lish the reports of cases sent in by an eminent practitioner in the city, who had proceeded to Quebec upon the first appearance of the cholera there, to ascertain the nature of it. This so incensed him that he withdrew his name from amongst the members composing the board; and, others refusing to make any returns, an order was issued by those in power that any medical man who did not make a return of cases should be fined forty dollars. It was hoped, too, that the fear of this penalty would act as a check upon the quack doctors (or steam doctors, as the Americans call them), who flocked into the city from all quarters, and put in practice the system from which they derive their name-hot-baths and cayenne pepper for every complaint, from a cold and sore throat to the yellow-fever. The same difference of opinion pervaded even the acts of Congress, who, ever jealous of the President's authority, could not come to any decision about appointing a day of fast and humiliation. The motion had been made to apply to the President to order a day; but it was rejected, some members contending that the President had no right to order a fast, and that the observance of one was optional with every one. The President, in answer to an application from the Committee of the General Synod in New York, for the appointment of a general fast, said, "I am constrained to decline the designation of any period or mode as proper for the public manifestation of this reliance. I could not do otherwise without transcending the limits prescribed by the constitution for the President, nor without feeling that I might in some degree disturb the security which religion now enjoys in this country, in its complete separation from the political concerns of the general government.

"It is the province of the pulpits, and the state tribunals,

to recommend the time and mode by which the people may best attest their reliance on the protecting arm of the Almighty in times of great distress."

The committee then applied to the Governor of the State, who replied, * * "As fasting, humiliation, and prayer, are religious rites, so the recommendation of a day for that purpose is an appeal to the religious sentiments of the community, and should, in my opinion, proceed from an authority which has its influence over the consciences of men, rather than their civil obligations.

*

"I cannot here refrain from the remark, and I hope it will be received with indulgence, that the more scrupulously the religious authorities of the land follow the indications of the public will, as pointed out in her constitutions, the more likely will they be to have that influence which is essential to crown with success their labours for the amelioration of the condition of the human race."

In many parts of the town the streets were watered with chloride of lime, in which, as an antidote, great faith was placed. Upon every subject, the Americans divide themselves into numerous parties, all differing in some trifle from each other; upon this occasion there were contagionists, non-contagionists, contingent contagionists, infectionists, and non-infectionists. There were many who asserted that the disease had its origin in the air, and that if a piece of raw meat were suspended at a certain height it would immediately become putrid. The experiment was actually tried at the mast-head of a ship in the harbour; but, upon being brought down again in a few hours, the expectations of the most sanguine upon the subject were much disappointed in finding it in the same state as when put up. Others looked for the origin of

the disease from the earth-the water-the comet; and it was even gravely asserted that the sun did not give its customary light. There were some who would not eat meat, and others who would not eat vegetables; some who would not drink any thing except water, and others who would only take "anti-cholera," as they termed brandy and port wine. The temperate soothed their fears, by crying out that only the dissolute and dirty would fall victims to it, and every post and tree in the city was labelled with "Quit dram-drinking if you would not have the cholera." Those who had been in the habit of dramdrinking were at a loss how to proceed: one party told them they were certain to contract the disease, and another assured them that, if they were to abstain suddenly from their former habits, there would be no hope for them; and, at all events, they would be bad subjects for it, when attacked. Some were for clothing warm; but an alarm was immediately given, by the opposite party, that excess in clothing was as injurious as excess in drinking. It was no wonder, then, that nearly 100,000 of the inhabitants fled into the country, and many of them out of the reach of medical assistance fell victims to the disease, which they might probably have otherwise escaped.

The second evening after my return, I walked down to the battery; and although it was a most bewitching scene, as the sun set mildly and beautifully on the opposite side of the bay, and the bright moon rose majestically in the deep blue sky, still only a stranger or two were seen, leaning over the rails at the edge of the pier. At last I caught the general infection of fear myself (though I had often been an eye-witness of the ravages of the disease in other lands, without any such sensation), and the reflection that if I were attacked by it I might

be carried off to some public hospital, unknown, and almost uncared for, made me think it would be more prudent to remove to a healthier part of the country. Curiosity alone had brought me to New York, and I had been there a fortnight already without any probability of being gratified with a sight of any thing interesting; two gentlemen, whose acquaintance I was just making, were suddenly carried off by the disease, and my only remaining friend had sailed for England: I therefore determined to continue my tour, and, if possible, return at a busier and gayer time.

CHAPTER X.

The flying rumours gathered as they roll'd,
Scarce any tale was sooner heard than told;
And all who told it added something new,
And all who heard it made enlargements too;
In ev'ry ear it spread, on ev'ry tongue it grew.
Thus flying east and west, and north and south,
News travelled with increase from mouth to mouth.

Satire lashes vice into reformation.

POPE.

DRYDEN.

MRS. TROLLOPE states, in her "Domestic Manners of the Americans," that much angry feeling was excited throughout the United States by the appearance of Captain Hall's travels in that country; probably but little imagining that she herself as an authoress should give such umbrage to the republicans, and that the gallant Captain's works should sink into comparative insignificance before her lashing pen. It was during my residence in New York that her first publication was reprinted, and the commotion it created amongst the good citizens is truly inconceivable. The Tariff and Bank Bill were alike forgotten, and the tug of war was hard, whether the "Domestic Manners," or the cholera, which burst upon