Excerpt from Diary in America, Vol. 1 of 2: With Remarks on Its Institutions
On my first arrival I perceived little difference be tween the city of New York and one of our principal provincial towns; and, for its people, not half so much as between the people of Devonshire or Cornwall and those of Middlesex. I had been two or three weeks in that city, and I said: There is certainly not much to write about, nor much more than what has already been so continually repeated. No wonder that those who preceded me have indulged in puerilities to swell out their books. But in a short time I altered my Opinion even at New York, the English appearance of the people gradually wore away; my perception of character be came more keen, my Observance consequently more nice and close, and I found that there was a great deal to reflect upon and investigate, and that America and the American people were indeed an enigma; and I was no longer surprised at the incongruities which were to be detected in those works which had attempted to de scribe the country. I do not assert that I shall myself succeed, when so many have failed, but, at any rate, this I am certain of, my remarks will be based upon a more sure foundation - an analysis of human. Nature.
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