1800; ] 
veffel, but was tempted to enter into the 
employ of an American merchant. by the 
prolpec& of better pay. ‘The Irifhman, in 
‘addition to this motive, was induced to 
change matters by the defre of liberating 
himfelf from the harfh ulage which he met 
with in the Britifh fervice. So common is 
the defire, that the maflers of Britifh vef 
fels in American ports very commonly 
either hic off ata diftance from the fhore, 
or throw their feamen into prifon, to pre- 
vent their efcaping trom them. But, not- 
withftanding this, and the rigour of the 
law, it is faid, that one half of the American 
veflels are navigated by the failors of Bri- 
tain or Ireland; tor the native Americans 
generally think it more profitable to plow 
the land than the ocean. Three of our 
failors out of the fix were Americans, and 
have only feven or eight dollars a piece. 
One of them was pofleffzd of ten or twelve 
hundred pounds ; but having been on 
board anEnglifh man of war, and contracted 
thofe habits which are fo common to men 
in that fituation, a cenfiderable part of it 
was foon diffipated, But no man in our 
fhip had fo much employment as the cook, 
whofe bufinefs it was to wait upon the 
paflengers: his wages were only fix dol- 
Jars ; but, on account of perquifites attend- 
ing his jituation, it was confidered to be 
as lucrative as any; but being under 
twenty-one, his gains went to his father, 
As an affiltant to the cook, was a poor lad, 
who, having neither father nor mother, 
came the day hetore we failed, almoft nak- 
ed, from a village near Bath, offering his 
fervices to the captain of our fhip. He 
could get bread, but no cloathing, by dri- 
ving the plow, and frightening the birds 
from the farmer’s corn; and having re- 
folved to try. whether the fea would reward 
him better than the land, Captain Webb 
happened to be the firft man he met with 
as he was ftrolling along the quay at Brif- 
tol. Probably this poor Britith outcatt 
will one day becomean happy and indepen- 
dent citizen of America. ; 
There feemed to be among our men a 
general difpofition to abandon the fea, as 
foon as they had faved enough to become 
cultivators of the foil. Iwo hundred 
dollars theyveckoned would be fufficient to 
purchafe a farm in New England, andeto 
maintain a man till the produce of his 
landthould afford him a fubfiftence. Our 
mate (a young man of twenty-five) has a 
farm in that part of the State of Maffa- 
chufetts, which is called the Province of 
Maine, at the diftance of about thirty miles 
from the fea. It is the cuftom of New 
England, it feems, for a parent who has 
many children, to.purchafe a traét of new 
MONTHLY MAG, NO, 56. 
~ Letters from Mr. Toulmin of Kentucky. 
tivate in peace the grateful foil. 
117 
land for the older ones, and to give up the 
management of his owneftate to the young- 
eft fon, referving to himfelf a maintenance 
out of it; for, accordingto the juft and equal 
laws of the country, all the children are 
placed upon a level; and the parent would 
fhudder at the thought of making five chil- 
dren flaves or beggars for the lake of making 
the fixth a gentleman. ‘The price of land 
in the neighbourhood to which our mate 
belongs, is about one dollar, 1. e. 4s. 6d. 
for aftatuteacre. It is reckoned very fer- 
tile for that northern fituation: but as the 
trees are large and very clofe together, it 
is expenfive to clear the ground. He gives 
10S. currency, 7s. 6d. fterling, anacre for 
cutting the trees down, which a good 
workman will doin about two days. ‘The 
trees are then left upon the ground, from 
July to the following {pring, when they are 
burnt to afhes. The expence of this is 
between two and three dollars an acre. 
The land is then ready to receive the In- 
dian corn, without any farther preparation. 
The produce is nearly fufficient to defray 
the expence of cleaning the land. The 
fecond year they fow wheat, but without 
making ufe of the plow. The wheat is 
fown upon the land, whilft in the ftate in 
which it is after the ftalks of the Indian 
corn are rooted up; and the grain is co- 
vered with the hoe. To this farm he 
hopes to retire in a year or two from the 
viciffitudes of a fea-faring life, and to cul- 
He has 
a wife, who is under fifteen years of age; 
for early marriages are common in Ame- 
rica. Large families, therefore, are fre- 
quently to be met with. He mentioned 
to me an old couple, whom he knew, wha 
lived to fee four hundred and fifty de- 
{cendants. 
(End of the firft Letter.) 

To the Editar of the Monthly Mavazine. 
SER, ‘ 
OUR correfpondent, Mr. Singleton, 
in the Magazine ofaft month, is 
defirous to know whether the paflage he 
quotes from the ninth book of the ZEneid, 
O Rutuli! mea fraus omnis 3 mibil the nec aufus 
Nec potuit : 
is the only one which occurs in the Latin 
claffics, where two negatives do not con- 
ftitute an affirmative. I can affure him, it 
is by no means fo: there are feveral others 
of fimilar interpretation, which I have met 
with in the common courfe of reading, 
though the two following are all that Ican 
quote at the moment. 
Non patiemur duos Caios, vel duosNerones, 2 
hac quidem gloria fame frui. Prin. Nat.Hift. 
1, 36, p. 363, edit. Bipone, 
Nunquam, 
4 
