WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 283 



He is very inquisitive; but it is quite wrong on' 

 that account to tax him with being of an imperti- 

 nent turn. He merely interrogates you for infor- 

 mation ; and when you have satisfied him on that 

 score, only ask him in your turn for an account 

 of what is going on in his own country, and he 

 will tell you everytliing about it with great good 

 humour, and in excellent language. He has cer- 

 tainly hit upon the way (but I could not make 

 out by what means) of speaking a much., 

 purer English language than that which is in 

 general spoken on the parent soil. This as- 

 tonished me much; but it is really the case. 

 Amongst his many good qualities, he has one 

 unenviable, and, I may add, a bad propen- 

 sity: he is immoderately fond of smoking. 

 He may say, that he learned it from his nurses 

 with whom it was once much in vogue. In Dutch 

 William's time (he was a man of bad taste), the 

 English gentleman could not do without his pipe. 

 During the short space of time that corporal Trim 

 was at the inn inquiring after poor Lefevre's 

 health, my uncle Toby had knocked the ashes out 

 of three pipes. ''It was not till my uncle Toby 

 had knocked the ashes out of his third pipe," &c. 

 Now these times have luckily gone by, and the 

 custom of smoking amongst genteel Englishmen 

 has nearly died away with them ; it is a foul cus- 

 tom; it makes a foul mouth, and a foul place 

 where the smoker stands ; however, every nation 

 has its whims. John Bull relishes stinking veni- 

 son; a Frenchman depopulates whole swamps in 

 quest of frogs; a Dutchman's pipe is never out; 

 of his mouth; a Russian will eat tallow candles; 



