Transcriber's note:

Archaic spelling and variations in spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been retained except for those listed at the end of the book.

Journal & Letters of
Philip Vickers Fithian
1773-1774:
A Plantation Tutor of the
Old Dominion

EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION, BY
HUNTER DICKINSON FARISH;
ILLUSTRATED BY FRITZ KREDEL
The University Press of Virginia
Charlottesville

COPYRIGHT 1957 BY COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG, INCORPORATED
Previous editions copyright 1943, 1945
by Colonial Williamsburg, Incorporated
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 57-13498
The University Press of Virginia
First printing for Dominion Books
October 1968
Fourth printing 1990
Printed in the United States of America

Preface

Once in a great while historians find a firsthand account that provides striking insight into a past era. Only rarely is such a document written with the perception and charm that make its readers feel as if they had participated in the incidents described and shared the experiences related. The journal and relevant correspondence of Philip Fithian constitute this kind of source.

Fithian was reared in New Jersey and attended the College of New Jersey in Princeton, receiving his degree in 1772. Before entering the Presbyterian ministry, he followed the advice of President Witherspoon of Princeton and became a tutor in the family of Robert Carter at "Nomini Hall" plantation on the Northern Neck of Virginia. The reactions of the somewhat austere young man to the rich, warm life of a Virginia plantation are always instructive and often amusing. The Carters and their seven children were a fascinating family, liberal in their sentiments and deeply interested in books and music. Fithian sets forth truthfully, yet with lively touches, the family's assessments of the society in which it moved, the institution of slavery, and the dispute developing with the mother country. Throughout his experiences Fithian remained true to his "fair Laura"—Elizabeth Beatty in far off New Jersey.

The journal, with certain of the letters, was first published in 1900, in somewhat abbreviated form, by the Princeton Historical Association. Dr. Hunter Dickinson Farish, in his edition of The Journal and Letters of Philip Vickers Fithian (Williamsburg Restoration Historical Studies, III; Williamsburg, Va., 1943), included the complete journal, added other relevant letters as well as Fithian's catalogue of Carter's library, and supplied a thoughtful Introduction.

Dr. Farish was Director of Research at Colonial Williamsburg from 1937 until ill health forced him to retire in 1944. He broadened the program there by bringing young research associates to the staff, making grants-in-aid to scholars in the field of early American history, and establishing and editing the Williamsburg Restoration Historical Series. He also taught at the College of William and Mary and helped to work out the organizational plans for the Institute of Early American History and Culture, which since 1943 has been jointly sponsored by Colonial Williamsburg and the College of William and Mary.

Dr. Farish's edition of the Journal had been out of print for a few years when, in 1957, Colonial Williamsburg reissued it, with pen and ink illustrations by Fritz Kredel designed to interest new readers. The present edition by the University Press of Virginia reproduces the 1957 one, but in convenient paperback form. Young Fithian's revealing picture of Virginia plantation life will always be a key source for the historian and an absorbing human document for the general reader.

Edward P. Alexander
Director of Interpretation

Colonial Williamsburg
September 1967

Contents

CHAPTER ONE

Virginia During The Golden Age

In the "Golden Age," or half-century immediately preceding the American Revolution, a remarkable civilization reached its zenith in the broad coastal plain of eastern Virginia. Gradually, during a century of colonization and expansion, the heavily wooded tidewater had been converted into a land of settled order and accumulated wealth. Vast estates had been carved out of the wilderness and large plantations were everywhere the rule.

Embraced by numerous arms of the Chesapeake and covered by a network of wide rivers and creeks, this sylvan Venice abounded in safe and convenient water routes. Pressing through the mouths of the deep estuaries, the ocean tides reached the "fall-line," beyond which the streams were inaccessible to shipping owing to the rapids. Ocean vessels could penetrate to the plantations in every part of the lowlands and carry cargoes thence straight to the wharves of London and the outports. Despite the distance and rigors of the voyage, the colonists of the Tidewater had maintained a constant intercourse with the mother country from the time of their earliest settlement.

The hope had long persisted that this coastal plain might yield the ores, timber, ship stores and other products England needed, and for which she then largely depended on foreign potentates. Lacking an ample supply of cheap labor, however, colonial industries could not compete with well-established ones of the Old World. For well over a century tobacco proved the one commodity which the colony could profitably produce for the home market in large quantities.

A notable result of the method of tobacco cultivation was a rapid depletion of the soil. Intent only upon reaping quick returns, men customarily neglected the most ordinary precautions to preserve fertility. Since the tobacco plant required the richest loam to produce the leaf in its perfection, fields were usually abandoned after three or more crops had been harvested, and "new grounds" were cleared. Thus there developed an ever recurring need for fresh lands.

Under so wasteful a system, Virginians had soon realized the necessity of acquiring many times the quantity of land they could cultivate at any one time. Farseeing men, realizing a day would come when fertile soil could no longer be had for a song, wished also to provide sufficient elbow room for their children at a future day. The appreciation in land values in a new country provided a further incentive to the accumulation of large holdings. As a result, enterprising persons everywhere competed to secure the best tracts.

Towards the close of the seventeenth century the practice of engrossing lands gained increased momentum. African slavery was rapidly superseding white indentured servitude as the principal source of labor supply. The price of tobacco had steadily declined owing to overproduction, the burdens of the Navigation Acts, and the effects of European wars. As a result of these conditions, the margin of profit from the leaf had so decreased that the cheaper labor of slaves and large-scale production had now become virtually essential to economic survival. After he had served his indentureship, the white servant could no longer establish himself as an independent farmer as he had once done, and the small yeoman now usually felt obliged to sell his lands to his wealthier neighbor and either become his tenant or migrate to some other section or colony. Political developments likewise favored the accumulation of large estates. Through repeated intermarriage certain families had acquired a very extensive influence. Members of these families were active in the Governor's Council or the House of Burgesses and held other high offices as a matter of course. Their official position often aided them as private individuals in acquiring lands. Through the presentation of "head right" certificates, compensation for military services, purchase from private proprietors, and other ways they obtained domains comprising thousands of acres. Some carved out what resembled small principalities. William Fitzhugh of Stafford County owned over 50,000 acres, and by 1732 Robert or "King" Carter of Lancaster County held some 333,000 acres.

The estates of such men, far from consisting of one compact property, generally comprised many separate and sometimes widely scattered tracts, perhaps in half a dozen or more counties. They ranged in size from a few hundred to thousands of acres. The individual owner acquired his holdings over a period of years, in what often appeared a haphazard manner. Not infrequently, a planter, foreseeing the depletion of his Tidewater lands, engrossed large tracts in the Piedmont and Valley sections.[1]

Life in the Tidewater during the Golden Age was dominated, to a remarkable extent, by families possessing vast estates. Not everyone, it is true, owned such princely domains as the Carters or Fitzhughs, but men in their station were imbued with a deep sense of their obligation to society. They sat as justices in the county courts, served as sheriffs and as colonels of the militia in their counties, and acted as vestrymen and church wardens in their parishes. They accepted seriously their duty to preserve the peace and watch over the less fortunate classes. Because of their wealth and position, their education, resourcefulness and keen sense of public responsibility, they were able to influence and to impress their ideals and tastes upon the community in a measure rarely equalled by a similar aristocracy.

The great landed proprietors operated their estates in either of two ways or a combination of the two. They might take full responsibility themselves, planting tobacco and secondary crops; they could lease tracts to others to cultivate; or they might do both. Sometimes a man leased more of his arable lands than he reserved for his own use. Though disturbed conditions in Europe and the burdens imposed by the British regulatory system led to repeated attempts to develop other staples for export, tobacco continued to be the mainstay. Aside from money crops, however, the great landowners had to supply numerous foodstuffs and other commodities needed on their plantations.

A proprietor customarily resided on what was generally known as the "manor plantation."[2] This seat usually served as the nerve center of the activities of his entire estate, with the other units subordinate to it. Not infrequently some of the outlying properties were devoted to producing commodities needed by the manor plantation and by such other plantations as were engaged in raising tobacco and other marketable staples. Overseers or stewards managed the units over which the owner found it difficult to exercise personal supervision. These men reported to him at regular intervals to receive instructions and give an account of their stewardship.

Though the basis of life was agricultural, the great landowners discharged a wide variety of other economic functions. They served as factors for their neighbors, buying their crops, selling them supplies, and providing them with credit facilities. Many sent vessels regularly up and down the Chesapeake and the Virginia rivers, purchasing the produce of others for later marketing. In like fashion they brought manufactured goods from overseas for sale in the plantation stores. When European conditions interfered with the import trade, enterprising men frequently set up grist mills, textile factories, foundries, and other manufactories on their plantations, to supply their own and their neighbors' needs.

