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diff --git a/33944-8.txt b/33944-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 71a0196..0000000 --- a/33944-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6821 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of How to Observe, by Harriet Martineau - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - -Title: How to Observe - Morals and Manners - -Author: Harriet Martineau - -Release Date: October 5, 2010 [EBook #33944] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOW TO OBSERVE *** - - - - -Produced by Julia Miller and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) - - - - - - - - - - HOW TO OBSERVE. - ----- - MORALS AND MANNERS. - - - BY - HARRIET MARTINEAU. - - - "Hélas! où donc chercher, où trouver le bonheur? - ----Nulle part tout entier, partout avec mesure." - VOLTAIRE. - - "Opening my journal-book, and dipping my pen in my ink-horn, I - determined, as far as I could, to justify myself and my - countrymen in wandering over the face of the earth." - ROGERS. - - - LONDON: - CHARLES KNIGHT AND CO. 22, LUDGATE STREET. - 1838. - - - LONDON: - PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEY, - Dorset Street, Fleet Street. - - - - -ADVERTISEMENT. - - -"The best mode of exciting the love of observation is by teaching 'How -to Observe.' With this end it was originally intended to produce, in one -or two volumes, a series of hints for travellers and students, calling -their attention to the points necessary for inquiry or observation in -the different branches of Geology, Natural History, Agriculture, the -Fine Arts, General Statistics, and Social Manners. On consideration, -however, it was determined somewhat to extend the plan, and to separate -the great divisions of the field of observation, so that those whose -tastes led them to one particular branch of inquiry might not be -encumbered with other parts in which they do not feel an equal -interest." - -The preceding passage is contained in the notice accompanying the first -work in this series--Geology, by Mr. De la Bèche, published in 1835. -Thus, the second work in the series is in continuation of the plan above -announced. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - PART I. REQUISITES FOR OBSERVATION. Page - - INTRODUCTION 1 - - CHAP. I. Philosophical Requisites. - Section I. 11 - Section II. 14 - Section III. 21 - Section IV. 27 - - CHAP. II. Moral Requisites 40 - - CHAP. III. Mechanical Requisites 51 - - - PART II. WHAT TO OBSERVE 61 - - CHAP. I. Religion 68 - Churches 80 - Clergy 84 - Superstitions 90 - Suicide 94 - - CHAP. II. General Moral Notions 101 - Epitaphs 108 - Love of Kindred and Birth-place 111 - Talk of Aged and Children 113 - Character of prevalent Pride 114 - Character of popular Idols 118 - Epochs of Society 122 - Treatment of the Guilty 124 - Testimony of Criminals 129 - Popular Songs 132 - Literature and Philosophy 137 - - CHAP. III. Domestic State 144 - Soil and Aspect of the Country 153 - Markets 154 - Agricultural Class 155 - Manufacturing Class 157 - Commercial Class 158 - Health 161 - Marriage and Woman 167 - Children 181 - - CHAP. IV. Idea of Liberty 183 - Police 184 - Legislation 188 - Classes in Society 190 - Servants 192 - Imitation of the Metropolis 196 - Newspapers 197 - Schools 198 - Objects and Form of Persecution 203 - - CHAP. V. Progress 206 - Conditions of Progress 209 - Charity 213 - Arts and Inventions 216 - Multiplicity of Objects 218 - - CHAP. VI. Discourse 221 - - - PART III. MECHANICAL METHODS 231 - - - - -HOW TO OBSERVE. - - -MORALS AND MANNERS. - - - - -PART I. - -REQUISITES FOR OBSERVATION. - - -INTRODUCTION. - - "Inest sua gratia parvis." - - "Les petites choses n'ont de valeur que de la part de ceux qui - peuvent s'élever aux grandes."--DE JOUY. - - -There is no department of inquiry in which it is not full as easy to -miss truth as to find it, even when the materials from which truth is to -be drawn are actually present to our senses. A child does not catch a -gold fish in water at the first trial, however good his eyes may be, and -however clear the water; knowledge and method are necessary to enable -him to take what is actually before his eyes and under his hand. So it -is with all who fish in a strange element for the truth which is living -and moving there: the powers of observation must be trained, and habits -of method in arranging the materials presented to the eye must be -acquired before the student possesses the requisites for understanding -what he contemplates. - -The observer of Men and Manners stands as much in need of intellectual -preparation as any other student. This is not, indeed, generally -supposed, and a multitude of travellers act as if it were not true. Of -the large number of tourists who annually sail from our ports, there is -probably not one who would dream of pretending to make observations on -any subject of physical inquiry, of which he did not understand even the -principles. If, on his return from the Mediterranean, the unprepared -traveller was questioned about the geology of Corsica, or the public -buildings of Palermo, he would reply, "Oh, I can tell you nothing about -that--I never studied geology; I know nothing about architecture." But -few, or none, make the same avowal about the morals and manners of a -nation. Every man seems to imagine that he can understand men at a -glance; he supposes that it is enough to be among them to know what they -are doing; he thinks that eyes, ears, and memory are enough for morals, -though they would not qualify him for botanical or statistical -observation; he pronounces confidently upon the merits and social -condition of the nations among whom he has travelled; no misgiving ever -prompts him to say, "I can give you little general information about the -people I have been seeing; I have not studied the principles of morals; -I am no judge of national manners." - -There would be nothing to be ashamed of in such an avowal. No wise man -blushes at being ignorant of any science which it has not suited his -purposes to study, or which it has not been in his power to attain. No -linguist wrings his hands when astronomical discoveries are talked of in -his presence; no political economist covers his face when shown a shell -or a plant which he cannot class; still less should the artist, the -natural philosopher, the commercial traveller, or the classical scholar, -be ashamed to own himself unacquainted with the science which, of all -the sciences which have yet opened upon men, is, perhaps, the least -cultivated, the least definite, the least ascertained in itself, and the -most difficult in its application. - -In this last characteristic of the science of Morals lies the excuse of -as many travellers as may decline pronouncing on the social condition of -any people. Even if the generality of travellers were as enlightened as -they are at present ignorant about the principles of Morals, the -difficulty of putting those principles to interpretative uses would -deter the wise from making the hasty decisions, and uttering the large -judgments, in which travellers have hitherto been wont to indulge. In -proportion as men become sensible how infinite are the diversities in -man, how incalculable the varieties and influences of circumstances, -rashness of pretension and decision will abate, and the great work of -classifying the moral manifestations of society will be confided to the -philosophers, who bear the same relation to the science of society as -Herschel does to astronomy, and Beaufort to hydrography. - -Of all the tourists who utter their decisions upon foreigners, how many -have begun their researches at home? Which of them would venture upon -giving an account of the morals and manners of London, though he may -have lived in it all his life? Would any one of them escape errors as -gross as those of the Frenchman who published it as a general fact that -people in London always have, at dinner parties, soup on each side, and -fish at four corners? Which of us would undertake to classify the morals -and manners of any hamlet in England, after spending the summer in it? -What sensible man seriously generalizes upon the manners of a street, -even though it be Houndsditch or Cranbourn-Alley? Who pretends to -explain all the proceedings of his next-door neighbour? Who is able to -account for all that is said and done by the dweller in the same -house,--by parent, child, brother, or domestic? If such judgments were -attempted, would they not be as various as those who make them? And -would they not, after all, if closely looked into, reveal more of the -mind of the observer than of the observed? - -If it be thus with us at home, amidst all the general resemblances, the -prevalent influences which furnish an interpretation to a large number -of facts, what hope of a trustworthy judgment remains for the foreign -tourist, however good may be his method of travelling, and however long -his absence from home? He looks at all the people along his line of -road, and converses with a few individuals from among them. If he -diverges, from time to time, from the high road,--if he winds about -among villages, and crosses mountains, to dip into the hamlets of the -valleys,--he still pursues only a line, and does not command the -expanse; he is furnished, at best, with no more than a sample of the -people; and whether they be indeed a sample, must remain a conjecture -which he has no means of verifying. He converses, more or less, with, -perhaps, one man in ten thousand of those he sees; and of the few with -whom he converses, no two are alike in powers and in training, or -perfectly agree in their views on any one of the great subjects which -the traveller professes to observe; the information afforded by one is -contradicted by another; the fact of one day is proved error by the -next; the wearied mind soon finds itself overwhelmed by the multitude of -unconnected or contradictory particulars, and lies passive to be run -over by the crowd. The tourist is no more likely to learn, in this way, -the social state of a nation, than his valet would be qualified to speak -of the meteorology of the country from the number of times the umbrellas -were wanted in the course of two months. His children might as well -undertake to exhibit the geological formation of the country from the -pebbles they picked up in a day's ride. - -I remember some striking words addressed to me, before I set out on my -travels, by a wise man, since dead. "You are going to spend two years in -the United States," said he. "Now just tell me,--do you expect to -understand the Americans by the time you come back? You do not: that is -well. I lived five-and-twenty years in Scotland, and I fancied I -understood the Scotch; then I came to England, and supposed I should -soon understand the English. I have now lived five-and-twenty years -here, and I begin to think I understand neither the Scotch nor the -English." - -What is to be done? Let us first settle what is not to be done. - -The traveller must deny himself all indulgence of peremptory decision, -not only in public on his return, but in his journal, and in his most -superficial thoughts. The experienced and conscientious traveller would -word the condition differently. Finding peremptory decision more trying -to his conscience than agreeable to his laziness, he would call it not -indulgence, but anxiety; he enjoys the employment of collecting -materials, but would shrink from the responsibility of judging a -community. - -The traveller must not generalize on the spot, however true may be his -apprehension--however firm his grasp, of one or more facts. A raw -English traveller in China was entertained by a host who was -intoxicated, and a hostess who was red-haired; he immediately made a -note of the fact that all the men in China were drunkards, and all the -women red-haired. A raw Chinese traveller in England was landed by a -Thames waterman who had a wooden leg. The stranger saw that the wooden -leg was used to stand in the water with, while the other was high and -dry. The apparent economy of the fact struck the Chinese; he saw in it -strong evidence of design, and wrote home that in England one-legged men -are kept for watermen, to the saving of all injury to health, shoe, and -stocking, from standing in the river. These anecdotes exhibit but a -slight exaggeration of the generalizing tendencies of many modern -travellers. They are not so much worse than some recent tourists' tales, -as they are better than the old narratives of "men whose heads do grow -beneath their shoulders." - -Natural philosophers do not dream of generalizing with any such speed as -that used by the observers of men; yet they might do it with more -safety, at the risk of an incalculably smaller mischief. The geologist -and the chemist make a large collection of particular appearances, -before they commit themselves to propound a principle drawn from them, -though their subject matter is far less diversified than the human -subject, and nothing of so much importance as human emotions,--love and -dislike, reverence and contempt, depends upon their judgment. If a -student in natural philosophy is in too great haste to classify and -interpret, he misleads, for a while, his fellow-students (not a very -large class); he vitiates the observations of a few successors; his -error is discovered and exposed; he is mortified, and his too docile -followers are ridiculed, and there is an end; but if a traveller gives -any quality which he may have observed in a few individuals as a -characteristic of a nation, the evil is not speedily or easily -remediable. Abject thinkers, passive readers, adopt his words; parents -repeat them to their children; and townspeople spread the judgment into -the villages and hamlets--the strongholds of prejudice; future -travellers see according to the prepossessions given them, and add their -testimony to the error, till it becomes the work of a century to reverse -a hasty generalization. It was a great mistake of a geologist to assign -a wrong level to the Caspian Sea; and it is vexatious that much time and -energy should have been devoted to account for an appearance which, -after all, does not exist. It is provoking to geologists that they -should have wasted a great deal of ingenuity in finding reasons for -these waters being at a different level from what it is now found that -they have; but the evil is over; the "pish!" and the "pshaw!" are said; -the explanatory and apologetical notes are duly inserted in new -editions of geological works, and nothing more can come of the mistake. -But it is difficult to foresee when the British public will believe that -the Americans are a mirthful nation, or even that the French are not -almost all cooks or dancing-masters. A century hence, probably, the -Americans will continue to believe that all the English make a regular -study of the art of conversation; and the lower orders of French will be -still telling their children that half the people in England hang or -drown themselves every November. As long as travellers generalize on -morals and manners as hastily as they do, it will probably be impossible -to establish a general conviction that no civilized nation is -ascertainably better or worse than any other on this side barbarism, the -whole field of morals being taken into the view. As long as travellers -continue to neglect the safe means of generalization which are within -the reach of all, and build theories upon the manifestations of -individual minds, there is little hope of inspiring men with that spirit -of impartiality, mutual deference, and love, which are the best -enlighteners of the eyes and rectifiers of the understanding. - -Above all things, the traveller must not despair of good results from -his observations. Because he cannot establish true conclusions by -imperfect means, he is not to desist from doing anything at all. Because -he cannot safely generalize in one way, it does not follow that there is -no other way. There are methods of safe generalization of which I shall -speak by-and-by. But, if there were not such within his reach, if his -only materials were the discourse, the opinions, the feelings, the way -of life, the looks, dress, and manners of individuals, he might still -afford important contributions to science by his observations on as wide -a variety of these as he can bring within his mental grasp. The -experience of a large number of observers would in time yield materials -from which a cautious philosopher might draw conclusions. It is a safe -rule, in morals as in physics, that no fact is without its use. Every -observer and recorder is fulfilling a function; and no one observer or -recorder ought to feel discouragement, as long as he desires to be -useful rather than shining; to be the servant rather than the lord of -science, and a friend to the home-stayers rather than their dictator. - -One of the wisest men living writes to me, "No books are so little to be -trusted as travels. All travellers do and must generalize too rapidly. -Most, if not all, take a fact for a principle, or the exception for the -rule, more or less; and the quickest minds, which love to reason and -explain more than to observe with patience, go most astray. My faith in -travels received a mortal wound when I travelled. I read, as I went -along, the books of those who had preceded me, and found that we did not -see with the same eyes. Even descriptions of nature proved false. The -traveller had viewed the prospect at a different season, or in a -different light, and substituted the transient for the fixed. Still I -think travels useful. Different accounts give means of approximation to -truth; and by-and-by what is fixed and essential in a people will be -brought out." - -It ought to be an animating thought to a traveller that, even if it be -not in his power to settle any one point respecting the morals and -manners of an empire, he can infallibly aid in supplying means of -approximation to truth, and of bringing out "what is fixed and essential -in a people." This should be sufficient to stimulate his exertions and -satisfy his ambition. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -PHILOSOPHICAL REQUISITES. - - "Only I believe that this is not a bow for every man to shoot in - that counts himself a teacher, but will require sinews almost - equal to those which Homer gave Ulysses; yet I am withal - persuaded that it may prove much more easy in the essay than it - now seems at a distance."--MILTON. - - -There are two parties to the work of observation on Morals and -Manners--the observer and the observed. This is an important fact which -the traveller seldom dwells upon as he ought; yet a moment's -consideration shows that the mind of the observer--the instrument by -which the work is done, is as essential as the material to be wrought. -If the instrument be in bad order, it will furnish a bad product, be the -material what it may. In this chapter I shall point out what requisites -the traveller ought to make sure that he is possessed of before he -undertakes to offer observations on the Morals and Manners of a people. - - -SECTION I. - -He must have made up his mind as to what it is that he wants to know. In -physical science, great results may be obtained by hap-hazard -experiments; but this is not the case in Morals. A chemist can hardly -fail of learning something by putting any substances together, under new -circumstances, and seeing what will arise out of the combination; and -some striking discoveries happened in this way, in the infancy of the -science; though no one doubts that more knowledge may be gained by the -chemist who has an aim in his mind, and who conducts his experiment on -some principle. In Morals, the latter method is the only one which -promises any useful results. In the workings of the social system, all -the agents are known in the gross--all are determined. It is not their -nature, but the proportions in which they are combined, which have to be -ascertained. - -What does the traveller want to know? He is aware that, wherever he -goes, he will find men, women, and children; strong men and weak men; -just men and selfish men. He knows that he will everywhere find a -necessity for food, clothing, and shelter; and everywhere some mode of -general agreement how to live together. He knows that he will everywhere -find birth, marriage, and death; and therefore domestic affections. What -results from all these elements of social life does he mean to look for? - -For want of settling this question, one traveller sees nothing truly, -because the state of things is not consistent with his speculations as -to how human beings ought to live together; another views the whole with -prejudice, because it is not like what he has been accustomed to see at -home; yet each of these would shrink from the recognition of his folly, -if it were fully placed before him. The first would be ashamed of having -tried any existing community by an arbitrary standard of his own--an act -much like going forth into the wilderness to see kings' houses full of -men in soft raiment; and the other would perceive that different -nations may go on judging one another by themselves till doomsday, -without in any way improving the chance of self-advancement and mutual -understanding. Going out with the disadvantage of a habit of mind -uncounteracted by an intellectual aim, will never do. The traveller may -as well stay at home, for anything he will gain in the way of social -knowledge. - -The two considerations just mentioned must be subordinated to the grand -one,--the only general one,--of the relative amount of human happiness. -Every element of social life derives its importance from this great -consideration. The external conveniences of men, their internal emotions -and affections, their social arrangements, graduate in importance -precisely in proportion as they affect the general happiness of the -section of the race among whom they exist. Here then is the wise -traveller's aim,--to be kept in view to the exclusion of prejudice, both -philosophical and national. He must not allow himself to be perplexed or -disgusted by seeing the great ends of human association pursued by means -which he could never have devised, and to the practice of which he could -not reconcile himself. He is not to conclude unfavourably about the diet -of the multitude because he sees them swallowing blubber, or scooping -out water-melons, instead of regaling themselves with beef and beer. He -is not to suppose their social meetings a failure because they eat with -their fingers instead of with silver forks, or touch foreheads instead -of making a bow. He is not to conclude against domestic morals, on -account of a diversity of methods of entering upon marriage. He might -as well judge of the minute transactions of manners all over the world -by what he sees in his native village. There, to leave the door open or -to shut it bears no relation to morals, and but little to manners; -whereas, to shut the door is as cruel an act in a Hindoo hut as to leave -it open in a Greenland cabin. In short, he is to prepare himself to -bring whatever he may observe to the test of some high and broad -principle, and not to that of a low comparative practice. To test one -people by another, is to argue within a very small segment of a circle; -and the observer can only pass backwards and forwards at an equal -distance from the point of truth. To test the morals and manners of a -nation by a reference to the essentials of human happiness, is to strike -at once to the centre, and to see things as they are. - - -SECTION II. - -Being provided with a conviction of what it is that he wants to know, -the traveller must be furthermore furnished with the means of gaining -the knowledge he wants. When he was a child, he was probably taught that -eyes, ears, and understanding are all-sufficient to gain for him as much -knowledge as he will have time to acquire; but his self-education has -been a poor one, if he has not become convinced that something more is -needful--the enlightenment and discipline of the understanding, as well -as its immediate use. It is not enough for a traveller to have an active -understanding, equal to an accurate perception of individual facts in -themselves; he must also be in possession of principles which may serve -as a rallying point for his observations, and without which he cannot -determine their bearings, or be secure of putting a right interpretation -upon them. A traveller may do better without eyes, or without ears, than -without such principles, as there is evidence to prove. Holman, the -blind traveller, gains a wonderful amount of information, though he is -shut out from the evidence yielded by the human countenance, by way-side -groups, by the aspect of cities, and the varying phenomena of country -regions. In his motto, he indicates something of his method. - - "Sightless to see, and judge thro' judgment's eyes, - To make four senses do the work of five, - To arm the mind for hopeful enterprise, - Are lights to him who doth in darkness live." - -In order to "judge through judgment's eyes," those eyes must be made -strong and clear; and a traveller may gain more without the bodily organ -than with an untrained understanding. The case of the Deaf Traveller[A] -leads us to say the same about the other great avenue of knowledge. His -writings prove, to all who are acquainted with them, that, though to a -great degree deprived of that inestimable commentary upon perceived -facts--human discourse--the Deaf Traveller is able to furnish us with -more knowledge of foreign people than Fine-Ear himself could have done -without the accompaniments of analytical power and concentrative -thought. All senses, and intellectual powers, and good habits, may be -considered essential to a perfect observation of morals and manners; but -almost any one might be better spared than a provision of principles -which may serve as a rallying point and a test of facts. The blind and -the deaf travellers must suffer under a deprivation or deficiency of -certain classes of facts. The condition of the unphilosophical traveller -is much worse. It is a chance whether he puts a right interpretation on -any of the facts he perceives. - -Many may object that I am making much too serious a matter of the -department of the business of travelling under present notice. They do -not pretend to be moral philosophers;--they do not desire to be -oracles;--they attempt nothing more than to give a simple report of what -has come under their notice. But what work on earth is more serious than -this of giving an account of the most grave and important things which -are transacted on this globe? Every true report is a great good; every -untrue report is a great mischief. Therefore, let there be none given -but by persons in some good degree qualified. Such travellers as will -not take pains to provide themselves with the requisite thought and -study should abstain from reporting at all. - -It is a mistake, however, to suppose that the study shown to be -requisite is vast and deep. Some knowledge of the principles of Morals -and the rule of Manners is required, as in the case of other sciences to -be brought into use on a similar occasion; but the principles are few -and simple, and the rule easy of application. - -The universal summary notions of Morals may serve a common traveller in -his judgments as to whether he would like to live in any foreign -country, and as to whether the people there are as agreeable to him as -his own nation. For such an one it may be sufficient to bear about the -general notions that lying, thieving, idleness, and licentiousness are -bad; and that truth, honesty, industry, and sobriety are good; and for -common purposes, such an one may be trusted to pronounce what is -industry and what idleness; what is licentiousness and what sobriety. -But vague notions, home prepossessions, even on these great points of -morals, are not sufficient, in the eyes of an enlightened traveller, to -warrant decisions on the moral state of nations who are reared under a -wide diversity of circumstances. The true liberality which alone is -worthy to contemplate all the nations of the earth, does not draw a -broad line through the midst of human conduct, declaring all that falls -on the one side vice, and all on the other virtue; such a liberality -knows that actions and habits do not always carry their moral impress -visibly to all eyes, and that the character of very many must be -determined by a cautious application of a few deep principles. Is the -Shaker of New England a good judge of the morals and manners of the Arab -of the Desert? What sort of a verdict would the shrewdest gipsy pass -upon the monk of La Trappe? What would the Scotch peasant think of the -magical practices of Egypt? or the Russian soldier of a meeting of -electors in the United States? The ideas of right and wrong in the minds -of these people are not of the enlarged kind which would enable them to -judge persons in situations the most opposite to their own. The true -philosopher, the worthy observer, first contemplates in imagination the -area of humanity, and then ascertains what principles of morals are -applicable to them all, and judges by these. - -The enlightened traveller, if he explore only one country, carries in -his mind the image of all; for, only in its relation to the whole of the -race can any one people be judged. Almost without exaggeration, he may -be said to see what the rhapsodist in Volney saw. - -"There, from above the atmosphere, looking down upon the earth I had -quitted, I beheld a scene entirely new. Under my feet, floating in empty -space, a globe similar to that of the moon, but less luminous, presented -to me one of its faces.... 'What!' exclaimed I, 'is that the earth which -is inhabited by human beings?'"[B] - -The differences are, that, instead of "one of its faces," the moralist -would see the whole of the earth in one contemplation; and that, instead -of a nebulous expanse here, and a brown or grey speck there,--continents, -seas, or volcanoes,--he would look into the homes and social assemblies -of all lands. In the extreme North, there is the snow-hut of the -Esquimaux, shining with the fire within, like an alabaster lamp left -burning in a wide waste; within, the beardless father is mending his -weapons made of fishbones, while the dwarfed mother swathes her infant in -skins, and feeds it with oil and fat. In the extreme East, there is the -Chinese family in their garden, treading its paved walks, or seated under -the shade of its artificial rocks; the master displaying the claws of his -left hand as he smokes his pipe, and his wife tottering on her deformed -feet as she follows her child,--exulting over it if it be a boy; grave -and full of sighs if heaven have sent her none but girls. In the extreme -South, there is the Colonist of the Cape, lazily basking before his door, -while he sends his labourer abroad with his bullock-waggon, devolves the -business of the farm upon the women, and scares from his door any poor -Hottentot who may have wandered hither over the plain. In the extreme -West, there is the gathering together on the shores of the Pacific of the -hunters laden with furs. The men are trading, or cleaning their arms, or -sleeping; the squaws are cooking, or dyeing with vegetable juices the -quills of the porcupine or the hair of the moose-deer. In the intervals -between these extremities, there is a world of morals and manners, as -diverse as the surface of the lands on which they are exhibited. Here is -the Russian nobleman on his estate, the lord of the fate of his serfs, -but hard pressed by the enmity of rival nobles, and silenced by the -despotism of his prince; his wife leads a languid life among her spinning -maidens; and his young sons talk of the wars in which they shall serve -their emperor in time to come. There is the Frankfort trader, dwelling -among equals, fixing his pride upon having wronged no man, or upon having -a son distinguished at the university, or a daughter skilled in domestic -accomplishments; while his wife emulates her neighbours in supporting the -comfort and respectability of the household. Here is the French peasant -returning from the field in total ignorance of what has taken place in -the capital of late; and there is the English artizan discussing with his -brother-workman the politics of the town, or carrying home to his wife -some fresh hopes of the interference of parliament about labour and -wages. Here is a conclave of Cardinals, consulting upon the interests of -the Holy See; there a company of Brahmins setting an offering of rice -before their idol. In one direction, there is a handful of citizens -building a new town in the midst of a forest; in another, there is a -troop of horsemen hovering on the horizon, while a caravan is traversing -the Desert. Under the twinkling shadows of a German vineyard, national -songs are sung; from the steep places of the Swiss mountains the Alp-horn -resounds; in the coffee-house at Cairo, listeners hang upon the voice of -the romance reciter; the churches of Italy echo with solemn hymns; and -the soft tones of the child are heard, in the New England parlour, as the -young scholar reads the Bible to parent or aged grandfather. - -All these, and more, will a traveller of the most enlightened order -revolve before his mind's eye as he notes the groups which are presented -to his senses. Of such travellers there are but too few; and vague and -general, or merely traditional, notions of right and wrong must serve -the purpose of the greater number. The chief evil of moral notions being -vague or traditional is, that they are irreconcileable with liberality -of judgment; and the great benefit of an ascertainment of the primary -principles of morals is, that such an investigation dissolves prejudice, -and casts a full light upon many things which cease to be fearful and -painful when they are no longer obscure. We all know how different a -Sunday in Paris appears to a sectarian, to whom the word of his priest -is law; and to a philosopher, in whom religion is indigenous, who -understands the narrowness of sects, and sees how much smaller even -Christendom itself is than Humanity. We all know how offensive the -prayers of Mahomedans at the corners of streets, and the pomp of -catholic processions, are to those who know no other way than entering -into their closet, and shutting the door when they pray; but how felt -the deep thinker who wrote the Religio Medici? He was an orderly member -of a Protestant church, yet he uncovered his head at the sight of a -crucifix; he could not laugh at pilgrims walking with peas in their -shoes, or despise a begging friar; he could "not hear an Ave Maria bell -without an elevation;" and it is probable that even the Teraphim of the -Arabs would not have been wholly absurd, or the car of Juggernaut itself -altogether odious in his eyes. Such is the contrast between the sectary -and the philosopher. - - -SECTION III. - -As an instance of the advantage which a philosophical traveller has over -an unprepared one, look at the difference which will enter into a man's -judgment of nations, according as he carries about with him the vague -popular notion of a Moral Sense, or has investigated the laws under -which feelings of right and wrong grow up in all men. It is worth while -to dwell a little on this important point. - -Most persons who take no great pains to think for themselves, have a -notion that every human being has feelings, or a conscience, born with -him, by which he knows, if he will only attend to it, exactly what is -right and wrong; and that, as right and wrong are fixed and immutable, -all ought to agree as to what is sin and virtue in every case. Now, -mankind are, and always have been, so far from agreeing as to right and -wrong, that it is necessary to account in some manner for the wide -differences in various ages, and among various nations. A great -diversity of doctrines has been put forth for the purpose of lessening -the difficulty; but they all leave certain portions of the race under -the condemnation or compassion of the rest for their error, blindness, -or sin. Moreover, no doctrines yet invented have accounted for some -total revolutions in the ideas of right and wrong, which have occurred -in the course of ages. A person who takes for granted that there is an -universal Moral Sense among men, as unchanging as he who bestowed it, -cannot reasonably explain how it was that those men were once esteemed -the most virtuous who killed the most enemies in battle, while now it is -considered far more noble to save life than to destroy it. They cannot -but wonder how it was that it was once thought a great shame to live in -misery, and an honour to commit suicide; while now the wisest and best -men think exactly the reverse. And, with regard to the present age, it -must puzzle men who suppose that all ought to think alike on moral -subjects, that there are parts of the world where mothers believe it a -duty to drown their children, and that eastern potentates openly deride -the king of England for having only one wife instead of one hundred. -There is no avoiding illiberality, under this belief,--as the -philosopher understands illiberality. There is no avoiding the -conclusion that the people who practice infanticide and polygamy are -desperately wicked; and that minor differences of conduct are, abroad as -at home, so many sins. - -The observer who sets out with a more philosophical belief, not only -escapes the affliction of seeing sin wherever he sees difference, and -avoids the suffering of contempt and alienation from his species, but, -by being prepared for what he witnesses, and aware of the causes, is -free from the agitation of being shocked and alarmed, preserves his -calmness, his hope, his sympathy; and is thus far better fitted to -perceive, understand, and report upon the morals and manners of the -people he visits. His more philosophical belief, derived from all fair -evidence and just reflexion, is, that every man's feelings of right and -wrong, instead of being born with him, grow up in him from the -influences to which he is subjected. We see that in other cases,--with -regard to science, to art, and to the appearances of nature,--feelings -grow out of knowledge and experience; and there is every evidence that -it is so with regard to morals. The feelings begin very early; and this -is the reason why they are supposed to be born with men; but they are -few and imperfect in childhood, and, in the case of those who are -strongly exercised in morals, they go on enlarging and strengthening and -refining through life. See the effect upon the traveller's observations -of his holding this belief about conscience! Knowing that some -influences act upon the minds of all people in all countries, he looks -everywhere for certain feelings of right and wrong which are as sure to -be in all men's minds as if they were born with them. For instance, to -torment another without any reason, real or imaginary, is considered -wrong all over the world. In the same manner, to make others happy is -universally considered right. At the same time, the traveller is -prepared to find an infinite variety of differences in smaller matters, -and is relieved from the necessity of pronouncing each to be a vice in -one party or another. His own moral education having been a more -elevated and advanced one than that of some of the people he -contemplates, he cannot but feel sorrow and disgust at various things -that he witnesses; but it is ignorance and barbarism that he mourns, and -not vice. When he sees the Arab or American Indian offer daughter or -wife to the stranger, as a part of the hospitality which is, in the -host's mind, the first of duties, the observer regards the fact as he -regards the mode of education in old Sparta, where physical hardihood -and moral slavery constituted a man most honourable. If he sees an -American student spend the whole of his small fortune, on leaving -college, in travelling in Europe, he will not blame him as he would -blame a young Englishman for doing the same thing. The Englishman would -be a spendthrift; the American is wise: and the reason is, that their -circumstances, prospects, and therefore their views of duty, are -different. The American, being sure of obtaining an independent -maintenance, may make the enlargement of his mind, and the cultivation -of his tastes by travel, his first object; while the conscientious -Englishman must fulfil the hard conditions of independence before he can -travel. Capital is to him one of the chief requisites of honest -independence; while to the American it is in the outset no requisite at -all. To go without clothing was, till lately, perfectly innocent in the -South Sea Islands; but now that civilization has been fairly established -by the missionaries, it has become a sin. To let an enemy escape with -his life is a disgrace in some countries of the world; while in others -it is held more honourable to forgive than to punish him. Instances of -such varieties and oppositions of conscience might be multiplied till -they filled a volume, to the perplexity and grief of the -unphilosophical, and the serene instruction of the philosophical -observer. - -The general influences under which universal ideas and feelings of right -and wrong are formed, are dispensed by the Providence under which all -are educated. That man should be happy is so evidently the intention of -his Creator, the contrivances to that end are so multitudinous and so -striking, that the perception of the aim may be called universal. -Whatever tends to make men happy, becomes a fulfilment of the will of -God. Whatever tends to make them miserable, becomes opposition to his -will. There are, and must be, a host of obstacles to the express -recognition of, and practical obedience to, these great principles; but -they may be discovered as the root of religion and morals in all -countries. There are impediments from ignorance, and consequent error, -selfishness, and passion: the most infantile men mistake the means of -human happiness, and the wisest have but a dim and fluctuating -perception of them: but yet all men entertain one common conviction, -that what makes people happy is good and right, and that what makes them -miserable is evil and wrong. This conviction is at the bottom of -practices which seem the most inconsistent with it. When the Ashantee -offers a human sacrifice, it is in order to secure blessings from his -gods. When the Hindoo exposes his sick parent in the Ganges, he thinks -he is putting him out of pain by a charmed death. When Sand stabbed -Kotzebue, he believed he was punishing and getting rid of an enemy and -an obstacle to the welfare of his nation. When the Georgian planter -buys and sells slaves, he goes on the supposition that he is preserving -the order and due subordination of society. All these notions are shown -by philosophy to be narrow, superficial, and mistaken. They have been -outgrown by many, and are doubtless destined to be outgrown by all; but, -acted upon by the ignorant and deluded, they are very different from the -wickedness which is perpetrated against better knowledge. But these -things would be wickedness, perpetrated against better knowledge, if the -supposition of a universal, infallible Moral Sense were true. The -traveller who should consistently adhere to the notion of a Moral Sense, -must pronounce the Ashantee worshipper as guilty as Greenacre: the -Hindoo son a parricide, not only in fact, but in the most revolting -sense of the term: Sand, a Thurtell: and the Georgian planter such a -monster of tyranny as a Sussex farmer would be if he set up a -whipping-post for his labourers, and sold their little ones to gipsies. -Such judgments would be cruelly illiberal. The traveller who is -furnished with the more accurate philosophy of Conscience would arrive -at conclusions, not only more correct, but far less painful; and, -without any laxity of principle, far more charitable. - -So much for one instance of the advantage to the traveller of being -provided with definite principles, to be used as a rallying point and -test of his observations, instead of mere vague moral notions and -general prepossessions, which can serve only as a false medium, by which -much that he sees must necessarily be perverted or obscured. - - -SECTION IV. - -The traveller having satisfied himself that there are some universal -feelings about right and wrong, and that in consequence some parts of -human conduct are guided by general rules, must next give his attention -to modes of conduct, which seem to him good or bad, prevalent in a -nation, or district, or society of smaller limits. His first general -principle is, that the law of nature is the only one by which mankind at -large can be judged. His second must be, that every prevalent virtue or -vice is the result of the particular circumstances amidst which the -society exists. - -The circumstances in which a prevalent virtue or vice originates, may or -may not be traceable by a traveller. If traceable, he should spare no -pains to make himself acquainted with the whole case. If obscure, he -must beware of imputing disgraces to individuals, as if those -individuals were living under the influences which have made himself -what he is. He will not blame a deficiency of moral independence in a -citizen of Philadelphia so severely as in a citizen of London; seeing, -as he must do, that the want of moral independence is a prevalent fault -in the United States, and that there must be some reason for it. Again, -he will not look to the Polish peasant for the political intelligence, -activity, and principle which delight him in the log-house of the -American farmer. He sees that Polish peasants are generally supine, and -American farmers usually interested about politics; and that there must -be reasons for the difference. - -In a majority of cases such reasons are, to a great extent, -ascertainable. In Spain, for instance, there is a large class of -wretched and irretrievable beggars; and their idleness, dirt, and lying -trouble the very soul of the traveller. What is the reason of the -prevalence of this degraded class and of its vices? A Court Lady[C] -wrote, in ancient days, piteous complaints of the poverty of the -sovereign, the nobility, the army, and the destitute ladies who waited -upon the queen. The sovereign could not give his attendants their -dinners; the nobility melted down their plate and sold their jewels; the -soldiers were famishing in garrison, so that the young deserted, and the -aged and invalids wasted away, actually starved to death. The lady -mentions with surprise, that a particularly large amount of gold and -silver had arrived from the foreign possessions of Spain that year, and -tries to account for the universal misery by saying that a great -proportion of these riches was appropriated by merchants who supplied -the Spaniards with the necessaries of life from abroad; and she speaks -of this as an evil. She is an example of an unphilosophical -observer,--one who could not be trusted to report--much less to account -for--the morals and manners of the people before her eyes. What says a -philosophical observer?[D] "Spain and Portugal, the countries which -possess the mines, are, after Poland, perhaps the two most beggarly -countries in Europe."--"Their trade to their colonies is carried on in -their own ships, and is much greater" (than their foreign commerce,) "on -account of the great riches and extent of those colonies. But it has -never introduced any considerable manufactures for distant sale into -either of those countries, and the greater part of both remains -uncultivated."--"The proportion of gold and silver to the annual produce -of the land and labour of Spain is said to be very considerable, and -that you frequently find there a profusion of plate in houses where -there is nothing else which would in other countries be thought suitable -or correspondent to this sort of magnificence. The cheapness of gold and -silver, or, what is the same thing, the dearness of all commodities, -which is the necessary effect of this redundance of the precious metals, -discourages both the agriculture and manufactures of Spain and Portugal, -and enables foreign nations to supply them with many sorts of rude, and -with almost all sorts of manufactured produce, for a smaller quantity of -gold and silver than what they themselves can either raise or make them -for at home."