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,

Boston is situate in latitude 42 deg. 23 min. north, on a small peninsula, at the bottom of Massachusetts Bay. It was built in the manner cities were in England, at the time this settlement was formed; that is to say, with, the gable end of the houses in front, the streets are narrow, ill paved, and worse lighted. But recollect, I do not include the New Town, or West Boston, in this description; which, as well as those houses that have lately been erected in the Old Town, are in the modern style.

The harbour is one of the best in the States; and, as a sea port, Boston possesses advantages superiour to any I have seen in America: being too far to the north to have any thing to fear from the worms (see a former letter from Annapolis); and so near the ocean, that the navigation is open, when the ports of Philadelphia, Baltimore, and others, three or four degrees more to the south, are entirely frozen.

Several of the public buildings are well worthy the attention of a
Traveller.

The New State House will, when finished, add considerably to the beauty of the town. It is building on Beacon Hill, and commands a very extensive view of the bay of Massachusetts, and adjacent islands.

The long wharf is a bold design; it runs 1743 feet in a right line into the bay, where there is, at the lowest ebb, 17 feet of water. On this wharf are upwards of eighty large stores, containing merchandize to a great amount. I could never view these buildings without astonishment at the infatuation of the proprietors: they are, without a single exception, of wood, and the roofs covered with cedar shingles; were a fire to commence at either extremity with a brisk wind in the same direction, the whole must infallibly be consumed.

The new[Footnote: The old theatre has not been erected five years. Our opposition rages with great violence. Much ink has already been shed. One third of the public papers are crammed with what is called Theatrical Critique; but is in fact either the barefaced puff direct in favour of one theatre, or a string of abusive epithets against the other, equally void of truth and decency.

The dispute has lately taken political turn. It seems ours is the aristocratic theatre. The democrats at the New Theatre are commanded by the Moral Lecture manager. Mr. Powell informs his fellow-citizens, that on Monday evening will be performed the tragedy of the Battle of Bunker's Hill.—The English in this town affect to laugh at the eagerness with which the Bostonians swallow certain passages of this play. I laugh too, but justice obliges me to confess, that John Bull can swallow a fulsome clap trap as voraciously at any Yankee of them all.] theatre is a stupendous wooden building, that will contain one tenth of the inhabitants of the whole town.

The favourite promenade of the Bostonians, is the Mall, which has trees on each side, as in St. James's Park, London. This walk commands some beautiful prospects of the adjacent continent.

Immediately opposite is the village and university of Cambridge.

To open an immediate communication between Boston and the university, the New Bridge was built on the plan of Mr. Cox during his absence in Ireland; a great undertaking, including the causeways, which are covered in the same manner as the water. This bridge is within a few feet of a mile in length, by means of which, the bridge at Charleston, and the neck of the peninsula, our communication with the continent is so complete, that we feel but few inconveniences from our insular situation. —We have a plentiful supply of provision. Our fish-market is an excellent one: the following species are larger than I remember seeing them in Europe; viz. hallibut, cod, mackarel, smelts, and lobsters. The first is often brought to market weighing two hundred pounds. Dr. Belknap, in his History of New Hampshire, says, that when full grown, they often exceed five hundred pounds weight. The cod are from seventy to eighty pounds. Mackarel often exceed four, and lobsters sometimes thirty-five pounds weight. I have preserved a claw of one of the latter, which weighed thirty pounds: this I shall bring home with me, lest my friends should think that, in this particular, I take too liberal an advantage of the traveller's privilege, which I assure you I do not, when I subscribe myself

Your sincere friend.

* * * * *

Boston, December 27th, 1796.