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Excerpts from Mr. Hamiton's "Men and Man- | can lady is gone, and the more substantial ma

ners in America."

"Though the schoolmaster has long exercised his vocation in these States, the fruit of his labours is but little apparent in the language of his pupils. The amount of bad grammar in circulation is very great; that of barbarisms enormous. Of course, I do not now speak of the operative class, whose massacre of their mother tongue, however inhuman, could excite no astonishment; but I allude to the great body of the lawyers and traders; the men who crowd the exchange and the hotels; who are to be heard speaking in the courts, and are selected by their fellow-citizens to fill high and responsible offices." "The privilege of barbarizing the King's English is assumed by all ranks and conditions of

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"The great body of the New Englanders are distinguished above every other people I have ever known by bigotry and narrowness of mind, and an utter disregarded of those delicacies of deportment which indicate benevolence of feeling."

There is at this moment nothing in the United States worthy the name of a library. Not only is there an entire absence of learning, in the higher sense of the term, but an absolute want of the material from which alone learning can be extracted. At present an American might study every book within the limits of the Union, and still be regarded in many parts of Europe-especially in Germany-as a man comparatively ignorant."

terials of beauty follow soon after. At thirty the whole fabric is in decay, and nothing remains but the traditions of former conquests."

"If to form a just estimate of ourselves and others be the test of knowledge, the New Englander is the most ignorant of mankind."

"In the northern and central States-for of the climate of the southern States it is unnecessary to speak-the annual range of the thermome ter exceeds a hundred degrees. The heat in summer is that of Jamaica; the cold in winter is that of Russia. Such enormous vicissitudes must necessarily impair the vigor of the human frame, and when we take into calculation the vast portion of the United States in which the atmosphere is contaminated by marshy exhalations, it will not be difficult, with the auxiliary influ ences of dram-drinking and tobacco chewing, to account for the squalid and sickly aspect of the population. Among the peasantry, I never saw one florid and robust man, nor any one distinguished by that fulness and rotundity of muscle, which every where meets the eye in England."

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"The Americans I had met in Europe had generally been distinguished by a certain reserve, and something even approaching to the offensive in manner, which had not contributed to create a prepossession in their favor. seemed, as if each individual were impressed with the conviction that the whole dignity of his country was concentrated in his person; and 1 imagined them too much given to disturb the placid current of social intercourse, by the obtrusion of national jealousies, and the cravings of a restless and inordinate vanity."

"Forrest, the American rara avis of an actor, is coarse and vulgar, without grace, without dignity, with little flexibility of feature. and is utterly common place in his conceptions of character. There is certainly some energy about him, but this is sadly given to degenerate into rant."

"In point of climate, I believe Charleston is fully worse than New Orleans. In the latter, Creoles are entirely exempt from the ravages of the prevailing epidemic. But, in Charleston, "An American is by no means a convivial there is no impunity for any class. Even native being. He seems to consider eating and drinkCarolinians died of fever as well as their neigh-ing, as necessary tasks, which he is anxious to bours. The chances are, that if a person from discharge as speedily as possible," the country, however acclimated, sleeps in Charleston even for a night, at a certain season of the year, he catches the fever. Should a person, living in the city, pass a day with his friend in the country, there is not a doctor in the place, who, on his return, would not consider him in a state of peril. In short, the people of Charleston pass their lives in endeavoring to escape from a pursuer who is sure to overtake the fugitive at last. At one season, the town is unhealthy; and all who can afford it, fly to their estates. At another, the country is unhealthy, and they take up their abode in the pine barrens. From the pine barrens, they venture back into the town, from which, in a short time, they are again expelled."

"In New Orleans, a man runs a certain risk, and has done with it. If he live, he continues to eat crawfish in a variety of savoury preparations. If he die, the crawfish eat him without cookery of any sort. He has no fear or dining with his friend in the country at any season of the year. But in Charleston, a man must be continually on the alert, for, go where he may, there is fever at his heels."

"A striking difference exists between the system of rewards and punishments, adopted in the schools of the United States and those of England. In the former, neither personal nor forcible coercion of any kind, is permitted."

"There is a certain uncontrollable rigidity of muscle about an American, and a want of sensibility to the lighter graces of deportment, which makes him, perhaps, the most unhopeful of all the volaries of Terpsichore."

