as iron, w of the on both 1, earth.

reens in

Auseway d yellow gypsum ltar, pe

a moun

ce plants

he green unicorn n Sicily, 5. Cro marble, Pronti ; ns of all the Britrepetition he whole

the prin

! variety ed box:

museum

It was eman of taly. It ed to be

obe 2 celestial s! The e day of may be s bemis19 half

A most e figures through pears, in

every face, a most surprising degree of expression.
The globe is made of boxwood. This museum is visit-
ed by every one free of expense, though one of the mem-
bers must accompany those who wish to see it.

Appearance and Manners.-The citizens of Salem arc
stout, able bodied men, more so than any I have seen this
side the Blue ridge, and their ladies excel in beauty and
personal charms. This was observed by our friend and
national guest, Gen. La Fayette. Both men and women
have the true New England round full face, with large
black eyes, and a soft bending countenance. Their
manners are still more improved than the people of Bos-
ton. Besides the affability and ease of the Bostonians,
they have a dignity and stateliness peculiar to them.
In short, the gentlemen of Salem may be said to have
arrived to maturity in all those perfections, which are
derived from education and a knowledge of the world.
Most of them are largely engaged in commerce, and from
their great wealth, have it in their power to gratify an
inclination to improve by travelling. You find few gen-
tlemen in Salem, who have not visited almost every part
of the world, and who do not possess more general
knowledge than those of any other town in the Union.
It is, moreover, the seat of some of our first men: the
Crowninshields, Putnams, Storys, Endicotts, Peabodies,
Flints, Pickerings, and Judge White, uncle to the amia-
ble Mrs. Peabody, of Springfield; among which I must
not forget the celebrated Doctor Prince, one of the
brightest ornaments of the present age. He is a nephew to
the celebrated writer of that name, and is himself an au-
thor of distinction. It is surprising how virtue and knowl-
edge comes to have so little influence upon the world.
From the early accounts of Salem, I never thought of
that town without horror. These accounts had never
been softened, and when I heard of the reception given
Gen. Lafayette, I was astonished that any thing good
could come out of Salem. It is needless to repeat what
no American ought ever to forget, the superior address
of Judge Story on that occasion, and the memorable
words, "we could not forget them if we would, we
would not forget them if we could;" to which the people

31

replied, "no, never." This was worthy of Greece and Rome in their greatest splendour. Amongst many other instances, this is sufficient to show that educa tion alone is not able to remove prejudice. That to cure the errors imbibed in bur youth, travelling is inclispensable. In short, to judge accurately of men and things, they must be seen. I had heard one part of the history of Salem, that is, all the evil that ever it had done, with out any of the good: the same of Boston and Hartford. This had created a prejudice, which vanished the moment I came to see and judge for myself. The opinion I had formed of Salem in particular, was as diametrically op posite to the truth, as the darkness of midnight is to the meridian sun. Neither ought it to be decried for a delu. sion, which at one time pervaded and still pervades many parts of the world. I mean the delusion of witch. craft; it was the delusion, more properly speaking, of the age. How many of those supposed witches were burnt about the same time in England, a country famed at this time for refinement and liberality! with as much reason we might abjure Paris for the massacre of St. Bartholonew; and where is a place of more refinement? But whatever Salem has been heretofore, I was sensibly struck with admiration at their Virgilian eloquence, (if] may so express it,) and the well bred case of their man

History.-Salem was settled in 1626, by John Endi cott. He came from England, and was accompanied by three hundred people, including servants. I had the pleasure (and it was one I never shall forget,) of seeing a descendant of Mr. Endicott. Gen. Putnam of the rev. olution, of whom it was said "that he dared to lead where any dare to follow," was of this town. I never left a city or town with more regret.

Journey to Providence. After spending about a week with those truly interesting people, with whom I had for. med an universal acquaintance, notwithstanding the shortness of my visit, and resting a few days in Boston, I took my final leave of that city, and set out for Provi dence, Rhode Island. Providence lies westwardly from

