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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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600 The Old World and the New .
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besides . " This is putting the waiter into the bill , in the best way for all parties . The English stage-coach pleases him wonderfully , in all its externals , " the horses clothed in plated harness , burnished to the brightness of gold , " the careful guard , and the respectable coachman ; but of the inside lie is very intolerant , and sees in it our respect for the wisdom of ovir ancestors : —
" The hand of prescription is heavy upon many things in England , small as well as great ; they do here as their fathers did , in far more respects than we do . At least this is the only reason I can see , why they build in the centre of the coach a small , confined , dark box , with the curtains * obstinately fastened down , and cushioned indeed , so that they are never rolled up even in the hottest day of summer ; and in addition to this inconvenience , the only chance of seeing the country is a loophole view through the window . "—Vol . i , p . 25 , 26 .
But for the English Editor ' s comment , we really should have thought that coachman and guard , in an exuberant exercise of that civility which the author admires , had put him not only inside the coach but inside the seat or locker . The American stage-coach , to judge from the implied contrast of the description , seems to be an Isle of Wight sociable , except that it does not drive over so beautiful a country . We do not admire such things in wet weather . He is next surprised at the Dublin beggars ; then he gets into Scotland , and is surprised at meeting with a decently dressed middle aged man , who had never travelled by stage-coach before ; ( " what American that ever was dressed at all could say that ? " ) and next he is surprised at the fine flavour of the peat-reek , which truly is a surprising thing , and " has not the usual odious taste of American whiskey ; " and then , with less reason , he is surprised that people like it : —
" As to the estimate of this article , or something like it—something * wot and toothsome , ' as the wretch Peter Peebles says—1 should suppose that Highlands and Lowlands agree , nay , and all England for that matter—for 1 have never seen anything like the numbers of persons that 1 have observed here , after dinner or in the evening , sipping their brandy and water , or whiskey punch . It would seem strange to some of our American reformers ; but I have been at supper , where the meal was introduced by the host with a ' grace ; ' and the brandy and hot water were brought on at the close of the entertainment , evidently as a matter of course , and I was very much urged to take some , as a very excellent thing ; and , indeed , as the conscientious Peebles says , ' they had like to ha' guided me very ill . —Vol . i . p . 7 H , 7 i ) . This docs not " seem strange" at all , to " some of our English
? " The sides of an American stage-coach are furnished with leather curtains , which in fine weather are rolled up , admitting light and air , and of a prospect in all directions . " — Eng . Ed .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1836, page 600, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2662/page/12/
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