--When it is considered that in Spain gold and silver are -called wealth, and that there is little other; that manufactures and -commerce scarcely exist; that agriculture is discouraged, and that -therefore there is a lack of occupation for the lower classes, it may be -fairly concluded that the idle upper orders will be found lazy, proud, -and poor; the idle lower classes in a state of beggary; and that the -most virtuous and happy part of the population will be those who are -engaged in tilling the soil, and in the occupations which are absolutely -necessary in towns. One may see with the mind's eye the groups of -intriguing grandees, who have no business on their estates to occupy -their time and thoughts; or the crowd of hungry beggars, thronging round -the door of a convent, to receive the daily alms; or the hospitable and -courteous peasants, of whom a traveller[E] says, "There is a civility to -strangers, and an easy style of behaviour familiar to this class of -Spanish society, which is very remote from the churlish and awkward -manners of the English and German peasantry. Their sobriety and -endurance of fatigue are very remarkable; and there is a constant -cheerfulness in their demeanour which strongly prepossesses a stranger -in their favour."--"I should be glad if I could, with justice, give as -favourable a picture of the higher orders of society in this country; -but, perhaps, when we consider their wretched education, and their early -habits of indolence and dissipation, we ought not to wonder at the state -of contempt and degradation to which they are reduced. I am not speaking -the language of prejudice, but the result of the observations I have -made, in which every accurate observer among our countrymen has -concurred with me, in saying that the figures and countenances of the -higher orders are as much inferior to those of the peasants, as their -moral qualities are in the view I have given of them."--All this might -be foreseen to be unavoidable in a country where the means of living are -passively derived from abroad, and where the honour and rewards of -successful industry are confined to a class of the community. The mines -should bear the blame of the prevalent faults of the saucy beggars and -beggarly grandees of Spain. - -To any one who has at all considered at home the bearings of a social -system which is grounded upon physical force, or those of the opposite -arrangements which rely upon moral power, it can be no mystery abroad -that there should be prevalent moral characteristics among the subjects -of such systems; and the vices which exist under them will be, however -mourned, leniently judged. Take the Feudal System as an instance, first, -and then its opposite. A little thought makes it clear what virtues and -vices will be almost certain to subsist under the influences of each. - -The baron lives in his castle, on a rock or some other eminence, whence -he can overlook his domains, or where his ancestor reared his abode for -purposes of safety. During this stage of society there is little -domestic refinement and comfort. The furniture is coarse; the library is -not tempting; and the luxurious ease of cities is out of the question. -The pleasures of the owner lie abroad. There he devotes himself to rough -sports, and enjoys his darling luxury,--the exercise of power. Within -the dwelling the wife and her attendants spend their lives in -handiworks, in playing with the children and keeping them in order, in -endless conversation on the few events which come under their notice, -and in obedience to and companionship with the priest. While the master -is hunting, or gathering together his retainers for the feast, the women -are spinning or sewing, gossiping, confessing, or doing penance; while -the priest studies in his apartment, shares in the mirth, or soothes the -troubles of the household, and rules the mind of the noble by securing -the confidence of his wife. Out of doors, there are the retainers, by -whatever name they may be called. Their poor dwellings are crowded round -the castle of the lord; their patches of arable land lie nearest, and -the pastures beyond; that, at least, the supply of human food may be -secured from any enemy. These portions of land are held on a tenure of -service; and, as the retainers have no property in them, and no interest -in their improvement, and are, moreover, liable to be called away from -their tillage at any moment, to perform military or other service, the -soil yields sorry harvests, and the lean cattle are not very ornamental -to the pastures. The wives of the peasantry are often left, at an hour's -warning, in the unprotected charge of their half-clothed and untaught -children, as well as of the cattle and the field.--The festivals of the -people are on holy days, and on the return of the chief from war, or -from a pre-eminent chase. - -Now, what must be the morals of such a district as this? and, it may be -added, of the whole country of which it forms a part? for, if there be -one feudal settlement of the kind, there must be more; and the society -is in fact made up of a certain number of complete sets of persons,--of -establishments like this.--There is no need to go back some centuries -for an original to the picture: it exists in more than one country in -Europe now. - -This kind of society is composed of two classes only; those who have -something, and those who have nothing. The chief has property, some -knowledge, and great power. With individual differences, the chiefs may -be expected to be imperious, from their liberty and indulgence of will; -brave, from their exposure to toil and danger; contemptuous of men, from -their own supremacy; superstitious, from the influence of the priest in -the household; lavish, from the permanency of their property; vain of -rank and personal distinction, from the absence of pursuits unconnected -with self; and hospitable, partly from the same cause, and partly from -their own hospitality being the only means of gratifying their social -dispositions. - -The clergy will be politic, subservient, studious, or indolent, -kind-hearted, effeminate, with a strong tendency to spiritual pride, and -love of spiritual dominion. It will be surprising, too, if they are not -driven into infidelity by the credulity of their pupils. - -The women will be ignorant and superstitious, for want of varied -instruction; brave, from the frequent presence or promise of danger; -efficient, from the small division of labour which is practicable in the -superintendence of such a family; given to gossip and uncertainty of -temper, from the sameness of their lives; devoted to their husbands and -children, from the absence of all other important objects; and vain of -such accomplishments as they have, from an ignorance of what remains to -be achieved. - -The retainers must be ignorant,--physically strong and imposing, -perhaps, but infants in mind, and slaves in morals. Their worship is -idolatry--of their chief. The virtues permitted to them are fidelity, -industry, domestic attachment, and sobriety. It is difficult to see what -others are possible. Their faults are all comprehended in the word -barbarism. - -These characteristics may be extended to the divisions of the nation -corresponding to those of the household: for the sovereign is only a -higher feudal chief: his nobles are a more exalted sort of serfs; and -those who are masters at home become slaves at court. Under this system, -who would be so hardy as to treat brutality in a serf, cunning in a -priest, prejudice in a lady, and imperiousness in a lord, as any thing -but the results--inevitable as mournful--of the state of society? - -Feudalism is founded upon physical force, and therefore bears a relation -to the past alone. Right begins in might, and all the social relations -of men have originated in physical superiority. The most prevalent ideas -of the feudal period arise out of the past; what has been longest -honoured is held most honourable; and the understanding of men, -unexercised by learning, and undisciplined by society and political -action, falls back upon precedent, and reposes there. The tastes, and -even the passions, of the feudal period bear a relation to antiquity. -Ambition, prospective as it is in its very nature, has, in this case, a -strong retrospective character. The glory that the descendant derives -from his fathers, he burns to transmit. The past is everything: the -future, except in as far as it may resemble the past, is nothing. - -Such, with modifications, have been the prevalent ideas, tastes, and -passions of the civilized world, till lately. The opposite state of -society, which has begun to be realized, occasions prevalent ideas, and -therefore prevalent virtues and vices, of an opposite character. - -As commerce enlarges, as other professions besides the clerical arise, -as trades become profitable, as cities swell in importance, as -communication improves, raising villages into towns, and hamlets into -villages, and the affairs of central communities become spread through -the circumference, the lower classes rise, the chiefs lose much of their -importance, the value of men for their intrinsic qualifications is -discovered, and such men take the lead in managing the affairs of -associated citizens. Instead of all being done by orders issued from a -central power,--commands carrying forth an imperious will, and bringing -back undoubting obedience,--social affairs begin to be managed by the -heads and hands of the parties immediately interested. Self-government -in municipal affairs takes place; and, having taken place in any one set -of circumstances, it appears likely to be employed within a wider and a -wider range, till all the government of the community is of that -character. The United States are the most remarkable examples now before -the world of the reverse of the feudal system,--its principles, its -methods, its virtues and vices. In as far as the Americans revert, in -ideas and tastes, to the past, this may be attributed to the transition -being not yet perfected,--to the generation which organized the republic -having been educated amidst the remains of feudalism. There are still -Americans who boast of ancestors high in the order of birth rather than -of merit; who in talking of rank have ideas of birth in their minds, and -whose tastes lie in the past. But such will be the case while the -literature of the world breathes the spirit of former ages, and softens -the transition to an opposite social state. A new literature, new modes -of thought, are daily arising, which point more and more towards the -future. We have already records of the immediate state of the minds and -fortunes of men and of communities, and not a few speculations which -stretch far forward into the future. Every year is the admission more -extensively entered into that moral power is nobler than physical force; -there is more earnestness in the conferences of nations, and less -proneness to war. The highest creations of literature itself, however -long ago produced, are now discovered to bear as close a relation to the -future as the past. They are for all time, through all its changes. -While pillars of light in the dim regions of antiquity, they pass over -in the dawn, and are still before us, casting their shadows to our feet -as guides into the dazzling future. Pre-eminent among them is the Book -which never had any retrospective character in it. It never sanctioned -physical force, pride of ancestry, of valour, of influence, or any other -pride. It never sanctioned arbitrary division of ranks. It never lauded -the virtues of feudalism in their disconnection with other virtues; it -never spared the faults of feudalism, on the ground of their being the -necessary product of feudal circumstances; neither does it now laud and -tolerate the virtues and vices developed by democracy. This guide has -never yet taken up its rest. It is in advance of all existing -democracies, as it ever was of all despotisms. The fact is, that, while -all manifestations of eminent intellectual and moral force have an -imperishable quality, this supreme book has not only an immortal -freshness, but bears no relation to time:--to it "one day is as a -thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." - -What are the prevalent virtues and faults which are to be looked for in -the future,--or in those countries which represent somewhat of the -future, as others afford a weakened image of the past? What allowance is -the traveller in America to make? Almost precisely the reverse of what -he would make in Russia. - -In-door luxury has succeeded to out-door sports: the mechanical arts -flourish from the elevation of the lower classes, and prowess is gone -out of fashion. The consequence of this is that the traveller sees -ostentation of personal luxury instead of retinue. In the course of -transition to the time when merit will constitute the highest claim to -rank, wealth succeeds to birth: but even already, the claims of wealth -give way before those of intellect. The popular author has more -observance than the millionaire in the United States. This is -honourable, and yields promise of a still better graduation of ranks. -Where moral force is recognized as the moving power of society, it seems -to follow that the condition of Woman must be elevated; that new -pursuits will be opened to her, and a wider and stronger discipline be -afforded to her powers. It is not so in America; but this is owing to -the interference of other circumstances with the full operation of -democratic principles. The absence of an aristocratic or a sovereign -will impels men to find some other will on which to repose their -individual weakness, and with which to employ their human veneration. -The will of the majority becomes their refuge and unwritten law. The few -free-minded resist this will, when it is in opposition to their own, and -the slavish many submit. This is accordingly found to be the most -conspicuous fault of the Americans. Their cautious subservience to -public opinion,--their deficiency of moral independence,--is the crying -sin of their society. Again, the social equality by which the whole of -life is laid open to all in a democratic republic, in which every man -who has power in him may attain all to which that power is a requisite, -cannot but enhance the importance of each in the eyes of all; and the -consequence is a mutual respect and deference, and also a mutual -helpfulness, which are in themselves virtues of a high order, and -preparatives for others. In these the Americans are exercised and -accomplished to a degree never generally attained in any other country. -This class of virtues constitutes their distinguishing honour, their -crowning grace in the company of nations.--Activity and ingenuity are a -matter of course where every man's lot is in his own hands. -Unostentatious hospitality and charity might, in some democracies, be -likely to languish; but the Americans have the wealth of a young -country, and the warmth of a young national existence, as stimulus and -warrant for pecuniary liberality of every kind.--Popular vanity, and the -subservience of political representatives, are the chief dangers which -remain to be alluded to; and there will probably be no republic for ages -where these will not be found in the form of prevalent vices.--If, under -a feudal system, there is a wholesome exercise of reverence in the -worship of ancestry, there is, under the opposite system, a no less -salutary and perpetual impulse to generosity in the care for posterity. -The one has been, doubtless, a benignant influence, tempering the -ruggedness and violence of despotism; the other will prove an elevating -force, lifting men above the personal selfishness and mutual -subservience which are the besetting perils of equals who unite to -govern by their common will. - -Whatever may be his philosophy of individual character, the reflective -observer cannot travel, with his mind awake, without admitting that -there can be no question but that national character is formed, or -largely influenced, by the gigantic circumstances which, being the -product of no individual mind, are directly attributable to the great -Moral Governor of the human race. Every successive act of research or -travel will impress him more and more deeply with this truth, which, for -the sake of his own peace and liberality, it would be well that he -should carry about with him from the outset. He will not visit -individuals with any bitterness of censure for participating in -prevalent faults. He will regard social virtues and graces as shedding -honour on all whom they overshadow, from the loftiest to the lowliest; -while he is not disposed to indulge contempt, or anything but a mild -compassion, for any social depravity or deformity which, being the clear -result of circumstances, and itself a circumstance, may be considered as -surely destined to be remedied, as the wisdom of associated, like that -of individual man, grows with his growth, and strengthens with his -strength. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -MORAL REQUISITES. - - "I respect knowledge; but I do not despise ignorance. They think - only as their fathers thought, worship as they worshipped. They - do no more."--ROGERS. - - "He was alive - To all that was enjoyed where'er he went, - And all that was endured." WORDSWORTH. - - -The traveller, being furnished with the philosophical requisites for the -observation of morals and manners, - -1stly. With a certainty of what it is that he wants to know,-- - -2ndly. With principles which may serve as a rallying point and test of -his observations,-- - -3rdly. With, for instance, a philosophical and definite, instead of a -popular and vague, notion about the origin of human feelings of right -and wrong,-- - -4thly. And with a settled conviction that prevalent virtues and vices -are the result of gigantic general influences,--is yet not fitted for -his object if certain moral requisites be wanting in him. - -An observer, to be perfectly accurate, should be himself perfect. Every -prejudice, every moral perversion, dims or distorts whatever the eye -looks upon. But as we do not wait to be perfect before we travel, we -must content ourselves with discovering, in order to avoidance, what -would make our task hopeless, and how we may put ourselves in a state to -learn at least something truly. We cannot suddenly make ourselves a -great deal better than we have been, for such an object as observing -Morals and Manners; but, by clearly ascertaining what it is that the -most commonly, or the most grossly, vitiates foreign observation, we may -put a check upon our spirit of prejudice, and carry with us restoratives -of temper and spirits which may be of essential service to us in our -task. - -The observer must have sympathy; and his sympathy must be untrammelled -and unreserved. If a traveller be a geological inquirer, he may have a -heart as hard as the rocks he shivers, and yet succeed in his immediate -objects: if he be a student of the fine arts, he may be as silent as a -picture, and yet gain his ends: if he be a statistical investigator, he -may be as abstract as a column of figures, and yet learn what he wants -to know: but an observer of morals and manners will be liable to -deception at every turn, if he does not find his way to hearts and -minds. Nothing was ever more true than that "as face answers to face in -water, so is the heart of man." To the traveller there are two meanings -in this wise saying, both worthy of his best attention. It means that -the action of the heart will meet a corresponding action, and that the -nature of the heart will meet a corresponding nature. Openness and -warmth of heart will be greeted with openness and warmth:--this is one -truth. Hearts, generous or selfish, pure or gross, gay or sad, will -understand, and therefore be likely to report of, only their like:--this -is another truth. - -There is the same human heart everywhere,--the universal growth of mind -and life,--ready to open to the sunshine of sympathy, flourishing in the -enclosures of cities, and blossoming wherever dropped in the wilderness; -but folding up when touched by chill, and drooping in gloom. As well -might the Erl-king go and play the florist in the groves and plains of -the tropics, as an unsympathizing man render an account of society. It -will all turn to stubble and sapless rigidity before his eyes. - -There is the same human heart everywhere; and, if the traveller has a -good one himself, he will presently find this out, whatever may have -been his fears at home of checks to his sympathy from difference of -education, objects in life, &c. There is no place where people do not -suffer and enjoy; where love is not the high festival of life; where -birth and death are not occasions of emotion; where parents are not -proud of their boy-children; where thoughtful minds do not speculate -upon the two eternities; where, in short, there is not broad ground on -which any two human beings may meet and clasp hands, if they have but -unsophisticated hearts. If a man have not sympathy, there is no point of -the universe--none so wide even as the Mahomedan bridge over the -bottomless pit--where he can meet with his fellow. Such an one is indeed -floundering in the bottomless pit, with only the shadows of men ever -flitting about him. - -I have mentioned elsewhere, what will well bear repetition,--that an -American merchant, who had made several voyages to China, dropped a -remark by his own fire-side on the narrowness which causes us to -conclude, avowedly or silently, that, however well men may use the -light they have, they cannot be more than nominally our brethren, unless -they have our religion, our philosophy, and our methods of attaining -both. He said he often recurred, with delight, to the conversations he -had enjoyed with his Chinese friends on some of the highest speculative, -and some of the deepest and widest practical subjects, which his -fellow-citizens of New England were apt to think could be the business -only of Protestant Christians. This American merchant's observations on -oriental morals and manners had an incalculable weight after he had said -this; for it was known that he had seen into hearts, as well as met -faces, and discovered what people's minds were busy about, as their -hands were pursuing the universal employment of earning their -subsistence. - -Unless a traveller interprets by his sympathies what he sees, he cannot -but misunderstand the greater part of that which comes under his -observation. He will not be admitted with freedom into the retirements -of domestic life; the instructive commentary on all the facts of -life,--discourse,--will be of a slight and superficial character. People -will talk to him of the things they care least about, instead of seeking -his sympathy about the affairs which are deepest in their hearts. He -will be amused with public spectacles, and informed of historical and -chronological facts; but he will not be invited to weddings and -christenings; he will hear no love-tales; domestic sorrows will be kept -as secrets from him; the old folks will not pour out their stories to -him, nor the children bring him their prattle. Such a traveller will be -no more fitted to report on morals and manners than he would be to give -an account of the silver mines of Siberia by walking over the surface, -and seeing the entrance and the product. - -"Human conduct," says a philosopher, "is guided by rules." Without these -rules, men could not live together, and they are also necessary to the -repose of individual minds. Robinson Crusoe could not have endured his -life for a month without rules to live by. A life without purpose is -uncomfortable enough; but a life without rules would be a wretchedness -which, happily, man is not constituted to bear. The rules by which men -live are chiefly drawn from the universal convictions about right and -wrong which I have mentioned as being formed everywhere, under strong -general influences. When sentiment is connected with these rules, they -become religion; and this religion is the animating spirit of all that -is said and done. If the stranger cannot sympathize in the sentiment, he -cannot understand the religion; and without understanding the religion, -he cannot appreciate the spirit of words and acts. A stranger who has -never felt any strong political interest, and cannot sympathize with -American sentiment about the majesty of social equality, and the beauty -of mutual government, can never understand the political religion of the -United States; and the sayings of the citizens by their own fire-sides, -the perorations of orators in town-halls, the installations of public -servants, and the process of election, will all be empty sound and -grimace to him. He will be tempted to laugh,--to call the world about -him mad,--like one who, without hearing the music, sees a room-full of -people begin to dance. The case is the same with certain Americans who -have no antiquarian sympathies, and who think our sovereigns mad for -riding to St. Stephen's in the royal state-coach, with eight horses -covered with trappings, and a tribe of grotesque footmen. I have found -it an effort of condescension to inform such observers that we should -not think of inventing such a coach and appurtenances at the present -day, any more than we should the dress of the Christ-Hospital boys. If -an unsympathizing stranger is so perplexed by a mere matter of external -arrangement,--a royal procession, or a popular election,--what can he be -expected to make of that which is far more important, more intricate, -more mysterious,--neighbourly and domestic life? If he knows and feels -nothing of the religion of these, he could learn but little about them, -even if the roofs of all the houses of a city were made transparent to -him, and he could watch all that is done in every parlour, kitchen, and -nursery in a circuit of five miles. - -What strange scenes and transactions must such an one think that there -are in the world! What would he have thought of the spectacle one day -seen in Hayti, when Toussaint L'Ouverture ranged his negro forces before -him, called out thirteen men from the ranks by name, and ordered them to -repair to a certain spot to be immediately shot? What would he have -thought of these thirteen men for crossing their arms upon their -breasts, bowing their heads submissively, and yielding instant -obedience? He might have pronounced Toussaint a ferocious despot, and -the thirteen so many craven fools: while the facts wear a very different -aspect to one who knows the minds of the men. It was necessary to the -good-will of a society but lately organized out of chaos, to make no -distinction between negro and other insurgents; and these thirteen men -were ringleaders in a revolt, Toussaint's nephew being one of them. -This accounts for the general's share in the transaction. As for the -negroes, the General was also the Deliverer,--an object of worship to -people of his colour. Obedience to him was a rule, exalted by every -sentiment of gratitude, awe, admiration, pride, and love, into a -religion; and a Haytian of that day would no more have thought of -resisting a command of Toussaint, than of disputing a thunder-stroke or -an earthquake.--What would an unsympathizing observer make of the -Paschal supper, as celebrated in the houses of Hebrews throughout the -world,--of the care not to break a bone of the lamb,--of the company all -standing, the men girded and shod as for a journey, and the youngest -child of the household invariably asking what this is all for? What -would the observer call it but mummery, if he had no feeling for the -awful traditional and religious emotion involved in the symbol?--What -would such an one think of the terrified flight of two Spanish nobles -from the wrath of their sovereign, incurred by their having saved his -beloved queen from being killed by a fall from her horse? What a puzzle -is here,--even when all the facts of the case are known;--that the king -was looking from a balcony to see his queen mount her Andalusian horse: -that the horse reared, plunged, and bolted, throwing the queen, whose -foot was entangled in the stirrup: that she was surrounded with -gentlemen who stood aloof, because by the law of Spain it was death to -any but her little pages to touch the person, and especially the foot of -the queen, and her pages were too young to rescue her; that these two -gentlemen devoted themselves to save her; and having caught the horse, -and extricated the royal foot, fled for their lives from the legal -wrath of the king! Whence such a law? From the rule that the queen of -Spain has no legs. Whence such a rule? From the meaning that the queen -of Spain is a being too lofty to touch the earth. Here we come at last -to the sentiment of loyal admiration and veneration which sanctifies the -law and the rule, and interprets the incident. To a heartless stranger -the whole appears a mere solemn absurdity, fit only to be set aside, as -it was apparently by pardon from the king being obtained by the instant -intercession of the queen. But in the eyes of every Spaniard the -transaction was, in all its parts, as far from absurdity as the danger -of the two nobles was real and pressing.--Again, what can a heartless -observer understand by the practice, almost universal in the world, of -celebrating the naming of children? The Christian parent employs a form -by which the infant is admitted as a lamb of Christ's flock: the Chinese -father calls his kindred together to witness the conferring first of the -surname, and then of "the milk-name,"--some endearing diminutive, to -cease with infancy: the Moslem consults an astrologer before giving a -name to his child: and the savage selects a name-sake for his infant -from among the beasts or birds, with whose characteristic quality he -would fain endow his offspring. What a general rule is here, exalted by -a universal sentiment into an act of religion! The ceremonial observed -in each case is widely different in its aspect to one who sees in it -merely a cumbrous way of transacting a matter of convenience, and to -another who perceives in it the initiation of a new member into the -family of mankind, and a looking forward to,--an attempt to make -provision for, the future destiny of an unconscious and helpless being. - -Thus it will be through the whole range of the traveller's observation. -If he be full of sympathy, every thing he sees will be instructive, and -the most important matters will be the most clearly revealed. If he be -unsympathizing, the most important things will be hidden from him, and -symbols (in which every society abounds) will be only absurd or trivial -forms. The stranger will be wise to conclude, when he sees anything -seriously done which appears to him insignificant or ludicrous, that -there is more in it than he perceives, from some deficiency of knowledge -or feeling of his own. - -The other way in which heart is found to answer to heart is too obvious -to require to be long dwelt upon. Men not only see according to the -light they shed from their own breasts,--whether it be the sunshine of -generosity or the hell-flames of bad passions,--but they attract to -themselves spirits like their own. The very same persons appear very -differently to a traveller who calls into exercise all their best -qualities, and to one who has an affinity with their worst: but it is a -yet more important consideration that actually different elements of -society will range themselves round the observer according to the -scepticism or faith of his temper, the purity or depravity of his -tastes, and the elevation or insignificance of his objects. The -Americans, somewhat nettled with the injustice of English travellers' -reports of their country, have jokingly proposed to take lodgings in -Wapping for some thorough-bred American vixen, of low tastes and coarse -manners, and employ her to write an account of English morals and -manners from what she might see in a year's abode in the choice locality -selected for her. This would be no great exaggeration of the process of -observation of foreigners which is perpetually going on. - -What should gamesters know of the philanthropists of the society they -pass through? or the profligate, of the real state of domestic life? -What can the moral sceptic report of religious or philosophical -confessorship in any nation? or the sordid trader, of the higher kinds -of intellectual cultivation? or the dandy, of the extent and -administration of charity? It may be said that neither can the -philanthropic traveller--the missionary--see otherwise than partially -for want of "knowledge of the world;" that persons of sober habits can -learn nothing that is going on in the moral depths of society; and the -good are actually scoffed at for their absence from many scenes of human -life, and their supposed ignorance of many things in human nature. But -it is certain that the best part of every man's mind is far more a -specimen of himself than the worst; and that the characteristics of a -society, in like manner, are to be traced in the wisest and most genial -of its pervading ideas and common transactions, instead of those -disgraceful ones which are common to all. Swindlers, drunkards, people -of low tastes and bad passions, are found in every country, and nowhere -characterise a nation; while the reverence of man in America, the -pursuit of speculative truth in Germany, philanthropic enterprise in -France, love of freedom in Switzerland, popular education in China, -domestic purity in Norway,--each of these great moral beauties is a star -on the forehead of a nation. Goodness and simplicity are indissolubly -united. The bad are the most sophisticated, all the world over; and the -good the least. It may be taken as a rule that the best qualities of a -people, as of an individual, are the most characteristic--(what is -really _best_ being tested, not by prejudice, but principle). He has the -best chance of ascertaining these best qualities who has them in -himself; and he who has them not may as well pretend to give a picture -of a metropolitan city by showing a map of its drainage, as report of a -nation after an intercourse with its knaves and its profligates. To -stand on the highest pinnacle is the best way of obtaining an accurate -general view, in contemplating a society as well as a city. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -MECHANICAL REQUISITES. - - "He travels and expatiates, as the bee - From flower to flower, so he from land to land: - The manners, customs, policy, of all - Pay contribution to the stores he gleans."--_The Task._ - - "Thy speaking of my tongue, and I thine, most truly falsely, must - needs be granted to be much at one."--_King Henry V._ - - -No philosophical or moral fitness will qualify a traveller to observe a -people if he does not select a mode of travelling which will enable him -to see and converse with a great number and variety of persons. An -ambassador has no chance of learning much of the people he visits -anywhere but in a new country like America. While he is _en route_, he -is too stately in appearance to allow of any familiarity on the part of -the people by the road-side. His carriages might almost as well roll -through a city of the dead, for anything he will learn from intercourse -with the living. The case is not much better when a family or a party of -friends travel together on the Continent, committing the business of the -expedition to servants, and shrinking from intercourse, on all social -occasions, with English shyness or pride. - -The behaviour of the English on the Continent has become a matter of -very serious consequence to the best informed and best mannered of their -countrymen, as it has long been to the natives into whose society they -may happen to fall. I have heard gentlemen say that they lose half their -pleasure in going abroad, from the coldness and shyness with which the -English are treated; a coldness and shyness which they think fully -warranted by the conduct of their predecessors in travel. I have heard -ladies say that they find great difficulty in becoming acquainted with -their neighbours at the tables-d'hôte; and that, when they have -succeeded, an apology for the reluctance to converse has been offered, -in the form of explanation that English travellers generally "appear to -dislike being spoken to" so much as to render it a matter of civility to -leave them alone. The travelling arrangements of the English seem -designed to cut them off from companionship with the people they go to -see; and they preclude the possibility of studying morals and manners in -a way which is perfectly ludicrous to persons of a more social -temperament and habits. - -A good deal may be learned on board steam-boats, and in such vehicles as -the American stages; and when accommodations of the kind become common, -it will be difficult for the sulkiest Englishman to avoid admitting some -ideas into his mind from the conversation and actions of the groups -around him. When steam-boats ply familiarly on the Indus, and we have -the rail-road to Calcutta which people are joking about, and another -across the Pampas,--when we make trips to New Zealand, and think little -of a run down the west coast of Africa,--places where we shall go for -fashion's sake, and cannot go boxed up in a carriage of Long Acre -origin,--our countrymen will, perforce, exchange conversation with the -persons they meet, and may chance to get rid of the unsociability for -which they are notorious, and by which they cast a veil over hearts and -faces, and a shadow over their own path, wherever they go. - -Meantime, the wisest and happiest traveller is the pedestrian. If -gentlemen and ladies want to see pictures, let them post to Florence, -and be satisfied with learning what they can from the windows by the -way. But if they want to see either scenery or people, let all who have -strength and courage go on foot. I prefer this even to horseback. A -horse is an anxiety and a trouble. Something is sure to ail it; and one -is more anxious about its accommodation than about one's own. The -pedestrian traveller is wholly free from care. There is no such freeman -on earth as he is for the time. His amount of toil is usually within his -own choice,--in any civilized region. He can go on and stop when he -likes: if a fit of indolence overtakes him, he can linger for a day or a -week in any spot that pleases him. He is not whirled past a beautiful -view almost before he has seen it. He is not tantalized by the idea that -from this or that point he could see something still finer, if he could -but reach it. He can reach almost every point his wishes wander to. The -pleasure is indescribable of saying to one's self, "I will go -there,"--"I will rest yonder,"--and forthwith accomplishing it. He can -sit on a rock in the midst of a rushing stream as often in a day as he -likes. He can hunt a waterfall by its sound; a sound which the -carriage-wheels prevent other travellers from hearing. He can follow out -any tempting glade in any wood. There is no cushion of moss at the foot -of an old tree that he may not sit down on if he pleases. He can read -for an hour without fear of passing by something unnoticed while his -eyes are fixed upon his book. His food is welcome, be its quality what -it may, while he eats it under the alders in some recess of a brook. He -is secure of his sleep, be his chamber ever so sordid; and when his -waking eyes rest upon his knapsack, his heart leaps with pleasure as he -remembers where he is, and what a day is before him. Even the weather -seems to be of less consequence to the pedestrian than to other -travellers. A pedestrian journey presupposes abundance of time, so that -the traveller can rest in villages on rainy days, and in the shade of a -wood during the hours when the sun is too powerful. And if he prefers -not waiting for the rain, it is not the evil to him that it would be in -cities and in the pursuit of business. The only evil of rain that I know -of, to healthy persons in exercise, is that it spoils the clothes; and -the clothes of a pedestrian traveller are not usually of a spoilable -quality. Rain does not deform the face of things everywhere as it does -in a city. It adds a new aspect of beauty occasionally to a wood, to -mountains, to lake and ocean scenery. I remember a hale, cheerful -pedestrian tourist whom we met frequently among the White Mountains of -New Hampshire, and whom we remarked as being always the briskest of the -company at the hotel table in the evening, and the merriest at -breakfast. He had the best of it one day, when we passed him in -Franconia Defile, after a heavy rain had set in. We were packed in a -waggon which seemed likely to fill with water before we got to our -destination; and miserable enough we looked, drenched and cold. The -traveller was marching on over the rocky road, his book safe in its -oil-skin cover, and his clothes-bag similarly protected; his face -bright and glowing with exercise, and his summer jacket of linen -feeling, as he told us, all the pleasanter for being wet through. As he -passed each recess of the defile, he looked up perpetually to see the -rain come smoking out of the fissures of the rocks; and when he reached -the opening by which he was to descend to the plain, he stood still, to -watch the bar of dewy yellow light which lay along the western sky where -the sun had just set. He looked just as happy on other days. Sometimes -we passed him lying along on a hill side; sometimes talking with a -family at the door of a log-house; sometimes reading as he walked under -the shade of the forest. I, for one, often longed to dismiss our waggon -or barouche, and to follow his example. - -One peculiar advantage of pedestrian travelling is the pleasure of a -gradual approach to celebrated or beautiful places. Every turn of the -road gains in interest; every object that meets the eye seems to have -some initiative meaning; and when the object itself at last appears, -nothing can surpass the delight of flinging one's self on the ground to -rest upon the first impression, and to interpose a delicious pause -before the final attainment. It is not the same thing to desire your -driver to stop when you come to the point of view. The first time that I -felt this was on a pedestrian tour in Scotland, when I was at length to -see mountains. The imagination of myself and my companion had fixed -strongly on Dunkeld, as being a scene of great beauty, and our first -resting-place among the mountains. The sensation had been growing all -the morning. Men, houses, and trees had seemed to be growing -diminutive,--an irresistible impression to the novice in mountain -scenery: the road began to follow the windings of the Tay, a sign that -the plain was contracting into a pass. Beside a cistern, on a green bank -of this pass, we had dined; a tract of heath next lay before us, and we -traversed it so freshly and merrily as to be quite unaware that we were -getting towards the end of our seventeen miles, though still conscious -that the spirit of the mountains was upon us. We were deeply engaged in -talk, when a winding of the road brought us in full view of the lovely -scene which is known to all who have approached Dunkeld by the Perth -road. We could scarcely believe that this was _it_, so soon. We turned -to our map and guide-book, and found that we were standing on the site -of Birnam wood; that Dunsinane hill was in sight, and that it was indeed -the old cathedral tower of Dunkeld that rose so grandly among the -beeches behind the bridge. We took such a long and fond gaze as I never -enjoyed from a carriage window. If it was thus with an object of no more -importance or difficulty of attainment than Dunkeld, what must it be to -catch the first view of the mysterious temples that - - "Stand between the mountains and the sea; - Awful memorials, but of whom we know not!" - -or to survey from a height, at sunrise, the brook Kedron and the valley -of Jehoshaphat! - -What is most to our present purpose, however, is the consideration of -the facilities afforded by pedestrian travelling for obtaining a -knowledge of the people. We all remember Goldsmith's travels with his -flute, his sympathies, his cordiality of heart and manner, and his -reliance on the hospitality of the country people. Such an one as he is -not bound to take up with such specimens as he may meet with by the side -of the high road; he can penetrate into the recesses of the country, and -drop into the hamlet among the hills, and the homesteads down the lanes, -and now and then spend a day with the shepherd in his fold on the downs; -he can stop where there is a festival, and solve many a perplexity by -carrying over the conversation of one day into the intercourse of the -next, with a fresh set of people; he can obtain access to almost every -class of persons, and learn their own views of their own affairs. His -opportunities are inestimable. - -If it were a question which could learn most of Morals and Manners by -travel,--the gentleman accomplished in philosophy and learning, -proceeding in his carriage, with a courier,--or a simple pedestrian -tourist, furnished only with the language, and with an open heart and -frank manners,--I should have no doubt that the pedestrian would return -more familiar with his subject than the other. If the wealthy scholar -and philosopher could make himself a citizen of the world for the time, -and go forth on foot, careless of luxury, patient of fatigue, and -fearless of solitude, he would be not only of the highest order of -tourists, but a benefactor to the highest kind of science; and he would -become familiarized with what few are acquainted with,--the best -pleasures, transient and permanent, of travel. Those who cannot pursue -this method will achieve most by laying aside state, conversing with the -people they fall in with, and diverging from the high road as much as -possible. - -Nothing need be said on a matter so obvious as the necessity of -understanding the language of the people visited. Some familiarity with -it must be attained before anything else can be done. It seems to be -unquestioned, however, that a good deal of the unsociability of the -English abroad is owing not so much to contempt of their neighbours, as -to the natural pride which makes them shrink from attempting what they -cannot do well. I am confident that we say much less than we feel about -the awkwardness and constraint of our first self-committals to a foreign -language. It is impossible but that every one must feel the weight of -the penalty of making himself ridiculous at every step, and of -presenting a kind of false appearance of himself to every one with whom -he converses. A German gentleman in America, who has exactly that right -degree of self-respect which enabled him to set strenuously about -learning English, of which he did not understand a word, and who -mastered it so completely as to lecture in faultless English at the end -of two years, astonished a party of friends one day, persuaded as they -were that they perfectly knew him, and that the smooth and deliberate -flow of his beautiful language was a consequence of the calmness of his -temper, and the philosophical character of his mind. A German woman with -children came begging to the house while the party were at their -dessert. The professor caught her tones when the door of the dining-room -was open; he rushed into the hall, presently returned for a dish or two, -and emptied the gingerbread, and other material of the dessert, into her -lap. The company went out to see, and found the professor transformed; -he was talking with a rapidity and vehemence which they had never -supposed him capable of; and one of the party told me how sorry she -felt, and has felt ever since, to think of the state of involuntary -disguise in which he is living among those who would know him best. -Difference of language is undeniably a cause of great suffering and -difficulty, magnificent and incalculable as are its uses. It is no -exception to the general rule that every great good involves some evil. - -Happily, however, the difficulty may be presently so far surmounted as -not to interfere with the object of observing Morals and Manners. -Impossible as it may be to attain to an adequate expression of one's -self in a foreign tongue, it is easy to most persons to learn to -understand it perfectly when spoken by others. During this process, a -common and almost unavoidable mistake is to suppose a too solemn and -weighty meaning in what is expressed in an unfamiliar language. This -arises partly from our having become first acquainted with the language -in books; and partly from the meaning having been attained with effort, -and seeming, by natural association, worth the pains. The first French -dialogues which a child learns, seem more emphatic in their meanings -than the same material would in English; and the student of German finds -a grandeur in lines of Schiller, and in clauses of Herder's and -Krummacher's Parables, which he looks for in vain when he is practised -in the language. It