to find reply-one instance is as good as a hundred. We were on a given occasion going from Massachusetts into Maine, when we found ourselves touching elbows on the same seat in a railway car with a thorough-paced Yankee, who instantly began the attack by saying :- “Think I seed you at the depôt just now,". (depôt being a sy- nonymous expression with our one of station.) : “Probably so; we were there to procure a ticket,' answered we. “Where did yer take it out for ?" “Well, if you are desirous of knowing, for Portland," was our reply. "Going down to Portland, hey? pretty considerable town that; a city is nearer the mark, for they are over 20,000 inhabitants, and I'm blest if there aint some smart chaps among 'em, I can tell yer. A Britisher, I guess, arn't yer ?!!* “Yes, we are English,” was our rejoinder. “Well, our locomotives lick yourn; don't they?” “I think not,” said we. “Think they do; fifty or sixty in company is better than five or six; wood's better to burn than coal; an open car, with eight or ten windows to look on, each side, is better than a sort of sentry-box with only two; and," here he hawked, and de- posited his saliva on the floor, and continued so to do during the journey. "We never allow spitting in our railcars," observed we. “There we got yer agin. This is a land o’liberty; we do what 304 OLD ENGLAND we like, and wherever we like to do it. Got some business, I guess, in Portland ?” “Yes," we replied. "Parhaps, then, we can swap; anything to turn a cent.” “We don't exactly see how that can be brought about, because - We are not dealers," we remarked. . "A factor then, I guess ?” "No; a lecturer,' we answered. “Well, never mind ; that'll do. Give us a ticket just to hear what yer've got to say, and I'll give yer half a dozen d-d good cigars to smoke afterwards." This is, as we have said, one out of one thousand similar oc- currences that take place every day in the week; and while they inay come, in the opinion of some, under the term of idle curi- osity, they convey to us an idea of enterprise, of sociality, and of a generally intelligent mind-one main feature of which is to get at all times information upon all subjects. It could make no earthly difference to us what a Yankee peddler or trader could ask of us, pro- vided he used no offensive expression, or adopted no offensive man- ner; and if simply bent upon ascertaining our whereabouts, and our object in going, we could see then, and can see now, no pos- sibible objection to satisfying his "thirst for learning.” They have, however, in reality, but one main point to carry thereby- which is, to know, wherever they may be shaping their course, if there be an individual amongst them whom they can by possi- bility turn to account. Many a man has made a friend for life by indulging such peculiarities, while others, of reserve and false pride, have lost one by inaintaining a dignified silence, or giving a haughty answer. : You are never introduced to an American but he instantly holds out his hand, and gives yours a hearty shaké. A frigid and a refined Englishman, or a polished and formal Frenchman, looks upon this as the perfection of vulgarity; but a sensitive mind will recognize herein a feeling of cordiality, and a strong indication of hospitality. Certain it is, that they do this almost every minute, and think no more of it the next minute, unless a: strong liking should spring up between the respective parties; and while it is equally certain that hospitality is a strong cha- racteristic of their nature, yet it should not be tested too long. They take the liveliest interest in a stranger for a few days, and strive who can show him the greatest attention ; but so intent are they upon the go-ahead system, that they have not time in reality to follow up what they have begun, and thus you“ die and make no sign." | AND NEW ENGLAND. 305 · The man who feasts you one day, burries by you so rapidly the next, with the bestowal of a simple cool nod, that you are apt to think you must have given him some offence—the professions he made in forming your acquaintance, le bas forgotten the moment after he made them, or he has been too busy to recollect them; and thus you must either undergo the bumility of reminding him of them, or lose his proffered assistance. He is so locomotive that he has not a moment to devote to stability, and must, to be ar- rested or retained in his course, be incessantly supplied with some. kind of novelty. Like Heliogabalus, he offers a reward for any new pleasure. The application of these remarks is general, for, to speak personally, amongst the many excellent, warm-hearted, and generous creatures, whom we had the happiness to become known to in our American journey, it was our good fortune never to meet with one who, up to the