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F A [I JM 10 US' R i: () I S T i: R . 



83 



in the breeze, direct your eyes to the happy places 

 of liieir resilience, whore they, generally blessed 

 with innocence and chearllilnosf), a compliant con- 

 sort, and a iiunieroui? race at their boards, enjoy a 

 lile much to be envied by courts and cities. VVe 

 gathereil a Irnit, in our route, called ix parsimnn, of 

 a very delicious taste, not unlike a medlar, thouijch 

 somewhat lar<rer: 1 take it to be a very cooling 

 ii-nit, and the settlers make use of prodigious quan- 

 tities to sweeten a beer, which they brew ol"c-«s.sc;ia 

 and divers herbs, which is vastly wholesome. The 

 cassena is a shrub, that has a small leal", somewhat 

 sharpish,, and is so admired, wlwn hot water is 

 poured on it, that I iinasi'ine the importing of it to 

 I^nglaiul is prohibited lor tear of injuring the tea 

 t-rade. At oia- arrival at our hosts, we were put 

 to bed, and for several days attended with a ten- 

 derness and humanity that soon restored our 

 healths, and our limbs to their proper function ; 

 wlien, bemg furnished with horses, we addressed 

 ourselves to our first stage, which was about 

 twenty miles distant from Golden Qitarttir, called 

 Snow-Hill. 'Golden Quarter is a kind of straggling 

 country village, but the inhabitants of that place 

 and Sena-puxnn^ though poorer than some of their 

 neighbors oi' Maryland, occasioned by the poverty 

 of their soil, are a perlectly hospitable, sociable, 

 and honest set of people, and abound in every ne- 

 cessary of life, and most of the conveniences. In 

 short, they seem to repine only on three accounts, 

 as all this side of the colony does: the one is the 

 scarcity of strong liquors; another the extravagant 

 dues to their clergy, whom they pay a pretty large 

 quantity of tobacco yearly to, by way of tithe, ibr 

 every head in their tiunilies: and the third, is their 

 paying a larger quit-rent, which I think they do in 

 sterling money, than any of their neighbors under 

 the king's governors. These things the poorer 

 sort feel pretty smartly. To be sure, the clergy 

 ought to be supported in every country, indepen- 

 dently and decently; and certainly they are an or- 

 der of men that are entirely necessary, whilst they 

 behave soberly and uprightly, to the well being of 

 society, and seem no where more so than in these 

 countries; but as I take it, there is little justice in 

 a poor land-holder's being obliged to give him as 

 great an ofi'ering as his opulent neighbor. Eut 

 here, as in every other part of the world, the com- 

 plaints are very much regulated by the pastor's be- 

 havior: you seldom hear any grumbling, when he 

 is a kind, beneficent, humane, and regular man, 

 that feels for, and endeavors to supply, both the 

 mental distresses and wants, as well as the bodily 

 ones, of the charge entrusted to him; who never, 

 fi'om a vanity of temper, or sour enthusiasm, or a 

 vain ostentation of learninof, puzzles and distracts 

 his hearers, by leadinir them astray from the plain 

 paths or meanings of Christianity, into the eternal 

 labyrinths and intricate mazes of speculation and 

 mystery; nor sets himself up for an infallible judge 

 of every dispute, and the authoritative decider of 

 every question; nor, to sum up the whole, daubs 

 and dresses religion (as the poet says) rohich is \ 

 divinely pure, and simple from all arts, like a com- j 

 mon mistress, the object of his fancy. The rum 1 

 they generally have ii-om their stores, is the New- \ 

 England sort, which has so confoun^led a gout, and \ 

 has so much of the molasses twang, that h is really 

 nauseous; and this held up to a very large price. 

 Sometimes, indeed, an European vessel lands, to 

 the gentlemen in the neighborhood, a cargo of 



another sort; which, however, never diffuses itself 

 much to those beneath them. In other bettersettled 

 parts of 3faryland, indeed, as about j/nnaptdis, and 

 elsewhere, you hear of no complaints of this sort, 

 as every thing is in the greatest j)lenty imaginable: 

 So that what I am speaking of, relates principally" 

 to /Forces^er county and the parts adjacent, where 

 the number of merchants or store-keepers is but 

 small. You now and then meet with a cup of 

 good cj'der, in the season, here, though of a thin 

 ii-etting kinil. The beer they brew is excellent, 

 which they make in great quantities, ol'parsimons, 

 &c, or molasses; tor lew of them are come to malt- 

 ing their corn, of any kind, at which I was much 

 sur|)rised; as even the Indian grain, as I have 

 found experimentally, will produce an wholesome 

 and generous liquor. The meaner sort you find 

 little else but water amongst, when their cyder is 

 spent. Mush *' and milk, or molasses, homine, \ 

 wild fowl, and fish, are their principal diet, whilst 

 the water presented to you, by one of the bare- 

 footed liiraily, in a copious calabash, \ with an in- 

 nocent strain of good-breeding and heartiness, the 

 cake baking upon the hearth, and the prodigious 

 cleanliness of every thing around jou, must needs 

 put you in mind of the golden age, the times of an- 

 cient fi-ugality and purity. All over the colony, an 

 universal hospitality reigns; full tables and open 

 doors, the kind salute, the generous detention speak 

 somewhat like the old roast-beef ages of our fore- 

 fathers, and would almost persuade one to think 

 their shades were wafted into these regions, to en- 

 joy, with greater extent, the reward of their vir- 

 tues. § Prodigious numbers of planters are im- 

 mensely rich, and I think one of them, at this 

 time, numbers upon his lands near one thousand 

 wretches, that tremble with submissive awe at his 

 nod, besides while servants: their pastures blessed 

 with increasing flocks, whilst their yards and closes 

 boast hundreds of tame poultry, of every kind, and 

 their husbandly is rewarded with crops equal to all 

 their ambition or desires. 



The planters in Maryland have been so used by 

 the merchants, and so great a properly has been 

 made of them in their tobacco contracts, that a 

 new face seems to be overspread in<x the country'; 

 and, like their more northern neighbors, they in 

 great numbers have turned themselves to the rais- 

 ing of grain and live stock, of which they now be- 

 gin to send great quantities to the West-Indies. 

 And it is the blessing of this country and Virginia, 

 and fits It extremely for the trade it carries on, that 

 the planters can deliver their commodities at their 



*Made of Indian corn, or rice, pounded. 



t Indian meal, pounded or ground with the husks, and 

 frycd. Great homine has meat or fowl in it. 



J The shell of a fruit so called. Some of them hold 

 two quarts. 



§What is said here is most strictly true, for their 

 manner of living is quite gejierous and open: strangers 

 are sought alter with greediness, as they pass the coun- 

 try, to be invited. Their breakfast tables have gene- 

 rally the cold remains of the former day, hashed or fric- 

 asseed; coffee, tea, chocolate, venison-jwsty, punch, 

 and beer, or cyder, upon one board: their dinner, good 

 beef, veal, mutton, venison, turkeys and geese, wild and 

 tame, fowls boiled and roasted; and pei-haps somewhat 

 more, as pies, puddings, &c. (or dessert: suppers the 

 same, with some sinalf addition, and a good hearty cup 

 to precede a bed of down: and this is the constant life 

 they lead, and to this fare every comer is welcome. 



