VIRGINIA 93 



cases, not rare, of mulattoes out of negresses by gen- 

 tlemen, who then sell their own children to others as 

 slaves. The hospitality of Virginia was boasted of, 

 but it was admitted that for fear of the small-pox, or 

 on .the ground of other suspicions, their doors were 

 oftentimes closed on strangers ; and indeed their much- 

 praised hospitality is by no means unrestricted, but is 

 confined to acquaintances and those who are recom- 

 mended. It seemed to be a contradiction when Mr. 

 Whitefield, our host, (still defending the hospitality of 

 his countrymen generally), confessed that travellers 

 often had to go 20 miles and more to reach his house, 

 after having knocked in vain at other doors. But it 

 appeared still more contradictory when this self-ex- 

 alting company began to describe the rude American 

 Indians, giving as the plainest proof of their barbarick 

 ideas that the proud Indians, belittling all other na- 

 tions, compared the whites, with no exception of the 

 noble Virginians, to white dogs' dung. 



I have by no means put down all, and have added no 

 word to what was really brought forward in this even- 

 ing's conversation ; but more would hardly have been 

 needed to confirm the observation which has generally 

 been made regarding the character of the Virginians. 

 " The Virginians are a cheerful, hospitable, and on the 



death-penalty is very rare, the cause of which is not only the 

 better rearing, which one part of the country boasts of in 

 contrast to another, but is to be found as well in the milder 

 administration of justice, and particularly in the ease with 

 which every man may earn an honorable living by agriculture, 

 peaceably supporting himself and his family. On Nantucket, 

 since the building of the town, that is, for more than a hun- 

 dred years, no one of the inhabitants has forfeited his life to 

 the law. 



