(that is, the fporting sharpers). Then,' quoth I, a gentleman neglected in his proper turn, I find, must wait upon you. I was provoked to knock the varlet to the ground. The horses which he led,, ftartled at the fudden impulse, ran off, and before the oftler recovered, from the effects of the blow, or the horfes were caught, I led out my nag, and leifurely proceeded to the turf. Here I witnerfed a fcene perfectly novel. I have been at the races of Newmarket, Epfom, York, in fhort I have feen, for aught I know to the contrary, one hundred thousand pounds won and loft in a fingle day, in England. On coming up to an enclofed ground, a quarter of a dollar was demanded for my admiflion. Rather than turn back, though no fportfman, I fubmitted. Four-wheeled carriages paid a dollar, and half that fum was exacted for the moft miferable fingle horfe chaife. Though the day was raw, cold, and threatening to rain or fnow, there were abundance of ladies, decorated as if for a ball. In this year (1803) Congrefs was fummoned very early by Prefident Jefferfon, upon the contemplated purchafe of Louifiana, and to pafs a bill in order to facilitate his election again, as prefident. Many fcores of American legislators, who are all allowed fix dollars a-day, befides their travelling expenfes, went on foot from the capital, above four Englifh miles, to attend the fport. Nay, it is an indifputable fact, that the houfes of Congress adjourned at a very early hour to indulge the members for this` purpofe. It rained during the courfe, and thus the law-makers of the country were driven into the booths, and thereby compelled to eat and pay for what was there called a dinner; while their contemplated meal remained untouched at their respective boarding-houfes. Economy the order of the day, in the Jeffersonian administration of that country,. and the members pretend to avail themfelves of it, even in their perfonal expenfes. p. 208-210. It is Mr Janson's constant failing, to dwell at the greatest length upon topics neither peculiar to America, nor illustrated with any remarkable degree of happiness by what is to be found there. He devotes a long chapter to the history of various theatrical companies, and the adventures of second-rate English performers, who repaired to America in the way of their profession, besides many scattered notices of the same kind in other parts of his book. In like manner, almost all his drawings are of the least interesting kind; they are chiefly views of public buildings, as if those could be any thing but bad imitations of second-rate structures in the Old World. Such as the prints are, we certainly do not admire them the more for, their confused aquatinta execution. The nefarious practices' of the land-jobbers, occupy much of his attention, and call down all his indignation. There can be no doubt that such impositions as he describes are frequently practised upon the credulity of sanguine persons in England. But But we do not conceive either that the extent of those frauds is so great, or their criminality so deep as he assumes. Where the staple article of commerce in a country is the uncleared land, extensive speculation in that article will naturally lead to unfair arts; and the eagerness of some persons to buy, will encourage the sellers to take undue advantage of it, and to spread it among others. The chance of such impositions must be greatly augmented, if the purchasers live at a distance from the commodity; and really, if men are so blindly fond of speculating in land, as to buy it without inspection, and, consequently, more or less upon the word of the seller, they have themselves to blame should they now and then be deceived by him. The art of cooking up' land for the market, is described by Mr Janson as being generally practised; and his statements, we think, prove rather too much; for he tells us, that a traveller seeing some persons planting a few trees on a rocky soil, and inquiring the purpose of so strange an operation, was immediately informed, that it was in order to cook up the land a little' for the English market. Was the English purchaser to pay half a guinea an acre (the price demanded in this instance) without seeing the land himself, or sending an agent, or employing at least an American friend to look at it? Then he had no reason to complain; and indeed the trees were so much into the bargain; for he would have paid the same price though they had not been planted. But, in all probability, he was to send some one who might inspect the ground,-otherwise, indeed, the cookery could serve no purpose; and then, how comes it to pass that the American land-cook is cunning enough to carry on his trick, and foolish enough all the time to tell the wayfaring people what he is about? Our author's story of the fraud practised by the new administration of the state of Georgia upon the purchasers of its lands, comes to us under circumstances that require us to pause and suspect. He is one of the sufferers by the transaction; and the best of men will often, without knowing it, give the most erroneous statement of his own case. Upon the whole, we have not met with any proof materially detrimental to the general character of the Americans, from the practices of land-jobbers. The tricks of certain traders, even in England, where the extent of commercial dealings has naturally checked such incorrect proceedings, might just as fairly be quoted against our mercantile character. From what has hitherto been substantiated respecting the land-jobbers, and the share taken by some of the governments in their speculations, we are disposed to guess, that the lottery department of our revenue, brings fully as much blame upon our rulers, and is 3 attended attended with as many little tricks on the part, even of the fair traders, in beneficial chances. A very difgufting account is given in chapter XXII. of the favage amufements, known in the fouthern itates, particularly Georgia and the Carolinas. Some perfons having denied that thefe are any longer known, our author relates feveral inftances, fome of which he witneffed himfelf. We give the following fpecimen of his anecdotes upon this topic, premiing, that though` we were to admit their accuracy, they by no means difprove the opinion generally entertained, that the practices in question are gradually wearing out. Paffing, in company with other travellers, through the fate of Georgia, our attention was arrested by a gouging-match. We found the combatants, as Morfe describes, faft clenched by the hair, and their thumbs endeavouring to force a paffage into each other's eyes; while feveral of the