THE EUROPEAN JOURNALS 



117 



parts of the meadows that concealed traps for moles and 

 served as beacons for the persons who caught them. The 

 road was good, but narrow, the country in a high degree 

 of cultivation. We crossed a canal conducting from Liver- 

 pool here ; the sails moving through the meadows reminded 

 me of Rochester, N. Y. I am, then, now at Manchester, 

 thirty-eight miles from Liverpool, and nearly six thousand 

 from Louisiana. 



Manchester, September 12. Yesterday was spent in de- 

 livering my letters to the different persons to whom I was 

 recommended. The American consul, Mr. J. S. Brookes, 

 with whom I shall dine to-morrow, received me as an Amer- 

 ican gentleman receives another, most cordially. The prin- 

 cipal banker here, Arthur Heywood, Esq., was equally 

 kind ; indeed everywhere I meet a most amiable reception. 

 I procured, through these gentlemen, a good room to 

 exhibit my pictures, in the Exchange buildings, had it 

 cleared, cleaned, and made ready by night. At five this 

 morning Mr. Munro (the curator of the Institution at 

 Liverpool and a most competent help) with several assis- 

 tants and myself began putting up, and by eleven all was 

 ready. Manchester, as I have seen it in my walks, seems 

 a miserably laid out place, and the smokiest I ever was 

 in. I think I ought not to use the words " laid out " at 

 all. It is composed of an astonishing number of small, 

 dirty, narrow, crooked lanes, where one cart can scarce 

 pass another. It is full of noise and tumult ; I thought 

 last night not one person could have enjoyed repose. 

 The postilion's horns, joined to the cry of the watchmen, 

 kept my eyelids asunder till daylight again gave me 

 leave to issue from the King's Arms. The population 

 appears denser and worse off than in Liverpool. The vast 

 number of youth of both sexes, with sallow complexions, 

 ragged apparel, and downcast looks, made me feel they 

 were not as happy as the slaves of Louisiana. Trade is 

 slowly improving, but the times are dull. I have heard 





