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Volume V – English Traits

Chapter I. First Visit to England

I have been twice in England. In 1833, on my return from a short tour in Sicily, Italy, and Franc...

Chapter II. Voyage to England

The occasion of my second visit to England was an invitation from some Mechanics’ Institutes in L...

Chapter III. Land

Alfieri thought Italy and England the only countries worth living in; the former, because there n...

Chapter IV. Race

An ingenious anatomist has written a book (*) to prove that races are imperishable, but nations a...

Chapter V. Ability

The saxon and the Northman are both Scandinavians. History does not allow us to fix the limits of...

Chapter VI. Manners

I find the Englishman to be him of all men who stands firmest in his shoes. They have in themselv...

Chapter VII. Truth

The teutonic tribes have a national singleness of heart, which contrasts with the Latin races. Th...

Chapter VIII. Character

The English race are reputed morose. I do not know that they have sadder brows than their neighbo...

Chapter IX. Cockayne

The English are a nation of humorists. Individual right is pushed to the uttermost bound compatib...

Chapter X. Wealth

There is no country in which so absolute a homage is paid to wealth. In America, there is a touch...

Chapter XI. Aristocracy

The feudal character of the English state, now that it is getting obsolete, glares a little, in c...

Chapter XII. Universities

Of British universities, Cambridge has the most illustrious names on its list. At the present day...

Chapter XIII. Religion

No people, at the present day, can be explained by their national religion. They do not feel resp...

Chapter XIV. Literature

A strong common sense, which it is not easy to unseat or disturb, marks the English mind for a th...

Chapter XV. The “Times”

The power of the newspaper is familiar in America, and in accordance with our political system. I...

Chapter XVI. Stonehenge

It had been agreed between my friend Mr. Carlyle and me, that before I left England, we should ma...

Chapter XVII. Personal

In these comments on an old journey now revised after seven busy yearse much changed men and thin...

Chapter XVIII. Result

England is the best of actual nations. It is no ideal framework, it is an old pile built in diffe...

Chapter XIX. Speech at Manchester

A few days after my arrival at Manchester, in November, 1847, the Manchester Athenaeum gave its a...