The great Tidewater proprietors of the Golden Age were, then, no perfumed courtiers spending their days in idleness and diversion and consciously seeking to avoid all "taint of trade." In a very real sense they were capitalists, acute men of business, seriously concerned with managing their estates, tilling their lands and disposing of their produce, and eager to reap a profit through trading with their neighbors. Their ledgers and their correspondence reveal their energy, shrewdness, and enterprise. In a similar way the constant stream of letters they wrote the factors who served them in London, Bristol, and other ports of the mother country show their vital interest in conditions in the world market.

The planters' preoccupation with such matters does not signify that they lacked grace of living, nor that they were deficient in aristocratic ideals. They were determined they should not revert to barbarism in the wilderness. At no time did they allow themselves to forget that they were inheritors of British civilization.[3] Taking the English gentry as their model, they tried, insofar as colonial conditions would allow, to follow the ways of the country gentlemen of the homeland. On that pattern they fashioned their manners, their homes, their diversions; and with a similar aim they sought to acquire, and instruct their sons in, every branch of knowledge useful to a gentleman.

That it was a constant concern of these planter-businessmen to see that their children should acquire "polite" accomplishments is clearly revealed in their papers. In a letter in 1718 Nathaniel Burwell of "Carter's Grove" deplored his son's inattention to his studies, not only because an ignorance of arithmetic would hamper him in "the management of his own affairs," but also because, lacking a broad basis of knowledge, he would be "unfit for any gentleman's conversation and therefore a scandalous person and a shame to his relations, not having one single qualification to recommend him."[4] In a like spirit William Fitzhugh of "Bedford" in Stafford County asserted in 1687 that his children had "better be never born than illbred."[5]

Though a parent sometimes specified that his sons be taught languages, philosophy, dancing, fencing, and other such "polite" subjects, practical studies were not neglected. Such subjects as mathematics, surveying, and law prepared a youth for managing the estate he would one day inherit and for discharging the obligations to society imposed by his position. The goal was not professional specialization, but, rather, an education which would develop fully every side of a gentleman's character. George Washington expressed this ideal in referring to plans for the education of his ward, young "Jacky" Custis, in 1771. Admitting that "a knowledge of books is the basis upon which other knowledge is to be built," he explained that he did not think "becoming a mere scholar is a desirable education for a gentleman."[6] Thus, also, Robert Beverley, father of Harry Beverley of "Hazelwood" in Caroline County, directed in his will that his son's guardians should continue the boy's education until he should be taught "everything necessary for a gentleman to learn."[7]

Books provided a ready means of transmitting English standards of life to the colony. The carefully selected volumes in the manor houses clearly reveal their owners' aspiration to become "compleat gentlemen." It was not unusual for the collection of a prosperous planter to number as many as one or two thousand. Works providing guidance in the mode of life they admired greatly predominated, though works of literature were not absent. English "courtesy" and "conduct" books were on every gentleman's shelves. Richard Allestree's A Gentleman's Calling and Henry Peacham's The Compleat Gentleman, and other works which portrayed fortitude, prudence, temperance, justice, liberality, and courtesy as cardinal virtues appear again and again in the inventories of the period, along with the writings of Castiglione and other Italians of an earlier day from whom English authors had derived ideas of courtly conduct.

Most numerous were works stressing a gentleman's religious obligations. Duty to God and Church was set forth in devotional works of various kinds, collections of sermons, and theological treatises. Then came books on historical subjects which offered actual examples of men of great deeds. There were also many volumes on politics and statecraft and military manuals, all of them useful in teaching the larger obligations which a man of wealth owed to society. Guidance in the practical duties of a great estate was furnished in treatises on various phases of farming and gardening, manuals of medicine and surgery, books on surveying and engineering, commentaries on law and legal procedure and handbooks of architecture.[8]

Naturally, the character of the schooling provided for the growing generation greatly concerned the Virginia gentlemen. Many, eager to give their children direct contact with the traditional learning and culture of the mother country, sent them for a period of years to English schools.[9] Not infrequently, mere infants were placed under the protection of relatives and friends in the mother country. As early as 1683 William Byrd II, then nine years old, and his sister Susan, about six, were being watched over in English schools by their Horsmanden grandparents, and plans were making to send over their little sister, Ursula, aged four. Each of the great "King" Carter's five boys was sent overseas at an early age. In 1762 John Baylor of Caroline County, who had received his own education at Putney Grammar School and Caius College, Cambridge, sent his twelve-year-old son to Putney, and about the same time put his four young daughters at a boarding school at Croyden in Kent.[10]

The high value placed upon schooling in England is well illustrated in the attitude of Robert Beverley of "Blandfield" when he prepared to send his young son, William, abroad in 1773. Confiding the lad for a season to a tutor in the home of his father-in-law, Landon Carter of "Sabine Hall," he carefully explained his purpose. "I would recommend to Mr. Menzies the Latin Lillies Grammar," he wrote Carter, "because, as no other rudiments are used in any Schools of Eminence, when he goes to England, he may in part have gotten over the Drudgery of Education. All I wish to learn him in Virginia is, to read, write, & cypher, & do as much with his Grammar, as the Time will admit of...."[11] Planters frequently provided in their wills that their young sons and daughters be educated abroad. It is likely that an even larger number of small children would have been sent "home," as the planters fondly called the mother country, had their parents not feared the dangers of an ocean voyage and the mortal effects of the smallpox which was raging in England during the eighteenth century.

As an alternative to sending children overseas, the traditional learning of the English schools could be brought to Virginia by English-trained tutors and governesses. Well-to-do planters customarily engaged such persons to instruct their children at home, even when it was planned to send the youngsters abroad later. They also employed dancing and music masters to visit their households at regular intervals. A building near the mansion was generally set aside as a schoolroom. There the master's children and perhaps those of some neighboring planters were taught. The young men and women who came overseas to teach the children of Virginia were honored members of the households in which they lived. Great care was taken in selecting them. After a number of young Scotchmen had come to the colony as tutors during the eighteenth century, it was feared they would "teach the children the Scotch dialect which they can never wear off."[12] Throughout the period one finds frequent mention of the need of suitable instructors in the letters of the planters to their factors in the mother country. After the middle of the century, tutors were sometimes secured from Princeton and other American colleges.[13]

A goodly number of the youths sent to the English schools enrolled later at the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge, and others who had been educated by private tutors were also sent there. Certain families sent generation after generation of sons to these universities. At intervals from the time that Ralph Wormeley, the second of that name, had matriculated at Oriel College, Oxford, in 1665, until the outbreak of the Revolution, his kinsmen were found in English colleges. Not a few young Virginians attended the Inns of Court.

In his domestic establishment the planter sought to reproduce as nearly as he conveniently could the residence of the English gentry with its gardens, lawns, and parks. Plans of English homes and gardens, which intelligent workmen or even a layman might adapt, were accessible in the handbooks of architecture and gardening found in many of the planters' libraries. In some instances the striking similarity of detail leaves little doubt that the plans for a planter's residence derived directly from plates in these books. All the forms common to the English country architecture of the period were employed in the plantation residences. Sometimes English master builders and gardeners were imported to supervise the construction of the residences and the planting of the grounds.

The vogue for formality in English architecture and landscaping was mirrored in the arrangement of the Virginia estates. The mansions were generally placed according to carefully preconceived plans in a formal setting which nonetheless managed to achieve an air of ease and naturalness. Balance and symmetry were observed everywhere, with the buildings, gardens, and extensive lawns forming component parts of one composition. Walks of brick or oyster shell crossed the grounds in geometric pattern. If a bowling green or formal garden flanked one side of the mansion, an orangery or perhaps a park stocked with deer flanked the other.

English box and other ornamental plants were used with fine effect. Terraces, elaborate parterres, sunken panels, canals, and dramatic vistas gave variety to the scene. "Falling gardens" were popular at the residences situated on high eminences overlooking the great rivers and marshes.[14] Not infrequently, as at "Blandfield," a ha-ha provided a note of pleasant surprise for one walking on the lawns.[15] Graceful garden houses, dovecots, and other miniature structures, carefully placed, sometimes imparted a fanciful atmosphere to the whole. Every estate had its orchard, the fruit of which surpassed the choicest specimens of the homeland. Wildernesses or preserves of transplanted trees might be found at some distance from the residence, and sometimes serpentine drives and walks invited one to explore hidden retreats.

Situated amidst such attractive surroundings, the residences appeared to fine advantage. Their architectural arrangement contributed much to their impressiveness. At the same time it was admirably suited to the peculiar needs of plantation life. The mansion or "great house" was but the central unit, about which, at carefully spaced intervals, stood numerous smaller structures, all subsidiary to it. Spoken of indiscriminately as "offices," these dependent buildings all served some useful purpose or function in the domestic economy.

