ed into the same bed altogether. Of course
this must be expected in a new country, and is a source of amusement,
rather than of annoyance.

I must now enter into a very important question, which is that of eating
and drinking. Mr Cooper, in his remarks upon his own countrymen, says,
very ill-naturedly--"The Americans are the grossest feeders of any
civilised nation known. As a nation, their food is heavy, coarse, and
indigestible, while it is taken in the least artificial forms that
cookery will allow. The predominance of grease in the American kitchen,
coupled with the habits of hearty eating, and of constant expectoration,
are the causes of the diseases of the stomach which are so common in
America."

This is not correct. The cookery in the United States is exactly what
it is and must be every where else--in a ratio with the degree of
refinement of the population. In the principal cities, you will meet
with as good cookery in private houses as you will in London, or even
Paris; indeed, considering the great difficulty which the Americans have
to contend with, from the almost impossibility of obtaining good
servants, I have often been surprised that it is so good as it is. At
Delmonico's, and the Globe Hotel at New York, where you dine from the
Carte, you have excellent French cookery; so you have at Astor House,
particularly at private parties; and, generally speaking, the cooking at
all the large hotels may be said to be good; indeed, when it is
considered that the American table-d'hote has to provide for so many
people, it is quite surprising how well it is done. The daily dinner,
at these large hotels, is infinitely superior to any I have ever sat
down to at the _public_ entertainments given at the Free-Masons' Tavern,
and others in London, and the company is usually more numerous. The
bill of fare of the table-d'hote of the Astor House is _printed every
day_. I have one with me which I shall here insert, to prove that the
eating is not so bad in America as described by Mr Cooper.

+=======================================+
YAstor House, Wednesday, March 21, 1838.Y
+---------------------------------------+
YTable-d'Hote Y
+---------------------------------------+
YVermicelli Soup Y
+---------------------------------------+
YBoiled Cod Fish and Oysters Y
+---------------------------------------+
YDo. Corn'd Beef Y
+---