( 2 7 6 ) 



to one half of a forry ware-houfe, formerly fet apart 

 for divine fervice, and was fcarce appropriated for 

 that purpofe, when it was removed to a tent : 

 what pleafure, on the other hand, muft it give to 

 fee this future capital of an immenfe and beautiful 

 country increafing infenfibly, and to be able, not 

 with a fjgh like Virgil's hero, when fpeaking of his 

 native country con fumed by the flames, et campus 

 ubi '•Trojue fuit^ but full of the belt grounded hopes 

 to fay, th >t this wild and defert place, at prefent 

 almoft entirely covered over with canes and trees, 

 fhall one day, and perhaps, that day is not very 

 far off, become the capital of a large and rich co- 

 lony. 



Your Grace will, perhaps, aflc me upon what 

 thefe- hopts are founded ? They are founded on 

 the fixation of this city on the banks of a navi- 

 gable river, at the diftance of thirty three leagues 

 from the fea, from which a veflfel may come up 

 in twenty -four hours ; on the fertility of its foil 5 

 on the mildnds and wholefomenefs of the climate, 

 in thirty degrees north latitude ; on the induflry 

 of the inhabitants on its neighbourhood to Mexi- 

 co, the Havanna, the fined iflands of America, 

 and laft y, to the Englifh colonies. Can there be 

 any thing more requifite to render a city flourifh- 

 ing ? Home and Paris had not fuch confiderable 

 beginnings, were not built under fuch happy 

 aufpices, and their founders met not with thofe ad- 

 vantages on the Seine and the Tiber, which we 

 have found on the MiffifTippi, in comparifon of 

 which, thefr two rivers are no more than brooks. 

 But before I -ng ge in the defcription of what is 

 curious in this phce, I mail, to preferve due order, 

 rdurne my journal where I left off. 



1 iiayed 



