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 http://www.archive.org/cletails/cu31924028768657 
 
M?2 81931 
 
 Cornell University Library 
 E 164.M39 
 
 Extracts from a diary kept by the Hon. J 
 
 3 1924 028 768 657 
 
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EXTEACTS FROM A DIARY 
 
 KEPT BT THE 
 
 HON. JONATHAN MASON 
 
 OF 
 
 A JOURNEY FROM BOSTON TO SAVANNAH 
 
 In the Year 1804. 
 
EXTEACTS FROM A DIARY 
 
 KEPT BY THE 
 
 HON. JONATHAN MASON 
 
 OF 
 
 A JOUENEY FROM BOSTON TO SAVANNAH 
 
 In the Year 1804. 
 
 [Reprinted from the Pkoceedings op the Massachusetts 
 HiSTOKiCAL Society, 1885.] 
 
 CAMBRIDGE: 
 
 JOHN WILSON AND SON. 
 
 SaniiJtrsits ^ress. 
 
 1885. 
 
//cornel^ 
 
 university! 
 
 LIBRARY^ 
 
EXTRACTS FROM A DIARY. 
 
 Jonathan Mason, the author of the diary, was the son of 
 Jonathan Mason, a successful merchant, and of Miriam, daugh- 
 ter of Benjamin Clark, and was born in Boston Sept. 12, 1756. 
 He was educated at the Boston Latin School and at the Col- 
 lege of New Jersey in Princeton, where he graduated in 1774. 
 Before he had graduated he was entered as a student in the 
 office of Josiah Quincy, Jr., and was recommended for ad- 
 mission as an attorney of the Superior Court in 17 79.^ He 
 gained distinction at the bar, and was a very prominent 
 Federalist, being a member of the Legislature and of the 
 Governor's Council, and United States Senator from 1800 to 
 1803, when he declined re-election and was succeeded by John 
 Quincy Adams. He was afterwards a member of Congress 
 from 1817 to 1821. He married Susannah, daughter of Wil- 
 liam Powell, of Boston, and had a large family of children. 
 He died in Boston, Nov. 1, 1831, aged seventy-five. 
 
 The journey of which the diary gives an account was made 
 in Mr. Mason's own carriage, with four horses and two out- 
 riders. Mrs. Mason and his daughters Miriam and Anna 
 (afterwards Mrs. David Sears and Mrs. Patrick Grant) accom- 
 panied him. 
 
 1 The Record Book of the SuflFolk Bar, learnedly edited by Mr. George 
 Dexter, states, under date of July 26, 1774, that Mr. Quincy has liberty " to take 
 into his office Mr. Joshua Thomas and Mr. Jonathan Mason as clerks ; Mr. Mason's 
 term to be computed from the time he shall come into Mr. Quincy's office, as he 
 has not yet graduated at College." • Where he studied after Mr. Quincy's death 
 is not recorded, as there is a break between 1774 and 1779, but it is said to have 
 been with John Adams. His recommendation for admission as an attorney, 
 however, was on motion of Perez Morton, afterwards Attorney-General of Mas- 
 sachusetts. See Mass. Hist. Soc. Proceedings, vol. xix. pp. 152, 153. — Eds. 
 
4 
 
 Tuesday, Nov. 6, 1804. Left Boston at ten o'clock. Dined with 
 Mr. and Mrs. Dowse,'' with my brother and sister Perkins,^ and pleas- 
 antly. In the afternoon rode to Medfield and paid a visit to Mr. Pren- 
 tiss.^ This good man we found fairly encircled with a wife and nine 
 children, very happy and contented, with little more than enough to 
 keep them either decent or in health. Perhaps there is no family in 
 this country where the same number are more happy, where the means 
 are so small. Returned, and after drinking coffee, am much pleased 
 to find that the tears upon the cheeks of my children, occasioned by 
 their departure from those they love, are fast giving way to smiles and 
 merriment. We do not forget our friends, but our passions subside and 
 excitement ceases. The weather delightful, and prospects flattering. 
 Clarke's house [at Medfield] decent, — disposition good. 
 
 Wednesday, Nov. 7. Rode this day thirty-two miles, mostly on the 
 turnpike, beginning about thirty miles from Boston. Pleasant day, no 
 accident, merry without care, and safe arrived at Thompson [Connec- 
 ticut] at a Mr. Manchester's, whose daughters are pretty and fine per- 
 sons, wanting only tinsel, fashion, and perhaps less nature, to make 
 them what Bostonians would esteem fine women. This country [isj 
 abounding in pleasant prospects, sufficient to assure you that in mid- 
 summer, with the dress of Nature, it must be beautiful to the eye of 
 the traveller. 
 
 Thursday, Nov. 8. Arrived, after a journey of thirty-two miles, at 
 Coventry at the house of a Mr. Brigham'. Literally in this tavern no 
 ostentation, but everything the best of its kind, and aided by the land- 
 lady, who shows to you one of the best dispositions in the world. She 
 fills your table with good things, and she does this quickly. She smiles 
 upon you with an anxiety to make you comfortable and happy. 
 She makes you happy. You meet with more than you expected, 
 and your feelings are gratified, with your appetite also. The coun- 
 try in general hill and dale ; fine tract of land, and great plenty dis- 
 covered among all the farmers. Road good, but not so good as a 
 turnpike ought to be. 
 
 Friday, Nov. 9. Unpleasant, and snow with hail and rain. Reached 
 Hartford [at] one o'clock ; arrived at Lee's tavern, and passed the day 
 pleasantly with my family. Fair within, though foul and rainy abroad. 
 
 Saturday. Passed the turnpike to New Haven, thirty-four miles, 
 one of the best and straightest in New England. It goes through a 
 delightful country, and had the weather been pleasant, it would have 
 
 1 At Bankside in Dedham, well known in recent years as the residence of the 
 late Edmund Quincy, whose family inherited it from the Dowses. — Eds. 
 
 2 Thomas Perkins, of Boston, liad married a sister of Mrs. Mason. 
 
 3 The Rev. Tliomas Prentiss, D.D. (H. C. 1766), minister of Medfield. He 
 died in 1814. — Eds. 
 
added greatly to the landscape ; rode it in seven hours. Ten miles from 
 New Haven stopped in the wood at the tavern. Poverty and diiRculty, 
 but peace, contentment, and affection in an extraordinary manner ex- 
 hibited. Grandfather, grandmother, mother, and child by the name of 
 Doolittle. I ought not to except from this group a black kitten, which 
 the little child, seven months old, had been accustomed to pull, pinch, 
 and squeeze until the animal had become sensible of it, and delighted in 
 suffering it. Well persuaded I am that no man could use the same 
 freedom with the same impunity, — but the wind is tempered to the 
 shorn lamb. 
 
 Tarried the Sunday at New Haven. In the morning visited the 
 Episcopalian church and heard preach a Dr. Hubbard,' a murderer of 
 sense and language. I pity his parish ; they must have hearts prone 
 to virtue, or I am sure he will never point the road or give peace to the 
 doubtful breast. Our morning misfortune was compensated in the 
 afternoon by a great deal of eloquence and devout learning from Dr. 
 Dwight.^ Much as I have heard of the sermonizing talent of this 
 gentleman, it far surpassed my expectations. Methodical, eloquent, in- 
 genious, forcible, and in language chaste, extremely energetic, he com- 
 mands universal attention from his audience, and you cannot leave this 
 church without retaining a great proportion of his sermon for medita- 
 tion. Invited Jonathan Trumbull and William Smith of South Caro- 
 lina ° to dine with me at Mr. Butler's, and the company of each of them 
 was desirable from their polite and easy deportment. This day, fine 
 weather and drying roads. Much prosperity appears throughout this 
 town. It is said it increases. This may be in a degree, but I do not 
 think equal to Hartford. I grow daily an enemy to all wooden houses, 
 and excepting the colleges, one or two churches, and a single dwelling- 
 house, the whole of this city is wooden. 
 
 Passed, on Monday, from New Haven to Stamford, forty-two miles ; 
 a good road and delightful country. Stratford, Fairfield, Newfield, and 
 Norwalk, all of them pretty towns, contiguous to the Sound and enjoy- 
 ing the advantages of the ocean and the land ; their soil too good to be 
 neglected, the sea gives a stimulus to their industry and makes good 
 sailors of their spare young men. The buildings in all these towns 
 carry evident marks of property and wealth, and indicate much fashion 
 and taste. Comfortably lodged at Mr. Davenport's at Stamford ; and 
 almost all the inns we have passed have obliged us to admire the im- 
 
 1 The Rev. Bela Hubbard, D.D. (Y. C. 1758), Rector of Trinity Cliurch, New 
 Haven. For a more favorable account of him, see Sprague's Annals of the 
 American Pulpit, vol. v. p. 234. He died in 1812. — Eds. 
 
 2 The well-known Dr. Timothy Dwight, at this time President of Yale 
 College. — Eds. 
 
 2 These were probably students in Yale College. — Eds. 
 
6 
 
 provemeut, the abundance, the cleanliness, and the civility of the country 
 and the accommodations. 
 
 Tuesday, Nov. 13. Early in the morning arrived at Rye, where we 
 learned that Gouverneur Morris ' had left orders and directions for us 
 to dine with him. We accordingly arrived at his chateau about three 
 o'clock, and were ushered into a large company, two of which had been 
 married but a few days, and this was a wedding dinner. Sixty and 
 twenty-eight ; a little disparity, but balanced by a good house and a 
 plentiful fortune, — convenient things to a young lady at twenty-eight. 
 We met also Mr. King,^ and Mr. Samuel Ogden * and his lady and 
 daughter ; also Mr. Hammond and lady and two sisters. We passed 
 Tuesday and dinner on Wednesday with great sociability and mirth, 
 added to splendor in the extreme. My friend is a real aristocrat, and 
 he lives literally like a nobleman. You are continually attracted by 
 a profusion of plate, gold, and mirror. He has all this world can give 
 him but a good wife and amiable children ; and with all his possessions 
 he is to be added to the many proofs of the folly of those who leave 
 themselves in the want of those good things in the latter part of life, 
 when they are absolutely necessary to constitute our happiness. He 
 also laments that he did not, twenty years since, unite his talents with 
 some corresponding female mind to make each other happy.^ 
 
 On Wednesday evening we arrived at New York, at Mrs. Avery's. 
 Bad, cold, and snowy weather, which lasted for two days. 
 
 Thursday. Visited the panorama representing the battle of Alexan- 
 dria and the death of Abercrombie. This may be well done, but to me 
 it gave no pleasure. It must b§ either a more scientific or fashionable 
 man to admire this painting,— it appears to me confusion without design, 
 — and wholly to trace the actual position of the armies and comprehend 
 their situation and manoeuvres, also the face of the country ; all which 
 it is said to exhibit tolerably well. 
 
 Friday. Visited the Academy of Arts and their casts, with the 
 Museum. These are good imitations, it is said, and they appear to 
 show talent. Their originals must be wonderful specimens of ancient 
 sculpture and of the progress of the arts. The Museum is not worth 
 mentioning. 
 
