220 



SALEM. 



in American habits, which is particularly 

 offensive to strangers, that of spitting, from the 

 use of tobacco. This nauseous custom is not 

 confined to one class of persons, but is prac- 

 tised by those, who, in every other respect, are 

 gentlemen. Travellers may also be annoyed 

 at times, with the national foible of gascon- 

 ading, which has led some of their acute and 

 sensible men, to say jocosely, c that they expect 

 their countrymen will soon begin to assert, 

 that they are not only the most powerful, and 

 the most learned, but the oldest nation in the 

 world.' 



The roads from Boston are as good as the 

 turnpike roads of England, and such was the 

 prevailing spirit of opposition among the coach 

 proprietors, that we travelled some stages nearly 

 at the rate of ten miles an hour. In passing 

 through Salem, on my way to Portland, the 

 capital of the State of Maine, the town recalled 

 to my mind, the intolerant and persecuting 

 spirit of the Puritans, towards their countrymen, 

 who accompanied them as exiles to the shores of 

 America, from the unrelenting severity and per- 

 secution of Archbishop Laud, and the troublous 

 times oi Charles the First. These refugees crossed 

 the Atlantic for the sake of liberty of conscience 

 in matters of religion ; but no sooner did some 



