y also exist without them, and if it be right or useful to
honour God at all, in this manner, it is a right and a usefulness to
which we have not yet attained. The loftiest roofs of an American town
are, invariably, its taverns; and, let metaphysics get over the matter
as it may, I shall contend that such a thing is, at least, unseemly to
the eye. With us it is not Gog and Magog, but grog or no grog; we are
either a tame plane of roofs, or a _pyramid_ in honour of brandy and
mint-juleps. When it comes to the worship of God, each man appears to
wish a nut-shell to contain himself and his own shades of opinion; but
when there is question of eating and drinking, the tent of Pari Banou
would not be large enough to hold us. I prefer large churches and small
taverns.

There are one or two usages, especially, of the Romish church, that are
not only beautiful, but which must be useful and salutary. One is the
practice of leaving the church open at all hours, for the purposes of
prayer. I have seldom entered one of these vaulted, vast, and
appropriate Houses of God, without finding fewer or more devotees
kneeling at the different altars. Another usage is that of periodical
prayer, in the fields, or wherever the peasants may happen to be
employed, as in the _angelus_, &c. I remember, with pleasure, the effect
produced by the bell of the village church, as it sent its warning
voice, on such occasions, across the plains, and over the hills, while
we were dwellers in French or Italian hamlets. Of all these touching
embellishments of life, America, and I had almost said, Protestantism,
is naked; and in most cases, I think it will be found, on inquiry, naked
without sufficient reason.

The population of Liege is still chiefly Catholic, I believe, although
the reign of the ecclesiastics has ceased. They speak an impure French,
which is the language of the whole region along this frontier. Scott,
whose vivid pictures carried with them an impress of truth that misled
his readers, being by no means a man of either general or accurate
attainment, out of the immediate circle of his peculiar knowledge, which
was Scottish traditions, has represented the people of Liege, in Quentin
Durward, as speaking Flemish; an error of which they make loud
complaints, it being a point on which they are a little sensitive. A
poet may take great licences, and it is hypercriticism to lay stress on
these minor points when truth is not the aim; but this is a b