small
liberty of conscience in what is, far and near, proclaimed to be the
_only_ free country on the earth. By "far and near," I mean from the St.
Croix to the Rio Grande, and from Cape Cod to the entrance of St. Juan
de Fuca; and a pretty farm it makes, the "interval" that lies between
these limits! One may call it "far and near" without the imputation of
obscurity, or that of vanity.

Our tour was completed, in spite of all annoyances; and here we were
again, within the walls of magnificent Paris! The postilions had been
told to drive to the hotel, in the rue St. Dominique; and we sat down to
dinner, an hour after our arrival, under our own roof. My uncle's tenant
had left the apartment a month before, according to agreement; and the
porter and his wife had engaged a cook, set the rooms in order, and
prepared everything for our arrival.

"It must be owned, Hugh," said my uncle, as he finished his soup that
day, "one _may_ live quite comfortably in Paris, if he possess the
_savoir vivre_. Nevertheless, I have a strong desire to get a taste of
native air. One may say and think what he pleases about the Paris
pleasures, and the Paris _cuisine_, and all that sort of things; but
"home is home, be it ever so homely." A 'd'Inde aux truffes' is capital
eating; so is a turkey with cranberry sauce. I sometimes think I could
fancy even a pumpkin pie, though there is not a fragment of the rock of
Plymouth in the granite of my frame."

"I have always told you, sir, that America is a capital eating and
drinking country, let it want civilization in other matters, as much as
it may."

"Capital for eating and drinking, Hugh, if you can keep clear of the
grease, in the first place, and find a real cook, in the second. There
is as much difference between the cookery of New England, for instance,
and that of the Middle States, barring the Dutch, as there is between
that of England and Germany. The cookery of the Middle States, and of
the Southern States, too, though that savours a little of the West
Indies--but the cookery of the Middle States is English, in its best
sense; meaning the hearty, substantial, savoury dishes of the English in
their true domestic life, with their roast-beef underdone, their
beefsteaks done to a turn, their chops full of gravy, their
mutton-broth, legs-of-mutton, _et id omne genus_. We have some capital
things of our own, too; such as canvass-backs, reedbirds, sheepshead,
shad, and blackfish. The differ