ap. XL] Charactek op the People. 201 



some Americans that I like full as well as I do any 

 man in England ; but, if, nation against nation, 1 put 

 the question home to my heart, it instantly decides in 

 favour of my countr;ymen. 



358. You must not be offended if you find people 

 here take but little interest in the concerns of England. 



Why should they 1 Bolton F r cannot hire 



spies to entrap them. As matter of curiosity, they 

 may contemplate such works as those of Fletcher ; 

 hut, they cannot feel much upon the subject ; and they 

 are not insincere enough to express much. 



359. There is one thing in the Americans, which 

 though its proper place was further back, I have re- 

 sented, or rather kept back, to the last moment. Jt 

 has presented itself several times ; but I have turned 

 from the thought, as men do from thinking of any mor- 

 tal disease that is at work in their frame. It is not 

 covetousness ; it is not niggardliness ; it is not insin- 

 cerity ; it is not enviousness ; it is not cowardice, above 

 all things: it is DRINKING. Aye, and that too, 

 amongst but too many men, who, one would think, 

 would loath it. You can go into hardly any man's 

 house, without being asked to drink wine, or spirits, 

 even in the morning. They are quick at meals, are 

 little eaters, seem to care little about what they eat 

 and never talk about it. This, which arises out of the 

 universal abundance of good and even fine eatables, is 

 very amiable. You are here disgusted with none of those 

 eaters by rep^ttation that are found, especially amongst 

 the Parsons, in Englatid : fellows that unbutton at it. 

 Nor do the Americans sit and tope much after dinner, 

 and talk on till they get into nonsense and smut, which 

 last is a sure mark of a silly and, pretty generally, 

 even of a base mind. But, they tipple ; and the in- 

 fernal spirits they tipple too ! The scenes that I wit- 

 nessed at Harrisburgh I shall never forget. I almost 

 wished (God forgive me!) that there were Borough- 

 mongers here to tax these drinkers : they would soon 

 reduce them to a moderate dose. Any nation that feels 

 itself uneasy with its fulness of good things, has only 

 to resort to an application of Boroughmongers. These 

 are by no means nice feeders or of contracted throat ; 



K 5 



