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331 One hears a great deal about what is described on the arrogance & conceit of Americans. I never met with any thing of the kind, except among classes which with as are generally too ignorant to know much, & too apathetic to care much about their own Country. The upper classes are proud of their country, as they ought to be, & that is all. At Boston, however, I was struck not with the arrogance & conceit, but with the humility of Americans. I confine this remark to the literary class; & I think the phenomenon is to be accounted for in the following way. These New Englanders are the most observant, & the most receptive of the human family. All of the literary class have travelled in England, & on the European Continent. These are to them the Holy Land of thought. It is here that all the branches of Literature, & all the departments of Science, unclear, & were matured. All the creators of Fancy, all the unclear & examples of History, all the familiar descriptors? of outward nature, or of human emotions come from this side. Here then are the shrines to which the literary man of the new world must come with the staff, & in the spirit, of a pilgrim. They feel an influence which their fellow countrymen do not feel. But besides this, because they are New Englanders, they note & weight every idea & practice they find in European society; & everything that appears itself to their understanding, they adopt readily & without prejudice. This is the reason why travelled New Englanders are generally so gentlemanly & agreeable. They understood what they