of any epicure. The economy of the inhabitants is, I think, less remarkable and less universal, than their industry. The furniture and carriages of many of the inhabitants are rich and beautiful. Until lately, almost all the coaches were private property. Hackney coaches are now employed in considerable numbers.*.. The general attachment to learning is less vigorous in this city, than in Boston, commerce having originally taken a more entire possession of the minds of its inhabitants. The character of New York, however, has for some time been materially changing in this respect. Wealth also, in a much higher degree than good sense can justify, is considered as conferring importance and distinction on the owner."+ This last circumstance, indeed, is by no means peculiar to the city of New York. Mr. Cooper tells us, that "here, as elsewhere, the parvenus are commonly the most lavish in their expenditure, either because money is a novelty, or because they find it necessary to purchase consideration by its liberal use.' With regard to the general character of the society, it comprises, we are told," such a mélange of customs, nations, and manners, all tempered, without being destroyed, by the institutions and opinions of the country," that it scarcely admits of definite description. Society in New York, in consequence of its extraordinary increase, is rather in a state of effervescence, than settled; and where that is the case, the lees sometimes get nearer to the surface than is desirable." "With the exception of New Orleans, it is the only city in

66

* Mr. Cooper says: "I should think about the same proportion of the inhabitants keep carriages here as in France. The equipages, with the exception of liveries and heraldic blazonries, are very much like those of London."-Notions, &c. vol. i. p. 203.

Dwight, vol. iii. pp. 451-453.

the Union that has not the character of a provincial

town."*

The languages spoken in this city are very various. “When passing through the streets, you will hear English, French, Dutch, and German, and all the various brogues spoken by the numerous nations, when imperfectly acquainted with the English tongue." It is computed, that one third of the inhabitants are either natives of New England or descendants of those who have emigrated from the northern States. Not more than a third of the population is, strictly speaking, native to this State; and the proportion of Europeans of various nations, is probably larger than in any other city in the Union.† Captain Basil Hall describes the first impression made upon an Englishman, on his arrival, as very singular. While so many things recall the sea-ports of England, abundant indications of its being another country force themselves on the attention. "The signs over the shop-doors were written in English; but the language we heard spoken, was different in tone from what we had been accustomed to. Still, it was English. Yet, there was more or less of a foreign air in all we saw, especially about the dress and gait of the men. Negroes and negresses also were seen in abundance on the wharfs. The form of most of the wheeled carriages was novel."

*Notions of the Americans, vol. i. pp. 165–221.

† According to a statement in a New York newspaper, the number of passengers who arrived at the port of New York between March 1, 1818, and December 11, 1819, was 35,560, consisting of the following classes, as entered at the Mayor's office; viz., Americans, 16,628; English, 7629; Welsh, 590; Scotch, 1492; Irish, 6067; French, 930; Germans, 499; Spanish, 217; Portuguese, 54; Hollanders, 155; Italians, 103; Swiss, 372; Norwegians, 3; Swedes, 28; Danes, 97; Prussians, 48; Sardinians, 3.-Hodgson's Letters, vol. ii. p. 123.

The names of places, and the inscriptions over the doors, some of them singularly uncouth and strange, concur to remind the stranger that he is in a new country. This impression, however, soon wears off. On returning to New York from the interior, "all that visionary, dreamy kind of effect which the strange mixture of new and old objects had excited on first landing from England, had so completely fled," that our Traveller could with difficulty recall even a trace of it to his recollection.*

The police of New York, Dr. Dwight says, has become superior to that of any other city in the Union; notwithstanding that its efficiency does not extend to the cleanliness of the streets. There is another point also, on which the wisdom and enterprise of the citizens are not displayed to advantage. The water is generally very bad; and an attempt made to supply the city with pure and wholesome water, was perverted into a miserable job, and failed. A still more serious drawback on the "otherwise unrivalled position" of New York, is the occasional visitation of the yellow fever. Mr. Cooper tells us, that the most exaggerated notions prevail in Europe concerning the danger of the disease in this latitude. "The malady," he says, 66 rarely appears before the last of August, and has invariably disappeared with the first frosts, which are commonly felt here in October. The fever of 1821,