last moment of our residence, did not continue to overwhelm us with limitless kindness. These are features in the American character we do like; but amongst others which might be mentioned, there is one we do not like, and that one is méfiance. There is not a more distrust- ful fellow breathing than our friend Jonathan; he is a creature of doubt; and though very well able to take care of himself, he is always under an apprehension that those around him are about to take advantage of him. We will not go so far as to say that, because he contrives to "do” everybody, he imagines everybody is trying to "do” him; but there is no denying that he lives in a constant state of suspicion. Let him abandon all such national prejudice, and he will feel himself a happier and a superior man ! Twere far better to be out of the world than look upon all living in it with the jaundiced eye of mistrust; want of faith is as bad as a want of money. In thinking so badly of others, you cannot possibly think well of yourself, and thus your nature is continu- ally in a state of internal warfare. Let him discard forever from his thoughts that dangerous doctrine of Lillo- “Whoever deals with mankind on the square, Is his own bubble and uudoes himself," and he will find himself all the lighter for the operation. Let him believe that people like him too well to desire to impose up- on him, and he must instantly rise in his own regard; but while he goes on entertaining the weak impression that caution is his only safeguard, he will be forever deceived. In this, as in many other respects, his character resembles that of our Gallic neigh- bors, whose motto, almost to a man, is 66 La méfiance est mère de la sfireté ;' 26* 306 OLD ENGLAND but the dealings with us of either one country or the other, should long since have convinced them both of the unnecessary encouragement of any such sentiment. Let him, in fact, adopt the philosophic conclusion of Shakspeare (whose fountain of ever-living water is the only Hippocrene, after all, to drink out of) and he will not only estimate himself, but be estimated by others, infinitely more than at present is the case. “Give me that man That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him In my heart's core, ay, in my heart of hearts.” It is unnecessary, perhaps, to point out the strong contrast : there is between the misgivings of an American, and the open- heartedness of an Englishman. John Bull is the frankest fellow alive; and although he does not literally “wear his heart upon his sleeve for daws to peck at,” you may easily get access to it. He means what he says, and he says what he means. He has the best intentions himself, and gives every one else credit for having the same. He is straightforward in purpose, turning neither to the right nor the left, to conceal design, or avoid its detection. He is as sincere as human nature can be. He has no arrière-pensée. He gives you his hand with the implied under- standing that "you cannot hold faster by it than it will hold by you.” At the same time he does not give it to everybody. He is not profuse of promise ; but he strictly fulfils all he makes; he needs no reminder; consequently, he inspires no expectation which he does not realize. He is probably more frequently vic- timized than his transatlantic relative; but if he should meet a serpent, he does not allow it to sting him twice. If these appa- rent dissimilitudes in their respective natures could be reconciled, John and Jonathan would liug one another still closer than they are now daily doing. In making any exception to our general estimate of American character, we eschew all ill-nature and all bad feeling; our object being throughout to impress upon our countrymen the important position America holds in the scale of nations, the necessity for, and the advantage of, a sound and an affectionate understanding with her, and to point out the impolicy of those who attempt to disparage the greatness, and dwell with bitterness and ridicule on the littleness, of her pretensions. Every allowance should be made for the errors or the vanities of a young country, and every admiration should be expressed for its energies and its virtues. When it is recollected how brief a period of time has elapsed since America burst asunder the bonds in which the mother AND NEW ENGLAND. 