Chapter 1

TRAVELS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA;

Commencing in the Year 1793, and Ending in 1797. With The Author's Journals of his Two Voyages Across the Atlantic

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BY WILLIAM PRIEST, Musician, Late of the Theatres Philadelphia, Baltimore and Boston.

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CAPPRICCIO con----

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LONDON: Printed for J. Johnson, No. 72, St. Paul's Church-Yard

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1802.

Bryer, Printer, Bridewell Hospital, Bridge Street.

PREFACE.

An elegant writer observes that a preface may be dispensed with in any work, if the author (either from his humility of justice) think that his style be calculated only to put his readers to sleep. Though I do not think the publication of the following sheets will _materially_ affect the price of opium, I cannot intrude this volume on the public without informing them, what all my friends will vouch for the truth of, viz.-- that on my return from America, in 1797, I wrote the work in its present form _for their_ perusal; and, that conscious of my want of talent as a writer, I resisted all their entreaties for its publication, till within these three months.

The public, I presume, will not be _wholly_ disappointed; the _extracts_ I have made from _Jefferson_, _Belknap_, and other american writers, are worthy their attention: _I_ have no other merit than having placed them in a tolerable point of view.

"The God of Truth, and all who know me, will bear testimony that, from my whole soul, I despise deceit, as I do all silly claims to superior wisdom, and infallibility, which so many writers, by a thousand artifices, endeavour to make their readers imagine they possess."

CONTENTS.

Introduction

JOURNAL--Gravesend--why so called--Deal--Falmouth--Pendennis castle--a gale--a hymn--the gulph weed--sun set at sea--dolphins and flying fish-- first account of the yellow fever--arrival in the Delaware--on shore in the Jerseys--Woodbury--melancholy visit to Philadelphia--arrival at Annapolis

ANNAPOLIS--why so called--extract from the charter--situation--loss of the trade--accounted for--Annapolitans partial to theatrical amusements-- produce of Maryland--tobacco--wheat--new species of manure

JOURNEY TO THE CAPITAL--filial affection of the negroes--fried squirrels and coffee--Baltimore--the mighty Susquana--intrepidity of a slave--how rewarded--Wilmington--Brandywine--grist mills--the battle--Chester-- arrival at Philadelphia

TWO ANECDOTES--a gentleman blacksmith not ashamed of his origin--a high sheriff doing his duty

PHILADELPHIA--state of, in 1681--Penn's arrival in 1701--intended plan of the city--not observed--situation--advantages of exports--entries in 1793-- buildings how constructed--houses removed intire--new theatre--pleasure carriages--removal of the state government to Lancaster

MANNER OF LIVING OF THE PHILADELPHIANS--breakfast--dinner--supper--bad effects of such diet--relishes in stile at an American tea-garden

BACK SETTLER--arrives at his purchase--builds his huts--manner of clearing the land--Indian corn--advantages of--the black and grey squirrels-- attacked by the Indians--extract--he escapes the scalping knife--more comfortably situated--an idle back settler--his manner of life--what he calls liberty--joins the Indians at war with the states--the demisavage copies only the black side of the Indian character

PENNSYLVANIA PLANTER--enjoys a happy state of mediocrity between riches and poverty--the children how disposed of--the boys--effect of the religious education given to the girls not intirely eradicated even by a brothel--a country sleighing match--another in Philadelphia in stile--a fiddler a necessary apendage

FROGS--two extracts--they sit croaking to the wonderment of strangers-- land of enchantment--frog concert--how supported--treble--counter tenor-- tenor--bass--fire-flies--night-hawks--probable effects on an enthusiastic cockney

JOURNEY TO LANCASTER--the Pioli--Wayne's surprise--appointed to the command of the western army--Indian war--shocking effects of-- misunderstanding between the Canadians and American citizens--accounted for--French agents--the British government vindicated--Proceed on the journey--charming prospects--beauties of the Susquana destroys the navigation--arrival at Lancaster--rifle manufactory--uncommon shot of two back woodsmen--Dutch schools--three concerts--two German sans culottes-- extracts from the regulations of the Hanover dancing assembly--German and Irish emigrants

FEDERAL COINAGE not approved of by the people--the new scheme contrasted with the old one--advantages of an even division by the decimal

