the Friends, unless they are accompanied by visiting plays, dances, and other public amusements; playing at cards, music, &c., for which they are read out of the society. Notwithstanding this excommunication, many still continue to attend the meetings, and, if they afterwards deport themselves in an orderly manner, may be received into the community again.'

All religious sects in the United States are upon an equal footing: no one has any established prerogative above another; but in any place, on particular occasions, where precedence is given to one over another, the episcopal church, or that sect which is most numerous, generally takes the lead.'

On visiting Charlestown, Mr. L. found a city somewhat similar to New York in its locality, but much inferior in size and elegance; the population being under thirty thousand, and the streets in general narrow and confined. The situation,

though highly convenient for trade, is unwholesome; and its natural disadvantages are aggravated by the indolence of the inhabitants, who allow filthy bogs and stagnant pools of water to continue in the town and neighbourhood. The expence of living seems somewhat higher than at New York:

Charleston contains a handsome and commodious market-place extending from Meeting-street to the water-side, which is as well supplied with provisions as the country will permit. Compared, however, with the markets of the northern towns, the supply is very inferior both in quality and quantity. The beef, mutton, veal, and pork, of South Carolina are seldom met with in perfection; and the hot weather renders it impossible to keep the meat many hours after it is killed. Large supplies of corned beef and pork are brought from the northern states. Though the rivers abound with a great variety of fish, yet very few are brought to market. —

The expence of living at Charleston may be estimated from the following table of commodities, the prices of which are in sterling money. Bread about 3d. per lb., butter 7d., cheese 6d., beef 5d., mutton 6d., veal 8d., oysters 8d. per quart., Hyson tea 6s. per lb., coffee is. 6d., Havannah sugar 6d., Louisiana sugar 61d., loaf sugar 15., brandy 75. per gallon, Jamaica rum 7s., New England rum 3s. 6d., Hollands 75., Malaga wine 5s. 10d., Claret 125. per dozen, spermaceti oil 5s. 3d. per gallon, lamp oil 35., Florence oil 35. per pint. Bottled porter, from London, 25. 3d. per bottle. House rent from 30l. to 700l. per annum.'

The present population of Charleston is reckoned about 28,000: of this number, not more than 7,000 are whites, the rest are negroes and people of colour, the majority of whom are slaves. The following statement will exhibit the progressive increase of population in the State of South Carolina since its settlement in 1670:

Years

• Charleston has been described as the seat of hospitality, elegance, and gaiety. Whatever it may boast of the former, it is certain there was very little of the latter on my arrival in that city, though it was the season for amusements. But the fatal fever which had prevailed the preceding autumn, and carried off great numbers of the people, added to the general stagnation of trade occasioned by the embargo, seemed to have paralysed the energies and damped the spirits of the inhabitants, and prevented them from partaking of those entertainments and diversions to which they were accustomed at that season of the year.

Genteel society in Charleston is confined to the planters, principal merchants, public officers, divines, lawyers, and physicians,

The planters are generally considered as the wealthiest people in the state. This may be true with respect to their landed property and slaves but they are not the most moneyed people; for, except upon their annual crops of rice and cotton, which produce various incomes from 6,000 to 50,000 dollars, they seldom can command a dollar in cash, and are besides continually in debt. The long credit, which merchants and traders throughout Charleston are obliged to give the planters and other people of property in the state, is the subject of universal complaint among the former; and whatever credit the Carolinians may deserve for their " unaffected hospitality, affability, ease of manners, and address," so flatteringly mentioned in every edition of Morse's Geography, yet the payment of their debts can never be reckoned among their virtues.'

Those persons who are acquainted with the habits of our West-India-planters must acknowlege a mortifying resemblance between them and the same class in the southern States of

America. In both countries, ignorance prevails respecting the true method of calculating property and income; the consequence of which is a ridiculous over-rating of future prospects, and a neglect of that economy and patient attention which constitute the essence of mercantile and agricultural prosperity. These coincidences will be ascribed by some to the operation of climate, but by others, with more foundation,

to

to the habit of getting work performed by slaves, and to the backward state of social comfort in either country. Another unpleasant point of resemblance is found in the prevalence of duelling:

Private quarrels frequently disgrace the public prints: challenges are sent; and if refused, the parties are posted as "prevaricating poltroons and cowards.” A few months before I arrived, a duel took place between two young gentlemen of respectable families, which terminated in the death of both. There is, perhaps, no country in the world where duels are so frequent as in the United States, During my short stay of six months in that country, there were upwards of fourteen fought which came to my knowledge; and not one of them in which the parties were not either killed or wounded. Since my departure, I heard of a duel having been fought with rifles at only seven paces distance, in which two young men, whose families were of the highest respectability, were both killed on the spot.'

