The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-06 00:00:00

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A PUN THROUGH THE TINITEII STATES.
2 rotl. . ; .
The author of these voluMeshaaell described
them in his preface, when he says, that they
consist of . Letters ." hastily awl Carelessly
written, and in a great_ ineasure occupied. by the.
trivial subjects of an every-day tour over a
beaten track." A better idea could not he
formed of the character of their contents than is.
contained in these words. The Letters are, in-
deed, for the most part, crude and careless, fly-
ing from theme to theme—as the author flew
from place to place—with railway speed; and
telling us nothing respecting the United States
that has not been told a hundred times already.
In vain have we searched for something, fresh or
novel in the Letters. All is hacknied; though
it must be added, to_the author's credit, that lie
tells a truism, or describes a well-known scene,
in a pleasant, good-humoured manner.
opinions, too, of the Americans are all of a con-
ciliatery nature. - He appears to have been uni-
formly well treated by them, and in return is
resolved that they shall experience no other
than kindly treatment at his hands. As, how-
ever, his views are at best but superficial, and his
opportunity of forming correct estimates of men
and things were extremely limited, we must be
careful not to lay .too mach stress on his opi-
nions, especially when we, find them at vari-
ance with those of More experienced American
travellers. The most amusing ,portion of his
work are his sketches of the Shakers—a curious
religious, sect, whose founder, it seems, " was
Anne 'Lee, an Englishwoman; she 'came from
the old country some years ago, and .established
the first family at Niskayuna, near .Albany,
The Shakers regard her as nearly 'equal to the
Saviour, or rather as a female Saviour; and as-
sert themselves to be the only persons on whom
tile light of the Spirit has shone." If we mis-
tahetillot, Captain ,Marryatt has given us some
piquant sketches of these comical fanatics, and
Mr. Buckingham has more than ouce made
mention of their vagaries. The New York
chambermaids, weare assured, are ladies of re-
markably chaste and delicate sensibilities, Their
virtue takes alarm' at- th slightest tbing, and
though (i they will condescend to make yopr
bed and clean your room, during the time yon
are at breakfast, yet neither love, nor money,
nor compassion either, will persuade one of these
American Dianas to enter your apartment at a
later hour of the day." This is the very sub-
lime of prudery, and to our less squeamish Eng-
li4l chambermaids; must appear little less than
miraculous. " I was vastly amused with this re-
finement," continues the author, " and asked
one of the chambermaids if she would do me
the favour to sew a button on the collar of a
shirt which I proffered to her. She started back
from the dilapidated vestment, dangled her two
hands from her wrists, looked aghast, and tit,
tering that universal word of American asto-
nishment,' Lawk!' turned away, and told me
she would send a man for `the thing,'" These
volumes have come out just at a seasonable pe-
riod, when McLeod's trial has attracted all eyes
to the United States. it is to-this lucky contin-
gency that they will be chiefly indebted for
whatever popularity they may acquire ; for as a
work of reference and sound, carefully digested
opinion, they are nearly, if not quite, valueless.