is well to bear this in mind on a first entrance -into a foreign society, or the traveller may chance to detect himself -treasuring up nonsense, and making much of mere trivialities, because -they reached him clothed in the mystery of a strange language. He will -be like lame Jervas, when he first came up from the mine in which he was -born, caressing the weeds he had gathered by the road side, and refusing -till the last moment to throw away such wonderful and beautiful things. -The raw traveller not only sees something mysterious, picturesque, or -classical in every object that meets his eye after passing the frontier, -from the children's toys to palaces and general festivals, but is apt to -discern wisdom and solemnity in everything that is said to him, from the -greeting of the landlord to the speculations of the politician. If not -guarded against, this natural tendency will more or less vitiate the -observer's first impressions, and introduce something of the ludicrous -into his record of them. - -From the consideration of the requisites for observation in the -traveller himself, we now proceed to indicate what he is to observe, in -order to inform himself of foreign Morals and Manners. - - - - -PART II. - -WHAT TO OBSERVE. - - "Nous nous en tiendrons aux moeurs, aux habitudes extérieures - dont se forme, pour les differentes classes de la société, une - sorte de physionomie morale, où se retracent les moeurs - privées." DE JOUY. - - -It is a perpetual wonder to an inexperienced person that the students of -particular classes of facts can learn so much as they do from a single -branch of inquiry. Tell an uninformed man of the daily results of the -study of Fossil Remains, and he will ask how the student can possibly -know what was done in the world ages before man was created. It will -astonish a thoughtless man to hear the statements about the condition of -the English nation which are warranted by the single study of the -administration of the Poor Laws, since their origin. Some physiognomists -fix their attention on a single feature of the human face, and can -pretty accurately interpret the general character of the mind from it: -and I believe every portrait painter trusts mainly to one feature for -the fidelity of his likenesses, and bestows more study and care on that -one than on any other. - -A good many features compose the physiognomy of a nation; and scarcely -any traveller is qualified to study them all. The same man is rarely -enlightened enough to make investigation at once into the religion of a -people, into its general moral notions, its domestic and economical -state, its political condition, and the facts of its progress;--all -which are necessary to a full understanding of its morals and manners. -Few have even attempted an inquiry of this extent. The worst of it is -that few dream of undertaking the study of any one feature of society at -all. We should by this time have been rich in the knowledge of nations -if each intelligent traveller had endeavoured to report of any one -department of moral inquiry, however narrow; but, instead of this, the -observations offered to us are almost purely desultory. The traveller -hears and notes what this and that and the other person says. If three -or four agree in their statements on any point, he remains unaware of a -doubt, and the matter is settled. If they differ, he is perplexed, does -not know whom to believe, and decides, probably, in accordance with -prepossessions of his own. The case is almost equally bad, either way. -He will hear only one side of every question if he sees only one class -of persons,--like the English in America, for instance, who go commonly -with letters of introduction from merchants at home to merchants in the -maritime cities, and hear nothing but federal politics, and see nothing -but aristocratic manners. They come home with notions which they suppose -to be indisputable about the great Bank question, the state of parties, -and the relations of the General and State governments; and with words -in their mouths of whose objectionable character they are -unaware,--about the common people, mob government, the encroachment of -the poor upon the rich, and so on. Such partial intercourse is fatal to -the observations of a traveller; but it is less perplexing and painful -at the time than the better process of going from one set of people to -another, and hearing what all have to say. No traveller in the United -States can learn much of the country without conversing equally with -farmers and merchants, with artizans and statesmen, with villagers and -planters; but, while discharging this duty, he will be so bewildered -with the contrariety of statements and convictions, that he will often -shut his note-book in a state of scepticism as to whether there be any -truth at all shining steadily behind all this tempest of opinions. Thus -it is with the stranger who traverses the streets of Warsaw, and is -trusted with the groans of some of the outraged mourners who linger in -its dwellings; and then goes to St. Petersburg, and is presented with -evidences of the enlightenment of the Czar, of his humanity, his -paternal affection for his subjects, and his general superiority to his -age. At Warsaw the traveller called him a miscreant; at Petersburg he is -required to pronounce him a philanthropist. Such must be the uncertainty -of judgment when it is based upon the testimony of individuals. To -arrive at the facts of the condition of a people through the discourse -of individuals, is a hopeless enterprise. The plain truth is--it is -beginning at the wrong end. - -The grand secret of wise inquiry into Morals and Manners is to begin -with the study of THINGS, using the DISCOURSE OF PERSONS as a commentary -upon them. - -Though the facts sought by travellers relate to Persons, they may most -readily be learned from Things. The eloquence of Institutions and -Records, in which the action of the nation is embodied and perpetuated, -is more comprehensive and more faithful than that of any variety of -individual voices. The voice of a whole people goes up in the silent -workings of an institution; the condition of the masses is reflected -from the surface of a record. The Institutions of a nation,--political, -religious, or social,--put evidence into the observer's hands as to its -capabilities and wants which the study of individuals could not yield in -the course of a lifetime. The Records of any society, be they what they -may, whether architectural remains, epitaphs, civic registers, national -music, or any other of the thousand manifestations of the common mind -which may be found among every people, afford more information on Morals -in a day than converse with individuals in a year. Thus also must -Manners be judged of, since there never was a society yet, not even a -nunnery or a Moravian settlement, which did not include a variety of -manners. General indications must be looked for, instead of -generalizations being framed from the manners of individuals. In cities, -do social meetings abound? and what are their purposes and character? -Are they most religious, political, or festive? If religious, have they -more the character of Passion Week at Rome, or of a camp-meeting in -Ohio? If political, do the people meet on wide plains to worship the Sun -of the Celestial Empire, as in China; or in town-halls, to remonstrate -with their representatives, as in England; or in secret places, to -spring mines under the thrones of their rulers, as in Spain? If -festive, are they most like an Italian carnival, where everybody laughs; -or an Egyptian holiday, when all eyes are solemnly fixed on the whirling -Dervishes? Are women there? In what proportions, and under what law of -liberty? What are the public amusements? There is an intelligible -difference between the opera at Milan, and the theatre at Paris, and a -bull-fight at Madrid, and a fair at Leipzig, and a review at St. -Petersburg.--In country towns, how is the imitation of the metropolis -carried on? Do the provincials emulate most in show, in science, or in -the fine arts?--In the villages, what are the popular amusements? Do the -people meet to drink or to read, to discuss, or play games, or dance? -What are the public houses like? Do the people eat fruit and tell -stories? or drink ale and talk politics or call for tea and saunter -about? or coffee and play dominoes? or lemonade and laugh at Punch? Do -they crowd within four walls, or gather under the elm, or spread -themselves abroad over the cricket-field or the yellow sands?--There is -as wide a difference among the humbler classes of various countries as -among their superiors in rank. A Scotch burial is wholly unlike the -ceremonies of the funeral pile among the Cingalese; and an interment in -the Greek church little resembles either. A conclave of White Boys in -Mayo, assembled in a mud hovel on a heath, to pledge one another to -their dreadful oath, is widely different from a similar conclave of -Swiss insurgents, met in a pine wood on a steep, on the same kind of -errand: and both are as little like as may be to the heroes of the last -revolution in Paris, or to the companies of Covenanters that were wont -to meet, under a similar pressure of circumstances, in the defiles of -the Scottish mountains.--In the manners of all classes, from the highest -to the lowest, are forms of manners enforced in action, or dismissed in -words? Is there barbarous freedom in the lower, while there is formality -in the higher ranks, as in newly settled countries? or have all grown up -together to that period of refined civilization when ease has superseded -alike the freedom of the Australian peasantry, and the etiquette of the -court of Ava?--What are the manners of professional men of the society, -from the eminent lawyer or physician of the metropolis down to the -village barber? The manners of the great body of the professional men -must indicate much of the requisitions of the society they serve.--So, -also, must every circumstance connected with the service of society: its -character, whether slavish or free, abject or prosperous, comprehensive -or narrow in its uses, must testify to the desires and habits, and -therefore to the manners of a community, better than the conversation or -deportment of any individual in the society can do. A traveller who -bears all this in mind can hardly go wrong. Every thing that he looks -upon will instruct him, from an aqueduct to a punch-bowl, from a -penitentiary to an aviary, from the apparatus of a university to the -furniture of an alehouse or a nursery. When it was found that the chiefs -of the Red men could not be impressed with any notion of the -civilization of the Whites by all that many white men could say, they -were brought into the cities of the Whites. The exhibition of a ship was -enough for some. The warriors of the prairies were too proud to utter -their astonishment,--too noble to hint, even to one another, their fear; -but the perspiration stood on their brows as they dumbly gazed, and no -word of war passed their lips from that hour. Another, who could listen -with calmness to the tales of boastful traders in the wilderness, was -moved from his apathy by seeing a workman in a glasshouse put a handle -upon a pitcher. He was transported out of his silence and reserve: he -seized and grasped the hand of the workman, crying out that it was now -plain that he had had intercourse with the Great Spirit. By the evidence -of things these Indians had learned more of the manners of the Whites -than had ever been taught them by speech.--Which of us would not learn -more of the manners of the Pompeians by a morning's walk among the -relics of their abodes and public halls than by many a nightly -conference with certain of their ghosts? - -The usual scholastic division of Morals is into personal, domestic, and -social or political morals. The three kinds are, however, so apt to run -into one another,--so practically inseparable,--that the traveller will -find the distinction less useful to him than some others which he can -either originate or adopt. - -It appears to me that the Morals and Manners of a nation may be included -in the following departments of inquiry--the Religion of the people; -their prevalent Moral Notions; their Domestic State; their Idea of -Liberty; and their Progress, actual or in prospect. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -RELIGION. - - "Dieu nous a dit, Peuples, je vous attends." - DE BERANGER. - - -Of religion, in its widest sense, (the sense in which the traveller must -recognize it,) there are three kinds; not in all cases minutely -distinguishable, but bearing different general impress; viz. the -Licentious, the Ascetic, and the Moderate. These kinds are not divided -from each other by the boundaries of sects. We cannot say that pagan -religions come under one head, and Mahomedanism under another, and -Christianity under a third. The difference lies not in creeds, but in -spirit. Many pagans have been as moderate as any Christians; many -Christians as licentious as any pagans; many Mahomedans as licentious, -and many as ascetic, as any pagans or Christians. The truer distinction -seems to be that the licentious religions of the world worship -unspiritualized nature,--material objects and their movements, and the -primitive passions of man: that the ascetic despises nature, and -worships its artificial restraints: and that the moderate worships -spiritualized nature,--God in his works, both in the material universe -and in the disciplined human mind, with its regulated affections. - -The Licentious religion is always a ritual one. Its gods are natural -phenomena and human passions personified; and, when once the power of -doing good or harm is attributed to them, the idea of propitiation -enters, and a ritual worship begins. Earthquakes, inundations, the -chase, love, revenge,--all these agents of evil and good are to be -propitiated, and sacrifices and prayers are to be offered to them; in -these rites alone religious acts are supposed to be performed. This, -however modified, is a low state of religious sentiment. It may show -itself among the Hindoos dipping in the Ganges, or among Christians who -accept absolution in its grossest sense. In either case its tendency is -to render the worshipper satisfied with a low moral state, and to -perpetuate his taste for selfish indulgence. - -The Ascetic religions are ritual also. The Pharisees of old need but be -cited to show why; and there is a set of people in the Society Islands -now who seem to be spiritually descended from the ascetic priests of -Judaism. The inhabitants of the Society Islands are excluded from many -innocent privileges and natural pleasures by the Tabu; and the Pharisees -in just the same manner laid burdens upon men's shoulders too heavy to -be borne, ordaining irksome ceremonies to be proofs of holiness, and -extravagant self-denial to be required by devotion. Spiritual licence -has always kept pace with this extravagance of self-denial. Spiritual -vices,--pride, vanity, and hypocrisy,--are as fatal to high morals under -this state of religious sentiment as sensual indulgence under the other: -and it does not matter much to the moral welfare of the people sunk in -it, whether they exist under a profession of Christianity, or of -Mahomedanism, or of paganism. The morals of those people are low who -engage themselves to serve God by a slothful life in monastic celibacy, -no less than those of the Fakîrs, who let their nails grow through the -backs of their hands, or those of the wretched mothers in the islands of -the Pacific, who strangle their infants, and cast them at the feet of -their grinning idol. - -The Moderate is the least of a ritual religion of the three, and drops -such rites as it has in proportion to its advance towards purity. -Religion in its purity is not a pursuit, but a temper; and its -expression is not by sacrifices, by prayers in the corners of the -streets, by fasts or public exhibitions. The highest manifestations of -this order of religion are found in Christian countries; though in -others there are individuals, and even orders of men, who understand -that the orderly enjoyment of all blessings that Providence has -bestowed, and the regulated workings of all human affections, are the -truest homage to the Maker of all. As there are Christians whose -reliance is upon their ritual worship, and who enter upon a monastic -life, so there are Mahomedans and pagans whose high religious aim is -self-perfection, sought through the free but disciplined exercise of -their whole nature. - -The dependence of morals upon the character of the religion is clear. It -is clear that among a people whose gods are supposed to be licentious, -whose priests are licentious, and where worship is associated with the -indulgence of the passions, political and domestic morals must be very -low. What purity can be expected of a people whose women are demanded -in turn for the obscene service of the Buddhist temple; and what -humanity from the inhabitants of districts whose dwellings are -necessarily closed against the multitudes flocking to the festivals of -Juggernaut,--multitudes from amidst which thousands annually drop down -dead, so that their skeletons strew the road to the abominable -temple?--Where asceticism is the character of the religion, the natural -and irrepressible exercise of human affections becomes licentiousness, -so called; and, of consequence, it soon becomes licentiousness in fact, -according to the general rule that a bad name changes that to which it -is affixed into a bad quality.--Hannah and Philip grew up in a Moravian -settlement; and, Moravians as they were, they loved. The days came when -the destiny of each was decided by lot. It was scarcely possible that -they should draw a lot to marry each other; yet both secretly hoped to -the last. Philip drew a missionary lot, and Hannah another husband. They -were allowed to shake hands once before parting. "Good-bye, Hannah!" -"Good-bye, Philip!" was all that was said. If Hannah had gone off with -Philip, it would have been called a profligate act; and, if they were -sound Moravians, it would in fact have been so: whereas, in a community -of really high morals, the profligacy would have been seen to lie in -Hannah's marrying a man she did not love. - -To proceed with the dependence of the morals on the character of the -religion,--it is clear that in proportion as any religion encourages -licentiousness, either positively or negatively,--encourages, that is to -say, the excess of the passions, might will have the victory over -right; the weak will succumb to the strong; and thus the condition of -the poorer classes depends on the character of the religion of their -country. In proportion as the religion tends to licentiousness, will the -poorer classes be liable to slavery. In proportion as the religion tends -to asceticism, will be the amount (other things being equal) of the -hardship and want which they must sustain. In proportion as the religion -approximates to the moderate, (the use without the abuse of means of -enjoyment,) will the poorer classes rise to a condition of freedom and -comfort. - -The character of the religion serves, in like manner, as an index to -that of the government. A licentious religion cannot be adopted by a -people who are so moderate in their passions as to be able to govern -themselves. One would not look for a display of meats offered to idols -in the Capitol of the American Congress. An ascetic religion, too, -inflicts personal and mutual wrongs which could never be endured among a -people who agree to govern one another. There is no power which could -induce such to submit to privations and sufferings which can be -tolerable to none but devotees,--a small fraction of every society. -Absolutism is commonly the character of the government of any country -where either of these religions prevails;--a despotism more or less -tempered by a variety of influences. It is the observer's business to -bring the religion and the government into comparison, and to see how -the latter is modified by the coexistence of the former. - -The friendly, no less than the domestic and political relations of -society, are dependent upon the prevailing religion. Under the -licentious, the manners will be made up of the conventional and the -gross. A Burmese minister was sitting on the poop of a steam-vessel when -a squall came on. "I suggested to his Excellency," says Mr. Crawford, -"the convenience of going below, which he long resisted, under the -apprehension of committing his dignity by placing himself in a situation -where persons might tread over his head; for this singular antipathy is -common both to the Burmese and Siamese. The prejudice is more especially -directed against the fair sex,--a pretty conclusive proof of the -estimation in which they are held. His Excellency seriously demanded to -know whether any woman had ever trod upon the poop; and, being assured -in the negative, he consented at length to enter the cabin." The house -fixed for the residence of an American missionary was not allowed to be -fitted up, as it stood on ground which was higher than the king's barge -as it lay in the river; and such a spectacle would not become the king's -dignity. The prime minister of this same king was one day, for absence -from his post at a fire, "spread out in the hot sun." He was extended on -his back in the public road for some hours in the most sultry part of -the day, with a heavy weight upon his chest,--the public executioners -being employed to administer the punishment. Nor is the king alone -authorized to perpetrate such barbarisms. A creditor is permitted to -seize the wife, children, and slaves of a debtor, and bind them at his -door to broil in the sun of Ava. Here we see in perfection the union of -the conventional and the gross in manners; and such manners cannot be -conceived to coexist with any religion of a higher character than -Buddhism. - -Under ascetic forms, what grossness there is will be partially -concealed; but there will be no nearer an approach to simplicity than -under the licentious. The religion being made still to consist much in -observances, the society becomes formal in proportion as it believes -itself growing pure. We must again take an extreme case for an example. -The Shakers of America are as sophisticated a set of persons as can be -found; with their minds, and even their public discourses, full of the -one subject of their celibacy, and their intercourse with each other -graduated according to strict rules of etiquette. So extreme an -asceticism can never now spread in any nation to such an extent as to -bear a relation to its general government: but it is observable that -such societies of ascetics live under a despotism;--one of their own -appointment, if the general will has not furnished them with one. - -Under the moderate aspect of religion is an approximation towards -simplicity of social manners alone to be found. There is as yet only a -remote anticipation of it in any country in the world; only a remote -anticipation of that ease of social manners which must exist there alone -where the enjoyments of life are freely used without abuse. It matters -not that the licentious and the ascetic parties each boast of having -attained this consummation,--the one under the name of ease, and the -other of simplicity. There is too much pain attendant upon grossness to -justify the boast of ease; and too much effort in asceticism to admit of -the grace of simplicity. It is the observer's business to mark, wherever -he goes, the degree in which the one is chastened and the other relaxed, -giving place to the higher form of the moderate, which, if society -learns from experience, as the individual does, must finally prevail. -When many individuals of a society attain that self-forgetfulness which -is promoted by a high and free religious sentiment, but which is -incompatible with either licentious or ascetic tendencies, the tone of -manners in that society will be much raised. When, free from the -grossness of self-indulgence, and from the constraint of self-denial, -every one spontaneously thinks more of his neighbour than of himself, -the world will witness, at last, the perfection of manners. It is clear -that the high morals of which such refined manners will be the -expression, must greatly depend on the exaltation of the religious -sentiment from which they emanate. - -The traveller may possibly object the difficulty of classing societies -by their religious tendencies, and ask whether minds of every sort are -not to be found in all numerous assemblages of persons. This is true: -but yet there is a prevailing religious sentiment in all communities. -Religious, like other sentiment, is modified by the strong general -influences under which each society lives; and in it, as in other kinds, -there will be general resemblance, with particular differences under it. -It is well known that even sects, exclusive in their opinions and -straitened by forms, differ in different countries almost as much as if -there were no common bond. Not only is episcopacy not the same religion -among born East Indians as in England, but the Quakers of the United -States, though like the English in doctrine and in manners, are easily -distinguishable from them in religious sentiment: and even the Jews, -who might be expected to be the same all over the world, differ in -Russia, Persia, and Great Britain as much as if a spirit of division had -been sent among them. They not only appear here in furs, there in cotton -or silk, and elsewhere in broadcloth; but the hearts they bear beneath -the garments, the thoughts that stir under the cap, the turban, and the -hat, are modified in their action as the skies under which they move are -in aspect. They are strongly tinctured with the national sentiment of -Russia, Persia, and England; and if the fond dream of some of them (in -which, by the way, large numbers of their body have ceased to -sympathize,) could come true, and they should ever be brought together -within their ancient borders, they would find that their religion, so -unique in its fixedness, though one in word, is many in spirit.--Much -more easy is the assimilation between different forms of Christianity, -and between Christianity and an elevated natural religion: and the -search can never therefore be in vain for a pervading religious -sentiment among the various religious institutions of any and every -people. - -It is, of course, more difficult to discover this religious sentiment -among a nation enlightened enough to be divided in theological matters, -than among a rude people who regulate their devotions by the bidding of -a single order of priests. The African traveller, passing up the Niger, -sees at a glance what all the worshippers on the banks feel, and must -feel, towards the deities to whom their temples are erected. A rude -shed, with a doll,--an image of deformity,--perched on a stand, and -supposed to be enjoying the fumes of the cooking going on before his -face;--a place of worship like this, in its character of the habitation -of a deity, and of a sensual deity, leaves no doubt as to what the -religious sentiment of a country must be where there is no dissent from -such a worship. In such a society there are absolutely none to feel that -their deep palm groves are a nobler temple than human hands can rear. -There are none who see that it is by a large divine benignity that all -the living creatures of that region are made happy in their rank -seclusion. There is no feeling of gratitude in the minds of those who -see the myriads of gay butterflies that flit in the glare of noon, and -the river-horse which bathes in the shady places of the mysterious great -stream. There a god is seen only in his temple, and there is nothing -known of any works of his. That he is great, is learned only through the -word of his priests, who say that yams are too common a food for him, -and that nothing less than hippopotamus' flesh must be cooked beneath -his shrine. That he is good is an idea which has not yet entered any -mind.--In other places, the religious sentiment is almost equally -unquestionable; as when every man in Cairo is seen in his turn to put on -the dress of pilgrimage, and direct his steps to Mount Arafat. Here the -sentiment is of a higher order, but equally evident and uniform.--A -further advance, with somewhat less uniformity of sentiment, is found -among the followers of the Greek church in a Russian province. The -peasants there make a great point of having time for their devotions; -and those who have the wherewithal to offer some showy present at a -shrine are complacent. They make the sign of the cross, and have therein -done their whole duty: and if some speculative worshipper of the Virgin -with Three Hands is not satisfied about the way in which his patroness -came by her third hand, he keeps his doubts to himself when he tells his -sins to his confessor.--A still further advance, with an increased -diversity, may be met with among the simple Vaudois, the general -characteristics of whose faith are alike, but who entertain it, some -more in the spirit of fear, others more in the spirit of love. The -prevailing sentiment among them is of the ascetic character, as the -stranger may perceive, who sees the peasantry marching in serene gravity -to their plain places of worship on the mountain pinnacle, or under the -shelter yielded by a clump of black pines amidst a waste of snow: but -here the clergy are more guides than dictators; and not a few may be -found who doubt their opinions, and find matter for thoughtless delight, -rather than religious awe, when they follow the echoes from steep to -steep, and watch for the gleams of the summer lightning playing among -the defiles.--The diversity grows more striking as civilization -advances; but it has not yet become perplexing in the most enlightened -nations in the world. In England, in France, in America, there is a -distinct religious sentiment: in England, where there is every variety -of dissent from the established faith; in America, where there is every -variety of opinion, and no establishment at all; and in France, now in -that state which most baffles observation,--a state of transition from -an exaggerated superstition to a religious faith which is being groped -for, but is not yet found. Even in this uncertain state, no one can -confound the religious sentiment of New England and of France; and an -observation of their places of worship will indicate their differences. -In New England, the populous towns have their churches in the midst, -spacious and conspicuous,--not exhibiting any of the signs of antique -origin which are impressed on those of Europe, and to be accounted for -only by the immediate religious tastes of the people. In new -settlements, the church rises side by side with the house of -entertainment, and is obviously considered one of the necessaries of -social life. The first thing to be learned about a fresh inhabitant is, -how he stands disposed towards the church, whatever may be its -denomination. In France, such of the old churches as are still used for -their ancient purpose, bespeak a ritual religion, and therefore a -religion light and gay in its spirit; all religions being so which cast -responsibility into outward observances, especially where the outward -observances are not of a very burdensome character. If nuns in their -cloister, and Jews in their synagogues, have been characterized by the -lightness of their religious spirit, well may the Catholics of an -enlightened country be so, discarding the grossest and most burdensome -of their rites, and retaining the ritual principle. The searchers after -a new faith in France must increase by millions before they can change -the character of the religious sentiment of the country; and perhaps -before that which is now gross can be elevated into what is genial, and -before a mixture of levity and fear can be changed into the cheerful -earnestness of a moderate or truly catholic religious conviction, the -ancient churches of France may be standing in ruins,--objects for the -research of the antiquary. - -The rule of examining things before persons must be observed in -ascertaining the religious sentiment of any country. A stranger in -England might interrogate everybody he saw, and be little wiser at the -end of a year. He might meet a fanatic one day, an indifferent person -the next, and a calmly convinced one the third: he might go from a -Churchman to a Jew; from a Jew to a Quaker; from a Quaker to a Catholic; -and every day be farther from understanding the prevailing religious -sentiment of the country. A much shorter and surer method is, to examine -the Places of Worship, the condition of the Clergy, the Popular -Superstitions, the observance of Holy Days, and some other particulars -of the kind. - - * * * * * - -First, for the Churches. There is that about all places of worship which -may tell nearly as plain a tale as the carved idols, with messes of rice -before them, in Hindoo temples; or as the human bones hung round the hut -of an African god. The proportion and resemblance of modern places of -worship to those which were built in dark times of superstition; the -suitability or incongruity of all that is of late introduction into -their furniture and worship with what had its origin in those dim -ages;--such circumstances as these cannot but indicate whether the -common religious sentiment is as nearly as possible the same as in -centuries past, or whether it is approximating, slowly or rapidly, -towards the ascetic or the moderate. - -There is evidence in the very forms of churches. The early Christian -churches were in the basilica form,--bearing a resemblance to the Roman -courts of justice. This is supposed to have arisen from the churches -being, in fact, the courts of spiritual justice, where penance was -awarded by the priest to the guilty, and absolution granted to the -penitent. From imitation, the Christian churches of all Europe for -centuries bore this form; and even some built since the Reformation -preserve it. But they have something of their own which serves as a -record of their own times. The history of the Crusades does not present -a more vivid picture of feudal society than shines out from the nooks of -our own cathedrals. The spirit of monachism is as distinguishable as if -the cowled ghosts of the victims were actually seen flitting along the -aisles. What say the chantries ranged along the sides? There perpetual -prayers were to be kept up for the prosperity of a wealthy family and -its retainers in life, and for their welfare after death. What says the -chapter-house? There the powerful members of the church hierarchy were -wont to assemble, to use and confirm their rule. What say the cloisters? -Under their shelter did the monks go to and fro in life; and in the plot -of ground enclosed by these sombre passages were they laid in death. -What says the Ladye chapel? What say the niches with their stone basins? -They tell of the intercessory character of the sentiment, and of the -ritual character of the worship of the times when they were set up. The -handful of worshippers here collected from among the tens of thousands -of a cathedral town also testify to the fact that such establishments -could not be originated now, and are no longer in harmony with the -spirit of the multitude.--The contrast of the most modern sacred -buildings tells as plain a tale:--the red-brick meeting-house of the -Friends; the stone chapel of the less rigid dissenters, standing back -from the noise of the busy street; the aristocratic chapel nestling -amidst the shades of the nobleman's park; and the village church in the -meadow, with its neighbouring parsonage. These all tell of a diversity -of opinion; but also of something else. The more ancient buildings are -scantily attended; the more modern are thronged;--and indeed, if they -had not been wanted by numbers, they would not have been built. This -speaks the decline of a ritual religion, and the preference of one which -is more exclusively spiritual in its action. - -In Scotland the kirks look exactly suitable to the population which -throngs towards them, with sober dress and gait, and countenances of -solemnity. These edifices stand in severe simplicity, whether on the -green shore of a lake, or in the narrow street of a town; and asceticism -is marked on every stone of the walls, and every article of their -decorations. - -No one who has travelled in Ireland can forget the aspect of its places -of worship,--the lowly Catholic chapels, with their beggarly ornaments -of lace and crucifixes, placed in the midst of villages, the whole of -whose inhabitants crowd within those four walls; and a little way off, -in a field, or on an eminence by the road side, the Protestant church, -one end in ruins, and with ample harbourage for the owl, while the rest -is encompassed with nettles and thorns, and the mossy grave-stones are -half hidden by rank grass. In a country where the sun rises upon -contrasts like these, it is clear in what direction the religious -sentiment of the people is indulged. - -What the stranger may thus learn in our own country, we may learn in -his, whatever it be. The large plain churches of Massachusetts, their -democratic benches (in the absence of aristocratic pews) silently filled -for long hours of a Sabbath, as still as a summer noon, by hundreds and -thousands who restore the tones of their pilgrim ancestors in their -hymn-singing, and seem to carry about their likeness in their faces, -cannot fail to instruct the observer.--Then there is the mosque at -Cairo, with its great tank or fountain of ablution in the midst; and its -broad pavement spread out for men of every degree to kneel on together; -its doors standing wide from sunrise to sunset, for the admission of all -but women and strangers; its outside galleries, from which the summons -to prayer is sounded;--these things testify to the ritual character of -the worship, and to the low type of the morals of a faith which despises -women and strangers, giving privileges to the strong from which the weak -are excluded.--Then there is the Buddhist temple, rearing its tapering -form in a recess of the hills, with its colossal stone figures guarding -the entrance, and others sanctifying the interior,--all eloquently -explaining that physical force is worshipped here: its images of saints -show that the intercessory superstition exists; and the drum and gong, -employed to awaken the attention of the gods, can leave little danger of -misapprehension to the observer. There are lanterns continually burning, -and consecrated water, sanctified to the cure of diseased eyes.--Such -places of worship tell a very plain tale; while there is not perhaps a -church on earth which does not convey one that is far from obscure. - -The traveller must diligently visit the temples of nations; he must mark -their locality, whether placed among men's dwellings or apart from them; -their number, whether multiplied by diversity of theological opinion; -and their aspect, whether they are designed for the service of a ritual -or a spiritual religion. Thus he may, at the same time, ascertain the -character of the most prominent form of religion, and that of the -dissent from it; which must always illustrate each other. - - * * * * * - -Next to the Churches comes the consideration of the Clergy. The clergy -are usually the secondary potentates of a young country. In a young -country, physical force, and that which comes to represent it, is the -first great power; and knowledge is the next. The clergy are the first -learned men of every nation; and when the streams of knowledge are only -just issuing from the fountain, and the key is in the hands of the -clergy, they enjoy, rightly and unavoidably, a high degree of -consequence. Knowledge spreads abroad; and it is as impossible for man -to dam it up as for the fool to stop the Danube by filling the narrow -channel at its source with his great boots,--crying out the while, "How -the people will wonder when the Danube does not come!" As knowledge -becomes diffused, the consequence of the clergy declines. If that -consequence is to be preserved, it must be by their attaining the same -superiority in morals which they once held in intellect. Where the -clergy are now a cherished class, it is, in fact, on the supposition of -this moral superiority,--a claim for whose justification it would be -unreasonable to look, and for the forfeiture of which the clergy should -be less blamed than those who expect that, in virtue of a profession, -any class of men should be better than others. Moral excellence has no -regard to classes and professions; and religion, being not a pursuit but -a temper, cannot, in fact, be professionally cultivated with personal -advantage. It will be for the traveller to note whether this is more or -less understood where he travels; whether the clergy are viewed with -indifference as mere professional men; or whether they are reverenced -for their supposed holiness; or for their real superiority in learning; -or whether the case wears the lowest aspect of all--when the clergy are -merely the jugglers and puppet-masters of the multitude. A patient -consideration of this will lead to a pretty safe conclusion as to the -progress the people have made in knowledge, and the spiritual freedom -which it brings;--a freedom which is at once a virtue and a cause of -virtue. - -The observer must note what the clergy themselves consider their -function to be;--whether to guide individual minds; or to cultivate -theological and other studies, in order to place their results at the -disposal of the minds with which they have to deal; or to express in -worship the feelings of those minds; or to influence the social -institutions by which the minds of the people are modified; or to do any -other of the many things which the priests of different countries, and -ages, and faiths, have in turn included in their function. He will note -whether they are most like the tyrannical Brahmins, who at one -stroke--by declaring the institution of Caste to be of divine -authority--obtained boundless control over a thousand generations, -subjecting all intellects and all hands to a routine which could be -easily superintended by the forty thousand of the favoured priestly -race; or whether they are like the Christian clergy of the dark ages, a -part of whose duty it was to learn the deepest secrets of the proudest -and lowliest,--thus obtaining the means of bringing to pass what events -they wished, both in public and private life;--or whether they are like -such students as have been known in the theological world,--men who have -not crossed the threshold of their libraries for eighteen years, and who -are satisfied with their lives, if they have been able to elevate -Biblical science, and to throw any new light on sacred history;--or -whether they are like the American clergy of the present day, whose -exertions are directed towards the art of preaching;--or whether they -are like the ministers of the Established Church in England, who are -politically represented, and large numbers of whom employ their -influence for political purposes. Each of these kinds of clergy must be -yielded by a particular state of society, and could not belong to any -other. The Hindoos must be in a low degree of civilization, and sunk in -a deadly superstition, or they would tolerate no Brahmins. The people of -four centuries ago must have depended solely upon their priests for -knowledge and direction, or they would not have submitted to their -inquisitorial practices. Germany must have advanced far in her -appreciation of philosophical and critical research in theology, or she -would not have such devoted students as she can boast of. The Americans -cannot have attained to any high practice of spiritual liberty, or they -could not follow preaching so zealously as they do. The English cannot -have fully understood, or taken to heart the principles of the -Reformation, which have so long been their theme of eulogy, or they -would not foster a political hierarchy within the bosom of their church. - -As the studies of the clergy lie in the past, as the days of their -strongest influence are behind, and as the religious feelings of men -have hitherto reposed on the antique, and are but just beginning to -point towards the future, it is natural, it is unavoidable, that the -clergy should retard rather than aid the progress of society. A -disposition to assist in the improvement of institutions is what ought -not to be looked for from any priestly class; and, if looked for, it -will not be found. Such a mode of operation must appear to them -suicidal. But much may be learned by comparing the degree of clerical -resistance to progression with the proportion of favour in which the -clergy are held by the people. Where that resistance is greatest, and a -clerical life is one of peculiar worldly ease, the state of morals and -manners must be low. Where that resistance is least, where any social -improvement whatever is found to originate with the clergy, and where -they bear a just share of toil, the condition of morals and manners -cannot be very much depressed. Where there is an undue partition of -labour and its rewards among the clergy themselves,--where some do the -work and others reap the recompence,--the fair inference is that morals -and manners are in a state of transition. Such a position of affairs -cannot be a permanent one; and the observer may be assured that the -morals and manners of the people are about to be better than they have -been.--The characteristics of the clergy will indicate, or at least -direct attention to, the characteristics of dissent: and any extensive -form of dissent is no other than the most recent exposition of the -latest condition of morals among a large, active, and influential -portion of the people. A foreign traveller in Germany, in Luther's time, -could learn but little of the moral state of that empire, if he shut his -eyes to the philosophy and the deeds of the reformers. If he saw nothing -in the train of nuns winding down into the valleys from their now -unconsecrated convent on the steep; if the tidings of the marriage of -Catherine de Boria came to him like any other wedding news; if he did -not mark the subdued triumph in family faces when the Book--Luther's -Bible--was brought out for the daily lecture; if the decrees of Worms -seemed to him like the common orders of the church, and the levelling of -altars and unroofing of crypts was in his eyes but masons' work, he was -not qualified to observe the people of Germany, and had no more title to -report of them than if he had never left home. Thus it is now, in less -extreme cases. The traveller in Spain knows little of the Spaniards -unless he is aware of the theological studies, and the worship without -forms, which are carried on in private by those who are keeping alive -the fires of liberty in that priest and tyrant-ridden country. The -foreigner in England will carry away but a partial knowledge of the -religious sentiment of the people if he enters only the cathedrals of -cities and the steepled churches in the villages, passing by the square -meeting-houses in the manufacturing towns, and hearing nothing of the -conferences, the assemblies, and the missionary enterprises of the -dissenters. The same may be said of observation in every country -enlightened enough to have shaken off its subservience to an -unquestioned and irresponsible priesthood: that is, of every country -advanced enough to maintain dissent. - -The expressions of established forms of prayer convey more information -as to the state of the clergy than of the people; since these -expressions are furnished by the clergy, and continue to be prompted by -them, while the people have no means of dismissing or changing the words -of their framed prayers for long after the words may have ceased to -represent the feeling. The traveller will receive such objectionable -expressions as he may hear, not as indications of the then present -sentiments of the crowd of worshippers, but rather as evidencing the -disinclination of the clergy to change. It would be hard, for instance, -to impute to Moslem worshippers in general the formation of such desires -as are uttered by the school-boys of Cairo at the close of their daily -attendance. "O God! destroy the infidels and polytheists, thine enemies, -the enemies of the religion! O God! make their children orphans, and -defile their abodes, and cause their feet to slip, and give them and -their families, and their households, and their women, and their -children, and their relations by marriage, and their brothers, and their -friends, and their possessions, and their race, and their wealth, and -their lands, as booty to the Moslems! O Lord of all creatures!"