The

Mr. Lambert had ample opportunity of observing how little the existence of such a spirit is connected with the true military character. A levy of militia having been ordered by Congress, he saw the Charlestown quota reviewed, and received an impression similar to that which the campaigns in Canada have produced among us at home. It was at that time not unusual for militia-men to attend at muster with walking sticks, instead of firelocks; and an amusing anonymous satire on these sham reviews is inserted at p. 192. In taking a general view of the province of South Carolina, he divides it (p. 205.) into three parts, the lower, middle, and upper country; each of which exhibits considerable diversity in soil and management. lower country lying along the sea-shore has, in general, a level surface, and is distinguished by creeks, marshes, and islands. Cotton and rice are here the great objects of cultivation, corn and potatoes being grown in very limited quantities. In the middle country, cotton and corn, particularly Indian-corn, are raised both for consumption and exportation; while in the upper country tobacco, and of late years cotton, are the chief objects of attention. There being few or no slaves in this quarter, the labour of cultivation devolves on the farmer and his family, who thus approach nearly to the situation of the inhabitants of the New England States. The want of slaves has taught the importance of saving the waste of labour, and of substituting the plough for the hoe; and though the latter continues the chief instrument of husbandry in the lower country, we cannot doubt that the use of the plough would be beneficial throughout the whole province. Of the three divisions, the upper country is by far the most healthy; the city of Charlestown and the tract adjoining the sea being subject to very dangerous mildews:

• The

The climate of South Carolina is peculiarly liable to sudden changes of temperature; so that in one moment the body is relaxed by heat, and the next chilled by unexpected cold. Thus, profuse perspirations are checked; and unless the functions of the body are restored to their proper duties, a course of disorders commences, which sooner or later destroys the constitution. In tropical climates, it is said, the degrees of heat throughout the year do not vary more than sixteen degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer, making thereby little difference between summer and winter. But in South Carolina there is often a variation of 83 degrees between the heat and cold of different days in the same year, in the space of seven months; and of 46 degrees in the different hours of the same day.'

Returning northwards, Mr. Lambert visited Boston, which is irregular in point of building, but highly favoured as to situation. On viewing the neighbourhood from an elevated part of the town, a traveller is delighted with the number of villages, country-seats, farms, and pleasure-grounds, which he perceives seated on the summit of small hills or in the midst of spacious vallies. In the town, likewise, great improvement has taken place in late years; and the population is upwards of thirty thousand :

The inhabitants are distinguished for their domestic habits, regularity of living, integrity in their dealings, hospitality to strangers, strict piety and devotion, and respect for the moral and social virtues; upon which depend the happiness and well-being of a community.

The people of Boston, and of New England in general, were formerly remarkable for a punctilious rigidity of character that differed but little from the manners of the Quakers. They were the immediate descendants of men who had fled from persecution in England; and, as if emigration had soured their dispositions, they in their turn became religious tyrants and persecutors, and committed the most extravagant outrages. In the course of time these puritanical follies wore off with the increasing prosperity of their new settle. ments; and their frequent intercourse with men of more moderate principles begat in them a greater degree of toleration, and gave them a taste for the innocent amusements of polished society."—

Notwithstanding the Bostonians have considerably relaxed from their former rigid manners, and given into the gaiety and amusements of modern times, yet their scrupulous and devout observance of religious worship still continues with little variation; and they per haps afford beyond any other people, the pleasing proof that social amusements and diversions are not incompatible with, nor need interrupt, the more important and solemn duties which we owe to our Maker. Sundays are observed with the strictest decorum; the town appears as if completely deserted; and scarcely a person is seen walking the streets, except in going to or coming from a place of worship. Indeed all the towns and cities which I have visited in the United States are extremely exemplary in this respect, and present none of

that

that noise, bustle, and driving about, so common in the streets of London on the Sabbath day.—

• There is a material difference in point of character between the people of the northern States and those to the southward; there also exists a considerable spirit of rivalry, jealousy, and opposition between them. The former (speaking in general terms) are a plain, honest, and industrious people; regular in their habits, punctual in their payments, and strongly attached to agricultural and commercial pursuits. Before the embargo, their merchants traded with all the world; and the spirit of commercial enterprise had diffused itself in an extraordinary manner over those States. Their ships covered the ocean, and transported the commodities of their own country, and of other nations, to every quarter of the globe. A considerable share of their exports was furnished by their own portion of the Union; but the greater part was supplied by the southern States. The latter, however, had but few ships of their own, and cared not who were the carriers, so that they could dispose of their cotton, tobacco, and rice. They would have been equally satisfied to sell their produce to foreigners, and let them take it away in their own vessels, as to sell it to the northern merchants; and it is this sort of policy which is said to guide Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, and others of their party even at this day; but I cannot bring myself to believe that there is any foundation for such an assertion.

It is true the southern planter acquires his wealth not by the sweat of his brow like the New Englander, but by the labour of his negroes. He lolls at his ease in the shady retreat, drinking, smoking, or sleeping, surrounded by his slaves and overseers, who furnish him with the luxuries of life, without the necessity of his leaving the piazza. The northern merchant, on the contrary, is strenuously exerting himself from morning till night; exercising his faculties, expanding his mind, and enlarging his ideas by continual intercourse with people of every nation, and correspondence in every part of the globe.'

Towards the conclusion of his work, Mr. Lambert has introduced biographical notices of several eminent characters in the United States. Mr. Jefferson is described as living with all the simplicity of a philosopher and agriculturist; a habit which he did not renounce even when placed in the highest station of the republic. He was not then, in the opinion of this writer, swayed in his politics so much by predilection for France, as by a desire to remain in peace with all the world.-Mr. Madison is the first President who did not perform any part of consequence in the war of 1775. Notwithstanding the lofty and hostile tone of his late public communications, it is almost generally understood that personally his wishes are pacific; and that, if his party would permit, he would gladly terminate this unprosperous contest on the terms offered by our government. His diplomatic compositions have been frequently verbose and obscure; while the course of late events must have abundantly satisfied