The British troops repeatedly crossed over and lingered upon his estate during the war of the Revolution, much to his annoyance and its detriment. His affairs obliged him to return to France in 1780, and he was allowed to pass through the enemy's lines in order to embark with one of his family; but the vessel was intercepted by the French fleet then off the coast, and Crevecœur was detained several months under suspicion of being a spy. After his release he reëmbarked for Europe, and reached his paternal home safely, after an absence of twenty-seven years. In 1783 he returned to New York to find his dwelling burned to the ground, his wife dead, and his children in the care of friends.

He brought with him, on his return to America, a commission as French consul at New York—a situation which he honorably filled for ten years, when, once more returning to his native land, he resided at his country seat near Rouen, and subsequently at Sarcelles, where he died in 1813. All accounts agree in describing him as a man of the highest probity, the most benevolent disposition, rare intelligence, and engaging manners. Washington esteemed him; he made a journey in Pennsylvania with Franklin, on the occasion of the latter's visit to Lancaster to lay the corner stone of the German college. The account of the incidents and conversation during this trip recorded by Crevecœur, are among the most characteristic reminiscences of the American philosopher extant. His "Letters of an American Farmer were pub lished in London in 1782. He translated them into his native tongue.* They have a winsome flavor, and picture so delectably the independence, the resources, and the peace of an agricultural life, just before and after the Revolution, in the more settled States of America, that the reader of the present day cannot feel surprised that he beguiled many an emigrant from the Old World to the banks of the Ohio and the Delaware. But this charm originated in the temper and mind of the writer, who was admirably constituted to appreciate and

* "Lettres d'un Cultivateur Americain, traduites de l'Anglois," 2 vols., 8vo., Paris, 1784.

improve the advantages of such an experience. He found on his beautiful farm and among his kindly neighbors, the same attractions which Mrs. Grant remembered so fondly of her girlhood's home at Albany. Among the best of his letters are those extolling the pleasures and feelings of a farmer's life in a new country, and those descriptive of Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and Charleston, the notice of Bartram the naturalist, and the account of the Humming Bird. Nor was this the author's only contribution to the literature of American travel. In 1801, the fruit of his leisure after his final return to Normandy, appeared in the shape of a work in the publication of which he indulged in a curious literary ruse. It was entitled "Voyage dans la haute Pennsylvania et dans l'Etat de New York, par un Membre Adoptif de la nation Oneida, traduit par l'Auteur des Lettres d'un Cultivateur Americain." It needed not this association of his first popular venture with this new book of travels in the same country, to pierce the thin disguise whereby he announced the latter as printed from MSS. found in a wreck on the Elbe; for the author enjoyed the eclat of success in the Paris salons, while elsewhere his kindliness and wisdom made him a great favorite. These two works have the merit and the interest of being more deliberate literary productions than any that preceded them. There is a freshness and an ardor in the tone, which is often magnetic; and in the material, a curious mixture of statistics and romance, matter of fact and sentiment, reminding the reader at one moment of Marmontel, and at another of Adam Smith; for it deals about equally in stories and economical details: many of the most remarkable Indian massacres and border adventures, since wrought into history, dramas, and novels, are narrated in these volumes fresh from current traditions or recent knowledge. The author was on intimate terms with the savages, and had been made an honorary member of the Oneida tribe. He gives a clear and probably, at the time, a novel account of the different States, their productions, condition, &c.

Keenly appreciating the relation of landed property to citi

zenship, exulting in the independence of an agricultural life in a free country, and alive to all the duties and delights of domestic seclusion, his letters breathe a wise and grateful sense of the privileges he enjoys as an American farmer:

"The instant I enter on my own land," he writes, "the bright idea of property, of exclusive right, of independence, exalts my mind. Precious soil, I say to myself, by what singular custom of law is it that thou wast made to constitute the riches of the freeholder? What should we American farmers be without the distinct possession of that soil? It feeds, it clothes us; from it we draw our great exuberancy, our best meat, our richest drink-the very honey of our bees comes from this privileged spot. No wonder we should thus cherish its possession-no wonder that so many Europeans, who have never been able to say that such a portion of land was theirs, cross the Atlantic to realize that happiness. This formerly rude soil has been converted by my father into a pleasant farm, and in return it has established all our rights; on it is founded our rank, our freedom, our power as citizens, our importance as inhabitants of such a district. These images, I must confess, I always behold with pleasure, and extend them as far as my imagination can reach; for this is what may be called the true and only philosophy of the American farmer. Often when I plough my low ground, I place my little boy on a chair which screws to the beam of the plough; its motion and that of the horses please him; he is perfectly happy, and begins to chat. As I lean over the handle, various are the thoughts which crowd into my mind. I am now doing for him, I say, what my father formerly did for me may God enable him to live, that he may perform the same operations for the same purposes, when I am worn out and old. I release his mother of some trouble while I have him with me; the odoriferous furrow exhilarates his spirits and seems to do the child a great deal of good, for he looks more blooming since I have adopted the practice: can more pleasure, more dignity be added to that primary occupation? The father, thus ploughing with his child and to feed his family, is inferior only to the emperor of China, ploughing as an example to his kingdom."

