Easter Monday; a general holiday; Negroes now are all disbanded till Wednesday morning & are at Cock Fights through the County; This morning I make a general payment First to Sam the Barber 8/2. Second to Tom the Hostler 7/6. third to Nelson who waits on me /3½. Sum 15/11½—
Mr & Mrs Carter, with Mr Cunningham & Ben (as Mr Cunningham came home with us last Night) all rode to Day to Richmond Court—I was in the morning strongly solicited to go, but chose to decline it—After Breakfast, came home from Mr Turburville's our young Ladies, they inform me that Miss Panton discovered a strong inclination to be better acquainted with me; which indeed is a Curiosity that I cannot say I am altogether destitute of. I shall therefore, when I find it convenient make Miss Panton a visit—
I was before Dinner very strongly urged, by Mr Taylor, Mr Randolph, & some others to attend a Cock-Fight, where 25 Cocks are to fight, & large Sums are betted, so large at one as twenty five Pounds, but I choose rather to stay at Home. I read to day, & am much charmed with a Speech of Plato's over Alexander the Great lying dead before him—"O thou, who deceived by vain-Glory didst think of grasping at every thing, others are now going to gather the fruits of thy labours & thy Fatigues. Of so many conquests, there remains of thee but the terrible account, which thou art obliged to render unto the sovereign Judge"!—
I have also to Day with considerable attention been looking over Junius's Letters. His sentiments are strong, & bold. His language is chaste, & concise. & his Genius seems free and vast—I cannot easily omit transcribing a short passage from his Letter to the Revd Mr Horne in which he is speaking of Lord Chatham. as it pleases me vastly. "As for the common, sordid views of avarice, or any purpose of vulgar Ambition, I question whether the applause of Junius, would be of service to Lord Chatham. My vote will hardly recommend him to an increase of his pension, or to a Seat in the Cabinet. But if his Ambition be upon a levil with his understanding—If he judges of what is truely honourable for himself with the same superior Genius which animates & directs him to Eloquence in Debates, to Wisdom in Decision, even the Pen of Junius shall contribute to reward him. Recorded Honour shall gather round his Monument, & thicken over him. It is a solid Fabric, & will support the Lawrels that adorn it—I am not conversant in the language of panegyric—These praises are extorted from me; but they will wear well, for they have been dearly earned."—
Junius, however, does not seem to have been at all ignorant of his own merit; for in the close of the same letter he says "Such Artifices cannot long delude the understanding of the People; &, without meaning an indecent Comparison I may venture to foretell, that the Bible & Junius will be read when the Commentaries of the Jesuits are forgotten. We supped at nine—Mr Carter tired and early in Bed.
After Supper I had a long conversation with Mrs Carter concerning Negroes in Virginia, & find that She esteems their value at no higher rate than I do. We both concluded, (& I am pretty certain that the conclusion is just) that if in Mr Carters, or in any Gentlemans Estate, all the Negroes should be sold, & the Money put to Interest in safe hands, & let the Lands which these Negroes now work lie wholly uncultivated, the bare Interest of the Price of the Negroes would be a much greater yearly income than what is now received from their working the Lands, making no allowance at all for the trouble & Risk of the Masters as to the Crops, & Negroes.—How much greater then must be the value of an Estate here if these poor enslaved Africans were all in their native desired Country, & in their Room industrious Tenants, who being born in freedom, by a laudable care, would not only inrich their Landlords, but would raise a hardy Offspring to be the Strength & the honour of the Colony.
Teusday 5.
It is with difficulty I am able to collect the members of our School together for Business. Holidays have become habitual, & they seem unwilling to give them over. As the Negroes have this Day for a Holiday our Schollars thinks it hard that they should be compell'd to attend to Business. I summon them together however, and shall keep them to constant Study until the time of my setting away. Miss Priscilla this morning told me, of Miss Panton, a moving story: Last Sunday Evening after we left there She took a lonely Walk, & being asked why She chose to walk without a companion, she answered that she was thinking of Home & of her Friends, & indulging her fond Grief on account of their absence!—Such a feeling as this I have not been a stranger to, I therefore Sympathize with the poor young Girl. The Day agreeably pleasant—Towards Evening Miss Corbin came over to pay us a visit After School I waited on the Ladies in the Dining-Room the conversation was on Fashions, which instantly introduced the oddity of Miss Panton. But Miss Corbin with a Sneer, & with ill-nature enough, swore She would not think of imitating such a thing as her!—O!—Tantam Animis cælestibus Iræ?—I spent the Evening in cheerful chat with the Ladies. I think I have not had a more sociable & unconstrained feeling since I left Home, & my forgiving Friends.
Wednesday 6.
Ben is making a great Bustle about going to Philadelphia—He almost counts the Hours—We propose to go next Wednesday. But with composure, & Patience, yet with great Satisfaction I anticipate the near approaching Day. Ben begs me to acquaint him with the manners of the People in regard to Religion, and he swears he can suit himself to any serious, or formal Visage—