
1800. } 
going to fet out upon the circuit. He 
fays, he has feldom any number of crimi- 
nal caufes. Molt of them are for horfe- 
ftealing ; none for highway-robbery ; and 
the few that are for houfe-breaking are 
for offences committed in the towns. The 
prices of ftocks on the a1ft of Auguft were, 
fix per cents. eighteen and a half; three 
per cents. ten ; deferred ten-nineths ; full 
fliares in the Bank of the United States 
five per cent. advance. There is, you fee, 
an office opened in London for tranfacting 
bufinefs of this fort. This country will 
certainly net engage in a war unlefs they 
are driven to it by the conduct of one 
party, or particularly invited to it by the 
other. They are ardent for the French ; 
but they with for peace. If, however, they 
fight, they will fight with vigour. 
Frederickfburg upon the Rappabhaunab, 
Virginia, 22d of Aug. 1793. 
x 

LETTERIII. 
CANNOT but feel a folicitude left 
your anxiety on our account, and your 
expectations of hearing from us, fhould 
have met with a difappointment, in confe- 
quence of the uncertainty arifing from the 
unhappy ftate of warfare in which the 
European powers areengaged. We wrote, 
however, immediately on our arrival by a 
merchant-fhip, and again from Frede- 
rickfburg by the laft packet. We left that 
town on Auguft the 26th, in a waggon for 
Winchefter, behind the Blue Ridge in 
Virginia: the diftance about ninety miles, 
This carriage took us all together with 
our baggage. I fometimes rode in the 
waggon, and fometimes on horfeback, 
This mode of travelling is very well fuit- 
ed to the ftate of the roads, and is lefs 
uncomfortable than you would imagine ; 
indeed there was nothing uncomfortable in 
it, but the circumftance of its taking us 
rather more than four days to go ninety 
miles. A caravan, however, fuch as are 
ufed for ftage-coaches in this country, 
would be equally fafe, and, taking no bag- 
gage, would be more expeditious. ‘The 
accommodations on the road are very in- 
different ; but, by having a ham with us, 
and fome bottles of good beer, and by 
having the precaution to have a couple of 
fowls dreffed for the next meal, when we 
came toa good inn, we could ftop at a fpring 
* uponthe road, and make avery hearty din- 
nerin the waggon, ‘Lhe worft circumitance 
was, that till we croffed the ridge (where 
the lands are fettled more fully, and by 
more induftrious people) we could not 
procure more than one bed in a night; but 
this evil was remedied by our having.bed- 
ding enough with us, for Mr,mcmem, the 
Letters from Mr. Toulmin of Kentucky, | 
223 
children, and the fervant. But, I am told, 
we came the worft road. According to 
the cuftom of the country eaftward of the 
ridge, we were obliged to wait till our 
bread-+was made and baked, before we 
could have any. breakfaft ; to remedy 
which evil, I commonly rode.on before the 
reft of the company, and got matters in 
forwardnefs. Though the houfes were 
feldom better, if fo good, as Smith’s Harp*, 
yet we were charged fifteen pence, about 
eleven pence fterling, for our breakfaft 
each, except the children; but then we had 
tea, coffee, and a mutton-chop, broiled 
ham, or fome fuch thing: one day, indeed, 
apple-pye was added. Since I have been 
inPenntylvania, I havepaid, at aneat houfe, 
but three fhillings, Peanfylvania currency, 
which is equal to one fhilling and nine-pence 
half-penny fterling, for.a breakfaft of tea 
and cakes; a dinner of -boiled beef and 
broiled fowl], grog, and half a peck of oats. 
At every public houfe in this country, 
Virginia, Maryland, and Pennfylvania, all 
the travellers fit down together, and like- 
wife the mafter and miftrefs of the houfe. 
I {peak only as far as [have feen. Thereis 
feldom any proper fupper, either inapublie - 
or in a private houfe ; but they have often 
a little meat at tea, as wellas at breakfaft. 
Upon arriving at Winchefter, I waited 
upon Mr. Belmain, the epifcopal minifter, 
a moft friendly and liberal man, to whom 
I was introduced by a letter from Mr. 
Madifon, who procured lodgings for us, 
faying, at the fame time, that if his wifehad 
not been confined by illnefs, he thould 
have requefted us to be his vifitors. 
I left my wife and children at Winchef- 
ter, finding our fituation there very com- 
fortable, and other friends, to whom we 
had been introduced, expreffing hopes that 
fhe would continue there. This town con- 
tains, I fuppofe, three or four thoufand in- 
habitants. I proceeded alone to the Po- 
towmac; the navigation of which, it is 
expected, will be completed in eighteen 
months ; though’ they ufe it now as far as 
within eight or ten miles of the Federal 
city. From thence I proceeded to Ha-~ 
gar’s Town, in Maryland, a few miles 
north of the Potowmac, a good and plea- 
fant town ; and through Chamberfburg and 
Shippawfburg, containing each ten ‘or 
twelve hundred inhabitants, to Carhifle, 
which contains, I fuppofe, between two 
and three thoufand. The whole Valley, 
extending through Virginia, Maryland,and 
Penfylvania, confiits, in- general, ef fine, 
fertile land, fuch as is reckoned in Ken- 

* A paltry inn between Taunton and Ho- 
niton, in Devonshire. 
tucky 
oe 
= SS 


