al rivalry in the piracy of the Notes, Columbia showered
upon its author the riches of its own choice vocabulary of abuse; while
some of her more fiery spirits threw out playful hints as to the
propriety of gouging the "stranger," and furnishing him with a permanent
suit of tar and feathers, in the then very improbable event of his paying
them a second visit. The perusal of these animated expressions of free
opinion suggested the following lines, which those who remember Boz's
book, and the festivities with which he was all but hunted to death, will
at once understand. The object aimed at was to do justice to the
bitterness and "immortal hate" of these thin-skinned sons of freedom.
Happily the storm passed over: Dickens paid, in 1867-68, a second visit
to the States, was well received, made a not inconsiderable fortune by
his Readings there, and confessed that he had judged his American hosts
harshly on his former visit.]

Sneak across the wide Atlantic, worthless London's puling child,
Better that its waves should bear thee, than the land thou hast reviled;
Better in the stifling cabin, on the sofa thou shouldst lie,
Sickening as the fetid nigger bears the greens and bacon by;
Better, when the midnight horrors haunt the strained and creaking ship,
Thou shouldst yell in vain for brandy with a fever-sodden lip;
When amid the deepening darkness and the lamp's expiring shade,
From the bagman's berth above thee comes the bountiful cascade,
Better than upon the Broadway thou shouldst be at noonday seen,
Smirking like a Tracy Tupman with a Mantalini mien,
With a rivulet of satin falling o'er thy puny chest,
Worse than even N. P. Willis for an evening party drest!

We received thee warmly--kindly--though we knew thou wert a quiz,
Partly for thyself it may be, chiefly for the sake of Phiz!
Much we bore, and much we suffered, listening to remorseless spells
Of that Smike's unceasing drivellings, and these everlasting Nells.
When you talked of babes and sunshine, fields, and all that sort of
thing,
Each Columbian inly chuckled, as he slowly sucked his sling;
And though all our sleeves were bursting, from the many hundreds near
Not one single scornful titter rose on thy complacent ear.
Then to show thee to the ladies, with our usual want of sense
We engaged the place in Park Street at a ruinous expense;
Even our own three-volumed Cooper waived his old prescriptive right,
And deluded Dickens figured first on that eventful nigh