imed
and shattered victims of national ambition, to be stared at, and
wondered at, like caged beasts, is an outrage against humanity that even
savages would shrink from." And then, a little further on, he makes the
following profound reflection, which no doubt appears to the _American
mind_ peculiarly appropriate to Chelsea Hospital: "Cringing to the
great, obsequious to the high, the dwarfed souls of Englishmen have no
wide extending sympathy for the humble, no soothing pity for the lowly,"
&c. It would probably astonish some of the readers who have been gulled
by his book, could they but know that the sum paid by Great Britain for
the support and pension of her veterans by sea and land costs annually
nearly enough to buy, equip, and pay the whole army and navy of the
United States.[BK]

The next "sixpenny miracle" he visits is Chatsworth, which calls forth
the following _vigorous_ attack on sundry gentlemen, clothed in the
author's peculiarly _lively and racy_ language: "The showy magnificence
of Chatsworth, Blenheim, and the gloomy grandeur of Warwick and Alnwick
Castles, serve to remind us, like the glittering shell of the tortoise,
what worthless and insignificant animals often inhabit the most splendid
mansions." He follows up this general castigation of the owners of the
above properties with the infliction of a special cowhiding upon the
Duke of Devonshire, who, he says, "would, no doubt, be very reluctant
frankly to confess to the world, that although he had the vanity to
affect liberality, he was too penurious to bear the expense of it. Like
the ostrich, he sticks his head in the sand, and imagines himself in the
profoundest concealment." He then begs the reader to understand, that he
does not mean to intimate "that any portion of the large amounts
collected at the doors of Chatsworth actually goes into the pocket of
His Grace, but they are, nevertheless, remarkably convenient in
defraying the expense of a large household of servants.... The idea of a
private gentleman of wealth and rank deriving a profit from the
exhibition of his grounds must be equally revolting to all classes."
These truthful observations are followed by a description of the
gardens; and the whole is wound up in the following _chivalrous and
genuine American_ reflection: "Does it not appear extraordinary that a
man dwelling in a spot of such fairy loveliness should retain and
indulge the most grovelling instincts of human nature's lowest g