id accumulation of individual wealth than with us; but till I
had travelled through America, I had no idea how much of the
money collected in taxes returns among the people, not only in
the purchase of what their industry furnishes, but in the actual
enjoyment of what is furnished. Were I an English legislator,
instead of sending sedition to the Tower, I would send her to
make a tour of the United States. I had a little leaning towards
sedition myself when I set out, but before I had half completed
my tour I was quite cured.

I have read much of the "few and simple wants of rational man,"
and I used to give a sort of dreamy acquiescence to the reasoning
that went to prove each added want an added woe. Those who
reason in a comfortable London drawing-room know little about the
matter. Were the aliments which sustain life all that we wanted,
the faculties of the hog might suffice us; but if we analyze an
hour of enjoyment, we shall find that it is made up of agreeable
sensations occasioned by a thousand delicate impressions on
almost as many nerves; where these nerves are sluggish from never
having been awakened, external objects are less important, for
they are less perceived; but where the whole machine of the human
frame is in full activity, where every sense brings home to
consciousness its touch of pleasure or of pain, then every object
that meets the senses is important as a vehicle of happiness or
misery. But let no frames so tempered visit the United States,
or if they do, let it be with no longer pausing than will store
the memory with images, which, by the force of contrast, shall
sweeten the future.

"Guarda e passa (e poi) ragiam di lor."

The "simple" manner of living in Western America was more
distasteful to me from its levelling effects on the manners of
the people, than from the personal privations that it rendered
necessary; and yet, till I was without them, I was in no degree
aware of the many pleasurable sensations derived from the little
elegancies and refinements enjoyed by the middle classes in
Europe. There were many circumstances, too trifling even for my
gossiping pages, which pressed themselves daily and hourly upon
us, and which forced us to remember painfully that we were not at
home. It requires an abler pen than mine to trace the connection
which I am persuaded exists between these deficiencies and the
minds and manners of the people. All animal wants are supplied
profusely at