deed is it, that few ever leave the sect who have joined it as children: and though nature will sometimes assert her rights, and brother Ebenezer run off with sister Susan, yet as soon as enjoyment has somewhat abated their desires, and when that fatal period the Honey Moon is about to terminate, the sinners will almost always return; and having confessed their sins, and undergone penance, are again received into the society.

I could easily enlarge on the subject of Shakerism, and could mention some of the horribly disgusting and indecent scenes, said to be practised in private by the members of this sect; but not to offend modesty, I refer all those who may be curious to know more about them, to a work lately published in New Hampshire, entitled "A Portraiture of Shakerism," by Mary M. Dyer.

This woman's husband joined the Shakers, and obliged her to do the same, by making over all his substance to his new brethren. She afterwards quitted the society, having suffered great cruelty and insult from them; and as she is now their enemy, and moreover a Baptist, her own statements must be looked with a sceptical eye. upon I grant moreover that her book is ill written; but this does not destroy the authenticity of the numerous affidavits, made before magistrates, at different places and at different times, both by persons who have been themselves Shakers, and by others. These affidavits contain statements of depravity, folly,

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and horrible brutality that are quite astounding, and exceed every thing laid to the charge of the monks of the darkest and most depraved period of the Middle Ages. So shocking indeed are they, as to be almost incredible; and yet many of the persons who have sworn to the truth of them, live near Enfield, and, from all the inquiries I could make, are respectable and trustworthy.

The Shaker Bible, or "Christ's Second Appearance," shows how prone the human mind is to receive any supernatural accounts; and how wisely all who relate them insist upon faith. Indeed I have heard it remarked (although of course only with reference to the Shakers), that when a man can once be persuaded, that the Great Creator of the Universe wishes him to believe what is incomprehensible and impossible, he might just as well be deprived of his reason altogether, and become a mere brute. At any rate, for my own part, although I am a friend to toleration, and do not wish to offend any person's religious principles, yet I cannot but think that it is rather a disgrace to the 19th century, for a sect to exist and flourish, which not only praises the Great Spirit by dancing, but even believes, that Anne Lee, the drunken profligate wife of an English blacksmith, is co-equal and co-eternal with the Deity

CHAPTER XXVI.

BOSTON THE NEW ENGLANders.

THE road from Enfield passes through a very hilly and rough tract of country, which is however for the most part under cultivation. Salisbury is a beautiful little town, in which, as indeed in all those along the road, New England neatness and comfort are conspicuous. A little above Salisbury the Pemigewasset branch of the Merrimack, and the river Winnipiscogee meet together and form the Merrimack. It is a curious fact in natural history, that great numbers both of Shad and Salmon annually ascend the Merrimack, and that when they arrive at the junction of the two rivers abovementioned, the Shad all go up the Winnipiseogee, and the Salmon up the Pemigewasset. There is no instance on record of Shad being taken in the Pemigewasset, however near the point of junc tion, or a Salmon in the Winnipiseogee, The people account for this fact, by saying, that the Winnipiseogee takes its rise in a lake, the water of which is warmed by the large surface exposed to the sun, while the Pemigewasset runs through deep glens, and is shrouded from the sun by the forests that cover its banks.

Concord, the capital of New Hampshire, is a pretty little town, and contains many excellent and

well built houses. The State House is a handsome building of white granite, and when I was there, presented a busy scene, as the legislature was in Session. I went into the gallery, but took no great interest in what was going on, as I could hear no speeches, the house being chiefly occupied in reading bills and acts.

Just at the entrance of Boston is Bunker's Hill, on which an individual has erected a small monument, to commemorate the celebrated battle fought there at the commencement of the revolutionary war.

Boston, the fourth city of the United States, in point of numbers, contains 42,536 inhabitants, and is like most of the commercial cities in the whole Republic, increasing very fast both in wealth and population. It has a more English appearance than any other of the American cities; for the streets are irregular, instead of being laid out at right angles. Most of the houses are built of brick, but those at present erecting are of a whitish granite, a very large quarry of which has lately been discovered in the neighbourhood. This granite splits so easily into long slabs, that I was told of a piece lately placed on the top of a wall as a coping-stone, which was sixteen feet long and about six inches thick. What is very remarkable too for this sort of stone, it was slightly elastic.

I do not recollect ever having seen any modern columns of granite so finely worked as the large Ionic columns of the Hospital, a very handsome

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public edifice which is built of this material, and which was nearly finished when I was there. The shafts and capitals were cut and polished by the prisoners confined in the State's prison; so that the labour of public offenders was very properly made subservient to public good.

The Athenæum is the establishment that attracts the chief notice of strangers. It is a large building, containing an excellent library of 16,000 volumes, as well as a public reading-room, ornamented with handsome plaster casts of the most celebrated ancient statues. In this room are files of all the chief newspapers of the United States, as well as most of the important English and Foreign journals. All the American, and the best European reviews, magazines, and other periodical publications are to be found on the table.

The society of gentlemen, who first of all founded, and who have subsequently added to and embellished the Athenæum, was incorporated in 1807, and a fund was raised by the sale of shares at 300 dollars each. Most of the splendid books, with the casts, cameos, &c. were donations. J. Q. Adams, the second President of the United States, lately presented the Athenæum with his excellent library, collected during the course of a long public life both in Europe and America. Strangers have free admission to the rooms on being introduced by a proprietor: and I may here observe, from personal experience, that an introduction to such an esta