' CHAP. I.] CLIMATE, SEASONS, &C. 63 



1818. 

 Feb. 14. A complete day of rain. 



15, A hard frost; much about like a 

 hard frost in the naked parts of 

 Wiltshire. Mr. HULME joined me 

 on his way to Philadelphia from the 

 city of Washington. 



16. A hard frost. Lancaster is a pretty 

 place. No fine buildings ; but no 

 mean ones. Nothing splendid and 

 nothing beggarly. The people of 

 this town seem to have had the 

 prayer of HAGAR granted them : 

 " Give me, O Lord, neither poverty 

 " nor riches" Here are none of 

 those poor, wretched habitations, 

 which sicken the sight at the out 

 skirts of cities and towns in Eng 

 land; those abodes of the poor crea 

 tures, who have been reduced to 

 beggary by the cruel extortions of 

 the rich and powerful. And, this 

 remark applies to all the towns of 

 America that I have ever seen. This 

 is a fine part of America. Big 

 Barns, and modest dwelling houses. 

 Barns of stone, a hundred feet long 

 and forty wide, with two floors, 

 and raised roads to go into them, 

 so that the waggons go into the 



