Literature.

popular writers , read by thousands in thc old country ; and , hoivever much their popularity may have waned since the period in question , still , to some extent , their dictum has been almost universall y accepted here . Time ivas ivhen both nations sought to attribute to each other certain conventional forms of ivhofesalc ! blly _ and absurdity , and one was perpetually asserting , with peevish bombast , an independence whicli no one threatened , and a

superiority ivhich no one cared to dispute , whilst thc other replied to all this with ill concealed sneers and witless jibes . Since that time kindlier and more generous feelings have taken place . The two cousins have read and seen much more of each other ; they have learned to appreciate more strongly the genuine points in each other's character , and have fairly * come to consider and criticise with discrimination and candour many things on which

their sentiments differ : but ivhen wei ghing them honestly they each feel that although certain peculiarities of the other side are not to their own way of thinking , yet the practice of them may be for- the good of the nation adopting them : and so , like sensible individuals who differ in opinion , but are both seekers and admirers of truth , they have come to feel very proud of each otherand a friendship of no common order has sprung between

, up the peoples of two mi ghty nations . The two works Avhich stand at the head of this article are both AA-ritten in the above state of mind , and they both testify to the interest which English travellers find in the United States , and the pleasing recollections their visits have left on the minds of file visitors .

" First Impressions of the New AVorld " is a very impressionable performance b y a lady , who travelled with her husband on some business connected ivith railways , and these ' Impressions" arc written for the special behoof aud amusement of I . L . T ., her little girl , and record such scenes and anecdotes as "mamma " saw , and heard , when travelling with " papa . " The hotels , ¦ -learners , professors , streets , ivatcrfalls , are all charming in

mamma ' s eyes , although the first occurrence she heard of on landing ivas not of a nature to inspire the most favourable feelings ivith regard to the new country , for she tells us : — " Two topics seem at present to occupy the minds of everybody here —one the successful laying of the cable ; the other the burning of the quarantine ' , buildings on Stiiten Island . Wc Avero quite unconscious , ivhen passing thc spot yesterdaythat the whole of these buildings hail

, been destroyer ! on the preceding night by an incendiary mob ; for such AVO must style the miscreants , although they comprises a large portion , it is said , of the influential inhabitants of the place . The alleged reason ivas that the quarantine establishment ivas : i nuisance , anel the residents had for months been boasting of their intention to destroy the obnoxious buildings . The miserable inmates would have perished in flic flameshad not somemore charitable than the restdragged them

, , , from their beds . The yellow fever hospital is destroyed , anel tho houses of the physicians and health officers are burnt to the ground . At thc very same moment , Neiv York itself ivas the . scene of the splendid festivities in honour of the successful laying of the Atlantic telegraph cable , to which we have alluded . ' '

^ Well might "mamma" find everything deli ghtful , when "Mr . Tyson" is so very kind , and has such a stock of good sayings ready for all occasions , and " papa" is so pleased at being treated with so much distinction , and " niggers arc such deli ghtful characters , " as well as Irish emigrants being so smart and quick ; but ah this , at last , becomes a sud bore and very much like little people floundering about out of their depth , not knowing how to return

commonplace civilities Avithout setting their faces on a hi'oad grin to every conceivable variety of adjective ivhich can accompany praise . Thc journal of the tivo travellers gives us some rather large and vivid pictures of themselves , shoiviii" - them to be specimens of the well-to-do fussy kind of philanthropists , AVIIO arc ever seeking to busy themselves in some schemes of good— - provided it is to be done cheaply and at the expense of talk . As a

specimen , " mamma" falls in with a veritable " Topsy , " and sets to Avork to talk the nigger into sobriety of life and manners ; and ' papa , " while visiting a slave pen , upon being shown a negro tt'ho , rather than give up some clothes , had run away from his 'vrfe , asks him "Avhether he cared more for his clothes than his We , and gives him a lecture on the domestic duties ! " Besides , ' ' , " mamma" has many little traits of "dear , restless , fidgetty ]> ''s " oddities and whims

. pa , his indigestions and headaches from eating " hot quails and drinking Catabaiv champagne , " and how ¦ erribl y irritated he is when travelling in Philadelphia , at the ' "¦ er appearing on the opposite side of the railway to which he j -m expected it , adding , " and we all know how irritable he can Jecome . With the episode about the lady ' s maid's sickness wc uui only exclaim—what sli p-slop to make up a book ! But there a redeeming point ; under all this wishy-washy nonsense , the

book gives some very accurate statistics , of railways , schools and reformatories , and the Avorking of a few ameliorating societies , all of which are , no doubt , very interesting and valuable . There are some one or two items among this portion of the subject which makes us think of the old proverb that "travellers see strange things , " such , for example , as an old lady of seventy-two , who is described as " remarkably pretty , " and a Kcntuck innkeeper , one

