his memory, and these examples have now become of general adoption. Such acts as these are agreeable to record, and worthy of recommendation for general imitation.*

Our stay at New-Bedford, though short, was full of pleasure; and we experienced more friendly attentions, and found ourselves more completely at home, in the agreeable and hospitable society of its inhabitants, than we had yet done since landing in America, much as we had before experienced of all this in many of the cities and towns of the Union.

CHAPTER XLVII.

Plan and Appearance of the Town.-Public and private Buildings.-Population and Classes.-Maritime Character and Connexions of the Inhabitants.— Anecdote of New-Bedford Sailor-boys in the Persian Gulf.-Domestic Manners, Characteristics, and Causes.-Kindness and Hospitality experienced.-Skill in removing Houses from their original Positions.-Visit to the Village and Port of Matapoissett.-Extensive Ship-building carried on there.-Manufacture of Salt from the Sea-water.-Visit to the Rev. Dr. Robbins.-Description of his curious and valuable Library.-Township of Rochester.-Use of the word "Town."-Americanisms generally old English Phrases.-Journey from New-Bedford to Plymouth.

THE town of New-Bedford is one of the prettiest that we had yet seen in the United States. Its beautiful and advantageous position, the regularity of its plan, the good taste of its public buildings, and the ample size and substantiality of its private mansions, all combine to give it an air of opulence and comfort which must strike every stranger who visits it.

New-Bedford lies on the western bank of the River Acushnett, which first flows into the inlet or arm of the sea that here receives its waters, and then discharges itself into Buzzard's Bay. The town of Fairhaven occupies the eastern bank of the same river, the two places being connected by a long bridge resting on piles, and crossing two or three small islands in its course. The breadth of the stream from town to town is little short of a mile. NewBedford rises gradually from the river's bank, over the side of the eastern hill, at an easy angle of ascent, till its houses reach the upper edge or ridge, which is about one hundred feet above the level of the sea, and is distant from the water's edge about half a mile. This constitutes the breadth of the town, while its length along the sea-border, from its northern to its southern extreme, is little short of two miles. The streets are laid out with great regularity, the longitudinal streets running north and south, parallel with the line of the river, and the lateral streets running east and

* Copies of two tablets of this description, one to an English, and one to an American seaman, are given in the Appendix, No. XIII.

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west, from the upper ridge to the stream; so that, on riding along this ridge, and looking downward to the east, every new street passed by presents a new and unobstructed opening to the water.

The streets are in general from 60 to 80 feet in breadth, and many of them are lined on each side with trees. The business part of the town, near the water and the wharves, is the least beautiful, as might be expected, from the counting-houses, stores, shops, and warehouses that abound there; but the upper part of the town contains many noble mansions, as large, as elegant, and constructed in as good taste as any in the country. They reminded us very forcibly of some of the beautiful buildings of Canandaigua, in the State of New-York, being, like them, of the purest style of architecture, and like them, too, surrounded with beautiful grounds, shrubberies, and gardens; while, instead of the lake, they have the more varied and more extended prospect of the river that flows before the town in the east, and the wide expanse of the blue sea to the south.

Among the public buildings is an excellent custom-house and postoffice in one, built of Massachusetts granite, with a fine Doric portico; a new market-house and town-hall, now erecting, of granite also, with Doric portico, 100 feet by 70; a commodious courthouse, of brick, with an Ionic portico. There are no less than 14 churches, though the population is not more than 12,000, many of which are elegant structures, particularly a new Unitarian Church, built of granite, in the Saxon-Gothic style, with massive square tower and turrets; and a new Baptist Church, with a fine fonic. portico and tower of the most graceful proportions. Besides these, there are several banks and an academy; while many of the pri vate dwellings are so highly ornamental, and some of them even so imposing, as works of art, that they would do honour to any city of the Old World as well as of the New.

The population of New-Bedford is estimated at 12,000 persons, and it is believed that there are among them a greater number of wealthy families than in any town of the same population in the country, their wealth having been wholly accumulated by trade. A considerable portion of the opulent class here are Quakers; but, with the exception of these, nearly every other person of wealth began his career as a shipboy at sea, and passed up, through the various gradations of seaman, officer, and commander, and then retired to place his capital out to profitable use, and live comparatively at ease.

New-Bedford has furnished more captains to the regular lines of packet-ships between New-York and London, and New-York and Liverpool, than any other town on the coast. One of the oldest veterans of this service, Captain Crocker, is now living at NewBedford, a fine, robust, and healthy old sailor, active and vigorous at 85; and, after having crossed the Atlantic between England and America more than 200 times, and occupied the post of comVOL. II.-L

modore, or oldest commander in the service, for many years, he is now the president of an insurance office, and universally beloved and respected.

