102 TRAVELS THROUGH NORTH AMERICA: 
At the American taverns, as I before men¬ 
tioned, all sorts of people, just as they happen 
to arrive, are crammed together into one 
room, where they must reconcile themselves 
to each other the best way they can. On the 
present occasion, the company consisted of 
about thirteen people, amongst whom were 
some eminent lawyers from Virginia and the 
southward, together with a judge of the su¬ 
preme court, who were going to Philadel¬ 
phia against the approaching sessions : it was 
no t, however, till after I quitted their com¬ 
pany that I heard w ho they were; for these 
hind of gentlemen in America are so very 
plain, both in their appearance and manners, 
that a stranger would not suspect that they 
were persons of the consequence which they 
really are in the country. There were also - 
in the company two or three of the neigh¬ 
bouring farmers, boorish, ignorant, and ob¬ 
trusive fellows. It is scarcely possible for a 
dozen Americans to sit together without 
quarrelling about politics; and the British 
treaty, which had just been ratified, now 
gave rise to a long and acrimonious debate. 
The farmers were of one opinion, and gab¬ 
bled away for a long time; the lawyers and 
the judge w ere of another, and in turns they 
rose to answer their opponents with all the 
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