566 



I met with great indulgence at Mir. Bf y^- 

 don's. It is customary when you put your 

 horse up and lodge in a tavern to pay a 

 regular price, dine or not, for every meal, 

 which is called boarding in the house, you 

 occupying a bed : as to a room you cannot 

 obtain one, it being general to have from 

 two to twelve beds in each apartment. 



The poverty of America has been prov- 

 ed to me in many instances. I will relate 

 one. I was in habits of friendship with a 

 regular attorney at Baltimore, who profess- 

 ed a respect for me, and was continually 

 inviting me to dine with him. He was a 

 man of family: a town, in which he held a 

 large property, bore his name ; he had fif- 

 teen hundred acres of land in it, besides se- 

 veral other plantations. He kept his ser* 

 Vant and a good horse or two in town. I 

 became acquainted with him at General 

 Ridgely's table. I was walking in com- 

 pany with him one day in Baltimore 

 streets, when he met an English gentle- 

 man, whom he asked for the loan of twenty 



