On entering our present boarding-house to inquire their terms, &c. we encountered the first striking specimen of the effects of freedom without refinement; upon asking for the Landlord, a young woman who was sweeping the floor slip-shod, desired us to walk into a room she pointed to; where, she said, we might wait for further orders!! We did as we were ordered, reflecting on this contrast to a good English inn where, upon the traveller's arrival, from the Landlord down to "Boots,"[5] all are immediately {20} upon the alert ready and willing to attend to your wishes. One reason for this want of attention in the American servants is, that they are paid wholly by their employers, and expect no compensation from their guests; though, I have since seen enough to convince me that this praiseworthy custom is gradually wearing away, and that in general the servants will not refuse a fee when offered. Called at a working cutler's near the post-office, to purchase a pocket knife; he asked two dollars for one which in London would be sold for about four shillings; said he paid rent for his shop alone 400$, and that fuel cost him during the winter seven shillings sterling per week. The Americans at New York have not made a favourable impression upon me: almost every face expresses the game of desperate speculation. I am told that this is owing to the general distress of mercantile affairs consequent to the late war with England; and also the effects of the French revolution, felt upon both continents, but in a much higher degree in America, as that country was less able to bear up against it;--the people here like those of England were beyond measure extravagant under the deceitful prosperity, and they now doubly feel the dreadful re-action. Besides, like ancient Rome, here is the asylum of {21} the desperate and discontented of all nations:--Will the period arrive when, like the former, this modern Rome shall rule mistress of the globe? It is, if I may venture to judge, at all events very distant; they must first gain the necessary qualities for the attainment of such an elevation; at present, of these they are nearly destitute. But to return to my journal. Business here, with the exception of a few respectable houses, is conducted on an apparently slovenly plan; clerks at their banks look like our tavern waiters in deshabille, and the bankers themselves not in appearance so respectable as our clerks.