--It -would be unjust to impute a horror of "sudden death" to all who use the -words of prayer against it which are found in the Litany of the Church -of England. Sudden death deserved to be classed among the most deadly -evils when the Litany was framed,--in the days of the viaticum; but now -it would be unjust to a multitude of worshippers who use the Litany to -suppose that they are afraid to commit themselves to the hands of their -Father without a passport from a priest; and that they are not willing -to die in the way which pleases God,--some rather preferring, probably, -a mode which will save those who are nearest and dearest to them the -anguish of suspense, or of witnessing hopeless decline. In all antique -forms of devotion there must be expressions which are inconsistent with -the philosophy and the tastes of the time; and these are to be regarded -therefore as no indications of such philosophy and taste, but as an -evidence, more or less distinct, of the condition of the clergy in -enlightenment and temper. - - * * * * * - -The splendid topic of human Superstitions can be only just touched upon -here. In this boundless field, strewn with all the blossoms of all -philosophy, the human observer may wander for ever. He can never have -done culling the evidence that it presents, or enjoying the promise -which it yields. All that we can now do is just to suggest that as the -superstitions of all nations are the embodiment of their idealized -convictions, the state of religious sentiment may be learned from them -almost without danger of mistake. - -No society is without its superstitions, any more than it is without its -convictions and its imaginations. Even under the moderate form of -religion, there is room for superstition; and the ascetic, which glories -in having put away the superstitions of the licentious forms, has -superstitions of its own.--The followers of an ascetic religion have -more or less belief in judgments,--in retributive evils, arbitrarily -inflicted. Among them may be gathered a harvest of tales of divine -interference,--from the bee stinging the tip of the swearer's tongue to -the sudden death of false witnesses. Among them do superstitions about -times and seasons flourish, even to the forgetfulness that the Sabbath -is made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Some ascetics have faith -in the lot,--like the Moravians in ordering marriage, or Wesley in -opening his Bible to light upon texts. Others believe in warnings of -evil; and most dread the commission of ritual fully as much as of moral -sins. To play even a hymn tune on the piano on Sundays is an offence in -the Highlands of Scotland; and to miss prayers is a matter of penance in -a convent. The superstitions of the ascetic are scarcely fewer or more -moderate than those of the licentious form of religion; the chief -difference between the two lies in the spirit from which they emanate. -The superstitions of the ascetic arise from the spirit of fear; those of -the heathen arise perhaps equally from the spirit of love and the spirit -of fear. - -It seems as if the portents which present themselves to ascetic -minds must necessarily be of evil, since the only good which their -imaginations admit is supposed to be secured by grace, and by acts of -service or self-denial. To the Fakîr, to the Shaker, to the nun, no -good remains over and above what has been long claimed, while -punishment may follow any breach of observance. On the other hand, -before one who makes himself gods of the movements of inanimate nature -and human passions, the two worlds of evil and good lie open, and he -is perpetually on the watch for messengers from both. The poor pagan -looks for tokens of his gods being pleased or angry; of their -intentions of giving him a good or a bad harvest; or of their sending -him a rich present or afflicting him with a bereavement. Whatever he -wants to know, he seeks for in portents;--whether he shall live -again,--whether his departed friends think of him,--whether his child -shall be fortunate or wretched,--whether his enemy or he shall -prevail. It is open to the traveller's observation whether these -superstitions are of a generous or selfish kind,--whether they elevate -the mind with hope, or depress it with fear,--whether they nourish the -faith of the spirit, or extort merely the service of the lip and hand. - -The Swiss herdsmen believe that the three deliverers (the founders of -the Helvetic Confederacy) sleep calmly in a cave near the Lake of -Lucerne; and that, whenever their country is in her utmost need, they -will come forth in their antique garb, and assuredly save her. This is a -superstition full of veneration and hope.--When the Arabs see a falling -star, they believe it to be a dart thrown by God at a wanderer of the -race of the genii, and they exclaim, "May God transfix the enemy of the -faith!" Here we find in brief the spirit of their religion.--In Brazil, -a bird which sings plaintively at night is listened to with intent -emotion, from its being supposed to be sent with tidings from the dead -to the living. The choice of a bird with a mournful instead of a lively -note speaks volumes.--The three angels in white that come to give -presents to good children in Germany at Christmas, come in a good -spirit.--There is a superstition in China which has a world of -tenderness in it. A father collects a hundred copper coins from a -hundred families, and makes the metal into a lock which he hangs, as a -charm, round his child's neck, believing that he locks his child to life -by this connection with a hundred persons in full vigour.--But, as is -natural, death is the region of the Unseen to which the larger number of -portents relates. The belief of the return of the dead has been held -almost universally among the nations; and their unseen life is the grand -theme of speculation wherever there are men to speculate. The Norwegians -lay the warrior's horse, and armour, and weapons, beside him. The -Hindoos burn the widow. The Malabar Indians release caged birds on the -newly-made grave, to sanction the flight of the soul. The Buccaneers -(according to Penrose) concealed any large booty that fell into their -hands, till they should have leisure to remove it,--murdering and -burying near it any helpless wretch whom they might be able to capture, -in order that his spirit might watch over the treasure, and drive from -the spot all but the parties who had signed their names in a -round-robin, in claim of proprietorship. The professors of many faiths -resemble each other in practices of propitiation or atonement -laboriously executed on behalf of the departed. Some classes of mourners -act towards their dead friends in a spirit of awe; some in fear; but -very many in love. The trust in the immortality of the affections is the -most general feature in superstitions of this class; and it is a fact -eloquent to the mind of the observer.--An only child of two poor savages -died. The parents appeared inconsolable; and the father soon sank under -his grief. From the moment of his death, the mother was cheerful. On -being asked what had cheered her, she said she had mourned for her -child's loneliness in the world of spirits: now he had his father with -him, and she was happy for them both. What a divine spirit of -self-sacrifice is here! but there is scarcely a superstition sincerely -entertained which does not tell as plain a tale. Those which express -fear indicate moral abasement, greater or less. Those which express -trust and love indicate greater or less moral elevation and purity. - - * * * * * - -The practice of Suicide is worth the contemplation of a traveller, as -affording some clear indications as to religious sentiment. Suicide in -the largest sense is here intended,--the voluntary surrender of life -from any cause. - -There has been a stage in the moral advancement of every nation when -suicide, in one form or another, has been considered a duty; and it is -impossible to foresee the time when it will cease to be so considered. -It was a necessary result from the idea of honour once prevalent in the -most civilized societies, when men and women destroyed themselves to -avoid disgrace. The defeated warrior, the baffled statesman, the injured -woman, destroyed themselves when the hope of honour was gone. In the -same age, as in every succeeding one, there have been suicides who have -devoted themselves for others, presenting a series of tales which may -almost redeem the disgraces which darken the annals of the race.--The -most illustrious of the Christian Fathers, immersed in the superstitions -about the transcendent excellence of the virtue of chastity which have -extinguished so many other virtues, and injured the morals of society to -this day, by sacrificing other principles to fanaticism on this, -permitted women to kill themselves to escape from violence which left -the mind in its purity, and the will in its rectitude.--Martyrdom for -the truth existed also before the venerating eyes of men,--the noblest -kind of suicide: it attracted glory to itself from the faithful heart of -the race; and, from its thus attracting glory, it became a means of -gaining glory, and sank from being martyrdom to be a mere fanatical -self-seeking. While the spirit of persecution was roaming abroad, -seeking whom it might devour, there were St. Theresas roaming abroad, -seeking to be devoured, from a spirit of cupidity after the crown of -martyrdom.--Soldiers, in all times and circumstances, pledge themselves -to the possible duty of suicide by the very act of becoming soldiers. -They engage to make the first charge, and to mount a breach if called -upon. And there have been found soldiers for every perilous service that -has been required, throughout all wars. There have been volunteers to -mount the breach, solitary men or small bands to hold narrow bridges and -passes, from the first incursion of tribe upon tribe in barbarous -conflict, up to the suicide of Van Speyk, whose monument is still fresh -from the chisel in the Nieuw Kerk of Amsterdam. Van Speyk commanded a -gun-boat which was stranded in a heavy gale, and boarded by the -Belgians,--the foe. Van Speyk had sworn never to surrender his boat, and -his suicide was a point of military honour. He seems to have considered -the matter thus; for he prayed for pardon of his crime of -self-destruction after laying his lighted cigar on the open barrel of -powder which blew up the boat. The remaining suicides (except, of -course, the insane,) are justified by none. Persons who shrink from -suffering so far as to withdraw from their duties, and to forsake those -to whom their exertions are due, are objects of contemptuous compassion -in the present day, when, moral having succeeded to physical force in -men's esteem, it is seen to be nobler to endure evils than to hide one's -spirit from them. - -Every society has its suicides, and much may be learned from their -character and number, both as to the notions on morals which prevail, -and the religious sentiment which animates to or controls the act. It is -with the last that we now have to do.--The act of laying down life is -one thing among a people who have dim and mournful anticipations of a -future life, like the ancient Greeks; and quite another among those who, -like the first Christians, have a clear vision of bliss and triumph in -the world on which they rush. Suicide is one thing to a man who is -certain of entering immediately upon purgatory; and to another whose -first step is to be upon the necks of his enemies; and to a third who -believes that he is to lie conscious in his grave for some thousands of -years; and to a fourth who has no idea that he shall survive or revive -at all. When Curtius leaped into the gulf, he probably leaped into utter -darkness, other than physical; but when Guyon of Marseilles sunned -himself for the last time in the balcony of the house where he was shut -up with the plague-spotted body which he was to die in dissecting, he -had faith that he should step out of a waxing and waning sunlight into a -region which "had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in -it, the glory of God being the light of it." The sick Moslem who, -falling behind his troop, and fearing to lie unburied, scoops his grave -and lies down in it, wrapped in his grave-clothes, and covers himself -up, except the face, leaving it to the winds to heap sand upon it, -trembles the while at the thought of the two examining angels, who are -this night to prove and perhaps torture him. The English lady who took -laudanum on learning that she had a fatal disease, from fear of becoming -loathsome to a husband for whom she had lived, had before her the -prominent idea of reunion with him; so that life in one world presented -as much of hope as in the other of despair.--Nations share in -differences like these, according to the prevalent religious sentiment; -and from this species of act may the sentiment be more or less correctly -inferred. - -Suicide is very common among a race of Africans who prefer it to -slavery. They believe in a life of tropical ease and freedom after -death, and rush into it so eagerly on being reduced to slavery, that -the planters of Cuba refuse them in the market, knowing that after a few -hours, or days, in spite of all precautions, nothing but their dead -bodies will remain in the hands of their masters. The French have, of -late years, abounded in suicides, while there are few or none in -Ireland. The most vain and the most sympathetic part of the French -multitude were found to be the classes which yielded the victims. If a -young lady and her lover shot one another with pistols tied with pink -ribbons, two or three suicides amidst blue and green ribbons were sure -to follow the announcement of the first in the newspaper, till a -sensible physician suggested that suicides should not be noticed in -newspapers, or should be treated with ridicule: the advice was acted -upon, and proved by the result to be sound. This profusion of -self-murders could not have taken place amidst a serious belief of an -immediate entrance upon purgatory, such as is held by the majority of -the Irish. Only in a state of vague speculation as to another life could -the future have operated as so slight a check upon the rash impulses of -the present. The Irish, an impetuous race, like the French, and with a -good share of vanity, of sympathy, and of sentiment, are probably -deterred from throwing away life by those religious convictions and -sentiments which the French once held in an equal degree, but from which -they are now passing over into another state. - -A single act of suicide is often indicative, negatively or positively, -of a state of prevalent sentiment. A single instance of the Suttee -testifies to the power of Brahmins, and the condition of Hindoo -worshippers, in a way which cannot be mistaken. An American child of -six years old accidentally witnessed in India such a spectacle. On -returning home, she told her mother she had seen hell, and was whipped -for saying so,--not knowing why, for she spoke in all earnestness, and, -as it seems to us, with eloquent truth.--The somewhat recent -self-destruction of an estimable English officer, on the eve of a -court-martial, might fully instruct a stranger on the subject of -military honour in this country. This officer fell in the collision of -universal and professional principles. His justice and humanity had led -him to offer a kindly bearing towards an irresolute mob of rioters, in -the absence of authority to act otherwise than as he did, and of all -co-operation from the civil power; his military honour was placed in -jeopardy, and the innocent man preferred self-destruction to meeting the -risk; thus testifying that numbers here sustain an idea of honour which -is at variance with that which they expect to prevail elsewhere and -hereafter.--Every act of self-devotion for others, extending to death, -testifies to the existence of philanthropy, and to its being regarded as -an honour and a good. Every voluntary martyrdom tells a national tale as -plain as that written in blood and spirit by Arnold Von Winkelried, in -1386. When the Swiss met their oppressors at the battle of Sempach, it -appeared impossible for the Swiss to charge with effect, so thick was -the hedge of Austrian lances. Arnold Von Winkelried cried, "I will make -a lane for you! Dear companions, remember my family!" He clasped an -armful of the enemy's lances, and made a sheaf of them in his body. His -comrades entered the breach, and won the battle. They remembered his -family, and their descendants commemorate the sacrifice to this day; -thus bearing testimony to the act being a trait of the national spirit. - -By observations such as these, may the religious sentiment of a people -be ascertained. While making them, or struggling with the difficulties -of opposing evidence, the observer has to bear in mind,--first, that the -religious sentiment does everywhere exist, however low its tone, and -however uncouth its expression; secondly, that personal morals must -greatly depend on the low or high character of the religious sentiment; -and, thirdly, that the philosophy and morals of government accord with -both,--despotism of some sort being the natural rule where licentious -and ascetic religions prevail; and democratic government being possible -only under a moderate form of religion, where the use without the abuse -of all blessings is the spirit of the religion of the majority. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -GENERAL MORAL NOTIONS. - - "Une différente coutume donnera d'autres principes naturels. Cela - se voit par expérience; et s'il y en a d'ineffaçables à la coutume, - il y en a aussi de la coutume ineffaçables à la nature."--PASCAL. - - -Next to the religion of a people, it is necessary to learn what are -their Ideas of Morals. In speaking of the popular notion of a Moral -Sense, it was mentioned that, so far from there being a general -agreement on the practice of morals, some things which are considered -eminently right in one age or country are considered eminently wrong in -another; while the people of each age or country, having grown up under -common influences, think and feel sufficiently alike to live together in -a general agreement as to right and wrong. It is the business of the -traveller to ascertain what this general agreement is in the society he -visits. - -In one society, spiritual attainments will be the most highly honoured, -as in most religious communities. In another, the qualities attendant -upon intellectual eminence will be worshipped,--as now in countries -which are the most advanced in preparation for political -freedom,--France, Germany, and the United States. In others, the moral -qualities allied to physical or extrinsic power are chiefly -venerated,--as in all uncivilized countries, and all which lie under -feudal institutions. - -The lower moral qualities which belong to the last class have been -characteristics of nations. The valour of the Spartans, the love of -glory of the Romans and the French, the pride of the Spaniards,--these -infantile moral qualities have belonged to a people as distinctly as to -an individual.--Those which are in alliance with intellectual eminence -are not so strikingly characteristic of entire nations; though we praise -the Athenians for their love of letters and honour of philosophy; the -Italians for their liberality towards art, and their worship of it while -a meaner glory was the fashion of the world; the Germans for their -speculative enterprise, and patience of research; and the Americans for -their reverence for intellect above military fame and the splendour of -wealth.--No high spiritual qualities have ever yet characterized a -nation, or even--in spite of much profession--any considerable -community. Hospitality and beneficence have distinguished some religious -societies: the non-resistance of Quakers, the industry of Moravians, and -of several kinds of people united on the principle of community of -property, may be cited: but this seems to be all. The enforced -temperance, piety, and chastity of monastic societies go for nothing in -this view; because, being enforced, they indicate nothing of the -sentiment subsequent to the taking of the vow. The people of the United -States have come the nearest to being characterized by lofty spiritual -qualities. The profession with which they set out was high,--a -circumstance greatly to their honour, though (as might have been -expected) they have not kept up to it. They are still actuated by -ambition of territory, and have not faith enough in moral force to rely -upon it, as they profess to do. The Swiss, in their unshaken and -singularly devoted love of freedom, seem to be spiritually distinguished -above other nations: but they have no other strong characteristic of -this highest class. - -The truth is that, whatever may be the moral state of nations when the -human world emerges hereafter from its infancy, high spiritual qualities -are now matters of individual concern, as those of the intellectual -class were once; and their general prevalence is a matter of prospective -vision alone. Time was when the swampy earth resounded with the tramp -and splash of monstrous creatures, whom there was no reason present to -classify, and no language to name. Then, after a certain number of ages, -the earth grew drier; palm-groves and tropical thickets flourished where -Paris now stands; and the waters were collected into lakes in the -regions where the armies of Napoleon were of late encamped. Then came -the time when savage, animal man appeared, using his physical force like -the lower animals, and taught by the experience of its deficiency that -he was in possession of another kind of force. Still, for ages, the use -he made of reason was to overcome the physical force of others, and to -render available his own portion. On this principle, and for this -object, variously modified, and more or less refined, have societies -been formed to this day; though, as morals are the fruit of which -intellect is the blossom, spiritualism--faith in moral power--has -existed in individuals ever since the first free exercise of reason. -While all nations were ravaging one another as they had opportunity, -there were always parents who did not abuse their physical power over -their children. In the midst of a general worship of power, birth, and -wealth, the affections have wrought out in individual minds a preference -of obscurity and poverty for the sake of spiritual objects. Amidst the -supremacy of the worship of honour and social ease, there have always -been confessors who could endure disgrace for the truth, and martyrs who -could die for it.--Such individual cases have never been wanting: and, -in necessary connexion with this fact, there has always been a sympathy -in this pure moral taste,--an appreciation which could not but help its -diffusion. Thence arose the formation of communities for the fostering -of holiness,--projects which, however mistaken in their methods and -injurious in their consequences, have always commanded, and do still -command, sympathy, from the venerableness of their origin. Not all the -stories of the abuses of monastic institutions can destroy the respect -of every ingenuous mind for the spiritual preferences out of which they -arose. The Crusades are still holy, notwithstanding all their -defilements of vain-glory, superstition, and barbarism of various kinds. -The retreat of the Pilgrim Fathers to the forests of the New World -silences the ridicule of the thoughtless about the extravagances of -Puritanism in England. - -Thus far has the race advanced; and, having thus advanced, there is -reason to anticipate that the age may come when the individual worship -of spiritual supremacy may expand into national; when a people may agree -to govern one another with the smallest possible application of physical -force; when goodness shall come to be naturally more honoured than -birth, wealth, or even intellect; when ambition of territory shall be -given up; when all thought of war shall be over; when the pursuit of the -necessaries and luxuries of external life shall be regarded as means to -an end; and when the common aim of exertion shall be self and mutual -perfection. It does not seem to be rash to anticipate such a state of -human affairs as this, when an aspiration like the following has been -received with sympathy by thousands of republicans united under a -constitution of ideas. "Talent and worth are the only eternal grounds of -distinction. To these the Almighty has affixed his everlasting patent of -nobility; and these it is which make the bright, 'the immortal names,' -to which our children may aspire, as well as others. It will be our own -fault if, in our land, society as well as government is not organized on -a new foundation."--"Knowledge and goodness,--these make degrees in -heaven, and they must be the graduating scale of a true democracy."[F] - -Meantime, it is the traveller's business to learn what is the species of -Moral Sentiment which lies deepest in the hearts of the majority of the -people. - - * * * * * - -He will find no better place of study than the Cemetery,--no more -instructive teaching than Monumental Inscriptions. The brief language of -the dead will teach him more than the longest discourses of the living. - -He will learn what are the prevalent views of death; and when he knows -what is the common view of death, he knows also what is the aspect of -life to no small number;--that is, he will have penetrated into the -interior of their morals.--If it should ever be fully determined that -the pyramids of Egypt were designed solely as places of sepulture, they -will cease to be the mute witness they have been for ages. They will -tell at least that death was not regarded as the great leveller,--that -kings and peasants were not to sleep side by side in death, any more -than in life. How they contrast with the Moravian burial-grounds, where -all are laid in rows as they happen to be brought to the grave, and -where memorial is forbidden!--The dead of Constantinople are cast out -from among the living in waste, stillness, and solitude. The cemeteries -lie beyond the walls, where no hum from the city is heard, and where the -dark cypresses overhanging the white marble tombs give an air of -mourning and desolation to the scene. In contrast with these are the -church-yards of English cities, whose dead thus lie in full view of the -living; the school-boy trundles his hoop among them, and the news of the -day is discussed above their place of rest. This fact of where the dead -are laid is an important one. If out of sight, death and religion may or -may not be connected in the general sentiment; if within or near the -places of worship, they certainly are so connected. In the cemeteries of -Persia, the ashes of the dead are ranged in niches of the walls: in -Egypt we have the most striking example of affection to the body, shown -in the extraordinary care to preserve it; while some half-civilized -people seem to be satisfied with putting their dead out of sight, by -summarily sinking them in water, or hiding them in the sand; and the -Caffres throw their dead to the hyenas,--impelled to this, however, not -so much by disregard of the dead, as by a superstitious fear of death -taking place in their habitations, which causes them to remove the -dying, and expose them in this state to beasts of prey. The burial of -the dead by the road-side by some of the ancients, seems to have brought -death into the closest relation with life; and when the place chosen is -taken in connexion with the inscriptions on the tombs,--words addressed -to the wayfarer as from him who lies within,--from the pilgrim now at -rest to the pilgrim still on his way, they give plain indications of the -views of death and life entertained by those who placed them. - -Much may be learned from the monumental inscriptions of all nations. The -first epitaph is supposed to be traced back to the year of the world -2700, when the scholars of Linus, the Theban poet, bewailed their master -in verses which were inscribed upon his tomb. From that day to this, -wherever there have been letters, there have been epitaphs; and, where -letters have been wanting, there have been symbols. Mysterious symbolic -arrangements are traced in the monumental mounds in the interior of the -American continent, where a race of whom we know nothing else flourished -before the Red man opened his eyes upon the light. One common rule, -drawn from a universal sentiment, has presided at the framing of all -epitaphs for some thousands of years. "De mortuis nil nisi bonum" is the -universal agreement of mourners.[G] It follows that epitaphs must -everywhere indicate what is there considered good. - -The observer must give his attention to this. Among a people "whose -merchants are princes," the praise of the departed will be in a -different strain from that which will be found among a warlike nation, -or a community of agriculturists. Here one may find monumental homage to -public spirit, in the form of active citizenship; there to domestic -virtue as the highest honour. The glory of eminent station, of ancient -family, of warlike deeds, and of courtly privileges may be conspicuously -exhibited in one district; while in another the dead are honoured in -proportion to their contempt of human greatness, even when won by -achievements; to their having lived with a sole regard "to things unseen -and eternal." An inscription which breathes the pride of a noble family -in telling that "all the sons were brave, and all the daughters chaste," -presents a summary of the morals of the age and class to which it -belongs. It tells that the supreme honour of men was to be brave, and of -women to be chaste; excluding the supposition of each sharing the virtue -of the other: whereas, when courage and purity shall be understood in -their full signification, it will have become essential to the honour of -a noble family that all the sons should be also pure, and all the -daughters brave. Then bravery will signify moral rather than physical -courage, and purity of mind will be considered no attribute of sex. - -Even the nature of the public services commemorated, where public -service is considered the highest praise, may indicate much. It is a -fact of no small significance whether a man is honoured after death for -having made a road, or for having founded a monastery, or endowed a -school; whether he introduced a new commodity, or erected a church; -whether he marched adventurously in the pursuit of conquest, or fought -bravely among his native mountains to guard the homes of his countrymen -from aggression. The German, the French, the Swiss monuments of the -present century all tell the common tale that men have lived and died: -but with what various objects did they live! and in what a variety of -hope and heroism did they die! All were proud of their respective -differences while they lived; and, now that their contests are at an -end, they afford materials of speculation to the stranger who ponders -upon their tombs. - -A variety, perhaps a contrariety of praise, may be found in the epitaphs -of a country, a city, or a single cemetery. Where this diversity is -found, it testifies to the diversity of views held, and therefore to the -freedom of the prevailing religious sentiment. Everywhere, however, -there is an affection and esteem for certain virtues. Disinterestedness, -fidelity, and love are themes of praise everywhere. Some may have no -sympathy for the deeds of the warrior, and others for the discoveries of -the philosopher and the adventurer; but the honoured parent, the devoted -child, the philanthropic citizen, are sure of their tribute from all -hearts. - -Even if there were a variety of praise proportioned to the diversity of -hearts and minds that utter it, the inscriptions of a cemetery cannot -but breathe a spirit which must animate, more or less, the morals of the -society. For instance, the cemetery of Père la Chaise utters, from end -to end, one wail. It is all mourning, and no hope. Every expression of -grief, from tender regret to blank despair, is to be found there; but -not a hint of consolation, except from memory. All is over, and the -future is vacant. A remarkable contrast to this is seen in the cemetery -of Mount Auburn, Massachusetts. The religious spirit of New England is -that which has hope for one of its largest elements, and which was -believed by the Puritan fathers to forbid the expression of sorrow. One -of those fathers made an entry in his journal, in the early days of the -colony, that it had pleased God to take from him by an accident his -beloved son Henry, whom he committed to the Lord's mercy;--and this was -all. In a similar spirit are the epitaphs at Mount Auburn framed. There -is a religious silence about the sorrows of the living, and every -expression of joy, thanksgiving, and hope for the dead. One who had -never heard of death, might take this for the seed-field of life; for -the oratory of the happy; for the heaven of the hopeful. Parents invite -their children from the grave to follow them. Children remind their -parents that the term of separation will be short; and all repose their -hopes together on an authority which is to them as stable and -comprehensive as the blue sky which is over all.--What a contrast is -here! and how eloquent as to the moral views of the respective nations! -There is not a domestic attachment or social relation which is not -necessarily modified, elevated, or depressed by the conviction of its -being transient or immortal,--an end or means to a higher end. Though -human hearts are so far alike as that there must be a hope of reunion, -more or less defined and assured, in all who love, and a practical -falling below the elevation of this hope in those even who enjoy the -strongest assurance,--yet the moral notions of any society must be very -different where the ground of hope is taken for granted, and where it is -kept wholly out of sight. - - * * * * * - -The observer may obtain further light upon the moral ideas of a people -by noting the degree of their Attachment to Kindred and Birth-place. -This species of attachment is so natural, that none are absolutely -without it; but it varies in degree, according as the moral taste of the -people goes to enhance or to subdue it. The Swiss and the American -parent both send their children abroad; but with what different feelings -and views! The Swiss father dismisses his daughter to teach in a school -at Paris or London, and his sons to commerce or war. He resigns himself -to a hard necessity, and supports them with suggestions of the honour of -virtuous independence, and of the delight of returning when it is -achieved. They, in their exile, can never see a purple shade upon a -mountain side, a gleaming sheet of water, or a nestling village, without -a throb of the heart, and a sickening longing for home.--The New -England mother, with her tribe of children around her on her hill-side -farm, nourishes them with tales of the noble extent of their -country,--how its boundary is ever shifting westwards, and what a wild -life it is there in the forest, with the Red men for neighbours, and -inexhaustible wealth in the soil, ready for the hand which shall have -enterprise to work for it. She tells of one and another, but lately boys -like her children, who are now judges and legislators,--founders of -towns, or having counties named after them. As her young people grow up, -they part off eagerly from the old farm,--one into a southern city, -another into the western forest, a third to a prairie in a new -territory; and the daughters marry, and go over the mountains too. The -mother may have sighs to conceal, but she does conceal them; and the -sons, so far from lingering,--are impatient till they are gone. Their -idea of national honour,--both their patriotic and their personal -ambition,--is concerned; and they welcome the hour of dispersion as the -first step towards the great objects of their life. Some return to the -old neighbourhood to take a wife; but they do not think of passing their -second childhood where they spent their first,--any more than the Greek -colonists who swarmed from their narrow native districts. The settlers -of the west go there, not to obtain a certain amount of personal -property, but land, station, and power.--How different again are the -Scotch--the people of the strongest family attachments! In the modified -and elevated feudalism of clanship, pride and love of kindred constitute -the animating social principle. Their clan-music is to them what the -Ranz de Vaches is to the Swiss: the one echoing the harmonics of social -intercourses, as the other revives the melodies of mountain life. -Through the love of kindred, the love of birth-place flourishes among -the Scotch. The Highland emigrants in Canada not only clasp hands when -they hear played the march of their clan, but wept when they found that -heather would not grow in their newly-adopted soil. - - * * * * * - -The traveller must talk with Old People, and see what is the character -of the garrulity of age. He must talk with Children, and mark the -character of the aspirations of childhood. He will thus learn what is -good in the eyes of those who have passed through the society he -studies, and in the hopes of those who have yet to enter upon it. Is it -the aged mother's pride that her sons are all unstained in honour, and -her daughters safe in happy homes? or does she boast that one is a -priest, and another a peeress? Does the grandmother relate that all her -descendants who are of age are "received church-members"? or that her -favourite grandchild has been noticed by the emperor? Do the old men -prose of a single happy love, or of exploits of gallantry? or of -commercial success, or of political failure? What is the section of life -to which the greatest number of ancient memories cling? Is it to -struggles for a prince in disguise, or to a revolutionary conflict? Is -it to the removal of a social oppression, or to a season of domestic -trial, or to an accession of personal consequence? Is it the having -acquired an office or a title? or the having assisted in the abolition -of slavery? or the having conversed with a great author? or the having -received a nod from a prince, or a curtsey from a queen? or have you to -listen to details of the year of the scarcity, or the season of the -plague?--What are the children's minds full of? The little West Indian -will not talk of choosing a profession, any more than the infant -Portuguese will ask for books. One nation of children will tell of the -last saint's day, and another will refer every thing to the emperor. -Elsewhere you will be treated with legends without end; or you will be -instructed about bargains and wages; or the boys will ask you why a -king's son should be king whether the people like him or not; and the -girls will whisper something to you about their brother being President -some day. As the minds of the young are formed, generally speaking, to -an adaptation to the objects presented to them, their preference of -warlike to commercial, or literary to political honour, is an eloquent -circumstance: and so of their sense of greatness in any -direction,--whether it be of the physical order, or the intellectual, or -the spiritual. - - * * * * * - -From this, the transition is natural to the study of the character of -the Pride of each nation. Learn what people glory in, and you learn much -of both the theory and practice of their morals. All nations, like all -individuals, have pride, sooner or later, in one thing or another. It is -a stage through which they have to pass in their moral progression, and -out of which the most civilized have not yet advanced, nor discerned -that they will have to advance, though the passion becomes moderated at -each remove from barbarism. It is by no means clear that the essential -absurdity of each is relieved by its dilution. Hereafter, the most -modern pride of the most civilized people may appear as ridiculous in -its nature as the grossest conceit of utter barbarians now appears to -us; but, still, the direction taken by the general pride must show what -class of objects is held in most esteem. - -The Chinese have no doubt that all other countries are created for the -benefit of theirs; they call their own "the central empire," as certain -philosophers once called our earth the centre round which everything -else was to revolve. They call it the Celestial Empire, of which their -ruler is the Sun: "they profess to rule barbarians by misrule, like -beasts, and not like native subjects." Here we have the extreme of -national pride, which must involve various moral qualities;--all the bad -ones which are the consequence of ignorance, subservience to domestic -despotism, and contempt of the race of man; and the good ones which are -the consequence of national seclusion,--cheerful industry, social -complacency, quietness, and order.--The Arab pride bears a resemblance -to the Chinese, but is somewhat refined and spiritualized. The Arabs -believe that the earth, "spread out like a bed," and upheld by a -gigantic angel (the angel standing upon a rock, and the rock upon a -bull, and the bull upon a fish, and the fish floating upon water, and -the water upon darkness,)--that the earth, thus upheld, is surrounded by -the Circumambient Ocean; that the inhabited part of the earth is to the -rest but as a tent in the desert; and that in the very centre of this -inhabited part is--Mecca. Their exclusive faith makes a part of their -nationality, and their insolence shows itself eminently in their -devotions. Their spiritual supremacy is their strong point; and they can -afford to be somewhat less outwardly contemptuous to the race at large, -from the certainty they have that all will be made plain and -indisputable at last, when the followers of the Prophet alone will be -admitted to bliss, and the punishments of the future world will be -eternal to all but wicked Mahomedans. There will be found among the -Arabs, in accordance with this pride, a strong mutual fidelity; and, -among the best class of believers, a real devotion and a kindly -compassion towards outcasts; while, among lower orders of minds, we may -expect to witness the extreme exasperation of vindictiveness, insult, -and rapacity.--We may pass over the pride of caste in India, of royal -race in Africa, and the wild notions of Caribbean and Esquimaux dignity, -which are almost as painful to contemplate as the freaks of pride in -Bedlam. There is quite enough to look upon in the most civilized parts -of the earth.--The whole national character of the Spaniards might be -inferred from their particularly notorious pride; the quarterings of -German barons are a popular joke; the French pride of military glory is -an index to the national morals of France; while, in the United States, -the pride of Washington and of territory is oddly combined and -contrasted. Nothing can be more indicative of the true moral state of -the Americans; they hang between the past and the future, with many of -the feudal prepossessions of the past, mingled with the democratic -aspirations which relate to the future. The ambition and pride of -territory belong to the first, and their pride in the leader of their -revolution to the last: he is their personification of that moral power -to which they profess allegiance. The consequences of this arbitrary -union of two kinds of national pride may be foreseen. The Americans -unite some of the low qualities of feudalism with some of the highest of -a more equal social organization. Without the first, slavery, cupidity, -and ostentation could not exist to any great extent; without the others, -there could not be the splendid moral conflict which we now see going on -in opposition to slavery, nor the reverence for man which is the -loveliest feature of American morals and manners. - -From the aristocratic pride of the English the stranger might draw -inferences no less correct. If it is found that there is scarcely a -gamekeeper or a tradesman among us who is not stiffened with prejudices -about rank; that gossips can tell what noblemen pay, and which do not -pay, their tradesmen's bills; that persons who have never seen a lord -can furnish all information about the genealogy and intermarriages of -noble families; that every class is emulating the manners of the one -above it; and that democratic principles are held chiefly in the -manufacturing districts, or, if in country regions, among the tenantry -of landlords of liberal politics;--the moral condition of such a people -lies, as it were, mapped out beneath the eye of the observer. They must -be orderly, eminently industrious, munificent in their grants to rulers, -and mechanically oppressive to the lowest class of the ruled; nationally -complacent, while wanting in individual self-respect; reverentially -inclined towards the lofty minority, and contemptuously disposed -towards the lowly majority of their race; a generous devotion being -advantageously mingled, however, with the select reverence, and a kindly -spirit of protection with the gross contempt. Such, to the eye of an -observer, are the qualities involved in English pride. Upon this moral -material, everywhere diffused, should the traveller observe and reflect. - - * * * * * - -Man-worship is as universal a practice as that of the higher sort of -religion. As men everywhere adore some supposed agents of unseen things, -they are, in like manner, disposed to do homage to what is venerable -when it is presented to their eyes in the actions of a living man. This -man-worship is one of the most honourable and one of the most hopeful -circumstances in the mind of the race. An individual here and there may -scoff at the credulity of others, and profess unbelief in human virtue; -but no society has ever yet wanted faith in man. Every community has its -saints, its heroes, its sages,--whose tombs are visited, whose deeds are -celebrated, whose words have become the rules by which men live. - -Now, the moral taste of a people is nowhere more clearly shown than in -its choice of idols. Of these idols there are two kinds;--those whose -divinity is confirmed by the lapse of time, like Gustavus Adolphus among -the Swedes, Tell in Switzerland, Henri IV. among the French, and -Washington among the Americans; and those who are still living, and upon -whose daily doings a multitude of eyes are fixed. - -Those of the first class reign singly; their uncontested sway is over -national character, as well as the affections of individual minds; and -from their character may that of the whole people be, in certain -respects, inferred. Who supposes that the Swiss would have been the same -as they are, if Tell's character and deeds could have been hidden in -oblivion from the moment those deeds were done? What would the Americans -have been now if every impression of Washington could have been effaced -from their minds fifty years ago? This is not the place in which to -enlarge on the power--the greatest power we know of--which man exercises -over men through their affections; but it is a fact which the observer -should keep ever in view. The existence of a great man is one of those -gigantic circumstances,--one of those national influences,--which have -before been mentioned as modifying the conscience--the feelings about -right and wrong--in a whole people. The pursuits of a nation for ever -may be determined by the fact of the great man of five centuries being a -poet, a warrior, a statesman, or a maritime adventurer. The morals of a -nation are influenced to all eternity by the great man's being ambitious -or moderate, passionate or philosophical, licentious or self-governed. -Certain lofty qualities he must have, or he could not have attained -greatness,--energy, perseverance, faith, and consequently earnestness. -These are essential to his immortality; upon the others depends the -quality of his influence; and upon these must the observer of the -present generation reflect. - -It is not by dogmas that Christianity has permanently influenced the -mind of Christendom. No creeds are answerable for the moral revolution -by which physical has been made to succumb to moral force; by which -unfortunates are cherished by virtue of their misfortunes; by which the -pursuit of speculative truth has become an object worthy of -self-sacrifice. It is the character of Jesus of Nazareth which has -wrought to these purposes. Notwithstanding all the obscuration and -defilement which that character has sustained from superstition and -other corruption, it has availed to these purposes, and must prevail -more and more now that it is no longer possible to misrepresent his -sayings and conceal his deeds, as was done in the dark ages. In all -advancing time, as corruption is surmounted, there are more and more who -vividly feel that life does not consist in the abundance that a man -possesses, but in energy of spirit, and in a power and habit of -self-sacrifice: there are perpetually more and more who discern and live -by the persuasion that the pursuit of worldly power and ease is a matter -totally apart from the function of Christianity; and this persuasion has -not been wrought into activity by declarations of doctrine in any form, -but by the spectacle, vivid before the eye of the mind, of the Holy One -who declined the sword and the crown, lived without property, and -devoted himself to die by violence, in an unparalleled simplicity of -duty. The being himself is the mover here; and every great man is, in a -similar manner, however inferior may be the degree, a spring by which -spirits are moved. By the study of them may much of the consequent -movement be understood. The observer of British morals should gather up -the names of their idols; he will hear of Hampden, Bacon, Shakspeare, -Newton, Howard, and Wesley. In Scotland, he will hear of Bruce and -Knox. What a flood of light do these names shed on our _morale_! It is -the same with the Englishman abroad when his attention is referred in -France to Henri IV, Richelieu, Turenne, and Napoleon, to Bossuet and -Fenelon, to Voltaire, and their glorious list of natural philosophers: -in Italy, to Lorenzo de' Medici, Galileo, and their constellations of -poets and artists: in Germany, to Charles V, Luther, Schwartz, Göthe, -Copernicus, Handel, and Mozart. There is in every nation a succession of -throned gods, each of whom is the creator of some region of the national -mind, and has formed men into more or less of his own likeness. - -The other kind of idols are those who are still living, and whose -influence upon morals and manners is strong, but may or may not be -distinguishably permanent. These afford a less faithful evidence,--but -yet an evidence which is not to be neglected. The spirit of the times is -seen in the character of the idols of the day, however the nation may be -divided in its choice of idols, and however many sects there may be in -the man-worship of the generation. In our own day, for instance, how -plainly is the movement of society discerned, from the fact of the -eminence of philanthropists in many countries! Whether they presently -sink, or continue to rise, they testify to a prevailing feeling in -society. Père Enfantin in France, Wilberforce in England, Garrison in -America,--these are watchmen set on a pinnacle (whoever may object to -their being there) who can tell us "what of the night," and how a new -morning is breaking. Whether they may be most cause or effect, whether -they have more or less decidedly originated the interest of which they -are the head, it is clear that there is a certain adaptation between -themselves and the general mind, without which they could not have risen -to be what they are.