604 Mrs. Wright's Travels in the United Slates, 
with personal aeeompiishmenfcs. I hcpe, 
and am induced to believe, that in the 
next generation such individuals will 
be no longer conspicuous among the 
mass of their fellow-citizens. This 
might be too much to hope in old, slow- 
moving Europe, but one generation 
here sees marvellous revolutions. The 
society, I mean by this, that which is 
collected into large evening assemblies, 
is almost exclusively composed of the 
unmarried young. A crowded room is 
in this way a pretty scene for a quiet 
observer to look into for half an hour; 
but if he have survived the buoyant 
spirits of first youth, he will then find 
it better to walk home again. I ought 
not to omit a remark, not merely upon 
the elegance of the dress of these young 
gay creatures, but what is far better, 
on its modesty. It may be sometimes 
more showy and costly than is wise or 
befitting in the daughters of a republic, 
but it never mocks at decency, as does 
that of our English ladies, who truly 
have often put me to the blush for their 
sex and their nation. The fashions 
here are copied from the French ; but 
I am told by those that are knowing in 
such matters, that they are not very 
changeable, and that i't is judged, if 
not more wise, (for this, I fear, seldom 
sways with youth,) at least more be¬ 
coming to wear the waist and shoulders 
where nature placed them, than to raise 
them this month to the ears, and sink 
them the next to the length of our 
grandmothers. The dances, too, (and 
these young women, as far as my judg¬ 
ment may go with you for any thing, 
dance with much lightness, grace, and 
gay-heartedness,) the dances are also 
French, chiefly quadrilles ; certainly 
prettier to look at than the intermi¬ 
nable country-dance, whose appalling 
column seems to picture out some vague 
image of space and time which the 
imagination cannot see the end of. The 
young men do not, in general, appear 
to me to equal in grace their fair com¬ 
panions ; nor, indeed* in general ease 
of manner and address. In accosting 
a stranger, they often assume a solem¬ 
nity of countenance that is at first ra¬ 
ther appalling. They seem to look as 
if waiting until you should 44 open your 
mouth in wisdom,’’ or as if gathering 
their strength to open theirs in the 
same manner. I have more than once, 
upon such an occasion, hastened to 
collect my startled wits, expecting to 
be posed and shamed by some profound 
enquiry into the history of (he past, or 
the probable events of the future. I 
could ill convey to you the sudden re¬ 
lief I have then experienced on hearing 
some query upon the news of the day, 
or as to my general opinion of Lord 
Byron’s poetry. It is not from the 
young men in an idle drawing-room 
that a stranger should draw his picture 
of an American. He must look at these 
youths when stamped with manhood, 
when they have been called upon to 
exercise their rights as citizens, and 
have not merely studied the history and 
condition of their country, but are 
thoroughly imbued with the principles 
of its government, and with that philo¬ 
sophy which their liberal institutions 
are so well calculated to inspire. 
The youth of both sexes here enjoy 
a freedom of intercourse unknown in 
the older and more formal nations of 
Europe. They dance, sing, walk, and 
44 run in sleighs” together, by sunshine 
and moonshine, without the occurrence 
or even the apprehension of any im¬ 
propriety. In this bountiful country, 
marriages are seldom dreaded as im¬ 
prudent, and therefore no care is taken 
to prevent the contracting of early 
engagements. It is curious to see how 
soon these laughing maidens are meta¬ 
morphosed into fond wives and atten¬ 
tive mothers : and these giddy youths 
into industrious citizens and thinking 
politicans. 
Marriages are usually solemnized i® 
the paternal mansion of the bride, in 
which the young couple continue to 
reside for six or twelve months. It is 
seldom that the young woman brings 
with her any dowry, or that the hus¬ 
band has much to begin the w’orld with ? 
save a gay heart and good hopes ; 
which, even should he fail in his pro¬ 
fession as lawyer, or physician, or 
merchant, are not extinguished, for he 
has still the wide field of bounteous 
nature open before him, and can set 
forth with the wife of his bosom and 
the children of his love, to seek trea¬ 
sures in the wilderness. 
GENERAL BERNARD 
General Bernard is a native of 
France, and one of the earliest and 
most distinguished scholars of the po¬ 
lytechnic school. His manners, sim¬ 
ple and modest as those of a sage, 
frank and independent as those of a 
soldier; his principles, talents, varied 
knowledge, and profound science, such 
as do honour to his school and his na¬ 
tion. .After the battle of Waterloo, 
(in which he received six wounds at 
Napoleon’s 
