on in the United States. "Not
the least in the world, madam," answered a gentleman who ranked
deservedly high among the _literati_ of the city, "it might
avail him much in England, perhaps, but here we are perfectly
indifferent as to what people's principles may be."

This I believe to be exactly true, though I never before heard it
avowed as a national feature.

The want of warmth, of interest, of feeling, upon all subjects
which do not immediately touch their own concerns, is universal,
and has a most paralysing effect upon conversation. All the
enthusiasm of America is concentrated to the one point of her own
emancipation and independence; on this point nothing can exceed
the warmth of her feelings. She may, I think, be compared to a
young bride, a sort of Mrs. Major Waddle; her independence is to
her as a newly-won bridegroom; for him alone she has eyes, ears,
or heart;--the honeymoon is not over yet;--when it is, America
will, perhaps, learn more coquetry, and know better how to _faire
l'aimable_ to other nations.

I conceive that no place in the known world can furnish so
striking a proof of the immense value of literary habits as the
United States, not only in enlarging the mind, but what is of
infinitely more importance, in purifying the manners. During my
abode in the country I not only never met a literary man who was
a tobacco chewer or a whiskey drinker, but I never met any who
were not, that had escaped these degrading habits. On the women,
the influence is, if possible, still more important;
unfortunately, the instances are rare, but they are to be found.
One admirable example occurs in the person of a young lady of
Cincinnati: surrounded by a society totally incapable of
appreciating, or even of comprehending her, she holds a place
among it, as simply and unaffectedly as if of the same species;
young, beautiful, and gifted by nature with a mind singularly
acute and discriminating, she has happily found such
opportunities of cultivation as might distinguish her in any
country; it is, indeed, that best of all cultivation which is
only to be found in domestic habits of literature, and in that
hourly education which the daughter of a man of letters receives
when she is made the companion and friend of her father. This
young lady is the more admirable as she contrives to unite all
the multifarious duties which usually devolve upon American
ladies, with her intellectual pursuits. The companion and