LIFE OF WILSON. 
XCVll 
for this person himself; and to take down, from his mouth, what 
he knows on the subject ; thinking it a pity, as he says, that the 
knowledge he possesses should die with him. But he has entrusted 
the business to me ; and I have promised him an account of our 
interview. 
“ All the subscribers I have gleaned here amount to seventeen. 
I shall set oflF, on finishing this letter, to Georgetown and Alexan- 
dria. I will write you, or some of my friends, from Richmond.” 
To Mr. D. H. MILLER. 
Charleston, Fehruary 22, 1809. 
Dear Sir, 
I have passed through a considerable extent of 
country since I wrote you last ; and met with a variety of adven- 
tures, some of which may perhaps amuse you. Norfolk turned out 
better than I expected. I left that place on one of the coldest 
mornings I have experienced since leaving Philadelphia. 
^ ^ ^ * 
“ I mentioned to you in my last that the streets of Norfolk 
were in a most disgraceful state ; but I was informed that some 
time before, they had been much worse; that at one time the news- 
carrier delivered his papers from a boat ; which he poled along 
through the mire; and that a party of sailors, having nothing bet- 
ter to do, actually launched a ship’s long-boat into the streets, row- 
ing along with four oars through the mud, while one stood at the 
bow, heaving the lead, and singing out the depth. 
“ I passed through a flat, pine covered country, from Norfolk 
to Suflblk, twenty-four miles distant; and lodged, in the way, in 
the house of a planter, who informed me that every year, in August 
and September, almost all his family are laid up with the bilious 
fever; that at one time forty of his people were sick ; and that of 
2B 
VOL. IX. 
