quite superior to any thing of the kind I have seen; the beds were numerous and excellent, but such a number of females soon came on board, that it became obvious the gentlemen must shift for themselves.

We found soon after our return to our boardinghouse at New Rochelle, that it was intended to shut it up for the winter, and were puzzled whether to return to New York or to remain some time longer in the country, the American autumn, as before noticed, generally consisting of fine weather. We decided on the latter alternative, and agreed to remain for some time at the stage house in the village of New Rochelle, kept by a New Englander of the name of Weed. We remained at his house from the 23d of October till the beginning of December. Mr Weed's house was kept very much in the style of a country inn in Scotland; and we, therefore, made our bargain to have our meals in private. Mrs Weed was an active person in the house, and she had a very smart female servant, Hannah, an American, from a neighbouring village. She again was assisted by a man of colour, who was lame, to clean shoes, put on fires, and do all the dirty work; and I have seldom seen any one who was at all times more ready and more active, except when her mistress allowed her a holiday, or a respite for a few hours. The business of the house was very considerable, and there were frequently guests who stayed all night. Parties of people from New York, the distance from which was about twenty miles, often came out to try the speed of their horses in their gigs, or in a description of car

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riage, which is very common for medical men in the United States, called a sulky, a small gig capable of containing only one person. Yet the whole business of the house within doors was conducted by Mrs Weed, who had a young family, and one female servant, assisted by a lame man of colour. There were every day separate meals for the family and the boarders, consisting of many of the merchants and tradesmen of the village, as well as for ourselves.

New Rochelle was originally peopled by French refugees after the revocation of the Edict of Nantz, and the names of the people are still very generally French, such as Petit, Badeau, Bonet, Gallandet, Renaud, Le Compte, Le Fevre, &c. but the manners of the mother country have entirely left them; whereas the Dutch and Germans retain a great deal of their original manners, and generally understand the language of their forefathers.

Our charge for lodging and board was four dollars and a half for each, and we had every thing good of its kind, tea, coffee, sugar, &c. Home-baked bread, fish, or poultry, every day, and either beef-steak, broiled chicken, or roast meat, or roast turkey, or goose, wild fowl very abundant, especially wild ducks, the price of which was frequently as low as a shilling for three.

I happened to be at New York on the 30th October, and embraced the opportunity of being present at a very numerously attended caucus meeting, held in the Great Masonic Hall in the Broadway. This meeting

had been got up rather presumptuously, as it appeared to most people, by a coterie of the British, who acknowledged Miss Wright as their leader. Mr Robert Dale Owen, the eldest son of the well-known Mr Owen, one of the number, had himself elected secretary; and it was arranged that Mr Jennings, another of them, should be orator.

The meeting called itself that of the working-men; and their object was to have working-men, or mechanics, elected to the legislature.

Mr Jennings addressed the meeting in terms of complaint respecting the aristocratical tendency of the American constitution,-the unequal division of property and power which it sanctioned,-the want of general education,—the bad effects of monopolies and state banks, and licensed auctions; and the justice and propriety of all in the land having equal food and clothing. He therefore advocated the necessity of electing representatives who would pledge themselves to support a total change of system; and who, instead of eloquence, should possess enough of honesty to lead them to do all in their power to obtain such alterations as would produce an equal division of property of all kinds, and a national system of education open to all, as well as protection from all privileged classes. The whole of this address was mere common-place;—not a new idea started. Mr. Comstock, a cyder-merchant, followed Mr Jennings; but the meeting would not hear any more trash of this kind, and separated without adopting any resolutions. To this proceeding I was a witness;

ITINERANT LECTURER.

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but next day a notice appeared in the newspaper from Mr Dale Owen, the secretary, containing resolutions, recommending a certain list of persons as representatives, agreed to at this meeting.

While we were at New Rochelle, Mr Dennys, an itinerant lecturer on astronomy and the popular branches of natural philosophy, became an inmate of the house. He issued a prospectus for a course of lectures; and the charge not being great, one shilling Sterling per lecture, we procured tickets. We told Hannah, on the first evening of the course, not to prepare tea for us until we returned from lecture. The lecture-room was, we found, tolerably well filled; and Mr Dennys explained his subject with very tolerable clearness. He very properly abstained from all attempts to illustrate those parts of his subject which the great majority of his audience, composed of boys at the academies, and females, could not have comprehended. When we returned from the first lecture, we found that tea, which we had desired to be delayed till our return, was not prepared; but in a very short time Hannah, in her holiday dress, appeared, expressing her regret that we should have had to wait a little while for her; but she had been attending lecture, Mr Dennys having made her a present of tickets for the course, and her mistress having allowed her to attend. Many of the people came two or three miles in their waggons or dearborns to attend these lectures; and I really believe, from what I heard, that there were few people in the village who had not attended a course of these lectures at some

time or other, and who were not tolerably well acquainted with the history of the solar system. Mr Dennys travels with his wife in his own carriage, conveying his orrery of his own construction, his magic lanthorn, &c.

Hannah at one time left us for a few days to see her relations in the neighbouring state. When she was equipped for her journey, she opened our door before stepping into the stage, to say, "Good bye, good bye, -I'll have you both in my mind till I return." When she came back, she took my wife in her arms and kissed her, saying, "I can't help kissing you, for I am so happy to see you again." A fact like this proves, to a certain extent, the equality of footing that prevails; but I do not mean to infer that a servant would generally consider herself as on so familiar a footing.

A strange incident, as it appeared to us, happened at the beginning of one of Mr Dennys' lectures. A man of colour, perfectly well apparelled, entered the room, and was coming forward with a view to hear the lecture, which had commenced. Mr Dennys addressing him, told him to go out, saying, "we want no people of colour here; they are very well in their own way, but we don't mean to make them astronomers." The poor fellow was obliged to comply. After the lecture, I ventured to remonstrate with Mr Dennys upon the gross impropriety of his conduct; but his answer was quite satisfactory, as far as he was concerned, the fact being, as he stated, that he had no alternative. The people connected with the schools,