The mansion was usually a substantial two-story, rectangular building of brick, though sometimes it was built of stone or wood. The rather low-pitched roofs were generally shingled with cypress or slate. Since many of the activities of the household were carried on in offices under separate roofs, a central structure approximately seventy-five feet long and forty-two feet wide was usually regarded as commodious. The exteriors of these houses were often characterized by an elegant simplicity achieved through perfection of line and proportion. The severity of a facade might be relieved by a handsome wooden cornice, a pedimented hood over the doorway, a string-course and water table of molded brick, and window and door facings of rubbed brick. Sometimes pilasters of finely molded brick framed the doorways.

Not infrequently the principal offices, set in advance or in the rear of the mansion, served as foils to impart greater dignity to it. Sometimes, as at "Blandfield" and "Mount Airy," the major offices were connected with the central building by straight or curved lateral passages. The great house and its dependent structures were generally placed in such a relation as to form one or more rectangular courts.[16] The principal offices were often large and contained a number of rooms.

To one unfamiliar with plantation life, the number and diversity of the offices about the manor house occasioned astonishment. A Huguenot exile who visited "Rosegill," the home of Ralph Wormeley, as early as 1686, recorded that the master's residence comprised at least twenty structures. "When I reached his place," this Frenchman wrote, "I thought I was entering a rather large village, but later on was told that all of it belonged to him."[17]

Offices near the great house were utilized as counting-rooms, schoolrooms, and sleeping quarters for the sons of the family as well as for a variety of other purposes. The kitchen, wash-house, dairy, smoke-house, and other offices intimately connected with the processes of housekeeping were usually set farther away in order to keep the mansion cool in summer and free it of the noise and odors of cooking.[18]

Within the manor house the lower floors were usually devoted entirely to social purposes. Halls and chambers were generally finely panelled in native pine or walnut, and the symmetry of the paneling, the deeply recessed windows, and the excellent proportion of the doors and mantels imparted dignity and beauty to the rooms. Frequently the effect was heightened by fine carving, and occasionally the pink or orange tones of mantels of sienna marble lent a pleasing touch of color.

In many of the apartments there were fine cornices, modillions, and dentils. Delicately fluted pilasters often flanked windows and doors. Elaborately carved cornice and mantel friezes and frets represented the most skilled craftsmanship of the period. Sometimes, as at "Carter's Grove," the miniature carving of the friezes was of exquisite beauty. Motifs such as the egg and dart, the Wall of Troy, and the Tudor rose were employed with fine effect.

In the halls ornamentation was frequently given freer scope than elsewhere. The wide passageways which extended through the houses were customarily broken midway by arches of fine proportions. The usual focal point of interest in the hallways, however, was the stairs, the sweep of which was often majestic. Carved and hidden newel posts were common, and sometimes the pattern of the posts reappeared in elaborate friezes below the landing. Twist-carved balusters were placed on the steps, and running floral and foliated carving decorated the risers or step-ends of many of the stairs.

For these homes the Virginia aristocrats imported furniture, china, plate, and other furnishings from England and France. Their letters to factors in the homeland were filled with descriptions of the articles wanted, and frequently specified that items must be in the latest London fashion. Choice pieces of walnut and mahogany, expensive mirrors, and carpets and hangings of the best quality graced their drawing rooms. Harpsichords, spinets, and other fine instruments stood in many homes, and portraits of members of the family, some by the best artists of the day, hung on their walls. In the dining rooms, fine crystal and plate emblazoned with the family crest gleamed on polished sideboards and tables.

Though they sometimes maintained residences at Williamsburg for the court season, the Virginia great were rarely absentee landlords in the sense that planters in other colonies were. Rather, they were country gentlemen residing on their manor plantations, and, as we have seen, seriously interested in improving their homes and domains. A family was customarily identified by reference to its seat. "Epping Forest," "Marmion," "Berkeley," "Chelsea," "Elsing Green," and the other musical names by which the homes were called, impart a romantic and picturesque flavor to the literature of the region, and reveal the strong hold retained over men's affections by the mother country.

Since no land in the Tidewater was cleared until it was to be utilized for tobacco culture, and since discarded fields were allowed to grow up in thickets, the plantation establishments were generally located at a considerable distance from one another and separated by heavily wooded tracts.[19]

Set in a land abounding in excellent house sites, the planters' homes generally stood near the bank of one of the great rivers or upon some natural eminence. In the former case these houses had two fronts, a land and a water entrance. The approach from the public highway generally led through a wide avenue of trees, perhaps a mile or more in length, or the house might be shielded from the public gaze by a park of stately beeches or poplars. Since overland routes often presented serious difficulties, the Virginians made highroads of their rivers and creeks, and the side of the mansion facing the water generally constituted its true front. This is evidenced by the fact that one usually ascended the stairs from the water side. Isolated as the homes were, the Virginians were able to enjoy the seclusion so greatly prized by the gentry of the mother country, and they developed to a high degree the hospitable and generous traits and the love of outdoor sports that have usually characterized country squires.[20]

The constant activity that centered about the great house is clearly reflected in the journals, letters, and account books of the day. Through their pages may be seen the great planter-businessmen, the members of their families, the overseers and stewards, the free white artisans, the Negro slaves, and the indentured servants moving about their daily tasks. The master of the plantation in a counting room near his mansion balances accounts, writes letters to his factors in England, or converses with the overseers and stewards from his other plantations who have come for instructions regarding their work. The children of the household and their tutor pass to and from the office used as a schoolroom. A ship from the homeland touches at the plantation landing and its captain comes ashore to bring letters and the latest news from the mother country, and perchance to dine at the planter's table. Visitors from neighboring plantations or from adjoining counties arrive in sloops or in coaches or sedans. Rooms reserved for guests are rarely empty and almost any event serves as the excuse for a celebration. A peripatetic dancing master arrives, the children of the neighborhood gather, and an informal dance is held after they have been singly instructed. Even passing strangers are accorded hospitable entertainment and treated as welcome guests. The planter and his family frequently ride out in a coach or chair for "an airing" or to call upon neighbors or relatives. On Sunday, if the weather be good, he takes his family by water to attend services at the parish church. Not infrequently a neighbor's servant arrives bearing venison or some other delicacy for the master's table.

Countless articles are bought or taken from the plantation stores. In the smith's shop nails and other articles are forged for plantation use, and the chair of a neighbor is mended or his plows pointed. Provisions are sent to the outlying plantations and supplies needed for the home place brought from them. In buildings near the mansion, tobacco is cured and prized. Hogsheads are rolled to the wharf to be shipped.

Such was the nature of the world about "Nomini Hall," the manor house of Robert Carter III in Westmoreland County, to which Philip Vickers Fithian, a young Princeton-bred theological student, went as a tutor to the children of the household in 1773.

CHAPTER TWO

Philip Fithian And The Carter Family

During his residence at "Nomini Hall" from October, 1773, to October, 1774, Philip Fithian recorded his impressions of the life about him in a daily journal and in letters to relatives and friends. These impressions constitute a detailed and illuminating account. The civilization he described differed in many respects from that he had known in New Jersey. His austere Presbyterian training caused him to look with disfavor or misgiving upon many of the gay diversions and other social customs of Virginia. Yet he was open-minded to an unusual degree and not unsympathetic to the people among whom he lived. His freshness of viewpoint led him to comment upon various features of Virginia civilization which would doubtless have escaped the attention of one more familiar with them. He admired many aspects of Southern life and for the members of the Carter household Fithian developed a genuine and lasting fondness. The account possesses both vivacity and charm.

At "Nomini Hall" Philip Fithian found himself in an excellent observation post. Robert Carter, its owner, was the scion of one of the wealthiest and most influential Tidewater families. His great-grandfather, John Carter, had emigrated to Virginia from England in 1649. Acquiring some 13,500 acres in the Northern Neck, the fertile region between the Rappahannock and Potomac rivers, John Carter had established his home "Corotoman" on the Rappahannock in Lancaster County. Becoming ere long a successful planter and businessman, Carter served first as a Burgess and then as a member of the governor's Council.

Robert or "King" Carter, son of the emigrant, so eclipsed his father that he has usually been regarded as founder of the family in Virginia. Bold, capable, and acquisitive, "King" Carter strove ceaselessly to expand the family fortunes. By strict attention to business and a close regard for his prerogatives as agent of the Fairfaxes, the proprietors of the Northern Neck, he ultimately became the richest and perhaps the most powerful man of his day in Virginia.[21] First as a Burgess and then as a member and President of the Council, he exerted a political influence that contributed greatly to the management of his private affairs. Realizing earlier than most the need future generations would have for fresh lands, he obtained for his progeny altogether some 333,000 acres.

