quents this coast alone. There are many hundreds
of most respectable people, who, on other points, would be considered as
incapable of falsehood, who declare they have seen the animals, and
vouch for their existence. It is rather singular that in America there
is but one copy of Bishop Pontoppidon's work on Norway, and in it the
sea-serpent is described, and a rough wood-cut of its appearance given.
In all the American newspapers a drawing was given of the animal as
described by those who saw it, and it proved to be almost a _fac-simile_
of the one described by the Bishop in his work.

Now that we are on marine matters, I must notice the prodigious size of
the lobsters off Boston Coast: they could stow a dozen common English
lobsters under their coats of mail. My very much respected friend Sir
Isaac Coffin, when he was here, once laid a wager that he would produce
a lobster weighing thirty pounds. The bet was accepted, and the admiral
despatched people to the proper quarter to procure one: but they were
not then in season, and could not be had. The admiral, not liking to
lose his money, brought up, instead of the lobster, the affidavits of
certain people that they had often seen lobsters of that size and
weight. The affidavits of the deponents he submitted to the other
party, and pretended that he had won the wager. The case was referred
to arbitration, and the admiral was cast with the following pithy reply,
"_Depositions are not lobsters_."

Massachusetts is certainly very English in its scenery, and Boston
essentially English as a city. The Bostonians assert that they are more
English than we are, that is, that they have strictly adhered to the old
English customs and manners, as handed down to them previous to the
Revolution. That of sitting a very long while at their wine after
dinner, is one which they certainly adhere to, and which, _I_ think,
would be more honoured in the breach than the observance; but their
hospitality is unbounded, and you do, as an Englishman, feel at home
with them. I agree with the Bostonians so far, that they certainly
appear to have made no change in their manners and customs for these
last hundred years. You meet here with frequent specimens of the Old
English Gentleman, descendants of the best old English families who
settled here long before the Revolution, and are now living on their
incomes, with a town house and a country seat to retire to during the
summer season. The