 The progress of this city is, as usual, beyond all calculation, — seven 
 hundred buildings erected the last twelve months ; and Broadway, be- 
 
 ^ Gouverneur Morris (C. C. 1768), the distinguished Federalist statesman, 
 lived at the Manor House of Morrlsania, near Rye, New York. He had been in 
 the Senate with Mr. Mason. He died in 1816. — Ens. 
 
 ^ Undoubtedly Kufus King, the celebrated Federalist leader. — Ens. 
 
 ^ Brother-in-law of Mr. Morris. — Eds. 
 
 * In 1809, at the age of fifty-seven, Mr. Morris married Anne Gary, daughter 
 of Thomas Randolph, of Virginia. See Sparks's Life, vol. 1. p. 494. — Eds. 
 
yond all dispute, is the best street for length, width, position, and build- 
 ings in America. Foreigners say few in Europe exceed it. The people 
 are rich, live well, and fashionable, by no means handsome, mostly of 
 Dutch extraction. Their mode of business and their talents, by com- 
 parison with other cities, in my opinion, suffer. They have not so much 
 information so generally diflfused as the New England States have, and 
 their present paucity of characters to fill their oflSces shows it. Mr. 
 De Witt Clinton ^ is the head of the ruling party in this State, and this 
 is proof enough to any person open to conviction. 
 
 Sunday. At Mrs. Avery's, opposite the Battery. Have been de- 
 lighted with the display of vessels bound to sea as they have passed in 
 succession. Six ships have been near the Battery at one and the same 
 time, not one hundred yards from the window. They must all pass in 
 review in order to fall down to the Hook. 
 
 Dined on Friday with Mr. King; Judge Benson,^ Mrs. Low, and 
 Mr. Murray, etc., present. We had here a great portion of society, — 
 less etiquette, of course. 
 
 Monday. Dined with Mr. Mumford,' Mr. S. Jones, Jr.,* and Mr. 
 Ledyard present ; and in the evening attended the play. Mr. Cooper ^ 
 played " Macbeth," a chef-d'ceuvre. His talents are really great in that 
 line, but most miserably supported. 
 
 Tuesday. Dined at Mr. F. Winthrop's,^ a pleasant society and much 
 conviviality. The evening we passed at Mr. Abraham Ogden's,'' with 
 still more pleasure and less etiquette. Mrs. Ogden is a favorite in all 
 countries ; naturally amiable, and [with] great feminine beauty, unaf- 
 . fected. You here saw the mother at the head of the table, with six or 
 eight children around ; her heart literally overflowing with gratitude for 
 
 1 De Witt Clinton, who had been for a short time in the Senate with Mr. 
 Mason, was now mayor of the city of New Yorlc. Eight years later the Feder- 
 alists supported him as candidate for President against Mr. Madison. — Eds. 
 
 2 Egbert Benson (C. C. 1765), a leading Federalist. He was a Member of Con- 
 gress, Judge of the Supreme Court of New York, Chief Justice of the TJ. S. Cir- 
 cuit Court (created in 1801), and President of the New York Historical Society. 
 He died in 1833. — Eds. 
 
 8 Probably Gurdon Saltonstall Mumford, Member of Congress from New 
 York, 1805-1811. — Eds. 
 
 * Samuel Jones (C. C. 1790), afterwards Chancellor of the State of New York 
 and Chief Justice of the Superior Court of the city of New York. He died in 
 1853. — Eds. 
 
 6 Thomas Apthorpe Cooper, an English actor who had considerable reputation 
 as a tragedian at the beginning of this century. He ultimately settled in this 
 country. He died in 1849. See Clapp's Record of the Boston Stage, p. 61. — Eds. 
 
 ^ Francis Bayard Winthrop, an elder brother of the Hon. Thomas Lindall 
 Winthrop of Boston. — Eds. 
 
 7 Abraham Ogden (C. C. 1793), a merchant of New York, is probably the 
 person referred to. — Eds. 
 
8 
 
 these blessings at her period of life. A great deal of affection displayed 
 in this circle. It convinces me that bachelors and old maids are sorry 
 kind of animals. It is the mother of Mrs. Ogden's husband, and the 
 attention they all paid to her convinced me that she was deserving 
 of it. 
 
 Wednesday, Nov. 21. Dined with Mr. Rogers ; ^ Mr. and Mrs. King, 
 Mr. and Mrs. Trumbull,^ Mrs. Robinson, and [a] number of gentlemen 
 present ; a very pleasant day. In the evening at the theatre ; play,' 
 " Jane Shore," — Lord Hastings, Cooper ; Mrs. Melmoth,* Alicia ; and 
 Mrs. Johnston, Jane Shore. I see not many handsome ladies in this 
 city, most of them comely ; but the inhabitants generally cannot be said 
 to be handsome. They live well and are hospitable. They are wealthy ; 
 they feel conscious of all their advantages, and they rate them full 
 high. There are a great many young men in the city, but not disposed 
 to matrimony. 
 
 Thursday, Nov. 22. Dined at Judge Benson's, and the evening at 
 Mr. Oliver Kane's, with a brilliant party of ladies and gentlemen, and 
 among them Mr. Thomas Morris * and lady. 
 
 Friday, Nov. 23. Dined at Mr. King's ; and the evening, the play, 
 " Hamlet." 
 
 Saturday. At Governor [?] Crawford's ; Mr. and Mrs. Robinson. 
 Pleased with him ; she is much too indifferent to have admirers, upon 
 whom she has no claims save those of wealth. 
 
 Sunday, 2oih. Passed the evening with Mr. Mumford and his lady 
 pleasantly. 
 
 Monday, 2Gth. Dined with J. R. Livingston ;^ prettily entertained. 
 This day about eight hundred militia in uniform, in celebration of the 
 evacuation of the city by the British troops. They made a soldier-like 
 appearance, but I do not think equal to the volunteer companies of Bos- 
 ton, but superior to our militia. They are made up of the draymen 
 and the mechanics in general. They were reviewed by the mayor of 
 the city. I am more and more convinced that we live as comfortably, 
 as conveniently, as generously, and as sumptuously as our neighbors, 
 and we manage our commercial and fiscal operations as well. 
 
 I received a polite card from the Corporation to their public dinner 
 on this day ; but being engaged with my family, I declined it. The 
 
 1 Mrs. Lamb, in her " History of New York " (vol. ii. p. 522), speaks of " tlie 
 distinguislied merchant brothers Fiteh, Henry, Moses, and Nehemiali Rogers, 
 tliree of whom founded three great mercantile houses in New York." — Eds. 
 
 ^ Probably John Trumbull, the painter, now residing in New York. He was 
 an intimate friend of Mr. Mason's. See his Autobiography, p. 245. — Eds. 
 
 " A celebrated actress in her day. She died in New York in 1823. — Eds. 
 
 * Thomas Morris, Member of Congress from New York, 1801-1803. — Eds. 
 
 5 John R. Livingston, a brother of Chancellor Livingston. — Eds. 
 
weather has been uncommonly fine, as mild as August, and the roads 
 as good as in that month. One day may reverse this scene and all our 
 comforts in travelling ; but we set our faces against misfortune. Pur- 
 chased a head of General Hamilton and sent it to Boston. Was fortu- 
 nate enough to hear of the arrival of the " Pembroke " at New York, 
 one hour previous to my departure. 
 
 Tuesday Evening. Wrote to T. Perkins, mentioning the head of 
 Hamilton which I had sent, and the arrival of the " Pembroke," and 
 put it in the Brunswick post-ofRce. 
 
 Wednesday, 2^th. Still finer day ; rode this day forty miles to Tren- 
 ton, through a pleasant, pretty country ; fine orchards and good wheat 
 in many places. Anna left at Brown's, Woodbridge, a pair of gold 
 earrings. 
 
 Thursday. The weather still continues as good, and with ease we 
 rode into Philadelphia by three o'clock. Stopped at Mrs. Lawson's, 
 but could not be accommodated to my mind, and accordingly removed 
 to Mrs. Jones's, between Seventh and Eighth Streets. The country 
 round astonishingly improving, and a very fine turnpike, finished for 
 thirteen miles and intended for Trenton. 
 
 Friday. Passed the evening at G[eorge] Harrison's ; called at the 
 Museum with my daughters, and passed the day generally in receiving 
 visits and rambling [about] the city. Received letter from Mr. Perkins, 
 and one from Susan and Jonathan.* Wrote to Ann Barry and Mr. 
 Perkins. 
 
 Monday. Visited the Hospital and Philosophy Hall. Invited to 
 tea by R. Peters ^ and lady, but engaged to dine by T. Willing ^ and 
 lady. 
 
 Tuesday. Passed the evening at Mr. Dallas's,* ■ — a Kent, so called. 
 Mrs. Cadwallader, Miss Biddle, and Miss Bird, with a Mr. Miller, sang 
 glees and catches and trios to admiration. 
 
 Wednesday. Dined with Mr. Dallas, and passed the evening at 
 theatre. 
 
 The increase of this city is still astonishing. I am persuaded, though 
 the citizens deny it, that they do not trade so much or so well as New 
 York, and that their commercial capital is lessening ; yet having been 
 
 1 Jonathan Mason, Mr. Mason's younger son, and a well-known and much- 
 respected citizen of Boston, died Feb. 21, 1884, in the eighty-ninth year of his 
 age. — Eds. 
 
 2 Richard Peters, the first Judge of the U. S. District Court for Pennsylvania. 
 He died in 1828.— Eds. 
 
 3 Thomas WilUng, a wealthy merchant of Philadelphia, and a prominent poli- 
 tician. He died in 1821, aged eighty-nine. — Eds. 
 
 * Alexander James Dallas, afterwards Secretary of the Treasury, and father 
 of George Mifflin Dallas, Vice-President of the United States and Minister to 
 Great Britain. He died in 1817. —Eds. 
 
10 
 
 in the habit of building for several years past, the masons and carpen- 
 ters and tradesmen from their past earnings are able and obliged to 
 employ their journeymen and themselves in putting up houses for rent 
 and sale. There is not a gentleman in the city that has built this year 
 past, and yet whole squares have been covered during that time ; five 
 hundred houses the last year. The circle and the beauty of ladies of 
 New York bear no comparison with this city. I am repeatedly re- 
 minded of this observation. The ladies here resemble their city ; 
 pretty, regular, and refined. Their beaux must be imported, for at this 
 moment they are only as one to five in numbers, and [as] ordinary as 
 they are scarce. I can say nothing in behalf of the young men who are 
 growing up. Their scarcity gives them advantages which they do not 
 improve. A stranger passing through does not hear of politics. The 
 Federalists are beaten and out of date and conversation. There is a 
 third party who are opposing Governor McKean,^ and who will finally 
 overthrow him. Next month the four Judges of the Supreme Court — 
 men of respectability, integrity, and talent, gray in the service of their 
 country — are to be tried upon an impeachment for having acted op- 
 pressively in punishing a Republican for contempt of court.^ This State 
 [is] under the control of ignorance and Jacobinism. If it changes, it 
 must be for "the better, and perhaps it may be the first to let a little 
 hlood. 
 
