CLIMATE OF THE UNITED STATES.           377
tite for praise, which defies all restraint of reason or common sense. It is far from enough that a traveller should express himself delighted with the country and its inhabitants—that he should laud the beauty and fertility of the former, and all that is wise, dignified, and amiable in the latter: he is expected to extend his" admiration even into the upper air,—to feel hurricanes, and speak of zephyrs,—to gaze on clouds, and behold the pure azure,—and while parching under the influence of a burning sun, to lower the thermometer of his words, and dilate on the genial and delightful warmth of the American summer!
At Saratoga, the company, as usual, dine in an enormous saloon, after which the gentlemen lounge about the balconies, smoking cigars, while the ladies within read, net purses, or endeavour to extract music from a jingling piano., At one or other of the hotels there is generally a ball, and gentlemen, who seem to have studied dancing at some Shaker seminary, caper gallantly through the mazes of the waltz or the quadrille.
In the morning, all are abroad to drink the waters.
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