"In Philadelphia, it is the fashion to be scientific, and the young ladies occasionally display the bas bleu in a degree which in other cities, would be considered rather alarming."

TURKEY.-The Turkish Empire is as interesting now that it is crumbling to pieces, as it was in the sixteenth century, when a Tartar could ride with the Sultan's firman, respected all the way, from the banks "Unfortunately, beauty in this climate is not of the Volga to the confines of Morocco-when its ardurable. Like the ghosts of Banquo's fated mies threatened Vienna, and its fleets ravaged the line,' it comes like a shadow, and so departs. At coasts of Italy. It then excited the fears of civilized one or two-and-twenty the bloom of an Ameri-Europe; it now excites its cupidity.-Slade's Travels.

NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

LETTERS FROM THE NORTH OF

EUROPE.

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for the punishment of the idle. They are said to be placed in a basket, and suspended over the table in the house of correction, while the rest of the inmates are at dinner, and to be detained in that position, tantalised by the savoury fumes, till night; by which time it is presumed that they have acquired sufficient experience to induce them to work the following day."

At Copenhagen the museum contains an enormous specimen of native silver from Sweden, measuring five feet, and weighing more than 500 pounds! with numerous other curiosities, among which we should presume this lump must be the most precious. Of the protracted days of a northern latitude, Mr. Elliot gives but an unpleasant picture:

"That which most interested us was the novelty of travelling at midnight by the light of the sun. This is decidedly the most striking phenomenon that arrests the notice of a stranger in northern latitudes, where the sun is visible throughout almost the whole circle of his course. At the pole, as the season advances between the equinox and summer solstice, the days gradually increase in length from twelve to twenty-four hours. During that period, therefore, the nearer the pole the longer the day. In this latitude, for a short time before and after the sun reaches

the tropic of Cancer, it dips so little under the horizon, that the reflected rays afford a twilight which prevents the cessation of day during its

In visiting a booksellers' store of latter times, so much is displayed to tempt the purchaser, that it seems a matter of some difficulty to make a good selection. Two new books attracted our attention the other day, by the neatness of their exterior, as well as by the fineness of the paper on which they were printed, and on taking them home to our green table, we are gratified to find they both turn out prizes in their way. The first we shall notice is entitled, Letters from the North of Europe; or a Journal of Travels in Holland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Prussia and Saxony. By Charles B. Elliott, Esq. It is a neat duodecimo of 311 pages, published by Messrs. Key & Biddle; describing countries of which so little comparatively is known, we found the author's letters full of interest; he writes extremely well, and unites those powerful requisites of a bookmaker, in being emphatically a scholar, a christian, and a gentleman. Leaving England, a passage of twentysix hours brought our traveller to Rotterdam, and from thence to Amsterdam the route affords an opportunity for some graphic descriptions of Holland. The quiet village of Brock, which has often puzzled the traveller, is thus noticed:"Not many miles from Saardam is a village called Brock, whose peculiar character, so different from the busy capital near which it stands, baffles all my conjectures. Perhaps your ima-limited absence." gination may be more successful in tracing a "It does not always happen that what is pleascause sufficient to produce the effects we see. ing in prospect is equally so in enjoyment. So On entering the village of Brock, the traveller it is with regard to days protracted during twenis struck with the neat appearance of the streets, tv four hours. This sounds very delightful; but paved with variegated bricks, pebbles, and the body needs relief from constant light, which shells; and with the green painted houses and becomes wearisome and almost painful. It their little parterres, all bordering a lake which, seems as if certain functions of the human sysbut for its discoloured waters, would enhance the tem were influenced, like those of plants, by beauty of the spot. Yet scarcely an individual light and darkness; and as if the alteration of was to be seen. Carriages are not permitted to these were essential to healthy action of body enter. Every house is closed. The doors are and mind. It is unpleasant, and seems unnatulocked: the shutters are shut. Silence reigns, ral, to go to sleep in daylight; and a town perand you might fancy yourself in a fairy land fectly still, exhibiting no signs of life except a peopled by invisible spirits. Diligence and straggling dog or muffled watchman in the broad comfort seem to exist; yet the agents and reci-glare of day, wears an aspect melancholy and pients are alike unheard and unseen. There death-like." are about three hundred houses; many of a whimsical form. The inhabitants live entirely in the back of their dwellings: the front door is never opened except on occasion of a marriage or death; and on no pretext can a stranger be admitted within. They have no amusements that we could discover; and the only three children we saw out of school were discussing some recondite game over a piece of wood, with all the sobriety of sixty years."

