and are at the same time of the less educated and polished classes; such persons are very often so independent and morbidly afraid of exhibiting any obsequiousness, that they run into surliness or sauciness. Along with this, there is a most unmistakeable air of self-confidence in all classes, including females and the young. The air of perfect self-possession, seen in the young, the women, and the lower classes, is surprising; quite different from anything I have seen elsewhere. From my short experience of the Americans, I should say too much has been written about such small matters as the nasal twang, inquisitiveness, and spitting; and too little of the frank and agreeable manners of the people and their friendly behaviour to strangers. The nasal twang is comparatively rare, though sometimes very well marked, especially in Boston, where I have heard it amongst the legislative officials. It is scarcely heard in Congress. Having travelled thousands of miles in the States, I seldom experienced that inquisitiveness so much talked of, and can only recollect of one occasion on which spitting was in the least annoying. We do meet in the States people a little brusque and eccentric in manners, but not more in proportion than in other coun tries, allowing for the American hotel and railway systems, that bring all classes together, for the independent character of the people, that prompts a more free and outspoken bearing, and for the comparative isolation in which, in so large and newly settled a country, many must reside. Take the great majority of the people in any considerable American city, they will be found as courteous and well bred as in other cities, and, perhaps, more affable and accessible than the like classes in Great Britain. Now and then one does meet with an unpleasant combination of cold English reserve and surly American independence. But this is rare and exceptional. That peculiar repelling look which characterizes many in England, as if they were indignant at something, and would be greatly astonished if you should presume to address them, is seldom seen in the United States, where, in general, the people are frank, hearty, and open, ready, when travelling, to converse pleasantly, and so aid in passing the time agreeably. Always excepting at dinner in a hotel; there, I must say, I did not find Brother Jonathan inclined to be sociable; he would answer politely, but not encouragingly, in such a way as to convey the impression that he was engaged in a very important business, requiring his undivided attention, for which his time was rather limited, and so did not care to be interrupted. The silence at the dinner-table in many of the American hotels felt sometimes oppressive; at other times, ludicrous, when one looked around, and saw a hundred or two deeply intent and quite absorbed in the great work of cramming, opening their mouths only for the admission of victuals, or to call for more, and heard nothing but the footsteps of the waiters, the subdued tones of the various orders, and the clatter of plates and dishes. Fluency of language is undoubtedly a characteristic of the Americans. They are trained to it early; they have an extraordinary number of school-books on elocution, and are frequently called on in their schools to speak out, give demonstrations, and recite. They are constantly reading, listening to, or making speeches, and certainly appear to me to have a much readier command of words than the British. You never hear an American hesitate, no hum-and-hawing, failure in finding a word, going back to reconstruct the sentence: their fluency, propriety, and readiness of speech are surprising. I heard a great variety of speakers in Congress; all spoke with perfect freedom and fluency, quite at ease and unembarrassed, with a facility that evinced not only considerable previous practice, but a great natural command of language. The majority were new members, of whom, however, it is probable that many had been members of some of the State legislatures. Diffidence is scarcely to be met with in the United States, which greatly promotes fluency of speech. Had Shakspeare lived in modern America, he would hardly have 'written "Where I have come, great clerks have purposed "Periods in the midst of sentences" and "dumbly breaking off" are unknown in the United States. Glib and voluble, but at the same time correct and forcible in language, Brother Jonathan is ever ready with words; and, I should suppose, never finds himself in the awkward "fix" in which we sometimes see a rash John Bull, bashful, blundering, and stammering, who has mistaken his vocation, and imagined he had a mission to make a speech. The "gift of the gab" is a national characteristic according to some of themselves, a national nuisance. A gentleman was applied to for a contribution to assist in establishing a debating society in his native village. He wrote back that he would gladly subscribe to stop it, if he could; that there was too much talk already; that he was quite sick of it; that the gift of the gab would be the ruin of the country. It is even denounced from the pulpit. In a fast-day sermon a clergyman said, "The people of this country have talked too much, have written too much. Verboseness is one of the national sins." But they do talk well, and by talking train the mind as well as the faculty of speech, and are better able to exhibit their talents and information. One cause why the Americans deviate from the British type may, I think, be adduced to explain some points in their character and physical constitution. They are not the descendants of the average of the British, but of certain sections only. The stout, corpulent, jolly-looking John Bull does not leave his country; he is at ease, and content, and does not need to emigrate, which would be too much trouble to him. He stays at home, and enjoys "mine ease in mine inn." The Americans are, for the most part, the descendants of the disap |