DELAWARE SHAD FISHERY--stupidity of the Anglo-Americans in giving English names to animals peculiar to the new continent--length of the siens-- greatest haul of shad on record--fanatical law of the Quakers injurious to the fishery--sturgeon--extract from general Lincoln on the migration of fishes

JOURNEY TO BALTIMORE--water-stage--Newcastle--Glasgow--the Elk--bay of Chesapeake--arrival at Baltimore--yellow fever

BALTIMORE--situation--disadvantages of--the Dutch plan of canals not adapted to a southern latitude--the former race-course in the centre of the town--anecdote

MANUFACTORIES--not the interest of the Americans to engage in them--why-- American iron--its malleability--two patents granted by Congress-- sawing-mills--ship-building

SHOOTING AND FISHING--partridges--no game laws--woodcocks in August--the American ortolan--back woodsmen--their game--wild turkey--squirrel shooting--American fishing parties--how conducted

INDIANS--genius for oratory, painting, and sculpture--their continence-- extract--the Indian student--the splenetic Indian--his remedy--seen in another point of view--the Indian orator--verses on an Indian burial-ground

SCHEME OF A RIFLE CORPS--of forming the corps--rifles--powder-- accoutrements and dress--exercise

SPECULATION--the United States--the land of--100 acres of land for a dollar--flour--the mines--description of a coal-bank

CLIMATE--Cooper on this subject not to be depended upon--quotation from Jefferson--the N.W. wind not accounted for--Volney--his intended investigation

WHITE SLAVE TRADE--mortality on board a white Guineaman from Ireland-- Hibernian and German societies--the trade not allowed in New England--a German flesh-butcher sells his countrymen at Philadelphia during the fatal yellow fever of 1793

JOURNEY TO BOSTON--Pennsylvania the garden of the United States-- Bristol--Trentown--New Brunswick--New York--arrival in Yankee Land--land speculators harangue--interrupted--arrival at Boston--P.S.--dramatic mania--detestation of the primitive Bostonians to theatricals--are first introduced as moral lectures--the theatrical opposition

BATTLE OF BUNKER'S HILL--inscription from a monument on the scene of action--anecdotes of Cox, the celebrated bridge-architect--connects Boston with the Continent--goes to Ireland, where he builds seven bridges

BOSTON--situation--West Boston--advantages of the harbour--the long wharf--new theatre--university of Cambridge--new bridge a mile in length-- Irish market

BOSTONIAN FIRE ALARM--amateur firemen--negro incendiaries--good effects of their villainy

FANATICISM--Brownists--intolerance proved from their own writers-- rebellion against parents made a capital crime--smoaking tobacco and drinking healths forbidden--proclamation against wearing long hair-- persecution of the Quakers--Penn's retaliation--poetry

NEGRO SLAVERY--state of in the Southern, Middle, and New England Slates-- abolition society--extract from Jefferson's Virginia

YELLOW FEVER--a new disorder--first imported from the coast of Guinea to the West Indies in 1792--extract from Dr. Rush--a disorder fatal only to one race of men not new--plague among the red men--how accounted for by the fanatics--not to the satisfaction of a philosopher--age of the world proved to be 36,960 years from the falls of Niagara

AMERICAN FISHERY ON THE BANKS OK NEWFOUNDLAND--extract from Dr. Belknap-- dumb fish--how cured--merchantable--Jamaica fish--former and present state of the fishery

NEW ENGLAND STATES COMPARED WITH THOSE OF THE SOUTH--beauty of the women-- accounted for--general knowledge of the inhabitants--free schools--how supported--difference of climate

VOYAGE TO ENGLAND--journal--severe gale at N.E.--the vessel encrusted with ice--stand to the southward--the gulph stream--another gale--misfortunes-- arrival at Dover--conclusion

_ERRATA._

P. 11, 1.8, for _plantation_, read _plantations_.

32, 1.5 and 6, are a note having reference to p. 28, 1.11.

71, 1.5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12, are a note having reference to p. 68, 1.4.

131, 1.6, for _freeing_, read _treeing_.

146, the asterisk placed at the word _vessel_ in the 13th line, should be placed at the word _Newcastle_ in the 15th line.