307 country held her firmly linked, and that during this short space the inhabitants of almost every portion of the world have united to swell her population, enlarge her territory, extend her resources, and elevate her position, it is all sheer humbug to deny her pres- ent eminence, and folly not to anticipate its increase. Without any nonsensical notions of apprehension, we will defy any sensible man to contradict this assertion, that America is an important ally, and would be a formidable adversary; and that, could we be permitted some century or two hence to "revisit the glimpses of the moon,” and take a peep at the advancement of men and things, we should find America the greatest country in the world. How can it be otherwise ? Every other country is trying to make her so, and she is not such a fool as not to take advantage of their assistance. An American is apt now and then, either in humor or ridicule, to express his wonder that an Englishman can live in a little d-d hole like Great Britain, where he can hardly find room to throw his legs and arms about, and that he does not pitch his tent in his land, where there is elbow-room to any extent; but it is pretty clear that if immigration continue upon the same scale it has so long maintained, even her forests will become inhabited, where her acres are now tenantless. There is every reason why we - should cultivate the best understanding with the United States, and there is not one why we should not; the same language comes out of our respective mouths, the same blood runs in one another's veins, and why should not the same feeling animate one another's hearts? In fact, the only difference which ought ever to exist between the two, is the three thousand and odd miles which separate their respective shores. No one but a rascal would disparage or reproach his own country. We are English, “marrow, bones, and all;" but were we not, the only other deni- zen of the world we should like to be, would be an American. It is a general impression, perhaps amounting to something like an assertion, in America, that no one is qualified to write upon that country who has not visited it in the far West; who has not ploughed the waters of the Mississippi and Missouri, as far as they are navigable, nor penetrated the Rocky Mountains, nor dwelt on the borders of the Indian line. You are told that you ought to be familiar with all these and other places, and with the character of the people who inhabit them, and by no means to confine your information to the principal cities of American civi- lization, which amounts to little more than a history of your own country. This is sheer nonsense and nothing else. If we were travelling for the benefit of mankind at large, and for the - 30g "OLD ENGLAND,.. purpose of compiling huge volumes of. statistics on this extra- ordinary tract of territory, we should probably have followed the example of Messrs, Lewis and Clark, at the chance of returning such living skeletons as these eminent travellers appeared, at the termination of their great enterprise in 1806. To effect all this, the ordinary voyageur has not the remotest idea of the quantity of water and land he would have to go over, nor is it exactly ne- cessary to tell him; but just by.way of curiosity, we will give him an example of it. - We feel as certain of one thing as we can be of anything, that i not a man in five hundred has any notion of the distance be could go, and would have to go, if he took passage in a steam- boat as far as it would carry him, from the Gulf of Mexico up the Mississippi to the Falls of St. Anthony, taking en route the tributaries to "the Father of Waters” as far as they are respec- tively navigable; that is, going up and returning down the Red Riper, the Arkansas River, the White River, the St. Francis River, the Missouri,* and other rivers on the left hand; and the Illinois River, the Ohio River (and the Monongahela and Alle- ghany rivers, its springs), the Kaskaskia River, the Tennessee and other rivers, on the right hand. Although the distance. merely from New Orleans (exclusive of that of about one hun- dred miles below it, at the mouth of the Mississippi) to the Falls of St. Anthony is 1,950 miles, yet the amount of miles he must accomplish, in the route just marked out, has been accurately calculated to reach the almost incredible number of 57,000. The myriads of people he would encounter in this pretty trip would impart to him very little more knowledge of the Ameri- can people, than if he went to Pekin and back again..... We presume that, upon this principle; a tourist would be ex- pected to go to California, that, land of promise, doubt, and dan- ger, because it has recently become the thirty-first State of the Union. Thus, in order to give a correct account of the United States of America, a man must either consent to be shaken to pieces by crossing on mules that part of the Isthmus of Panama whereon a railway has not yet been completed (with the addi- tional possibility of losing his luggage, and perhaps his life), or he must steam "round the Horn," a distance of at least 16,000 miles, or he must dash through the defiles of the Rocky, : * The Missouri alone, laying aside any of its tributaries, is napigable 2,575 miles from its mouth ; and one of thoso tributaries (the Yellow- stone), is at its junction ns large as tho Missouri; and their united waters form a river as large in volume, and, it is said, as wide and deep as at its entrance into the Mississippi. AND NEW ENGLAND. 