BOOKS.

MRS. HOUSTON'S HESPENOS.* IN 1844, Mrs. Houston published a very lively and agreeable ac- count of a yacht voyage which she and her husband had made, in 1843, to Texas, New Orleans, and the Spanish West Indies. In the two following years, as we judge from the remarks on the 'Oregon question, Mrs. Houston travelled through the length and breadth of the -United States. She left Liverpool in October 1845, 'in the steamer Hibernia; called at Halifax; stopped at Boston; travelled through the interior, by Albany, Utica, and Rochester, to Niagara ; and descended the Hudson to New York, where she re- mained ten days. At Philadelphia she staid a week, and then ?passed on to Baltimore ; speeding Southward with the advancing 'winter. After a look at Washington and a few return trips, she -crossed the Alleghenies to Pittsburg ; and thence descended to New Orleans, by the long river navigation that intersects like a .network the Western portion of the United States, till the various -waters are absorbed in the mighty Mississippi From New Or- leans Mrs. Houston made several excursions to the curious archipe- lago formed by the numerous channels of the Mississippi as it ap- -preaches the Gulf of Mexico ; and paid another visit to Texas, 'then in course of annexation. On her return to New York she called at Washington, and saw the lions, who had by that time assembled in full menagerie ; and finally embarked for -England, in April 1846.

The qualities that distinguished Mrs. Houston's yacht voyage are visible in her American travels, perhaps with some improvement in her logic. We think she is not quite so prone to take state- 'merits regarding the unseen upon trust, or to jump to large con- clusions upon limited data. Her feminine nicety of observation, her easy but lively style, and her justness of judgment upon matters within her ken, are as attractive and as informing as before. Pos- sibly the book is a little behind the time as regards public affairs and public opinion ; for, independently of the " progressing " charac- ter of the Americans, there has been since Mrs. Houston was in Ame- rica, the repeal of the British Corn-laws, the Oregon peace, the Mexi- can war, the discovery of the gold-diggings, and the various revo- lutions in Europe, things which must all more or less have operated upon public opinion in America. Is, however, Mrs. Houston's most • valuable observations refer to social practices, matters of convention, domestic morals, or external appearances, the time is of less con- sequence. Ittakes more than a few years to change national looks or national habits ; yet these give a more living idea of individual -men and women than politics, or what is called opinion. Some of Mrs. Houston's remarks or descriptions are of value for what they suggest. One relates to the barren appearance of much of the country in New England, and what she heard of the steril- ity of parts of New York. Yet these States were the cunabula of the infant greatness of America. The Southern States would have turned out a race of planters and of .second-rate gentlemen ; but without the aid, and very often without the replenishing of the Northern States, they would have been planters and little more. 'The Yankees had no advantages-of soil or climate: their land is bar- ren, their climate severe, their coast stormy, and in winter frozen up. Yet the world has never heard from New England farmers the outcries that the 'yeomen and gentlemen of England have been -making for several months past, though the New Englanders have always been exposed to the same foreign competition. It is true -that home competition has been prevented by the wild lands of the 'far West ; but analogous emigration is open to theEnglish farmers. Itwas not more difficult to move from Liverpool to Ca n da, Australia, or New Zealand, than from Connecticut or Massachusetts to the distant West The hardy and resolute will is the main thing -wanting, together with greater colonial facilities. • 4' Newbury Port, to which -we were to travel by the ears, is a considerable town, about thirty-six Ales from Boston. It was a dreary country through which we passed, and the land poor and stony, though in many places highly cultivated. In the neighbourhood of Boston are extensive salt marshes, the . presence of which, it must be allowed, does not in any part of the world tend to give an agreeable impression of the place which they surround ; the trees are also few in number and stunted in growth, and are for the most part firs of various kinds. The suburban houses are numerous, and are many of them large imposing-looking villas, though built chiefly of wood ; by far the greater proportion, however, are small cockney affairs, pert and white, and adorned with green jalousies—in short, des ventables mamma de perruquiers.

"As we advanced, the scenery did not improve; nothing could be less picturesque than the straggling settler's fence, or more desolate-lookingthan the blackened stumps of the burned-down trees in the newly-cleared lands. To grub up these stumps is one of the severest labours of the settler; one also which he is very apt to neglect, leaving to time and nature the task of reducing the offending objects to a level with the soil. Large granite blocks are often to be seen rearing their heads among the scanty vegetation, and recalling to one's mind the fact that, however much the industry and un- tiring perseverance of man has done towards improving and cultivating the soil of New England, nature has dealt forth her favours with a niggardly hand.