Bo

in

fro

da

de

pr

Jote

dis

mi

boa гоз

fall

fel! tru

lou

as the

po

and

ged abc

dir

the

wer sub

cur

the

pre

and

for

to t

on t

the

stor

tha

to

the

COL

on

fice

Boston, between forty and fifty miles, which is travelled in about nine hours. This road being the common route from Boston to New-York, it requires several stages: daily to convey the travellers from Boston to Providence; where they take passage in the steam-boats, proceeding down Providence river into the sound, thence into East river, which brings them to New-York. The v distance from Providence, is upwards of two hundred miles, for which you pay fourteen dollars, including board. We met with nothing worthy of remark on the road to Providence, with the exception of the Pawtucket falls, and some straggling human beings, of whom my fellow travellers gave me a singular account; whether true or false I know not. It has so much of the marvellous in it, that I gave it no credit. The circumstance is as follows: as we were driving on pretty brisk, one of the passengers cried out, "yonder, look at the pilgrims," pointing towards the left. I turned my eyes that way, and saw a number (perhaps about twelve in all,) of rag.. ged people, great and small, walking up a steep hill, about three hundred yards from the road. They were dirty, and all bareheaded. To the inquiries respecting them, two of the gentlemen in the stage stated that "there were some hundreds of them in the woods; that they subsisted by rapine, and whatever they could kill or procure in the woods; that they lived in caves and amongst the rocks promiscuously; that they were regularly de scended from the first settlers in New-England. Their predecessors were part of those who settled Plymouth,. and not approving of the form of government drawn up for the church, separated from it, and betook themselves to the woods, to avoid the penalty of the laws imposed on them; and that, becoming enamoured of a vagrant life, they found means to subsist ever since." Such is the story of those persons we saw. My informants added that several attempts were made within their knowledge, to catch and tame them, but all attempts were vain; they ran with such swiftness that neither man nor horse could overtake them. Upon expressing my doubts upsubject so strange, the passengers said it was noticed by Morse, in his History of the United States.

eir man.

in Endianied by

had the

of seeing the rev to lead

I never

ta week had for ling the Boston, r Proviily from

on a

1

Upon reflection, I recollect a circumstance which goes to confirm this story, however fabulous it may appear. The circumstance is this: travelling once in Ohio, I put up at a small town, where, upon my arrival, at an inn, I was shewn into a room whore I found other travellers. After some introductory conversation, the travellers asked me if I bad heard the news? I replied that I had not. Upon which they gave me an astonishing account of a new sect that had just arrived in the neighbourhood of the town, where they were that evening encamped. The report was, that between thirty and forty men, women, and children, wretchedly dressed, all on foot, were travelling, it would seem, towards the lakes; that they called themselves pilgrims, were destitute of the means of travelling, and almost naked, being covered with old rags, skins, and pieces of old blankets, great part of which had been given to them out of charity, by the people of the country, as they travelled. That they all, men and women, slept promiscuously, and the filthiest looking human beings imaginable. The beards of the men were unshaven, and the whole of them crawling with vermin. That the people of the country gave them provisions, and before they were apprised of their situa tion, used to admit thera into their houses and suffer them to sleep on their floors; but their fame preceding them, the people were compelled, in their own defence, to refuse them the rites of hospitality. Such were the people who were said to have arrived in the suburbs of the town. A number of the citizens filling their pock. ets and pocket-handkerchiefs with biscuit, cheese, and bread, were then actually going to see them, upon which, one of the travellers joining the party, all set out to see the strange people. When they returned, they gave nearly the same account, making it rather worse. They stated "that the children were so wild, that no entreaty could prevail with them to approach near enough to receive the provision; and finally, they were obliged to throw it at thein, upon which, they snatched it up and swallowed it, with the cagerness of ravenous dogs." Some attempts were made to take those people up under the vagrant law, but the lawyers, when consulted, repli

ed

tic

tid

th

fr

co

T

L

th

im

Isl

op

or

ог

го aci

T did

bri

ον

of

Se fall

to

ma the

lis!

roc

vid

ry,

ct

ma

we

cal

the

'to

Sto

by the mey all,

filthiest of the ng with ethem ■r situa.

I suffer

ceding efence,

ere the

uburbs "pock

e, and

upon set out

l, they

worse.

no en

enough

obliged up and dogs."

under ,repli

ed that they were effectually protected by the Constitution of the United States, which guarantees free toleration to all sects of religion, and this being their tenets, they were free to enjoy it. These were said to be either from the State of Maine or New-Hampshire, (I do not recollect which.) They called themselves the pilgrims. Their tenets were continual travelling and trusting to the Lord, or to chance, for subsistence. I have not heard of them since they were said to be grossly ignorant and immoral.

We passed the celebrated falls of Pawtucket, about 12 o'clock, at a small village of the same name. Pawtucket river forms the line between Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Pawtucket village is on Rhode Island shore: opposite to which are the falls. The river is quite an ordinary stream, not larger than Elk River, in Virginia, or Little Sandy, in Kentucky. The water falls over a rock, which constitutes a natural dam, running quite across the bed of the river, in a semi-circular form. The fall is said to be about fifty feet, nearly perpen dicular. Of this, however, I was unable to judge, as the bridge, upon which we cross the river, is built partly over the falls, and by this means, the nature and beauty of the falls are almost wholly concealed. They arc seen to most advantage below the bridge. Though the falls were to me a matter of little curiosity, they seem to variegate the scenery of the place, which is highly ro. mantic. These falls are the means of much wealth to the citizens of Rhode-Island, by enabling them to establish sundry manufactories of cotton, iron, flour, &c. I rode over to see these factories during my stay at Providence. They are somewhat like the Waltham factory, but greatly inferior in the machinery. At Pawtucket the spinning part is performed by the movement of a machine, which requires the aid of two persons. They weave ticking, shirting, and sheeting. They also print calico, but it is miserable stuff. I found no person in the shops, or out of them, that was either able or willing 'to give any satisfactory information as to the capital stock, or quantity of cloth manufactured. One of those

31*