--Every society has always its idols. If there are -none by merit, at any moment, station is received as a qualification. -Large numbers are always worshipping the heads of the aristocracy, of -whatever kind they may be; and there is rarely a long interval in which -there is not some warrior, some poet, artist, or philanthropist on whom -the multitude are flinging crowns and incense. The popularity of Byron -testified to the existence of a gloomy discontent in a multitude of -minds, as the adoration of De Béranger discloses the political feelings -of the French. Statesmen rarely command an overwhelming majority of -worshippers, because interest enters much more than sentiment into -politics: but every author, or other artist who can reach the general -mind,--every preacher, philanthropist, soldier, or discoverer, who has -risen into an atmosphere of worship in pursuit of a purpose, is a fresh -Peter the Hermit, meeting and stimulating the spirit of his time, and -exhibiting its temper to the observer,--foreign as to either clime or -century. The physical observer of a new region might as well shut his -eyes to the mountains, and omit to note which way the streams run, as -the moral observer pass by the idols of a nation with a heedless gaze. - - * * * * * - -Side by side with this lies the inquiry into the great Epochs of the -society visited. Find out what individuals and nations date from, and -you discover what events are most interesting to them. A child reckons -from his first journey, or his entrance upon school: a man from his -marriage, his beginning practice in his profession, or forming a fresh -partnership in trade; if he be a farmer, from the year of a good or bad -crop; if he be a merchant, from the season of a currency pressure; if he -be an operative, from the winter of the Strike: a matron dates from the -birth of her children; her nursemaid from her change of place. Nations, -too, date from what interests them most. It is important to learn what -this is. The major date of American citizens is the Revolution; their -minor dates are elections, and new admissions into the Union. The people -at Amsterdam date from the completion of the Stadt Huis; the Spaniards -from the achievement of Columbus; the Germans from the deed of Luther; -the Haytians from the abduction of Toussaint L'Ouverture; the Cherokees -from treaties with the Whites; the people of Pitcairn's Island from the -mutiny of the Bounty; the Turks, at present, from the massacre of the -Janissaries; the Russians from the founding of St. Petersburgh and the -deaths of its monarchs; the Irish (for nearer times than the battle of -the Boyne) by the year of the fever, the year of the rebellion, the year -of the famine. There is a world of instruction in this kind of fact; and -if a new species of epoch, of which there is a promise, should -arise,--if the highest works of men should come to be looked upon as the -clearest operations of Providence,--if Germany or Europe should date -from Göthe as the civilized world does from Columbus,--this sole test -might reveal almost the entire moral state of society. - - * * * * * - -The treatment of the Guilty is all-important as an index to the moral -notions of a society. This class of facts will hereafter yield -infallible inferences as to the principles and views of governments and -people upon vice, its causes and remedies. At present, such facts must -be used with great caution, because the societies of civilized countries -are in a state of transition from the old vindictiveness to a purer -moral philosophy. The ancient methods, utterly disgraceful as they are, -must subsist till society has fully agreed upon and prepared for better -ones; and it would be harsh to pronounce upon the humanity of the -English from their prisons, or the justice of the French from their -galley system. The degrees of reliance upon brute force and upon public -opinion are yet by no means proportioned to the civilization of -respective societies, as at first sight might be expected, and as must -be before punishments and prisons can be taken as indications of morals -and manners. - -The treatment of the guilty in savage lands, and also in countries under -a despotism, indicates the morals of rulers only,--except in so far as -it points out the political subservience of the people. It is true that -the Burmese must needs be in a deplorable social state, if their king -can "spread out" his prime minister in the sun, as formerly described: -but the mercy or cruelty of his subjects can be inferred only from the -liberty they may have and may use to treat one another in the same -manner. In their case, we see that such a power is possessed and put to -use. The creditor exposes his debtor's wife, children, and slaves, to -the same noon-day sun which broils the prime minister. In Austria, it -would be harsh to suppose that subjects have any desire to treat one -another as the Emperor and his minister treat political offenders within -the walls of the castle of Spielburg. The Russians at large are not to -be made answerable for the transportation of coffles of nobles and -gentlemen to the silver mines of Siberia, and the regiments on the -frontier. It is only under a representative government that prisons, and -the treatment of criminals under the law, can be fairly considered a -test of the feelings of the majority. - -It is too true, however, that punishments are almost everywhere -vindictive in their character; and have more relation to some supposed -principle of "not letting vice go unpunished," than either to the -security of society, or the reformation of the offender. The few -exceptions that exist are a far more conclusive testimony to an -advancing state of morals than the old methods are to the vindictiveness -of the mind of the society which they corrupt and deform. The -Philadelphia penitentiary is a proof of the thoughtful and laborious -humanity of those who instituted it; but Newgate cannot be regarded as -the expressed decision of the English people as to how criminals should -be guarded. Such a prison would not now be instituted by any civilized -nation. Its existence is to be interpreted, not as a token of the -cruelty and profligacy of the mind of society, but of its ignorance of -the case, or of its bigoted adherence to ancient methods, or of its -apathy in regard to improvements to which there is no peremptory call of -self-interest. Any one of these is enough, Heaven knows, for any -society to have to answer for; enough to yield, by contrast, surpassing -honour to the philanthropy which has pulled down the pillory, and is -labouring to supersede the hangman, and to convert every prison in the -civilized world into an hospital for the cure of moral disease. But the -reform has begun; the spirit of Howard is on its pilgrimage; and -barbarous as is still our treatment of the guilty, better days are in -prospect. - -What the traveller has to observe then is, first, whether there has been -any amelioration of the treatment of criminals in countries where the -people have a voice upon it: and, in countries despotically ruled, -whether public sentiment is moved about the condition of state -criminals, and whether men treat one another vindictively in their -appeals to the laws of citizenship: whether there is a Burmese cruelty -in the exercise of the legal rights of the creditor; whether there is a -reluctance to plunge others into the woes of legal penalties; or whether -offenders are considered as beyond the pale of sympathy. It may thus -appear whether the people entertain the pernicious notion that there is -a line drawn for human conduct, on one side of which all is virtue, and -on the other all vice; or whether they are approximating to the more -philosophical and genial belief that all wickedness is weakness and woe, -and that therefore the guilty need more care and tenderness in the -arrangement of the circumstances under which they live than those who -enjoy greater strength against temptation, and an ease of mind which -criminals can never know. In some parts of the United States this -general persuasion is remarkably evident, and is an incontestable proof -of the advanced state of morals there. In some prisons of the United -States, as much care is bestowed on the arrangements by which the guilty -are preserved from contaminating one another, are exposed to good -influences and precluded from bad, as in any infirmary on the -ventilation of the wards, and the diet and nursing of the sick. In such -a region, vindictiveness in social punishments must be going out, and -Christ-like views of human guilt and infirmity beginning to prevail. - -The same conclusions may be drawn from an observation of the methods of -legal punishment. Recklessness of human life is one of the surest -symptoms of barbarism, whether life is taken by law or by assassination. -As men grow civilized, and learn to rate the spiritual higher and higher -above the physical life, human life grows sacred. The Turk orders off -the head of a slave almost without a serious thought. The New Zealanders -have murdered men by scores, to supply their dried and grinning heads to -English purchasers, who little imagined the cost at which they were -obtained. This is the way in which life is squandered in savage -societies. Up to a comparatively high point of civilization, the law -makes free with life, long after the private expenditure of it has been -checked or has ceased. Duels, brawls, assassinations, have nearly been -discontinued, and even war in some measure discountenanced, before the -law duly recognises the sacredness of human life. But the time comes. -One generation after another grows up with a still improving sense of -the majesty of life,--of the mystery of the existence of such a being as -man,--of the infinity of ideas and emotions in the mind of each, and of -the boundlessness of his social relations. These recognitions may not be -express; but they are sufficiently real to hold back the hand from -quenching life. The reluctance to destroy such a creation is found to be -on the increase. Men prefer suffering wrong to being accessary to so -fearful an act as what now appears a judicial murder: the law is left -unused,--is evaded,--and it becomes necessary to alter it. Capital -punishments are restricted,--are further restricted,--are abolished. -Such is the process. It is now all but completed in the United States: -it is advancing rapidly in England. During its progress further light is -thrown on the moral notions of a represented people by a change in the -character of other (called inferior) punishments. Bodily torments and -disfigurements go out. Torture and mutilation are discontinued, and -after a while the grosser mental inflictions. The pillory (as mere -ignominious exposure) was a great advance upon the maiming with which it -was once connected; but it is now discontinued as barbarous. All -ignominious exposure will ere long be considered equally -barbarous,--including capital punishment, of which such exposure is the -recommendatory principle. To refer once more to the Pennsylvania -case,--these notions of ignominious exposure are there so far outgrown, -that avoidance of it is the main principle of the management. Seclusion, -under the guardianship of the law, is there the method,--on the -principle of consideration to the weak, and of supreme regard to the -feeling of self-respect in the offender,--the feeling in which he is -necessarily most deficient. When we consider the brutalizing methods of -punishment in use in former times, and now in some foreign countries, -in contrast with the latest instituted and most successful, we cannot -avoid perceiving that such are indications of the moral notions of those -at whose will they exist, be they a council of despots, or an -association of nations. We cannot avoid perceiving from them what -barbarism is held to be justice in some ages and countries; and how that -which would then and there be condemned as culpable leniency, comes -elsewhere to be considered less than justice. The treatment of the -guilty is one of the strongest evidences as to the general moral notions -of society, when it is evidence at all; that is, when the guilty are in -the hands of society. - - * * * * * - -There is another species of evidence of which travellers are not in the -habit of making use, but which is well worth their attention,--the -Conversation of convicted Criminals. There are not many places in the -world where it is possible to obtain this, without a greater sacrifice -of comfort than the ordinary tourist is disposed to make. There is -little temptation to enter prisons where squalid wretches are crowded -together in dirt, noise, and utter profligacy; where no one of them -could speak seriously for fear of the ridicule of his comrades; where -the father sees his young son corrupted before his eyes, and the mother -utters cruel jests upon the frightened child that hides its face in her -apron. In scenes like these, there is nothing for the stranger to do and -to learn. The whole is one great falsehood, where the people are acting -falsely under false circumstances. It affords an enterprise for the -philanthropist, but no real knowledge for the observer. He may pass by -such places, knowing that they are pretty much alike in all countries -where they exist. Criminals herded together in virtue of their -criminality, and outraged into a diabolical hardihood, must present one -uniform aspect of disgust. What variety should there be in them? About -as much as in the leper settlements in the wildernesses of the world two -thousand years ago. - -The traveller will not be permitted to see the state prisoners of any -despotic government; but wherever the subject of prison reform has been -entertained, (and Howard's spirit is at work in many countries of the -world,) there will probably be opportunity to converse with offenders in -a better way than by singling them out from the crowd, in a spirit of -condescension, and asking them a few questions, in the answers to which -you can place no confidence. If you can converse face to face with a -convict, as man with man, you can hardly fail to be instructed. If he -has been long deprived of equal conversation, his heart will be full; -his disposition will be to trust you; his impulse will be to confide to -you his offence, and all the details connected with it. By thus -conversing with a variety of offenders, you will be put in possession of -the causes of crime, of the views of society upon the relative gravity -of offences, and of the condition of hope or despair in which those are -left who have broken the laws, and are delivered over to shame. - -Much light will also be thrown upon the seat of the disorders of -society. Putting political offences aside, as varying in number in -proportion to the nature of the government, almost all the rest are -offences against property. Nine out of ten convicts, perhaps, are -punished for taking the money or money's worth of another. Here is a -hint as to the respects in which society is most mistaken in its -principles, and weakest in its organization. Of the offences against the -person, some are occasioned by the bad habits which attend the practice -of depredation on property; thieves are drunkards, and drunkards are -brawlers:--but the greater number arise out of domestic miseries. Where -there are fewest assaults occasioned by conjugal injuries and domestic -troubles, the state of morals is the purest. Where they abound, it is -clear that the course of love does not run smooth; and that, from the -workings of some bad principles, domestic morals are in a low state. In -Austria and Prussia, state criminals abound; while in America such a -thing is rarely heard of. In America, a youthful and thriving country, -offences against property for the most part arise out of bad personal -habits, which again are occasioned by domestic misery of some kind; this -domestic misery, however, being itself less common than in an older -state of society. In England almost all the offences are against -property, and are so multitudinous as to warrant a stranger's conclusion -that the distribution of property among us must be extremely faulty, the -oppression of certain classes by others very severe, and our political -morals very low; in short, that the aristocratic spirit rules in -England. From the tales of convicts,--how they were reared, what was the -nature of the snares into which they fell, what opportunity of -retrieving themselves remained, and what was the character of the -influences which sank them into misery,--much cannot but be learned of -the moral atmosphere in which they were reared. From their present state -of mind,--whether they revert in affection to their homes, or to the -society from which they have been snatched,--whether they look forward -with hope or fear, or are incapable of looking forward at all,--it will -appear whether the justice and benevolence of the community have secured -the commonest blessings of moral life to these its lowest members, or -whether they have been utterly crushed by the selfishness of the society -into which they were born. To have criminals at all may in time come to -be a disgrace to a community; meantime, their number and quality are an -evidence as to its prevalent moral notions, which the intelligent -observer will not disregard. - - * * * * * - -[H]"The SONGS of every nation must always be the most familiar and truly -popular part of its poetry. They are uniformly the first fruits of the -fancy and feeling of rude societies; and, even in the most civilized -times, are _the only_ poetry of the great body of the people. Their -influence, therefore, upon the character of a country has been -universally felt and acknowledged. Among rude tribes, it is evident that -their songs must, at first, take their tone from the prevailing -character of the people. But, even among them, it is to be observed -that, though generally expressive of the fiercest passions, they yet -represent them with some tincture of generosity and good feeling, and -may be regarded as the first lessons and memorials of savage virtue. An -Indian warrior, at the stake of torture, exults, in wild numbers, over -the enemies who have fallen by his tomahawk, and rejoices in the -anticipated vengeance of his tribe. But it is chiefly by giving -expression to the loftiest sentiments of invincible courage and -fortitude, that he seeks to support himself in the midst of his -torments. 'I am brave and intrepid!' he exclaims,--'I do not fear death -nor any kind of torture! He who fears them is a coward--he is less than -a woman. Death is nothing to him who has courage!' As it is thus the -very best parts of their actual character that are dwelt upon even in -the barbarous songs of savages, these songs must contribute essentially -to the progress of refinement, by fostering and cherishing every germ of -good feeling that is successively developed during the advancement of -society. When selfishness begins to give way to generosity,--when mere -animal courage is in some degree ennobled by feelings of patriotic -self-devotion,--and, above all, when sensual appetite begins to be -purified into love,--it is then that the popular songs, by acquiring a -higher character themselves, come to produce a still more powerful -reaction upon the character of the people. These songs, produced by the -most highly-gifted of the tribe,--by those who feel most strongly, and -express their feelings most happily,--convey ideas of greater elevation -and refinement than are as yet familiar; but not so far removed from the -ordinary habits of thinking as to be unintelligible. The hero who -devotes himself to death for the safety of his country, with a firmness -as yet almost without example in the actual history of the race,--and -the lover, who follows his mistress through every danger, and perhaps -dies for her sake,--become objects on which every one delights to dwell, -and models which the braver and nobler spirits are thus incited to -emulate. The songs of rude nations, accordingly, and those in which they -take most pleasure, are filled with the most romantic instances of -courage, fidelity, and generosity; and it cannot be supposed that such -delightful and elevating pictures of human nature can be constantly -before the eyes of any people, without producing a great effect on their -character. The same considerations are applicable to the effects of -popular ballads upon the most numerous classes of society, even in -civilized nations." - -It appears that popular songs are both the cause and effect of general -morals: that they are first formed, and then react. In both points of -view they serve as an index of popular morals. The ballads of a people -present us, not only with vivid pictures of the common objects which are -before their eyes,--given with more familiarity than would suit any -other style of composition,--but they present also the most prevalent -feelings on subjects of the highest popular interest. If it were not so, -they would not have been popular songs. The traveller cannot be wrong in -concluding that he sees a faithful reflection of the mind of a people in -their ballads. When he possesses the popular songs of former centuries, -he holds the means of transporting himself back to the scenes of the -ancient world, and finds himself a spectator of its most active -proceedings. Wars are waged beneath his eye, and the events of the chase -grow to a grandeur which is not dreamed of now. Love, the passion of all -times, and the staple of all songs, varies in its expression among -every people and in every age, and appears still another and yet the -same. The lady of ballads is always worthy of love and song; but there -are instructive differences in the treatment she receives. Sometimes she -is oppressed by a harsh parent; sometimes wrongfully accused by a wicked -servant, or a false knight; sometimes her soft nature is exasperated -into revenge; sometimes she is represented as fallen, but always, in -that case, as enduring retribution. Upon the whole, the testimony is -strong in favour of bravery in men, and purity in women, and constancy -in both;--and this in the whole range of popular poetry, from ancient -Arabic effusions, through centuries of European song, up to the Indian -chants which may yet be heard on the shores of the wide western lakes. -The distinguishing attributes of great men bear a strong resemblance, -from the days when all Greece rang with the musical celebration of -Harmodius and Aristogiton, through the age of Charlemagne, up to the -triumphs of Bolivar: and women have been adored for the same qualities, -however variously set forth, from the virgin with gazelle eyes of three -thousand years ago, to the dames who witnessed the conflicts of the Holy -Land, and onwards to the squaw who calls upon her husband not to forget -her in the world of spirits, and to our Burns' Highland Mary. - -What the traveller has to look to is, that he does not take one aspect -of the popular mind for the whole, or a temporary state of the popular -mind for a permanent one,--though, from the powerful action of national -song, this temporary state is likely to become a permanent one by its -means. As an instance of the first, the observer would be mistaken in -judging of more than a class of English from some of the best songs they -have,--Dibdin's sea songs. They are too fair a representation of the -single class to which they pertain, though they have done much to foster -and extend the spirit of generosity, simplicity, activity, gaiety, and -constant love, which they breathe. They have undoubtedly raised the -character of the British navy, and are to a great degree indicative of -the naval spirit with us: but they present only one aspect of the -national mind. In Spain, again, the songs with which the mountains are -ringing, and whose origin is too remote to be traced, are no picture of -the conventional mind of the aristocratic classes. As an instance of the -false conclusions which might be drawn from the popular songs of a brief -period, we may look to the revolutionary poetry of France. It would be -unfair to judge of the French people by their _ça ira_ or the -_Carmagnole_, however true an expression such songs may be of the spirit -of the hour. The nation had lived before under "une monarchie absolue -tempérée par des chansons;" the absolutism grew too galling; and then -the songs took the tone of fury which protracted oppression had bred. It -was not long before the tone was again changed. Napoleon was harassed on -his imperial throne by tokens of a secret understanding, unfriendly to -his interests: those tokens were songs ambiguously worded, or set to -airs which were used as signs; and treason, which he could not reach, -was perpetually spoken and acted within ear-shot and before his eyes. -When the royal family returned, the songs of De Béranger passed in like -manner from lip to lip, and the restored throne trembled to the echo. In -France, morals have for many years found their chief expression in -politics; and from the songs of Paris may the traveller learn the -political feelings of the time. Under representative governments, where -politics are the chief expression of morals, the songs of the people -cannot but be an instructive study to the observer; and scarcely less so -in countries where, politics being forbidden, the domestic and friendly -relations must be the topics through which the most general ideas and -feelings will flow out. - -The rudest and the most advanced nations abound in songs. They are heard -under the plantain throughout Africa, as in the streets of Paris. The -boatmen on the Nile, and the children of Cairo on their way to school, -cheer the time with chants; as do the Germans in their vineyards, and in -the leisure hours of the university. The Negro sings of what he sees and -feels,--the storm coming over the woods, the smile of his wife, and the -coolness of the drink she gives him. The Frenchman sings the woes of the -state prisoner, and the shrewd self-cautionings of the citizen. The -songs of the Egyptian are amatory, and of the German varied as the -accomplishments of the nation,--but in their moral tone earnest and -pure. The more this mode of expression is looked into, the more -serviceable it will be found to the traveller's purposes of observation. - - * * * * * - -The subject of the Literature of nations, as a means of becoming -familiar with their moral ideas, is too vast to be enlarged on here. The -considerations connected with it are so obvious, too, that the traveller -to whom they would not occur can be but little qualified for the work -of observing. - -It is clear that we cannot know the mind of a nation, any more than of -an individual, by merely looking at it, without hearing any speech. -National literature is national speech. By this are its prevalent ideas -and feelings uttered. It is necessarily so; for books which do not meet -sympathy from numbers die immediately, and books which strike upon the -sympathies of all never die. Between the two extremes, of books which -command the sympathies of a class, and those which are the delight of -all, there is an extensive gradation, from which the careful observer -may almost frame for himself a scale of popular morals and manners. I -mean, of course, in countries where there is a copious classical, or a -growing modern literature. A people which happens to be without a -literature,--the Americans, for instance,--must be judged of, as -cautiously as may be, by such other means of utterance as they may -have,--the political institutions which the present generation has -formed or assented to,--their preferences in selection from the -literature of other countries; and so on. But there is a far greater -danger of their being misunderstood than there can ever be with regard -to a nation which speaks for itself through books. "A country which has -no national literature," writes a student of man, "or a literature too -insignificant to force its way abroad, must always be to its neighbours, -at least in every important spiritual respect, an unknown and -misestimated country. Its towns may figure on our maps; its revenues, -population, manufactures, political connexions, may be recorded in -statistical books: but the character of the people has no symbol and no -voice; we cannot know them by speech and discourse, but only by mere -sight and outward observation of their habits and procedure."[I] - -The very fact of there being no literature in a nation may, however, -yield inferences as to its mental and moral state. There is a very -limited set of reasons why a people is without speech. They are -barbarous, or they are politically oppressed; or the nation is young, -and busy in providing and securing the means of national existence; or -it has the same language with another people, and therefore the full -advantage of its literature, as if it were not foreign. These seem to be -nearly all the reasons for national silence; and any one of them affords -some means of insight into the morals and manners of the dumb people. - -As for those which have utterance, they either speak freshly from day to -day, or they show their principles and temper by the choice they make -from among their own classics. Whatever is most accordant with their -sympathies, they dwell upon; so that the selection is a sure indication -of what the popular sympathies are. The same may be said of the -comparative popularity of modern books; but they may reveal only a -temporary state of feeling, and the traveller has to separate this -species of evidence from the more important kind which testifies to the -permanent affections and convictions of a people. The revelling of the -French in Voltaire, of the Germans in Werter, and of the English in -Byron, was, in each case, a highly important revelation of popular -feeling; but it is not a circumstance from which to judge of the fixed -national character of any of the three. It was a sign of the times, and -not signs of nations. Voltaire pulled down certain erections which could -not stand any longer, and was worshipped as a denier of untruths,--the -popular mind being then ripe for the exploding of errors. But here ended -the vocation of Voltaire. The French are now busy, to the extent of -their energy, in doing what ought to follow upon the exposure of -errors;--they are searching after truth. Pretences having been -destroyed, they are now propounding and trying principles; and works -which propose new and sounder erections find favour in preference to -such as only expose and ridicule old sins and mistakes.--Werter was -popular because it expressed the universal restlessness and discontent -under which not only Germany, but Europe was suffering. Multitudes found -their uncomfortable feelings uttered for them; and Werter was, in fact, -the groan of a continent. Old superstitions, tyrannies, and ignorance -were becoming intolerable, and no way was seen out of them; and the -voice of complaint was hailed with universal sympathy. So it was with -the poetry of Byron, adopted and echoed as it was, and will for some -time continue to be, by the sufferers under an aristocratic constitution -of society, whether they be oppressed by force from without, or by -weariness, satiety, and disgust from within. The permanent state of the -English mind is not represented in Byron, and could not be guessed at -from his writings, except by inference from the woes of a particular -order of minds: but his popularity was an admirable sign of the times, -for such observers as were capable of interpreting it. Probably, in all -ages since the pen and the press began their work, literature has been -the expression of the popular mind; but it seems to have become -peculiarly forcible, as a general utterance, of late. Whatever truth -there may be in speculations about the growing infrequency of "immortal -works,"--about the age being past for the production of books which -shall become classics,--it appears that literature is assuming more and -more the character of letters written to those whom their subjects may -concern, and becoming more and more a familiar utterance of the general -mind of the day. In the popular modern works of Germany there is deep -and warm religious sentiment, while the most unflinching examination -into the philosophy and fact of revelation is widely encouraged. In -England, there is a growing taste for works which exhibit the life of -the lower orders of society, though all aristocratic prepossessions -appear in practice as strong as ever. This seems to indicate that our -philosophy has a democratic tendency under which a general opinion will -be formed, which will, in time, be expressed in practice. The French, -again, are devouring, at the rate of two new volumes every three days, -novels which are, in fact, letters to those whom they may concern on the -condition and prospects of men and women in society. The pictures are -something more than mere delineations. They carry with them principles -by which the position of the members of the community is to be tested. -The social position of Woman is a prominent topic. The first principles -of social organization are involved in the groundwork of the simplest -stories: and the universal reception of this product of literature shows -that those whom it concerns are all. What an enormous loss of knowledge -must the traveller sustain who omits to observe and reflect upon the -spirit of the fresh literature of a people, or of its preferences among -the literature of the past! - -He must note whether a people has recent dramatic productions: if not, -whether and why the times are unfavourable to that kind of literature; -and if there is dramatic production, what are the pictures of life that -it presents. - -He must obtain at least some general idea of what the mental philosophy -of the society is,--not so much because mental philosophy affects the -national mind, as because it emanates from it. Is it a gross material, -or a refined analytical, or a massy mystical philosophy? The first is -usually found in the sceptical stage of the mind of a nation; the last -in its healthy infancy; while the other is rarely to be found at all, -except as the product of an individual mind of a high order. Few -travellers will have occasion to give much attention to this part of -their task of observation; as, among all the nations of the earth, there -is not one in ten that has any mental philosophy at all. - -All have Fiction (other than dramatic); and this must be one of the -observer's high points of view. There is no need to spend words upon -this proposition. It requires no proof that the popular fictions of a -people, representing them in their daily doings and common feelings, -must be a mirror of their moral sentiments and convictions, and of their -social habits and manners. The saying this is almost like offering an -identical proposition. The traveller should stock his carriage with the -most popular fictions, whether of the present day, or of a recent or -ancient time. He should fill up his leisure with them. He should -separate what they have that is congenial with his own habit of mind, -from that with which he can least sympathize, and search into the origin -of the latter. This will be something of a guide to him as to what is -permanent and universal in the sentiments and convictions of the people, -and what is to be regarded as a distinctive feature of the particular -society or time. - -It is impossible but that, by the diligent use of these means, the -observer must learn much of the general moral notions of the people he -studies,--of what they approve and disapprove,--what they eschew and -what they seek,--what they love and hate, desire and fear;--of what, in -short, yields them most internal trouble or peace. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -DOMESTIC STATE. - - "How lived, how loved, how died they?" - BYRON. - - -Geologists tell us that they can answer for the modes of life of the -people of any extensive district by looking at the geological map of the -region. Put a geological map of England before one who understands it, -and he will tell you that the inhabitants of the western parts, from -Cornwall, through Wales, and up through Cumberland into Scotland, are -miners and mountaineers; here living in clusters round the shaft of a -mine, and there sprinkled over the hills, and secluded in the valleys. -He will tell you that, on the middle portion of the surface, from -Devonshire, up through Leicestershire, to the Yorkshire coast, the wide -pastures are covered with flocks, while the people are collected into -large manufacturing towns; an ordinary map showing, at the same time, -that Kidderminster, Birmingham, Coventry, Leicester, and Nottingham, -Sheffield, Huddersfield, and Leeds, with many others, lie in this -district. He will tell you that the third range, comprehending the -eastern part of the island, is studded with farms, and that tillage is -the great occupation and interest of the inhabitants. - -The moralist might follow up the observations of the geologist with an -account of the general characteristics of societies engaged in these -occupations. He knows that a distinct intellectual and moral character -belongs to miners, to artisans, and to agriculturists; he knows that -miners are prone to superstition, and to speculation in business, from -the incalculable nature of their pursuits, the hap-hazard character of -their enterprises; he knows that an artisan population is active-minded, -communicative, capable and fond of concert; that among them is found the -greatest proportion of religious dissent and political sagacity, of -knowledge and its results in action. He knows that an agricultural -people are less of a society than the others; that they are as mentally -sluggish in comparison with operatives, as they are physically superior -to them; that they make far less use of speech; are more attached to -what is habitual and ancient, and have less enterprise and desire of -change. They are, in fact, the representatives of the past,--of feudal -times; while an artisan population is a prophecy of the future, and the -beginning of the fulfilment. The ideas of equal rights, of -representation of person as well as property, and all other democratic -notions, originate in towns, and chiefly in manufacturing towns. Loyalty -to the person rather than the function of rulers, pride in land and love -of it as the blessing of blessings, and jealousy of every other -interest, are found wherever corn springs up in the furrows, and there -are farm-houses to be miniature representations of the old feudal -establishments. - -Such are the general tendencies, modified according to circumstances. -There are influences which make certain artisans in England tories, and -certain landlords and tenants liberals; and there may be times and -places where whole societies may have their characteristics modified; -but there is rarely or never a complete departure from the general rule. -Landlords and their posse of tenants, called liberal, soon find a point -beyond which they cannot go, and from which they tend back into the -politics of their order; and there is often but a single step for tory -artisans into ultra-radicalism; it turns out to be a spurious toryism. -So it is possible that there might have been here and there a democrat -in La Vendée in 1793, and a sprinkling of royalists in Lyons in 1817. -Yet La Vendée and Linois may be taken as representatives of the two -kinds of society. The weaving population of Lyons are, like that of -manufacturing towns generally, disposed to irritability by physical -uneasiness, nourishing their ideas and feelings by communication, -suffering from the consequences of partial knowledge, having glimpses of -a better social state, and laying the blame of their adversities on a -deficiency of protection by the government; enterprising and nicely -skilled in the improvement of their articles of manufacture, and ever -full of aspiration. The inhabitants of La Vendée are so diametrically -opposite in their social circumstances and characteristics, that their -bias in politics is a matter of course. Here is a description of the -face of the district at the time that Lyons was as intensely republican -as La Vendée was royalist:-- - -"Only two great roads traversed this sequestered region, running nearly -parallel, at a distance of more than seventy miles from each other. The -country, though rather thickly peopled, contained, as may be supposed, -few large towns; and the inhabitants, devoted almost entirely to rural -occupations, enjoyed a great deal of leisure. The noblesse or gentry of -the country were very generally resident on their estates, where they -lived in a style of simplicity and homeliness which had long disappeared -from every other part of the kingdom. No grand parks, fine gardens, or -ornamented villas; but spacious clumsy chateaux, surrounded with farm -offices, and cottages for the labourers. Their manners and way of life, -too, partook of the same primitive rusticity. There was great -cordiality, and even much familiarity, in the intercourse of the -seigneurs with their dependants: they were followed by large trains of -them in their hunting expeditions, which occupied so great a part of -their time. Every man had his fowling-piece, and was a marksman of fame -or pretensions. The peasants resorted familiarly to their landlords for -advice, both legal and medical; and they repaid the visits in their -daily rambles, and entered with interest into all the details of their -agricultural operations. From all this there resulted a certain -innocence and kindliness of character, joined with great hardihood and -gaiety. Though not very well educated, the population were exceedingly -devout; though theirs was a kind of superstitious and traditional -devotion, it must be owned, rather than an enlightened or rational -faith. They had the greatest veneration for crucifixes and images of -their saints, and had no idea of any duty more imperious than that of -attending on all the solemnities of religion. They were singularly -attached also to their curés, who were almost all born and bred in the -country, spoke their _patois_, and shared in all their pastimes and -occupations. When a hunting-match was to take place, the clergyman -announced it from the pulpit after prayers, and then took his -fowling-piece and accompanied his congregation to the thicket."