Excerpt from The Domestic Manners of the Americans: Or, Characteristic Sketches of the People of the United States National Sensitiveness. - The Americans are fond of assuring travellers that all they want on account of their country and themselves is fair play; that they court scrutiny, so that it is reported without flippancy or scurrility; but whenever the reply to their frequent question of "what do ye think of us upon the whole," is not unmingled praise, it is easy to perceive that they are dissatisfied and disappointed. The British traveller is, especially, annoyed by the absurd vanity, as, the Americans are particularly sensitive to the opinion entertained of them by the British, and appear to care far less for what mere foreigners think of them. The Americans are very adroit in seizing on every circumstance in the least available for self-laudation. One day I happened to mention to a lady how much I had been amused by observing the stage-coach drivers, managing their horses so much more by words than by the whip. "O yes, Sir," said she, "the circumstance is interesting, as showing intelligence in our men, and sagacity m the animals." I smiled at this curious interchange of human wisdom and brute sagacity, but the lady, not satisfied with the expression of my countenance, tired up and answered my smile by asking "If I did not think the people of America, upon the whole, remarkably intelligent." - Captain Hall. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.