 Visited the gunboats which are building. What they are and what 
 they are for, nobody seems to know. They apologize for that evident 
 enmity which the Southern people possess to a navy. Their day must 
 be short ; and the growth of this country and its demands, in a very 
 few years, will scout all such feeble puerile performances. A navy 
 must grow out of our woods, and ride in our harbors, or our trade will 
 not be protected and our country forever insulted. We are verging 
 fast to that state of things when there must be a new mixture, and out 
 of which will come new combination, perhaps energetic, stable, and with 
 the properties of durability. 
 
 Thursday. Dined with Mr. G. Harrison, and passed the evening 
 very pleasantly at the assembly. Again reminded, by the presence of 
 many lovely women, of their superiority, in beauty, affability, and manners, 
 to those of New York. A man would suppose that where so much 
 worth was so visible, there would be more matrimony, but the reverse is 
 true ; and among many, one cause is the dress and extravagant ideas of 
 the ladies themselves. The generality of young men of our country 
 
 1 Thomas McKean, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Chief Justice 
 of Pennsylvania, and Governor from 1799 to 1808 ; a vparm supporter of Jefferson. 
 He died in 1817, aged eiglity-three. — Eds. 
 
 2 They were tried before the Senate of Pennsylvania in January, 1805, and 
 acquitted; the prosecution failing to secure the requisite two- thirds vote. — Eds. 
 
11 
 
 are not able to support the rank and grade which the ladies assume, 
 particularly in dress ; and they are so easy of access, so naked in their 
 charms, that they destroy and satiate desire where they would wish to 
 enkindle it. 
 
 Friday, Dined with Mr. Breck,'^ and passed the evening there. A 
 very large set of ladies and gentlemen in the evening, with good music. 
 
 Saturday. Dined with Mr. Richard Willing, and passed the evening 
 at Mrs. Jackson's. The fine women of this city are, in the estimation 
 of the young gentlemen, Miss Willcox, Miss Boardley, Miss Keene, 
 Miss Stewart. There are innumerable pretty ones, but not all of them 
 accomplished. To do common justice, there are many and more than 
 enough to make society happy and sought after, — many more than in 
 any city in America. 
 
 Sunday. Dined with Mr. Thomas Butler, and passed the evening 
 with Mrs. Edwards and Miss Clarkson ; prettily entertained at both these 
 places. Their tea-parties abound with ladies and good music, duets 
 and trios, with young gentlemen and ladies. Mr. Nicholas and Mr. 
 Miller two of the finest singers I have for a long time heard, perhaps 
 not equalled since the days of Captain Phillips. This evening also 
 much gratified with the society of Mrs. Izard, or the "Widow Shippen, 
 whose prophecy and dream that in the course of her life she should 
 have eighteen feet of husband has come to pass, her third and present 
 husband making, with the two preceding ones, eighteen [feet] three 
 inches. 
 
 Monday. Disappointed of all invitation (having refused several) 
 in expectation of attending a splendid party (dance) at the Marquis 
 Casa Yrujo's,^ to which we had been early invited. The ambassador 
 himself waited upon us ; but the lady (Miss Sally McKean that was) 
 expected the first compliment of [a] call from Mrs. Mason, to which I 
 could not consent, — in my estimation it being etiquette false, foolish, 
 and assumed. We accordingly gave up her party and attended the 
 theatre. 
 
 Tuesday. Dined with Mr. Paul Siemen, a bachelor, who gave a 
 splendid entertainment to a party of ladies and gentlemen in compliment 
 
 to Mrs. M . We passed the beginning [of] the evening with our 
 
 friend Harrison, and after supper went to a private dance given by the 
 Miss Gratzes, three pretty and accomplished Jewesses. 
 
 On Wednesday morning, in a snow-storm not troublesome, we left 
 
 . 1 Samuel Breck, formerly of Boston, who survived till 1862, when he died at 
 the age of ninety-one. His Eeminiscences, edited by Mr. H. E. Scudder, were 
 published in 1877. — Eds. 
 
 2 The Marquis D'Yrujo, Spanish Minister to the United States, married a 
 daughter of Governor MoKean of Pennsylvania. Their son the Duke of Soto- 
 mayer became prime minister of Spain. — Eds. 
 
12 
 
 the city of Philadelphia, in company with Mr. Goldsborough ^ and his 
 lady, Mr. and Mrs. Steel, and their two daughters. These two families, 
 polite and agreeable, had been our companions at Mrs. Jones's from 
 our first entrance to the city. We lodged together at Christiana, and on 
 Thursday morning separated with great reluctance, — they for the town 
 of Cambridge, in Dorset [Dorchester] County, on the Choptank River, 
 on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and we for Baltimore. They 
 had uniformly been very assiduous and equally successful in pleas- 
 ing me and mine ; and their invitations to see them on our return 
 were pressing and, I believe, sincere. I am at present much preju- 
 diced in their favor, and have much desired to see them and their 
 Eastern Shore. 
 
 We jogged on to Baltimore, cold but without accident. At Havre 
 de Grace we feasted upon the canvas-back in perfection. We were 
 agreeably surprised here by the arrival of our friend Mr. William 
 Crafts ^ in the stage, with letters from our friends from Boston. They 
 were all well. But there is no pleasure without its alloy; he brought 
 to us the afflicting intelligence of the death of Bishop Parker.' Alas, 
 poor man ! his honors were yet green upon him ; elected to that honor 
 only four months since, he has been summoned to another tribunal, 
 leaving behind him a widow and thirteen children. He may be said 
 literally to have left nothing of this world's goods behind him but his 
 sermons and his cassock. He who feeds the ravens will be a father to 
 this widow and her orphan children. 
 
 On Friday we arrived at Baltimore without anything interesting in 
 country, prospect, or occurrence worthy recording. The country to the 
 very suburbs is the poorest I ever saw in my life, not habitable and not 
 inhabited excepting by those who cannot live anywhere else. Supped 
 with our friend Crafts, who has engaged to provide us lodgings at 
 Charleston. 
 
 Friday. This evening still continues snowing, and induces us to acr 
 knowledge and repeat our great good fortune in arriving at this moment, 
 when the roads have been so excellent. . . . 
 
 Saturday. Extremely stormy and tempestuous the whole day, but 
 on Sunday an entire change of weather. The morning opened with an 
 unclouded sky and a bright sun, — cold and clear, promising better 
 weather and the continuance of good roads. Dined this day with 
 
 1 Charles W. Goldsborough was Member of Congress, 1805-1817, and Gov- 
 ernor of Maryland, 1818-1819. This may have been he. — Eds. 
 
 2 William Crafts (H. C. 1805), afterwards a distinguished member of the 
 Charleston Bar. He died in 1826. —Eds. 
 
 3 Dr. Samuel Parker, Hector of Trinity Church, Boston, and the second bishop 
 of Massachusetts, died Dec. 6, 1804, having only been consecrated on the Uth of 
 the previous September. — Eds. 
 
13 
 
 Luther Martin, Esq./ and passed an hour in the evening with my good 
 fi'iend Bishop Carroll.^ 
 
 Monday. Paid to Bishop Carroll three hundred and fifty dollars, 
 moneys received for him from the Eev. Mr. Chevreuse [Cheverus] at 
 Boston. . . . 
 
 Tuesday. Dined with Colonel Howard.^ 
 
 Wednesday. Dined with Mr. Cook, and passed the evening with Mr. 
 Sherlock. 
 
 Thursday. Breakfasted with Colonel Rogers,^ dined with Mr. 
 [Robert] Gilmor, and passed the evening with Mrs. S. Smith. ^ 
 
 Friday. Dined with Mr. Thompson, and by desire passed the evening 
 there also. 
 
 In the course of this week we have received the attentions of almost 
 the whole city, and also marks of great hospitality. This place is 
 growing in extent, in wealth, and in luxury. They live in splendor, 
 though their houses from bad management are cold and uncomfortable. 
 Like to New Yorkers and the Philadelphians, [and] perhaps the Bosto- 
 nians, they are well pleased with themselves, their city, and its prospects. 
 Nothing can be equal to it ; and they suffer you, with great sang-froid, 
 to tell them so. They swallow flattery as they do their food, — with a 
 good appetite. They are not so refined in their manners as the Phila- 
 delphians, more so than the New Yorkers. They have many handsome 
 women, enough for any man of reflection to lament the scarcity of 
 young men to match with them ; it appears as though three fourths 
 must be maids, and old ones. They appear to be of all nations, kin- 
 dred, and tongues. They are well-bred, hospitable, and social. Their 
 city will be handsome, but their country round barren and unpleasant. 
 One side, however, which is filled and diversified with country-seats, is 
 an exception. Hill and dale and prospect, and ground made fruitful 
 by great expense, with woods, make this extremely pretty. Colonel 
 Rogers's situation, in particular, is beautiful, and great taste displayed 
 both in the building and the grounds. . . . 
 
 Very much like Boston, the city, as a city, has not much to amuse a 
 
 1 The celebrated lawyer and Democratic politician. He died in 1826. — Eds. 
 
 2 Dr. John Carroll, the first Roman Catholic bishop in the United States, 
 consecrated at Lulworth Castle in England in 1790. He died in 1815. Eor an 
 account of Mr. Chevreuse, or Cheverus, afterwards a Cardinal, see Memorial 
 History of Boston, vol. iii. p. 516. — Eds. 
 
 ^ Colonel John Eager Howard, a Revolutionary soldier and distinguished 
 Federalist, had been in the Senate with Mr. Mason. He died in 1827. — Eds. 
 
 * Colonel Nicholas Rogers, died in 1822. His beautiful estate near Baltimore, 
 referred to farther on, was purchased from his son Lloyd Nicholas Rogers, in 
 1860, for a public park, now known as Druid Hill Park. — Eds. 
 
 ^ General Samuel Smith was United States Senator from Maryland from 1803 
 to 1815. — Eds. 
 
14 
 
 traveller. The library and assembly-room is [are] resorted to as clever 
 in their kind. Unquestionably, however, their dispositions and their op- 
 portunity to gratify their disposition will, in time, enlarge and ornament 
 their city with public buildings that shall have style, grandeur, and 
 expense to recommend them. 
 