Under the custom of primogeniture, Carter arranged that the bulk of his lands, including "Corotoman," should go to his eldest son, John Carter II. He, nonetheless, saw to it that his other sons, Robert, Landon, Charles, and George should have ample estates. Robert Carter II, however, died a few months before his father, leaving a young son, Robert III, and a daughter, Elizabeth. A short time after "King" Carter's death his surviving sons procured a special legislative enactment investing the share of the estate intended for the dead son in the young grandson. When Robert Carter III reached his majority, therefore, he would become master of more than seventy thousand acres.

The young boy's uncles, John, Landon, and Charles Carter, acted as his guardians. As a result of his mother's early second marriage to Colonel John Lewis, he lived at the latter's manor plantation, "Warner Hall" in Gloucester County. When the lad was nine, he was sent to the College of William and Mary. Nothing further is definitely known of how his youth was spent.

On reaching twenty-one Robert at once began preparations for a trip to England where he remained two years. The purpose of this visit is not known. It is probable, however, that he was following the example of his grandfather, his father, and the other sons of "King" Carter who had all completed their education in the mother country. Indeed the records of the Inner Temple reveal that he was admitted to the privileges and assumed the agreeable duties of a member of that august legal society a few months after he arrived there.[22] Whatever his motives, though, it is unlikely that a spirited young man, possessed of ample means and free of parental restraint, would bury himself entirely within musty college walls. Reports at home had it that he spent his time in idleness and gay diversions. A portrait painted at this time by a fashionable artist, probably in the studio of Sir Joshua Reynolds, shows him arrayed in a fine doublet of silk and a high lace collar, with a mask in one hand as if to indicate he was about to hasten away to some masquerade.

Whatever his youthful follies may have been, Robert Carter possessed a gentle and thoughtful nature. As he matured, he became increasingly a serious man of business and of scholarly and cultivated tastes. Returning to Virginia in 1751, he soon married and settled down to the life of a country squire at "Nomini Hall," the manor house his father had built in Westmoreland County.

On a visit to Maryland, Carter had met Frances Anne Tasker, the sixteen-year-old daughter of one of the foremost citizens of that colony. Struck by the beauty, good sense, and fortune of the young girl, he had secured her consent to become his wife. Frances Tasker Carter was an uncommon person. Notwithstanding the numerous children she had already borne her husband when Philip Fithian entered her household, she was still beautiful, elegant, and youthful looking. She was also well-informed and frequently surprised Fithian with the breadth of her interests. Ever cheerful and agreeable, she managed the household with fine success and carefully trained her seventeen children.

Besides a handsome dowry, Frances Tasker brought her husband a family influence that proved of great assistance in both his public and private career. Benjamin Tasker, her father, who had wide commercial connections, had served for thirty-two years as a member and President of the Council of Maryland, and for a period as acting-Governor. Her mother, Anne Bladen Tasker, was the daughter of William Bladen who had been successfully Secretary and Attorney-General of that colony. Thomas Bladen, her mother's brother, a former governor of Maryland, had removed to England and become a member of Parliament for Old Sarum, where he was now in an excellent position to promote the interests of his American relatives.[23]

Robert Carter led a busy life at "Nomini Hall." To utilize profitably the resources of an estate of seventy thousand acres was a task that demanded foresight and planning. He customarily cultivated as many as a dozen large plantations at once, and it was necessary that the operations on the several units be carefully integrated. Though tobacco constituted the crop of first importance on his estate, entire plantations were sometimes devoted to producing grain stuffs and supplies needed at "Nomini Hall" and on the other plantations. From time to time, too, Carter sought to develop other money crops which might supplement the constantly dwindling profits from tobacco. The preparation of new grounds to replace discarded fields constituted a laborious task that had to be coped with at intervals. He set up and equipped so many plantations that he resorted at one time to the signs of the zodiac for names for them.

Apart from the lands he himself cultivated, Carter rented or leased a large proportion of his estate to others. He developed an elaborate system of tenancy reminiscent in its principal features of the modern lien system and "share cropping." Lands were leased for varying periods under specific agreements as to the uses to be made of them, the provision of tools and other supplies by the landlord, and the proportion of the crops to be paid as rent. Other tracts were leased for a fixed money rental.

To Carter's interests as a planter and a landlord he added those of a manufacturer. When conditions made it economical or necessary to furnish his own supplies, he operated textile factories, salt works, grain mills, and bakeries to fill his own and his neighbors' needs. In his smiths's shops the simple farm implements of the time were forged and repaired, and work was also done for near-by planters. Through his wife's relations he received a one-fifth share in the Baltimore Iron Works. As part owner of this firm he produced bar and pig iron in large quantities on a commercial basis, and incidentally supplied raw materials needed on his plantations. He also carried on extensive operations as a merchant and factor. From his stores at "Nomini Hall," European manufactures and merchandise of every sort were dispensed. He owned a number of vessels which regularly carried supplies to the landings of other planters on the Virginia rivers and the Chesapeake and took their produce off their hands. Sometimes he provided these men with banking and credit facilities.

The scope of Carter's activities is indicated by the fact that at one time his slaves numbered over 500. In addition, he employed numerous white stewards, overseers, clerks, skilled craftsmen, and artisans. In a labor force so numerous and diversified the most careful adjustments in human relationships were necessary. In a very real sense Carter acted as a protector, father, physician, and court of last resort for all his people. No complaint was too insignificant to receive the master's consideration.

As part of the obligations of his station, the master of "Nomini Hall" served as a vestryman and a warden of his church in Cople Parish and performed other public duties. At the age of twenty-eight he was made a member of the governor's Council. His large estate made him eligible and his wife's uncle, Thomas Bladen, supplied the influence in England necessary to secure his appointment to this highest governing body in the colony. By virtue of belonging to the Council he also served as a colonel in the militia. As was customary, he was henceforth known as Colonel or Councillor Carter. In the latter capacity, he went twice a year to Williamsburg to advise the royal governor and to sit as a member of the General Court. For a decade after 1762 he found it pleasant and convenient to live at the Capital the greater part of the time. He acquired a residence in the town and established his wife and children there. With the outbreak of the disturbances which led to the Revolution, however, he returned with his family to "Nomini Hall" where he lived during the remainder of his active years, devoting his time to the development of his estate and the promotion of his commercial interests, the rearing of his family, and the quiet enjoyment of his scholarly and cultivated tastes. Despite his many duties, he spent much time in reading and in scientific investigation. An accomplished musician, he practiced daily on some of the numerous instruments at his home.

The social life of the family at "Nomini Hall" was of the most agreeable sort. Situated on a hill overlooking the Potomac and Nomini rivers, the mansion was admirably suited to the hospitable tradition of the region. A large rectangular structure of brick, covered with stucco, the great house was surrounded by more than thirty dependent structures or offices and presented an attractive and imposing appearance. The four principal offices were set off at a distance of one hundred yards from the corners of the house, and within the rectangle formed by these buildings was a long bowling green. Extensive and well-tended gardens provided agreeable promenades for members of the family and guests. One approached the mansion from the public highway through a wide avenue of poplars which terminated in a circle about the house. Viewed through this avenue from a distance, Fithian asserted, "Nomini Hall" appeared "most romantic, at the same time it does truly elegant."

The lower floor of the great house contained the master's library, a dining room, used also as a sitting room, a dining hall for the children, a ballroom thirty feet long, and a hallway with a fine stairway of black walnut. The upper rooms were used as sleeping quarters for members of the family and for guests. The older boys and their tutor slept above-stairs in one of the large offices that was also used as a schoolhouse. During the time Fithian was there Carter arranged to convert one of the lower rooms of this office into a concert or music room. Here he proposed to place the harpsichord, harmonica, forte-piano, guitar, violin, and German flutes which were in the great house, and to bring up for that purpose from his Williamburg residence, the organ which had been built for him in London according to his own specifications.

Seven of the nine surviving Carter children[24] and the Councillor's nephew, Harry Willis, were placed under Fithian's care. Benjamin, the eldest son, was a quiet, studious boy of eighteen. Robert Bladen, two years younger, loved the out-of-doors and cared little for learning. John Tasker, only four, was too young for instruction. Priscilla, the eldest daughter, was an attractive girl of fifteen. Anne Tasker, called Nancy, and Frances or Fanny, whom Fithian thought the "Flower of the Family," were thirteen and eleven respectively. Betty Landon was ten, and Harriot Lucy, a "bold, fearless, merry girl," was seven. Sarah Fairfax, the baby, was only a few months old at the time Fithian arrived.

