TRAITS
OF
AMERICAN HUMOUR,
BY NATIVE AUTHORS.
EDITED AND ADAPTED
BY THE AUTHOR OF “SAM SLICK,”
“THE OLD JUDGE,” “THE ENGLISH IN AMERICA,” &C. &C.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
COLBURN AND CO., PUBLISHERS,
GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
1852.
LONDON:
Printed by Schulze and Co., 13, Poland Street.
PREFACE.
Most Europeans speak of America as they do ofEngland, France, or Prussia, as one of the greatcountries of the world, but without reference tothe fact that it covers a larger portion of the globethan all of them collectively. In like manner asthe New England confederacy originally comprisedthe most enlightened and most powerful transatlanticprovinces, and the inhabitants accidentallyacquired the appellation of Yankees, so this termis very generally applied to all Americans, and istoo often used as a national, instead of a provincialor a sectional soubriquet. In order to form anaccurate estimate of the national humour, it isnecessary to bear these two great popular errorsconstantly in view. The Eastern and Western,Northern and Southern States, though settled bya population speaking the same language, andenjoying the same institutions, are so distantfrom each other, and differ so widely in climate,soil, and productions, that they have but fewfeatures in common; while the people, from thesame causes, as well as from habits, tastes,necessities, the sparseness or density of population,free soil, or slave labour, the intensity, absence,or weakness of religious enthusiasm, and manyother peculiarities, are equally dissimilar.
Hence, humour has a character as local as theboundaries of these civil subdivisions.
The same diversity is observable in that of theEnglish, Irish and Scotch, and in their mirthfulsallies, the character of each race is plainlydiscernible.
That of the English is at once manly and hearty,and, though embellished by fancy, not exaggerated;that of the Irish, extravagant, reckless, rollicking,and kind-hearted; while that of the Scotch is sly,c