 We left Baltimore on Saturday, the 22d of December, and as fine a 
 day as could be chosen to travel in. We rode with great ease to An- 
 napolis, thirty-three miles before sunset, much pleased with the pros- 
 pect, which small hill and dale covered with firs and pines will most 
 commonly produce. Now and then pleasant openings, and always good 
 road. We arrived at Caton's Tavern, and our first impressions were 
 received from what we here experienced, — the remains of ancient 
 prosperity. Baltimore has, by its trade and commercial advantages, 
 totally destroyed this place; and nothing but the seat of government 
 and six or seven ancient independent families keep it from being wholly 
 deserted. Such also was the tavern, — a large house, indicative of 
 former times, large glass (all of them patched and broken), creaking 
 windows, and broken-panelled doors ; innumerable servants, and yet 
 no attendance, filthy and ragged. And such also was the general ap- 
 pearance of every building in this place, — no fences, decayed couBt- 
 yards, hogs in their gardens, and universal finale. The place is upon 
 the Chesapeake, beautifully situated, and in summer and spring the 
 climate fine. They have a handsome State-House, costly, but not 
 agreeable to rule or proportion. They have also a college,-' dwindled 
 into a bad grammar-school. I saw at their church [St. Anne's] on 
 Sunday, a fine day, just twenty-two persons and a parson. 
 
 On Sunday, 23d, we dined with Mr. Charles Carroll ^ and his family, 
 consisting of Mr. Caton and lady and four daughters, Mr. Harper ' and 
 lady, a Mr. Lloyd,* Mr. Low, and the celebrated Miss Wheeler of 
 Norfolk. We were received and entertained with great hospitality and 
 splendor, and the day in every respect exceeded our expectations. Mrs. 
 Caton and Mrs. Harper both treated us with the lady-like, polite de- 
 portment, and we are equally indebted to Mr. Harper for his atten- 
 tions. Miss Wheeler is accomplished and informed, mistress of two or 
 three languages, musician, and with much acquirement ; but she is 
 
 1 St. John's College. — Eds. 
 
 3 Charles Carroll, of CarroUton, the last survivor of the signers of the Dec- 
 laration of Independence. Three of his granddaughters, the daughters of the 
 Mr. Richard Caton here mentioned, married English peers, — the Marquis Welles- 
 ley, Lord Stafford, and the Duke of Leeds. — Eds. 
 
 2 Robert Goodloe Harper (Coll. N. J. 1785), the distinguished Maryland lawyer 
 and statesman, married a daughter of Mr. Carroll. He died in 1825. — Eds. 
 
 * The Lloyds have long been one of the wealthiest and most influential fami- 
 lies on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. James Lloyd was United States Senator 
 from 1797 to 1800, and Edward Lloyd from 1810 to 1826. — Eds. 
 
15 
 
 learned and stiff in her manner, and not so handsome as expectation 
 had portrayed her. She is precise, and verging towards thirty. She is 
 an accomplished girl, but not a lovely one. She courts your attentions ; 
 and to please, you must admire, and say so. 
 
 Sunday Evening. Snowed considerably, but not so bad as to prevent 
 our leaving Annapolis on Monday morning and arriving late in the 
 evening, through a tedious road and barren country, at Washington at 
 the house of my old friend Mr. James Barry, where we were welcomed 
 by Mr., Mrs., and Anna and Mary Barry. 
 
 On Tuesday morning [Christmas day] I waited upon the President 
 and Vice-President ' to escape censure, and attended afterwards at the 
 Catholic Church at Georgetown. We passed a week at this hospitable 
 mansion, witnessing daily the most marked and flattering tokens of 
 their hospitality and friendship. They were unremitted in their desires 
 to prolong our stay and to make it agreeable. 
 
 On Wednesday evening, January 2 [1805], we passed the evening with 
 Mrs. Peters, and once again realized her friendly professions. Mrs. Peters 
 is really a fine woman. We here also saw a sister of Ann Stewart's 
 by the name of Ariadne Stewart, — pas grands chose. January 1, New 
 Year's day, a large fall of snow, and for three or four days after as ex- 
 treme cold as I ever felt it in Boston. Every river near and round this 
 country was frozen sufficiently for carriages to pass and repass ; and for 
 three nights successively water has frozen in our rooms, though a fire 
 has been in the same chamber. 
 
 Thursday, Jan. 3. Crossed the ferry at Georgetown, taking with 
 us my friend Ann Barry; and such was the extreme severity of the 
 weather that we were obliged to lay by at Alexandria the succeeding 
 day. Visited Mrs. Deblois's in the evening, agreeable to invitation, and 
 politely received among the beaux and belles of Alexandria. We had 
 intended to have visited Mount Vernon and Mr. Lewis's ; but so deep 
 was the snow and ice that we concluded it would be best to proceed on, 
 and accordingly, on Saturday, January 5, we parted with Ann with 
 tears and regret, and made our first stage at Colchester. We lodged at 
 Dumfries, a small village, but nothing worthy of remark. 
 
 This day, Sunday, we have passed on, and are now at Fredericksburg 
 in a dirty inn by the name of Estis, — at the Columbian Inn. The 
 house is full of slaves, and nobody is served or attended to. The coun- 
 try hitherto gives no entertainment to the travel ; without soil, without 
 houses, you see nothing but hills, barren, interspersed with pines, a few 
 negro huts, and a solitary road through a country without fences and 
 without cultivation. At Washington we obtained of Stewart [Stuart], 
 the celebrated painter, a promise to paint two of my girls ; and with 
 
 1 Jefferson was now President, and Aaron Burr Vice-President. — Eds. 
 
16 
 
 the intercession of Joseph Eussell and Dr. Eustis,'^ he finished the 
 heads of Anna and Miriam, and flattered them with perfect likenesses.^ 
 Washington City is as it has been ; it does not improve, and is filled 
 with dissensions. It is hated as a rival by Georgetown and Alexandria, 
 who with equal cordiality hate each other. Every mean, base passion is 
 displayed in the conduct of these different parts of the same district to 
 each other, in their government and their matters of police, insomuch it 
 would puzzle wiser heads than Congress to legislate for them with wis- 
 dom. It will end in secession or a legislature for Columbia. Poor 
 Judge Chase was on the anvil. He made his appearance at the bar of 
 the Senate without a chair or a table. He was obliged to ask for both ; 
 he asked also for time until the first day of the next session, and they 
 have assigned the 4th of February next to immolate him. Unfortunately 
 for this man, his manner is arbitrary and ungracious; he always wanted 
 the suaviter, and he has no friends but those who are friends to his 
 cause. The man is not beloved ; and he will fall without tears, though 
 not without remark.' 
 
 Monday, Jan. 7, 1805. After leaving Fredericksburg, situated as 
 it is beautifully upon the Rappahannock, which you pass by means of 
 a bridge from Falmouth, we proceeded early in the morning for the 
 Bowling Green, and from thence, the remainder of the day, to T. Sutton's, 
 in Caroline County, thirty-four miles through a fine country, — very fine 
 roads, sandy, and without the hills between Dumfries and Fredericks- 
 burg. We have scarcely ascended a hill to-day. The country very 
 well cultivated, and many very large plantations. The holly and the 
 pride of India very plenty, growing in the open air. On a plantation, a 
 few days since, some of the negroes refused the orders of the overseer ; 
 and he shot one, wounded another, and a third drowned himself, — the 
 blessed effects of slavery. 
 
 Tuesday, Jan. 8. Proceeded on in the morning, and reached Richmond 
 in the afternoon. We searched in vain for three hours for a place to 
 sit down in. Though four taverns in the town, they are all crowded and 
 full, and we finally were obliged to put up in a private house for the 
 night, and sleep on the floor. This was occasioned by the session of 
 
 1 William Eustis, at this time a Member of Congress, afterwards Secretary of 
 "War, and one of the few Democratic Governors of Massacliusetts. He died 
 while holding that office, in 1825. — Eds. 
 
 ^ These portraits are now in the possession, respectively, of Mr. Grant and 
 of Mrs. William Amory. From a memorandum in the diary it appears that 
 Mr. Mason paid two hundred dollars for the two. — Ens. 
 
 3 Samuel Chase of Maryland, Judge of the Supreme Court of the United 
 States from 1796 till his death in 1811, had been impeached by the Democratic 
 House of Representatives for alleged misconduct on the bench. His manners 
 were especially complained of. He was acquitted ; a majority of the Senators, but 
 not the rec[uisite two-thirds, voting for conviction. — Eds. 
 
17 
 
 the legislature, and the meeting of the stockholders of the Virginia 
 Bank, from all parts of Virginia. With nothing to do at home, they 
 flock to Richmond in search of news and variety. 
 
 Wednesday, Jan. 9. Were admitted by special favor into the Eagle 
 Tavern, and in the evening were introduced to a public ball, given 
 by the members of the Legislature to the ladies of Richmond, by his 
 Excellency Governor Page ^ and his lady, having previously taken tea 
 at Mrs. McKenzie's. 
 
 Friday. Dined with Mr. Giliat, and were prettily entertained. On 
 Thursday it rained excessively the whole day, and confined us to the 
 house. 
 
 Saturday. Dined with Mr. Gallego, and in the evening at Governor 
 Page's. 
 
 Sunday, IZth. Dined with Mr. Giliat. Saturday we passed over the 
 basin of the canal to view the water descending in torrents over the falls 
 of the river. This town is most beautifully situated, very much re- 
 sembling that of Boston, — much the finest site in Virginia. The State 
 House is handsome, — a model, though imperfect, of the Temple of 
 Minerva. They have a large building, ornamental and of stone, as a 
 public warehouse for the reception of tobacco, a penitentiary of still 
 larger size, and a public armory. The canal is the great friend and 
 promoter of this place. It brings by the falls all the produce of the 
 upper country, and with little more expense will carry it by locks 
 down to the heavy vessels at tide-water. Some of the society in Rich- 
 mond is really good ; the ladies well bred and well educated. There 
 is much hospitality ; but in manners the gentlemen are far, very far, 
 behind the ladies. From the use of coal and the tribes of negroes their 
 labor is badly managed, and their city wears the appearance of filth and 
 dirt. The coarse, affected Republican manners, which set at defiance 
 education and decency, seem to be overspreading the country. Is it 
 prejudice, or are not the Northern States one hundred years in advance 
 of this country in convenience of living, in civility of manner, and in the 
 art of passing life with happiness, equality, and affection ? Their houses 
 in general are badly constructed for winter, and badly provided. You are 
 oftentimes frozen in a warm climate, and every winter colder in Richmond 
 than in Quebec. The slaves of this country are its curse ; their nature, 
 their manners, their disposition, and even their color operate upon society 
 wherever they abound. The citizens live in fear, and [to] avert the evil, 
 to lessen the danger, and to thin their population, employs the time and 
 expense of the Government annually. Commerce is fast increasing, and 
 the profits of their trade will soon show themselves in an extension of 
 their city and in fine houses. James River is a source of wealth, and 
 
 1 John Page, Goyernor of Virginia, 1802-1805. He died in 1808, aged sixty- 
 five. — Eds. 
 
 3 
 
18 
 
 requires only industry and the use of it to give to every adventurer 
 wealth. But their government is purely democratic; talent and even 
 principle seem to have retired. Ignorance, prejudice, jealousy, and 
 every envious passion are making their appearance in their slow but 
 sure operations, and the result is known only above. The poor Feder- 
 alist is poor indeed ; his voice is no more heard, and he lives only at the 
 mercy of his enemies. Still power and influence is in motion. The 
 first Republicans are fast moving from their seats to give place to those 
 more violent, and will sufller perhaps more conspicuously than those now 
 deemed Federalists until government becomes anarchy, and anarchy 
 from necessity becomes again a government. I think this State, in this 
 revolutionary circle, is equally forward with any State in the Union. 
 
