REVIEWS THE ENGLISHWOMAN IN AMERICA. 129 



REVIEWS. 



The Englishwoman in America. London: John Murray, 1856. 



This pleasantly written sketch of an Englishwoman's first impres- 

 sions of British North America and the United States, has lain by us, 

 for the purpose of review, till it has almost fallen out of date. The 

 book is a good book, however' ; candid and vivacious, and containing 

 some glimpses of things as they they are, which may still be worth 

 noticing for behoof of Canadian readers. In her prefatory remarks our 

 travelling " Englishwoman " observes : 



" Previously to visiting the United States, I had read most of the American 

 travels which had been published ; yet, from experience, I can say that even those 

 Tvho read most on the Americans know little of them, from the disposition which 

 leads travellers to seize and dwell upon the ludicrous points which coatinually 

 present themselves. 



" We know that there is a vast continent across the Atlantic, first discovered by 

 a Genoese sailing under the Spanish flag, and that for many years past it has 

 swallowed up thousands of the hardiest of our population. Although our feelings 

 are not particularly fraternal, we give the people inhabiting this continent the 

 national cognomen of ' Brother Jonathan' while we name individuals * Yankees' 

 "We know that they are famous for smoking, spitting, 'gouging,' and bovvie knives; 

 for monster hotels, steamboat explosions, railway collisions, and repudiated debts. 

 It is believed also that this nation is renowned for keeping three millions of 

 Africans in slavei'y ; for wooden nutmegs, paper money, and 'fillibuster ' ex- 

 peditions. 



" I went to the States with that amount of prejudice which seems the birthright 

 of every English person, but I found that, under a knowledge of the Americans 

 which can be attained by a traveller mixing in society in every grade, these pre- 

 judices gradually melted away. I found much that is worthy of commendation, 

 even of imitation," 



We detect, as might naturally be looked for under such circum- 

 stances, an occasional exageration of unprejudiced candor, and a ten- 

 dency to regard all that pertains to the States as couleur de rose, — 

 very pardonable in a lady traveller, who met with great kindness, and 

 saw much which justly excited her surprise and admiration. We had 

 marked various passages for quotation, illustrative of the aspect in 

 which American society presents itself, under the most favorable cir- 

 cumstances, to an intelligent foreigner ; but having been delayed in 

 noticing the work, we shall limit our extracts chiefly to one or two 

 glimpses of ourselves, showing how Colonial life and social manners 

 pass under review, when candidly compared by a travelling "English- 

 woman," alike with her own home experiences, and with what she 



VOL. III. I 



