the increasing prevalence of education. At any rate I am sure, the reader will be as much rejoiced as I am, that in the United States, religious equality is so firmly established, that the Government, even if it wished, cannot assist any individuals in persecuting a man for his want of faith.

The college which Mr. Holly raised from nothing to its present state, continues to increase in numbers and reputation; and, of course, his fame increases with it, in spite of the efforts made by the Puritans, Presbyterians, and other bigoted sects, to injure him in the public estimation...

But the University appeared to me to be greatly deficient in discipline, without which no literary establishment can possibly arrive at eminence. This want of discipline is the prevailing fault in all the American colleges, partly owing to the want of authority in the professors, and partly to the early age at which many of the students are admitted, and which has occasioned many of the colleges to dègenerate into mere schools.

Lexington can boast of a considerable female academy, where, among other accomplishments, the learned languages are taught. It seems, indeed, to be the wise determination of the Americans, to improve the ordinary course of female education.

I am aware that men in general sneer at a wellinformed woman, calling her a blue stocking, and seeming to envy her the acquirement of solid know ledge; but for my own part I admire those ladies,

who have strength of mind enough to disregard these sarcasms, and who are confident in themselves that they are extending the field of their rational enjoyments. As to the rest of the sex, their minds are rather contracted than enlarged, by the frivolous accomplishments to which their education is too often confined. Women are, indeed, inferior to men in physical strength; but from their leading a much more sedentary life, they seem particularly qualified to enjoy literary pursuits.

Nothing is more astonishing than the rapid rise and progress of the Western States in the scale of civilization. The spot on which Lexington stands, was forty years ago, a complete wilderness, inhabited only by the buffalo and elk, and made use of, by the wild Indians, as a hunting ground.

In my road to Franckfort, the seat of Government for the State of Kentucky, I stopped at the Half-way-House, kept by an old man of the name of Coles, one of the first settlers in this State.

Here, while I sat during the evening, by a hearth heaped up with blazing logs, three or four feet in length, and nearly as many in circumference, I listened with great delight to the anecdotes, with which my landlord wiled away the time.

"The Indians," said the old man, "are a very grave people, and very seldom laugh, or express astonishment at any thing. When, however, they do laugh, they laugh most immoderately. To illustrate this, I will mention a fact which took place soon after our coming here.

"The early settlers were obliged for defence, to live in forts made of logs and earth, which they called stations. Round these stations, the Indians constantly lurked, in order to surprise, and get a shot at the settlers, and, after killing a man, retreated into the woods where it was useless to follow them. Whenever therefore, those in one station wished to send a message to those in another, the messenger, upon arriving within a quarter of a mile of his destination, used to raise a whoop in order that his friends might know he was coming, and might open the gate immediately; for if he stopped, even but a moment, he was almost sure to receive the bullet of some lurking Indian. Now, in the neighbourhood of the fort where I was," continued the old man, "some of these uncivilized beings observed our practice, and accordingly stretched across the path, within a couple of hundred yards of the fort, a small vine, so as to come up to the breast of a man on horseback. In a short time, a messenger they knew we expected, came on, raising his whoop, and galloping for the open gate as hard as he could; but not seeing the vine, he was thrown from his horse, head over heels. Two Indians immediately rushed out to tomahawk him; but, amused with the success of their stratagem, and the ridiculous way in which the man was thrown, burst into such a fit of laughter, that they fell down, and thus gave the affrighted messenger time to get up, and run into the station."

Perhaps the reader may have thought this anécdote rather long, but I cannot resist the temptation of giving him another, although it must be preceded by some prefatory remarks.

The early settlers of Kentucky all wore the "hunting-shirt,” which is still the common dress of the hunters and backwoodsmen. It is a kind of short loose doublet, reaching about half-way down the thighs, with an upright collar, and a small but full cape. It is kept together in front with two or three buttons or hooks; and is as loose as an English farmer's smock-frock, but is fastened round the waist by a broad leather belt, in which hang the tomahawk and hunting knife. Over the shoulder passes another belt, to which is suspended the powder-horn, and the fur-pouch for bullets and wadding. The hunting-shirt is made of coarse blue linen, or (as they call it) linsey-woolsey, and is bound round the collar, cape, cuffs, and edges, with a red fringe. This dress, which is very commodious and serviceable, is one of the most becoming and elegant I have ever seen. Having said thus much about the hunting-shirt, I proceed to the other anecdote.

"Old General Scott and two or three others," said my landlord, "were sitting one evening in a log-tavern, when in came a tolerably well-dressed stranger, from the New England States, and called for half a pint of whiskey. The landlord informed him, that he did not sell it in such small quanti

ties. The old General, who was very fond of whiskey, said, 'Stranger, I will join you and pay half; therefore, Landlord, give us a pint of your best. The whiskey was brought, and the General, who was to drink first, began by saying to the stranger, Colonel, your good health.' I am no Colonel,' replied the stranger. Well then,' said

the General, Major, your good health.' I am no Major,' said the New Englander. • Then your

good health, Captain,' said the General. I am no Captain, sir,' said the stranger, and what is more, never held a commission in my life.' Well then, by heavens!' said the old General, you are the first man in Kentucky that ever wore a cloth coat, and was not a commissioned officer.'

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Such were the sort of anecdotes with which Mr. Coles entertained me, and made, the evening the most pleasant one I had spent since leaving Washington.

I continued my journey the next morning through a well cleared and fertile country; but I did not think the land so rich as on the other side of Lexington.

Franckfort is a small but neat town, beautifully situated on the Kentucky. Nothing is seen of it, until you come to the edge of a very steep hill, over which the road passes; and then you are almost startled at seeing the town immediately beneath your feet. It is at the bottom of a large natural basin which is intersected by the river. The Kentucky is navigable during the high

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