Fairly entered upon Norway, our author's letters become extremely entertaining, but as we design to give some extracts relative to Russia, we can only insert the following account of a Norse marriage:

"The delay afforded me an opportunity of observing the ceremony of a Norse marriage. A number of young girls with flowers in their hands stood at the door of the church. The bride and bridegroom, humbly dressed, entered and took their seats in a pew, while the priest and an acolite chanted alternately some psalms. A prayer was then offered, and the parties approaching the altar knelt to receive the benediction of the priest, and to join their supplications for the blessing of the divine institutor of this sacred rite. No ring appeared to be given; but it might have been without my seeing it. The A good method of punishing the lazy at Ham-manner of all was serious and devotional." burg, is described in the following paragraph:"I remember to have read in some English work an account of a curious plan adopted here,

"I have seldom seen a spot of such interest. The veil of mystery which overshadows it perhaps enhances the pleasurable feeling, by giving scope to the imagination; and it is not impossible that a perfect acquaintance with the rise and progress of their customs might detract something from the interest which I am inclined to feel for the unsophisticated natives of Brock."

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The sketches of Russian manners and habits will be found very satisfactory. Of Moscow we are told:

"Moscow stands in the centre of a large plain, through which the river Moscva flows in a sinuous course, passing under the walls of her citadel, and depositing its waters in the Wolga. The form of the city is that of a trepezium nearly oblong. In extent it is the largest of Europe. From southeast to northwest it measures eight miles. The other diameter is six; and the circumference twenty-six miles. Compared with these dimensions the population is small, not exceeding two hundred and fifty thousand souls. Moscow is divided into four quarters; the Kremlin, or citadel; the Kitai, or Chinese town, which is the most ancient portion, said to have been formed of wooden buildings in the ninth century; the Beloi-gorod, or white town; and the Zemlenoi-gorod, or town of earth, named from a large rampart which surrounds it. The Kremlin was built near Ivan Vassilivitch in 1491; and at that time constituted nearly the whole capital. About forty years after, the Katai-gorod, adjoining the kremlin, was constructed by an Italian, who relinquished the Romish for the Greek heresy, and was baptised under the name of Petrok Maoli. This quarter contains the university, a printing establishment, merchants' houses, and shops. The Beloi-gorod was built in 1586, under Feodor Ivanovitch, round the Kitai-gorod and kremlin, which form the centre of the town. Some think it received the appellation from a white wall which formerly surrounded it, while others maintain that it was so named by the Tartars who drove the lighter-complexioned Russians into this part, when they took possession of the centre. The Zemlenoi-gorod encircles the preceding quarter, forming the outskirts of the town. It was built under the same Czar in the years 1591 and 5192. The two last mentioned divisions contain a great variety of dirty huts, palaces, convents, and mosque-like churches.

and Tartar towers. The former are as modern as the days of Peter the Great, who introduced them from western Europe. The latter are very ancient. They are round; and instead of decreasing pyramidically to the top, they pass by sudden transitions from a greater to a less diameter."

"There is something peculiarly gay in the appearance of this city, in an afternoon, when the fashionable move out in their carriages. A large proportion of the residents consists of families of the old nobility, courtiers, and military and civil officers, who have either retired voluntarily from the business of life, or have wisely sought an honourable retreat before the anticipated frown of the autocrat pronounced their doom. Their equipages present a curious mixture of shabbiness and splendour. No carriages of respectable persons are seen without four horses. The leaders' traces are so long that a pair of horses might easily be harnessed between them and the wheelers. A dirty urchin, like puss in boots, with a dirtier livery, is mounted on the off leader, flourishing a short whip in his left hand, while the coachman adapts the length of his whip to the dignity of his master, which in any other country would be compromised by the ruined condition of his tackle. His own dress, however, is usually of a better order. A long blue caftan, with a silken ceinture of gaudy colours and Torjok manufacture, a square cap, and a fine flowing beard, distinguish the coachmen."