 Monday, 14:th. Dined with Colonel Gamble ; Tuesday, 15th, with 
 Mr. Wickham;' Wednesday, 16th, with William McKenzie. 
 
 Wednesday Morning. Visited the Armory, a large elegant brick build- 
 ing for the manufacture of arms ; and it was in excellent order, — great 
 specimen of skill and industry. It employs about one hundred men, 
 who work by the musket, and is carried on by water from the canal. 
 It is oftentimes astonishing to the traveller to see at once the aggregate 
 of many years' invention and of different men, witnessed in this very 
 manufactory, and also in a flour-mill, belonging to a Mr. Rutherford, 
 which we also passed through and viewed. The wheat is received into 
 a large funnel from the wagon, where it is weighed ; from thence, by 
 water, it is carried backwards and forwards up to the garret and back 
 again into all parts of the building, in every kind of shape, heated and 
 cooled until it is completely changed into flour, and ready for the barrel, 
 and it is there packed by the same power. Their Penitentiary is another 
 very beautiful public building, planned by Mr. Latrobe ; and it is now 
 full, with probability of increase. They have also handsome stone 
 buildings, owned by the State, for the reception of tobacco. The peni- 
 tentiary and its principle is [are] not popular, and I think [they] will 
 be abolished in June. Their canal is profitable, and will finally be 
 locked to the Rockets, so called, — the tide-water. 
 
 Thursday, Jan. 17. Left this very hospitable town for Petersburg, 
 and with a beautiful day, extremely mild, we arrived at Petersburg 
 about six o'clock. Wretched roads, and through a miserable country. 
 Petersburg is situated upon the Appomattox River, and pleasantly, 
 though not equal to Richmond. The village is flourishing, though 
 principally wood. It is checked in i'ts growth, owing to its being under 
 the control of a single individual by the name of Bowling, who owns 
 the fee of the whole town and as far on all sides as the eye can reach. 
 
 1 John Wickham, a distinguished lawyer of Richmond, who afterwards rose 
 to the leadership of the Virginia Bar. Harvard College conferred upon him the 
 degree of Doctor of Laws in 1825. He died in 1839. — Eds. 
 
19 
 
 He rents a vast number of houses and lots ; the remaining land upon 
 ground rents. The trade is increasing, and they have a branch bank 
 of the mother State bank at [of] Virginia. Very much indebted we 
 were [at Richmond] to the families of Gallego, Scot, and Giliat, and 
 Mr. McKenzie. They gave us their society the whole week, and filled 
 us with good things at our departure. 
 
 Friday, Jan. 18. Extreme bad weather, and Mrs. Mason being in- 
 disposed we rested, and the next morning, it having cleared away and 
 frozen the whole country by its severity, we began our motions, and 
 lodged at the house of a Mr. Stark, a man who had seen much better 
 days. Both he and his wife mingled with their present occupation 
 much civility and dignity of manners, in no way restrained or distant, 
 but familiar, properly so, and hospitable. We were comfortable and ■ 
 refreshed, and about nine on Sunday left it for the next stage, which 
 was Euffin's ; and without any disparagement to the last, I could say 
 that both man and wife were really well bred and elegant in their 
 manners. We had every little rarity, such as pies, quinces, etc., and in 
 half an hour left them, with sincere regret that it was not consistent 
 with our plans to stay longer. We lodge this evening, Sunday, the 20th, 
 at Drummond's ; a good house and a rich man, — one who has taken up 
 this mode of life as appurtenant to other views. He also owns the line 
 of stages to Raleigh ; he has one or two other plantations, and is a 
 wealthy planter. He reminds me of Holmes at the Bowling Green ; 
 he wants his country travelled through, and he is ambitious of its good 
 name. From Petersburg here, nothing can be said in favor [of] the 
 soil, the prospect, or the roads ; they are all execrable. 
 
 Wednesday, 2dd. Now at Raleigh, one hundred and fifty miles distant 
 from Petersburg; and for three days past experienced as cold weather 
 as I ever did at Boston. At Warrenton the water in every bowl and 
 basin in the house, in rooms with large fires, froze solid during the night. 
 The oldest inhabitants never experienced a colder night. The roads as 
 bad as possible, and their houses literally comfortless, from the slight 
 manner they are built, and the scandalous inattention to their windows, 
 which in every instance have more or less panes of glass out. The 
 country on the road affprds nothing at which the traveller can either 
 amuse or inform himself with. One continued wood of pmes and 
 oaks, with here and there a spot miserably cultivated, and a few log 
 houses of the very worst structure. They live miserably, and where 
 you meet a collection of houses, say ten or twelve wretched hovels, you 
 are sure to meet a gambling-tavern, and a parcel of idle vagabonds. 
 Louisburg,^ at Greenhill's, is a striking proof. Warrenton is an excep- 
 tion ; though small, it is flourishing, and there were many gentlemen 
 who carried the marks of civility and politeness. 
 
 1 In North Carolina. — Eds. 
 
20 
 
 The line between North Carolina and Virginia seems [to be] about 
 two miles on the eastern side of Eaton's Ferry upon the Roanoke. 
 Raleigh is a miserable place, nothing but a few wooden buildings and a 
 brick Court House, built for the accommodation of the Government, 
 who hold their sessions here. 
 
 From Raleigh we proceeded in the morning, and rode thirty-nine 
 miles to Mrs. Smith's, having passed a ferry at Cape Fear River, three 
 miles before we reached Mrs. Smith's. This river, five days before we 
 passed it, by the great rains and snow had risen and fallen twenty-five 
 feet in thirty-six hours. On onr road through the woods we were put 
 into spirits and delighted with the sight of a flock of deer passing the 
 road about one hundred yards in front of us. In general, no country in 
 the world ever afforded so small an opportunity for information or 
 amusemeut as this [does] from Richmond or Petersburg to this place, 
 and I am told [it is] more ordinary still until we arrive at Georgetown. 
 
 Friday, 25th. We set out in a thunder-storm for Fayetteville, and 
 rode for four hours in the most severe showers and heaviest thunder I 
 ever heard at this season. . . . We reached Fayetteville by one o'clock. 
 I was waited upon by Mr. W. Barry Grove ^ and his sister ; his lady 
 being nearly being confined. He invited us to dinner on the morrow, 
 which was accepted. The less I say of Fayetteville the better. It is, 
 however, rather superior to Raleigh. It is a small wooden settlement 
 within three quarters of a mile of Cape Fear River, navigable for small 
 boats ; and small boats will answer for the produce of this market. 
 
 The only valuable thing I have seen in this [region] is the lightwood, 
 which is the pitch pine after the turpentine has been extracted. They 
 use it for the purpose of lighting their fires. It blazes instanter, like a 
 candle, and until the wood is perfectly consumed. They burn all their 
 wood in a green state ; and this is absolutely necessary, and at the same 
 time completely answers the purpose. 
 
 They marry astonishingly early, the females oftentimes at fourteen 
 years. The landlady of the house I now occupy, Mrs, Pitman, told me 
 herself that she married at twelve years and two months old. She had 
 a child, which she showed me, before she was fourteen ; her husband 
 died, and she was married to her present husband before fifteen. She 
 is now in her twenty-fifth year, with a boy eleven years of age, and 
 three other children. She looks like an old woman. . 
 
 We dined on Saturday with Mr. Grove; was entertained with great 
 hospitality and politeness, and was invited to dine this day (Sunday) with 
 J[ohn] Hay, Esq., a celebrated lawyer, but the inclemency of the storm 
 which still rages, from Friday last, prevented my acceptance of this 
 invitation. 
 
 1 WiUiara Barry Grove, Member'of Congress from North Carolinai from 1791 
 to 1803. — Eds. 
 
21 
 
 Monday, Jan. 28. We left Fayetteville, and arrived on the 1st of 
 February at Georgetown,^ distant one hundred and thirty miles, through 
 a country a dead flat, presenting without the least variety one uniform 
 appearance of pine barren. Pine upon pine, saving only a straight 
 solitary road as far as the eye can reach ; with miserable huts of houses 
 and still more miserable owners scattered about one in ten or twelve 
 miles. The astonishment excited is, how these shiftless beings pass 
 through life. They are all surrounded with a set of negroes, naked, 
 and more miserable and helpless than themselves, — rags that the mean- 
 est beggar would not pick out of the streets they are clad in. They do 
 not even regard modesty in either sex, and oftentimes you see them 
 totally deprived of clothes. The weather was remarkable, equal to the 
 April and May months in New England. The woods full of ever- 
 greens ; and we had no occasion for muffs or outside clothes during the 
 five days of our journey. At Georgetown we saw green peas growing 
 in Mr. Trapier's ground, and so high as to be stuck with fagots to sup- 
 port them ; also large myrtles. The difficulties of food are great; we 
 oftentimes had little or nothing to eat, and fortunate for us the weather 
 was good, for we never laid down to rest in any room where we could 
 not see the sky through a thousand cracks ; and in all cases the win- 
 dow glass is broken almost every pane. All this, however, is still of 
 no consequence compared to some difficulties in the road, such as swamps, 
 creeks, and lowlands, covered with water, and the road made by rails 
 and posts, and not half made. We passed through Ashpole Swamp with 
 the waters up to the belly of the horses for an half of a mile, so high 
 that the pole bridges themselves were under the water. This swamp 
 is situated about eight miles beyond Widow Rowland's, and two miles 
 beyond the line of North Carolina. The most dangerous place was 
 on the north side of the Great Pedee, where for a mile we passed through 
 a swamp, travelling through the water, which in many cases went to 
 the backs of our horses, where they would frequently attempt to swim, 
 and the water all the time flowing in the bottom of our carriage. In 
 the midst of this difficulty we were called to encounter a bridge, one 
 half of which was carried away. We were obliged to stop, take out 
 horses, get out ourselves, and push the horses off of the bridge, and our 
 servants upon planks push forward the carriage ; then retackle, and get 
 in upon planks, while the water was even with the carriage. Indeed, 
 the dangerous part of this terrible swamp cannot be imagined equal to 
 its reality. I wonder myself how we possibly could finally succeed ; 
 but we passed, with the help of a guide, without injury either to our- 
 selves or horses. Lynch's Creek, situated Ave miles from Port's, was 
 equally bad, though not so long ; and the waters, happily for us. were 
 
 ^ In Soutli Carolina. — Eds. 
 
22 
 
 so high that they made what they term a long ferry, — that is, the 
 boat came over the creek and came up to the commencement of the 
 water. 
 
