

cxxiv LIFE OF WILSON. 



terprise, courage and industry of its inhabitants. Within the 

 memory of a middle aged man, who gave me the information, 

 there were only two log huts on the spot where this city is 

 now erected; while the surrounding country was a wilderness, 

 rendered hideous by skulking bands of bloody and ferocious In- 

 dians. Now numerous excellent institutions for the education 

 of youth, a public library, and a well endowed university, un- 

 der the superintendence of men of learning and piety, are in 

 successful operation. Trade and manufactures are also rapidly 

 increasing. Two manufactories for spinning cotton have lately 

 been erected; one for woollen ; several extensive ones for weav- 

 ing sail cloth and bagging; and seven ropewalks, which, ac- 

 cording to one of the proprietors, export, annually, ropeyarn to 

 the amount of 150,000 dollars. A taste for neat, and even ele- 

 gant, buildings is fast gaining ground; and Lexington, at pre- 

 sent, can boast of men who do honour to science, and of fe- 

 males whose beauty and amiable manners would grace the first 

 circles of society. On Saturday, April 14th, I left this place 

 for Nashville, distant about 200 miles. I passed through Ni- 

 cholasville, the capital of Jessamine county, a small village be- 

 gun about ten years ago, consisting of about twenty houses, 

 with three shops and four taverns. The woods were scarcely 

 beginning to look green, which to me was surprising, having 

 been led by common report to believe, that spring here is much 

 earlier than in the lower parts of Pennsylvania. I must further 

 observe, that instead of finding the woods of Kentucky covered 

 with a profusion of flowers, they were, at this time, covered 

 with rotten leaves and dead timber, in every stage of decay 

 and confusion; and I could see no difference between them and 

 our own, but in the magnitude of the timber, and superior rich- 

 ness of the soil. Here and there the white blossoms of the 

 Sanguinaria canadensis, or red root, were peeping through 

 the withered leaves: and the buds of the buckeye, or horse 

 chesnut, and one or two more, were beginning to expand. 

 Wherever the hackberry had fallen, or been cut down, the cat- 





