Hi 
MEMOIR OF 
of the legislature ; the wise men of Maryland stared ai>^. 
gaped, from bench to bench ; hut, having never heard 
such a thing as one hundred and twenty dollars for a boofc 
the ayes for subscribing were none ; and so it was unau*' 
mously determined in the negative. Nowise discourage^ 
by this sage decision, I pursued my route through tb* 
tobacco fields, sloughs, and swamps of this illiterate coriit* 
of the State, to Washington, distant thirty-eight miles ! 
and in my way opened fifty-five gates. I was forewarnfii 
that I should meet with many of these embarrassmentsi 
and I opeTied twenty-two of them with all the patienff 
and philosophy I could muster ; hut, when I still fouii^ 
them coming thicker and faster, iny patience and philo* 
Sophy both abandoned me, and I saluted every new gal* 
(which obliged me to plunge into the mud to open ib^ 
with perhaps less Christian resignation than I ought t* 
have done. The negroes there are very numerous, ai>^ 
most wretchedly clad : their whole covering, in mauf 
instances, assumes the appearance of neither coat, waisb 
coat, nor breeches, but a motley mass of coarse, dirty 
woollen rags, of various colours, gathered up about thent' 
When I stoiiped at some of the negro huts to inquire th* 
road, both men and women huddled up their filthy bundlr* 
of rags around them, with both arms, in order to cov^* 
their nakedness, and came out, very civilly, to she'* 
me the way.” 
“ I mentioned to you, in my last, that the streets of Not' 
folk were in a most disgraceful state ; but I was informal' 
that, some time before, they had been much worse ; tba* 
at one time the news-carrier delivered his pajiers from * 
boat, whieli he poled along through the mire ; and tb** 
a party of sailors, having nothing better to do, actuary 
lanched a ship’s long boat into the streets, rowing alort! 
with four oars through the mud, while one stood at tb* 
how, heaving the lead, and singing out the depth.” 
“ The general features of North Carolina, where 