"The hospitality of the Moscovites has always been proverbial. A singular instance of it, carried almost to excess, occurred a day or two ago when, on my first introduction to an elderly lady of rank, by an English gentleman whom she had known only a week, she said quickly, And pray, sir, how is it that you have been in Moscow so many days and have not come to see me? You were not at my ball on Monday night. Will you dine with me to-morrow, or next day, or what day will you dine with me?' I was surprised by such a reception; but found on inquiry that the same kind of unreflecting hospitality is always manifested in Moscow, toward foreign travellers, especially toward the English. The fact is, English travellers are scarce in this country; and the distance from our island is so great, that only men of a certain property can afford the expense of a journey, so that something like a guarantee is offered against the abuse of kindness by those whose poverty might carry captive their conscience. The number of English of the higher class in Moscow is very limited; though here as at St. Petersburg, British governesses, nursery maids, gardeners, horse jockies, and mechanics, are retained in considerable numbers. In most large families, the individuals filling one or more of these stations are our compatriots. In the duties of a nursery, Russians regard the English as unrivalled."

"The city of Moscow is slightly elevated. The inequality of the ground on which it stands adds to the picturesque nature of the view. It would be very difficult to analyse the tout ensemble and describe the details which form so remarkable a whole. Perhaps your recollection of Constantinople will enable you to form some idea of the general character of the city; but even in Constantinople that strange variety is not exhibited which here prevails. Dr. Clarke humourously observes, 'One might imagine all the states of Europe and Asia had sent a building, by way of representative, to Moscow: and under this impression the eye is presented with deputies from the countries holding congress; timber huts from regions beyond the Arctic; plastered palaces from Sweden and Denmark, not whitewashed since their arrival; painted walls from the Tyrol; mosques from Constantinople; Tartar temples from Bucharia; pagodas, pavilions, and Verandas from China; cabarets from Spain; dungeons, prisons and public offices from France; architectural ruins from Rome; terraces and trellises A Russian bath. "The Russians, like the Infrom Naples; and warehouses from Wapping.' dians, are partial to bathing; but a Russian bath This is a happy idea of the most amusing of is a thing sui generis; and, as a correct notion of travellers. The only deputy who has missed his it can be obtained only by undergoing the opeway is the minaret from India. That elegant ration, I resolved to pay the price, and have acform of eastern architecture appears to be en-cordingly taken a bath both here and at Moscow. tirely wanting; its place is supplied by Gothic | [Mr. Elliot is now writing from St. Petersburg.]

NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

A bath house consists of a succession of rooms, generally three, in each of which is a stove: the second apartment is heated to a higher temperature than the first, in which the thermometer may stand at 100 degrees of Fahrenheit; and a third to a higher than the second. In the inner room is a series of benches from the floor to the top, each hotter than the one below. The temperature of the highest could not, I should think, be less than 140 degrees; it might be more. To these baths hundreds of persons flock every day, especially on Saturday. A few years ago the sexes bathed indiscriminately together. Now there is a division in the room: but in many of the houses this is scarcely more than nominal; the door being either off its hinges, or not filling the doorway. The price paid at public institutions is equivalent to two pence; at private baths, to three and eight pence. The process is as follows. You enter the second apartment, having undressed in the first: by degrees the temperature of the body rises, so that you find the heat of the inner room supportable; at the same time you are quite content to sit on the lowest bench that the head may be in a stratum of air lower, and therefore less heated, then when you stand. The attendant then approaches, and, desiring you to lie down, he rubs the whole body with a handful of the inner bark of limetree dipped in soapsuds previously prepared, and shampooes every limb. This part of the operation is very grateful, when he throws over your head successive showers of hot water; after which, you take your seat on the second or third bench from the bottom, gradually ascending as you are able to bear the heat. The skin soon becomes hot, the head feverish, and the tongue parched. The sensation is dreadful, and you regard with horror the unfeeling operator who insists on your ascending to the uppermost bench. As soon as you comply, the man throws four or five buckets of water into the stove. In a moment the room is filled with steam: and the attendant proceeds to the last part of his duty, which is to brush you rather smartly with a bunch of birch twigs covered with leaves. During this agreeable flagellation, perspiration bursts forth from every_pore, and actually runs down in little streams. The effect is inconceivable. A state of extreme enjoyment succeeds to that of oppression. The skin, head, and respiration are relieved; and the muscles of the mouth relax into a smile from mere animal pleasure. Such, at least, was the effect produced on me. Having descended to the floor and dried the body, you enter the next room and find the sofa a necessary resort. An hour's repose affords the body time to recover from its state of relaxation; and the Russian bath, which is a regarded as a panacea for all diseases, is concluded. The natives adopt a more speedy (and, as they say, a more efficacious) mode of recruiting the system. While perspiration is flowing profusely from the skin they run into the cold air, and rub their bodies with snow, or throw cold water on their heads. The pores are instantly closed, and every fibre is braced; while the previous draught on the vessels of the cuticle counteracts the bad effect likely, under other circumstances, to result from such a transition. I tried the experi