*TRAVELS IN AMERICA.*

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_London, May 7th, 1797._

DEAR SIR,

Since my return, my friends have made a thousand inquiries respecting the state of America. I do not know how I can inform them of my sentiments on that subject better, than by having the rough draught I preserved of the letters I wrote to you from that country fairly copied for their use. If, like you, they are _really_ my friends, they will take the will for the deed. The _truth_ of my information, and my _wish_ to contribute to their amusement, will be a sufficient apology for the many imperfections they will meet with, in the desultory epistles of

Yours very sincerely.

_Annapolis, December 1st, 1793._

DEAR FRIEND,

The enclosed extracts from my journal will I hope convince you, I have not _entirely_ forgot my promise at parting. When at Philadelphia I delivered your letters to----. Believe me

Yours very sincerely.

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JOURNAL.

_Gravesend, on board the George Barclay,_

_31st of July, 1793._

Arrived onboard at 2 this afternoon, with an intention of sailing to Philadelphia: Gravesend is so called from it's being _the end of a sailors grave_, as those who die on a voyage after passing the fort are thrown over board.

_August 1st._

Got under weigh with a light breeze at S.W., which not being sufficient to stem the returning tide, we dropped out anchor again off the Nore light.

_Aug. 2nd_.--Weighed anchor with the wind at S.E., and on the morning of the 3rd; off Deal, sent a boat on shore, which soon returned with a supply of meat, water, sheep, poultry gin, and gingerbread; dismissed our pilot, and soon after doubted the South Foreland; the prospect of Dover and the adjacent coast delightful.

_Aug 8th_.--Beating to windward with a fresh breeze off the Lizard; finding it impossible to clear the land, put about, and by three in the afternoon were safe moored in Falmouth harbour. Went on shore; the lower order of the inhabitants chaunt, or rather speak in recitative, a strange dialect, in which I could distinguish several English words.

Took a walk to Pendennis castle, which protects the West entrance of the harbour; found it garrisoned by a party of invalides, who informed me they had not two nights in bed to one up; hard duty after twenty years servitude!

_Aug. 9th_.--Dined on john dory, which I cannot think equal either to turbot or sole. Falmouth has the best fish market in England: I am informed, in the course of the year, they have upward of fifty different species for sale, on very moderate terms.

_Aug. 15th._--Weighed anchor, and having a good breeze at N.E., we were soon clear of the land. On the evening of the 16th came on a smart breeze at S.W.; at 2 A.M. the wind changed to W.N.W. and _blew a hard gale_, which split our jib, and at last obliged us to lie too, under our courses: shipped some very heavy seas over our quarter, which drowned three parts of our stock of geese and other poultry; the baggage of near fifty passengers, for want of being properly lashed, was dashing about the steerage; which, with the shrieks of the women, heaving of the vessel, rattling of the wind, and all the _et cetera_ of a storm, was dreadful indeed.

_Aug. 18th_.--Wind N.W. moderate; the morning delightful; appeared doubly so, contrasted with the horrours of the night.

_Aug. 31st_.--Fresh breeze at S.W. increasing to a hard gale, reduced us once more to our courses: at 8 P.M. calm, with a very heavy swell.

_Sunday 1st September._

Pleasant breeze at N.N.E. The following hymn was written by Mr. Harwood, for this morning's service.

HYMN.

I.

Father of Heav'n, to thee we raise (Mark'd by thy kind peculiar care,) Our songs of thankfulness and praise, To thee ascends the grateful pray'r.

II.

Thou didst direct the gentlest breath, That o'er the sleeping waters stole; Thine is the dreadful voice of death, In which thy angry thunders roll.

III.

Father of all, 'tis thine to give, Not what our erring pray'r demands; With joy thy blessings we receive, And bow submissive 'neath thy hand.

_Sept. 7th_.--First appearance of the gulf-weed. The trade wind, between the Equator and the extent of the northern Tropic, setting from the eastward, forces the water against the islands, and at length into the gulf of Mexico where it meets with an uniform opposition from the main, causing a strong current to the N.E., or points somewhat in that direction. This stream is so violent as to tear up the sea weeds in the gulf, and bear them as far to the north as latitude 44: the stream is soon after absorbed in the Western ocean; but causes certain counter currents, which, for want of being properly allowed for by mariners, have been the causes of many shipwrecks.

