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.

by William Priest

DEAR FRIEND,

I set out for New York on the afternoon of the 16th. We had a pleasant journey, over a rich and well cultivated tract of country, to Bristol. We soon after crossed the Delaware, in a scow constructed to carry the stage and horses over in a few minutes, without even taking the latter from the carriage. We then entered the state of Jersey, and slept at Trenton, which we left before sunrise the next morning; a circumstance I regretted, as I wished to see the falls of the river Delaware in that neighbourhood, which I am informed are worthy the attention of a traveller.

Our journey across the Jerseys was pleasant; but the land is by no means so rich as on the other side of the Delaware. Pennsylvania is, in my opinion, justly called the Garden of America, at least of the United States East of the Allegany Mountains. We dined at New Brunswick, where there is a wooden bridge, with stone piers, thrown over a broad and rapid river. Our landlord informed us, several englishmen assured him, "It was very like Westminster Bridge." Though my conscience would not permit me, exactly to chime with my countrymen, it is but justice to acknowledge, that when the infant state of the country is considered, it is a work of equal magnitude, boldly designed, and neatly executed.

About four in the afternoon, we embarked in a small vessel for New York, which is situate on an island, in a bay, formed by the conflux of two large rivers, the Hudson or North, and the East river.

The city covers the south end of the island, and, as you approach it in that direction from the Jersey shore, seems like Venice, gradually rising from the sea. The evening was uncommonly pleasant; the sky perfectly clear and serene, and the sun, in setting with all that vivid warmth of colouring peculiar to southern latitudes, illuminated some of the most beautiful scenery in nature, on the north river, and adjacent country. For some minutes all my faculties were absorbed in admiration of the surrounding objects! I never enjoyed a prospect more enchanting; but this pleasure was of short continuance; I unfortunately cast my eyes towards the city, and immediately recollected two words I heard in the Jerseys (yellow fever); at which the delusion vanished!

New York, Sept. 18th.—My Jersey intelligence was too true; but the disorder is chiefly confined to one part of the city, and is effectually prevented from spreading at present by the N.W. wind, which is set in this morning with uncommon severity; a circumstance which sometimes happens at this season of the year, and is of long continuance. This kind of weather the Indians call half winter. Unfortunately for the Philadelphians, they had no half winter in the year 1793.—I spent this day in surveying the city, which, as well as the manners of the inhabitants, is more like England than any other part of America. New York is a London in miniature, populous streets, hum of business, busy faces, shops in style, &c.

Sept. 25th,—I spent this day in viewing the city with increasing admiration: It is certainly one of the first maritime situations in the world. The extensive settlements on the banks of the Hudson, which is navigable upwards of two hundred miles, amply supplies the city with exports and provision. The inhabitants boast of having the best fish-market in the United States; their own oyster-beds, and their vicinity to the New England states, give them this advantage[Footnote: There are fish on the coast of America which have certain boundaries, beyond which they never go; salmon, for instance, is never found south of a river in Connecticut; and certain southern fish never visit the New England coast.].—The governor's house, new theatre, and tontine coffee house, are magnificent buildings; the public walks well laid out, and pleasantly situate.

One advantage this city possesses peculiar to itself; you may be as much in the country as you can desire for five farthings english money: the fare is no more to Long Island, where you may be conveyed, from the heart of the city, in a few minutes, and meet with as great a variety of hill and dale, wood and water, as in any part of the world. This island is ninety miles in length.

Sept. 19th.—I intended proceeding to Boston, by the way of Rhode Island, as I was informed the passage through Hell Gates[Footnote: A dangerous strait, between stupendous rocks.] and the Sound is very pleasant at this season; but the fear of being obliged to perform a quarantine at my arrival prevented me. I set off this morning, in the stage. Our course lay the whole length of the island, which is barren and rocky; affording some romantic situations, in several of which I observed (to use a cockney phrase) snug little boxes; these, I was informed, belonged to the wealthy citizens; they commanded a view of the city, the North River, the Sound, and adjacent islands.

At noon we entered Connecticut, the most southerly of the New England states. Slept at Fairfield.

On the night of the 20th we reached Hertford, the capital of the state.— About five miles from it, a house was pointed out to me, where a very shocking circumstance took place a few years ago.—A merchant, not being able to bear a change in his circumstances from affluence to extreme poverty, coolly and deliberately shot his wife and five children, and afterward himself. He tried every means, for several days, to send his wife away; but she preferred dying with him and the children. He left a paper on the table, informing his friends, that his only motive for committing this rash action was to rescue his family from a situation, which he himself found insupportable.

Sept. 21st.—We this afternoon entered the state of Massachusetts. I found New England very different from any part of America I had before seen; the soil but very indifferent, rocky, and mountainous, interspersed with some rich tracts of land in the valleys; the up lands are divided by means of stone walls, as in Derbyshire, and some other parts of Great Britain.

They have few negroes, or european emigrants; so far from wanting the latter, as in the South, they send great numbers every year to the new settlements in the South-west.

When we made any stay at a tavern on the road, I observed one of my fellow travellers (who was very eloquent upon this subject) take every opportunity of singing forth the praises of New Virginia[Footnote: A rich tract of country, west of the Allegany Mountains.].—The north-west wind continuing, the morning of the 22d was very cold; and we breakfasted with a number of strangers. Our orator did not lose this opportunity of holding forth on his favourite topic. I recollect the latter part of his harangue was to the following effect:—"There," says he, (while the New Englanders were staring with their mouths open,) "when I clear a fresh lot of land on any of my plantations, I am obliged to plant it six or seven years with hemp, or tobacco, before it is sufficiently poor to bear wheat! My indian corn grows twelve or thirteen feet high; I'll dig four feet deep on my best land, and it shall then be sufficiently rich to manure your barren hills; and as to the climate, there is no comparison: this cursed cold north-west wind loses all it's severity before it reaches us; our winters are so mild, that our cattle requite no fodder, but range the woods all winter; and our summers are more moderate than on your side the Allegany; and as to——" Here the stage-driver put an end to his oration, by informing us, all was ready to proceed on our journey.

