hey will do mischief--their curiosity is
unbounded, and they are very capricious. Acting upon impulse, they are
very generous at one moment, and without a spark of charity the next.
They are good-tempered, and possess great energy, ingenuity, bravery,
and presence of mind. Such is the estimate I have formed of their
general character, independent of the demoralising effects of their
institutions, which renders it so anomalous.

The American author, Mr Sanderson, very truly observes of his
countrymen, that, "they have grown vicious without the refinements and
distractions of the fine arts and liberal amusements." The Americans
have few amusements; they are too busy. Athletic sports they are
indifferent to; they look only to those entertainments which feed their
passion for excitement. The theatre is almost their only resort, and
even that is not so well attended as it might be, considering their
means. There are some very good and well-conducted theatres in America:
the best are the Park and National at New York, the Tremont at Boston,
and the Chesnut Street Theatre at Philadelphia. The American _stock_
actors, as they term those who are not considered as _stars_, are better
than our own; but were the theatres to depend upon stock actors they
would be deserted--the love of novelty is the chief inducement of the
Americans to frequent the theatre, and they look for importations of
star actors from this country as regularly as they do for our
manufactured goods, or the fashions from Paris. In most of the large
cities they have two theatres; one for legitimate drama, and the other
for melodrama, as the Bowery Theatre at New York, and the Walnut Street
Theatre in Philadelphia; these latter are seldom visited by the
aristocratical portion of the citizens.

The National Theatre at New York was originally built as an opera house,
and the company procured from the Havannah; but the opera, from want of
support, was a failure. It has since been taken by Mr James Wallack,
in opposition to the Park Theatre. The two first seasons its success
was indifferent; the Park having the advantage in situation, as well as
of a long-standing reputation. But, latterly, from the well-known
talent and superior management of Mr Wallack, and from his unwearied
exertions in providing novelties for the American public, it has been
very successful; so much so, that it is said this last year to have
decidedly obtained the superiority over its