CHAP. XI.] CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE. 347 



and next in a desire to obtain distinction by 

 means of wealth; this anxious eagerness, so un- 

 amiable in itself, and so unpleasant an inmate 

 of the breast, so great a sourer of the temper, 

 is a stranger to America, where accidents and 

 losses, which would drive an Englishman half 

 mad, produce but very little agitation. 



349. From the absence of so many causes of 

 uneasiness, of envy, of jealousy, of rivalship, 

 and of mutual dislike, society, that is to say, 

 the intercourse between man and man, and 

 family and family, becomes easy and pleasant ; 

 while the universal plenty is the cause of univer 

 sal hospitality. I know, and have ever known, but 

 little of the people in the cities and towns in 

 America ; but, the difference between them and 

 the people in the country can only be such as 

 is found in all other countries. As to the man 

 ner of living in the country, I was, the other 

 day, at a gentleman's house, and I asked the 

 lady for her bill of fare for the year. I saw 

 fourteen fat hogs, weighing about twenty score a 

 piece, which were to come into the house the 

 next Monday ; for here they slaughter them all 

 in one day. This led me to ask, " Why, in 

 "God's name, what do you eat in a year?" 

 The Bill of fare was this, for this present year : 

 about -this same quantity of hog-meat; four 

 beeves; and forty-six fat sheep! Besides the 