[J] - -The chief contrasting features of these two kinds of society may be -recognized in all parts of the civilized world. The most intensely loyal -of the loyal Chinese will be found irrigating the terraces of the -mountains, or busy in the ploughing-matches of the plains; and the least -contented will be found at the loom. Spain is removed from a capacity -for social freedom just in proportion to the discouragement of -manufactures. The vine-growing districts of Germany are the most, and -the commercial towns the least, acquiescent in the rule under which they -are living. Russia will be despotically governed as long as she has no -manufactures; and England and the United States are rescued, by the full -establishment of their manufactures, from all danger of a retrogradation -towards feudalism. - -The way in which these considerations concern us in this place is, that -public and private morals, no less than manners, depend on the degree of -feudalism which is left in the community. We have spoken before of the -morals of the feudal and democratic states of society; and what we are -now pointing out is, that these states, with their attendant morals and -manners, may be discerned from the face of the country, and the -consequent occupations of its inhabitants. - -It appears as if a geological map might be a useful guide to the -researches of the moralist,--an idea which would have appeared insanely -ridiculous half a century ago, but now reasonable enough. If the -traveller be no geologist, so that he cannot, by his own observation, -determine the nature of the soil, and thence infer, for his general -guidance, the employments and mental and moral state of the people, he -must observe the face of the country along the road he travels. He will -do better still by mounting any eminences which may be within reach, -whether they be churches, pillars, pyramids, pagodas, baronial castles -on rocks, or peaks of mountains; thence he should look abroad, from -point to point, through the whole region, and mark out what he sees -spread beneath him. Are there pastures extended to the horizon, with -herdsmen and flocks sprinkled over them, and in the midst a cloud of -smoke overhanging a town, from which roads part off in many directions? -Or is it a scene of shadowy mountains, with streams leaping from their -fissures, and no signs of human habitation but the machinery of a mine, -with rows of dwellings near heaps of piled rubbish? Or is the whole -intersected with fences, and here dark with fallows, there yellow with -corn, while farmsteads terminate the lanes, and the dwellings and -grounds of rich proprietors are seen at intervals, with each a hamlet -resting against its boundaries? Is this the kind of scene, whether the -great house be called mansion, or chateau, or villa, or schloss; whether -the produce be corn, or grapes, or tea, or cotton? A person gifted with -a precocity of science in the twelfth century might have prophesied what -is now happening from the picture stretched beneath him as he gazed -from an eminence on the banks of the Don or the Calder. He might see, -with the bodily eye, only - - "Meadows trim with daisies pied, - Shallow brooks and rivers wide," - -with clusters of houses in the far distance, and Robin Hood with his -merry men lurking in the thickets of the forest, or basking under the -oaks: but with the prophetic eye of science he might discern the -multitudes that were, in course of time, to be living in Sheffield or -Huddersfield; the stimulus that would be given to enterprise, the -thronging of merchants to this region, the physical sufferings, the -moral pressure, that must come; the awakening of intelligence, and the -arousing of ambition. In the real scene, a cloud-shadow might be passing -over a meadow; in the ideal, a smoke-cloud would be resting upon a -hundred thousand human beings. In the real scene, a warbling lark might -be springing from the grass; in the ideal, a singer[K] of a higher order -might appear remonstrating with feudalism from amidst the roar of the -furnace-blast and the din of the anvil; and then, when his complaint of -social oppression is done, starting forwards to the end of all, and -singing the requiem of the world itself. - - "Whose trade is poaching. Honest Jem works not, - Begs not; but thrives by plundering beggars here. - Wise as a lord, and quite as good a shot, - He, like his betters, lives in hate and fear, - And feeds on partridge because bread is dear. - Sire of six sons apprenticed to the jail, - He prowls in arms, the Tory of the night; - With them he shares his battles and his ale; - With him they feel the majesty of might." - "He reads not, writes not, thinks not; scarcely feels: - Steals all he gets; serves Hell with all he steals." - - * * * * * - - "Yes, and the sail-less worlds which navigate - Th' unutterable deep that hath no shore, - Will lose their starry splendour soon or late, - Like tapers quenched by Him whose will is fate! - Yes, and the angel of Eternity, - Who numbers worlds and writes their names in light, - One day, O Earth, will look in vain for thee, - And start, and stop in his unerring flight; - And with his wings of sorrow and affright - Veil his impassioned brow and heavenly tears!" - -Somewhat in the same way as such a supposed philosophic observer might -be imagined to foresee that democratic strains of remonstrance would -here succeed to foresters' and freebooters' songs, may a well-qualified -observer of the present day discern the interior mechanism and the -remote issues of what lies beneath his eyes. While surveying the vast -prairies on the banks of the deep rivers of the Western world, he may -safely anticipate the time when self-governing communities will swarm -where now a settler's log-house and enclosure are the only break in the -wide surface of verdure. While looking down upon the harvests of -Volhynia, or watching the processions of wagons laden with corn, and -slowly wending their way down to Odessa, he may securely conclude that -no vivacious artisan population will enliven this region for a long time -to come; that the inhabitants will continue attached to the despotism -under which they live; and that the morals of a despotism--the morals -which coexist with gross ignorance and social subservience--may be -looked for and found for at least an age. - -Some preparation may thus be made by a glance over the face of the -country. Much depends on whether it is flat or mountainous, pasture or -arable land. It appears from fact, too, that much depends on minor -circumstances,--even on whether it is damp or dry. It is amusing to the -traveller in Holland to observe how new points of morals spring up out -of its swamps, as in the East from the dryness of the deserts. To injure -the piles on which the city is built, is at Amsterdam a capital offence; -and no inhabitant could outgrow the shame of tampering with the -vegetation by which the soil of the dykes is held together. While Irish -children are meritoriously employed in gathering rushes to make candles, -and sedges for thatch, "the veriest child in Holland would resent as an -injury any suspicion that she had rooted up a sedge or a rush, which had -been planted to strengthen the embankments."[L] Such are certain points -of morals in a country where water is the great enemy. In the East, -where drought is the chief foe, it is a crime to defile or stop up a -well, and the greatest of social glories is to have made water flow -where all before was dry. In Holland, a malignant enemy cuts the dyke, -as the last act of malice: in Arabia, he fills up the wells. In Holland, -a distinct sort of moral feeling seems to have grown up about -intemperance in drink. The humidity of the climate, and the scarcity of -clear, wholesome water, obliges the inhabitants to drink much of other -liquids. If moderation in them were not made a point of conscience of -the first importance, the consequences of their prevalent use would be -dreadful. The success of this particular moral effort is great. -Drunkenness is almost as rare in Holland as carelessness in keeping -accounts, and tampering with the dykes. There is no country in the world -whose morals have more clearly grown out of its circumstances than -Holland. On the theory of an infallible Moral Sense, it would be as -difficult to account for a Dutchman's tenderness of conscience on any of -the above three heads, as for a soldier's agony at the imputation of -sleeping upon guard, or an Alabama planter's resentment at being charged -with putting the alphabet in the way of a mulatto. - - * * * * * - -Having noted the aspect of the country, the observer's next business is -to ascertain the condition of the inhabitants as to the supply of the -Necessaries of life. He knows that nothing remains to be learned of the -domestic morals of people who are plunged in hopeless poverty. There is -no foundation for good morals among such. They herd together, desperate -or depressed; they have no prospect; their self-respect is prostrated; -they have nothing to lose, there is nothing for them to gain by any -effort that they can make.--But it is needless to speak of this. When we -treat of the domestic morals of any class, it is always presupposed that -they are not in circumstances which render total immorality almost -inevitable. - -In agricultural districts, the condition of the inhabitants may be -learned by observation of the markets. An observing traveller has said, -"To judge at once of a nation, we have only to throw our eyes on the -markets and the fields. If the markets are well supplied, the fields -well cultivated, all is right. If otherwise, we may say, and say truly, -these people are barbarous and oppressed."[M] This, though a rather -sweeping judgment, is founded in truth, and is well worthy of being -borne in mind in travelling. It so happens that the negroes of Hayti are -abundantly supplied with the necessaries, and with many of the comforts -of life; that they are by no means barbarous, and far from being -oppressed; and yet they have few roads, and scarcely any markets. They -grow up in the midst of plenty; but, when a countryman is about to kill -a hog, he sends his son round among his neighbours on horseback, to give -notice to any who wish for pork, to send for it on a certain day. Their -wretched, barbarous, oppressed countrymen in South Carolina, meanwhile, -have excellent markets. The Saturday night's market at Charleston might -beguile a careless foreigner into the belief that those who throng it -are a free and prosperous people. Thus the rule above quoted does not -always hold. Yet it is true that the existence and good quality of -markets testify to the existence and good quality of other desirable -things. - -Where markets are abundantly and variously supplied, it is clear that -there must be a large demand for the comforts of life, and a diversity -of domestic wants. It is clear that there must be industry to meet this -demand, and competence to justify it. There must be social security, or -the industry and competence would not be put to so hazardous a use. It -_may_ happen, as at Charleston, that the capital is the masters' (whose -the profits may also be, at any moment); that the industry is called -forth by a delusive hope; and that the briskness of the transactions at -market is ascribable to the pleasure slaves have in social meetings; but -better things may usually be inferred from a well-supplied and -well-conducted market. - - * * * * * - -The traveller's other researches in agricultural regions will be into -the Tenure of lands,--whether they are held in small separate -properties;--whether such properties are held by individuals, or shared -with any kind of partners;--whether portions are rented from landlords; -and, if so, whether any order of middlemen are concerned in the -business;--whether the land is chiefly held by large owners; and, if so, -whether the labourers are attached to the soil under feudal -arrangements, or whether they are free labourers working for wages. - -The homes of the agricultural population will be found to vary in aspect -as any one of these systems prevails. In young and prosperous countries, -the system of small separate properties is found to conduce to -independence and the virtues which result from it, though it is not -favourable to knowledge and enlightenment. Families live much to -themselves; and thus, while forming strong domestic attachments, they -lose sight of what is going on in the world. They become unused to the -light of society, and get to dislike and fear it. The labourers, in such -case, usually live with the family, whether they be brothers, as often -happens in Switzerland; sons, as in many a farm-house of the United -States; or hired servants, as in former times in England,--and still in -some retired parts. In each case the picture is easily filled in by the -imagination. All are engaged, throughout the year, in the business of -living. The work is never ending, still beginning; or, if it has -intervals, they are dull and weary, from the absence of interests -wherewith to occupy them. The employments of life are innocent, and the -principle of association is harmless; but if there be ignorance and -prejudice in the region, in these farm-houses will they be found; and in -company with them morals of a high order are not to be looked for. - -If small properties are held in partnership, poverty is present or -threatening. The condition of affairs cannot be lasting; and this may be -well; for narrow means and partnership in a property which requires to -be managed by skill are more favourable to discontent and disagreement -than to a kindly social state. - -The middleman system is favourable or unfavourable to morals, just in -proportion as it is so to prosperity. Every one knows the wretchedness -of it in Ireland, and that there are numerous instances in Italy of the -complete success of the métayer plan. - -Where the land is the property of large owners, and is tilled by -labourers, there must be more or less of the feudal temper and manners -remaining. Where the labourers are attached to the soil, there must -necessarily exist whatever good arises from the certainty of the means -of subsistence, coupled with the evils of subservience to the will of -the lord, mental sluggishness, and ignorance. Where they are not -irremovably attached to the soil, habit and helplessness have usually -much of the same effect. The son hedges, ditches, or ploughs where his -father hedged, ditched, or ploughed; he takes his beer, or cider, or -thin wine, (according to the country he lives in,) at the same house of -entertainment, and gossips about the doings of the lord and his family, -much as labourers were wont to gossip two hundred years ago. - -It is the business of the traveller to note which mode of agricultural -life prevails, and how the morals which pertain to it are modified by -particular circumstances. - - * * * * * - -He must make the same kind of observations on the Manufacturing and -Commercial Classes of the country he visits. Here again the chief -differences in morals and manners arise out of the comparative -prosperity or adversity of the class. Take the cotton manufacture. -Passing by the Chinese operative plying his shuttle as he sits under his -bamboo shed, and the Hindoo drawing out his fine thread under the shade -of the palm, what differences there are among artisans of the same -race,--Europeans and of European extraction! In Massachusetts there are -villages of artisans, where whole streets of houses are their property; -the church on the green in the midst is theirs; the Lyceum, with its -library and apparatus, is theirs. There are rows of neat -frame-dwellings, painted white or yellow, with piazzas before and -behind, and Venetian blinds to every window,--all growing up out of the -earnings of girls, who bring their widowed mothers to preside over their -establishments. Others are paying off the mortgages on their fathers' -farms. Others are procuring for their brothers a learned education in a -college. In the cotton settlements of Europe what a contrast! At the -best, operatives can only provide for their wants, and the placing out -of their children, by a life of strenuous toil. At the worst, they herd -together, many families in one house,--often in one room; decency is -discarded; recklessness succeeds, to such a degree that, in certain -sections of the society, there is scarcely a man of thirty-five who is -not a grandfather. Among such there is a barbarism as savage as among -the most vicious aristocracy of the worst feudal times. The lowest -artisan population of the present day may vie in corruption with the -noblesse of France on the eve of the first revolution. It is for the -traveller to observe what grade in the wide interval between the -operatives of Massachusetts, and those of Lyons and Stockport, is -occupied by the artisans of the places he visits. - - * * * * * - -Upon the extent of the Commerce of a country depends much of the -character of its morals. Old virtues and vices dwindle away, and new -ones appear. The old members of a rising commercial society complain of -the loss of simplicity of manners, of the introduction of new wants, of -the relaxation of morals, of the prevalence of new habits. The young -members of the same society rejoice that prudery is going out of -fashion, that gossip is likely to be replaced by the higher kind of -intercourse which is introduced by strangers, and by an extension of -knowledge and interests: they even decide that domestic morals are purer -from the general enlargement and occupation of mind which has succeeded -to the _ennui_ and selfishness in which licentiousness often originates. -A highly remarkable picture of the two conditions of the same place may -be obtained by comparing Mrs. Grant's account of the town of Albany, New -York, in her young days,[N] with the present state of the city. She -tells us of the plays of the children on the green slope which is now -State Street; of the tea-drinkings and working parties, of the gossip, -bickerings, and virulent petty enmities of the young society, with its -general regularity and occasional back-sliding; with the gentle -despotism of its opulent members, and the more or less restive or -servile obedience of the subordinate personages. In place of all this, -the stranger now sees a city with magnificent public buildings, and -private houses filled with the products of all the countries of the -world. The inhabitants are too busy to be given to gossip, too -unrestrained in their intercourse with numbers to retain much prudery: -social despotism and subservience have become impossible: there is a -generous spirit of enterprise, an enlargement of knowledge, an -amelioration of opinion. There is, on the other hand, perhaps a decrease -of kindly neighbourly regard, and certainly a great increase of the low -vices which are the plague of commercial cities. Such is the -transformation wrought by commerce. An observer who can also -speculate,--one who looks before and after,--will conclude that, amidst -some evil, the change is advantageous; and that good must, on the whole, -arise from enlarged intercourses between men and societies. Seeing in -commerce the instrument by which all the inhabitants of the earth are in -time to be brought into common possession of all true ideas, and -sympathy in all good feelings, he will mark the progress made by the -society he visits towards this end. He will mark whether its merchants -as a body have a spirit of generous enterprise or of sordid -self-interest; whether they entertain a respect for learning and a taste -for art,--bringing the one from abroad, and cherishing the other at -home;--whether, in short, the merchants are the princes or the -money-grubbers of the community. The spirit of this class will determine -that of their subordinates. If the masters of commerce are liberal and -enlightened, their servants will be thriving, and will have the virtues -which wait upon self-respect: if the contrary, they will be debased. A -Jewish money-lender is no more like a merchant of Salem or Bourdeaux -than Malay porters at Macao are like the clerk class of Amsterdam. In -the mercantile orders of society may be found the extremes of honour, -generosity, diligence, and accuracy,--and of treachery, meanness, and -selfish carelessness. It is the traveller's business to note the -tendencies to the one or the other,--from the vexatious hog and yam -traffic of the islands of the South Sea, to the magnificent transactions -of the traders of Hamburgh. - - * * * * * - -The Health of a community is an almost unfailing index of its morals. No -one can wonder at this who considers how physical suffering irritates -the temper, depresses energy, deadens hope, induces recklessness, and, -in short, poisons life. The domestic affections, too, are apt to -languish through disappointment in countries where the average of death -is very high. There is least marriage in unhealthy countries, and most -in healthy ones,--other circumstances being equal. The same kind of -spirit (however largely diluted) prevails in sickly regions as in -societies which are visited by a pestilence. Study the tempers of the -people who are subject to goîtres, of those who live in marshes, of -those who encounter an annual tropical fever; and contrast it with that -of dwellers on mountains, and in dry prairies, and in well-ventilated -towns. What selfishness, apathy, and discontent in the one class! and -what kindliness, briskness, and cheerfulness in the other! In the United -States, wide spreading as the country is, and comprehending every -variety of people, and almost of climate, the common deficiency of -health produces moral effects which must strike the most careless -traveller. The epicurean temper of the south, and the puritanic mood of -the north, are alike stimulated by this. In the south, the overseers, -whose business it is to encounter the fever, seem to be always -practically saying, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." There -is a recklessness among the trading classes there, a heathen levity and -grossness, which are doubtless in a great degree owing to the presence -of slavery, but also in part to the certainty of a very large annual -mortality. Not the purest Christianity itself could preserve a people so -placed from a more or less modified fatalism. The richer members of -society leave their homes for some months of every year, and go -northwards; and this perpetual unsettling of their families has a bad -effect upon the habits of the young people and the comfort of their -parents. It operates against domestic diligence, tranquillity, and -satisfaction with home pleasures. In the north, there is a perpetual -preaching about death, enforced by the never-ceasing recurrence of it; -but it has not the effect of making people less worldly-minded than -others. It serves only to shade life with apprehension, uncertainty, and -bereavement; and, it is to be feared, to give to the vanity of many -minds the direction of false heroism about meeting death. This seems too -serious a subject for the exercise of human vanity; yet that purpose it -has served, perhaps, in all societies; and in none more than in New -England. The greater number of very young people, everywhere, who cannot -be aware of the importance of life, and of the simplicity of death as -its close, have romantic thoughts about dying early; and, in a country -where an unusual proportion do die early, this species of vain-glory is -likely to flourish. The pain felt everywhere by really enlarged and -religious minds on seeing a false resignation exhibited, and hearing -shallow sentimentalities given out on the brink of the grave, is -peculiarly felt in a region where mourning mothers may be seen who have -lost eight, twelve, or fifteen children, and where scarcely an -enterprise of any extent can be undertaken which is not almost sure to -be interrupted or baffled by sickness or death.--When these -considerations are dwelt upon, and when it is remembered what the -consequences of a low state of health must be to each future generation, -it seems scarcely extravagant to say that the best influence upon the -morals of the American nation would be such as might improve their -health. - -Good and bad health are both cause and effect of good and bad morals. No -proof of this is needed, nor any further dwelling upon the proposition. -The fact, however, points out to the observer the duty of obtaining a -correct general estimate of the health of the community he visits. - -There are two principal methods by which he may obtain the knowledge he -wants,--by examining civic registers, and by visiting burial-grounds. - -A faithful register of births, marriages, and deaths, is wished for by -enlightened philanthropists of all advanced countries, far more as a -test of national morals and the national welfare, than as a matter of -the highest social convenience. For this the physiologist waits as the -means of determining the physical condition of the nation; as a guide to -him in suggesting and prescribing the methods by which the national -health may be improved, and the average of life prolonged.--For this the -legislator waits as the means of determining the comparative proneness -of the people to certain kinds of social offences, and the causes of -that proneness; that the law may be framed so as to include (as all wise -laws should include) the largest preventive influence with the greatest -certainty of retribution.--For this the philanthropist waits as a guide -to him in forming his scheme of universal education; and without -this,--without knowing how many need education altogether,--how many -under one set of circumstances, and how many under another,--he can -proceed only in darkness, or amidst the delusions of false lights. He is -only perplexed by the partial knowledge, which is all that his utmost -efforts enable him to obtain. If he goes into every house of every town -and village in his district, he is no nearer to an understanding of the -intellectual and moral condition of the nation than he was before: for -other districts have a different soil and different occupations; the -employments of the people, their diseases and their resources, are -unlike; and, under these diverse influences, their physical, and -therefore moral and intellectual condition, must vary. The reports of -Philanthropic Societies do little more for him, drawn up as they are -with partial objects and under exclusive influences: parliamentary -disclosures are of little more use. Vague statements about the increase -of drunkenness, resistance to one kind of law or another, alarm and -distress him; but such statements again are partial, and so often -brought forward for a particular object, that they afford no safe guide -to him who would form a general preventive or remedy. Thus it is under -all partial methods of observation; but when the philanthropist shall -gain access to a register of the national births, marriages, and deaths, -he will have under his hand all the materials he requires, as completely -as if he were hovering over the kingdom, comprehending all its districts -in one view, and glancing at will into all its habitations. - -The comparative ages of the dead will indicate to him not only the -amount of health, but the comparative force of various species of -disease; and from the character of its diseases, and the amount of its -health, much of the moral state of a people may be safely pronounced -upon. The proportion of marriages to births and deaths is always an -indication of the degree of comfort enjoyed, and of the consequent -purity of morals; and, therefore, of the degree in which education is -present or needed. A large number of children, and a large proportion of -marriages, indicate physical and moral welfare, and therefore a -comparative prevalence of education. A large number of births, and a -small proportion of marriages, indicate the reverse. When these -circumstances are taken in connexion with the prevailing occupations of -the district to which they relate, the philanthropist has arrived at a -sufficient certainty as to the means of education required, and the -method in which they are to be applied. - -There is, unfortunately, in all countries, an insufficiency of records -framed for the purpose of induction, and subsequent practical use. The -chief of a tribe, proud in proportion to his barbarian insignificance, -may from time to time indulge himself by numbering the people whom he -considers as his property; and an ambitious and warlike emperor may -organize a conscription; and these records may remain to fulfil -hereafter far more exalted purposes than those for which they were -designed: but these instances are few; and in the art of constructing -tables, and ascertaining averages, the most civilized people are still, -for want of practice, in a state of unskilfulness. But, in the absence -of that which would spare observers the task of ascertaining results for -themselves, they must take the best they can get. A traveller must -inquire for any public registers which may exist in all districts, and -note and reflect upon the facts he finds there. In case of there being -none such, it is possible that the physicians of the district may be -able to afford information from private documents of the same nature. If -not, there remain the cemeteries. - -The calculators of longevity believe that they may now, by taking down -the dates from the first thirty tombstones in the cemeteries of the -districts they pass through, learn the comparative healthiness and -length of life of the inhabitants of the country. However this may be, -there is no doubt that a large variety and extent of information may be -thus obtained. The observer can ascertain where the fatal diseases of -infancy most prevail,--which is the same thing as knowing that the -physical and moral condition of the people is low; as a large proportion -(not mere number) of deaths in infancy is a most unfavourable symptom of -society. He can ascertain where consumption prevails, where fever, and -where the largest proportion attains to length of days. It is much to -know what character disease and death wear in any district. One -character of Morals and Manners prevails where the greater number die -young, and another where they die old; one where they are cut off by -hardship; another where they waste away under a lingering disease; and -yet another where they abide their full time, and then come to their -graves like a shock of corn in its season. The grave-yards on the -heights of the Alleghanies will tell a different tale of Morals and -Manners from the New Orleans' cemetery, glaring in the midst of the -swamp; and so would the burial-places in the suburbs of Irish cities, -if their contents were known, from those of the hardy Waldenses, or of -the decent and thriving colonists of Frederick's-oord. - - * * * * * - -The Marriage compact is the most important feature of the domestic state -on which the observer can fix his attention. If he be a thinker, he will -not be surprised at finding much imperfection in the marriage state -wherever he goes. By no arrangements yet attempted have purity of -morals, constancy of affection, and domestic peace been secured to any -extensive degree in society. Almost every variety of method is still in -use, in one part of the world or another. The primitive custom of -brothers marrying sisters still subsists in some Eastern regions. -Polygamy is very common there, as every one knows. In countries which -are too far advanced for this, every restraint of law, all sanction of -opinion, has been tried to render the natural method,--the restriction -of one husband to one wife,--successful, and therefore universal and -permanent. Law and opinion have, however, never availed to anything like -complete success. Even in thriving young countries, where no -considerations of want, and few of ambition, can interfere with domestic -peace,--where the numbers are equal, where love has the promise of a -free and even course, and where religious sentiment is directed full -upon the sanctity of the marriage state,--it is found to be far from -pure. In almost all countries, the corruption of society in this -department is so deep and wide-spreading, as to vitiate both moral -sentiment and practice in an almost hopeless degree. It neutralizes -almost all attempts to ameliorate and elevate the condition of the -race.--There must be something fearfully wrong where the general result -is so unfortunate as this. As in most other cases of social suffering, -the wrong will be found to lie less in the methods ordained and put in -practice, than in the prevalent sentiment of society, out of which all -methods arise. - -It is necessary to make mention (however briefly) of the kinds of false -sentiment from which the evil of conjugal unhappiness appears to -spring.--The sentiment by which courage is made the chief ground of -honour in men, and chastity in women, coupled with the inferiority in -which women have ever been sunk, was sure to induce profligacy. As long -as men were brave nothing more was required to make them honourable in -the eyes of society: while the inferior condition of women has ever -exposed those of them who were not protected by birth and wealth to the -profligacy of men.--The shallowness of the sentiment of honour is -another great evil. In its origin, honour includes self-respect and the -respect of others. In time, "from its intimate connexion with what is -personal in interest and feeling, it is greatly exposed to degenerate -into a false and misguiding sentiment. Connecting itself with the -notions of character which prevail by chance in the community, rather -than with the rule of right and of God, it has erected a false standard -of estimate." The requisitions of honour come to be viewed as regarding -only equals, or those who are hedged about with honour, and they are -neglected with regard to the helpless. Men of honour use treachery with -women,--with those to whom they promise marriage, and with those to -whom, in marrying, they promised fidelity, love, and care; and yet their -honour is, in the eyes of society, unstained.--Feudal ambition is -another sentiment fraught with evil to marriage. In a society where -pride and ostentation prevail, where rank and wealth are regarded as -prime objects of pursuit, marriage comes to be regarded as a means of -obtaining these. Wives are selected for their connexions and their -fortune, and the love is placed elsewhere.--Any one of these corrupt -species of sentiment, and of some others which exist, must ruin domestic -peace, if the laws of each country were as wise as they are now, for the -most part, faulty, and as powerful as they are now ineffectual.--If the -traveller will bear these things in mind, he will gain light upon the -moral sentiment of the society by the condition of domestic life in it; -and again, what he knows of the prevalent moral sentiment of the society -will cast light upon the domestic condition of its members. - -Another thing to be carefully remembered is, that asceticism and -licentiousness universally coexist. All experience proves this; and -every principle of human nature might prophesy the proof. Passions and -emotions cannot be extinguished by general rules. Self-mortification can -spring only out of a home-felt principle, and not from the will of -another, or of any number of others. The exhibition only can be -restrained, and the visible conduct ordered by rule. In consequence, it -is found that no greater impurity of mind exists than among associated -ascetics; and nowhere are crimes of the licentious class so gross, other -circumstances being equal, as in communities which have the puritanic -spirit. Any one well-informed on the subject is aware that there is much -coarseness in the manners of the Quakers; and their regard for the -pleasures of the table is open to the observation of all. Nowhere are -drunkenness and infanticide more disgusting and horrible, when they do -occur, than in Calvinistic Scotland. The bottomless corruption of Vienna -is notorious; and much of it is traceable to a species of political -asceticism,--to artificial restrictions other than religious, but -producing similar effects. Politics are a forbidden topic of -conversation. Under this rule, literature is a forbidden topic too; for -literary and philosophical necessarily induces political communication. -In Vienna may be seen the singular spectacle of an assembled multitude -who read, not one of whom opens his lips upon books, or their subject -matter. What then remains? Gallantry. The intellect being silenced, the -passions run riot; and the excessive corruption of the society,--a -corruption which is notorious over the civilized world,--is the natural -consequence. It may safely be assumed that wherever artificial -restraints are imposed on the passions, or on the intellects and -pursuits of men, there must be licentiousness, precisely proportioned to -the severity of the restraint. - -Celibacy of the clergy, or of any other class of men, involves -polygamy, virtual if not avowed, in some other class. To this the -relaxation of domestic morals in the higher orders of all Catholic -societies bears testimony as strongly as the existence of allowed -polygamy in India. It is everywhere professed that Christianity puts -an end to polygamy; and so it does, as Christianity is understood in -Protestant countries; but a glance at the state of morals in countries -where celibacy is the religion of the clergy,--among the higher ranks -in Italy, in France, in Spain,--shows that, while the name of polygamy -is disclaimed, the thing is held in no great abhorrence. This is -mentioned here simply as matter of fact, necessary to our inquiry as to -how to observe morals and manners. It is notorious that, wherever -celibacy is extensively professed, there is not only, as a consequence, -a frequent breach of profession, but a much larger indulgence extended -to other classes, in consequence of the restrictions on one. The methods -of marriage in Italy and France,--the disposing of the woman at an early -age, and before she is capable of giving an enlightened consent,--often -even without the form of asking her consent,--on the understanding, -tacit or avowed, that she may hereafter place her affections -elsewhere,--these proceedings could have been adopted, could now be -persevered in, only in countries where partial asceticism had induced a -corresponding licentiousness.--The same fact,--the invariable proportion -of asceticism and licentiousness,--exists where by some it would be -least looked for,--in societies which have the reputation of being -eminently pure; and this consideration is sufficient to extinguish all -boasting, all assumption of unquestionable moral superiority in one -people over another. It is not only that each nation likes its own -notions of morals better than those of its neighbours; but that the -very same things which are avowed among those who are called the -grossest, happen with that which considers itself the most pure. Such -superiority as there is is owing, perhaps, in no case to severity of -religious sentiment and discipline, but rather to the worldly ease which -blesses a young and thinly peopled country, and to the high cultivation -of a society which furnishes its members with an extraordinary diversity -of interests and pursuits. - -Marriage exists everywhere, to be studied by the moral observer. He must -watch the character of courtships wherever he goes;--whether the young -lady is negociated for and promised by her guardians, without having -seen her intended; like the poor girl who, when she asked her mother to -point out her future husband from among a number of gentlemen, was -silenced with the rebuke, "What is that to you?"--or whether they are -left free to exchange their faith "by flowing stream, through wood, or -craggy wild," as in the United States;--or whether there is a medium -between these two extremes, as in England. He must observe how fate is -defied by lovers in various countries. We have seen what was the -acquiescence of Philip and Hannah in their eternal separation. None but -Moravians, perhaps, would have so parted for ever. Scotch lovers agree -to come together after so many years spent in providing the -"plenishing." Irish lovers conclude the business, in case of difficulty, -by appearing before the priest the next morning. There is recourse to a -balcony and rope-ladder in one country; a steam-boat and back-settlement -in another; trust and patience in a third; and intermediate -flirtations, to pass the time, in a fourth. He must note the degree of -worldly ambition which attends marriages, and which may therefore be -supposed to stimulate them,--how much space the house with two rooms in -humble life, and the country-seat and carriages in higher life, occupy -in the mind of bride or bridegroom.--He must observe whether conjugal -infidelity excites horror and rage, or whether it is so much a matter of -course as that no jealousy interferes to mar the arrangements of mutual -convenience.--He must mark whether women are made absolutely the -property of their husbands, in mind and in estate; or whether the wife -is treated more or less professedly as an equal party in the -agreement.--He must observe whether there is an excluded class, victims -to their own superstition or to a false social obligation, wandering -about to disturb by their jealousy or licentiousness those whose lot is -happier.--He must observe whether there are domestic arrangements for -home enjoyments, or whether all is planned on the supposition of -pleasure lying abroad; whether the reliance is on books, gardens, and -play with children, or on the opera, parties, the ale-house, or dances -on the green.--He must mark whether the ladies are occupied with their -household cares in the morning, and the society of their husbands in the -evening, or with embroidery and looking out of balconies; with receiving -company all day, or gadding abroad; with the library or the nursery; -with lovers or with children.--In each country, called civilized, he -will meet with almost all these varieties: but in each there is such a -prevailing character in the aspect of domestic life, that intelligent -observation will enable him to decide, without much danger of mistake, -as to whether marriage is merely an arrangement of convenience, in -accordance with low morals, or a sacred institution, commanding the -reverence and affection of a virtuous people. No high degree of this -sanctity can be looked for till that moderation is attained which, -during the prevalence of asceticism and its opposite, is reached only by -a few. That it yet exists nowhere as the characteristic of any -society,--that all the blessings of domestic life are not yet open to -all, so as to preclude the danger of any one encroaching on his -neighbour,--is but too evident to the travelled observer. He can only -mark the degree of approximation to this state of high morals wherever -he goes. - -The traveller everywhere finds woman treated as the inferior party in a -compact in which both parties have an equal interest. Any agreement thus -formed is imperfect, and is liable to disturbance; and the danger is -great in proportion to the degradation of the supposed weaker party. The -degree of the degradation of woman is as good a test as the moralist can -adopt for ascertaining the state of domestic morals in any country. - -The Indian squaw carries the household burdens, trudging in the dust, -while her husband on horseback paces before her, unencumbered but by his -own gay trappings. She carries the wallet with food, the matting for the -lodge, the merchandize (if they possess any), and her infant. There is -no exemption from labour for the squaw of the most vaunted chief. In -other countries the wife may be found drawing the plough, hewing wood -and carrying water; the men of the family standing idle to witness her -toils. Here the observer may feel pretty sure of his case. From a -condition of slavery like this, women are found rising to the highest -condition in which they are at present seen, in France, England, and the -United States,--where they are less than half-educated, precluded from -earning a subsistence, except in a very few ill-paid employments, and -prohibited from giving or withholding their assent to laws which they -are yet bound by penalties to obey. In France, owing to the great -destruction of men in the wars of Napoleon, women are engaged, and -successfully engaged, in a variety of occupations which have been -elsewhere supposed unsuitable to the sex. Yet there remains so large a -number who cannot, by the most strenuous labour in feminine employments, -command the necessaries of life, while its luxuries may be earned by -infamy, that the morals of the society are naturally bad. Great -attention has of late been given to this subject in France: the social -condition of women is matter of thought and discussion to a degree which -promises some considerable amelioration. Already, women can do more in -France than anywhere else; they can attempt more without ridicule or -arbitrary hinderance: and the women of France are probably destined to -lead the way in the advance which the sex must hereafter make. At -present, society is undergoing a transition from a feudal state to one -of mutual government; and women, gaining in some ways, suffer in others -during the process. They have, happily for themselves, lost much of the -peculiar kind of observance which was the most remarkable feature of the -chivalrous age; and it has been impossible to prevent their sharing in -the benefits of the improvement and diffusion of knowledge. All -cultivation of their powers has secured to them the use of new power; so -that their condition is far superior to what it was in any former age. -But new difficulties about securing a maintenance have arisen. Marriage -is less general; and the husbands of the greater number of women are not -secure of a maintenance from the lords of the soil, any more than women -are from being married. The charge of their own maintenance is thrown -upon large numbers of women, without the requisite variety of -employments having been opened to them, or the needful education -imparted. A natural consequence of this is, that women are educated to -consider marriage the one object in life, and therefore to be extremely -impatient to secure it. The unfavourable influence of these results upon -the happiness of domestic life may be seen at a glance. - -This may be considered the sum and substance of female education in -England; and the case is scarcely better in France, though the -independence and practical efficiency of women there are greater than in -any other country. The women in the United States are in a lower -condition than either, though there is less striving after marriage, -from its greater frequency, and little restriction is imposed upon the -book-learning which women may obtain. But the old feudal notions about -the sex flourish there, while they are going out in the more advanced -countries of Europe; and these notions, in reality, regulate the -condition of women. American women generally are treated in no degree as -equals, but with a kind of superstitious outward observance, which, as -they have done nothing to earn it, is false and hurtful. Coexisting -with this, there is an extreme difficulty in a woman's obtaining a -maintenance, except by the exercise of some rare powers. In a country -where women are brought up to be indulged wives, there is no hope, help, -or prospect for such as have not money and are not married. - -In America, women can earn a maintenance only by teaching, sewing, -employment in factories, keeping boarding-houses, and domestic service. -Some governesses are tolerably well paid,--comparing their earnings with -those of men. Employment in factories, and domestic service, are well -paid. Sewing is so wretched an occupation everywhere, that it is to be -hoped that machinery will soon supersede the use of human fingers in a -labour so unprofitable. In Boston, Massachusetts, a woman is paid -ninepence (sixpence English) for making a shirt.--In England, besides -these occupations, others are opening; and, what is of yet greater -consequence, the public mind is awakening to the necessity of enlarging -the sphere of female industry. Some of the inferior branches of the fine -arts have lately offered profitable employment to many women. The -commercial adversity to which the country has been exposed from time to -time, has been of service to the sex, by throwing hundreds and thousands -of them upon their own resources, and thus impelling them to urge claims -and show powers which are more respected every day.