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ment, and found it act as a delightful tonic, from which I experienced no subsequent ill effects."

The population of Russia, including all the subjects of the Emperor, amounts to fifty millions! Of these, thirty-eight millions profess the Greco-Russian faith; ten millions are Roman Catholics; three and a half Protestants; two millions are Mahommedans and a million and a half pagans. If Russia in Europe were as well populated as Sweden, it would contain ninetyfive millions of inhabitants; if as well as Germany, we should have the result four hundred and thirty-two millions, and it has been calculated that the capabilities of the soil would admit an increased population to the amount of 275 millions without subjecting them to inconvenience from a want of subsistence! The higher classes of Russians are represented as intelligent and generally well educated. It is common to hear four languages, and sometimes five, spoken at the same table. Every gentleman talks German, and French, and many speak English. Such are the inhabitants of a country to which, but a few years since, the epithet of barbarian was appropriately applied. After fairly dipping into Mr. Elliott's work, we found it impossible to omit a single page; it might all fairly be quoted, but that is beyond our power. We refer to it for much curious and valuable information, both for the merchant, the ladies, and all general readers. It is the latest account of the countries visited.

The second work we have found leisure to read is from the same publishers, and is entitled "TALES OF ROMANCE, first series," containing contributions from the pens of the most popular authors in Great Britain. When we enumerate Thomas Moore, Miss Mitford, the authors of Stories of Waterloo, of the King's own, T. Crofton Croker &c., we have named writers with whom all are familiar, and who have delighted all classes. If this publication should be patronised, as we learn it is likely to be, the publishers design to continue it to a considerable length, furnishing in a cheap and elegant form the best tales and stories of the London press. The work is superbly done up, and sold at a cheap price. The Wine Merchant's story is truly entertaining.

MEN AND MANNERS.

If we were called upon to designate the kind of books which best serve to fill the vacuities of conversation, we should certainly say that those which describe men and manners, contribute the most to this end, and that those which treat of our own habits must strongly attract our notice. The new book, just published by Messrs. Carey, Lea & Blanchard, entitled "Men and Manners in America," by Colonel Hamilton, the author of Cyril Thornton, inasmuch as it abuses us most heartily, is destined to create a short sensation in the reading world. The folly of an individual who, after a sojourn of a few weeks among us, should attempt to illustrate our manners, might be shewn by an experiment on a smaller scale. Let any one who has occupied a particular square, in a large city, seat himself to pen an accurate history of his neighbours! he would

find them as various in manners and habitudes | tously collected, a considerable portion of whom as the antipodes, and would find nothing like a are daily changing, and who, we are informed, resemblance, if he classed them under one head. were "forking their victuals into their gullets,” His nearest resident would have to be de- when in company with this modern seer, was spatched as a frequenter of the theatre, and a surely ample time to form an estimate of the bon vivan, while the next would, perhaps, be a "moral character" of the whole "American peoquaker or a methodist, and the "domestic man-ple." This joke is a good one, and no doubt has ners" of the square would, after all, turn out a been forked down the gullet of honest John Bull, hodge-podge. But English writers are not puz- but it can only serve us as a joke, to be laughed zled by this trifling difficulty; they stop at a ta-at. If we are guilty of the charges made by this vern, and find several people eating very heartily, and they immediately set us all down as forking the meats into our gullets," as if we knew only the science of the pitchfork. How very unjust the Londoners would think one of us, if we were to visit them, and be thrown into contact with a few of their fashionable lords. Our description of London society, we could make up, wholesale, by inserting such a list as the following, of the engagements of a duke, for a few days to come:

