Ixxvi LIFE OF WILSON. 



these invaders of the sanctuary. Just about the town the pas- 

 ture fields and corn look well, but a few miles off, the country 

 is poor and ill cultivated. 



" The literati of New Haven received me with politeness 

 and respect; and after making my usual rounds, which occupi- 

 ed a day and a half, I set off for Middletown, twenty-two 

 miles distant. The country through which I passed was gene- 

 rally flat and sandy in some places whole fields were entirely 

 covered with sand, not a blade of vegetation to be seen, like 

 some parts of New Jersey. Round Middletown, however, 

 the country is really beautiful the soil rich; and here I first 

 saw the river Connecticut, stretching along the east side of the 

 town, which consists of one very broad street, with rows of 

 elms on each side. On entering I found the' street filled with 

 troops, it being muster day; and I counted two hundred and 

 fifty horse, and six hundred foot, all in uniform. The sides of 

 the street were choaked up with wagons, carts and wheel-bar- 

 rows, filled with bread, roast beef, fowls, cheese, liquors, bar- 

 rels of cider, and rum bottles. Some were singing out, " Here's 

 the best brandy you ever put into your head!" others in do- 

 zens shouting, " Here's the round and sound gingerbread! 

 most capital gingerbread!" In one place I observed a row of 

 twenty or thirty country girls, drawn up with their backs to a 

 fence, and two young fellows supplying them with rolls of 

 bread from a neighbouring stall, which they ate with a hearty 

 appetite, keeping nearly as good time with their grinders, as 

 the militia did with their muskets. In another place the crowd 

 had formed a ring, within which they danced to the catgut 

 scrapings of an old negro. The spectators looked on with as 

 much gravity as if they were listening to a sermon; and the 

 dancers laboured with such seriousness, that it seemed more 

 like a penance imposed on the poor devils, for past sins, than 

 mere amusement. 



" I waited on a Mr. A. of this town; and by him I was in- 

 troduced to several others. He also furnished me with a good 

 deal of information respecting the birds of New England. He 



