you can procure but little, and you have to send to
London for any thing good: in the larger towns, such as Norwich,
etcetera, you may procure most things; but, still, luxuries must usually
be obtained from the metropolis. But in such places as Buffalo and
Cleveland, every thing is to be had that you can procure at New York or
Boston. In those two towns on Lake Erie are stores better furnished,
and handsomer, than any shops at Norwich, in England; and you will find,
in either of them, articles for which, at Norwich, you would be obliged
to send to London. It is the same thing at almost every town in America
with which communication is easy. Would you furnish a house in one of
them, you will find every article of furniture--carpets, stoves, grates,
marble chimney-pieces, pier-glasses, pianos, lamps, candelabra, glass,
china, etcetera, in twice the quantity, and in greater variety, than at
any provincial town in England.

This arises from the system of credit extended through every vein and
artery of the country, and by which English goods are forced, as if with
a force-pump, into every available depot in the Union; and thus, in a
town so newly raised, that the stumps of the forest-trees are not only
still surrounding the houses, but remain standing in the cellars, you
will find every luxury that can be required. It may be asked what
becomes of all these goods. It must be recollected that hundreds of new
houses spring up every year in the towns, and that the surrounding
country is populous and wealthy. In the farmhouses--mean-looking and
often built of logs--is to be found not only comfort, but very often
luxury.

VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

The French never have succeeded as colonists, and their want of success
can only be ascribed to an amiable want of energy. When located at any
spot, if a Frenchman has enough, he seeks no more; and, instead of
working as the Englishman or the American does, he will pass his time
away, and spend his little surplus in social amusements. The town of
Detroit was founded as early as the city of Philadelphia, but,
favourably as it is situated, it never until lately rose to any thing
more than, properly speaking, a large village. There is not a paved
street in it, or even a foot-path for a pedestrian. In winter, in rainy
weather, you are up to your knees in mud; in summer, invisible from
dust: indeed, until lately, there was not a practicable road for thirty
miles round D