"This boasted State of New York seems in many respects deficient in na- tural advantages : the soil is in most parts so poor that it does not pay the farmer to raise corn; and labour is so expensive that they cannot afford to improve it. There was a very intelligent New-Yorker on board the Troy holding forth on this subject. I've been down lately,' said he, a good deal among the farmers buying corn : and to see these young farmers ! it's quite a warning. A fine young chap of eighteen or nineteen, without a dollar an his pocket, takes and marries a handsome gal of the same age, and with Just as few cents in her purse as himself. And what happens next ? Why, there they are, everlasting slaves, with their noses at the grindstone, worse a deal than serfs. Now if that young feller had only waited, and saved his wages for -a year or two, he might have bought some fme land Tennessee- * Hesperos; or Travels ill the West. By Mrs, Houston, Author of " Texasand the Gulf of Mexico." In two volumes. Published by John W.-Parker. way at Government price, dollar an acre, and then gone back and married the gal if he liked it. 'Tis poor land, and that's a fact, and I a'ant ageing to deny it : but just look at New England; there's land for you! If you stump the world, you won't find such cold inhospitable land as that on the face of the tarnation earth. Well, no people but those Puritans could have done anything. with it ; and just look what riches there is in that country. But we're getting along, Sir; going ahead. No fear of an universal Yankee; whenever there's an operation to be done, you're sure to find a Yankee at the bottom of He was now fairly off on the never-dying subject— the wonders of the U-nited States; so, knowing all that by heart, I left him to his little knot of eager listeners, each of whom was entering heart and soul into the pepuLar theme."

The respect paid to age in Europe has been a subject of remark to American travellers ; according to Mrs. Houston, they have hardly the thing in America. The Americans begin to live so soon, and live so fast, that life with the mass-of them is soon used up. There are few " veterans " to " lag superfluous on the stage," because life goes off before it reaches the veteran period.

" It is impossible while reading the inscriptions on the tombs in most of these burial-places not to be painfully affected by the proofs they afford of the shortness of human life in America. After reading the dates of births and deaths on these marble monuments, we found, that out of some hun- dreds of those who lay under the soft and yielding turf, very few had seen more than forty summers, and that by far the greatest proportion had been summoned to their last account before their fifth lustre had been passed. We had long before this remarked how rare a sight an aged man or woman was in America. There are no drooping forms or decrepit figimes, no grey hairs or wrinkled faces : in short, it would appear that age does not and -cannot exist in the busy growth of this new country. All here is early, ac- tive existence, and the young have enough to do, without being obliged to fulfil what would appear to them the unprofitable task of locking the cradle of declining years.' It would be a stretch of,fancy, to which I confess myself perfectly unequal, to imagine in this utilitarian country aged forms leaning( on the protecting arm of a child or a grandchild; nor do I think that of there were old gentlemen and ladies indiscreet enough thus to 'intrude upon posterity,' their delay in quitting the stage of life would-be much approved of. Ihave often thought that this absence of old people, this want of A record which together binds-

Past deeds and offices of charity,'

may have a bad effect on the character. The rising generation, even if haply inclined to the un-American virtue of veneration, have no field for the ex- ercise of sympathy and thought; and the silent monitor, the aged and help- less parent, is seldom there to call forth the most holy and beautiful feelings of our nature. There is a link, too, wanting in the chain of human sym- pathMa, which connects the rising generation with the long ago' past, when the timeworn figure of the octogenarian is never seen 'with solemn steps and slow' among the robust and young—the prosperous and unthinking of the world. The Americans, however, have no past. The present is theirs, with its daily cares and pleasures; but they have so little to look back upon that they naturally glance ahead to what IS to come. The future is before them, with its compound of vague hopes and fears, and they guess,' and calcu- late,' and • presume' that it will be a glorious one when the brilliant past of the Old World shall be the only treasure to which it can lay claim." Even middle age would. seem. to be thrust aside as passe by the choice spirits of the country, and the verb " ccticulate" to take the place of "I love." According to Mrs. Houston, the romance of America is all talk.

"Dancing seems to be by far the favourite amusement here ; and as to polkinz—I believe that in no part of the world has the rage for that violent species of pastime been carried to such an extent as in New York. There is something delightfully degourdi in the way they make their arrangements for carrying on their entertainments ; and, if I was oorrectly informed, on these matters, the kisser-eller of the proceedings must have great charms for the young and gay. When a ball is to be given, it is the young ladies of the house not the mammas and papas, who invite the guests. They are not supposed be any judges of the who, mid are only necessary as supply- ing the means for the entertainment of the society. I believe that this re- mark is equally applicable to their dinner engagements, and, in short, to all social meetings where the young of both sexes most do congregate. "On the occasion of a ban, it not unfrequently happens that neither fathers nor mothers appear at all, and that the bidden consist almost entirely of young unmarried men, and of fair maidens equally juvenile and un- shackled. As may well be supposed, the fun is often both fast and furious,' and quite different from what it would most probably be were any either elderly or staid people admitted to the festivity. A chaperone within the limits of a dancing-room would not be allowed on any consideration, and very few single ladies after they have passed the age of twenty-five are con- sidered eligible for admission. Free and independent as the constitution of their country are the manners and habits of young American ladies • and so tenacious are they of their glorious rights as freeborn citizens, that they are not content even with this exercise of power. One of their most popular amusements is to take a country drive with any young gentleman who may be the favoured admirer for the moment. The vehicle in which this reerea-

