Their habits at table also often fill one with disgust, and the want of
good-breeding I witnessed on more than one occasion would have been
resented in England. This is the more remarkable, as the Americans
entertain high notions of refinement, and yet, paradoxical as it may
appear, seem to glory in their contempt of good manners. I do not,
however, include the ladies in this remark; on the contrary, I must
unequivocally assert, that I always observed in them, not only in New
York, but in every other part of the North American continent which I
visited, the greatest disposition to cover the misdoings of the opposite
sex, and a great degree of cultivation and politeness; although they are
perfectly freezing in their manners before formal introduction, I do not
doubt that there are many among them of great refinement and powers of
intellect, their personal appearance being also consonant with their
known amiability.
The bustle and drive in the trading quarters of the city is very great.
The merchants and their assistants have a hurried manner of doing
business, discernible in a moment to a stranger, which is much to be
deprecated, and too often leads, as I afterwards found, to disastrous
results.
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