ENGLAND. 



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among the crowd, that press to the wharf, nearly as many women as men. These are of the 

 lower order, and mingle with the men as if there were no distinction of sex. They listen to 

 the coarse jokes and rude oaths of the multitude without shame, and as freely join in the laugh 

 and retort as if they were sailors and porters. As the stranger passes along through the town, 

 he sees a multitude of women abroad, most of them without any other head-dress than a 

 cap, and carrying bundles, or going in haste, as if on business. He proceeds to the vegetable 

 market, and there he finds it almost exclusively attended by women ; many of them with in- 

 fants in their arms, or laid on the floor at their side. The traveler proceeds on his way to 

 Manchester, and on the public highway, in the meadows and fields, and in every street through 

 which he passes, ne still sees women of the lower class abroad, attending to various occupa- 

 tions. Instead of shrinking from the gaze, as American women of the same class would do, 

 they look the coachman and passengers boldly in the face, and seem not a whit abashed at im- 

 pertinent looks, and more impertinent speeches. At Manchester and at Birmingham the 

 women are seen engaged in various kinds of severe bodily labor. Not only are the manufac- 

 tories filled with them, but in some instances they drive the horses attached to the drays, work 

 iron in the smithies, and shovel coal to feed the fires of the steam engines. These women are 

 in the constant habit of mixing with the men, and it is perfectly obvious, that they can possess 

 no part of the delicacy and modesty, which are so common, and so nearly universal, among the 

 humbler classes of females in our country. 



There is a correspondent difference in the condition of the females of the higher classes of 

 England and America. The women of the middle ranks, as well as the ladies of quality in 

 England, are more accustomed to mix freely in the society of the other sex. Their lives are 

 less secluded, less domestic. The married ladies, in particular, are less confined to the soci- 

 ety of their husbands, and often mingle in matters of business, which are here left exclusively 

 to men. If the English females are therefore better acquainted with the world, they are infe- 

 rior to ours in delicacy. The rules of decorum in their state of society are somewhat relaxed, 

 and topics, which would here be considered improper, are freely discussed or alluded to, as 

 legitimate themes of conversation, between the sexes, there. But if our ladies have the ad- 

 vantage in natural delicacy, we must admit that, in artificial refinement, those of England sur- 

 pass them. Their education is more thorough ; their accomplishments more numerous and 

 perfect. In the art of conversation they excel, and bestow upon fashionable society that ex- 

 quisite polish which is never found here. 



The crimes most common in England are frauds, though there are many of violence. In 

 London, the pickpockets are proverbially adroit, and they are seldom idle in a crowd. There, 

 too, it is common, before a family retires to rest, to place bells so, that they will be rung by 

 the entrance of house-breakers. The thieves and rogues about London form a large com- 

 munity, and they have a peculiar language, called St. Giles's Greek. " To nab a kid," is to 

 steal a child ; to be " twisted " or " scragged," is to be hung ; and execution is the " sheriff's 

 ball," and Newgate is the " bower " or the " stone pitcher." To " stifle a squeaker," is to 

 murder a child ; to " rap," is to swear falsely ; " Philistines," are bailiffs ; " persuaders," are 

 spurs ; " one in ten," is a parson, and an " amen-curler," is a parish clerk. In Cornwall, the 

 wreckers have often an opportunity to pillage, but they consider the plunder of the sea as 

 lawful. They are not cruel ; they relieve the mariner, and they rob him as gently as they can, 

 or like Isaak Walton, when he hooked the frogs, " as though he loved them." A miner's 

 life, however, is not so easy, that he w-ould not be much tempted by the wreck of a ship. It 

 IS said, that the clergy there do not know half their parishioners, till they come up to be buried. 

 It is probable, that most of the stories of the wreckers have as little foundation as the current 

 tales concerning our honest fishermen of Cape Cod. 



There is in England one peculiarity, characteristic of the state of society, which is the mob, 

 the incarnation of John Bull. It is, in general, by no means malicious, though it is absolute. On 

 seasons of rejoicing, it breaks the windows that are not illuminated, and it breaks the windows, 

 also, of obnoxious persons. There is no regular organization, yet there seems to be some 

 general mind or inteii'igence in the collective body, which usually acts with discrimination. In 

 the United States we have no mob ; there is not even a probability that we ever shall have one, 

 but if we should have, it is not probable, that it would be more moderate or restrained than sim- 

 ilar assemblages in England. 



There is no country with so many princely, charitable, and religious foundations as Eng- 

 land ; but generallv tiiev nre tiie growth of ages, and many of them have existed for centuries. 



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