 Having no fodder for my horses in Georgetown, I determined to 
 leave it, and in the morning set off immediately for Charleston. In the 
 moment of leaving the city, the Miss Hugers waited upon my family 
 and invited them to pass the day ; but we were on the move and de- 
 clined the invitation. Georgetown is prettily situated upon a river that 
 goes to the ocean. It admits of brigs, ships, etc., to the town. The 
 seats around are pleasantly situated, particularly Mr. Trapier's. I 
 passed through it hastily without delivering my letters, but not so soon 
 as to avoid my showing to my girls some beautiful myrtle and oleander 
 trees in the highest perfection and as large as the apple-tree. Orange- 
 trees, also, with oranges upon them, but pinched in some degree by the 
 excessive cold weather. 
 
 At the distance of six miles from Georgetown we were met by my 
 friend Eutledge,^ and by him, the same evening, carried to Madam 
 Horry's, on the south side of South Santee, at Hampton. We passed 
 the next day, the 3d, at this hospitable mansion. The weather ex- 
 cessively cold, and freezing the water in all the basins and tumblers in 
 the house. This situation is most delightfully variegated by the shape 
 of the grounds and the fine live-oak trees in great abundance, size, and 
 magnificence. It gives you the idea of the cultivated English taste ; 
 the seat of wealth, splendor, and aristocracy. The rice fields on the 
 side and in the rear form an extensive flat as far as the eye can reach, and 
 everything you meet upon this plantation carries with it the appear- 
 ance of a community. You see blacksmiths, wheelwrights, carpenters, 
 masons, shoemakers, and everything made and manufactured within 
 themselves. Of four or five hundred negroes, one fifth have trades and 
 follow them. It is a perfect society, of which the owner is absolute 
 lord and master ; and such are all the considerable plantations in this 
 country, the incomes of many of whom are one hundred thousand 
 dollars annually ; some are known to make upwards of three thousand 
 barrels of rice. Within their houses you meet great hospitality, the 
 polish of society, and every charm of social life ; an abundance of food, 
 convenience and luxury. It is impossible but that human nature in 
 such a situation, doing justice to those under him, must feel himself 
 lord of this earth. The mills for cleaning, grinding the rice, and pack- 
 ing of it, upon many of the plantations cost from fifteen to twenty thou- 
 sand dollars, and are equal to the improvements of the flour-mills in the 
 Middle States. They have complete command of water to overflow and 
 drain their fields at their leisure. 
 
 1 John Rutledge, son of Chief Justice RutleJge, and Member of Congress 
 from South Carolina from 1797 to 1803. He died in 1819, aged fifty-three. — Eds. 
 
23 
 
 February 4. We passed this day at a place seven miles lower down 
 the Santee, called Eldorado, the seat of Mrs. Mott, the mother-in-law 
 of Major Thomas Pinckney,^ and at his request ; here we saw the same 
 abundance, the same affluence, and a plantation equal in its size. In 
 digging a ditch we saw one hundred and eighty negroes at work, men 
 and women. They were well clothed, appeared healthy and happy ; 
 and I am well convinced, where they are well treated, they live ten 
 times happier than any of their color in their own country. Much 
 depends upon the owner ; if they are miserly, parsimonious, or bad- 
 tempered in grain, woe betide the slave ! 
 
 We were extremely happy at both of these plantations, and certainly 
 met with great hospitality and true politeness. We returned to Madam 
 Horry's on the 5th, and on the 6th set out for Charleston ; the road un- 
 commonly fine. We arrived at the ferry about dusk ; but so bad was the 
 weather that we could not finish our journey until the 7th, when we ar- 
 rived in Charleston about eleven o'clock, in good health and good spirits. 
 
 Saturday. Passed the evening with Mr. Ford.^ 
 
 Sunday. With Miss Ladsons. 
 
 Monday, Feb. 11. Wrote to Dr. Warren.' Passed the evening with 
 Mr. Desaussure.* 
 
 Tuesday. With, Mr. Desaussure at a picnic, so called. The gen- 
 tlemen of the town resort to the concert-room, where they dance, 
 play cards, and sup. Their supper is made up of a collection from 
 each other, to which they contribute by each one carrying a dish 
 and a bottle of wine and loaf of brea,d. We passed a pleasant evening ; 
 but the institution has its inconveniences. It is not guarded suflSciently 
 against the admission of improper company ; and oftentimes the supper 
 presents a very curious collection, such as eight or ten turkeys, a major- 
 ity of pies, or some very curious specimen of cookery, — there being no 
 previous understanding among the concerns as to the dishes carried. 
 
 Wednesday. Rained all day. Spent this day at the Supreme Court 
 in attending to a cause in which a Mr. Ingraham was concerned, for- 
 merly a Bostonian. The talents of the bar were displayed upon this 
 occasion, and Mr. [John Julius] Pringle, Mr. Desaussure, Mr. K[eating 
 
 1 Thomas Pinckney, younger brother of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and, 
 like him, educated in England. He was a Major in the Revolutionary Army, 
 Governor of South Carolina in 1787-1789, and Member of Congress from 1799 
 to 1801. He died in 1828, aged seventy-eight. — Ens. 
 
 '^ Timothy Eord (Coll. N. J. 1783), a prominent member of the Charleston 
 Bar and partner of Mr. Desaussure. He died in 1831. — Ens. 
 
 3 Dr. John Collins Warren, of Boston, son-in-law of Mr. Mason. He died in 
 1856. — Eds. 
 
 ^ Henry William Desaussure, afterwards Chancellor of the State. He died in 
 1839. — Eds. 
 
24 
 
 Lewis] Simons, Mr. [Thomas] Parker, and Mr. J[ohn] "Ward ac- 
 quitted themselves with great reputation.^ 
 
 Thursday. Visited a vessel at Geyer's Wharf, on board of which 
 were about two hundred Africans, the remnant of a cargo arrived a few 
 weeks since. They appeared healthy, unconcerned, and without intel- 
 lect or sensibility. It wrung me to the soul to reflect upon the future 
 destinies of the several individuals, and the poor miserable prospects 
 they had presented to them. For what came they into life? They 
 appeared totally insensible to the least regard or concern for each other, 
 upon being sold and leaving the vessel. I saw no one that took the 
 least notice of those he left behind. I saw many of them leave the 
 vessel to return no more, and probably never see the face of one of their 
 fellow-passengers ; this without the least emotion on either side. I saw 
 no difference (except in form) between them and an equal number of 
 brutes. 
 
 Dined this day with Mr. Frederick Rutledge,^ and passed the even- 
 ing at a subscription concert, and ball afterwards. A handsome display 
 of ninety and upwards of ladies, many of them [with] strong preten- 
 sions to beauty, and all of them handsome in appearance and agree- 
 able and refined in manners. The music excellent, and everything 
 conducted with much propriety. 
 
 Friday. Dined with Mr. Hugh Rutledge,^ the Judge in Chancery ; 
 and the evening passed with Mrs. and Miss McPherson, at a musical 
 party. 
 
 Saturday. Clear and cold ; frost, and no fire, which is bad ; and an 
 open house, which is worse. The evening with Mr. Cripps and family ; 
 an elegant ball and supper. 
 
 Monday, I8th. Visited the Orphan House ; passed the evening at 
 the play. 
 
 Tuesday. Dined with Colonel Morris ; passed evening with Major 
 Ladson. 
 
 Wednesday. Races ; and dined with Jockey Club. Evening at Mr. 
 Desaussure's. Invited to pass the evening with Mr. and Mrs. Wragg ; 
 also some Friday evening with Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell ; declined, pre- 
 engagement. 
 
 Thursday. General McPherson's, dined ; evening at the play. 
 
 Saturday, 23d. Dined with General Pinckney.* Evening with Mrs. 
 Middleton.* 
 
 Friday. John Rutledge's, dined ; evening, race ball. . . . 
 
 1 An interesting account of the Charleston Bar is given by Mr. Cliarles Fraser 
 in liis Reminiscences of Ciiarleston, pp. 69, 73. — Eds. 
 
 2 Son of Cliief Justice Eutledge and son-in-law of Madam Horry. — Eds. 
 
 3 Brother of Cliief Justice Rutledge. — Eds. 
 
 * Charles Cotesvvorth Pinckney, the celebrated Federalist. — Eds. 
 
 '' Probably the widow of the Hon. Arthur Middleton, one of the signers of 
 
25 
 
 Sunday. Invited to dine with T[homas] Pinckney, Jr.; refused, 
 engaged. . . . 
 
 Tuesday. Dined with Mr. Price, and evening at concert for relief 
 of St. Domingo inhabitants. Waltz. 
 
 Wednesday. Dined with Governor Hamilton.-' In the day a review 
 of General Read's brigade, and in the evening a ball at Mrs. McPher- 
 son's. Invited to dine on Thursday next at Mr. Joseph Manigold's 
 [Manigault], but engaged. 
 
 Thursday, 2?>th. Dined with J[ohn] B[ee] Holmes, Esq. 
 
 Friday, March 1. Communicated to my family the distressful tid- 
 ings of the death of Mrs. Perkins's child, and the illness of my respected 
 father-in-law. Here is the end of their society in this place. In pay- 
 ment for past happiness they are now loaded with sorrow and affliction, 
 and are to put on the sable garment of grief ; and as though to be de- 
 prived of a parent at this distance from him, and in this unexpected 
 moment, were not enough to fill up their cup of woe, they are agonized 
 and wounded, sorely wounded, with the tidings of the death of the only 
 beloved child of their aunt and her sister A.nna. Gracious God, thy 
 ways are inscrutable and past finding out! How foolish, how thought- 
 less, how insane, with such repeated admonitions, to be always unpre- 
 pared for such dispensations ! 
 
 March 2, Saturday. Invited to tea by Dr. and Mrs. Ramsay,^ but 
 declined. ... 
 
 March 4. Heard from home of the continuation of my father-in-law's 
 illness, so as to exclude my family from all society. . . . 
 
 March 7. Thursday morning left Charleston in company with Gen- 
 eral Pinckney to visit Savannah ; reached that day the plantation of 
 General "Washington ; ^ dined and passed the day with this hospitable 
 man, universally beloved throughout this country for his many virtues, 
 his useful qualities, and his great benevolence. He has served his coun- 
 try during the last war, at the head of a regiment of horse, with great 
 bravery and skill. He treated us with profusion and politeness, and 
 with difficulty we left his house and his entreaties the next morning to 
 progress on our journey. We rode the next day (Friday) to Mr. Price's, 
 twenty-eight miles further ; the succeeding day to Colonel Cuthbert's, 
 at Portogallico [Pocotaligo]. On Sunday evening at General Read's, 
 
 the Declaration of Independence, who was residing in Charleston a few years 
 before this. — Ens. 
 
 1 Paul Hamilton, Governor of South Carolina, 1804-1806, and Secretary of 
 the Navy, 1809-1813. He died in 1816. —Eds. 
 
 2 David Ramsay (Coll. N. J. 1765), a prominent physician, and author of a 
 History of South Carolina and of several other works which had a reputation in 
 their day. He died in 1815. — Ens. 
 