bystanders were betting upon the first eyre to be turned out of its focket. For fome time the combatants avoided the thumb ftroke with dexterity. At length they fill to the ground; and in an inftant the uppermoft fprung up with his antagonist's eye in his hand!!! The favage crowd applauded, while, fick with horror, we galloped away from the infernal scene. The name of the fufferer was John Butler, a Carolinian, who, it feems, had been dared to the combat by a Georgian; and the firft eye was for the honour of the ftate to which they respectively belonged. The eye is not the only feature which fuffers on these occafions. Like dogs and bears, they ufe their teeth and feet, with the most savage ferocity, upon each other. A brute in human form, named John Stanley, of Bertie county, North Carolina, fharpens his teeth with a file, and boafts of his de-. pendence upon them in fight. This monfter will alfo exult in relating, the account of the noses and ears he has bitten off, and the cheeks he has torn. • A man of the name of Thomas Penrife, then living in Edenton, in the fame state, attempting at cards to cheat fome half drunken failors, was detected. A fcuffle enfued; Penrife knocked out the candle, then gouged out three eyes, bit off an ear, tore a few cheeks, and made good his retreat.' p. 301, 302. Among the various fubjects introduced, rather than treated of, by Mr Janfon, in order to catch the eye of idle readers, may be mentioned that of Advertisements.' He has filled a chapter with fpecimens of this kind of compofition, collected from the American newspapers. In none of these is there any thing ftriking; and they furnish not the flightest colour for an opinion prejudicial to the tafte of the country. The London newfpapers of a fingle week, and the provincial papers of England any one day, would fupply a much longer chapter of eccentric advertife VOL. X. NO. 19. H ments' ments' (as our author calls them), and furnish better reasons for doubting the good fenfe or correct taste of this country, to fuch as fhould be thoughtlefs enough to argue upon a general queftion by examining the fingle clafs of exceptions. It is fcarcely neceffary to add, that we urge this only against the inference from the American advertisements, and by no means as a denial that taste, in the United States, muft neceffarily be at a low ebb. If a confideration of the peculiar circumftances of those communities could leave any doubt refpecting this point, it would be removed by attending to the few fpecimens of the finer arts which from time to time come across the Atlantic. The collection of excerpts and anecdotes now under review, furnishes fome additions to our previous knowledge of this fubject. The poetry of Dr Dwight, for example, is evidently the growth of a country where only the coarfer forts of industry yet flourish. We extract the following lines as a fample. Say, mufe indignant! whofe the hand. And Infamy difown'd her fon.' p. 163. Mr Feffenden, we are told, (p. 200) is the Hudibras of Ame rica; and the following are a few of the neat and pointed lines quoted by our author from that great man's lays." Few good and great men can be nam'd Doft thou remember much about a In noofe you nigh had got your neck faft?' p. 201. One of the fpeeches of Mr Randolph is well known in this country. With great force of argument, it abounds in examples of the worst tafte. Mr Janfon quotes another oration, beginning with thefe words, upon a bill having been rejected, to which Mr Randolph was hoftile, I fhall ve ten years longer.' The only notice of American painters, contained in this book, is that of Mr Peale and his family. They are all artifls, and all named after after eminent painters. We have Mr Rembrandt Peale, and Mr Titian Peale. Mr Titian is a celebrated portrait painter;' and he showed our author portraits of several public characters, which he immediately recognized.' This art, therefore, whatever some people may think, has made a certain progress in America. With the writers of the New World we are rather better acquainted; but the works of Dr Ezra Stiles, president of Yale College, are not sufficiently known and prized in this country. His book on the History of the Three Judges,' formerly alluded to, seems in every way deserving of notice. It was published in 1795; and the following specimen of its style is given. by Mr Janson. What I have before narrated, is delivered upon fure documents. I shall now narrate what is only conjectural, and leave it to every one's judgement; only obferving, that if it ever did take place, no one will doubt but that Dixwell was concerned in it. There is fomehow preferved, not in universal or general, but in particular and trong lineal tradition, at Newhaven, which is to be confidered more largely hereafter, that another of the regicides, befides Dixwell, lies buried in our burying-place, and that this other was Whalley. This is particularly preferved among the fextons or grave-diggers, who, it feems, for many years, and perhaps ever from the time efpecially of Dixwell's death, have fhewn the tone marked E. W. for Whalley, as they have that marked J. D. for Dixwell. I have not found the leaft tradition of Goffe, till I myfelf conjectured it, January 1793, inferring in my own mind, without a doubt, that if Whalley, who certainly died at Hadley, was afterwards removed here, Goffe must be here alfo. But of this, 1 mean as to Goffe's being here alfo, I can find no tradition; yet I find it tenaciously adhered to, efpecially in the line of the grave-diggers, that Whalley is here. I have often examined the E. W. ftone; but confider the matter without proof; yet poffible, but by no means certain. or do I wish, and leaft of all attempt, to gain any one's cre dulity to it, having every mind perfectly free and unprejudiced. But as I know that whoever takes the pains that I have done, to trace out, and collect, and digeft the traditions in Newhaven, will find this among others, however it originated among us; fo, after this precaution and notification, I fall proceed.' p. 54, 55. Unlimited abuse of private characters is another characteristic of the American press; and into this practice, we are sorry to find that Mr Janson has been initiated by his residence in the United States. He drags individuals into notice without scruple or ceremony. Sometimes he tells what he has picked up concerning persons whose names never found their way into print; sometimes he offers, as his excuse, that the American journalists. have already told the story, which is, in truth, no justification whatever. As for his endless invectives against Mr Jefferson and |