1S37] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



147 



Here stately pines unite their whispering heads. 

 And witli a solemn gloom embrown the shades. 

 See there a green savannali opens wide, 

 Thro' vvliich smooUi streams in wanton mazes glide; 

 Thick branching shrubs overhang the silver streams, 

 Which scarcely deign to admit the solar beams. 



And, indeed, I cannot help, every now and then, 

 takinsT him out ol' my pocket in tliis country; lor 

 his descripiive part is just and fine, ami such a 

 warmili ol" sentiment, such a delicate vein ol" po- 

 etry, such an unaliected piety runs !.In--ough the 

 whole, that I esteem it one of the best pieces ex- 

 tant. This, wiih my other dearer treasure, and 

 my Euclid, generally relieve me from a too greht 

 sameness ol" prospect, or Irequency of the same 

 objects. 



Here, haviiirr brounht several bottles of wine 

 for the purpose, we dranic success to Britain, hia 

 majesty's heahh, and that of the right honorable 

 profirietor, whose great and good qualities have 

 endeared him much to the people o( this colony. 



There certainlv cannot be a greater grievance to 

 a traveller from one colony to another, tiian the dif- 

 ferent values which their paper money bears; for if 

 he is not studious to get rid of the money of one 

 place before he arrives at another, he is sure to be 

 a considerable loser. The New England money, 

 for instance, which is excessively bad, and where, 

 to pay a six-pence or three-pence, they tear a shil- 

 ling bill to pieces, is much beneath the New York 

 money in value, and will hardly be got off there 

 without some person is going into the first named 

 province. New York and Pennsylvania often dif- 

 ier about the dignity of their bills, and they fall and 

 rise in the ditierent circulations they take. The 

 Maryland money is generally pretty good, but of 

 a low value, and this, again, is not taken on the 

 western shore of the Chesapeake, where only gold 

 and silver is current. North Carolina is still lower 

 than Maryland, and South Carolina worst of all; 

 for their money there is so low as seven ior one 

 sterling, so that it makes a prodigious sound; and 

 not only so, but even' private traders there coin 

 money, if I may use the expression, and give out 

 small printed or written circulating notes, from 

 six-pence to a pound, and upwards; in which they 

 are, no doubt, considerable gainers, not only by the 

 currency of so much ready money, without much 

 expense in making it, but also by loss, wearing 

 out, or other accidents. In Georgia, again, this 

 money never passes, for ail their bills are of sterl- 

 ing value, and will pass all over America as well 

 as bank notes. There are, i find, some conside- 

 rable gains and stockjobbing in America, by the 

 issuing out, and calling in, their new and old bills, 

 which I shall not think proper to touch upon. 



There are very considerable numbers of Roman 

 catholics in Maryland, particularly about the bor- 

 ders of Pennsylvania; but the bulk af the colony is 

 of the episcopal persuasion, with a grand mixture 

 of divers other sects. The women are very hand- 

 some in general, and most notable housewives; 

 every thing wears the marks of cleanliness and 

 industry in their houses; and their behavior to 

 their husbands and families is very edifying. You 

 cannot help observincr, however, an air of reserve, 

 and somewhat that looks at first, to a stranger, like 

 unsociableness, which is barely the efii^ct of living 

 at a great distance from frequent society, and their 

 thorough attention to the duties of their stations. 

 Tlaeir amusements are quite innocent, and within 



the circle of a plantation or too, they exercise all 

 the virtues that can raise one's opinion of the too 

 light sex. 1 would premise here, that I am not 

 writing any thing yet of the more refined part of 

 the colony, but what I say now is confined to a 

 tract of about two hundred miles; lor in some 

 other parts you will find many coquettes and prudes, 

 as well as in other places; nor, perhaps, may the 

 lap-dog or monkey be forgotten. Hail delightlui 

 sex! would you divest yourselves of but some few 

 (bibles; would you attend somewhat more to the 

 knowledge of yourselves, and turn your eyes in- 

 wards; had not the rolling chariot, the shining 

 ring, the Indian exotics, tlie Frenchified afi'ecta- 

 lion, the gay coxcomb, more charms ihan know- 

 ledge, decency, prudence, discretion and merit, 

 how happy would you be! Eut to roll on in a 

 continued round of senseless impertinence, will 

 never, never, raise you to the character or situa- 

 tion of these American wives. My God! what a 

 dilierent view has the representation! the one a 

 piece where every figure on the canvass glows 

 with native ease, grace and proportion; no artful 

 heightnings. no absurd conceit, has debased the 

 great designer, nature. On the contrary, turn your 

 eyes this way; what figures are these? From what 

 distant clime were they imported ? From the region 

 of sickly whim, and the designer sure, like Rabe- 

 lais, was resolved to paint some beings that vvere^ 

 too odd to exist any where else. What a load of 

 ornaments, and a glare of colors, that quite hurt 

 the eye in lookingon the piece! nor is there one 

 truly smiling stroke, one grace, nor one beauty in 

 the whole delineation. 



What's female beauty, but an air divine. 

 Through which the soul's unfading lustres shine? 

 She, like a sun, irradiates all between; 

 Tlie body charms, because the mind is seen. 



Incekt. AUCT. 



I .should busy myself more in the descriptive 

 part of my journal whilst in this colony, did I not 

 reserve myself, till myarriv-al in Virginia; for there 

 is such a connection between the trade and nature 

 of the soil, and the commodities they raise and ex- 

 port, that one general account will serve for both. 

 Nor do the two countries appear much of a differ- 

 ent form; for in the uplands of Maryland, they are 

 as mountainous, and abound in valleys as much 

 as they do in Virginia. For this reason, I waive 

 those matters till I arrive there, and insist so much 

 on the manners and tempers of the inhabitants and 

 the genius of this country. 



They have some considerable seminaries of 

 learning in the two colonies; but Williamsburg 

 College in Virginia is the resort of all the children, 

 whose parents can afibrd it; and there they live in 

 an academical manner; and, really, the masters 

 were men of great knowledge and discretion at 

 this time; though it cannot vie with those excel- 

 lent universities, for I tnust call them so, of the 

 Massachusetts; for the youth of these more indul- 

 gent settlements, partake pretty much of the petit 

 ■maitre kind, and are pampered much more in soft- 

 ness and ease than their neighbors more north- 

 ward. Those that cannot afford to send thefr 

 children to the better schools, send them to the 

 country school-masters, who are generallj'' ser- 

 vants, who, after serving their terms out, set up 

 for themselves, and pick up a livelihood by that, 

 and writing letters, and keeping books for their 