Apart from the members of the family, the tutor, and the numerous domestics, various other persons maintained a more or less permanent connection with the household. Among these were Miss Sally Stanhope, the housekeeper, Mr. Randolph, who served as clerk and steward for Carter, Mr. Christian, a peripatetic dancing master who visited most of the great manor houses of the Northern Neck, Mr. Stadley, music master to the children, and Mrs. Oakley, who had nursed several of them at Williamsburg.

In no section of the colony were the great planters more numerous than in the Northern Neck; in none did they dominate society more completely. The families on the manor plantations associated on terms of intimacy. Gay assemblies, dances, balls, and banquets brought them together frequently. Dancing masters held their classes in rotation at the great plantation houses. At these homes their pupils assembled in turn, frequently accompanied by parents and friends. After the master had instructed the young men and women on these occasions, an informal dance was generally held. These families customarily congregated about the parish church before and after services to enjoy social exchanges. Attendance at county court provided another regular opportunity for commingling. Boat races, barbecues, "Fish-feasts," and horse races brought friends together at intervals. Sometimes elaborate private entertainments were given at which music, feasting, and dancing continued for several days. Rarely a day passed but found some guest at the Councillor's table. Members of the Carter household constantly exchanged visits with the plantation families of their neighborhood and with relatives and friends in adjoining counties. They dined frequently with the Turbervilles at "Hickory Hill," the Washingtons at "Bushfield," the Lees at "Chantilly" and "Stratford," and with the more distant Tayloes at "Mount Airy."

With all these persons the young Princeton tutor was familiar. He accompanied the Carters frequently when they dined at their friends' tables, he attended banquets and balls with them, conversed with the people of the vicinity at the parish churches, met them at races, and observed their conduct as guests at "Nomini Hall." The sprightly interest with which Fithian comments upon these men and women and their way of life makes them seem as real today as then.

For more than a century the manuscript of Fithian's journal and the letters he wrote home remained unpublished. During that time, some years apparently after Philip's death, his brother, Enoch, assembled the letters and papers and the various sections of the journal kept over a period of years and copied them in several bound volumes from the loose and various-sized sheets upon which they were written. It is from this transcript that the journal is known today, and the irregularities in punctuation, spelling, and capitalization in the form in which it has been preserved are doubtless due largely to this fact.

The journal kept at "Nomini Hall" and a group of letters written by Fithian during his residence there were finally published in 1900 by the Princeton University Library, into whose custody had come seven manuscript volumes of Fithian's papers in Enoch Fithian's hand. This publication was edited by John Rogers Williams, a member of the Princeton Historical Association.[25] A small part of the journal and certain letters which the editor regarded as "of too intimate and personal or too trivial a character" were omitted, his object being "in general to present such as have some bearing on historic places and personages, together with representative ones showing" Fithian's "character and circumstances."[26] The editor, moreover, was interested in Fithian's manuscripts primarily from the standpoint of the tutor's association with Princeton.

In the present edition the manuscripts have been treated with special reference to the light they throw on life in the Old Dominion. The journal kept at "Nomini Hall" and all the letters written by Fithian from Virginia are given in their entirety. Several letters written after his departure from "Nomini Hall," but which relate to matters and persons in Virginia, are now printed for the first time.

The journal and letters of Philip Fithian are so revealing of his personality that one inevitably becomes attached to the young tutor, and the reader today may well be curious to know his subsequent career. Having prepared himself for the Presbyterian ministry, Fithian left the Carter household late in 1774 despite the strong ties of friendship and gratitude which now bound him to the family. His decision to return to New Jersey was influenced both by a sense of duty and his growing attachment for Elizabeth Beatty, the "fair Laura" of his journal. In December, 1774, he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Philadelphia. That winter he filled vacancies in West Jersey and the following summer served as a Presbyterian missionary in the Valley of Virginia and Pennsylvania. He married Elizabeth Beatty in October, 1775. Early in 1776 he enlisted as a chaplain in the Revolutionary forces. Shortly after the battle of White Plains he died as the result of an attack of dysentery and exposure in camp. Though his promise to visit the family at "Nomini Hall" again was never fulfilled, the letters he wrote to members of the Carter household after his departure reveal the tender regard in which all were held.

JOURNAL & LETTERS

OF
Philip Vickers Fithian

[Andrew Hunter,[27] Jr., to Philip Vickers Fithian]

Nassau-Hall June 26th 1773.

Sir.

I expected notwithstanding your small offence you would have let me know before this time whether you had made any determination different from what you designed when I left you. If you design teaching before you get into business, there are now several considerable offers made to young men who are willing to go to Virginia by some of the first gentlemen in the colony; one particularly who will give as good as 60£, the best accomodations, a room to study in and the advantage of a library, a horse kept and a servant to wait upon you.

Dr Witherspoon[28] is very fond of getting a person to send him. I make no kind of doubt but if you were to write to the doctor but he would engage it to you, the terms are exactly as I write you as I have informed myself that I might let you know—

There are a number of our friends and class-mates getting into business as fast as possible, whether they are called or not I cannot pretend to judge, this much I would say that I think it is not any ones duty to run too fast. No less than four Debow, Reese, McCorkle, Allen, under trials by a presbytery, and Bryan[29] trying to get license to plead law in some of the best courts on the continent, if infamy were law or lies were Gospel he might get license either to plead or preach.

We have had the pleasure of Laura's[30] company here for some weeks past, I hope you will not envy us considering that continual pleasure is too much for such mortals as we to bear.

I beg that you may no longer refrain from writing, as I should be very glad to hear many things from you and other of my friends in Cohansie which you can relate with little trouble. If you have been trying with me who could keep from writing longest, I own fairly beat. The number of our students are considerably increased, and our school consists of thirty-nine—I have heard there are some disagreeable stories going through your country I wish you would let me know something about them. Doctr Ward spent part of yesterday with me in his return.

My love to Mr and Mrs Green.

I am, Sir,
Your very friend,

Andw Hunter.

[JOURNAL]

July 1. [1773]

Rose at five. Read in the greek Testament, the third Chapter of the Acts. Breakfasted at seven. Busy the greater part of this Day in coppying off some loose miscellanous Pieces. P. M. Read the Spectator in my Course. Received in the Evening, by the Stage, a Letter from Mr and: Hunter jur In which he invites me to remove, & accept a School, of very considerable Consequence, in Virginia. He also informs me that four of our Class-Mates, are on Trial, under a Presbytery, for Preachers; & one has applied for Licence to plead Law in Maryland; Poor Boys! hard they push to be in the midst of Tumult, & Labour.

[Philip V. Fithian To Andrew Hunter, Jr.]

Deerfield July 3. 1773.

Sir

I am sorry you impute neglect of writing in me to so wrong a cause, as an old trivial offense, I confess that I am to blame, and am willing to stand reproved by you, for having been so long silent. If I should offer any thing in excuse it would be great hurry arising from the duty of my station, on which account I have wrote only two or three letters since you left us. The school in town, which I had in view, as I make no doubt you know, is now occupied by Mr Lynn. And the terms of the school at Blandensburg are I think too low, to divert me from the course of my business. I would not however forego a good offer in a school abroad, for some short time. What you write concerning the offer of a Gentleman in Virginia, is, I think of considerable consequence, provided the conditions of teaching are not over burdensome; I should speedily agree to go and apply for the place, were I made satisfied as to this.

I shall however, beg the assistance of your friendship, to enquire in what county the school is; what number and degrees of scholars there are; and if you think the place suitable, and if the Docter shall think proper to appoint me to it, I am not unwilling to remove and accept it. Please to mention this to the Docter; and if he has not engaged a teacher, and is pleased to accept me, I hope you will acquaint me as speedily as may be, with what you can learn as to the time of beginning, the custom of the school, &c. You mentioned four in your last, who have applied to Presbytery, and are on tryal, I can tell you another, Mr Heith; he applied to the Philadelphia Presbytery; but came to town, I understood so late, that before he made application the Presbytery was dissolved, some of the Members however, being still in town, at his request, gave him sundry pieces of exercise, which it is expected the Presbytery will acknowledge, so that he is the fifth out of our class who is designing soon to appear in public!

I am Sir yours, &c.

Philip. V. Fithian

[JOURNAL]

Fryday july 30.

Rose pretty early. Breakfasted with Mrs Buck. Wrote a Note, after Breakfast to Holinshead. Soon after which, I set out for Home, & by the favour of a young man who lodges at Mr Bucks I rode to the Ferry, & was home by eleven.

