st egregiously deceived. An American critic observes very truly:--

"It is the misfortune of professed book writers, when they arrive in the
United States, to fall into the hands of certain cliques in our
principal cities and town, who make themselves the medium of
interpretation--their own modes of life, the representation of those of
the _elite_ of the country; their own opinions, the infallible criterion
by which all others must be estimated. They surround the traveller with
an atmosphere of their own, and hope to shine through it on the future
pages of the grateful guest.

"This accounts satisfactorily for many things which are to be found in
Miss Martineau's work, for her numerous misapprehensions as to the
character, taste, and occupations of the American women.

"She evidently mistakes the character of our merchants, and does our
literature but meagre justice. To hold up some obscure publications
from the pens of mere literary adventurers as the best works she has
seen, and at the same time pronounce Mr Cooper's much regretted
failure, is a stretch of boldness, quite unwarranted by anything Miss
Martineau has yet achieved in the republic of letters."

Such was really the case; Miss Martineau fell into what was termed the
Stockbridge clique, and pinned her faith upon the oracles which they
poured into her ears. She says that in America, Hannah More is best
known; on the contrary, Hannah More is hardly known in the United
States.

She says that Wordsworth is much read. Mr Wordsworth has never even in
this country been appreciated as he ought to be. In America it may
almost be said that he has not been read; and she adds to this, that
Byron is _little known_; this is really too bold an assertion. Miss
Martineau was everywhere in the best society in America; and I believe
that in nine drawing-rooms out of ten, she must have seen a copy of
Byron lying on the table.

She says Mr Cooper is a failure. With the exception of Washington
Irving, there never was an American writer so justly popular in America
as Cooper. It is true that latterly he has displeased the majority, by
pointing out to them their faults, and that he is not _always_ in a good
humour when he writes about England. But to state the author of such
works as "_The Pilot_", "_The Last of the Mohicans_", and "_The
Prairie_", a failure, is really too absurd. The cause of this remark is
said to be that Mr Cooper had a quarrel with Miss Martinea