Jim Porter , standing "seven feet nine inches without his shoes , " as ivell as the young ladies of the Cincinnati school who " translated Cicero into excellent English , and answered most difficult questions in logic . " AA e now come to the second work whose title stands at the head of this notice , Dr . Mackay's Life and Liberty in America . These two volumes are the experience of a tour in thc years 1857-8 , and

about one third of them have previously appeared as letters , sent by the doctor while on his tour , and inserted in the Illustrated London News , and the rest , or about two thirds , is now printed for the first time . Dr . Mackay's writings have been long enough before the world to disjiense with any remarks of ours upon his style—that is ivell known ; and in tbe present books he gives us some excellent sketchesoccasionally sliht in structurebut

, g , vigorous ami interesting . He , too , bas gone over much of the same ground as the two travellers referred to above , and sees with the same favourable eyes , but there is a greater sobriety of judgment and much more discrimiiiation in his remarks upon the same subject , although there is a general coincidence between the two works . Dr . Mackay is rio novice at description ; hence his pictures of the NeivAKorld scenery is grand and striking . Niagara

, of which so much has been written , was never so distinctly brought , to our mind ' s eye as by Dr . Mackay's description . And so it is with all he touches . The chapter devoted to the firemen of New York originally appeared in the Illustrated London News , but it is so ivell north quoting , that AVC shall make no apology for reproducing it here . The doctor tells us : —

'" ' Whatever the Americans are proud of—whatever they consider to be a peculiarly good , useful , brilliant , or characteristic of themselves or their climate—they designate , half in jest , though scarcely half in earnest , as an ' institution . ' Thus , the memory of General Washington —or ' Saint' AVashington , as he might be called , considering the homage paid to him—is an institution . The Palls of Niagara are an institution ; the Plymouth Rock , on which the Pilgrim Fathers first set foot , is an institution , as much so as the Blarney Stone in Ireland , to which an

eloquent Irish orator , at a public dinner , compared it , amid great applause , by affirming that ' the Plymouth Rock was the Blarney Stone of New England . ' ' Sweet potatoes' are an institution , and pumpkin ( or punkin ) pie is an institution ; canvas-back ducks are an institution ; squash is au institution ; Bunker ' s Hill is an institution ; and the firemen of New York , a great institution . "The fire system , in nearly all the principal cities of the Union , is a peculiarity of American life . Nothing like it exists in European

any community . As yet the city of Boston appears to be the only one that , has hael the sense and the courage to organize the fire brigades on a healthier plan , and bring them under the direct guidance and control of the municipality . Everywhere else the firemen are a power iu the State , wielding considerable political influence , and uncontrolled by any authority but such as they eleet by their own free votes . They are formidable hy their number's , dangerous by their organization , and in

many cities are principally composed of young men , at the most reckless aud excitable age of life , ivho glory in a fire as soldiers do in a battle , and ivho are quite as ready to fight with their felloAv creatures aa with the fire Avhich ifc is more especially their province to subdue . In New York , Philadelphia , Baltimore , and other large cities the fire service is entirely voluntary , and is rendered for ' the love of the thing , ' or for ' the fori of the thing , ' whichever it may be . The motto of one lira company at Neiv York , inscribed on their banner , is ,

' hiremen with , pleasure , Soldiers at leisure 'a couplet ivhich characterises the whole spirit of their organization . The firemen are mostly youths engaged during the day in various handicrafts and mechanical trades , with a sprinkling of clerks and shopmen . In New York each candidate for admission into the force must be balloted for , like a member of the London clubs . If elected , he has to serve for five during which he is t from j

years , exemp ury and militia duty . The firemen elect their- own superintendents and other officers by ballot , as they were themselves elected , and are divided into engine companies , hook and ladder companies , and hose companies . The engine and accessories are provided "b y the municipality ; but the firemen are seldom contented with them in the useful , but unadorned state iu ivhich they receive them , but lavish upon them an amount of ornamentiu the shape of painted panelssilver lating

, , p , and other finery , more than sufficient to prove their liberality and the pride they take iu their business . The service is entirely voluntary and gratuitous , having no advantages to recommend it but those of exemption from tho jury and the militia , and leads those who devote themselves to it not only int « great hardship and imminent liaugor , but