Impressions of America During the Years 1833, 1834 and 1835. Volume 1 (of 2)

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IMPRESSIONS OF AMERICA.

VOL. I.

LONDON:

PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEY,

Dorset Street, Fleet Street.

[Illustration: SCENE BEFORE THE THEATRE AT NATCHEZ.
Drawn & Etched by A. Hervieu]




IMPRESSIONS OF AMERICA,

DURING THE YEARS 1833, 1834, AND 1835.


BY TYRONE POWER, ESQ.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

LONDON:
RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,
Publisher in Ordinary to His Majesty.

1836.




DEDICATION

TO THE BRITISH PUBLIC.


Most persons have a Patron, from whose power and influence they have
derived support, and of whose favour they feel proud.

I cannot claim to be of the few who are above this adventitious sort of
aid, self-raised and self-sustained; on the contrary, I have a Patron,
the only one I ever sought, but whose favour has well repaid my pains of
solicitation.

The Patron I allude to is yourself, my Public, much courted, much
abused, and commonly accused of either being coldly neglectful or
capriciously forgetful of all sorts of merit. To me, at least, you have
proved most kind, and hitherto most constant.

Yes, my Public, throughout my humble career, I have at all times of
doubt or despondency invariably turned to you, and never have I been
coldly regarded. I have leaned heavily upon you, yet have never found
your aid withdrawn.

As an Actor, when managers have appeared indifferent, or critics unkind,
and my hopes have sunk within me, I have turned to your cheering
plaudits, and found in them support for the present and encouragement
for the future.

As an Author, this appeal is founded solely upon my desire, not only to
amuse, but to make you better acquainted with an important part and
parcel of yourself, to which, although widely sundered, you are
naturally and morally allied, and of which, as emanating from yourself,
and in no way degenerate, you ought to feel very proud.

If happily I succeed in effecting this--if I dissipate one common
error, eradicate one vulgar prejudice, or kindle one kindly feeling
between you and the people of whom I write, I shall feel that, by so
doing, I have at length made you some return for the high favour with
which you have repaid my efforts to please you.

In presenting this offering to you, I am aware, at this the ninth hour,
that it abounds in errors; and I would furnish a copious list of errata
from each sheet, if I thought you would find patience to compare them.
But you also know how my time has been employed since my return to you.
Whilst you have nightly laughed with me at the playhouse, I have nightly
had the devil[1] waiting for a contribution at home, and he is an imp
importunate and insatiable. To soothe him, I have worked whilst you have
slept.

I do not tell this to deprecate the censure my crude publication merits,
but only to excuse the impertinence of dedicating it to you.
Nevertheless, being the best commodity I have to lay at your feet, I beg
you to accept it, with the very sincere declaration that I am, my only
Patron and gentle Public,

                           Your devoted,
                                  Humble servant,
                                           TYRONE POWER.

_Bolton Street, May Fair,_
  _Dec. 23rd, 1835._


FOOTNOTE:

[1] _i.e._ Printer's devil!




PREFACE.


Although I have hitherto forborne all preface or dedication on
exhibiting my small ware to the public, concluding that the less I said
about the matter the better, and from having some scruples about tacking
any lady's or gentleman's name to bantlings from which I had withheld my
own; yet, in the present case, do I consider myself bound, in a like
spirit of honesty, to provide this book with a few words descriptive of
its quality, lest my Readers, being disappointed, may charge me with
having deluded them under false "Impressions."

I seek, then, to describe America as I saw it,--a mighty country, in the
enjoyment of youth and health, and possessing ample room and time for
the growth, which a few escapades incident to inexperience and high
blood may retard, but cannot prevent. Heaven has written its destinies
in the gigantic dimensions allotted to it, and it is not in the power of
earth to change the record.

I seek to describe its people as I saw them,--clear-headed, energetic,
frank, and hospitable; a community suited to, and labouring for, their
country's advancement, rather than for their own present comfort. This
is and will be their lot for probably another generation.

To those, then, who seek scandalous innuendos against, or imaginary
conversations with, the fair, the brave, and the wise amongst the
daughters and sons of America, I say, Read not at all; since herein,
though something of mankind, there is little of any man, woman, or
child, of the thousands with whom I have reciprocated hospitality and
hel