Literature.

into an amount of expenditure which is not the least surprising part of the 'institution . ' The men—or 'boys , ' as they arc more commonly called—not only buy their own costume and accoutrements , and spend large sums in the ornamentation of their favourite engines , or hydrants , as already mentioned , but in the furnishing of their bunk rooms anel parlours at thc fire stations . Thc bunk or sleeping rooms , in which thc unmarried , and sometimes thc married , members pass the night , to bo ready for duton the first alarm for fireare lainland comfortabl

y , p y y furnished ; but the parlours are fitted up with a degree of luxury equal to that of the public rooms of the most celebrated hotels . At one of the central stations , ivhich I visited in company with an editor o £ a New York journal , thc Avails wore hung with portraits of AVashington , Franklin , Jefferson , Mason , and other founders of tho Republic ; the floor was covered with velvet pile carpeting , a noble chandelier hung from the centrethe crimson curtains were rich and heavywhile the

, , sideboard was spread AA'ith silver claret-jugs and pieces of plate presented by citizens whose houses and property had been preserved from five by tho exertions of the brigade , or by the fire companies of other cities , in testimony of their admiration for some particular act of gallantly or heroism ivhich the newspapers had recorded . "

Dr . Mackay also devotes a chapter to Americanisms , which throw some curious li ghts on the mutation of language . It must not be forgotten that the Puritan element had great and unbounded influence in thc early days of American colonization , and we accordingly find such words as " platform" and " exercised" in common use , as , for example , "Mr . was much exercised by an attack on him in a newspaper . " Some words in

use amongst us have had a characteristic impression made on them which alters the signification , such as " clever , " which is intended to mean amiable , and " amiable" to mean stupid ; but why "thin-skinned" means stingy , we are at a loss to account . There is a vigorous puritanical twang with " whole souled , " such as w-e occasionally meet ivith in the writings of tlie elder Puritans , Thomas Becon , and others . They have also a wordy

coinage of their own ivhich , if not alivay elegant , is often expressive—thus to "make a splurge "— "to honey-fugle "— "to lobby "—the "real grit "—to "foot a bill "—are ' phrases which almost explain themselves , while " go-a-headitive" and "declension "—a declension to a ball—arc nothing but clumsy solecisms . Although everyone who has read the Knickerbocker Alagazine must know the history of " Bunkum , '" yet wc hope it maybe new to others , as well as that of the term " Bogus , " Dr . Mackay gives the following derivations : —

' ¦ Buncombe , or Bunkum . —A diffuse and angry orator having made a somewhat irrational and very unnecessary speech in thc House of Representatives at AVashington , where nobody thought it worth while to contradict him , was afterwards asked by a friend who met him in Pennsylvania Avenue why he had made such a display . ' I was not speaking to tho house , ' he replied ; ' I was speaking to Buncombe '—a county or district by the majority of whose votes he had been elected . Hence Buncombeor Bunkumhas become a phrase in America—and to

, , some extent ill England also—to express that extra parliamentary oratory ivhieh appeals to the passions or prejudices of the outside people , or sections of the people , and not to the reason and sound sense of a deliberative assembly . Bogus , false , or sham ; said to bo derived from the name of a man notorious for issuing counterfeit notes . Hence ' bogus' news , a ' bogus ' meeting , a ' bogus' baby , a ' bogus' senator , a 'bogus' convention . "

A " dough-face" is a man of no opinion , but who can be readil y kneaded into any that is found desirable . "To be under thc weather , " is a very expressive phrase . But the great puzzle , of whicli the Americans are wonderfully proud , is , " a bunch of sprouts , " and as Dr . Mackay tells his story well , wc cannot do better than let him enli ghten us in his own words : — " An Englishman who had steamed down tho Mississippi ivith a

captain who was not' clover' in thc American sense of the word , seeing on his arrival at New Orleans , a great assembly of people at the leveic , aud hearing a great disturbance , asked the captain what was the matter . " ' Oh , nothing particular , ' said tho captain . ' It's only Jones , an editor , who has quarrelled Avith Smith , another editor , aud given him a whole bunch of sprouts . ' " 'A bunch of sprouts ? ' inquired the Englishman . ' ' Yes , a bunch of sprouts , ' said the captain .

