---r, took compassion on my condition, and volunteered to drive me
down to Nahant; so off I was again. We passed across the harbour by one
of the little steamers; and from hence to the pretty town of Lynn, there
is nothing in the landscape particularly attractive. Over the destinies
of this said town of Lynn St. Crispin holds absolute dominion; for the
entire population, man, woman, and child, father, son, and brother,
appear devoted to the calling in whose practice the princely saint was
brought up.

Vast quantities of shoes are here manufactured for the Indian markets;
the amount exported annually is something enormous. The place wears an
air of great prosperity; the dwellings being of remarkable neatness, and
the public edifices of a size and character highly creditable to the
ambition of these worthy citizens.

This caste-like monopoly of certain callings is a singular feature in
the economy of the New England republic, there being many of its towns
where trades are exclusively exercised, and the practice of them handed
down as an inheritance from one industrious generation to the next in
succession; and notwithstanding the many arguments lately raised at home
against hereditary honours, I do not find that in Massachusetts a souter
is considered likely to make a shoe, a cooper a cask, or a farmer grow
onions, with less ability, simply because their fathers did the same
before them.

The drive along the sandy beach from this place to Nahant was a most
agreeable change from the dusty road on a warm July morning, especially
with the prospect of a fresh breeze and a fish breakfast crowning the
rocky peninsula rising boldly in the distance.

The first happily encountered us before we reached the hotel, much to
our relief; and the second was very quickly provided on our arrival. The
precise day of the month when this place becomes fashionable had not yet
arrived; although the heat, which alone could render such a residence
desirable, had; consequently, there were few visitors, and my fears
about want of room proved groundless. A choice of chambers was
proffered me, and I selected one having an eastern aspect, with a
window that commanded the north-east coast of the vast bay of
Massachusetts; whilst just within reach lay the snugly-sheltered cove
and rocky islet about which, according to the most authentic reports,
the "great sea sarpint" delights to disport him when in a merry mood.
"Who knows," said I to myself, when