Received several Letters by the Stage to Day; One especially from Mr Hunter, in which I am pressed to accept the proposal by the Gentleman in Virginia. The Offer is very proffitable; Colonel Carter has four Sons. To a private Tutor for which he proposes to give sixty-five Pounds pr Year; find him all Accomodations; Allow him a Room for his own Study; And the Use of an eligant Library of Books; A Horse to ride; & a Servant to Wait. I am inclined to go, but dont meet with much Encouragement from those who have the Direction of my Studies.

We had Company in the Afternoon; & expected Miss Grimes, & Miss Ewing, til Evening, but they never came.

Saturday july 31.

Rose early. After Breakfast rode to Deerfield, & consulted with Mr Green[31] but he gives only his usual Indifference; Dined at Mr Nathan Leeks, the Day excessive hot; Drank Tea at Mrs Pecks.[32] & returned in the Evening to Greenwich.

Sunday. August 1:

Rose pretty early. Attended the Funeral of Mr Hugh Stethern. who died yesterday morning. Many are now ill of what is called the Fall Fever.

Mr Hunter[33] preached both Parts of the Day.

Monday August 2.

Concluded, this Day, with the Concurrence of Mr Hunter, to set of for Princeton, & know of Dr Witherspoon something more particular concerning the Proposal for my going to Virginia. Busy all the Afternoon in preparing to go.—Evening very hot. Went on foot to the Stage.—Drank a Bowl of Punch with Mr Richard Howel, & to bed by ten.

Monday August 9

Waited on Dr Witherspoon, about nine o Clock, to hear his Proposal for my going to Virginia—He read me a Letter which he receivd from Col: Carter, & proposed the following Terms—To teach his Children, five Daughters, & three Sons, who are from five to seventeen years Old—The young Ladies are to be taught the English Language. And the Boys are to study the English Language carefully; & to be instructed in the Latin, & Greek—And he proposes to give thirty five Pounds Sterling, which is about Sixty Pounds currency; Provide all Accommodations; Allow him the undisturbed Use of a Room; And the Use of his own Library; find Provender for a Horse; & a Servant to Wait—

—By the Advice of the Dr & his Recommendation of the Gentleman, & the Place, I accepted the Offer, & agreed to go in the Fall into Virginia—

I took this morning, from Dr Wiggins, a Balsam that has removed the Pain wholly from my Breast; he called it the Balsam of Cappewee. Probably I spell it Wrong.

Teusday August 17.

Rose at seven—Very much fatigued with yesterdays Ride—Found the Students well; & the Seniors in particular In high Spirits on their Expectation of speedy Liberty—I begin to grow sick of my Virginia Voyage; But sick or sorry I must away—I waited on the Dr, But he has yet received no Intelligence.

After Evening-Prayrs, by particular Requests, I attended in the respectful Whigg-Society[34]—The Members are Orderly—Their Exercises are well chosen—And generally well-conducted; & as to speaking, & Composition well-performed—

They conferrd Degrees formally on Six who are to be graduated in the College the ensuing Commencement. The Moderator for the Time being confers the Degree; The Formula is short & eligant, & pronounced in latin—They give also Diploma's, in Latin likewise, which are plain & full.

Expence of this Day.
For the Hire of our Carriage 10s.
For a Bowl of Punch 1s/6d
For a Glass of Bitters 4d Sum 11s 10d.

[Letter of Philip V. Fithian To Elizabeth Beatty]

Prince-ton. August 17th: 1773.

To Laura.

If I could only tell you the Incidents of Yesterday, you would laugh as loud & as cordially as ever—Smith did all the Oddities of Miss Cateness.

I was, & for my Life, could not avoid, being dumpish & melancholy, in the midst of Humour & Pleasantry—Smith[35] was in great Distress on Account of his approaching Examination; He is in the Senior-Class, & that Class is to be examined for their Degree tomorrow, so that he too was sour all Day.—Directly opposite to both was your Brother; he was noisy, & troublesome; We dined at Mr Irwin's. Your Brother kindly rode with us to the Ferry, where we parted; he for Mr McConkey's; We for Princeton. I am to day happy as Amusements & good-Company, in this lovely Habitation of the Muses, can render me.

There is yet, among my Acquaintances, a young Lady; & She is also, I firmly believe, one of your most agreeable Intimates, whose Friendship I think so valuable, & whose Manner every Way, is so peculiarly engaging, that if you should soon see her, whom you have sometimes heard me call Laura, give my Duty, my Love to her, & acquaint her with what I have often told you of her, that She is, in my undisguised Oppinion, "A Pattern for Female Excellence."

Tell her also, that a singular, & very important Occurrence, which has lately presented itself to me, seems to make it necessary, if it be any how agreeable to her, She should in some Way, chosen by Herself, signify to you that I may thereby know, whether She favours or dislikes what I have told her.

I assure you, Madam, so strong is the Esteem I have for that dear Girl, which certainly I shall ever retain, that neither, Place, nor Time, nor any Alteration in my Condition of Life, will blot it out.

This, however, I intrust only to you, & put so great Confidence in the many Expressions of your Friendship for me, that I hope you will use your Influence to persuade her that what I write is Truth.

I expect to leave Deerfield[36] & go Home next Week; But I am not determined yet upon going to Virginia. Dr Witherspoon desires & advises me to go—My Directors here seem backward, & rather unwilling.—I myself Am yet in doubt—But, on the Whole, it is probable I shall go down in October. But whether I do the one or the other I am always

Yours,

Philip. V Fithian.

[JOURNAL]

Monday August 30.

Rose by half after six—Wrote a Letter to Dr Witherspoon concerning my going to Virginia—I hear that many of my Friends in this Place are unwilling I should go—I am indeed in a Dilimma—But I have agreed—Well, I must away—And I hope in the Kindness of him who was my Fathers God, & has been the Guide of my Youth, that he will save me from being corrupted, or carried away with the Vices which prevail in that Country—Wrote a Letter to And: Hunter—In the Evening, rode with my Letters, to the Stage—Saw there by Chance, the famous Miss Betsy Elmore: famous for Wit, Extensive Knowledge, but especially for Volubility of Tongue—

[Letter of Philip V. Fithian To Dr. Witherspoon]

Greenwich august 30th 1773.

Revd Sir.

I am sorry that I may inform you of the dissattisfaction which my friends in general since my return home seem to discover, with my intention of going this fall to Virginia. However willing I am myself to accept the proposal and go, it will not be easy to break through the entreaties of those who are my neares[t] relations, and who have all along, with the warmest friendship interested themselves to procure my welfare. I do not intend by any means, abruptly to decline the fulfilling my agreement, but only desire to know, if there are not some to be found among the late Seniors who would willingly discharge me by accepting the offer themselves. If not I have only further to beg, that you would be pleased, Revd Sir, to favour me with the proposal of the gentleman; and so soon as there is a return from him, I shall be glad to know the time when I must leave home;

I am Revd Sir,
with great respect
your humble Servt

Philip V. Fithian

P. S. Letters come safe sent by the princeton stage, and directed to me at Greenwich.

[Philip V. Fithian To Elizabeth Beatty]

Princeton. August 31. 1773.

To Laura.

As an old Sinner, who has been long accustomed to Mishief, cannot bear to think of quitting his much-loved Practice; so I, from Time to Time, with few Returns, am intruding my Epistles upon you.

I have just been reading Yorrick's celebrated Letters to Eliza: They are familiar—They are plain—They are beautiful. I love Eliza, from the admirable Description he has given of her: But possibly he has been wholly romantic; & only painted the Woman he could love; or, if has given his own candid Sentiments, & described that Woman in Truth; There is in America an Eliza I would venture, from Yorricks own Picture, to set against it; & let Yorrick himself be Judge, should I venture never so largely, I am sure I should succeed—

I was, yesterday, at Deerfield, & heard News enough—I was told that a civil, good looking Gentleman; who had been lately from N—n, told them he saw me there with you—That I was wild, & noisy—He thinks I shall make a damn'd droll Figure in a Pulpit, with Powdered-Hair; a long Cue; & deep Ruffles!—I fancy myself it would appear odd!—I was told there also every Circumstance of our Ride from Princeton to N—n. Of my being with your Brother in Philadelphia as I went up, & returned—Of almost the whole of my Company & Conduct while in Town.

It is something curious, tho' by no Means troublesome, that every part of my Behaviour, is in whatever Place I go, so circumstantially inspected.—I shall suppress all I heard of you, only that you are soon to be married, & I should not have mentioned this, but that I might let you know it was told in Triumph to dash me!—Yet if it had wounded my Soul I would have sustained & concealed the Pain, to outbrave such Insolence! I cannot help, however, when I am alone in my Chamber, reflecting on the Danger of the Impropriety I may possibly be guilty of in thus continuing my Intimacy with you.