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novel writer, it is high time to reform our morals; and we particularly advise those hundred people, fortuitously collected, and all others who frequent hotels in New York, to look well after their moral characters, and at least not to expose us all, by making their immorality apparent while using their knives and forks. But we must be brief, and come at once to our extracts. The author thinks Mr. Forrest a "coarse and vulgar actor, without grace, without dignity, with little flexibility of feature, and utterly common

MONDAY-To back Wapping Will, the dust-place, in his conceptions of character;" and we man, against Joe Crib, the collier, for one hundred guineas. To stand on the grand jury, at Maidstone, and afterwards to run a maggot race with Jack Smoaky.

TUESDAY-To attend the match between a wooden-legged walker, and a ham-stringed hog -to proceed to the hanging match, and thence to the dinner of the Philanthrophic Society. WEDNESDAY-To trot Miss Graceless against Sir Andrew's Nutcracker, for 500 guineas-go to the levee-meet Lord and Lady Giles, at the jack-ass race-back Humphrey Hog, my coachman, against the whole county, for eating hot hasty-pudding.

THURSDAY-Tom Carey, the leaping chimney sweep, to dine with me.

Now, we fearlessly assert, that there is such a class of good-for-nothings in England, (they are just beginning to bud here, too,) but if it ever fall to our lot to describe men and manners in England, we trust we may be prevented by good taste from setting down the whole nation as like the few samples. Not so Col. Hamilton-he saw a hundred people at the hotel in New York, and from what he saw, set us all down as inferior to the estimate he had formed of our moral character! He would not go to see the Philadelphia Water Works, because our citizens talked so much about them. But we must let him speak for himself. How rapidly he jumps to a conclusion, may be gathered from the following extract:

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are all mercifully swept away thus :-" In the present generation of Americans, I can detect no symptom of improving taste, or increasing elevation of intellect. Compared with their fathers, I have no hesitation in pronouncing the younger portion of the richer classes to be less liberal, less enlightened, less observant of the proprieties of life, and certainly far less pleasing in manner and deportment.' That's capital, and will, we have no doubt, be seriously taken to heart by the youth of America. Now for our libraries: "At present an American might study every book within the limits of the Union, and still be regarded in many parts of Europe, especially in Germany, as a man comparatively ig norant." Had our book-maker studied only a few of the books in the Union, he would have gone home less grossly ignorant. Every book, forsooth-a grand assertion for a man who, probably, never opened one while in the country! Jokes multiply as we proceed.

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Having procured a coach, I drove to Head's Hotel, which had been recommended to me as one of the best houses in the Union. Here I could only procure a small and nasty bed room, lighted by a few panes of glass fixed in the wall, some eight or ten feet from the floor. On the following morning, therefore, I removed to the United States Hotel, where I found the accommodations excellent.

"Philadelphia is mediocrity personified in bricks and mortar. It is a city laid down by "For the last three weeks I have been daily square and rule, a sort of habitable problem,--a thrown into the company of about one hundred mathematical infringement on the rights of indiindividuals, (at the New New York Hotel) for-vidual eccentricity, a rigid and prosaic despotuitously collected. A considerable portion of tism of right angles and parallelograms. It may these are daily changing, and it is not, perhaps, emphatically be called a comfortable city, that is, too much to assume, that, as a whole, they afford the houses average better than in any other with a fair average specimen of their class. Without, which I am acquainted. You here see no mistherefore, wishing to lead the reader to any has-erable and filthy streets, the refuge of squalid ty or exaggerated conclusion, I must in candour poverty, forming a contrast to the splendour of state, that the result of my observations has been squares and crescents. No Dutch town can be to lower considerably the high estimate I had cleaner, and the marble stairs and window-sills formed of the moral character of the American of the better houses, give an agreeable relief to people." the red brick of which they are constructed."

This, we suppose, is meant to be passed off as a capital joke! Three weeks passed in the company of about a hundred individuals, fortui

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The remarkably unprejudiced character of friend Cyril Thornton, is thus exhibited:

"The Philadelphians, however, pride them

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