ORNITHOLOGY. 8! 



manly. A favourite author says, " I consider 

 the absolute resignation of one's person to the 

 luxury of a carriage, to forebode a very short in- 

 terval between that and the vehicle which is to 

 convey us to the last stage." The Americans are 

 not an effeminate people, and it is to me passing- 

 strange that they should give in to such degenerate 

 habits. 



When a stranger alights at a tavern, he fre- 

 quently witnesses a rapid collection of idlers in 

 the bar room, who congregate together like birds 

 of passage in autumn, to gather news, to kill time, 

 and to drink whiskey. I have not been able to 

 restrain my indignation at such an inexcusable 

 waste of time. Whenever I see it I augur ill of 

 the morals of the place, and when I do not observe 

 it, I mentally exclaim ; — " This village is devoted 

 to industry and temperance" — and I frequently 

 am induced to spend some time in it, when I 

 almost invariably find that my judgment is correct. 



LETTER XVIII. 



Canandaigua, June, 1820. 

 My Dear Sib, 



At the house of the respectable and worthy Mr. 

 Greig of this town. I met for the first time with 