But I turn it all off with a Smile, &, if the Report be true, with a Wish, in the Language of the Poet Walter to a Lady of his Acquaintance "That you may possess all your Wishes, as to earthly Happiness & Comfort, in the Society of him whom you have preferr'd to the rest of Men; & that you may feel as much for him, of that Anxiety which arises from Esteem, as others have felt for you"—I am going, next Month to Virginia, unless the Remonstrances of my Relations prevail with me to decline it.

But on I go little thinking how much I may incur your Censure by writing so freely, & so long—O Laura, I wish most ardently, that I could with Propriety, from the present Moment, spend all my hours near your Person.—They would then, with their purple Wings, fly along through the Sorrows, & Tumults of Life, wholly unnoticed.

Laura, yours

Philip. V. Fithian.

[Andrew Hunter To Philip Fithian]

Nassau Hall Septr 6th 1773

Dr Sir.

I am very sorry that I cannot answer your letter so much to your satisfaction as I could desire. Doctor Witherspoon is gone to New-England to the convention and is not expected home 'till the latter end of this week—he received no account from Virginia before he went from home. You may trust that I will let you know when ever I can hear any thing related to your prospect of going to the southward.

Mr Imlay[37] is gone from College and is not expected back 'till near commencement, however I have talked with some of his acquaintances, and they say he expects to go.

I would have the spelling of your name corrected, but the catalogue is sent off, and I suppose by this time is in the press. I must thank you for the good news you give me concerning the young lady's health.

I was very uneasy about the account we heard before you left princeton.

We go on pretty well in College, but I hope we shall have two or three of the possessed swine turned off when the Doctor comes home.

Do write me every week and give what news you can.

I am, Sir,
Your friend.

Andw Hunter.

[JOURNAL]

Wednesday Sept: 8.

Received a Letter from Mr Hunter—No News from Princeton—Nor Virginia—Evening Mr Paterson came home with Uncle.[38]

[Letter of Philip V. Fithian To Elizabeth Beatty]

Greenwich. Sept: 10th: 1773.

To Laura.

I hope the World is using you very well, & that you enjoy yourself in Contentment; & the Society of your Friends with Pleasure. The Reason of my saying this, is, because many People here are often enquiring about you; Where you live? How you do? When you will return? The Cause of your Absence?—And forty other things that none knows, or ought to speak of, but yourself.

You inform me that you propose to be at the approaching Commencement: It will not be in my Power, with any Convenience, to go—I can, however, give you a Caution; Let not Pity so much affect you, nor Fear so much alarm you, as again, (you remember last Fall) to excite Tears in your Eyes, or one sorrowful Ake in your Breast, if any of Nassau's bold Sons shall attempt once more, to support their Right by suppressing Impertinence & Violence.

There are many going from Philada &, I am told, some Ladies of Note & Eminence—There are many expected from the Southern Colonies—And, because of the Connexions, many from York, & the New-England Goverments. The Assembly, no Doubt, will be large, & splendid—And I hope the Exercises may be worthy their Attention & Approbation. Nothing hinders my being there but only my Purpose of going soon to the Southward.

I may not omitt telling you that—Smith as we were returning Home, pitied you from his Heart; An agreeable, & sensible young Lady, separated from genteel Society, & prisoned in a Room in the Woods, in the Midst of an unpleasant Country, like a penitent Virgin conscious of her Sins, voluntarily retiring to a lonely Monastary!—But he forgot, Laura, that infelt Peace, makes us always happy, even tho' our Circumstances be apparently distressful.

I am, Eliza,
yours

Philip. V. Fithian.

[JOURNAL]

Wednesday. Sept: 15.

Rose at seven; slept but little for I was affraid—Breakfasted on Oysters, at the Ferry-Mans, with John Holmes, Esq:—Had an Hours Conversation with him, on Lotteries—Whether they are just & lawful—He thinks not—At ten we came up to his Brother Benjamin Holmes's Esq:—They mentioned to me an Intention they have to erect, & establish a School, among them, that their Children may be taught, Latin, Greek, & the Practical Branches in Mathematicks—They desired to know if it would be convenient, & agreeable for me to undertake with them, to prosecute their Plan. But I must, with Doubt, away to Virginia—It would be a laudable undertaking if such a School could be founded in this Part of our Province; & I think ought to be duely encouraged—

I left Mr Holmes's about twelve, & came to Mr Hunters about four, seventeen Miles—Evening walked Home. Expence 2s/0.

Sunday. Sept: 19.

Rose half after six—Read some in Pictete—Walked to Sermon by ten; Smith Rode in order to go home with Mr Hunter after Sermon—Dr Ward seems very low, confined commonly to his Bed; the Disorder it is to be feared is a Consumption, & increases in malignity almost daily—How much will Cohansie feel his Death if by this Illness he is soon taken of, or by the Violence of it wholly disabled to practice among us, who has been so long successful in his Work! Received a Letter late last Night from Mr Hunter at College, and He informs me that the Dr insists on my Going to Virginia—

[William R. Smith To Philip Fithian]

Philadelphia Octr 3d 1773.

Futurus Pedegog'issimus.

Fe-O-whiraw, whiraw, hi, fal, lal fal, lal de lal dal a fine song—commencement is over whiraw I say again whiraw, whiraw.

And what is more never was there such a commencement at princeton before and most likely never will be again. The galeries were cracking every now and then all day—every mouse hole in the church was cram'd full—The stage covered with Gentlemen and ladies amongst whom was the Governor and his lady; and that he might not appear singular Lee[39] was stiff with lace, gold-lace—

A band of music from Philadelphia assisted to make all agreeable and to crown the whole the eloquence of Demosthenes was heared in almost every mans mouth, so that the person who spoke last was always the hero of the tale—O murder! what shall I do I want to say a great deal to you but cannot for the girls who are almost distracting my heart—O murder! murder, murder I say what will become of me, murder, murder—I shall go distracted—I saw Dr Beaty[40] and Betsy—I gave your love to them—and indeed to tell you the truth I could not for my life help leaving my own heart, and love, and all with Besy—she is realy a sweet soul. I wish ten millions and she were mine, I should be a happy creature, happy indeed to the last degree—. I got cleverly up from cohansie early in the evening—My love ten thousand times and ten thousand kisses to all the girls of my acquaintance.

I cannot quit but must

Willm R. Smith.

[JOURNAL]

Wednesday. Octob. 6.

Walked with Paterson, after Breakfast to Mr Hunters, where we met with Mr Smith, & Mr Irwin two young Clergimen, & Mr Hunter Junr. They came down yesterday, & inform that the Commencement was the most splendid, & honoured with the greatest Number of Strangers of any one, perhaps, since it was founded, May it still increase, & long flourish!—Immediately after Dinner Smith & Irwin set off for Cape-May—Andrew brings me Word that I must by the twentieth of this Month meet Mr Imlay in New-Castle, who is going down into Virginia. And I must at last, away—The thought is indeed hard!

Thursday Octob: 7.

Slept but little last Night; my Mind seems troubled and involuntarily disturbs me! Rose early—After Breakfast rode to Deerfield. Settled all my Affairs, & took a formal, final Leave of my Friends, & Relations there! Rode home in the Evening. By the State I received a Letter from Mr McCalla,[41] with a Suit of Cloths. Cost £6/16/6.

Expence in the Evening for a Bowl of Punch 1/6—

Fryday Octob: 8.

To Day is the Fast before our Sacrament—O that the mighty God would teach me true Humiliation for my many Sin's, & give me Grace that shall enable me to hate & forsake them!—Grace to keep me right in the Path of Life, & to guide me to his heavenly Kingdom.—Mr Hunter preached two useful Sermons, describing worthy, & unworthy Communicants—

Saturday October 9.

Rode to the Bridge, & bought a Saddle, Bridle, Spurrs, &c. for my intended Journey—Returned before Evening, & of Saml Dennis bought a Pr of Sadle-Bags.—

Monday Octob: 11.

By Six up—Busy in Preparing for my Journey—Agreed with Uncle for his Horse; I am to give him 25£.—The Money to be paid in May next.

Teusday October 12.

Rose early; very busy—Had my Boots altered & mended—Was measured for a Surtout-Coat—Drew up a Form to settle my Affairs before I leave Home—Afternoon Mrs Peck, Mrs Hoshel, Johnny Peck, Stephen Ranney, Miss Abby Peck call to see me & take a final Adieu for the present—The Thought of Leaving Home haunts me at Times!

Wednesday Octob: 13.

Dismissed Study, & begin to take Leave of Relations & Friends!—

Dined at Mrs Brewsters, and at two went to Mr Danl Mashells; & from thence to Mr John Gibbon's, At all which Places I gave them my last Farewel—

Thursday Octob: 14.