Very loving and observant are his comments on the aspect, habits, and notes of birds; they remind us of the spirit without the science of our endeared ornithologists, Audubon and Wilson. "I generally rise from bed," writes Crevecœur, "about that indistinct interval, which, properly speaking, is

neither night nor day; for this is the moment of the most universal vocal choir. Who can listen unmoved to the sweet love tales of our robins, told from tree to tree; or to the shrill catbird? The sublime accents of the thrush from on high, always retard my steps that I may listen to the delicious music." A long discussion with Dr. Franklin during their memorable journey in 1787, as to the origin of the aboriginal tribes and the mounds of the West, which of late years have so interested ethnologists, is reported at length by this assiduous writer; we thence learn that this new and extended interest was foreseen by the venerable philosopher, who remarked to his companion: "When the population of the United States shall have spread over every part of that vast and beautiful region, our posterity, aided by new discoveries, may then, perhaps, form more satisfactory conjectures."

The religion and politics of the country are defined in these epistles. The Quakers, the weather, the aspect of the land, excursions, speculations, anecdotes, and poetical episodes are the versatile subjects of his chronicle: several oldfashioned engraved illustrations give a quaint charm to the earlier editions; domestic fêtes, ma fille Fanny, and the transplanting of a sassafras tree, alternate in the record with reflections on the war of the Revolution, the "Histoire de Rachel Bird," and "La Père Infortuné!" There is a naïve ardor and the genial egotism of a Gallic raconteur and philosopher, in the work—which survives the want of novelty in its economical details and local descriptions.

During Crevecœur's visit to Normandy, five American sailors were shipwrecked on that coast, and he befriended them in their great need and peril, with a humane zeal that did credit to his benevolent heart. A gentleman of Boston in New England was so impressed with this kindness to his unfortunate countrymen, that, hearing of the destruction of the generous Frenchman's homestead far away, he made a long and hazardous journey in search of the deserted chil dren, discovered, and cherished them till the father's arrival enabled him to restore them in health and safety. The ardent

style of Crevecœur's writings, and that tendency to exaggeration incident to his temperament, caused his books to be criticized with some severity as incorrect, highy colored, and prolix; yet the vital charm and ingenuous sentiment of the enthusiast, combined with his tact as a raconteur, and his love of nature and freedom, made these now neglected works popular at the time and long subsequent, to their original publication.

One of the most striking instances of the historical value of authentic and detailed records of travel, is the use which philosophical annalists, like De Tocqueville, have made of Arthur Young's observations in France. This intelligent and enthusiastic agricultural writer chronicled, as a tourist, the practical workings of the old régime in regard to the peasantry and rural districts, so as to demonstrate the vital necessity of a revolution on economical and social principles alone. A disciple of this writer, whose integrity and patriotism as well as painstaking research make up in no small degree for his limited scientific knowledge and want of originality, prepared a large and well-considered work from a careful survey of the American States and their statistics in 1795. The Duke de La Rochefoucault-Liancourt commanded at Rouen, when the Constituent Assembly, of which he was a member, dissolved; subsequently he passed many months in England, and then visited this country. His "Voyage dans les Etats Unis," and his efficiency in establishing the use of vaccination in France, cause him to be remembered as a man of letters and benevolence; he reached a venerable age, and won the highest respect, although long subject to the unjust aspersions of partisan opponents whom his liberal nature failed to conciliate. There is little of novel information to an American reader in his voluminous work, except the record of local features and social facts, which are now altogether things of the past; yet the fairness and minute knowledge displayed, account for the value and interest attached to this work for many years after its appearance. It is evident that the Duke de La Rochefoucault travelled as much to beguile himself of the ennui of