 2 William Augustus Washington, a kinsman of President Washington's and 
 a distinguished cavalry oflScer during the Revolutionary War. He was made a 
 Brigadier-General in 1798. He died in 1810, aged flfty-eight. — Eds. 
 
 4 
 
26 
 
 and on Monday at two o'clock we arrived in Savannah. Tuesday, the 
 12th, we passed in visiting the town, and dined with Mr. Thomas Gib- 
 bons,-' and in the society of a very respectable circle of Federalists. 
 
 Savannah as a town is increasing, but it has no charms. It is a 
 wooden town on a sand-heap. In walking their streets you labor as 
 much as if you was wading through a snow-bank, with this difference 
 only, — you must walk blindfolded, or your eyes will be put out. It re- 
 sembles my ideas of the Arabian deserts in a hurricane. No lady walks 
 the roads, and the inhabitants never with pleasure, excepting after a 
 rain ; the least breeze of wind moves in clouds the sand through every 
 street, in such abundance and so deep it is that no pavements can be 
 laid either in the centre or sides of the streets. It is bad enough in 
 cold weather, but the citizens exclaim against it in warm. The road to 
 Savannah is extremely fine, though a great sameness throughout. Not 
 altogether pines, but oak, hickory, cypress, and birch, with other and 
 various kinds that denote a good soil. The plantations of rice are upon 
 all the rivers, and those of cotton at a small distance from the roads. 
 They live entirely within themselves ; many of them extremely well 
 and hospitably. 
 
 On Wednesday morning a Mr. Mein [?] called upon me with a note 
 from my friend Rutledge, took me in his curricle to his plantation about 
 twelve miles upon the river ; and on Thursday morning, after enter- 
 taining us liberally and very handsomely, took my friend Rutledge and 
 myself in his barge over to Union Ferry on the Charleston side, where 
 my horse and chaise was in waiting. Rutledge and myself immediately 
 proceeded, and that evening arrived at Colonel Cuthbert's ; the next 
 day we reached the plantation of Colonel Shirvin, and on Saturday, at 
 noon, arrived in Charleston after a pleasant tour of ten days. 
 
 The trees were most of them in blossom ; and the redbud tree and 
 the yellow jasmine were in great abundance in all the woods, and in 
 all their beauty and fragrance. Most of the bushes and shrubs were 
 evergreens, and interspersed with the wild laurel, the wild orange, and 
 the magnolia tree. One great inconvenience is the distance you are 
 obliged to travel from plantation to plantation, there being few or no 
 taverns of consequence. I rode thirty miles many times, and in one 
 instance forty, without feeding ray horse. Their produce, in good sea- 
 sons, is uncommonly profitable, — as much, in cotton, as three hundred 
 dollars to a hand, and nearly so in rice. They will make thirty 
 per cent upon the real value of their farms in a single season. The 
 ravages and devastation of the late hurricane are beyond description. 
 As you pass the country, especially towards Savannah, you see whole 
 sections of the forest blown down, without a single tree standing. They 
 dread the hurricane and the caterpillar as they would death. 
 
 1 Thomas Gibbons was appointed Judge of the U. S. District Court for 
 Georgia in 1801, but was probably not at this time on the bench. — Eds. 
 
27 
 
 While at Georgia I received a letter from Mr. Desaussure announc- 
 ing that letters had been received at Charleston mentioning the death 
 of my respected father[-in-law], who, by every account, seems to have left 
 the world without regret, without a single pain, without the least appre- 
 hension, and in full possession of his mind; conscious of having done 
 his duty to his fellow-creatures through a long life of seventy-eight 
 years, he resigned it with the strong sense of his own rectitude, and the 
 fullest assurance that he had nothing to fear, but everything to hope 
 for from the mercy and justice of his Maker. His calmness, his phi- 
 losophy, his judgment, and his conduct during his siclsness and his last 
 moments evince a strength of mind and a fortitude which exceeds any- 
 thing he ever manifested in his health and strength. I have no doubt 
 he will meet the reward of uniform unshaken honesty and uprightness, 
 of great affection and fidelity to his wife and children, and the best 
 dispositions towards man. 
 
 Sunday. Dined with Madam Horry and Mr. Frederick Rutledge. 
 
 Monday, March 18, 1805. Dined at home with my family. . . . 
 
 Thursday. Dined with Mr. Ford ; Friday, with Mr. Gabriel Mani- 
 gold [Manigault] ; and Saturday, with Mr. J. Kutledge. 
 
 Sunday, March 24. The last day I expect to pass in Charleston ; 
 dined with Mr. Desaussure. Received, March 23, an order in my be- 
 half upon the bank at Philadelphia for one thousand dollars. 
 
 Monday, March 25. Set off in company with Mr. and Mrs. Desaus- 
 sure to commence my journey to Boston by way of the Santee Canal. 
 We rode the first day about thirty miles, to Mrs. Edwards's upon Cooper 
 River, after sailing up to Clements's Ferry six miles in a pleasant boat, 
 where we met our carriages, which we had sent on by land, and which 
 had crossed the Cooper to Clements's. 
 
 Tuesday, 26ih. We spent the day in riding up the canal and viewing 
 the different locks, single and double ; and being also so fortunate as to 
 see three or four loaded and as many empty boats pass up and down. 
 In the evening we arrived at the head of the canal at the house of a 
 Mr. Arthopel, the head agent of the canal, placed there by the company. 
 At present .this canal is not productive, it having cost upwards of six 
 hundred thousand dollars, and its income does not exceed one thousand 
 dollars per month. It is, however, a growing property, and in future 
 days, with prosperous crops, it must appreciate in value. It now sells 
 at a discount of fifty per cent. It is a very handsome work, and reflects 
 great honor upon the enterprise of the country. It unites the Santee 
 with the Cooper River, and the work with the locks is well executed 
 and durable. The boats will carry at a trip one hundred bags of cotton, 
 and are drawn at the rate of four miles per the hour by a couple of 
 mules driven by a negro on its banks. The canal has seven locks in 
 twenty-one miles, and is higher than the bed of either river, in some 
 places fifty feet, and at the entrance ten in common times. It is sup- 
 
28 
 
 plied by springs and swamps, and one spring in particular, which we 
 saw at a Mr. Maseek's, which was the finest fountain I ever saw. It 
 came from its bottom ; it was perfectly clear, and never affected by the 
 severest droughts. 
 
 Wednesday the 27th. At the head of the canal we parted with our 
 friends Mr. and Mrs. Desaussure; they for Charleston and we for States- 
 burg. We crossed the Santee very easily about one o'clock, and arrived 
 at Bimbo's Inn, a clean and good one, about three. We here dined 
 plentifully, and are now thinking of our friends and the changes of a 
 season. I am this moment diverted from my book by the sight of Mrs. 
 Mason giving bread to three tame domesticated deer, — animals perfect 
 of their kind, and some of th« most beautiful in creation. From Santee 
 Canal to Manchester, at Mr. Pitts's, where we dined. A very bad road ; 
 five miles swamp and causeway, and though not covered with water, a 
 much worse causeway than the Pedee Swamp. In freshets the water 
 rises three and four feet over this whole causeway, so that it is de- 
 nominated a long ferry. Changed my Henshaw horse for a horse 
 belonging to Mr. Pitts, and gave him thirty-five dollars ia addition. 
 We lodged at Statesbilrg, a pretty town upon the high hills of Santee, 
 resembling very much the different situations in New England. Some 
 very rich planters of cotton reside in this neighborhood, and the climate 
 is delightful, without yellow or intermittent fevers. We were politely 
 invited to a dance and tea-party of about twenty couples, but declined. 
 
 Friday, March 29. Left Statesburg, and had rode but a little dis- 
 tance before we perceived that my horse Nicholson was very sick, and 
 swelled very much. Continued riding, presuming it would heal and 
 relieve him ; but his swelling increased, and before we could reach a 
 house he died in the road. As fine and as useful an animal as I ever 
 saw or wished to own. This was occasioned by his overfeeding with 
 corn the preceding night, and drinking a large quantity of water in the 
 morning. Could we have drenched him with sassafras, or any other 
 powerful raediciu'e, we could have saved him ; but it was my misfortune 
 to travel at this moment through a country badly settled, and where 
 you must, and W6 did, ride thirty miles without seeing a house. Through 
 the great importunity of our friends we had taken this road, contrary to 
 our own inclinations, With the design of seeing the Santee Canal. We 
 resisted until we were afraid of giving offence, and finally accepted their 
 offer with the assurance the road [was] equally near, and with better 
 accommodations, all of which we found the reverse. The country 
 generally through which you ride is bad and dreary, poverty-struck, 
 uninhabited; and where there are people they live worse than their 
 cattle, excepting a few independent planters holding slaves, and who live 
 far from the road. Thirty-five miles from Statesburg, after crossing the 
 creek of Lynch so called, we arrived at a miserable hut owned by a Mr. 
 Price ; he was eighty-five years of age, and had twenty-four children, 
 
29 
 
 the youngest eight years of age. He had had two wives, and eleven of 
 his children were in the house with him. They had land in plenty, 
 without the necessaries of life ; they were as dirty as the beasts, and 
 had nothing to give us or anywhere to put us to make us comfortable. 
 Their whole wardrobe was not worth one groat. It had one conve- 
 nience ; they never washed or exchanged it until worn out. We had 
 tea, sugar, and biscuit of our own, which gave us a dish of tea, and with 
 our bed-linen and a bedstead we passed the night without undressing, 
 and with the help of our great-coats. You could have but one passion 
 excited for this family, and that was pity. Had we gone the other way, 
 we must have deviated from our road to have passed a day at Madam 
 Horry's, and another at Major Pinckney's, both which was insisted upon ; 
 so that we were impelled to embrace the offer of Mr. Desaussure and 
 visit the canal, when our first wishes were to take leave of our friends 
 at Charleston and make the best of our way home. . . . 
 
 The road to Cheraw BlufE from Statesburg to Mrs. Wilson's very good, 
 though through country poor indeed, and without settlements. This day 
 we have rode thirty miles Without refreshing our horses. 
 