" ' Aucl what is a buuch of sprouts ? ' incruired John Bill ! , bewildered . " ' Don't you know' ! ' rejoined the captain . " ' I don't , ' said John Bull . " ' Then more fool you , ' was the reply , on giviug which the captain turned upon his heel , and walked away . " The Englishman , nofc altogether discouraged , applied to the clerk for information . Oh , editors are always quarrelling here / he replied , ' It is but one editor who has given another a bunch of sprouts . " " ' But what in a bunch of sprouts V " ' Don't you know V « ' Not 1 " . '

" ' AVhy , what a fool you must , be . " The story is that the Englishman asks the same question since thafc clay , no ono knows IIOAV many years ago , of thousands of people , but never obtains an answer , - that tho idea has taken entire possession of his mind , aud that he is wandering over the United States asking every one lie meets , ' AA hat is a bunch of sprouts V Receiving no satisfactory reply , he hurries on from place to place , and from person to person , worn to a skeletonthe mere shadow of a man—a kind of Flying Dutchman—a

, spectral presence—a Avandering Jew—asking the old , eternal question , never to be answered on this side the grave , ' AVhat is a " bunch of sprouts f' Should this unhappy citizen of our fortunate isles over read these pages , the spell that is upon him will he broken , and be will learn that a ' bunch of sprouts' is a slang expression for the whole discharge of a revolver , barrel after barrel . "

Dr . Mackay has dealt largely with the AA estern and Southern States , and familiar as we all are ivith the great system of river navigation in them—knowing , as Ave do , that there are great cities daily growing up on the confines of unexplored and primeval forests , and the slavery , the swamps , and the unhealthy luxuriance of those parts—he has yet contrived to render them a study of interest to us . Cincinnati has been long known to Englishmen

by name , and a name which AVC have all felt very much puzzled to account for , but after the clear description our author has given us we shall not so easily forget it , as a vast manufacturing city covered with a black mantle of coal smoke , like Leeds or Manchester , but not like them , producing cotton or woollen goods , but Catawba champagne and pickled pork . 'The champagne is made from the produce of a Mr . Longworthy's vineyards , which UOAV ,

after years of exertion , rival many ofthe vine grounds of Europe . The pork is turned out by machinery , properly slaughtered and salted ; and " so plentiful are swine in Ohio , so much more plentiful and cheaper than coal , that ere noiv pork has been burned instead of fuel , to keep up the fires of the steamboats on thc Ohio . " AA e are not about to folloAv Dr . Mackay down the Mississippi ,

cither in prose or verse—for the doctor writes it both ways—as wc wish our readers to consult the book for themselves , but AVC feel so strongly interested with his pictures of Neiv Orleans , that we cannot resist the temptation of an extract : — "The most prominent public building in New Orleans is the St . Charles Hotel , au edifice somewhat iu the stylo and . ippearancc of the palace of the King of the Belgians , at Brussels . During thc twelve days

that our party remained under its hospitable roof it contained from seven hundred to seven hundred and fifty guests ; and its grand entrance hall , where the gentlemen congregate from nine in the morning till eleven or twelve at night , to read the ncAVspapers , to smoke , to chow , anel , let mo add , to spit , presented a scene of bustle and animation which can he compared to nothing lint thc Bourse at Paris during the full tide of business , ivheir the agio ) cars and the agens de change roar , and scream ,. and gesticulate like maniacs . The southern planters , and their wives

aud daughters , escaping from thc monotony ol their cotton and sugar plantations , come clown to Neiv Orleans in the early spring , and , as private lodgings are not to bo had , they throng to tho St . Louis and the St . Charles hotels , but principally to the St . Charles , where they lead a life of constant publicity anel gaiety , and endeavour to make themselves amends for the seclusion and weariness of ivinter . As many as a hundred ladies ( to say nothing of the gentlemen ) sit clown together at breakfast —the majority of them in full dress as for an evening party , anel arrayed

in the full splendour- both of their charms and of their jewellery . Dinner is but a repetition ofthe same brilliancy , only that the ladies arc still more gorgeously and elaborately dressed , and mako a still greater display of pearls and diamonds . After dinner the drawing rooms oiler a scene to ivhich no city in the . world affords a parallel . _ It is the very court of Queen Mab . whose courtiers arc some of the fairest , Healthiest , and most beautiful of thc daughters of the south , mingling in true Republican equalitivith the chance farersgentle or

simpleivclly way , , dr-essccl or ill-dressed , clean or dirty , who can pay for a nightly lodging or a clay ' s board at this mighty caravanserai . "So much for the indoor lifts of New Orleans . Its outdoor life is seen to the greatest advantage on the levee , where steamboats unloading their rich freights of cotton , sugar , and molasses from Mississippi , Arkansas , aucl Tennessee , and of pork , Hour , corn , and whisky , from thc upper aucl inland regions of Missouri , Illinois , Ohio , and Kentucky ,

present a panorama that may be excelled in Europe for bustle and life , but nofc for picturcsqucness . The river can scarcely be seen for thc crowd of steamboats and of shipping that stretch along the leve ' e for miles ; and the levee itself is covered Avith bales of cotton , aucl other produce , whicli hundreds of negroes , singing at their ivork , Avith here aud there an Irishman among them , are busily engaged in rolling from the steamers and depositing in the phces set apart for each consignee .

These places are distinguished one from the other by the little flags stuck upon them—flags of all colours and mixtures of colours and patterns ; and here the goods remain in the open air , unprotected , until it pleases the consignees to remove them . NOAV Orleans would seem , at first glance , to overflow ivith wealth to such an extent as to have no room for storage . The street pavements actually do service for ware-