proud city, and would but for prevention, have banquetted upon human innocence, The markets of New York are well supplied with provisions of all kinds, which are in price far less than in the metropolis of England; fish, poultry, and pork, are excellent, but beef, mutton, veal, &c. are far inferior to the same productions in England; the cause under its proper head, I will explain in the course of my remarks; and, with the exception of malt liquor, the votaries at the shrine of Bacchus may enjoy, for the fourth part of the sum, the glorious and exhilarating blessings of the Jolly God, CHAP. III. I KNOW not whether the following remark is a system of secret deputation, or agency of the Government, or the deliberate villainy of rascally impostors. Every tavern wall is decorated with advertisements of thousands of acres of land for sale in every direction of the Union, stating terms in such puffing strains, that would put out of countenance a recommendation of Gilead's Balm, Brodum's Cordial, or Lee Sugg's Invisible Witch of Endor; such traps to catch the unwary, are generally a complete fraud. Doctors Johnson and Middleton, both M. D. are conspicuous characters in this species of traffic. Dr. Johnson tells his customers, who are, with few exceptions, English, that he is a countryman from the neighbourhood of Tenbury, Worcestershire; and the grinning Middleton claims the environs of Bow Bells as his native place; nor do I doubt his assertion,--ominous idea! as I recollect there is a certain college thereabouts, vul garly denominated durance vile, where we may trace the heraldic honours of his distinguished compeers, Jonathan Wild, and George Barrington. By way of illustration, I beg leave to state my own credulity; the latter gentleman announced for sale in Pike County, Pensylvania, matchless land. Accompanied by a Yorkshire gentleman, we visited this Ollapod of deception, who assumed sorrow and regret that so many of his countrymen should become dupes to American trick, to obviate which, sighing from his mimic soul a desire to render good, even at the expence of personal sacrifice of property, During this philanthropic detail, the finger (sparkling, cased in a brilliant diamond) traced the splendid map, and pointed out the bounteous land and wild buck range. Won by his apparent sincerity, I gratefully acknowledge, I should have added my name to the catalogue of downright maniacs, but for the penetration of my keen friend, who observed the Doctor's proposals were far "warse" than Yorkshire, and buying a pig in a poke, adding, " nay, marry, I should be varry sorry if I was'nt a better judge." A part of the Doctor's proposed stipulations was an advance or prompt payment of one dollar for each acre contracted for; this fine fellow, I subsequently found, had successfully played off a similar trick in London fifteen years ago. However, being honoured with the name and direction to his domain, we commenced our route, the distance being eighty computed miles. Having a swamp and river to cross, on our entering the town of Newark, state of New Jersey, we heard, as we supposed, those faithful monitors---. mastiffs; and our hostess for the night being an English lady, I enquired if such animals were in general use, such as we had heard. A question like this excited the risible faculties of my fair countrywoman, and I heartily joined in the laugh. "No Sir," she replied, "these supposed tremendous dogs are bull frogs."--" You mean, Madam, bull dogs;" but I was soon convinced I had made a bull, for those amphibious songsters were the serenaders of the night. The following morning we proceeded, like pilgrims seeking the Holy Loretto, in search of Canaan, and the expectation of milk and honey created a stimulus for pedestrious exertion, amidst all the difficulties of bad roads and the pleasure of a scorching sun then in the zenith of his domain. On our arrival at Morristown, which, like Newark, has a thriving appearance, the respectable tavern of Mr. Hayden invited us to enter and recruit our physical wants, and we found him a pleasant, communicative man---a strange animal in this Land of Nod; for American taciturnity is far less disposed to information than an automaton: rarely can you obtain from them more than the unmeaning, dissatisfactory terms--" I guess"---or, " I calculate;" a nod makes up for all. It is truly the Land of Nod. Often have I compared them to surly canine quadrupeds, who growl as they pass, and would if they had leisure, turn and bite. My Having inquired our future route from Mr. Hayden, he probably read the legible index of our mission, by guessing we were in search of land, and by answering in the affirmative, and Pike County our object, he smiled and sarcastically observed, to our mortification, "if stones and the barren waste had been our pursuit, we were certainly in the right path to find such; but if there existed land, it was invisible" This pleasing information was fully confirmed by the respective opihions, of other respectable gentlemen present. companions having friends originally from England, at a celebrated watering-place called Scholey's Mountains, some twenty-five miles westward. of Morristown, we changed our course for this American restorative, but found not Bath, Tunbridge Wells, Harrogate, gay Brighton, nor health-breathing Scarborough, but one solitary inn, planted in a rude spot of nature---a correct counterpart of Matlock scenery, mountain gloom, and rockrent precipices. Its celebrated water possesses properties similar to one of the Harrogate springs---a combination of sulphur, iron, &c. and is considered of great benefit to the valetudinarian. Having reach |