284 Nations latehj become Literary. [Ch. XXVI. 



4. Want of books. In the capital cities of Eu- 

 rope, the votary of Jiterature is surrounded with 

 immense libraries, to which he may easily obtain 

 access 3 and even in many of the smaller towns, 

 books on any subject, and to almost any number, 

 may be easily obtained. It is otherwise in Ame- 

 rica. There the student, in addition to all the 

 other obstacles which lie in his way, has often to 

 spend as much time and thought to obtain a parti- 

 cular book, as the reading it ten times would cost. 

 Its public libraries are few, and, compared witli 

 those of Europe, small. Nor is this defect sup- 

 plied by large private collections; these are also 

 rare. And to render the evil still more grievous, 

 tjie number of literary and enterprising booksel- 

 lers is yet smaller. It is only within two or three 

 years that America has begun to receive, wii^k 

 any kind of regularity or promptitude, the best 

 British works as they issue from the press. 



Such are some of the causes which have hither- 

 to impeded the progress of American literature. 

 Tlieir influence, however, is gradually declining, 

 and the literary prospects of that country are 

 brightening every day. Letters and science are 

 growing more important in the public estima- 

 tion. The number of learned men is becoming 

 rapidly greater. The plans and means of instruc- 

 tion in their' seminaries of learning, though by 

 no means improving ill all respects, arc, in some, 

 receiving constant melioration. The emulation 

 of founding and sustaining a national character 

 in science and learning begins to be more gene- 

 rally felt, and, from time to time, will doubtless 

 be augmented. A larger proportion of the grow- 



