Old England and New England (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1853. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XX. The quantity of land, and the quantity of people-who live on it--the constitution of a man pitted against the constitution of a horse--Climate and its effect upon health--Limit of American life--Spitting, and where to spit--Hitting the mark at any distance--A sure way to have dyspepsia, and a sure way not to get rid of it--Advice to young ladies, "married and single"--Women's rights, and what to pay for them--Delicacies of the season--Cowhiding and Lola Montez--A Californian marriage--Art at a discount, and gold at a premium--"Official" statistics not to be doubted--Surplus at a nonplus--America's aristocratical notions--Importance of a title--Names misnamed--Difficulty of a letter reaching its destination--How an Englishman's idea of independence differs from an American's--How to address a man at his own house in Indiana--More modes of pronunciation than one--How to choose American wines, or rather wines in America--Definition of a flimsy character--Not a shop in all the United States--Paper cur'rency and its virtues--Young America at full length--The habits of all America--"A perfect character"--contrast of the English and American custom-house. Let it not be supposed, for one moment, because the United States of America happen to be some 1600 miles of extreme length from north to south, and some 2800 miles of breadth from east to west, with only about twenty-three millions and odd inhabitants, according to the last census ("One half-pennyworth of bread to this intolerable quantity of sack"); because you meet with very few cities and towns, comparatively speaking, and when you do meet with them, with very few dwellers therein; because mountains rise up before the eye, as far as its vision can reach, and seas miscalled rivers, roll about in ...