--In France this is -yet more conspicuously the case. There, women are shopkeepers, -merchants, professional accountants, editors of newspapers, and employed -in many other ways, unexampled elsewhere, but natural and respectable -enough on the spot. - -Domestic morals are affected in two principal respects by these -differences. Where feminine occupations of a profitable nature are few, -and therefore overstocked, and therefore yielding a scanty maintenance -with difficulty, there is the strongest temptation to prefer luxury with -infamy to hardship with unrecognized honour. Hence arises much of the -corruption of cities,--less in the United States than in Europe, from -the prevalence of marriage,--but awful in extent everywhere. Where vice -is made to appear the interest of large classes of women, the observer -may be quite sure that domestic morals will be found impure. If he can -meet with any society where the objects of life are as various and as -freely open to women as to men, there he may be sure of finding the -greatest amount of domestic purity and peace; for, if women were not -helpless, men would find it far less easy to be vicious. - -The other way in which domestic morals are affected by the scope which -is allowed to the powers of women, is through the views of marriage -which are induced. Marriage is debased by being considered the one -worldly object in life,--that on which maintenance, consequence, and -power depend. Where the husband marries for connexion, fortune, or an -heir to his estate, and the wife for an establishment, for consequence, -or influence, there is no foundation for high domestic morals and -lasting peace; and in a country where marriage is made the single aim of -all women, there is no security against the influence of some of these -motives even in the simplest and purest cases of attachment. The -sordidness is infused from the earliest years; the taint is in the mind -before the attachment begins, before the objects meet; and the evil -effects upon the marriage state are incalculable. - -All this--the sentiment of society with regard to Woman and to Marriage, -the social condition of Woman, and the consequent tendency and aim of -her education,--the traveller must carefully observe. Each civilized -society claims for itself the superiority in its treatment of woman. In -one, she is indulged with religious shows, and with masquerades, or -Punch, as an occasional variety. In another, she is left in honourable -and undisputed possession of the housekeeping department. In a third, -she is allowed to meddle, behind the scenes, with the business which is -confided to her husband's management. In a fourth, she is satisfied in -being the cherished domestic companion, unaware of the injury of being -doomed to the narrowness of mind which is the portion of those who are -always confined to the domestic circle. In a fifth, she is flattered at -being guarded and indulged as a being requiring incessant fostering, and -too feeble to take care of herself. In a sixth society, there may be -found expanding means of independent occupation, of responsible -employment for women; and here, other circumstances being equal, is the -best promise of domestic fidelity and enjoyment. - -It is a matter of course that women who are furnished with but one -object,--marriage,--must be as unfit for anything when their aim is -accomplished as if they had never had any object at all. They are no -more equal to the task of education than to that of governing the state; -and, if any unexpected turn of adversity befals them, they have no -resource but a convent, or some other charitable provision. Where, on -the other hand, women are brought up capable of maintaining an -independent existence, other objects remain when the grand one is -accomplished. Their independence of mind places them beyond the reach of -the spoiler; and their cultivated faculty of reason renders them worthy -guardians of the rational beings whose weal or woe is lodged in their -hands. There is yet, as may be seen by a mere glance over society, only -a very imperfect provision made anywhere for doing justice to the next -generation by qualifying their mothers; but the observer of morals may -profit by marking the degrees in which this imperfection approaches to -barbarism. Where he finds that girls are committed to convents for -education, and have no alternative in life but marriage, in which their -will has no share, and a return to their convent, he may safely conclude -that there a plurality of lovers is a matter of course, and domestic -enjoyments of the highest kind undesired and unknown. He may conclude -that as are the parents, so will be the children; and that, for one more -generation at least, there will be little or no improvement. But where -he finds a variety of occupations open to women; where he perceives them -not only pursuing the lighter mechanic arts, dispensing charity and -organizing schools for the poor, but occupied in education, and in the -study of science and the practice of the fine arts, he may conclude that -here resides the highest domestic enjoyment which has yet been attained, -and the strongest hope of a further advance. - - * * * * * - -Children in all countries are, as Mrs. Grant of Laggan says, first -vegetables, and then they are animals, and then they come to be people; -but their way of growing out of one stage into another is as different, -in different societies, as their states of mind when they are grown up. -They all have limbs, senses, and intellects; but their growth of heart -and mind depends incalculably upon the spirit of the society amidst -which they are reared. The traveller must study them wherever he meets -them. In one country, multitudes of them lie about in the streets, -basking in the sun, and killing vermin; while the children of the very -poorest persons of another country are decently clothed, and either -busily occupied with such domestic employments as they are capable of, -or at school, or playing among the rocks, or climbing trees, or crawling -about the wooden bridges, without fear or danger. From this one symptom, -the observer might learn the poverty and idleness of the lower classes -of Spain, and the comfort and industry of those of the United States. As -to the children of the richer classes, there is the widest difference in -the world between those who are the idols of their mothers, (as in -societies where the heart's love is lavished on the children which has -not been engaged by the husband,) and those who are early steeped in -corruption, (as in slave countries,) and those who are reared -philosophers and saints, and those to whom home is a sunny paradise -hedged round with love and care, and those who are little men and women -of the world from the time they can walk alone. All these kinds of -children exist,--sure breathings of the moral atmosphere of their homes. -The traveller must watch them, talk with them, and learn from their -bearing towards their parents, and the bent of their affections, what is -the spirit of the families of the land. - -From observation on these classes of facts,--the Occupation of the -people, the respective Characters of the occupied classes, the Health of -the population, the state of Marriage and of Women, and the character of -Childhood,--the moralist may learn more of the private life of a -community than from the conversation of any number of the individuals -who compose it. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -IDEA OF LIBERTY. - - "He who taught man to vanquish whatsoever - Can be between the cradle and the grave, - Crowned him the King of Life. O vain endeavour, - If on his own high will, a willing slave, - He has enthroned the oppression and the oppressor! - What if earth can clothe and feed - Amplest millions at their need, - And power in thought be as the tree within the seed? - Or what if Art, an ardent intercessor, - Diving on fiery wings to Nature's throne, - Checks the great mother stooping to caress her, - And cries, Give me, thy child, dominion - Over all height and depth? If Life can breed - New wants, and wealth from those who toil and groan - Rend of thy gifts and her's a thousandfold for one." - _Shelley._ - - -The same rule--of observing Things in preference to relying upon the -Discourse of persons--holds good in the task of ascertaining the Idea of -Liberty entertained and realized by any society. The Things to be -observed for this purpose are those which follow. - -The most obvious consideration of all is the amount of feudal -arrangements which remain,--so obvious as to require only a bare -mention. If people are satisfied to obey the will of a lord of the soil, -to go out to hunt or to fight at his bidding, to require his consent to -marriages among his dependants, and to hold whatever they have at his -permission, their case is clear. They are destitute of any idea of -liberty, and can be considered at best only half-civilized.--It matters -little whether all this subservience is yielded to the owner of an -estate, or the sovereign of the country, represented by his police or -soldiery. Blind, ignorant obedience to any ruling power which the -subjects had no hand in constituting, on the one part, and the -enforcement of that obedience on the other, is the feudal temper. - -A sleek Austrian of the middle ranks stood, of late, smoking at his -door. A practical joker, who had a mind to see how far the man's -deference for the police would carry him, drew towards him, and -whispered in his ear, "You must dance." The Austrian stared. "Dance, I -say!" repeated the stranger, with an air of authority. "Why must I -dance?" asked the Austrian, when he had removed the pipe from his mouth. -"Because I, an agent of the police, insist upon it." The Austrian -instantly began capering, and continued his exercise till desired to -stand still, assured that he had satisfied the police.--In the United -States, the contrast is amusing. On occasions of public assembly, the -appeal is made to the democratic sentiment of the people to preserve -order. If an orator is to hold forth on an anniversary, the soldiers -(most citizen-like militia) may be seen putting their arms round the -necks of newly arrived listeners, in supplication that they will leave -seats vacant for the band. If a piece of plate is to be presented to a -statesman, and twice as many people throng to the theatre as the -building will hold, harangues may be heard from the neighbouring -balconies,--appeals to the gallantry and kindliness of the crowd,--which -are found quite as effectual in controlling the movements of the -assemblage as any number of bayonets or constables' staves could be. - -This leads to the mention of the Police of a country as a sure sign of -the idea of liberty existing within it. Where the soldiery are the -guards of social order, it makes all the difference whether they are -royal troops,--a destructive machinery organized against the people,--or -a National Guard, springing up when needed from among the people, for -the people's sake,--or a militia, like the American, mentioned -above,--virtually stewards of the meeting, and nothing more. Whatever -may be thought of the comparative ease of proceeding, on any given -occasion, between a police like that of Paris, and a constabulary like -that of the American cities, (a mockery to European rulers,) it is a -striking fact that order has been generally preserved for half a -century, in a country where public meetings are a hundred times as -numerous as in any kingdom in Europe, by means which would in Europe be -no means at all. It is clear that the idea of liberty must be elevated, -and the love of social order intelligent and strong, where the peace has -been kept through unanimity of will. With the exception of outrages -growing out of the institution of slavery, (which require a deeper -treatment than any species of constabulary can practise,) the United -States, with opportunities of disturbance which have been as a hundred -to one, have exhibited fewer instances of a breach of public order than -any other country in the same space of time; and this order has been -preserved by the popular will, in the full knowledge on all hands that -no power existed to control this will. This is a fact which speaks -volumes in favour of the principles, if not the policy, of the American -people. - -In the United States, the traveller may proceed a thousand miles in any -direction, or live ten years in one place, without the idea of control, -beyond that of social convenience, being once presented to his mind. -Paul Louis Courier gives us the experience of an acquaintance of his. -"Un homme que j'ai vu arrive d'Amérique. Il y est resté trois ans sans -entendre parler de ce que nous appelons ici l'autorité. Il a vécu trois -ans sans être gouverné, s'ennuyant à périr."--In France, he cannot go in -search of the site of the Bastille without finding himself surrounded by -watchers before he has stood five minutes.--In Italy, his trunks are -opened to examine the books he carries, and compare them with the list -of proscribed works.--In Spain, he can say nothing in public that is not -likely to be known to the authorities before the day is out; or in -private that is not in possession of some priest after the next period -of confession.--In Switzerland, he finds that he is free to do any thing -but make inquiries about the condition of the country. If he asks, as -the Emperor Joseph did before him, "Quels sont les revenues de votre -république?" he may receive the same answer, "Ils excedent nos -dépenses."--In Germany, his case is like that of the inhabitants of the -cities;--his course is open and agreeable as long as he pursues inferior -objects, but it is made extremely inconvenient to him to gratify his -interest in politics.--In Poland, evidences of authority will meet his -observation in every direction, while he will rarely hear the name of -its head.--In Russia, he will find the people speaking of their despot -as their father, and will perceive that it is more offensive to allude -to the mortality of emperors than to talk lightly to children of the -death of their parents. A gentleman in the suite of an English -ambassador inquired, after having been conducted over the imperial -palace at St. Petersburgh, which of the rooms he had seen was that in -which the Emperor Paul was killed. No answer was returned to his -question, nor to his repetition of it. He imprudently persisted till -some reply was necessary. His guide whispered, with white lips, "Paul -was not killed. Emperors do not die; they transpire out of life." - -Such are some of the relations of the people to authority which will -strike the observation of the traveller in the most civilized of foreign -countries. These will be further illustrated by the smallest -circumstances which meet his eye that can in any way indicate what are -the functions of the police, and where it has most or least authority. -The Emperor Paul issued an ukase about shoestrings, which it was highly -penal to disobey. His son has lately ordained the precise measurement of -whiskers, and cut of the hair behind, to be observed by the officers of -the army. In some regions, all men go armed: in others, it is penal to -wear arms: in others, people may do as they please. In some countries, -there are costumes of classes enforced by law: in others, by opinion: -while fashion is the only dictator in a third. In some societies -citizens must obtain leave from the authorities to move from place to -place: in others, strangers alone are plagued with passports: in -others, there is perfect freedom of locomotion for all.--In his -observation of the workings of authority, as embodied in a police, his -own experience of restraint or liberty will afford him ample material -for thought, and ground of inference. - -Such restraint as exists derives its character chiefly from its origin. -It makes a wide difference whether the police are the creatures of a -despotic sovereign who treats his subjects as property; or whether they -are the agents of a representative government, appointed by responsible -rulers for the public good; or whether they are the servants of a -self-governing people, chosen by those among whom their work lies. It -makes a wide difference whether they are in the secret pay of an -irresponsible individual, or appointed by command of a parliament, or -elected by a concourse of citizens. In any case, their existence and -their function testify to the absence or presence of a general idea of -liberty among the people; and to its nature, if present. - - * * * * * - -It is taken for granted that the traveller is informed, before he sets -out, respecting the form of Government and general course of Legislation -of the nation he studies. He will watch both, attending upon the -administration as well as the formation of laws,--visiting, where it is -allowed, the courts of justice as well as the halls of parliament. But -he must remember that neither the composition of the government, nor the -body of the laws, nor the administration of them, is an evidence of -what the idea of liberty at present is among the people, except in a -democratic republic, where the acts of the government are the result of -the last expression of the national will. Every other representative -system is too partial for its legislative acts to be more than the -expression of the will of a party; and the great body of laws is -everywhere, except in America, the work of preceding ages. Though, -therefore, the observer will allow no great legislative and -administrative acts to pass without his notice, he will apply himself to -other sets of circumstances to ascertain what is the existing idea of -liberty prevalent among the people. He will observe, from certain facts -of their position, what this idea must be; and, from certain classes of -their own deeds, what it actually is. - -One of the most important circumstances is, whether the population is -thinly sprinkled over the face of the country, or whether it is -collected into neighbourly societies. This all-important condition has -been alluded to so often already that it is only necessary to remind the -observer never to lose sight of it. "Plus un peuple nombreux se -rapproche," says Rousseau, "moins le gouvernement peut usurper sur le -souverain. L'avantage d'un gouvernement tyrannique est donc en ceci, -d'agir à grandes distances. A l'aide des points d'appui qu'il se donne, -sa force augmente au loin, comme celle des léviers. Celle du peuple, au -contraire, n'agit que concentrée: elle s'évapore et se perd en -s'étendant, comme l'effet de la poudre éparse à terre, et qui ne prend -feu que grain à grain. Les pays les moins peuplés sont ainsi les plus -propres à la tyrannie. Les bêtes féroces ne règnent que dans les -déserts." - -It is obvious enough that the Idea of Liberty, which can originate only -in the intercourse of many minds, as the liberty itself can be wrought -out only by the labours of many united hands, is not to be looked for -where the people live apart, and are destitute of any knowledge of the -interests and desires of the community at large. - - * * * * * - -Whether the society is divided into Two Classes, or whether there is a -Gradation, is another important consideration. Where there are only two, -proprietors and labourers, the Idea of Liberty is deficient or absent. -The proprietory class can have no other desires on the subject than to -repress the encroachments of the sovereign above them, or of the servile -class below them: and in the servile class the conception of liberty is -yet unformed. Only in barbarous countries, in countries where slavery -subsists, and in some few strongholds of feudalism, is this decided -division of society into two classes now to be found. Everywhere else -there is more or less gradation; and in the most advanced countries the -classes are least distinguishable. Below those members who, in European -societies, are distinguished by birth, there is class beneath class of -capitalists, though it is usual to comprehend them all, for convenience -of speech, under the name of the middle class. Thus society in Great -Britain, France, and Germany is commonly spoken of as consisting of -three classes; while the divisions of the middle class are, in fact, -very numerous. The small shopkeeper is not of the same class with the -landowner, or wealthy banker, or professional man; while their views of -life, their political principles, and their social aspirations, are as -different as those of the peer and the mechanic. - -There are two pledges of the advancement of the idea of liberty in a -community:--the one is the mingling of the functions of proprietor and -labourer throughout the whole of a society ruled by a representative -government; the other is the graduation of ranks by some other principle -than hereditary succession. - -In ancient times most men were proprietors and labourers too; but under -despotic rule. Societies which have once come under the representative -principle are not likely to retrograde to this state; while there are -influences ever at work to exalt the function of labour, and to extend -that of proprietorship. Wherever this mixture of functions has gone the -furthest,--wherever the mechanic classes are becoming capitalists, and -proprietors are liable to sink down from their ancient honour, unless -they can secure respect by personal qualifications, the idea of liberty -is, to a considerable degree, confirmed and elevated. In such a case, it -is clear that both the power and the desire of encroachment on the part -of the upper class must be lessened, and that of resistance on the part -of the lower increased.--The other improvement follows upon this. -Proprietorship, with its feudal influences, having lost caste (though it -has gained in true dignity), some other ground of distinction must -succeed. If we may judge by what is before our eyes in the Western -world, talent is likely to be the next successor. It is to be hoped that -talent will, in its turn, give way to moral worth,--the higher degrees -of which imply, however, superiority of mental power. The preference of -personal qualifications to those of external endowment has already begun -in the world, and is fast making its way. Such distinction of ranks as -there is in America originates in mental qualifications. Statesmen, who -rise by their own power, rank highest; and then authors. The wealthiest -capitalist gives place, in the estimation of all, to a popular orator, a -successful author, or an eminent clergyman.--In France, the honours of -the peerage and the offices of the state are given to men of science, -philosophy, and literature. The same is the case in some parts of -Germany: and, even in aristocratic England, the younger members of her -Upper House are unsatisfied with being merely peers, and are anxious to -push their way in literature, as well as in politics.--The traveller -must give earnest heed to symptoms like these, knowing that as the -barriers of ranks are thrown down, and personal obtain the ascendant -over hereditary qualifications, social coercion must be relaxed, and the -sentiment of liberty exalted. - - * * * * * - -In close connexion with this, he must observe the condition of Servants. -The treatment and conduct of domestics depend on causes which lie far -deeper than the principles and tempers of particular servants and -masters, as may be seen by a glance at domestic service in England, -Scotland, and Ireland. In England, the old Saxon and Norman feud -smoulders, (however unconscious the parties may be of the fact,) in the -relation of master and servant. Domestics who never heard of either -Norman or Saxon entertain a deep-rooted conviction of their masters' -interests and their own being directly opposed, and are subject to a -strong sense of injury. Masters who never bestow a thought on the -transactions of the twelfth century, complain of a doggedness, -selfishness, and case-hardened indifference in the class of domestics, -which kindness cannot penetrate, or penetrates only to pervert. The -relation is therefore a painful one in England. There is little -satisfaction to be obtained between the extremes of servility and -defiance, by which the conduct of servants is almost as distinctly -marked now as when the nation was younger by seven centuries. The -English housewives complain that confidence only makes their maid -servants conceited, and that indulgence spoils them.--In Ireland, the -case is of the same nature, but much aggravated. The injury of having an -aristocracy of foreigners forced on the country, to whom the natives are -to render service, is more recent, and the impression more consciously -retained. The servants are ill-treated, and they yield bad service in -return. It is mournful to see the arrangement of Dublin houses. The -drawing-rooms are palace-like, while the servants' apartments are dark -and damp dungeons. It is wearisome to hear the complaints of the dirt, -falsehood, and faithlessness of Irish servants,--complaints which their -mistresses have ever ready for the ear of the stranger; and it is -disgusting to witness the effects in the household. It is equally sad -and ludicrous to see the mistress of some families enter the breakfast -room, with a loaf of bread under her arm, the butter-plate in one hand, -and a bunch of keys in the other;--to see her cut from the loaf the -number of slices required, and send them down to be toasted,--explaining -that she is obliged to lock up the very bread from the thievery of her -servants, and informing against them as if she expected them to be -worthy of trust, while she daily insults them with the refusal of all -trust,--even to the care of the bread-pan. In Scotland, the case is -widely different. Servitude and clanship are there connected, instead of -servitude and conquest. The service is willing in proportion; and the -faults of domestics are not those common to the oppressed, but rather -those proceeding from pride and self-will. The Scotch domestic has still -the pride in the chief of the name which cherishes the self-respect of -every member of a clan; and in the service of the chief there is -scarcely any exertion which the humblest of his name would not make. The -results are obvious. There is a better understanding between the two -classes than in the other divisions of the kingdom: and Scotch masters -and mistresses obtain a satisfaction from their domestics which no -degree of justice and kindness in English and Irish housekeepers can -secure. The dregs of an oppression of centuries cannot be purged away by -the action of individual tempers, be they of the best. The causes of -misunderstanding, as we have said, lie deep. - -The principles which regulate the condition of domestic servants in -every country form thus a deep and wide subject for the traveller's -inquiries. In America, he will hear frequent complaints from the ladies -of the pride of their maid servants, and of the difficulty of settling -them, while he sees that some are the most intimate friends of the -families they serve; and that not a few collect books, and attend -courses of scientific lectures. The fact is that, in America, a conflict -is going on between opposite principles, and the consequences of the -struggle show themselves chiefly in the relation between master and -servant. The old European notions of the degradation of servitude -survive in the minds of their American descendants, and are nourished by -the presence of slavery on the same continent, and by the importation of -labourers from Europe which is perpetually going on. In conflict with -these notions are the democratic ideas of the honourableness of -voluntary service by contract. It is found difficult, at first, to -settle the bounds of the contract; and masters are liable to sin, from -long habit, on the side of imperiousness, and the servants on that of -captiousness and jealousy of their own rights. Such are the -inconveniences of a transition state;--a state, however, upon which it -should be remembered that other societies have yet to enter. In an Irish -country-house, the guest sometimes finds himself desired to keep his -wardrobe locked up.--In England, he perceives a restraint in the address -of each class to the class above it.--In France, a washerwoman speaks -with as much ease to a duchess as a duchess to a washerwoman.--In -Holland, the domestics have chambers as scrupulously neat as their -masters'.--In Ireland, they sleep in underground closets.--In New York, -they can command their own accommodation.--In Cuba they sleep, like -dogs, in the passages of the family dwellings. These are some of the -facts from which the observer is to draw his inferences, rather than -from the manners of some individuals of the class whom he may meet. In -his conclusions from such facts he can hardly be wrong, though he may -chance to become acquainted with a footman of the true heroic order in -Dublin, and a master in Cuba who respects his own servants, and a -cringing lackey in New York. - - * * * * * - -A point of some importance is whether the provincial inhabitants depend -upon the management and imitate the modes of life of the metropolis, or -have principles and manners of their own. Where there is least freedom -and the least desire of it, everything centres in the metropolis. Where -there is most freedom, each "city, town, and vill," thinks and acts for -itself. In despotic countries, the principle of centralization actuates -everything. Orders are issued from the central authorities, and the -minds of the provinces are saved all trouble of thinking for themselves. -Where self-government is permitted to each assemblage of citizens, they -are stimulated to improve their idea and practice of liberty, and are -almost independent of metropolitan usages. The traveller will find that -"Paris is France," as everybody has heard, and that the government of -France is carried on in half-a-dozen apartments in the capital, with -little reference to the unrepresented thousands who are living some -hundreds of miles off: while, if he casts a glance over Norway, he may -see the people on the shores of the fiords, or in the valleys between -the pine-steeps, quietly making their arrangements for controlling the -central authority, even abolishing the institution of hereditary -nobility in opposition to the will of the king; but legally, peaceably, -and in all the simplicity of determined independence,--the result of a -matured idea of liberty. The observer will note whether the pursuits and -amusements of the provincial inhabitants originate in the circumstances -of the locality, or whether they are copies from those of the -metropolis; whether the great city be spoken of with reverence, scorn, -or indifference, or not spoken of at all: whether, as in a Pennsylvanian -village, the society could go on if the capital were swallowed up by an -earthquake; or whether, as in Prussia, the favour of the central power -is as the breath of the nostrils of the people. - - * * * * * - -Newspapers are a strong evidence of the political ideas of a -people;--not individual newspapers; for no two, perhaps, fully agree in -principles and sentiment, and it is to be feared that none are -positively honest. Not by individual newspapers must the traveller form -his judgment, but by the freedom of discussion which he may find to be -permitted, or the restraints upon discussion imposed. The idea of -liberty must be low and feeble among a people who permit the government -to maintain a severe censorship; and it must be powerful and effectual -in a society which can make all its complaints through a newspaper,--be -the reports of the newspapers upon the state of social affairs as dismal -as they may. Whatever revilings of a tyrannical president, or of a -servile congress, a traveller may meet with in any number of American -journals, he may fairly conclude that both the one and the other must -be nearly harmless if they are discussed in a newspaper. The very -existence of the newspapers he sees testifies to the prevalence of a -habit of reading, and consequently of education--to the wide diffusion -of political power--and to the probable safety and permanence of a -government which is founded on so broad a basis, and can afford to -indulge so large a licence. Whatever he may be told of the patriotism of -a sovereign, let him give it to the winds if he finds a space in a -newspaper made blank by the pen of a censor. The tameness of the -Austrian journals tells as plain a tale as if no censor had ever -suppressed a syllable;--as much so as the small size of a New Orleans -paper compared with one of New York, or as the fiercest bluster of a -Cincinnati Daily or Weekly, on the eve of the election of a president. - - * * * * * - -In countries where there is any Free Education, the traveller must -observe its nature; and especially whether the subjects of it are -distinguished by any sort of badge. The practice of badging, otherwise -than by mutual consent, is usually bad: it is always suspicious. The -traveller will note whether free education is conferred by charitable -bequest, (a practice originating in times when the doctrine of expiation -was prevalent, and continued to this day by its union with charity,) or -whether it is framed at the will of the sovereign, that his young -subjects may be trained to his own purposes,--as in the case of the -Emperor of Russia and his young Polish victims; or whether it arises -from the union of such a desire with a more enlightened object,--as may -be witnessed in Prussia; or whether it is provided by the sovereign -people,--by universal consent, as the right of every individual born -into the community, and as the necessary qualification for the enjoyment -of social privileges,--as in the United States. The English Christ -Hospital boys are badged: Napoleon's Polytechnic pupils were badged; so -are the Czar's orphan charge. Wherever the meddling or ostentatious -charity of antique times is in existence,--times when the idea of -liberty was low and confined,--this badging is to be looked for; and -also wherever it is necessary to the purposes of the potentate to keep a -register of the young subjects who may become his instruments or his -foes:--but where education is absolutely universal, where any citizen -has a right to put every child, not otherwise educated, into the -school-house of his township, and where the rising generation are -destined to take care of themselves, and legislate after their own will, -no badging will be found. This apparently trifling fact is worth the -attention of the observer. - -The extent of popular education is a fact of the deepest significance. -Under despotisms there will be the smallest amount of it; and in -proportion to the national idea of the dignity and importance of -man,--idea of liberty, in short,--will be its extent, both in regard to -the number it comprehends, and to the enlargement of their studies. The -universality of education is inseparably connected with a lofty idea of -liberty; and till the idea is realized in a constantly expanding system -of national education, the observer may profitably note for reflection -the facts whether he is surrounded on a frontier by a crowd of whining -young beggars, or whether he sees a parade of charity scholars,--these -all in blue caps and yellow stockings, and those all in white tippets -and green aprons; or whether he falls in with an annual or quarterly -assembly of teachers, met to confer on the best principles and methods -of carrying on an education which is itself a matter of course. - -In countries where there is any popular Idea of Liberty, the -universities are considered its stronghold, from their being the places -where the young, active, hopeful, and aspiring meet,--the youths who are -soon to be citizens, and who have here the means of daily communication -of their ideas, for many years together. It would be an interesting -inquiry how many revolutions, warlike or bloodless, have issued from -seats of learning; and yet more, how many have been planned for which -the existing powers, or the habits of society, have been too strong. If -the universities are not so constituted as to admit of this fostering of -free principles, they are pretty sure to retain the antique notions in -accordance with which they were instituted, and to fall into the rear of -society in morals and manners. It is the traveller's business to observe -the characteristics of these institutions, and to reflect whether they -are likely to aid or to retard the progress of the nation in which they -stand. - -There are universities in almost every country; but they are as little -like one another as the costumes that are found in Switzerland and -India; and the one speak as plainly of morals and manners as the other -of climate. It is needless to point out that countries which contain -only aristocratic halls of learning, or schools otherwise devoid of an -elastic principle, must be in a state of comparative barbarism; because, -in such a case, learning (so called there) must be confined to a few, -and probably to the few who can make the least practical use of it. -Where the universities are on such a plan as that, preserving their -primary form, they can admit increasing numbers, the state of intellect -is likely to be a more advanced one. But a more favourable symptom is -where seats of learning are multiplied as society enlarges, modified in -their principles as new departments of knowledge open, and as new -classes arise who wish to learn. That country is in a state of -transition--of progression--where the ancient universities are honoured -for as much as they can give, while new schools arise to supply their -deficiencies, and Mechanics' Institutes, or some kindred establishments, -flourish by the side of both. This state of things, this variety in the -pursuit of knowledge, can exist only where there is a freedom of -thought, and consequent diversity of opinion, which argues a vigorous -idea of liberty. - -The observer must not, however, rest satisfied with ascertaining the -proportion of the means of education to the people who have to be -educated. He must mark the objects for which learning is pursued. The -two most strongly contrasted cases which can be found are probably those -of Germany and (once more) the United States. In the United States, it -is well known, a provision of university education is made as ample as -that of schools for an earlier stage; yet no one pretends that a highly -finished education is to be looked for in that country. The cause is -obvious. In a young nation, the great common objects of life are entered -upon earlier, and every preparatory process is gone through in a more -superficial manner. Seats of learning are numerous and fully attended, -both in Germany and America, and they testify in each to a pervading -desire of knowledge. Here the agreement ends. The German student may, -without being singular, remain within the walls of his college till time -silvers his hairs; or he has even been known to pass eighteen years -among his books, without once crossing the threshold of his study. The -young American, meanwhile, satisfied at the end of three years that he -knows as much as his neighbours, settles in a home, engages in farming -or commerce, and plunges into what alone he considers the business of -life. Each of these pursues his appropriate objects: each is right in -his own way: but the difference of pursuit indicates a wider difference -of sentiment between the two countries than the abundance of the means -of learning in each indicates a resemblance. The observer must therefore -mark, not only what and how many are the seats of learning, but who -frequent them; whether there are many, past the season of youth, who -make study the business of their lives; or whether all are of that class -who regard study merely as a part of the preparation which they are -ordained to make for the accomplishment of the commonest aims of life. -He can scarcely take his evening walk in the precincts of a university -without observing a difference so wide as this. - -The great importance of the fact lies in this,--that increase of -knowledge is necessary to the secure enlargement of freedom. Germany may -not, it is true, require learning in her youth for political purposes, -but because learning has become the taste, the characteristic honour of -the nation; but this knowledge will infallibly work out, sooner or -later, her political regeneration. America requires knowledge in her -sons because her political existence itself depends upon their mental -competency. The two countries will probably approximate gradually -towards a sympathy which is at present out of the question. As America -becomes more fully peopled, a literature will grow up within her, and -study will assume its place among the chief objects of life. The great -ideas which are the employment of the best minds of Germany must work -their way out into action; and new and immediately practical kinds of -knowledge will mingle themselves, more and more largely, with those to -which she has been, in times past, devoted. The two countries may thus -fall into a sympathetic correspondence on the mighty subjects of human -government and human learning, and the grand idea of liberty may be made -more manifest in the one, and disciplined and enriched in the other. - - * * * * * - -One great subject of observation and speculation remains--the objects -and form of Persecution for Opinion in each country. Persecution for -opinion is always going on among a people enlightened enough to -entertain any opinions at all. There must always be, in such a nation, -some who have gone further in research than others, and who, in making -such an advance, have overstepped the boundaries of popular sympathy. -The existence and sufferings of such are not to be denied because there -are no fires at the stake, and no organized and authorized Inquisition, -and because formal excommunication is gone out of fashion. Persecution -puts on other forms as ages elapse; but it is not extinct. It can be -inflicted out of the province of law, as well as through it; by a -neighbourhood as well as from the Vatican. A wise and honest man may be -wounded through his social affections, and in his domestic relations, as -effectually as by flames, fetters, and public ignominy. There are wise -and good persons in every civilized country, who are undergoing -persecution in one form or another every day. - -Is it for precocity in science? or for certain opinions in politics? or -for a peculiar mode of belief in the Christian religion, or unbelief of -it? or for championship of an oppressed class? or for new views in -morals? or, for fresh inventions in the arts, apparently interfering -with old-established interests? or for bold philosophical speculation? -Who suffers arbitrary infliction, in short, and how, for any mode of -thinking, and of faithful action upon thought? An observer would reject -whatever he might be told of the paternal government of a prince, if he -saw upon a height a fortress in which men were suffering _carcere duro_ -for political opinions. In like manner, whatever a nation may tell him -of its love of liberty should go for little if he sees a virtuous man's -children taken from him on the ground of his holding an unusual -religious belief; or citizens mobbed for asserting the rights of -negroes; or moralists treated with public scorn for carrying out allowed -principles to their ultimate issues; or scholars oppressed for throwing -new light into the sacred text; or philosophers denounced for bringing -fresh facts to the surface of human knowledge, whether they seem to -agree or not with long-established suppositions. - -The kind and degree of infliction for opinion which is possible, and is -practised in the time and place, will indicate to the observer the -degree of imperfection in the popular idea of liberty. This is a kind of -fact easy to ascertain, and worthy of all attention. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -PROGRESS. - - "'Tis the sublime of man, - Our noontide majesty, to know ourselves - Parts and proportions of one wondrous whole! - This fraternizes man, this constitutes - Our charities and bearings." - COLERIDGE. - - "Then let us pray that come it may, - As come it will for a' that, - That sense and worth, o'er a' the earth, - May bear the gree, and a' that. - For a' that, and a' that, - It's coming yet, for a' that, - That man to man, the warld o'er, - Shall brothers be for a' that." - BURNS. - - -However widely men may differ as to the way to social perfection, all -whose minds have turned in that direction agree as to the end. All agree -that if the whole race could live as brethren, society would be in the -most advanced state that can be conceived of. It is also agreed that the -spirit of fraternity is to be attained, if at all, by men discerning -their mutual relation, as "parts and proportions of one wondrous whole." -The disputes which arise are about how these proportions are to be -arranged, and what those qualifications should be by which some shall -have an ascendancy over others. - -This cluster of questions is not yet settled with regard to the -inhabitants of any one country. The most advanced nations are now in a -condition of internal conflict upon them. As for the larger idea,--that -nations as well as individuals are "parts and proportions of one -wondrous whole," it has hardly yet passed the lips or pen of any but -religious men and poets. Its time will come when men have made greater -progress, and are more at ease about the domestic arrangements of -nations. As long as there are, in every country of the world, multitudes -who cannot by any exertion of their own redeem themselves from hardship, -and their children from ignorance, there is quite enough for justice and -charity to do at home. While this is doing,--while the English are -striving to raise the indigent classes of their society, the French -speculating to elevate the condition of woman, and to open the career of -life to all rational beings, the Germans waiting to throw off the -despotism of absolute rulers, and the Americans struggling to free the -negroes,--the fraternal sentiment will be growing, in preparation for -yet higher results. The principle, acted upon at home, will be gaining -strength for exercise abroad; and the more any society becomes like a -band of brothers, the more powerful must be the sympathy which it will -have to offer to other such bands. - -Far off as may be the realization of such a prospect, it is a prospect. -For many ages poets and philosophers have entertained the idea of a -general spirit of fraternity among men. It is the one great principle of -the greatest religion which has ever nourished the morals of mankind. -It is the loftiest hope on which the wisest speculators have lived. -Poets are the prophets, and philosophers the analysers of the fate of -men, and religion is the promise and pledge of unseen powers to those -who believe in them. That cannot be unworthy of attention, of hope, of -expectation, which the poets and the analysers of the race, have reposed -upon, and on which the best religion of the world (and that which -comprehends all others) is based. That which has never, for all its -splendour, been deemed absurd by the wisest of the race is now beginning -to be realized. We have now something more to show for our hope than -what was before enough for the highest minds. The fraternal spirit has -begun to manifest itself by its workings in society. The helpless are -now aided expressly on the ground of their helplessness,--not from the -emotions of compassion excited by the spectacle of suffering in -particular cases, but in a nobler and more abstract way. Classes, -crowds, nations of sufferers are aided and protected by strangers, -powerful and at ease, who never saw an individual of the suffering -thousands, and who have none but a spiritual interest in their welfare. -Since missions to barbarous countries, action against slavery, and the -care of the blind, deaf and dumb, and paupers, have become labours of -society, the fraternity of men has ceased to be a mere aspiration, or -even prophecy and promise. It is not only that the high-placed watchmen -of the world have announced that the day is coming,--it has dawned; and -there is every reason to expect that it will brighten into noon. - -The traveller must be strangely careless who, in observing upon the -morals of a people, omits to mark the manifestations of this -principle;--to learn what is its present strength, and what the promise -of its growth. By fixing his observation on this he may learn, and no -otherwise can he learn, whether the country he studies is advancing in -wisdom and happiness, or whether it is stationary, or whether it is -going back. The probabilities of its progress are wholly dependent upon -this.