104 TRAVELS THROUGH NORTH AMERICA ! 
LETTER VII. 
Philadelphia gayer in the Winter than at any 
other Season.—Celebration in that City of 
General Washington's Birth Day.—Some 
Account of General Washington’s Person and 
of his Character.—Americans dissatisfied 
with his Conduct as President.—A Spirit of 
Dissatisfaction common amongst them. 
MY DEAR SIR, Philadelphia, February. 
PHILADELPHIA now wears a very dif¬ 
ferent aspect to what it did when I landed 
there in the month of November. Roth 
congress and the state assembly are sitting, 
as well as the supreme federal court. The 
city is full of strangers; the theatres are 
open ; and a variety of public and private 
amusements are going forward. On General 
Washington's birth day, which was a few days 
ago, this city was unusually gay *; every per- 
* On this day General Washington terminated his sixty- 
fourth year} but though not an unhealthy man, he seemed 
considerably older. The innumerable vexations he has met 
with in his different public capacities have very sensibly im¬ 
paired the vigour of his constitution, and given him an aged 
appearance. There is a very material difference, however, 
i n his looks when seen in private and when he appears in 
public full drest} in the latter case the hand of art makes up 
for the ravages of time, and he seems many years younger. 
Few persons find themselves for the first time in the pre¬ 
sence of General Washington, a man so renowned in the pre- 