_Sept. 8th_.--Fine morning; wind at W.S.W. A beautiful dolphin struck at an artificial flying fish, hanging at our bow-sprit; the hook breaking, he escaped;--continued playing round our bows for some time, and struck at several flying fish; but we could not again tempt him with the artificial bait.

_Mem_. To read this lesson once a month.

_Sept. 9th_.--Calm and fog, several flocks of wild fowl. Suppose ourselves near the banks of Newfoundland. Thermometer sunk 18 degrees since yesterday.

_Sept. 10th_.--Pleasant morning, having run to the S.W. during the night: no sign of the banks. A land bird, of the thrush kind, came and settled on our main yard; seemed quite exhausted; fell upon the deck, and was taken up by the cabin boy. The poor creature must have been driven off the coast of America in a violent gale at N.W., the distance from any land being upwards of a thousand miles; no other circumstance could account for it's flying so far.

_Sept. 19th_.--Wind at N.N.W. very moderate;--the afternoon calm. The sun set this evening with uncommon beauty, that glorious luminary was surrounded with clouds of a vivid yellow, green, and red; strongly shaded with black half the extent of the horizon. The moon at the same time rising to the east-ward, with a cool and faint sky, formed a strong and beautiful contrast.

_Sept. 21st_.--Wind S. with rain. Caught four dolphins, which afforded us a most delicious repast: in the paunch of one was found a dodon, or globe-fish; the sailors call it a parrot-fish, from its having a beak exactly resembling that bird.--At 9 A.M. spoke with the Queen Charlotte of London, bound to Bristol, out ten days from Baltimore; the captain's account of the longitude 67. Our joy in being so near the land was of short continuance; for, in one hour after, we spoke with the Union, eight days from Philadelphia. The captain informed us, there was a sort of plague in that city, which carries off great numbers, and that ten thousand of the inhabitants had fled to the country, to avoid the infection.

_Sept. 24th_.--Soundings at 60 fathom: lay to all night.

_Sept. 25th_.--Woke with the cry of "Land." At 10 A.M. we took a pilot on board: he informed us the disorder at Philadelphia is the yellow fever, imported in a french schooner from the West Indies; some of the passengers of this vessel died of this fatal disorder, at a lodging-house in Water-street, and communicated the infection to the family. It is now spreading rapidly through the city, in all directions. The faculty, so far from being able to cure this disorder, have, in several instances, fallen victims to it's fury. Within this few days, a Dr. Rush has discovered this disorder is _not_ the yellow fever of the West Indies and has applied an opposite mode of cure by copious bleedings, mercurial medicines, &c. with some success. What is truly extraordinary, the infection does not affect _people of colour!_

_Sept. 28th._--Came to an anchor off Glocester Point, five miles below Philadelphia: the vessel proceeds no further at present, as all intercourse with the city is cut off, and business at a stand.

_October 1st_.

Brought my baggage on shore, and arrived, at four in the afternoon, at Woodbury, the county town of Glocester, in the state of West Jersey. With some difficulty I procured a lodging within half a mile of the town. Woodbury consists of about fifty well built houses, chiefly inhabited by quakers, and other dissenters of the most rigid kind; so very primitive are they in their appearance, that a barber cannot make a living among them.

_Oct. 13th_.--Spent the last ten days in shooting, and rambling about the woods. The face of the country is exactly that of an immense forest, entirely covered with wood, except the plantation cleared by the settlers. The land sandy, and by no means of a good quality; the chief produce maize, or indian corn. I counted the increase of _one_ stalk with three ears; the amount of the grains were upward of _one thousand two hundred_.

