Domestic Manners of the Americans, Volume 1

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Whittaker, Treacher, & Company, 1832 - History - 133 pages
Published in 1832, the book presents a lively portrait of early 19th-century America as observed by a woman of rare intelligence and keen perception. Trollope left no stone unturned, commenting on American dress, food, speech, politics, manners, customs, the landscape, architecture, and more - often critically but always with considerable insight and literary flair.

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Page 78 - Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.
Page 78 - Let it simply be asked, where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice ! And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion.
Page 80 - ... first in peace, first in war, and first in the hearts of his countrymen...
Page 200 - O, how canst thou renounce the boundless store Of charms which Nature to her votary yields ! The warbling woodland, the resounding shore, The pomp of groves, and garniture of fields ; All that the genial ray of morning gilds, » And all that echoes to the song of even, All that the mountain's sheltering bosom shields, And all the dread magnificence of Heaven, O, how canst thou renounce^ and hope to be forgiven ! These charms shall work thy soul's eternal health, And love, and gentleness, and joy,...
Page 48 - Eastern bombast, not the savage rant Of purpled madmen, were they numbered all From Roman Nero down to Russian Paul, Could grate upon my ear so mean, so base, As the rank jargon of that factious race, Who, poor of heart and prodigal of words, Formed to be slaves, yet struggling to be lords, Strut forth, as patriots, from their negromarts, And shout for rights, with rapine in their hearts.
Page 48 - And all the piebald polity that reigns In free confusion o'er Columbia's plains? To think that man, thou just and gentle God ! Should stand before thee, with a tyrant's rod O'er creatures like himself, with souls from thee, Yet dare to boast of perfect liberty...
Page 61 - In a bright day, during any of the summer months, your walk is through an atmosphere of butterflies, so gaudy in hue, and so varied in form, that I often thought they looked like flowers on the wing. Some of them are very large, measuring three or four inches across the wings ; but many, and I think the most beautiful, are smaller than ours.
Page 134 - The ladies have strange ways of adding to their charms. They powder themselves immoderately, face, neck, and arms, with pulverised starch; the effect is indescribably disagreeable by day-light, and not very favourable at any time. They are also most unhappily partial to false hair, which they wear in surprising quantities ; this is the more to be lamented, as they generally have very fine hair of their own. I suspect this fashion to arise from an indolent mode of making their toilet, and from accomplished...
Page 208 - There is no point in the national character of the Americans which commands so much respect as the boldness and energy with which public works are undertaken and carried through. Nothing stops them if a profitable result can be fairly hoped for. It is this which has made cities spring up amidst the forests with such inconceivable rapidity; and could they once be thoroughly...

About the author (1832)

Frances Trollope, the mother of the prolific mid-Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope, was an accomplished novelist and travel writer in her own right. In all, she was the author of 35 novels, many of them quite popular. Born the second daughter of a vicar, she was raised in the town of Bristol. In 1809 she married Thomas Trollope, a promising young barrister. Although Thomas had a profitable legal practice, a number of pecuniary crises strained the Trollopes financially. In 1827, partly in an attempt to escape her husband's sullenness over their money matters and partly to help rebuild the family's fortune, she took three of her six children to the United States, where she remained until 1830. There (in Cincinnati) she set up a retail store that was to provide this region of provincial America with European culture. When the scheme failed, Trollope turned to writing as a means of self-preservation. The result was Domestic Manners of the Americans, which was immensely popular, and The Refugee in America, her first novel, both published in 1832. Soon after she established a professional relationship with the publisher Richard Bentley, who went far to publicize her work. The finances of the family did not improve, however, and in 1835, finally bankrupt, the Trollopes moved to Belgium, where Thomas died. Frances's agreement with Bentley, who paid her $7600 per novel, and her remarkable output of two novels per year restored the family fortunes. During her life Trollope's fiction was considered rough and inelegant, and she was not a favorite of the critics. In recent years her work has begun to attract considerable attention for its insightful political and social analysis and its strong stand on issues of the day.

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