309 Mexico by Santa Fé; and all this must be done for him to be enabled to form a correct estimate of an American's character. The speculator to California differs very little from one who visits other parts of the Union, to which his steps may be directed by the spirit of enterprise; and he returns from it only so far al- tered as circumstances imay have changed his habits, or bettered his condition. He may go out a Christian, and come back a savage. Suppose him to have been successful in his search after • his golden idol, and be able to exclaim to his nuggets of it:- “Oh, thou sweet king-killer, and dear divorce 'Twixt natural son and sire! thou bright defiler Of Hymen's purest bed! thou valiant Mais! Thou ever young, fresh, loved, and delicate wooer, Whose blush does thaw the consecrated vow That lies on Dian's lap! thou visible God That solder'st olose impossibilities, And mak'st them kiss! that speak'st with every tongue To every purpose ! Oh, thou touch of hearts !" Suppose him, after he has obtained them, to have escaped the grasp of the robber who would have despoiled him of it, and to have eluded the knife of the marauder, or the bullet of the bush- ranger, why he is only one of a hundred you meet every day in any of the principal cities, all of whom could throw very little one evening in the bar-room of "Revere House," Boston, now gazing like other idlers on the physiognomy of Mr. Thomas Meagher, and the next moment on that of a curious individual who had just entered, when we perceived the latter personage go up to the bar, and deliver himself of the usual exclamation : “Give us a drink.” He threw down a dollar-note, which he had selected from a huge pocket-book, seemingly full of them, to pay for it, and the dealer in spirituous liquors and compounds not being able to change it, the emigrant coolly observed: “It's a quarter of a dollar, ain't it? Well then, give me three more drinks, and that'll make a dollar just clear. What's the odds ? I've just come home from Californy-my second trip--going agin---that'll be my third; made two fortunes, and spent 'em; mean to make another, and spend that. So come along, I say- a drink." Poor argument this. You might just as well say that any foreigner, to be enabled to give a correct account of this empire and its inhabitants, must visit the Hebrides, the wilds of Cum- berland, the mountain passes of Connemara, the fens of Lincoln- 310 OLD ENGLAND shire, and, by way of a good wind-up, the yellow regions of Australia! All we had in view, as we started off by observing, was a chat over the manners and peculiarities, with an occasional peep into the institutions, of the principal cities in the Union- which comprise, besides their own, people from every other part of it—and while having a familiar gossip about men and things, to endeavor to render them as acceptable as possible to those of our countrymen who have not journeyed so far, and thereby to. draw closer together the bonds which ought to unite the two countries. It will be evident that we have not been particularly select in language, or nice in epithet--the subject did not require that we should be so. All that appeared to us to be necessary, was dis- cernment in observation, and truth in disseminating it. Though magna est veritas et prevalebit is the best of doctrines, yet upon the principle that truth is not to be spoken at all times, we re- solved, whenever it would not be quite pleasant, not to tell that truth, but to speak of other matter that would be more palatable. Though we have joked upon things which admitted of a joke, we have not ventured upon one of even the slighest pretension, the veracity of which could be impugned. We have been dis- ciples of straightforwardness of manner and integrity of purpose, and for these alone we contend. People may be disposed to question the propriety of the title we have chosen for these lucubrations that's their affair --ours was the selection of a good one, which we take this to be to inquire into the peculiarities of New England and contrast them with those of Old England, from which it is derivative, and then go as much farther east, west, and south, as answered our double purpose of lecturing and writing. If we had allowed ourselves to be blinded by prejudice, to be led away by national feeling, or to permit former recollections to lead to the circula- tion of bad blood in one's veins, we should neither have selected Boston for a lengthened residence, nor have chosen it for the subject of extraneous eulogy. This city was the first that sprung into any importance from the pilgrimage* of 1620, which was brought about by the arbitrariness of Charles, and the propen- . * It is foreign to our purpose to go into the failures of similar pré- ceding attempts by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Sir Walter Raleigh, and the vast bodies of settlers they brought over to the South, who, for the most part, died of famine, or were made a meal of, like so much white-bait, by the Indians—or of Lord Delaware and his several successors, under whose régime Slavery, the hue and cry of which is now abroad upon the land, was introduced. AND NEW ENGLAND. 