Rose early—Busy in making Preparations—Had my Horse shod, Did sundry Pieces of Writing—This Eveng Mr Irwin, & Smith returned from Cape-May.

Friday Octob: 15.

Rose early—Did sundry Pieces of Writing—At twelve Mr Irwin gave us a Sermon, on Felix's trembling before Paul preaching—He preached without Notes; His Sermon was easy, well-digested, plain, yet pathetic, short, and in general much admired—

Mr Smith & Mr Hunter junr dined with me—In the Evening of this Day I had a severe Fit of the Fever & Ague—Violent Pains in my Head, & Back!

Saturday. Octob: 16.

Rose at seven; feel bewildered, & unesy—Finished some necessary Writings, & begin before noon to grow better.

Sunday Octob: 17.

Rose early—Not well—Attended Sermon; Mr Smith preached—Before the last Sermon was done I was obliged to come Home with my second fit of the Fever & Ague. It kept on me violently while about seven in the Evening; then went off in a gentle Sweat!—

Monday Octob: 18.

My Fit is well gone off, & I feel bravely—Finished & executed some Writings to Joel Fithian[42] for the Securing the Several Porttions to the Children—Took my Leave of Mr Wallings, & Mr Ewings Families. Mr Paterson in to see me in the Evening—In the Night we had a fine Shower—I have through this Day taken the Peruvian Bark, to try if by any Means I can break my Fits.

Teusday Octob: 19

Early went to Mr Hunters; took my Leave & left them by eleven—Rode & took Leave of all my Relations—How hard is it at last? My Heart misgives, is reluctant, in spite of me; But I must away!

Protect me, merciful Heaven, & keep me under the Wing of thy over-ruling Providence—Make me know myself, & my constant, & necessary Dependance on thee!

The Continuation of my Journal, &c.

Wednesday October 20th 1773.

Left Greenwich by six in the Morning. Rode to Michael Hoshels 8 Miles. Thence Mr Hoshel, & John Peck along, rode to Quintons-Bridge 8 Miles. Expence there is 1s/: Rode thence to Penn's-Neck Ferry by two oClock 10 Miles. Expence at Toll-Bridge /2. Ferriage over Delaware 4s/6d. Oats & Cordial in New-Castle 1s/2d. Rode thence to Mr Achans Tavern 12 Miles. Whole Distance 38 Miles. Whole Expence 6/10.

Octob: 21.

Expence at Mr Achans 3s/4d. Rode thence to North-East 12 Miles. Breakfast 1s/6d. Thence to Sesquehannah 10 Miles. Ferriage 1s/: Oats /9d. At Bush-Town by 4 o Clock 12 Miles. Whole Distance 34 Miles. Whole Expence 6s/7d.

Fryday 22d

Expence at Bush-Town 4/2. Rode thence to a small, mean Tavern to Breakfast, 13 Miles—Expence 1/6. Thence to Baltimore by one O-Clock 13 Miles. Whole distance 26 Miles—Whole Expence 5/8.

Saturday 23d

Expence at Baltimore 15/3. Rode and forded Petapsko[43] to a small Tavern 15 Miles. Expence 1/11. Rode thence to Blandensburg 23 Miles. Whole distance 38 Miles. Whole Expence 17/2.

Sunday 24.

Expence at Blandensburg 5/7.[44] Rode thence to Georgetown[45] 8 Miles. Expence 1/6. Ferriage /6.—From thence we rode by Alexandria,[46] 9 Miles—Thence to Colchester[47] 18 Miles—Dined—Expence 3/9. Ferriage /6. Rode thence to Dumfries 10 Miles.[48] Whole distance 45 Miles. Whole Expence 11/4.

Monday 25.

Expence at Dumfries 4/5. Rode thence to Aquia 10 Miles.[49] Expence 2/4—Rode thence to Stafford-Court-House 12 Miles.[50] Whole Distance 22 Miles. Whole Expence 6/6.

Teusday 26.

Expence at Stafford 5/. Stopped at Colonel Thomas Lees,[51] only a few Rods from Stafford Tavern. Continued there all day, and the following Night. Expence to Day 5/.

Wednesday 27.

Expence to boy 1/. Rode from Mr Lees to a small poor Ordinary 13 Miles—Expence /8 for Oats—Rode thence, without feeding to Captain Cheltons.[52] on the Potowmack 32 Miles—Whole Distance 45 Miles. Whole Expence 1/9.

Thursday 28.

Rode after Breakfast to the Honorable Rob: Carters the End of my Journey; 12 Miles, by two o-Clock in the Afternoon. Both Myself, and my Horse seem neither tired nor Dispirited—Occasional Expences on the Road. In Baltimore for some Buff-Ball, 1/6. In Blandensburg for having straps put to my Saddle-Bags 3/. In Colchester for Shaving and Dressing 1/3. The whole 5/9. So that my whole Distance appears to be 260 Miles, perform'd in seven Days. And my whole Expence appears to be 3£ 6s 6d.

Fryday 29.

Settled myself in the Room appointed me—and adjusted my Affairs after my Ride.

Saturday 30.

Rode with Mr Carters eldest Son[53] to a Store, about seven Miles—Bought half a Box of Wafers for 1/—And a quire of paper for 1/6. Dined at three—And rode into Richmond Parish 15 Miles to Mr Fantleroys[54]—Was introduced to Mr Fantleroy—two of his Sons—Mr Christian[55] a dancing a dancing-Master—

Sunday 31.

Rode to Church six Miles[56]—Heard Mr Gibbern[57] preach on Felixes trembling at Pauls Sermon.

Monday Novemr 1st

We began School—The School consists of eight—Two of Mr Carters Sons—One Nephew—And five Daughters—The endest Son[58] is reading Salust; Gramatical Exercises, and latin Grammer—The second Son[59] is reading english Grammar Reading English: Writing, and Cyphering in Subtraction—The Nephew[60] is Reading and Writing as above; and Cyphering in Reduction—The eldest daughter[61] is Reading the Spectator; Writing; & beginning to Cypher—The second[62] is reading next out of the Spelling-Book, and begining to write—The next[63] is reading in the Spelling-Book—The fourth[64] is Spelling in the beginning of the Spelling-Book—And the last[65] is beginning her letters—

Teusday 2.

Busy in School—begun to read Pictete—[66]

[Letter of Philip V. Fithian To the Reverend Enoch Green]

Westmoreland. Novr 2d 1773.

Revd Sir.

According as I appointed I take this early oppertunity of acquainting you that I am arrived safe; and I am to assure you that I find the place fully equal to my highest expectations—I am situated in the Northern-Neck, in a most delightful Country; in a civil, polite neighbourhood; and in a family remarkable for regularity, and oeconomy, tho' confessedly of the highest quality and greatest worth of any in Virginia. I teach only Mr Carters children, and only one of them is to learn Languages, and he is reading Salust and the Greek grammer, is seventeen years old, and seems to be a Boy of Genius—the other two learn writing and Arithmetic—But he has four Daughters, young Misses that are at times to be taught writing and English—I have the terms as I expected, and find the place wholly agreeable—and am strongly solicited to stay many years—But money nor conveniency shall detain me long from my most important connections at home—You may expect me in may at the Synod. Please to have my compliments to Mrs Green, to Miss Betsy if at Deerfield, and to my acquaintances that shall enquire and accept to yourself the

Respect of your humble Servt

Philip V Fithian

[JOURNAL]

Wednesday 3.

Busy in School—

Thursday 4.

Busy in School—To day the two eldest Daughters, and second Son attended the Dancing School.[67]

Fryday 5.

Busy in School—

Saturday 6.

Catechised in School til twelve—the Children. And dismiss'd them. Afternoon rode with Ben Carter to the Bank of Potowmack[68]—8 Miles—Returned in the evening—Expence Ferriage 1/.

Sunday 7.

Rode to Ucomico Church[69]—8 Miles—Heard Parson Smith.[70] He shewed to us the uncertainty of Riches, and their Insufficiency to make us happy—Dined at Captain Walkers;[71] With Parson Smith, his Wife; her Sister, a young Lady; &c—Returned in the Evening.

Monday 8.

Busy in School—Finished reading the first, and begun to read the Second Book of Pictetes Theology. Expence to Boy /4.

Teusday 9.

Busy in School—

Wednesday 10.

Busy in School—The eldest Daughter taken off by her Teacher in Music; Mr Stadley[72] who is learning her to play the Forte-piano—

Thursday 11.

Rose by seven—Busy in School—Miss Carter still absent—

Fryday 12.

Rose by Seven—Ben begun his Greek Grammer—Three in the Afternoon Mr Carter returned from Williamsburg.[73] He seems to be agreeable, discreet, and sensible—He informed me more particularly concerning his desire as to the Instruction of his Children—