at the same time pointing out several things that I disapproved. I had not the remotest idea, that I should in consequence be condemned for a want of candour, for controversy we had none, and were both in good humour and apparent harmony; and yet a few days after, I was told by another person that this officer had reported, that I was going as a spy through the land, and intended on my return home, to vilify it like other English travellers! As I was in a stagecoach, the conversation turned on the improvements going on; and the Erie canal was adverted to. One of the passengers described it, as the wonder of the world, as the glory of the age. I remarked that it certainly was a great and useful work, and manifested conspicuously the spierit and enterprise of the people, but that I could

not think such strong language as he used, was altogether applicable to it. Some hours after, another passenger asked me, what State I was a native of. I told him that I was an Englishman. "I thought so," said the first, " from your remarks on the canal: you did not speak of it like an American." The reader will perhaps suppose, that there was something in my tone and manner, calculated to make an impression that I thought meanly of the work. Quite the contrary: I spoke of it as I thought, and even add

ed, that it was a work of which the country might justly be proud. But because I subtracted from his extravagant eulogium, I could not forsooth be an American! But this is the case throughout. The Capitol at Washington surpasses all other edifices: Philadelphia is the perfection of beauty: New York is the most enterprising city in the world: the Americans are the only people who possess liberty. Those who venture to express a doubt on these points, no matter how diffidently, are stared at with wonder. That this should be the case with the vulgar and ignorant need excite no surprise; but that in the superior ranks, there should be a large proportion who thus express themselves, is a fact quite startling. Patriotism may surely be felt and manifested without the use of extravagant terms; but this the Americans do not seem to understand. A gentleman who also spoke of the canal, told me, that taking the circumstances of the people into consideration, it was equal to the Pyramids of Egypt, or the wall of China!

But the most diverting specimens of national vanity, were exhibited by two gentlemen who had made the tour of Europe. One told me that as he was walking in the gardens at Versailles, a boy pointing to him said to another,

"There goes an Englishman;" on which he told the boy that he was not an Englishman but an American. The boy begged his pardon, saying, that he certainly had taken him for an Englishman, but hoped he had not given offence. The other gentleman said that as he was at Dieppe, a man accosted him as an Englishman, who on being told that he was an American, exclaimed, "So much the better." So little had these two travellers learnt of French habits and manners, that they actually related these anecdotes to me to prove the superior estimation in which American citizens are held on the continent of Europe! Now when patriotism gives birth to vanity like this, it becomes as ridiculous, as under due regulations it is noble.

Though the Americans are generally patriotic to bigotry, I met, as might be supposed, with some amongst them who manifested a totally different feeling. One gentleman, whom I met at York in Pennsylvania, expressed himself so dissatisfied with the country, that I told him I did not admire his want of patriotism. In reply, he said that he had been in France, which country he so much loved that he cared nothing about his own. If he had adopted France as his permanent abode, he would have been right in at

taching himself more strongly to it than to his native country; though even in such a case, I should think it rather unnatural in him to feel no regard for the latter. But the opinion, that it is right or justifiable to be careless of the welfare of a nation of which we are a component part, is not apprehensible by me. Two persons at Boston with whom I got acquainted, expressed themselves in language not quite so unpatriotic as in the last cited case, but with little affection for their country. Another at Albany was of sentiments apparently correspondent. But the bitterest spirit against America which I any where witnessed, was in an Englishman resident in Philadelphia, who though a naturalized citizen, was displeased with the climate, the government, the people, the laws, and the administration of justice; and yet he had been thirty years settled in the country. Several other of my countrymen told me they should be glad to return home, and intended it at a future time, but spoke with a due appreciation of America and her citizens. I am glad to be able to state, that most of those who manifested a hatred of America, were persons who left England from a similar hatred.

CHAPTER X.

HOSPITALITY.

HOSPITALITY is a quality generally to be found amongst the inhabitants of thinly-peopled countries. Pastoral nations, as the Hebrews of old, and the Arabs and Tartars of the present day, have always been distinguished for their readiness to receive the wayfaring man under their roof. The reason for it may be found in the paucity of travellers, and the consequent want of inns. The sight and conversation of a stranger are pleasing to persons living in such countries, to a degree of which city residents can from their own experience form no idea. But when citizens are charged, as they often are, with a want of hospitality, due allowance is not made for the circumstances attending their situation. Where the number of strangers is great, and the public accommodations are handsome, how can it be expected that a stranger should be noticed? Accordingly, the rule in cities is to be free from any obligation to notice strangers unless furnished with introductory letters: and when such letters are satisfactory, citizens are seldom behind