Among the many minor circumstances which rendered my visit to New-Bedford particularly agreeable, was a fact of which I had wholly lost the recollection, but which others had kindly remembered to my advantage. Of the captains furnished by New-Bedford to the New-York packets, there were four, who, as long ago as the year 1817, sailed from this port as boys in a ship called the Leonidas, commanded by Captain Job Stevens, to the Persian Gulf. At that period I was myself sailing in that sea, in command of the "Humayoon Shah," or the "Magnificent Monarch," a fine frigate in the service of the Arab prince, the Imaum of Muscat; and these four youths rowed their commander alongside the frigate, in a visit which he paid to me in the Persian Gulf. Being much struck with their interesting appearance for they were all sons of captains, and destined to become captains themselves, though they pulled the oars of the jolly-boat, as is usual with all the boys who are intended to be made thorough seamen of in this country-I invited them on board, and bade the steward give them refreshments; a favour which was so well remembered as to be talked of on their return home, and to be made the subject of universal comment and praise in New-Bedford, as soon as my intended visit to it was made known. I regretted to learn that all these four captains, whose names were Huddlestone, Stevens, Swift, and Stoddart, were now at sea; but their relatives and friends here, to whom they had told this anecdote, had treasured it up for my arrival; and before I was in New-Bedford a week, I heard it repeated to me by twenty different persons. If so slight an incident as this could elicit gratitude and kind remembrance from those who were the subjects of it, and praise from those who heard of it, at a distance of so many years, who can doubt but that an interchange of hospitality and friendly services would bind nations together, as it binds individuals, more strongly than treaties, however skilfully drawn up or elaborately composed? and that England and America could be so united by reciprocal kindness is beyond a doubt; though, unhappily, there is still too strong a tendency in England to undervalue everything American, and too strong a jealousy in America, generally, to admit readily the superiority of anything English; though the exceptions to these instances of mutual prejudice are happily growing more and more abundant every year.

I may add, that the pleasure of our visit to New-Bedford was greatly increased by our meeting here an English lady, Mrs. Lumbard, whom we had the pleasure to know, and to rank among the warmest of our friends in London, thirty years ago; and an American gentleman, Captain Atkins Adams, with whom I had sailed, twenty-nine years ago, in the ship Rising States, of Marblehead,

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from London to Norfolk in Virginia, in the year 1809; and our meeting with these friends was a source of extreme delight. They contributed, also, by their personal attentions, and introductions to the large circle of their friends, to make our stay as full of pleasure as it was possible to be, and to make us regret the close of every day, as bringing us one day nearer to the time of our separation.

The domestic manners of the families of New-Bedford were peculiarly agreeable to us, characterized as they were by a happy union of general intelligence, good sense, frankness, and more of warmth and cordiality than we had seen in the American character elsewhere. For this perhaps several causes may be assigned. One is, that there being no class here, as in Boston and the larger cities, so much above others in wealth and possessions as to make them separate themselves into an upper or exclusive caste, the intercourse is very general, and embraces all persons of moderate competency, respectable character, and affable manners. Another cause is, that having, for the most part, either passed their lives at sea or mingled much with sailors, they have that frankness and heartiness of manner so characteristic of mariners all the world over. A third cause undoubtedly is, that their voyages having embraced a wider range than usual-for trips to circumnavigate the globe, in whaling and in trading voyages, are undertaken every year from this port, and one captain was named to me whose wife had accompanied him in trading voyages three times round Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hope they have had a larger intercourse with the different nations of the world, and rubbed off many of the angles of national prejudice which adhere so strongly to those who always remain at home; while many also, after they have acquired a competency by their distant voyages at sea, take a trip with their families to England, visit France and other Continental countries from thence, and come back greatly improved in intelligence, feelings, and man

ners.

The result of all this, added to the particular claims which Captain Adams, Mrs. Lumbard, and the four sailor-boys, now all captains, had established for us before we came, was to make us respected, courted, and entertained by every one who could obtain a visit from us; and to comply with the wishes of as many as we desired to gratify, we were often obliged to dine with one family, take tea with a second, and pass an evening party with a third; so that, if we could have been "killed with kindness," we were really in danger of such a death.

The people of New-Bedford are as skilful as they are in other parts of America in the removal of houses from the places in which they were built to a more convenient locality. One large house was pointed out to me, built of brick, with six tall chimneys, which had been moved, whole and complete, from the spot where it was first erected, up the hill, to a more remote and eleva

ted position; and it was asserted and repeated by many, in whose veracity I had the fullest confidence, that all this was done while the family were living in the house, and operations of cooking going on during all the time.

Another case was pointed out to me, in which a small wooden church was moved from its position in the street to make room for the large stone church now occupying its place, under the pastoral care of Mr. Holmes; the smaller church, in its new position, being at present used as a lecture-room. And a third instance was shown to me, in which a church had been cut down from the roof to the foundation in the centre, the two parts drawn asunder from each other, and the open space filled up so as to connect the whole, thus adding about thirty feet to the length of the building when completed.

During our stay at New-Bedford we made an excursion to a thriving little seaport, within the adjoining township of Rochester, called by its ancient Indian name of Matapoisset. The inhabitants do not exceed 800 in number; yet so actively are they engaged in ship-building, for which the locality is peculiarly favourable, that they launch upon the average four large ships, besides many smaller vessels, in the course of each year. About three years ago, there were nine ships of from 300 to 400 tons each on the stocks at once, and three of them were launched on the same day. In the proportion of ships to population, Matapoisset perhaps exceeds any other ship-building port in the United States. Most of these vessels are engaged in the Southern whale fishery, like those of NewBedford, and some in carrying general freight of merchandise. The smaller ones are engaged in coasting and fishing voyages. Salt is manufactured here also to a great extent from the sea-water, which is pumped up from the sea, and deposited in shallow reservoirs or salt-pans, from whence the salt is obtained by evaporation of the water.

At this village we had the pleasure to pay a visit to one of the most venerable of the New-England divines of the present day, the Rev. Dr. Thomas Robbins, who has been for forty years the pastor of the congregation over which he now presides, and who, as might be expected, is greatly esteemed and beloved by his flock. We were conducted by him over his library, which, for such a spot, is both extensive and valuable, and particularly rich in antiquarian and biblical lore. He has collected also a vast number of pamphlets and other works on the early history of America, which are all so well classified and arranged as to be immediately available for the illustration of any point of American history, and form altogether, perhaps, the most extensive and valuable collection of historical memorials in the state, the number of the separate pamphlets exceeding 4000.

In addition to these there are upward of 3000 volumes in general