 Saturday, March 31. Left Greenville, — the name of this long blufE, 
 given in compliment to the late General Greene for his military services 
 in this country, — and rode through a miserable country with a tolerable 
 road, and finally arrived after dark to a miserable log-house by the name 
 of Wilkes. But one room, two beds full of vermin, and not a single 
 thing of any kind to eat or drink ; six or seven children crying in the 
 house, and two drunken Scotch neighbors, drinking, reeling, and smok- 
 ing. Go further we could not ; and as we had lately, though badly, 
 dined, we concluded to close our carriage as much as possible, and pass 
 the night in it. The weather was fortunately serene and mild. There 
 were six of us in the carriage, and sleep we could not ; the only hope 
 was in daylight, that we could again move forward. After these 
 drunken fellows had talked themselves asleep upon the floor, my family, 
 not being able to stay longer in the coachee, alighted and threw them- 
 selves one and all upon a miserable bed in the same room, and sat with 
 patience for an end of such unexpected sufferings. It was really a 
 laughable sight to see persons seeking pleasure in such a hovel ; giving 
 up every comfort, flying from home, deserting their relations and friends, 
 and travelling in a distant country for the purpose of finding this miser- 
 able abode, and then to be confined and cooped with the refuse of crea- 
 tion, drunk and beastly, deprived of the little understanding God gave 
 to them. Fortunately for us the day at length appeared, and we moved 
 on to the house of Mrs. William Fall, five miles nearer Fayette. The 
 disposition, the cleanliness, and the exertions of this Scotch woman in a 
 house by herself, were a,ll employed in furnishing to us a breakfast that 
 was refreshing, and peculiarly so to us who had been deprived of rest 
 and exhausted for want of sleep. From this place we proceeded for 
 
30 
 
 Fayette to the house of Mr. Shepard, where we dined, and considered 
 ourselves once again in a country we were acquainted with. 
 
 Tuesday, April 2. Mrs. Smith's, twenty-one miles. 
 
 Thursday. Raleigh, Casco. 
 
 Friday. Took the stage in order to ease my horses, and rode this day, 
 though rainy, fifty-nine miles to Warrenton. "Was pleased with Mark 
 Miatt's house ; had a very good dinner provided, and the daughters of his 
 house well-bred and civil. Before sunset reached our destined inn for the 
 night ; found that Johnston had left it, and it was filled by a man and 
 wife every way qualified to make it one of the best in the country. 
 
 Saturday, April 6. Eode in the stage twenty-eight miles to break- 
 fast, — Drummond's, — and in the evening reached Stark's. After dining 
 plentifully, and I may say elegantly, at Mr. Ruffin's, our supper at 
 Mr. Stark's was equal to our dinner, and the finest punch-bowl of fresh 
 frothy milk in the centre of the table I ever saw. Around it were pre- 
 served peaches, quinces, gooseberries, and cherries. Meat of all kinds. 
 This supper would have been a pretty, and, I am sure, a good one 
 in either of the cities. We rode to Petersburg on Sunday, and in the 
 evening were disturbed and frightened, — a set of Scotchmen, clerks and 
 shop-boys, who had dined and passed the day at the tavern, and ended 
 their fiolic with gross, inebriation, noise, and quarrels sufficient to dis- 
 turb not only the house but neighborhood. 
 
 On Monday, April 8, we hired a coachee and rode to Richmond, and 
 received letters both from Charleston and Boston, which gave us infor- 
 mation and pleasure. 
 
 The following is a memorandum which Mr. Mason kept of his 
 expenses on this journey : — 
 
 [Date.] [Miles.] [Innkeerer.] 
 
 6 Dedham 9 Ames. 
 
 IWedfield 9 Clarke . . Tolerable .... $8.80 
 
 7 Bellingham 10 Holbrook . do 0.10 
 
 Mendon 7 Fuller. 
 
 Uxbridge 6 Reed ... do 0.76 
 
 Turnpikes 0.75 
 
 Thompson 9 Manchester . Very good .... 10.25 
 
 8 Pomfret 11 Sabin 0.50 
 
 Ashford 11 Palmer 0.50 
 
 Turnpikes 0.60 
 
 Coventry 10 Brigham . . Excellent .... 8.00 
 
 9 East Hartford 9 Woodbridge 0.39 
 
 Turnpikes 0.50 
 
 Ferry 9 0.50 
 
 Hartford 1 Lee . . . Good 14.33 
 
 10 Worthington 11 Kiley 0.25 
 
 Meriden 6 Robinson 0.25 
 
 Wallingford 7 Doolittle . . The Child .... 0.55 
 
 New Haven J£ Butler . . . Excellent .... 27.00 
 
 185 
 
31 
 
 [Date.] [Miles.] [Innkeeper.] 
 
 12 Monday. 
 
 Stratford 14 Lovejoy . . Good 10,25 
 
 Bridge Excellent .... 0.90 
 
 Turnpikes 0.58 
 
 Fairfield 8 Penfield . . do 0.75 
 
 Newfield 6 
 
 Norwalk 6 Stage-house. Good. 
 
 Stamford 10 Davenport . Excellent .... 10.00 
 
 13 Kye 11 Pinfield . . do 1.26 
 
 87.75 
 
 14 
 
 27 
 
 27 
 
 28 
 
 12 
 
 16-Mile Stone 9 11.50 
 
 Wednesday. New York . . 16 Avery . . . Decent .... 339.50 
 
 Coachee 12.00 
 
 2\esday. 
 
 Elizabeth Ferry 16 6.00 
 
 November. 
 
 Day's . . . Tolerable .... 5.00 
 Brown's . . do 10.00 
 
 Elizabethtown 2 
 
 Woodbridge 10 
 
 Wednesday. 
 
 Brunswick 10 
 
 Vantelbuck ........ 15 
 
 Trenton 15 
 
 Thursday 
 
 Bristol 10 
 
 Washington 10 
 
 Vernon 10.60 
 
 Kingston 2.25 
 
 Sutten Herbett and Ferry. Good . 12.50 
 
 Besouet . . do. .... 0.50 
 
 Sign of 2.00 
 
 Turnpikes 1.10 
 
 Philadelphia 10 Mrs. Jones . Good .... 175.00 
 
 Extras 390.00 
 
 Wednesday. 
 
 Anderson 
 
 O'Flans . 
 
 Shannon's 
 
 Good 8.00 
 
 Tolerable .... 1.50 
 Excellent .... 13.50 
 
 Good 0.60 
 
 Excellent .... 14.90 
 
 Chester 16 
 
 Wilmington 12 
 
 Christiana 9 
 
 Thursday. 
 
 Head of Elk 12 Richardson 
 
 Havre de Grace 16 Sears . . 
 
 Friday. 
 
 Bushtown 12 Lighthouse 
 
 Bed Lion 12 Wharff's . 
 
 Baltimore 13 Evans's . 
 
 Black Horse 22 .... 
 
 Ferry, five miles from Baltimore, rope 1.14 
 
 Good . 
 Excellent 
 
 do. 
 Bad . . 
 
 . 0.50 
 . 3.00 
 200.00 
 . 2.50 
 
 Annapolis 10 Caton . . . Bad 
 
 Washington 40 Stelles' . . Good . . 
 
 Alexandria, over Ferry . . 11 Gadsby . . Good . . 
 .January. 
 
 Colchester . 16 Woodward . Good . . 
 
 Dumfries 10 Williams . . Good . . 
 
 Stafford Court House ... 14 Ordinary . 
 
 Fredericksburg 12 Estis . . . Bad enough 
 
 , 36.00 
 . 70.00 
 , 44.00 
 
 , 4.51 
 14.67 
 
 . 2.50 
 14.33 
 
 Bowling Green 22 Excellent .... 4.00 
 
 J. Sutton 12 do 10.97 
 
 Oakes 18 Tolerable .... 2.00 
 
 Richmond 16 Smoch's . . (Jood .... 185.00 
 
32 
 
 [Date.] 
 
 17 Thursday. January. 
 Half- Way House . . 
 Petersburg . . . , 
 
 18 Widow Kirby .. . , 
 Mr. Stark's . . . , 
 
 19 RuflSn's 
 
 Drummond's . . , 
 
 21 Eaton's Ferry . . , 
 Nicholson . . . , 
 Warrenton . . . . 
 
 22 Hightowers . . . . 
 Louisburg . . . . 
 
 23 Eogers' 
 
 Raleigh 
 
 24 Mark Miatt's . . . 
 Cape Fear . . . . 
 Mrs. Smith . . . . 
 
 25 Peyton's .... 
 28 Fayetteville. . . . 
 
 [Miles.] [Innkeeper.] 
 
 29 
 
 31 
 
 25 
 
 26 
 27 
 
 11 
 14 
 13 
 16 
 15 
 15 
 12 
 
 Gregory 
 Powell's 
 
 8 Johnston's 
 
 Wise 
 
 Lumberton 
 
 Ferry, drawing C[oac]h . . 
 
 Mrs. Rowland's 
 
 Ford's, at Little Pedee . . . 
 January. 
 
 Phillips 
 
 Port's on Great Pedee . . . 
 Lynch's Creek and Ferry . . 
 
 Gasquil's 
 
 Black River Ferry .... 
 
 Georgetown 
 
 Ferry 
 
 North Santee Ferry .... 
 South Santee Ferry .... 
 February. 
 
 Jones 
 
 Jones 
 
 Ferry 
 
 February. 
 
 Charleston 
 
 Mrs. Edwards's, [on] Cooper 
 
 [River] 
 
 Mr. Antapee's, Head of Canal 
 
 Mr. Bimbo's 
 
 Statesburg 
 
 Macon. 
 
 Lynch's Creek 
 
 Price's 
 
 Long or Cheraw Bluff . . . 
 
 Wilkes's 
 
 Mrs. W. Fall's 
 
 Fayetteville 
 
 Tolerable .... 10.50 
 
 Good 32.00 
 
 Tolerable .... 0.50 
 
 Good 19.50 
 
 Excellent .... 2.00 
 Good ..... 13.50 
 
 1,25 
 
 So, so 2.00 
 
 Very decent . . . 10.00 
 
 Bad 1.00 
 
 Greenhill's . Bad — exces. . . . 9.00 
 Poor and proud. Four girls . . . 1.25 
 By Hinton's Bridge. Tolerable. .10.25 
 
 Very poor, but civil . 1.00 
 
 Ferry at Averysborough .... 1.00 
 
 Excellent .... 9.00 
 
 ..... Bad. 
 Pitman . . Good for nothing . 35.00 
 Baker's much better. 
 
 Decent 10.25 
 
 Martin's . . Not good .... 2.00 
 
 1.00 
 
 13 Decent 9.00 
 
 17 Bad 2.00 
 
 13 
 14 
 19 
 13 
 16 
 20 
 3 
 10 
 11 
 
 16 
 
 18 
 
 
 
 17 
 
 10 
 
 5 
 
 15 
 
 .... -Miserable .... 8.00 
 
 .... do 5.50 
 
 2.00 
 
 .... Good 9.00 
 
 . 1.25 
 
 13 Bad. Joseph . . 20.00 
 
 2.00 
 
 1.00 
 
 1.25 
 
 10 
 1 
 
 11 
 
 17 
 
 a5 
 
 3 
 
 , 2.00 
 , 2.00 
 ,24.00 
 
 , 800.00 
 
 30 Lady's Plantation ) 
 
 25 Company's Agent. 
 
 22 Good .... 
 
 37 Good .... 
 
 9.00 
 11.32 
 
 30 Miserable .... 1.00 
 
 5 Miserable, — civil . 6,00 
 
 30 Mrs. Smith . Or Greenville. Good 8.00 
 
 40 Most miserable . . 5,00 
 
 5 • ■ • 2.00 
 
 25 Sheppard's 20.00 
 
i