driven at the very top of his . The lady on these occasions wears her

lion is taken is a gig, and is usually drawn by-a high and fast-trotting horse, best bonnet and feathers, and e gentleman Is sure to be smoking a cigag• privilege of choosing their own partner for life as well as for a Sund

drive is :.cenerally insisted on by the fair s is, and , I am told, seldom dis-

puted. The choice, as in other countries, is I fear, too often made from in- terested motives ; but if it be so, and if a spirit of calculation worthy of their parents be too frequently apparent, there is more excuse for an American than for young ladies of other and leas exclusively mercantile countries. They see so little of their husband, oopsidering lum often merely as the mednun through which dollars find their way into the milliners' shops, in exchange for caps and bonnets, that the amount of money he gives them is clearly of more consequence to them than anything else. 'With them matri- mony is as much a matter of business as an operation in cottons or railroad shares is to their parents. It would be quite a pity if, with the capacity possessed by the fair Americans for driving a bargain, the softer feeluags were often allowed to interfere and spoil the operation. A partner at a ball, who has chanced to receive encouragement as the owner of a pair of horsest is speedily discarded for one with four; and he, in like manner, must sten aside the possessor of a still larger stud should chance to present himself. YouI know, be ready to tell rue that this pernicious system is not con- fined to the Americans, but that all over the world, wherever there is civil- ization there will be heartless ambition and a love of empty show. It is, however, not everywhere that it is all so publicly manifest as in America."

As may be supposed, the conjugal tie is not very tender under such circumstances; though we imagine such philosophy as the following, in a newly-made widow, is rather the exception than the rule. The scene is the Mississippi.

"The next morning, while stopping at one of the landings, the lady on board the Sultana, who had a sick husband awaiting her (as she tholfght) at Louisville, was greeted with the intelligence that the unfortunate gentle- man was no more but that his body was on board a steamer which was puff- ing alongside of ours, and was on its way to New Orleans: and the disconso- late widow—I can see her now, as she stood shading her eyes from the sun, and asking particulars of her friend, who had hailed her from the other steam- er. She neither seemed surprised nor shocked, but after a little mental hesitation decided not to accompany the remains of her husband down the

✓ iver, but to pursue her voyage to Louisville, as she had originally intended. I never saw so composed a widow; she never absented herself from any of the meals, and ate and drank quite comfortably, a little serious sometimes, but nothing more. People have no time to think of death in America."

The ladies frequently come in for Mrs. Houston's observation ; and the opinion she passes on the mass is far from favourable. She gives various sketches of them on various occasions, North, South, West ; but she rarely speaks favourably except of individuals. These are of the State of New York.

"There were some very fair faces and graceful figures in that motley crew. Some New York families had been picked up at their villas at Poughkeepsie, and other places on the river, and were returning to the city for the sea- son.' Many of these were distingue and unexceptionable in dress, manners, and appearance' ladies, of whose ladyhood it would be impossible to doubt. But let them do anything but speak, anything but drawl forth their words, and scream out their surprise, and say What,' and Ay,' and 'Ha, aw,' in a lengthened tone, of which it would be impossible to convey an adequate idea. This is a great pity.; for the American ladies are often agreeable, and almost always well read ; indeed, I have every reason to think that they are superior to us in general knowledge and erudition, as they are in acuteness of observation. All these good gifts are, however, marred by a want of soft- ness of manner, and by a deficiency of those good gifts which grace a gen- tlewoman.' The 'guessing' and expecting' are also by no means confined to the gentlemen and the frequent use of those favourite verbs would, in say opinion, spoil; charm of any conversation."

• The subject is again touched upon in the description of the Broadway, its shops, its equipages, and its idlers,—the possible germ of an aristocracy.

