96 TRAVELS THROUGH NORTH AMERICA : 
LETTER VI. 
Arrival at Philadelphia.—Some Observations on 
the Climate of the Middle States,—Public 
Carriages prevented from plying between Bal¬ 
timore and Philadelphia by the Badness of the 
Roads.—Left Baltimore during Frost.-—Met 
with American Travellers on the Road.— 
Their Behaviour preparatory to setting off 
from an Inn.—Arrival on the Bantes of the 
Susquehannah.—Passage of that River when 
frozen over.—-Dangerous Situation of the 
Passengers.—-American Travellers at the 
Tavern on the opposite Side of the River.— 
Their noisy Disputations. 
MY DEAR SIR, Philadelphia, February, 
AFTER having spent some weeks in Wash¬ 
ington, George Town and Baltimore, I set 
out for this city, where I arrived four days ago. 
The months of October and November are 
the most agreeable, in the middle and south¬ 
ern states, of any in the year; the changes 
in the weather are then less frequent, and 
for the most part the air is temperate and the 
sky serene. During this year the air was so, 
mild, that when I was at George Town, even 
as late as the second week in December, it 
