tions addressed to him; and Paul, without even a shadow of reproof, avails himself of the inquisitiveness of the Athenians, to lead them to the cross of Christ. It is this feature in the New England character, which, under the influence of a high degree of cultivation, and divested of selfishness by the power of religion, or the habitual intercourse with good society, strongly resembles the ease and readiness with which strangers communicate in Germany, and which is often productive of the most interesting meetings, the most intimate friendships. It is owing to the entire absence of distinct orders, and to the great conflux of foreigners, which gives, as it were, a compound national character to this country, that this pleasing feature in the social tendencies of the Americans does not manifest itself with the same freedom as is the case in other countries; but it must become more prominent, in the same degree as the higher circles of society become more distinct and exclusive; however different the basis of this distinction may be from some of the continental countries.

In returning now once more to our New Englander, we ought to remember that it is owing to his fondness of inquiry that we find it perhaps more easy in New England than in any other part of the Union, to obtain important information concerning the different relations of public and private life, and almost every subject of general interest.

My companion, at least, did not form an exception to this rule. Having ascertained that I was then on my way to New Haven, he directed me to visit the grave of the judges of Charles I., who were hospitably received by the colony, when compelled to leave England; he spoke of the dangers to which they were exposed, when they were pursued by the soldiers of Charles II., and of the happy manner in which their minister interested his flock in their behalf, by addressing them in the language of Isaiah— "Take council, execute judgment, make thy shadow as the night in the midst of noon-day; hide the outcasts; betray not him that wandereth. Let my outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler." He even described the cave in which the judges were concealed, and the bridge beneath which they found a safe retreat, while their pursuers were riding over it to continue their idle search; and finally, concluded with the remark, that even until the present day their grave-stones had been left untouched, while all the others had been removed. By these and many other interesting details, I was not only assisted in entering deeply into the spirit and character of the community to which he belonged, but I likewise found that many of my views in regard to the early history of New England were both modified and enriched by his communications; and I was more than ever confirmed in the conviction, that

the stranger must literally intermingle with all the classes of the people, if he wishes to enter into their modes of thought, and into the causes by which their views of life have been formed. It is by such a course, and not by confining himself to the study or the saloon, that in a christian spirit he will have a right to adopt the well-known motto "I am a man, and feel akin to everything human;" that in the heart of America he will meet with aged men who are intelligent as well as contented, and little inclined to ask, in the language of the French citizen-"Can we not be a little more equal than our friends?" and with young men who are ready to say, in the spirit of Telemachus—

"Shame bids the youth beware How he accosts the man of many years;" ""

that he may see a servant who combines the dignity of a republican with the devotion of a Caleb, parting from his hosts, who, in spite of the general influence of their occupation, have preserved a warm heart beating in their bosoms. After a few days of acquaintance, they have become so much attached to him, that they cannot bear the thought of being left without further news from him; and their new friend, in return, readily promises to "drop them a line." In short, on such excursions among the people you may meet, again and again, with a spirit of "Gemüthlichkeit, Sinnigkeit und Innigkeit,"-to

which the Germans sometimes, though unjustly, claim an exclusive right, because their language alone is able to express it. Truly, indeed, says the great poet

"All places that the eye of heaven visits, Are to the wise man ports and happy havens."

In the city of "brotherly love," and in that of "elm trees," on the peaks of the Highlands and in the cottage of the New England farmer, you may often, like the traveller among the Lotophagi, feel "at home," and experience without regret that the recollections of the happy hours which you have spent on the banks of the Connecticut, or the Hudson, are imperceptibly and delightfully mingling with your reminiscences of the Rhine or-the Pregel!

It was shortly after my arrival in New Haven that I became more intimately acquainted with some of the modifications and alterations, which the enactments of the early settlers had undergone. In the same state, where once the drum, the trumpet, and the jews-harp alone were allowed to be played, German ballads set to music, and accompanied by the piano, are now frequently heard from American lips, and are received with general favor. When Schubart's composition of the Erlkönig, for instance, was once sung and played in the presence of several Americans, one of them exclaimed, with

great enthusiasm and true feeling-"Who can hear this without being deeply moved ?"—and paid thus a genuine tribute to the poet and composer, as well as to the performer, a lady from Philadelphia, who with a kindred spirit had deeply entered into their joint production, and thus unconsciously shown, that though without national music, the American may sometimes feel consoled by the poetical power with which he transposes himself, as it were, into the musical life of other nations.

The stranger who has once visited New Haven, cannot but dwell again and again on the enlightened and well-directed taste for almost every branch of science, which pervades the community in general, and the great attention paid, particularly by the female world, to German literature and music. In the language of Madame de Stael:-"On mene dans cette campagne nommée ville une vie regulière, occupée et serieuse, on n'y degrade jamais son esprit par des interêts futiles et vulgaires."

The following translation, in which the spirit of the original is most happily preserved, was prepared in New Haven by the lady of whom I have spoken above, and will serve to prove the truth of our remarks, as in part they have been suggested by it. It was originally published in the Christian Spectator, with the explanatory remarks preceding it.