LETTER III.

DEAR FRANK,

THE first settlers of Virginia generally located larger tracts than those to the north, because they saw more clearly its prospective value, or that the early introduction of slaves enabled them to cultivate more extensively. Hence arose the distinction subsisting between the two parts of the Union-the one being occupied by farmers, cultivating farms, the other by planters, cultivating plantations. To this day, the land in the occupancy of individuals lies mostly in large tracts, some of them containing several thousand acres. In one of my late excursions previous to setting out on my grand tour, I spent several days at the seat of one of these planters; who, by the way, was a lady, and such a one as you will not see every day, Frank. In the place of general description, which is for the most part vague and unsatisfactory, take the following picture; which, however, is a favourable one, as the establishment was one of the most liberal and hospitable of any in Virginia.

The master of the house, at least the gentleman who officiated as such, was a son-in-law of the family, who dressed exceedingly plain, and who, I soon found, was a well-educated, lively, good-humoured, sensible man; though if I were to tell you, and

you to

tell your good lady-aunt Kate, that he never drank any thing but water, she would no more believe it, than she believes in the story of parson P's amorous propensities. A stranger here, is just as much at home as a child in its cradle. Indeed I have heard a story of a gentleman from our part of the world, who stopt here, en passant, with his wife, carriage, and servants; forgot in a little time that he was not at home, and staid more than half a year! Nay, so far did this delusion extend, that the lady visiter forgot herself so completely, as to find fault with the visits of the neighbouring country squires to the hospitable mansion, and to refuse to sit at table with them! In short, I am credibly informed, she quarrelled with a most respectable old silver family teapot, which still keeps its stand on the breakfast table, and out of which I used to drink tea with infinite satisfaction,-because it was not gold, such as they used at her father's.

A day's residence here convinces you that you occasion no restraint; consequently that you are welcome; and therefore you feel all the freedom of home. Whenever I see the servants running about —the house in the hurry of preparation, and the furniture turned topsy-turvy on my arrival, I make my visit very short; because I know by my own experience, that people never like what gives them trouble, and however they be inclined to a hearty welcome, must inevitably be glad of my departure. Here the ladies attend, as usual, to their own amusements and employments. You are told the carriage or horses are at your service-that you can fish, or hunt, or

lounge, or read, just as you please; and every one makes his choice.

The plantation is large; containing, I believe, bebetween nine and ten thousand acres; and several hundred negroes are attached to it. Some of the females are employed in taking care of the children, or in household occupations; others in the fields; while the old ones enjoy a sort of otium cum dignitate, at their quarters. These quarters consist of log cabins, disposed in two rows on either side a wide avenue, with each a little garden, in which they raise vegetables. Whitewashed and clean, they exhibited an appearance of comfort, which, in some measure, served to reconcile me to bondage. At the door of one of these, as we walked this way one evening, stood a little old negro, with his body bent in a curve, and his head as white as snow, leaning on what an Irishman would call a shillalah. He was the patriarch of the tribe; and enjoyed in his old age a life of per-. fect ease. You might hear him laugh half a mile; and he seemed to possess a full portion of that unreflecting gayety, which, happily for his race, so generally falls to their portion, and perhaps makes them some amends for the loss of freedom. Relying on their master for the supply of all their wants, they are in a sort of state of childhood,-equally exempt with children, from all the cares of providing support and subsistence for their offspring. This old man is of an unknown age; his birth being beyond history or tradition; and having once been in the service of Lord Dunmore, he looks down with a dignified

contempt on the plebeian slaves around him. The greatest aristocrat in the world, is one of these fellows who has belonged to a great man,—I mean with the exception of his master.

The harvest commenced while I was here; and you would have been astonished, to see what work they made with a field of wheat, containing, I was told, upwards of five hundred acres. All hands

turned out; and by night it was all in shocks. An army of locusts could not have swept it away half so soon, had it been green. I happened to be riding through the fields at twelve o'clock, and saw the women coming out singing, gallantly bonneted with large trays, containing ham and corn-bread,-a food they prefer to all other. It was gratifying to see them enjoying this wholesome dinner; for since their lot seems almost beyond remedy, it was consoling to find it mitigated by kindness and plenty. I hope, and trust, that this practice is general; for though the present generation cannot be charged with this system of slavery, they owe it to humanity-to the reputation of their country-they stand charged with an awful accountability to him who created this difference in complexion, to mitigate its evils as far as possible.

We, in our part of the world, are accustomed to stigmatize Virginia and the more southern states, with the imputed guilt of the system of slavery which yet subsists among them,-although records are still extant which show that it was entailed upon their ancestors by the British government; which encourVOL. I-C 2

aged the importation of slaves into these colonies, in spite of the repeated remonstrances of the colonial legislatures. The present generation found them onTM its hands, and the great majority of planters with whom I conversed, lament an evil which cannot be cured by immediate emancipation-which seems almost to baffle the hopes of futurity--and which, while it appears as a stain on the lustre of their freedom, seems almost beyond the reach of a remedy. The country west of the mountains has few slaves: and if I ever get there, I shall attempt, perhaps, to sketch the difference of character and habits originating in that circumstance.

I left this most respectable and hospitable mansion, after staying about a week; at the end of which I began to be able to account for the delusion of the gentleman and lady I told you about in the first part of this letter. I began to feel myself mightily at home; and, as the Virginians say, felt a heap of regret at bidding the excellent lady and her family good by. She had two little daughters not grown up, who are receiving that sort of domestic education at home, which is very common in Virginia. They perhaps will not dance better than becomes a modest woman, as some ladies do-nor run their fingers so fast over a piano-nor wear such short petticoats as our town-bred misses; but they will probably make amends for these deficiencies, by the chaste simplicity of their manners-the superior cultivation of their minds, and the unadulterated purity of their hearts. They will, to sum up all in