311 sity to persecution on the part of Laud-early selected as the chief place of settlement in New England, as we all know. Boston was then an English colony, and in many points we have herein touched upon is still an English towa-an assertion that a glance at its appearance, and an association with its people, would wellnigh warrant our making. But Boston has invariably entertained the bitterest feelings against the mother country, as a long series of events will go to prove. Sir Robert Walpole wanted to tax the colonies, but was not fool enough to attempt it; his successors were;* and while strongly opposed to all taxation, the colonists settled the question, on the introduction of the notorious Stamp Act and the determined con- tinuance of the tea tax, by breaking out into open rebellion, in which Boston cut the most conspicuous figure. A small portion of the some three or four hundred chests that were seized upon by a body of New Englanders and thrown into the sea, from whence it was “fished up,' is still preserved in Boston, and looked upon as a marvellous treasure. In Faneuil Hall, locally denominated the "Cradle of Liberty," the cry of freedom was first raised, and burst out thence over the whole of that continent. Through the agency of Boston the first resistance to British rule was made, and the first blood in the · unnatural struggle spilt; and in fact, the strenuous efforts of * When we look at the position in which America stands at this mo- ment with the mother country, it is a matter of no small interest, and of very great curiosity, to refer to the terms in which the Congress of the one addressed the King of the other, when that position was a mere problem. In a petition to his Majesty, George III., two years only be- fore the irrevocable Declaration of 1776, they thus delivered them- selves :- • Permit us, then, most gracious Sovereign, in the name of all your faithful people in America, with the utmost humility to implore you, for the honor of Almighty God, whose pure religion our enemies are under- mining; for your glory, which can be advanced only by rendering your subjects happy, and keeping them united; for the interests of your family, depending on an adherence to the principles that enthroned it; for the safety and welfare of your kingdoms and dominions, threatened with almost unavoidable dangers and distresses; that your Majesty, as the living father of your whole people, connected by the same bonds of law, loyalty, faith, and blood, though dwelling in various countries, will not suffer the transcendent relation formed by these ties to be farther violated, in uncertain expectation of effects, that, if attained, never can compensate the calamities through which they must be gained. “We therefore most earnestly beseech your Majesty, that your Royal authority and interposition may be used for our relief; and that a gracious answer may be given to this petition." The Sovereign was obdurate, and Lord North was minister! 312 OLD ENGLAND Boston led to the final Declaration of Independence, and the separation of the colonies from the old country; and up to the present hour there is a lurking feeling of animosity in many bosoms, wherein prejudice takes precedence of fair faith, which we have previously made manifest in more than one instanco. But, after all, what has this state of things to do with us, and our peregrinations? We knew of it all when we made up our minds to go there, and did not care a fig about the matter ; we were perfectly convinced that if we treated Boston with proper respect, Boston would treat us equally well; that if we assumed no unnecessary importance (supposing for one moment we had grounds for such assumption), Boston would display none to us, and that if we were worthy of her public patronage and her pri- vate association, we should be sure of meeting both. We were not disappointed in our calculations, or rather let us say, in our expectations. We never saw a place in New England we liked half as well, nor any people, but in Old England, we liked better. Let any Briton, the most enamored of his own