--It will not take long to point out what are the signs of -progression which he must study. - - * * * * * - -It is of great consequence whether the nation is insular or continental, -independent or colonial. Though the time seems to be come when the sea -is to be made a highway, as easy of passage as the land, such has not -been the case till now. Even in the case of Great Britain,--the most -accessible of islands, and the most tempting to access,--before the last -series of wars, a much smaller number of strangers visited her than -could have been supposed to come if they had only to pass land -frontiers. During the wars, she was almost excluded from continental -society. The progress that her people have made in liberality and -humanity since communication has been rendered easy, is so striking that -it is impossible to avoid supposing the enlarged commerce of mind which -has taken place to be one of the chief causes of the improvement. It is -probable that the advancement of the nation would have been still -greater if the old geological state of junction with the continent had -been restored for the last twenty years. She would then have been -almost such a centre of influx as France has been, and by which France -has so far profited that the French are now, it is believed, the most -active-minded and morally progressive nation in the world. Much of the -vigour and progression of France is doubtless owing to other causes; but -much also to her rapid and extensive intercourse with the minds of many -nations. The condition of the inhabitants of other islands is likely to -be less favourable to progression than that of the British, in -proportion as they have less intercourse. They are likely to have even -more than the English proportion of self-satisfaction, dislike of -foreigners, and reserve. Generally speaking, the inhabitants of islands -are found to be to those of continental countries as villagers to -citizens: they have good qualities of their own, but are behind the -world. Malta has not the chance that she would have if we could annex -her to the South of France; nor will the West India islands advance as -they would do if we could throw them all into one, and intersect the -whole with roads leading on either side from the great European and -American cities. - -Malta and the West India islands have, however, the additional -disadvantage of being colonies. The moral progression of a people can -scarcely begin till they are independent. Their morals are overruled by -the mother-country,--by the government and legislation she imposes, by -the rulers she sends out, by the nature of the advantages she grants and -the tribute she requires, by the population she pours in from home, and -by her own example. Accordingly, the colonies of a powerful country -exhibit an exaggeration of the national faults, with only infant -virtues of their own, which wait for freedom to grow to maturity, and -among which an enlarged sympathy with the race is seldom found. This is -a temper uncongenial with a confined, dependent, and imitative society; -and the first strong symptoms of it are usually found in the persons of -those whose mission it is to lead the colony out of its minority into -independence. - -These are conditions of a people which may guide the traveller's -observations by showing him what to expect. Remembering these -conditions, he will mark the greater or less enlargement and generosity -of the spirit of society, and learn from these the fact or promise of -progression, or whether it is too soon to look for either. - -There is another important condition which can hardly escape his notice: -whether the people are homogeneous or composed of various races. The -inhabitants of New England are a remarkable specimen of the first, as -the inhabitants of the middle states of America will be of the last, two -or three generations hence. Almost all the nations of Europe are -mongrel; and those which can trace their descent from the greatest -variety of ancestors have, other circumstances remaining the same, the -best chance of progression. Among a homogeneous people, ancestral -virtues flourish; but these carry with them ancestral faults as their -shadow; and there is a liability of a new fault being added,--resistance -to the spirit of improvement. If the chances of severity of ancient -virtue are lessened in the case of a mongrel people, there is a -counterbalancing advantage in the greater diversity of interests, -enlargement of sympathy, and vigour of enterprise introduced by the -close union of the descendants of different races. The people of New -England, almost to a man descended from the pilgrim fathers, have the -strong religious principle and feeling, the uprightness, the domestic -attachment, and the principled worldly prudence of their ancestors, with -much of their asceticism (and necessarily attendant cant) and bigotry. -Their neighbours in the middle states are composed of contributions from -all countries of the civilized world, and have, as yet, no distinctive -character; but it is probable that a very valuable one will be formed, -in course of time, from such elements as the genial gaiety of the -cavaliers, the patient industry of the Germans and Dutch, the vivacity -of the French, the sobriety of the Scotch, the enterprise of the Irish, -and the domestic tastes of the Swiss,--all of which, with their -attendant drawbacks, go to compose the future American character. The -chief pride of the New Englanders is in their unmixed descent;--a -virtuous pride, but not the most favourable to a progression which must -antiquate some of the qualities to which they are most attached. The -European components of the other population cherish some of the feudal -prejudices and the territorial pride which they imported with them, and -this is their peculiar drawback: but it appears that the enlarged -liberality which they enjoy from being intermingled more than -countervails the religious spirit of New England in opening the general -heart and mind to the interests of the race at large. The progression of -the middle states seems likely to be more rapid than that of New -England, though the inhabitants of the northern states have hitherto -taken and kept the lead. - -It is the traveller's business to enter upon this course of observation -wherever he goes. When he has ascertained the conditions under which the -national character is forming,--whether its situation is insular or -continental, colonial or independent, and whether it is descended from -one race or more, he will proceed to observe the facts which indicate -progress or the reverse. - - * * * * * - -The most obvious of these facts is the character of charity. Charity is -everywhere. The human heart is always tender, always touched by visible -suffering, under one form or another. The form which this charity takes -is the great question. - -In young and rude countries, an open-handed charity pervades the land. -Everyone who comes in want to a dwelling has his immediate want -relieved. The Arab gives from his mess to the hungerer who appears at -the entrance of his tent. The negro brings rice and milk to the -traveller who lies fainting under the palm. The poor are fed round -convent-doors, morning and evening, where there are convents. In -Ireland, it is a common practice to beg, in order to rise in the -world,--a clear testimony to the practice of charity there. In all -societies, the poor help the poorer; the depressed class aids the -destitute. The existence of the charity may be considered a certainty. -The inquiry is about its direction. - -The lowest order of charity is that which is satisfied with relieving -the immediate pressure of distress in individual cases. A higher is that -which makes provision on a large scale for the relief of such distress; -as when a nation passes on from common alms-giving to a general -provision for the destitute. A higher still is when such provision is -made in the way of anticipation, or for distant objects; as when the -civilization of savages, the freeing of slaves, the treatment of the -insane, or the education of the blind and deaf mutes is undertaken. The -highest charity of all is that which aims at the prevention rather than -the alleviation of evil. When any considerable number of a society are -engaged in this work, the spirit of fraternity is busy there, and the -progression of the society is ascertained. In such a community, it is -allowed that though it is good to relieve the hungry, it is better to -take care that all who work shall eat, as a matter of right: that though -it is good to provide for the comfort and reformation of the guilty, it -is better to obviate guilt: that though it is good to teach the ignorant -who come in one's way, it is better to provide the means of knowledge, -as of food, for all. In short, it is a nobler charity to prevent -destitution, crime, and ignorance, than to relieve individuals who never -ought to have been made destitute, criminal, and ignorant. - -This war against the evils themselves, in preference to, but accompanied -by, relief of the victims, has begun in many countries; and those which -are the most busily occupied in the work must be considered the most -advanced, and the most certain to advance. The observer must note the -state of the work everywhere. In one country he will see the poor fed -and clothed by charity, without any effort being made to relieve them -from the pressure by which they are sunk in destitution. The spirit of -brotherhood is not there; and such charity has nothing of the spirit of -hope and progress in it. In another country, he will see the independent -insisting on the right of the destitute to relief, and providing by law -or custom for such relief. This is a great step, inasmuch as the -interests of the helpless are taken up by the powerful,--a movement -which must have something of the fraternal spirit for its impulse. In a -third, he hears of prison discipline societies, missionary societies, -temperance societies, and societies for the abolition of slavery. This -is better still. It is looking wide,--so wide as that the spirit of -charity acts as seeing the invisible,--the pagan trembling under the -tabu, the negro outraged in his best affections, and the criminal hidden -in the foul retreat of the common jail. It is also a training for -looking deep; for these methods of charity all go to prevent the woes of -future heathen generations, future slaves, drunkards, and criminals, as -well as to soften the lot of those who exist. If, in a fourth society, -the observer finds that the charity has gone deep as well as spread -wide, and that the benevolent are tugging at the roots of indigence and -crime, he may place this society above all the rest as to the brightness -of its prospects. Such a movement can proceed only from the spirit of -fraternity,--from the movers feeling it their own concern that any are -depressed and endangered as they would themselves refuse to be. The -elevation of the depressed classes in such a society, and the consequent -progression of the whole, may be considered certain; for "sooner will -the mother forget her sucking child" than the friends of their race -forsake those for whom they have cared and laboured with disinterested -love and toil. Criminals will never be plunged back into their former -state in America, nor women in France, nor negroes in the colonies of -England. The spirit of justice (which is ultimately one with charity) -has gone forth, not only conquering, but still to conquer. - -To the prospects of the sufferers of society let the observer look; and -he will discern the prospects of the society itself. - - * * * * * - -Useful arts and inventions spread so rapidly in these days of improving -communication, that they are no longer the decisive marks of -enlightenment in a people that they were when each nation had the -benefit of its own discoveries, and little more. Yet it is worthy of -remark what kinds of improvement are the most generally adopted; whether -those which enhance the luxury of the rich, or such as benefit the whole -society. It is worthy of remark whether the newest delight is in -splendid club-houses, where gentlemen may command the rarest luxuries at -a smaller expense than would have been possible without the aid of the -principle of economy of association, or in the groups of mechanics' -dwellings, where the same principle is applied in France to furnishing -numbers with advantages of warmth, light, cookery, and cleanliness, -which they could no otherwise have enjoyed. It is worth observing -whether there are most mechanical inventions dedicated to the -selfishness of the rich, or committed to the custom of the working -classes. If the rich compose the great body of purchasers who are to be -considered by inventors, the working classes are probably depressed. If -there are most purchasers among the most numerous classes, the working -order is rising, and the state of things is hopeful.--How speed the -great discoveries and achievements which cannot, by any management, be -confined to the few? How prospers the steam-engine, the -rail-road,--strong hands which cannot be held back, by which a multitude -of the comforts of life are extended to the poor, who could not reach up -to them before? Do men glory most in the activity of these, or in the -invention of a new pleasure for the satiated? - -In the finer arts, for whom are heads and hands employed? The study of -the ruins of all old countries tells the antiquary of the lives of the -rich alone. There are churches which record the living piety or the -dying penitence of the rich; priories and convents which speak of -monkish idleness, and the gross luxuries which have cloaked themselves -in asceticism; there are palaces of kings, castles of nobles, and villas -of opulent commoners; but nowhere, except in countries recently -desolated by war, are the relics of the abodes of the poor the study of -the traveller. If he now finds skill bestowed on the buildings which are -the exclusive resort of the labouring classes, and taste employed in -their embellishment, it is clear that the order is rising. The record of -each upward heave will remain for the observation of the future -traveller, in the buildings to which they resort;--a record as -indisputable as a mountain fissure presents to the geologist. - -Time was when the dwellings of the opulent were ornamented with costly -and beautiful works of art, while the eye of the peasant and the artisan -found no other beauty to rest on than the face of his beloved, and the -forms of his children. At this day, there are countries in Europe where -the working man aspires to nothing more than to stick up an image of the -Virgin, gay with coloured paper, in a corner of his dwelling. But there -are other lands where a higher taste for beauty is gratified. There are -good prints provided cheap, to hang in the place of the ancient sampler -or daub. Casts from all the finest works of the statuary, ancient and -modern, are hawked about the streets, and may be seen in the windows -where green parrots and brown cats in plaster used to annoy the eye. In -societies where the working class is thus worked for, in the -gratification of its finer tastes, the class must be rising. It is -rising into the region of intellectual luxury, and must have been borne -up thither by the expansion of the fraternal spirit. - - * * * * * - -The great means of progress, for individuals, for nations, and for the -race at large, is the multiplication of Objects of interest. The -indulgence of the passions is the characteristic of men and societies -who have but one occupation and a single interest; while the passions -cause comparatively little trouble where the intellect is active, and -the life diversified with objects. Pride takes a safe direction, -jealousy is diverted from its purposes of revenge, and anger combats -with circumstances, instead of with human foes. The need of mutual aid, -the habit of co-operation caused by interest in social objects, has a -good effect upon men's feelings and manners towards each other; and out -of this grows the mutual regard which naturally strengthens into the -fraternal spirit. The Russian boor, imprisoned in his serfhood, cannot -comprehend what it is to care for any but the few individuals who are -before his eyes, and the Grand Lama has probably no great sympathy with -the race; but in a town within whose compass almost all occupations are -going forward, and where each feels more or less interest in what -engages his neighbour, nothing of importance to the race can become -known without producing more or less emotion. A famine in India, an -earthquake in Syria, causes sorrow. The inhabitants meet to petition -against the wrongs inflicted on people whom they have never seen, and -give of the fruits of their labour to sufferers who have never heard of -them, and from whom they can receive no return of acknowledgment. It is -found that the more pursuits and aims are multiplied, the more does the -appreciation of human happiness expand, till it becomes the interest -which predominates over all the rest. This is an interest which works -out its own gratification, more surely than any other. Wherever, -therefore, the greatest variety of pursuits is met with, it is fair to -conclude that the fraternal spirit of society is the most vigorous, and -the society itself the most progressive. - -This is as far as any nation has as yet attained,--to a warmer than -common sympathy among its own members, and compassion for distant -sufferers. When the time comes for nations to care for one another, and -co-operate as individuals, such a people will be the first to hold out -the right hand. - - * * * * * - -Manners have not been treated of separately from Morals in any of the -preceding divisions of the objects of the traveller's observation. The -reason is, that manners are inseparable from morals, or, at least, cease -to have meaning when separated. Except as manifestations of morals, they -have no interest, and can have no permanent existence. A traveller who -should report of them exclusively is not only no philosopher, but does -not merit the name of an observer; for he can have no insight into the -matter which he professes to convey an account of. His interpretation of -what is before his eyes is more likely to be wrong than correct, like -that of the primitive star-gazers, who reported that the planets went -backwards and forwards in the sky. To him, and to him only, who has -studied the principles of morals, and thus possessed himself of a key to -the mysteries of all social weal and woe, will manners be an index -answering as faithfully to the internal movements, harmonious or -discordant, of society, as the human countenance to the workings of the -human heart. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -DISCOURSE. - - "He that questioneth much shall learn much, and content much; - but especially if he apply his questions to the skill of the - persons whom he asketh; for he shall give them occasion to - please themselves in speaking, and himself shall continually - gather knowledge." - _Bacon._ - - -The Discourse of individuals is an indispensable commentary upon the -classes of national facts which the traveller has observed. To begin the -work of observation with registering this private discourse, is, as has -been said, useless, from the diversity that there is in men's minds, and -from the narrowness of the mental vision of each as he stands in a -crowd. The testimony of no two would be found to agree; and, if the -traveller depended upon them for his general facts, he could never -furnish a record which could be trusted. But, the facts being once -obtained by stronger evidence than individual testimony,--certain fixed -points being provided round which testimony may gather,--the discourse -of individuals assumes its proper value, and becomes illustrative where -before it would have been only bewildering. The traveller must obtain -all that he can of it. He must seek intercourse with all classes of the -society he visits,--not only the rich and the poor, but those who may be -classed by profession, pursuit, habits of mind, and turn of manners. He -must converse with young men and maidens, old men and children, beggars -and savans, postillions and potentates. He must study little ones at -their mothers' knees, and flirtations in ball-rooms, and dealings in the -market-place. He must overhear the mirth of revellers, and the grief of -mourners. Wherever there is speech, he must devote himself to hear. - -One way in which discourse serves as a commentary upon the things he has -observed is in the exhibition of certain general characters of its own, -which are accordant with the general facts he has registered. The -conversation of almost every nation has its characteristics, like that -of smaller societies. The style of discourse in an English village is -unlike that of a populous town; and the people of a town which is no -thoroughfare talk differently from the inhabitants of one which is. In -the same way is the general discourse of a whole people modified. In one -country less regard is paid to truth in particulars, to circumstantial -accuracy, than in another. One nation has more sincerity; another more -kindliness in speech. One proses; another is light and sportive. One is -frank; another reserved. One flatters the stranger; another is careless -of him: and the discourse of the one is designed to produce a certain -effect upon him; while that of the other flows out spontaneously, or is -restrained, according to the traveller's own apparent humour. Such -characteristics of the general discourse may be noted as a -corroboration of suppositions drawn from other facts. They may be taken -as evidence of the respective societies being catholic or puritanic in -spirit; crude or accomplished; free and simple, or restrained and -cautious; self-satisfied, or deficient in self-respect. The observer -must be very careful not to generalize too hastily upon the discourse -addressed to him; but there are everywhere large conclusions which he -cannot help making. However wide the variety of individuals with whom he -may converse, it is scarcely likely that he will meet in Spain with any -number who will prose like the Americans; or in Germany with many who -will treat him with the light jests of the French. Such general -tendencies of any society as he may have been informed of by the study -of things, he will find evidenced also by the general character of its -discourse. - -Another way in which discourse serves as a commentary, is by showing -what interests the people most. If the observer goes with a free mind -and an open heart, not full of notions and feelings of his own, but -ready to resign himself to those of the people he visits,--if he commits -himself to his sympathies, and makes himself one with those about him, -he cannot but presently discover and appreciate what interests them -most. - -A high Tory in America will be more misled than enlightened by what is -said to him, and so will a bigoted Republican in England. A prim Quaker -will not understand the French from half a year of Parisian -conversation, any more than a mere dandy would feel at home at Jena or -Heidelberg. But a traveller free from gross prejudice and selfishness -can hardly be many days in a new society without learning what are its -chief interests. Even savages would speak to him of the figure-head of -their canoe; and others would go through, in time, each its own range of -topics, till the German had poured out to him his philosophical views, -and the Frenchman his solicitudes for the amelioration of society, and -the American his patriotic aspirations, and the Swiss his domestic -sentiment. Whatever may be the restrictions imposed by rulers upon -discourse, whatever may be the penalties imposed upon particular kinds -of communication, all are unavailing in the presence of sympathy. At its -touch the abundance of the heart will gush out at the lips. Men are so -made that they cannot but speak of what interests them most to those who -most share the interest. This is a decree of nature by which the decrees -of despots are annulled. The power of a ruler may avail to keep an -observer on his own side the frontier; but, if he has once passed it, it -is his own fault if he does not become as well acquainted with the -prevailing sentiment of the inhabitants, amidst the deadest public -silence, as if it were shouted out to the four winds. If he carries a -simple mind and an open heart, there is no mine in Siberia so deep but -the voice of complaint will come up to him from it, and no home so -watched by priests but that he will know what is concealed from the -confessor. All this would do little more than mislead him by means of -his sympathies, if such confidence were his only means of knowledge; -but, coming in corroboration of what he has learned in the large -elsewhere, it becomes unquestionable evidence of what it is that -interests the people most. - -He must bear in mind that there are a few universal interests which -everywhere stand first, and that it is the modification of these by -local influences which he has to observe; and also what comes next in -order to these. For instance, the domestic are the primary interests -among all human beings. It is so where the New England father dismisses -his sons to the West,--and where the Hindoo mother deserts her infants -to seek the shade of her husband through the fire,--and where the -Spanish parent consigns her youngest to the convent,--as truly as where -the Norwegian peasant enlarges his roof to admit another and another -family of his descendants. It is for the traveller to trust the words -and tones of parental love which meet his ear in every home of every -land; and to mark by what it is that this prime and universal interest -is modified, so as to produce such sacrifice of itself. Taking the -affection for granted, which the private discourse of parents and -children compels him to do, what light does he find cast upon the -influence of the priests here, and pride of territory there;--upon the -superstition which is the weakness of one people, and the social -ambition in the midst of poverty which is the curse of another! - -He must also find out from the conversation of the people he visits what -is their particular interest, from observing what ranks next to those -which are universal. In one country, parents love their families first, -and wealth next; in another, their families first, and glory next; in a -third, their families first, and liberty next; and so on, through the -whole range of objects of human desire. Once having discerned the mode, -he will find it easy to take the suffrage without much danger of -mistake. - -The chief reason why the discourse of individuals, apart from the -observation of classes of facts, is almost purely deceptive as to -morals, is that the traveller can see no more than one in fifty thousand -of the people, and has no security that those he meets are a sample of -the whole. This difficulty does not interfere with one very important -advantage which he may obtain from conversation,--knowledge of and light -upon particular questions. A stranger might wish to learn the state of -Christianity in England. If he came to London, and began with -conversation, he might meet a Church-of-England-man one day, a Catholic -the next, a Presbyterian the third, a Quaker the fourth, a Methodist the -fifth, and so on, till the result was pure bewilderment. But if he -conversed with intelligent persons, he would find that questions were -pending respecting the church and dissent,--involving the very -principles of the administration of religion. The opinions he hears upon -these questions may be as various as the persons he converses with. He -may be unable to learn the true characters of the statesmen and -religious leaders concerned in their management: but he gains something -of more value. Light is thrown upon the state of things from which alone -these questions could have arisen. From free newspapers he might have -learned the nature of the controversy; but in social intercourse much -more is presented to him. He sees the array of opinions marshalled on -each side, or on all the sides of the question; and receives an -infinite number of suggestions and illustrations which could never have -reached him but from the conflict of intellects, and the diversity of -views and statements with which he is entertained in discourse. The -traveller in every country should thus welcome the discussion of -questions in which the inhabitants are interested, taking strenuous care -to hear the statements of every party. From the intimate connexion of -certain modes of opinion with all great questions, he will gain light -upon the whole condition of opinion from its exhibition in one case. New -subjects of research will be brought within his reach; new paths of -inquiry will be opened; new trains of ideas will be awakened, and fresh -minds brought into communication with his own. If he can secure the good -fortune of conversing with the leaders on both sides of great -questions,--with the men who have made it a pursuit to collect all the -facts of the case, and to follow out its principles,--there is no -estimating his advantage. There is, perhaps, scarcely one great subject -of national controversy which, thus opened to him, would not afford him -glimpses into all the other general affairs of the day; and each time -that his mind grasps a definite opposition of popular opinion, he has -accomplished a stage in his pilgrimage of inquiry into the tendencies of -a national mind. He will therefore be anxious to engage all he meets in -full and free conversation on prevailing topics, leaving it to them to -open their minds in their own way, and only taking care of his -own,--that he preserves his impartiality, and does no injustice to -question or persons by bias of his own. - -In arranging his plans for conversing with all kinds of people, the -observer will not omit to cultivate especially the acquaintance of -persons who themselves see the most of society. The value of their -testimony on particular points must depend much on that of their minds -and characters; but, from the very fact of their having transactions -with a large portion of society, they cannot avoid affording many lights -to a stranger which he could obtain by no other means. The conversation -of lawyers in a free country, of physicians, of merchants and -manufacturers in central trading situations, of innkeepers and of -barbers everywhere, must yield him much which he could not have -collected for himself. The minds of a great variety of people are daily -acting upon the thoughts of such, and the facts of a great variety of -lives upon their experience; and whether they be more or less wise in -the use of their opportunities, they must be unlike what they would have -been in a state of seclusion. If the stranger listens to what they are -most willing to tell, he may learn much of popular modes of thinking and -feeling, of modes of living, acting, and transacting, which will confirm -and illustrate impressions and ideas which he had previously gained from -other sources. - -The result of the whole of what he hears will probably be to the -traveller of the same kind with that which the journey of life yields to -the wisest of its pilgrims. As he proceeds, he will learn to condemn -less, and to admire, not less, but differently. He will find no -intellect infallible, no judgment free from prejudice, and therefore no -affections without their bias; but, on the other hand, he will find no -error which does not branch out of some truth; no wrath which has not -some reason in it; nothing wrong which is not the perversion of -something right; no wickedness that is not weakness. If he is compelled -to give up the adoration of individuals, the man-worship which is the -religion of young days, he surrenders with it the spirit of contempt -which ought also to be proper to youth. To a healthy mind it is -impossible to mix largely with men, under a variety of circumstances, -and wholly to despise either societies or individuals; so magnificent is -the intellect of men in combination, so universal are their most -privately nourished affections. He must deny himself the repose of -implicit faith in the intellect of any one; but he cannot refuse the -luxury of trust in the moral power of the whole. Instead of the complete -set of dogmas with which he was perhaps once furnished, on the authority -of a few individuals, he brings home a store of learning on the great -subject of human prejudices: but he cannot have watched the vast effects -of a community of sentiment,--he cannot have observed multitudes -tranquillized into social order, stimulated to social duty, and even -impelled to philanthropic self-sacrifice, without being convinced that -men were made to live in a bond of brotherhood. He cannot have sat in -conversation under the village elm, or in sunny vineyards, or by the -embers of the midnight fire, without knowing how spirit is formed to -unfold itself to spirit; and how, when the solitary is set in families, -his sympathies bind him to them by such a chain as selfish interest -never yet wove. He cannot have travelled wisely and well without being -convinced that moral power is the force which lifts man to be not only -lord of the earth, but scarcely below the angels; and that the higher -species of moral power, which are likely to come more and more into -use, clothe him in a kind of divinity to which angels themselves might -bow.--No one will doubt this who has been admitted into that range of -sanctuaries, the homes of nations; and who has witnessed the godlike -achievements of the servants, sages, and martyrs, who have existed -wherever man has been. - - - - -PART III. - -MECHANICAL METHODS. - - "In sea-voyages, where there is nothing to be seen but sky and - sea, men make diaries; but in land-travel, wherein so much is to - be observed, they omit it."--BACON. - - "Stick to your journal course; the breach of custom - Is breach of all."--_Cymbeline._ - - -Travellers cannot be always on the alert, any more than other men. Their -hours of weariness and of capricious idleness come, as at home; and -there is no security against their occurring at inconvenient -times,--just when some characteristic spectacle is to be witnessed, or -some long-desired information is in waiting. By a little forethought, -the observer may guard against some of the effects of seizures of -apathy. If he would rather sleep in the carriage than get out to see a -waterfall, he can only feel ashamed, and rouse himself to do his duty: -but, by precaution, he may guard himself from passing by some things -less beautiful than waterfalls, and to have seen which is less necessary -to his reputation as a traveller; but which yet he will be more sorry -eventually to have lost. - -To keep himself up to his business, and stimulate his flagging -attention, he should provide himself, before setting out, with a set of -queries, so prepared as to include every great class of facts connected -with the condition of a people, and so divided and arranged as that he -can turn to the right set at the fitting moment.--These queries are not -designed to be thrust into the hand of any one who may have information -to give. They should not even be allowed to catch his eye. The traveller -who has the air of taking notes in the midst of conversation, is in -danger of bringing away information imperfect as far as it goes, and -much restricted in quantity in comparison with what it would be if he -allowed it to be forgotten that he was a foreigner seeking information. -If he permits the conversation to flow on naturally, without checking it -by the production of the pencil and tablets, he will, even if his memory -be not of the best, have more to set down at night than if he noted on -the spot, as evidence, what a companion might be saying to him. But a -glance in the morning at his list of queries may suggest inquiries which -he might not otherwise remember to make; and they will help him -afterwards to arrange the knowledge he has gained. He can be constantly -adding to them as he goes along, and as new subjects arise, till he is -in possession of a catechism on the facts which indicate morals and -manners; which must prevent his researches being so capricious, and his -information so vague as his moods and his idleness would otherwise -occasionally make them. - -The character of these queries must, of course, depend much on where the -traveller means to go. A set which would suit one nation would not -completely apply to any other. The observer will do wisely to employ -his utmost skill in framing them. His cares will be better bestowed on -this than even on his travelling appointments, important as these are to -his comfort. When he has done his best in the preparation of his lists, -he must still keep on the watch to enlarge them, as occasion arises. - -Some travellers unite in one the functions of the query list and the -journal: having the diary headed and arranged for the reception of -classified information. But this seems to be debasing the function of a -journal, whose object ought to be to reflect the mind of a traveller, -and give back to him hereafter the image of what he thought and felt day -by day. This is its primary function;--a most useful one, as every -traveller knows who has kept one during a year's wandering in a foreign -country. On his return, he laughs at the crudity of the information, and -the childishness of the impressions, set down in the opening pages; and -traces, with as much wonder as interest, the gradual expansion of his -knowledge, education of his perceptions, and maturing of his judgments -as to what is before him, as week succeeds to week, and each month -mellows the experience of the last. - -The subordinate purpose of the journal is to record facts; and the way -in which this is done ought not to depend on the stationer's rule, but -on the nature of the traveller's mind. No man can write down daily all -that he learns in a day's travel. It ought to be a matter of serious -consideration with him what he will insert, and what trust to his -memory. The simplest method seems to be to set down what is most likely -to be let slip, and to trust to the memory what the affections and -tastes of the traveller will not allow him to forget. One who especially -enjoys intimate domestic intercourse will write, not fireside -conversations, but the opinions of statesmen, and the doctrine of -parties on great social questions. One whose tastes are religious will -note less on the subject of public worship and private religious -discourse, than dates, numbers, and facts on subjects of subordinate -interest. All should record anecdotes and sayings which illustrate -character. These are disjointed, and will escape almost any memory, if -not secured in writing. Those who do not draw should also note scenery. -A very few descriptive touches will bring back a landscape, with all its -human interest, after a lapse of years: while perhaps there is no memory -in the world which will present unaided the distinctive character of a -succession of scenes. The returned traveller is ashamed to see the -extent of his record of his personal feelings. His changes of mood, his -sufferings from heat or cold, from hunger or weariness, are the most -interesting things to him at the moment; and down they go, in the place -of things much better worth recording, and he pays the penalty in many a -blush hereafter. His best method will be to record as little as possible -about himself; and, of other things, most of what he is pretty sure to -forget, and least of what he can hardly help remembering. - -Generally speaking, he will find it desirable to defer the work of -generalization till he gets home. In the earlier stages of his journey, -at least, he will restrict his pen to the record of facts and -impressions; or, if his mind should have an unconquerable theorizing -tendency, he will be so far cautious as to put down his inferences -conjecturally. It is easy to do this; and it may make an eternal -difference to the observer's love of truth, and attainment of it, -whether he preserves his philosophic thoughts in the form of dogmas or -of queries. - -Though it is commonly spoken of as a settled thing that the journal -should be written at night, there are many who do not agree to this. -There are some whose memory fails when the body is tired, and who find -themselves clear-headed about many things in the morning which were but -imperfectly remembered before they had the refreshment of sleep. The -early morning is probably the best time for the greater number; but it -is a safe general rule that the journal should be written in the -interval when the task is pleasantest. Whether the regularity be -pleasant or not, (and to the most conscientious travellers it is the -most agreeable,) the entries ought to be made daily, if possible. The -loss incurred by delay is manifest to any one who has tried. The -shortest entries are always those which have been deferred. The delay of -a single day is found to reduce the matter unaccountably. In the midst -of his weariness and unwillingness to take out his pen, the traveller -may comfort himself by remembering that he will reap the reward of -diligence in satisfaction when he gets home. He may assure himself that -no lines that he can write can ever be more valuable than those in which -he hives his treasures of travel. If he turns away from the task, he -will have uneasy feelings connected with his journey as often as he -looks back upon it;--feelings of remorse for his idleness, and of regret -for irretrievable loss. If, on the other hand, he perseveres in the -daily duty, he will go forward each morning with a disburthened mind, -and will find, in future years, that he loves the very blots and -weather-stains on the pages which are so many remembrancers of his -satisfactory labours and profitable pleasures. - -Besides the journal, the traveller should have a note-book,--always at -hand,--not to be pulled out before people's eyes, for the entry of facts -related, but to be used for securing the transient appearances which, -though revealing so much to an observing mind, cannot be recalled with -entire precision. In all the countries of the world, groups by the -wayside are the most eloquent of pictures. The traveller who lets -himself be whirled past them, unobservant or unrecording, loses more -than any devices of inquiry at his inn can repair. If he can sketch, he -should rarely allow a characteristic group of persons, or nook of -scenery, to escape his pencil. If he cannot use the pencil, a few -written words will do. Two lines may preserve for him an exemplification -which may be of great future value.--The farmers' wives of New England, -talking over the snake-fence at sunset, are in themselves an -illustration of many things: so is the stern Indian in his -blanket-cloak, standing on a mound on the prairie; so is the chamois -hunter on his pinnacle, and the pedestrian student in the valleys of the -Hartz, and the pine-cutters on the steeps of Norway, and the travelling -merchant on the dyke in Holland, and the vine-dressers in Alsace, and -the beggars in the streets of Spanish cities, and all the children of -all countries at their play. The traveller does not dream of passing -unnoticed the cross in the wilderness, beneath which some brother -pilgrim lies murdered; or the group of brigands seen in the shadow of -the wood; or a company of Sisters of Charity, going forth to their deeds -of mercy; or a pair of inquisitors, busy on the errands of the Holy -Office; or anything else which strongly appeals to his imagination or -his personal feelings. These pictures, thus engraved in his memory, he -may safely leave to be entered in his journal, night or morning: but -groups and scenes which ought to be quite as interesting, because they -reveal the thoughts and ways of men, (the more familiarly the more -faithfully,) should be as earnestly observed; and, to give them a chance -of equal preservation, they should be noted on the instant. If a -foreigner opens his eyes after a nap in travelling an Irish road, would -it not be wise to note at once what he sees that he could not see -elsewhere? He perceives that the green lanes which branch off from the -road are more crowded with foliage, and less definite in their windings, -than any other green lanes he has seen near high roads. The road itself -is _sui generis_, with its border of rank grass, with tufts of -straggling briers, and its rough stone walls, fringed with weeds, and -gay with wild flowers. A beggarly wretch is astride on the top, singing -the Doxology to the tune of Paudeen O'Rafferty, and keeping time with -his heels: and, some way off, an old man crouches in the grass, playing -cards,--the right hand against the left,--reviling the winner, and -tenderly consoling the loser. Presently the stranger passes a roofless -hut, where he sees, either a party of boys and girls throwing turf for a -handful of meal, or a beggar-woman and her children resting in the shade -of the walls to eat their cold potatoes. Such scenes could be beheld -nowhere but in Ireland: but there is no country in the world where -groups and pictures as characteristic do not present themselves to the -observing eye, and in such quick succession that they are liable to be -confused and lost, if not secured at the moment by brief touches of -pencil or pen. The note-book should be the repository of such. - -Mechanical methods are nothing but in proportion to the power which uses -them; as the intellectual accomplishments of the traveller avail him -little, and may even bring him back less wise than he went out,--a -wanderer from truth, as well as from home,--unless he sees by a light -from his heart shining through the eyes of his mind. He may see, and -hear, and record, and infer, and conclude for ever; and he will still -not understand if his heart be idle,--if he have not sympathy. Sympathy -by itself may do much: with fit intellectual and mechanical aids, it -cannot but make the traveller a wise man. His journey may be but for a -brief year, or even month; but if, by his own sympathy, he grasps and -brings home to himself the life of a fresh portion of his race, he gains -a wisdom for which he will be the better for ever. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[A] Penny Magazine, vol. ii. p. 309. - -[B] Volney's Survey of the Revolutions of Empires, pp. 25, 26. - -[C] Mme. D'Aunoy. - -[D] Adam Smith, "Wealth of Nations." - -[E] Jacob, "Travels in the South of Spain." - -[F] HOME, by Miss Sedgwick, pp. 37, 39. - -[G] An exception to this may meet the eye of a traveller once in a -lifetime. There is a village church-yard in England where the following -inscription is to be seen. After the name and date occurs the following: - - He was a Bad Son, - A Bad Husband, - A Bad Father. - "The wicked shall be turned into Hell." - -[H] Edinburgh Review, vol. xxxix. p. 67. - -[I] Edinburgh Review, vol. xlvi. p. 309. - -[J] Edinburgh Review, vol. xxvi. pp. 7, 8. - -[K] Corn Law Rhymer. Elliott of Sheffield. - -[L] Travels of Minna and Godfrey in Many Lands, p. 53. - -[M] Rogers's Italy, p. 172. - -[N] Memoirs of an American Lady. - - -THE END. - - - - - LONDON: - PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEY, - Dorset Street, Fleet Street. - - - - -INDUSTRIAL LIBRARY, - -FOR SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES. - - -RESULTS OF MACHINERY. 1_s._ sewed, 1_s._ 3_d._ cloth. - -CAPITAL AND LABOUR. By the Author of the "Results of Machinery." -1_s._ sewed, 1_s._ 3_d._ cloth. - -COTTAGE EVENINGS. 1_s._ sewed, 1_s._ 3_d._ cloth. - -The PHYSICIAN. 1_s._ sewed, 1_s._ 3_d._ cloth. - -WORKING MAN'S COMPANION, FOR 1835, 6, 7, and 8, 9_d._ each. - -HOUSEHOLD YEAR-BOOK, FOR 1835, 6, and 7. 1_s._ each. - -*.* The above works are under the superintendence of the Society for the -Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. - -SKETCHES OF POPULAR TUMULTS; illustrative of the Evils of Social -Ignorance. Second Edition. 5_s._ cloth. - - -=INDUSTRIAL GUIDE-BOOKS.= - -To supply a manifest deficiency in the books already published for the -education of the industrial classes, the Publishers have undertaken a -series of works, (which will be brought out at the cheapest rate,) whose -chief object is to prepare young persons for the choice of an -occupation, by instructing them in the peculiar duties, and, as far as -requisite, in the technical details of the various departments of -SERVICE OR TRADE in which they are likely to be engaged as they advance -in life. It is, of course, not contemplated herein to teach every thing -that should be known in a Trade, or to point out the whole details of a -Service,--but to give such a general knowledge of the occupations which -the mass of the people are called upon to follow, as may prepare the -young for the proper discharge of their duties, and systematize much -of the practical information which the adult has now in most cases, to -learn without a Guide. These works will, collectively, contain a mass of -authentic and amusing information on the various departments of industry -in this country, which will be useful and interesting to all readers. -They will be illustrated with numerous explanatory wood cuts. The -subjects to be embraced will, for the most part, be as follows:-- - -I--THE GUIDE TO SERVICE. - -1. _Farm Service._ - - Labourer - Cowherd - Shepherd - Carter - Ploughman - Bailiff - Dairywoman. - -2. _House Service_ - - Gardener - Groom - Coachman - Footman - Butler - Servant of all Work - Kitchen Maid - Cook - House Maid - Nurse Maid - Lady's Maid. - -3. _Commercial Service._ - - Errand Boy - Apprentice - Porter and Carman - Warehouseman - Shopman - Clerk - Servants of Public Conveyances. - -4. _Public Service._ - - Soldier - Sailor - Excise Officer - Custom-house Officer - Post-office Servants and Turnpikemen - Officers of Local Administration. - - -II--THE GUIDE TO TRADE. - -1. _Producers of Food and Raw Materials._ - - Farmer and Grazier - Market-Gardener - Fisherman - Miner. - -2. _Manufacturers._ - - Iron Founder - Lead Founder, or Worker - Brass Founder - Coppersmith - Cutler - Machine Maker - Brick Maker - Potter - Glass Worker - Spinners and Weavers - Cotton - Linen - Woollen - Silk - Bleacher, Dyer, and Calico Printer - Tanner and Currier - Rope Maker - Miller and Baker - Soap Boiler and Tallow Chandler - Sugar Refiner - Brewer and Distiller - Hatter - Paper Maker. - -3. _Handicraftsmen._ - - Shipwright - Bricklayer - Mason - Carpenter - Plumber, Painter, and Glazier - Cabinet Maker and Upholsterer - Smith - Cooper, Brush Maker, Basket Maker - Brazier and Tinman - Carver and Gilder - Wheelwright and Coachmaker - Watchmaker - Goldsmith and Jeweller - Printer - Bookbinder - Engraver - Tailor - Milliner - Shoemaker - Saddler - Hairdresser. - -4. _Retailers._ - - Butcher - Grocer, Cheesemonger, Oilman, Tobacconist - Fishmonger and Poulterer - Pastrycook and Confectioner - Greengrocer and Seedsman - Victualler - Coal and Corn Dealer - Ironmonger and Hardwareman - Stationer and Bookseller - Chemist and Druggist - Hawker and Pedlar - Broker. - -*.* The Series will not be published at stated periods, but it will be -endeavoured to bring out one Tract in each Class monthly. - -In July will be published - -"THE MAID OF ALL WORK," Price Eightpence. - -"THE PRINTER," Price One Shilling. - - - - -Transcriber's Notes: - -Archaic and unexpected spelling and hyphenation have been retained as -they appear in the original publication, including recompence, -negociated, hinderance, befals, proprietory, tabu and savans. The -following changes to the original publication have been made: - - Page 43 - will not pour out their stores _changed to_ - will not pour out their stories - - Page 239 - the occupations which the mass o - the occupations which the mass of - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of How to Observe, by Harriet Martineau - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOW TO OBSERVE *** - -***** This file should be named 33944-8.txt or 33944-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/9/4/33944/ - -Produced by Julia Miller and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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