The Englishwoman in America

ory-The voyage out-The

ley-Practical joking-

ism-The first vi

be induced to read a book by the most cogent representations of an unknown author, and as apologies for "rushing into p

rn, I was requested by numerous friends to give an account of my travels. As this volume has been written with a v

le than those of some of my predecessors, the difference may arise from my having taken out many excellent introductions, which afforded

ions, feeling the great injustice of drawing general inferences from partial premises, as well as the impossibility of rightly estimating cause and effect during a brief residence in the United States. I ha

t from experience I can say that even those who read most on the Americans know little of them, from the dispo

fraternal, we give the people inhabiting this continent the national cognomen of "Brother Jonathan," while we name individuals "Yankees." We know that they are famous for smoking, spitting, "gouging," and bowie-knives-for monster hotels, steamboat explosions,

y take who ha

may keep

hich is worthy of commendation, even of imitation: that there is much which is very reprehensible, is not to be wondered at in a country which for years has been made a "cave of Adullam"-a refuge for those who have "left their country for their country's good"-a receptacle for the b

and vulgarity should be met with? Is it not rather surprising, that a traveller shoul

ly sensitive, and cannot endure that good- humoured raillery which jests at their weaknesses and foibles. Hence candid and even favourable statements of the truth by Englis

ch some writers have adopted; but our American neighbours must recollect that they provoked both the virulent spirit and the hostile caricature by the way in which some of their most popular writ

orated from memory, some inaccuracies have occurred which it will not take a keen eye to detect. These must be set down to want of correct information rather than to wilful misrepresentation. The statistical information

antic trial, and where a free people is protected by British laws. There are, doubtless, some English readers who will be interested in the brief notices which I have given of its people, its society, and its astonishing c

ill not offer hackneyed apologies for its very numerous faults and deficiencies; but will conclude these tedious but necessary introductory remarks with the sincere hope that

*

ng of it, the voyage seems an important event when undertaken for the first time. Friends living in inland counties, and those who have been sea-sick

to a tropical summer, and a winter within the arctic circle. But a variety of minor arrangements, and even an indefinite number of leave- takings, c

nihilated by the discomfort and crush in the Satellite steam-tender, in which the passengers were conveyed, helplessly huddled together

ulation" portmanteaus from sailors who were running off with them, and the indulgence of that errant curiosity which glances at everything and rests on nothing, o

the paddle-boxes-the bell rang- our huge paddle-wheels revolved, and, to use the words in which the same event was chronicled by the daily press, "The Cunard royal mail steamer

ere were timber-ships, huge and square-sided, unmistakeably from Quebec or Miramichi-green high-sterned Dutch galliots-American ships with long black hulls and tall raking masts-and those far-famed "Black Ball" clippers, the Marco Polo and the Champion of the Seas,- in short, the ships of al

ngland become a faint cloud on the horizon; but soon oblivion stole over the intellects of most of the passengers, leaving one absorbing feeling of disgust, first to the viands, next to those who could partake of them, an

om morning to night. Some of the more active spirits played "shuffle-boards," which kept the deck in an uproar; while others enjoyed the dolce far niente in their berths, except when the bell summoned to meals. There were weather- wise people, who smoked round the funnel all da

regarded the pig in toto as an abomination-a lady, a scion of a ducal family, found herself next to a French cook going out to a San Franciscan eating-house- an officer, going out to high command at Halifax, was seated next a rough Californian, who wore "nuggets" of

vous Fran?ais, Monsieur?" and at the end of the voyage his stock of English only amounted to "Dice? Sixpence." One day at dinner this gentleman requested a French-speaking Californian to tell him how to ask for du pain in English. "My donkeys," was the prompt re

ct of keeping many of the ladies on deck, when a refuge from the cold and spray would have been desirable; but with this exception the conduct of the passengers on the whole was

t state of intoxication, and kept gin, brandy, and beer in her berth. Whether sober or not, she was equally voluble; and as her language was not only inelegant, but replete with coarseness and profanity, the annoyance

k the ship;" the contradiction implied in the words showing the weakness of her atheism, which, while it promises a man the impunity of non

away to the northward, the excitement of flight from Russian privateers was exchanged for the

we landed on the shores of the New World. The day previous to our landing was a Sunday, and I was pleased to observe the decorum which pervaded the ship. Service was conducted with propriety in the morning; a large proportion of the passengers read their Bibles or other religious books; punch, c

pect but the gambols of some very uncouth-looking porpoises, I was lying half asleep on a settee, when I was roused by the voice of a kind-hearted Yankee skipper, saying, "Come, get up; there's a glorious country and no mistake; a great country, a progressive country, the greatest country under the sun."

ys, although it is sometimes carried to a ridiculous extent, is greatly to be preferred to the abusive manner in which an Englishman accustoms himself to speak of the glorious country to which he app

cted, and to my delight he hailed in a pure English accent, which sounded like a friendly welcome. The captain took his place on the paddle-box, and our speed was slackened. Two guns were fired, and their echoes rolled for many a mile among the low, purple hills, from which a soft, fr

babies always do, persisted in crying just at the wrong time; articles essential to the toilet were missing, and sixpences or half-sovereigns had found their way into impossible crevices. Invitations were given, ca

ad the Anglo-Saxon cast and complexion; and on the shores of the western hemisphere I felt myself at home. Yet, as I sprang from the boat, and set my foot for the first time on Americ