hen dancing; lovely as their
faces are, they cannot, in a position that exhibits the whole
person, atone for the want of _tournure_, and for the universal
defect in the formation of the bust, which is rarely full, or
gracefully formed.

I never saw an American man walk or stand well; notwithstanding
their frequent militia drillings, they are nearly all hollow
chested and round shouldered: perhaps this is occasioned by no
officer daring to say to a brother free-born "hold up your head;"
whatever the cause, the effect is very remarkable to a stranger.
In stature, and in physiognomy, a great majority of the
population, both male and female, are strikingly handsome, but
they know not how to do their own honours; half as much
comeliness elsewhere would produce ten times as much effect.

Nothing can exceed their activity and perseverance in all kinds
of speculation, handicraft, and enterprise, which promises a
profitable pecuniary result. I heard an Englishman, who had been
long resident in America, declare that in following, in meeting,
or in overtaking, in the street, on the road, or in the field, at
the theatre, the coffee-house, or at home, he had never overheard
Americans conversing without the word DOLLAR being pronounced
between them. Such unity of purpose, such sympathy of feeling,
can, I believe, be found nowhere else, except, perhaps, in an
ants' nest. The result is exactly what might be anticipated.
This sordid object, for ever before their eyes, must inevitably
produce a sordid tone of mind, and, worse still, it produces a
seared and blunted conscience on all questions of probity. I
know not a more striking evidence of the low tone of morality
which is generated by this universal pursuit of money, than the
manner in which the New England States are described by
Americans. All agree in saying that they present a spectacle of
industry and prosperity delightful to behold, and this is the
district and the population most constantly quoted as the finest
specimen of their admirable country; yet I never met a single
individual in any part of the Union who did not paint these New
Englanders as sly, grinding, selfish, and tricking. The yankees
(as the New Englanders are called) will avow these qualities
themselves with a complacent smile, and boast that no people on
the earth can match them at over reaching in a bargain. I have
heard them unblushingly relate stories of their cronies and
friends, which, if belie