has been such as to induce them greatly to extend their works. I will give you all these particulars when we meet. They will confirm your impression, as they did mine, of the rapidity with which America is advancing in manufacturing skill. The general appearance of the workmen and children was more orderly and respectable than I have ever seen in England, even in those mills in the country, where the apprentices receive the most attention.

I have also visited Bunker's Hill and Nahant, the latter the most celebrated promontory between the St. Lawrence and the Gulf of Mexico. A gentleman dined with us there, who replied to my interrogations, whether he had seen the sea-serpent, of which this neighbourhood is said to be the favourite haunt, that he had had the misfortune to see it three days before; that he really considered it a misfortune, as no one would believe him; and he could not, in sincerity, deny having seen it.*

Large and handsome houses are very much

* The American accounts of the sea-serpent, derive strong confirmation from the well authenticated facts respecting the extraordinary animal seen by the Rev. Mr. Maclean, among the Hebrides in 1808, and that cast on shore on Red Orkneys, in that year. Wernerian Transact. Vol. I.

in fashion in Boston, and this, perhaps, is the most expensive taste of the Bostonians. But the basis of expenditure here, as well as of commerce, is real capital, represented by a sound and undepreciated currency. I must prefer the commercial character of Boston to that of any place I have yet seen in America, except, perhaps, its neighbour Salem. This latter place, you will recollect, as the scene of an edifying exhibition of toleration on the part of those non-conforming emigrants, who fled from their country to obtain civil and religious liberty, and then exercised it by burning reputed witches;

but you will remember it with

more

pleasure, as the place that generously offered its warehouses, gratis, to the Boston merchants during the revolutionary war. I visited it with great interest. It is a singular little town of astonishing wealth, and formerly had 60 or 70 ships in the East India trade, employed principally in carrying the produce of China and the Eastern Archipelago to the various parts of Europe. Indeed, many, if not most of the large commercial fortunes, I have observed in America, some of them almost without a parallel in Europe, have been made in those branches of the East India trade, which our East India Company never engaged in, but

from which their monopoly excludes British subjects. I never met with merchants more intelligent on commercial subjects than at Salem, or in more close connection with the most remote foreign markets. We found them very hospitable; but they are sometimes taunted with a deficiency in this particular, because they do not give five or six different kinds of fine old Madeira, as is common here, They have much leisure, good literary institutions, and the few whom I saw were very well informed on general topics. Sir Humphrey Davy's chemical discoveries were fertilizing the rocky coast of Salem, and enlightening the minds of its inhabitants. Their voyages, they told me, were generally planned in their insurance-offices or coffee-rooms, where they appeared to be doing nothing.

The other day, some friends took me to Brighton, five miles distant, to the annual cattle show and exhibition of domestic manufactures; of the former I am no judge, and the array of the latter, required the aid of all my philanthropy to suppress the rising apprehensions of an English merchant. It would be difficult to mention any manufacture which was omitted, from a tawdry rosy-cheeked wax doll, to the most substantial fabrics of woollen or cotton.

The

blue cloths at eight dollars per yard, I found were considerably better than could be imported at the same price. They are said to retain their colour much better than ours, perhaps from the superior cheapness and more plentiful use of indigo here. The Waltham shirting at 26 cents, and sheetings at 37 cents per yard, bore away the palm as regarded cotton goods. Between the exhibition and dinner, our party went to see a new manufactory of lace, lately established by General Sumner. It is on a small scale. We found there the Governor of Massachusets, and the Governor of Ohio, both of whom dined with us afterwards at the anniversary dinner, with upwards of 300 persons, including most of the respectable people in the neighbourhood. The Governor of Ohio told me, that his errand was to see the state of manufactures here, in order to introduce them on a larger scale than their present one, into Ohio; he has been for many years concerned in a cotton mill there, which, though indifferently managed, has been profitable; but he expects to see Ohio a great manufacturing state. The mill seats are numerous; subsistence very low, Indian corn being considerably below 20 cents per bushel; and the expense of bringing cotton from Mississippi less than 14 cents per lb.

The dinner went off very well, but the 300 persons comprised a comparatively small proportion of what I should consider the yeomanry of the country. In fact a New England farmer would not readily consent to give 2 dollars for a dinner, and the privilege of hearing a string of toasts in praise of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures. We dined at half-past two o'clock, and reached town at six.

To-day has been entirely spent in finishing my social and commercial calls. I lately had the pleasure of meeting, by appointment, the venerable Dr. Worcester, the corresponding secretary of the American Board of Foreign Missions, as he passed through Boston; he appears to be sinking under his labours.

I have been glad to feel a little settled after wandering through such a succession of new scenes and objects. This has been more easy in Boston, than it would have been in any other place in the United States, closely connected as it is with the most interesting events and characters of the American revolution, and with the early and affecting history of the learned and religious exiles, who left their country for conscience sake. Almost every street presents some spot or building of interest or notoriety in the revolutionary war, and