78 MANNERS. 



constellatioiij of enlightened men — men who de- 

 Vo:e themselves to the " silent progress of stud}'^, 

 and the placid conquests of investigation." It is 

 pleasing to observe the respect with which these 

 men are treated by their fellow-citizens. Moral 

 and intellectual strength and beauty are in this 

 country the companions of political importance and 

 influence. This I admit is not invariably the case. 

 Some persons of uncommon worth and extraor- 

 dinary endowments are now suffering a political 

 ostracism ; and there are now many men high in 

 oflice who answer the description ofCicero — " Ad 

 honores adipiscendos etadrempublicam gerendam 

 iiudi veniunt, nulla cognitione rerum nulla scien- 

 lia ornati." In Europe the partition wall between 

 the different classes is maintained and fortified by 

 the habitudes of society. The great man there 

 always travels in his own coach or barge, and if 

 he voyages on the sea, he takes the whole cabin 

 to himself Here the head men, or primates of 

 the country, travel with their families in stage 

 coaches, in steamboats, and in canal barges, and 

 think it no degradation to sit down at the public 

 table, and to converse kindly and familiarly with 

 all. The consequence of this ^felicitous commu- 

 nion is a growing and expanded improvement in 

 the decorums of life, and in the progression of 

 mlud. Prejudices are removed — animosities are 