country, enjoy the cozy firesides which winter lights up, or gaze upon the ver- dant beauty which summer brings to life in this country, and all his ideas of exclusiveness will speedily disappear from his mind's disc. The lovely cottages, were there no other feature in the landscape, which are here scattered in every direction where situation can command prospect, or seclusion can insure quiet, with the flowers breathing nature's purest incense, and peeping from all casements, give a beauty to almost every scene around Boston. We leave to others the task of describing her mercantile great- ness, her clipper-ships, her long wharves and the countless pack- ages that cover them, her cluster of steamers bound to her own shores and others, her straggling streets, her “Common,” the State House overlooking all, and Washington's monument (by Chantrey) in its entrance hall—but in her cemetery of Mount Auburn we could linger longest, and leave latest. While wan-. dering over its charming undulations, we have necessarily been led into the same train of thought, which we have entertained and expressed in similar moanderings at home, although in this respect, as in others, the capital of New England cannot be placed in immediate juxtaposition with that of Old England. The sanitary measures, which have recently been introduced into our legislative code, speak more loudly than we can, in be- half of the vast importance the public health has derived from the exhumation of a crowded city, and from the transfer of the sacred loads rotting therein, to the wholesome cemeteries now AND NEW ENGLAND. 313 established in every environ of our metropolis. Not only is such arrangement more beneficial to the well-being of the living, but it is in a tenfold degree more respectful to the memory of the dead. The pestilential air which the crowded burial-yards of London have sent forth over their neighborhoods, has been in too many instances the means of crowding them more and more; and thus “the step from the cradle to the grave," already limited enough, has become from time to time more so; and under this impression we do not think a man can confer a more lasting benefit either on himself or society at large, than by securing for his family the advantages of sepulture in these comparatively remote seclusions. By the absence of all impurity in such sacred establishments, the survivor is permitted to hold, for the first time as it were, a sort of commune with the departed, the suc- cessor to do homage to the predecessor, and the world, at large, to weep over, or at least to call back to its recollection, the ob- jects to which it was most fondly attached. Within the narrow preciucts of a crowded town, wliere the in- dulgence of sorrow would be looked upon, for the most part, as mere ostentation, the mourner has little or no opportunity to give vent to feeling, to suffer without observation, or to mourn with- out remark; and we are but too apt in life to forget, when no particular object presents itself to awaken recollection. The stately and vast mausoleums herein contained combine, therefore, the utile et dulce to such an extent, as to render them objects of unceasing resort. Nothing that is or that can be presented to us, conveys such a lesson as that one inculcated by sorrow; for if the object we lament be good, it holds out to us an example all worthy of imitation, and if otherwise, it is a consolation, even though a poor one, to know that "Surely nothing dies, but something mourns." In contemplating, consequently, the living sorrowing over the dead, we learn too often low the orphan has been robbed, and the plunderer been cnriched ; how the heart of purity has been impeded ; how early youth has been mowed down, and mellow years been left standing; how the unreasoning idiot has long outrun the limited space of existence which the psalmist has al- lotted to man, while genius has been blighited long before its "And thus the heart will break, yet brokenly live on.” . As in point of health, and on erery principle of usefulness, 27 314 • OLD ENGLAND the establishment of our cemeteries has been the greatest bless- ing of late conferred upon the community, so in point of feeling, has it been of incomparable consolation. The principal ones in either country being laid out in walks of every varietỹ of garden neatness (wherein, be it observed, the new country is infinitely behind the old), from which you inhale the luxuriant odor of almost every species of plant and flower the soil can produce, it is no longer a matter of astonishment to find them crowded with all classes of visitors, the light as well as the heavy of heart, the youthful as well as the old, those who know not grief as well as those who indulge in it, the heir in his rich apparel of black, and