_Oct. 16th_.--I believe the Americans conceive their woods to be inexhaustible. My landlord this day cut down thirty-two young cedars to make a hog-pen. A settler informs me, he raised a gum tree from the seed, which, in sixteen years, measured twenty inches diameter, three feet from it's base. He tells, me they have ten species of oak; viz, white, black, red, spanish, turkey, chesnut, ground, water, barren, and live oak. The white, turkey, and chesnut are used for ship-timber; the acorn of the latter very superiour in size to any other. Red oak is chiefly used for pipe-staves, and exported to most parts of Europe, and the West Indies. Black oak is a dry wood, and easily splits; is chiefly used for the rails and fences of their enclosures. Ground oak is bushy, and seldom exceeds six feet in height; it bears a small acorn of a very superiour flavour, which is the chief food of the deer, and sheep, who run wild in the woods. Water and barren oak are small and bushy, and only used for firing. Live oak is _said_ to be very superiour to all the rest, and the best _ship-timber_ in the world. I am informed it is a sort of evergreen, seldom met with north of the Carolinas.

_Oct. 26th_.--Went to Philadelphia.--After crossing the Delaware, I found the land very different from the Jersey shore; a fine stiff black soil, the clover growing spontaneously. The city exhibited a most melancholy spectacle; most of the houses and stores shut up, and grass growing in many of the streets; what few _white_ inhabitants I met with had a most dejected appearance. The disorder has been most favourable to the softer sex; women with child, and those above and under a certain age, were in general free from the infection: but so fatal has it proved to the other sex, that, in Apple-tree-alley, which does not exceed fifty yards in length, there are upwards of sixty widows within these two months. The total loss on this melancholy occasion already exceeds four thousand, nearly one tenth of the inhabitants! Returning to Woodbury, I met with a quaker, who informed me of the _cause_ of the infectious disorder in the Great City: "_It is_ a judgment on the inhabitants for their sins, insomuch that they sent to England for a number of play-actors, singers, and _musicians_, who were _actually arrived_; and as a just judgment on the Philadelphians for encouraging these _children of iniquity_, they were now afflicted with the yellow fever." I told him, that more likely the sins of the _quakers_ had drawn down this judgment on the city _of brotherly love_, and that it was now scourged for _their_ hypocrisy, lying, canting, and other _manifold iniquities_.

_Oct. 27th_.--Very cold wind at N.W. In the evening snow.

_Oct. 29th_.--Favourable accounts from Philadelphia: the late cold weather has entirely stopped the progress of the disorder.

_November 26th_.

Set out for Annapolis, and arrived there in health, the 29th, at five in the afternoon.

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_Annapolis, 17th December, 1793._

DEAR FRIEND,

The bay of Chesapeak is one of the largest in the world. From it's entrance, between capes Henry and Charles, to the mouth of the Susquana, which forms the head of the bay, the distance is two hundred and eighty miles, through which great extent of water the tide ebbs and flows. This bay receives into it's bosom the following rivers; viz. the Patomac, the Rappahanock, the Patapsico, the York, the James, the Severn, and the Elk, beside innumerable creeks, and small streams. On an inlet from this bay, about two hundred miles from it's entrance from the Atlantic, stands Annapolis, the capital of the state of Maryland, so called in honour of queen Anne, as appears from the following extract from their charter:--

"Anne, by the grace of God, queen of Great Britain, &c....

"To all, and singular, our faithful subjects within our province of Maryland, greeting.... Whereas there is a pleasant and commodious place for trade ... laid out for a town, and port, and called Annapolis, in honour of us."

This city was intended for the emporium of the province; and surely no spot ever _seemed_ better calculated for a town of trade and commerce. Far to the south, and in one of the most pleasant and healthy situations in America; as the seat of government, being the greatest, and indeed then _only_ mercantile town in the province; the bay of Chesapeak, and adjacent rivers, wafting the tobacco and other produce of the country to this mart at a trifling expense; a harbour where ships might ride at anchor in perfect security, and where wharfs, with sufficient depth of water for a vessel of eight hundred tons, might be formed with very little trouble: but unfortunately these advantages were rendered abortive by the bite of a small insect; the worms are so troublesome in these waters, that a vessel lying in this harbour during the summer months will be as full of holes as a honey-comb. Baltimore, a town on a similar inlet from the bay, about thirty miles hence, being free from this plague, (by having a great proportion of fresh water from the Patapsico in it's harbour) has drawn all the trade from the _capital_: the Annapolians have now but _one_ square-rigged vessel belonging to their port, while their rivals have many hundreds, and drive a brisk trade to the four quarters of the globe.