/ 
grave yards, 177 
\vheii some English Rnd French vessels of war 
Were lying in Hampton roads, and the sailors, 
from each, on shore> the whole people were 
up and ready to join them, on the one side or 
the other, in open contest; but the mayor drew 
out the militia, and sent them to their respec¬ 
tive homes. 
Here are two churches, one for episcopa¬ 
lians, the other for methodists. In the for¬ 
mer, service is not performed more than once 
in two or three weeks, and very little regard 
is paid by the people in general to Sunday. In-* 
deed, throughout the lower parts of Virginia, 
that is, between the mountains and the sea, 
the people have scarcely any sense of religion, 
and in the country parts the churches are all 
falling into decay. As I rode along, I scarcely 
observed any one that was not in a ruinous con¬ 
dition, with the windows broken, and doors 
dropping oil' the hinges, and lying open to the 
pigs and cattle wandering about the woods ; 
yet many of these were not past repair. The 
churches in Virginia, excepting such as are in 
towns, stand for the most part in the woods, 
retired from any houses, and it does not appear 
that any persons are appointed to pay the 
smallest attention to them. 
A custom prevails in Norfolk, of private in¬ 
dividuals holding grave yards, which are look¬ 
ed upon as a very lucrative kind of property, the 
VOL. I. N 
tot* 
r" 
w' 