* Hall, vol. i. p. 6. vol. ii. p. 206. "Flour and Feed Store""Cheap Store"-" Clothing Store"-" Cake Store and Bakery""Wine and Tea Store," explain themselves. "Liberty Street""Amos Street"-" Thirty-first Street"-" Avenue A." are not less characteristic. But the following list of places on Long Island, affixed to an Inn-door at Brooklyn, is not a little curious:-" Flat Bush and Bath-Hempstead-Jerusalem-Cow Neck-WestburyMosquito Cove-Jericho-Oyster Bay-Huntingdon-EastwoodDixhill-Babylon, and Islip, Stage-house."-Ib. vol. i. p. 18.

caused much less alarm than that of 1819, though the infected district was far more extensive, and occupied a part of the city that was supposed to be healthy.... The seeds of the disease are undoubtedly imported, whether it is ever generated here or not. Indeed, there is scarcely a summer in which some case of the fever does not occur at the Lazaretto, through vessels from the West Indies or the more southern points of the United States. That the disorder does not extend itself, is imputed to the pureness of the atmosphere at the time being. It is certain, that the inhabitants of New York, who would have considered their lives in jeopardy by entering their dwellings one day, take peaceable possession of them the morning after a wholesome frost with entire impunity."* Although the true yellow fever is certainly imported, yet it is admitted, that a fever strongly resembling it sometimes originates in the climate. Upon the whole, the laboured attempt of this American writer to prove that the hazard of the disease has been magnified, leaves an impression the very opposite to that which he aims at producing; and the natural conclusion is, that, during the heats of summer, when the thermometer frequently stands above 80° for many successive days, New York is far from being a salubrious residence. According to the statement of Dr. Mitchell, however, upwards of one-third of the deaths in New York, are occasioned by consumption and debility.

*Notions of the Americans, vol. i. pp. 153–159. It would seem that the "slips," or irregular docks of the harbour, which are apt to become very foul and offensive in the hot weather, have generally been the spots to which the origination or first appearance of the yellow fever has been traced. There appears to be little doubt, in fact, as to its strictly endemic origin; and it has become epidemic only under extraordinary circumstances.-See Warden's United States, vol. i. ch. 7.

PART II.

"To the influence of moisture and the sudden changes of the weather," says Mr. Lambert, "has been attributed the prevalence of nervous disorders and debility among a great number of the inhabitants of the United States. Much may, no doubt, be ascribed to those causes; but I think the mode of living has a more immediate effect upon the human frame, than even the climate. The higher and middling classes of the Americans live, generally speaking, in a more luxurious manner than the same description of people in England. The constant use of segars by the young men, even from an early age, may also tend to impair the constitution, and create a stimulus beyond that which nature requires, or is capable of supporting. The effects of a luxurious, or of a meagre diet, are equally injurious to the constitution, and, together with the sudden and violent changes of the climate, may create a series of nervous complaints, consumption, and debility, which, in the States bordering on the Atlantic, carry off at least one-third of the inhabitants in the prime of life."'*

The environs of New York afford some very agreeable excursions. Long Island, in particular, is a favourite summer resort. The climate is deemed very salubrious, and there are numerous villages at short distances along the shore. A little above Brooklyn, a town fast rising into importance, immediately opposite to the city, and communicating with it by a steam ferry boat, the United States have established a navy-yard, and are building ships of war. The navyyard is conveniently situated upon the bank of a com

Lambert, vol. i. pp. 82, 3. The rate of mortality in New York, is very considerably higher than in London, and suicide is not less frequent. This Traveller is disposed to ascribe a prejudicial effect to the crowded churchyards, and vaults in the heart of the town.