We must not be surprised, that numbers, who cultivate an ungrateful soil in this cold climate, should be induced, by such descriptions as the above, to emigrate to our orator's land of promise, I am informed ten thousand persons emigrated from these states to Kentucky alone, in one year. I have lately seen a flattering description of this country, published in London: that the accounts are exaggerated, I have no doubt, as it is said to be written by a speculator; deeply interested in the sale of lands in the new settlements. I had a strong suspicion our fellow traveller was of this description, and took every opportunity to cross-examine him on this subject; he stuck true to his text, insisted that all he advanced was literally true, but acknowledged he was going to receive a sum of money for land he had sold to some emigrants from the province of Main, and that he expected to sell a considerable tract before his return. I arrived at Boston the 23d instant, four hundred and seventy-four miles from Baltimore.

Yours, &c.

P.S. I find we are to have a most vigorous theatrical opposition. A sort of dramatic mania has lately seiz'd the inhabitants. The primitive Bostonians would as soon have admitted the plague as a company of players; but the present inhabitants having more liberal sentiments, a company of comedians came to this town about four years ago, and ventured to exhibit dramatic pieces, under the title of Moral Lectures. At length a bill passed the General Assembly of Massachusetts to licence theatrical performances; and as it is natural for mankind to run from one extreme to another, they have this year two theatres, both of which are attended with a prodigious expence. Some of the performers are engaged at upwards of 20_l_. english per week; and Mrs. Whitlocke (sister to Mrs. Siddons, whom you may perhaps recollect at the Haymarket) is to have 180_l_. sterling for six nights. This opposition will in all probability end in the ruin of the managers, or rather of the subscribers, who are bound for the payments.

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Boston, October 3d, 1796.

DEAR SIR,

The first leisure day after my arrival here, I went to Bunker's Hill, attended by two persons, who were spectators of the engagement, and were kind enough to point out and explain a number of particulars I wished to be acquainted with, for the purpose of enabling me to form a tolerable idea of this famous action. If general Howe meant only to give the Yankies a specimen of british valour, and his contempt of them and their intrenchment, he succeeded in both.—His enemies on this side the water say, "they gave him a Rowland for his Oliver; that he paid too dear for this victory; that a more prudent general would have found a better place to land the troops, and a safer mode of attack; that the price he paid for this little redoubt ought to have convinced him, he could not afford even to bid for Dorchester heights, if once the Americans got possession of those hills; that he should therefore have fortified them himself; that——" But as nothing is easier than to see all these thats when it is too late, I shall plague you with no more of them, but conclude with an inscription from a monument on the scene of action.

Yours, &c.

"ERECTED, 1794,
By King Solomon's Lodge of Free Masons,
[Footnote: General Warren was a brother.]
constituted at Charlestown, 1783,
In Memory of
MAJOR GENERAL JOSEPH WARREN,
AND HIS BRAVE ASSOCIATES,
Who were slain on this memorable spot,
June 17th, 1775.

None but they, who set a just value on the blessings of LIBERTY, are worthy to enjoy her. In vain we toil'd, in vain we fought, We bled in vain, if you, our offspring, Want valour to repel the assaults of her invaders."

CHARLES TOWN settled 1628. —————— burnt 1775. —————— rebuilt 1776.

P. S. I was yesterday introduced to Cox, the celebrated bridge-architect: he is famous for throwing a bridge over waters, where, from the depth or strength of the current, this operation was thought impracticable. He always constructs his bridges of wood, and endeavours to give as little resistance to the water as possible: his supporters are numerous, but slender; and there is an interval between each. He tells me this idea first struck him from reading Aesop's fable of the Reed and the Oak: the reed, by yielding, was unhurt by a tempest, which tore up the sturdy oak by the roots.

Cox served his apprenticeship to a carpenter; and it was late in life before he attempted bridge-building. He proved his new theory on a small bridge in the country, which answering beyond his most sanguine expectations, he delivered proposals for connecting Boston to the continent, at Charleston, by means of a draw-bridge. His plan was by some supposed to proceed from a distempered brain. It is usual for the ignorant to call a projector insane, when his schemes exceed the bounds of their shallow comprehensions.

After some time, a subscription was raised; and, to the confusion of his enemies, he erected a bridge 1500 feet long, by 42 wide, where there was, at the lowest ebb, 28 feet of water, and the flow of the tide was from 12 to 16 feet more. But what is the most surprising, this bridge has stood the shock of prodigious bodies of ice, sometimes three or four feet in thickness; which are, every thaw violently forced against it with a powerful current. He was rewarded with the sum of two hundred dollars above his contract. He then went to Ireland, where he built seven bridges; the largest was at Londonderry, 1860 feet long, by 40 wide; the depth of water 37 feet, and the flow of the tide from 14 to 18 feet more. He compleated this bridge so much to the satisfaction of the gentlemen who employed him, that he was presented with a gold medal and one hundred pounds above his contract.

He speaks feelingly, and with gratitude, of the many favours he received during his residence in that kingdom.

Farewell, yours, &c.

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Boston, October 9th, 1796.