38 



first introduced here, the conversation, as 

 the company were seated at dinner, was 

 on politics ; and the Englishmen were all for 

 England, and great supporters of the crown 

 and its dignity. Mr. Cox being in the 

 chair, the King of England was the first; 

 health, and Mr. Pitt next. 



After dinner was over, I began to in- 

 quire for some hay for my horses and 

 cattle ; but was told there was no such thing. 

 I was astonished to find in so large a town, 

 where a great number of horses, mules, and 

 cows, were kept, no hay, and in the month 

 of November too. The people seemed as 

 much surprised at my asking for hay, as I 

 was at there being none : and well they 

 might ; for when I walked out into the 

 ground, I saw no such thing as grass grow- 

 ing, nor any sort of green herb. This to 

 me, as an Englishman, was a very unusual 

 spectacle ; to see land without something 

 upon it : and not a little mortifying, to one 

 who had been tempted to believe it to be 

 (as they term it) the best land in the world. 