Broadway is certainly, as far as the essential points of length and width go, a handsome street : still (and it was perhaps because my expectations had been extravagantly. raised) I was rather disappointed in the appearance of that famous street. The houses are built with little attention to uniform- ity, and the display in the shop-windows is not so remarkable for splendour or beauty as I had expected to find. Every now and then, certainly, you come to a store of great magnificence, with its immense panes of plate-glass, and its tempting display of finery within ; but, unfortunately, there is in all probability alongside of it a wretched oyster-shop, or, worse still, a ten-pin alley. The upper part of the street, when you arrive at about No. 460, is the handsomest, and can even compete with Portland Place in the size of its private houses. Lower down in the street, you are too often disgusted by seeing mean and one-storied houses, where such houses should not be, and by shops displaying all varieties of shades in their brick or stone work. All this takes from the outward merit of Broadway as a street, and renders it difficult for a stranger to agree with the Amencans that it is the finest n the world,' or, as they affirm, far finer than Regent Street' in every sense of the word. The trottoir is occasionally perfect. The slabs are often six or eight feet long ; and in many of them are inserted tablets of stone, which on a first view have very much the effect of tombstones, but on a nearer exa- mination you may discover on them the name and business of the 'gentle- man' before whose store they are placed. • • "A great deal has been said in praise of the ' beauties ' who are to be met with in Broadway ; indeed I have heard it asserted, even by English- men, that there are more beautiful faces to be seen during a walk through that street than in any other place in the world. One reason for this may be, that there are more female faces to be seen ; for it is only in American cities that you can see the principal street literally thronged with ladies, and it would indeed be strange if amongst all these numbers many were not -to be found possessed of a sufficient degree of attraction to justify these en- comiums. In Broadway, during the fashionable period of the day, ladies in parties of two and three may be met with every second ; and as their com- plexions are generally good and their dress at least not deficient in showi- ness,their tout ensemble is often sufficiently attractive. The total absence of all appearance of shyness in these perambulating ladies may also partly account for some of the admiration that has been so liberally bestowed upon them : but whatever the cause, they certainly. arrogate to themselves the rim of beauty, and I have not often heard their claim to it disputed ; it is, however, equally. true that the reign of their charms is as short as it is bril- liant. In America, it would be considered absurd to talk of a lady posessing a single attraction after thirty ; so accustomed are they in this country to Witness the early decline of youth and loveliness. During their daily pro- menades, the New York ladies are rarely attended by a gentleman, and never by a servant. It is, perhaps, to this remarkable independence of dm- racter and habits that they are indebted for the perfect self-possession and total absence of shyness which must be obvious to every one. To many this would destroy the effect of half the charms they possess : not so. I imagine, with their own countrymen, for I have heard them boast of this very cha- racteristic as a proof of the perfect freedom from prejudice on the part of the ladies of their country, and also of their conviction that there was no reason for them to be ashamed of themselves.'

"The dress of the New York ladies is generally overdone gaudy, and in- appropriate ; it is also costly and extravagant to the greatest degree. • • , • - • "I must now tell you of a few more of the peculiarities which struck me sluring a walk in Broadway. One is, that you may here see (what I fancy you can rarely do in any other part of America) young men who are essen- tially tlitneurs—idlers, in short, 'who appear to have nothing to do but to dandify themselves for the sole purpose of displaying their charms in a fashionable walk. I cannot help thinking that the time is not far distant when the universal love of trading and speculation will not be so prevalent in the United States as it has hitherto been. I have an idea, that in most of the other cities of the Union, idleness is still looked upon as rather dis- creditable than otherwise ; and that a man who has no ostensible profession is generally held in small estimation. This is not the case here. Hundreds of rich merchants, .who having realized large fortunes in the South and West have given up business, are established in this city. Formerly, those very men would have betaken themselves to Europe, to avoid the reproach of idleness; now, they can live here in perfect comfort, and in the midst of a large circle of friends and acquaintances in similar circumstances. I was -surprised to find that they have their Court Guide even in New York, and that for one sixpence there could be purchased a true and correct list of all the wealthy citizens and merchants of New York. In this comprehen- sive volume was to be found, not only their places of abode but the amount

of their fortunes specified in this style : Mr. Jonathan , No. -, 'Broadway, formerly of Charleston, dry goods merchant ; fortune, 200,000 dollars.' Their only private ambition seems now to be that of surpassing their neighbours in the extravagance of their entertainments and in the os-

tentatious magnificence of their habitations. • • •

"There are various sets among the portion of New York society which may be called aristocratic. The best of these is certainly that whose mem- bers belong to the literary.profeasions, and whose claim, to distinction is not derived from their dollars alone. Between those still in business and those- who have retired from it there always appears to be a little jealousy ; and this is, of course, fomented by the grand national animosity that undoubt- edly exists between the men of the North and the Southerners."

We had marked various other passages of a similar character, descriptive of manners, and touched off bra feminine hand and eye. An account of the lower part of the Mississippi is curious and interesting. A good many passages on slavery are suggestive, if not very conclusive. But for all these we must refer the reader to the -volumes.