the disinherited in the humbler garb of gloom, the wretched to weep over the tomb of those they have lost, and the thoughtful to contemplate the tomb they are to repose in. To us there is no spot on earth to be found that creates so much reflection and leads into so much inquiry as the cemetery, with all the monuments and mementos raised up within its pre- cincts. On one side arises some lofty pinnacle, erected to com- memorate the worth of the dead, or to gratify the vanity of the survivor. On another, is some gorgeous sarcophagus, engraven with the enumeration of virtues that were never before known to belong to the sleeper within it. Here, is some modest slab, ex- pressing contrition for the sins of the past, and imploring an in- finity of mercy for the future; there is summer's rose blooming by the side of winter's evergreen, in perpetual remembrance of early, as of late decay. Around you, everywhere, is the em- blematic cypress, weeping with its graceful foliage, and the som- bre yew looking on with all the unfading greenness of continual life, as if mocking all those over whom it would seem to mourn. It is here, and here only, where the human heart is permitted to fly for that unmolested relief which tears can always afford, and for the indulgence in that sorrow which time ever sanctifies. To us, the gentle task of an affectionate child replenishing the chap- let of "regrets” which it annually entwines round the tombstone of the parent, conveys a precept more endearing and more en- during, than all the empty pageantry which has ever heralded tenant to his grave; it is a holy communion between this world and a future one, holding out a lesson of memory and devotion, unknown to the ordinary impulses of mere mundane transactions. Remembrance is for the most part the highest of human delights, for by bringing back to us the knowledge of all we had, it teaches us never to repine over what we have not. Shenstone's exquisite composition must ever, in scenes like these, rise up in our minds:- AND NEW ENGLAND. 315 “ Heu quanto Minus est cum reliquis versari Quam tui meminisse." So have we ruminated, in the cemeteries around London, and so in the principal one in the neighborhood of Boston-Mount Auburn--but if we go on with this “Sentimentalibus lachrymærorum," we shall be too full of pathos to have the smallest corner left for bathos—and there is no getting on nowadays without a due portion of the one, to counteract any superfluity of the other. America, adieu ! that is, for the present. We are too selfish to pronounce an eternal one; but before we can promise ourselves the pleasure of once more beholding the greatness which actually is yours, and of enjoying again the hospitality of those who con- stitute that greatness, more than one thing has to be made mani- fest. In the first place, we must ascertain how your sons and daughters like these our currente calamo comments; whether we have satisfied, pleased, or given offence. Consequently, whether, as will be the case with some writers we could mention, if we do pay you another visit, we shall be “cowhided," “ tarred and feathered," "lynched,” or “whipped,” according to our various merits. It is always best to know how we stand, that we may be prepared for all results; and as we do not intend to retract a syllable we have written, our destiny will very soon be deter- mined. Our object in writing, and our mode of writing, cannot be mistaken. Like Haynes Bayley's gay butterfly, - Roving forever from flower to flower, And kissing all things that are pretty and sweet," we have touched upon whatever has passed under our observation (gently, we trust), have flown away with what was worth pre- serving, and, having analyzed it, have sent it back again, after our own crude, misshapen, light, mirthful manner, without think- ing whom it may please, and telling truth without caring whom it may offend. America, adieu ! We left your shores with great regret, and we shall return to them, whenever it shall be our lot, with in- finite gratification. THE END. . . 14 みては​・ } :: r** # -"hs 出 ​“ 行 ​A ”。 P , さいきんまん ​产 ​, “ * ; ” 在其中 ​一 ​。 - -> 的象徵​。 等 ​。 TCH 9 . 其中​: :: : 者 ​, : , , A: ,可是 ​一星​, ” Tai件 ​17: 重量 ​, - “ A世 ​jt - 。 行 ​. 14。 THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN GRADUATE LIBRARY 1. 1 ; iiii 聯​.. .。 DATE DUE , *”。 : : : . .. 武神 ​比 ​+ 了​? 1 、 ... . RG-9 SEP4 9月 ​. .. . : : 在中 ​! !! Al 29 1946 *APP 二 ​: . * 4 # 作畫​。 APR 16 204 经 ​了多 ​書畫​, 重重重 ​.. - 重生 ​工 ​”。 有一 ​1人 ​.. 。 事 ​上 ​“不是​, : 每遇中​, 鲁​”“ - 一書​。 - 其中​, 五年了​, : ' srs - -- : : 4 : - : - … .. 志 ​*:; . 上市 ​- - ”。 :: : 44 - 考 ​- .… . * alt . -- " . : : 「 ; 第一步​。学 ​Am “ 我要 ​. ... , “. .. 4 ” : “ 1 : ::: 以 ​.. , . 美 ​.. 事看鲁鲁​。 |- “ ” :: 事事 ​ret : : 。 - 量 ​等​! 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