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DRESS AND MANNERS OF THE

bred as the ladies in the cities, although they may not possess their highly finished education. Yet in the well settled parts of New England the children do not want for plain and useful instruction; and the girls, especially, are early initiated in the principles of domestic order and economy. At the taverns and farm-houses, where we rested on the road, we found the people extremely civil and attentive. We were treated with as much respect as if we had been at our own houses; and the landlord, his wife and daughters, waited on us in the most obliging manner. I do not mention this as a solitary instance, it was general at every house where we stopped; neither have I drawn my conclusions merely from the reception I met with at taverns and other places of public resort, but from my observations upon the people in general, with whom I had frequent opportunities of mixing, whether they belonged to the highest or the lowest orders of the community. I believe it is generally allowed, that for a traveller who wishes to make himself master of the real character and disposition of a people, it is not sufficient that he associates only with the grandees of a nation; he must mix with the plebeians, otherwise he acquires but false ideas of the country and its inhabitants. "The great mass of nations," says Dr. Johnson,

are neither rich nor gay. They whose aggregate constitutes the people, are found in the streets and

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the villages, in the shops and farms; and from them, collectively considered, must the measure of general prosperity be taken." From these I have judged of the real character of the Americans; and I found it as difficult to discover a single particle of rudeness in the behaviour of the men, as it was to discover an ugly face or bad teeth among the young women,

Arrival at Boston-Agreeable Situation-Beacon Hill-The Park-East Boston-LongwharfMarket Places New Hotel- Population of Boston-Religion-Manners of the first Settlers -Rigidity of Character-Governor HancockHis Partiality to Negroes and Animosity to Theatres satirized by the Echo-Visit to the Theatre and the Circus-Captain Girod-Colonel Moulin-Captain de Frotte―Their extraordinary Escape from Fort Joux in Franche Comté Literature Newspapers - Military

Funeral-Manufactures-Contrast between the

northern Merchant and the southern Planter Visit to Bunker's Hill-Plymouth.

WE entered Boston about two o'clock in the afternoon of Saturday, 23d April. The stage stopped at Lamphear's hotel in Hanover-street, where Captain Crowninshield, his brother, and I alighted. As I intended to stay but a few days in Boston, I did not think it worth while to go to a private boarding-house, and therefore took up my residence at this hotel, which the Crownin

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shields recommended to me as the best house in

the town.

Early hours, I perceived, were prevalent among people of business in Boston; for we had scarcely left the stage when we sat down to dinner with upwards of 30 gentlemen. Here, as at other hotels in the States, the boarders in the house and single gentlemen in the neighbourhood take their meals at one public table at a certain hour. Our dinner consisted of almost every thing the markets produced, and was served up in excellent order: there were also four or five waiters in attendance. After dinner the Crowninshields set out for Salem in one of the stages which runs between that place and Boston, a distance of 17 miles. These gentlemen, though rather dogmatical in their political tenets, were notwithstanding pleasant sensible companions; and after travelling with them during three days, I parted from their company with reluctance. They pressed me very much to pay them a visit at Salem; but I was prevented from accepting their polite invitation by my anxiety to return to Canada as soon as possible.

I remained in Boston only six days; it cannot therefore be expected that I can furnish a very full and detailed account of the town and its inhabitants; but what little time I had was spent in visiting every place worthy of notice, and observing the manners of the people,

Boston is an irregular built town, situated on a peninsula whose surface is broken by small hills ; and, except where the isthmus appears in sight, seems completely environed by a beautiful river.

The town of Boston cannot boast of much uniformity and elegance; but with respect to situation it is extremely beautiful, and well deserves the description which Young gives of a populous city.

"How wanton sits she, amidst Nature's smiles!
Nor from her highest turret has to view

But golden landscapes and luxuriant scenes."

From an elevated part of the town the spectator enjoys a succession of the most beautiful views that imagination can conceive. Around him, as far as the eye can reach, are to be seen towns, villages, country seats, rich farms, and pleasuregrounds, seated upon the summits of small hills, hanging on the brows of gentle slopes, or reclining in the laps of spacious valleys, whose shores are watered by a beautiful river, across which are thrown several bridges and causeways. These bridges connect the minor towns of Cambridge, Charlestown, &c. with Boston, and are built of wood, upon a vast number of piers of equal height; their length is from 2000 to 4000 feet. They are painted yellow, kept in excellent order, lighted by lamps, and have a foot path on each side, railed