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CHAPTER XII,

For modes of faith let graceless zealots fight;
His can't be wrong whose life is in the right:
In faith and hope the world will disagree,
But all mankind's concern is Charity.

POPE.

It was towards the end of October that I bade adieu to New York, and set out upon my long intended journey to the South. My first visit was of course to Philadelphia. A steamer hurried me from New York to New Brunswick, in the State of New Jersey, in about four hours. From the latter place, all the passengers were conveyed in a number of stage-coaches over a plain and uniform country, and on a very indifferent road to Trenton, a distance of twenty-seven miles, in the course of five hours. To enumerate how often the drivers indulged in a drop of the "inviting liquid" is a task I could not undertake with any degree of accuracy; but that it was an event of frequent occurrence I can assert without fear of con

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tradiction; so much so, that the patience of the travellers was often put to the test. Prayers, threats, oaths, and blustering, were all in vain the "knights of the whip" were insensible to remonstrance, or pretended to suffer under the influence of deafness. Three times the coaches were changed, and three times ten, at least, if I mistake not, the horses were watered, till at length we obtained a sight of the small town of Trenton, on the River Delaware.

It was early in the afternoon when we arrived; but, the steamboat having already taken her departure for Philadelphia, and the landlord of the hotel finding it in perfect accordance with his interest to keep the passengers over night, spared no pains to convince us that it was literally impossible to proceed any further that evening. For my part, I did not much object to remain till the following morning, although, to speak with the veracity of an historian, the prospects within doors were not altogether of the most promising character; but a young dandy from New York, one of the exquisites of Broadway, who had travelled in the same carriage over the rough road, made out a long list of grievances and objections as to the comforts and

ARRIVAL AT PHILADELPHIA.

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conveniences of the bed-room; and concluded a very eloquent appeal, by insisting on an immediate retreat from quarters absolutely irreconcileable with the ideas of a "perfumed and accomplished gentleman." So great was his perseverance, and so impressive were his oratorical powers, that a charitable coachman who happened to be present was at length induced to listen to a proposal, the tendency of which was to take us the same evening to Philadelphia. We took leave, in consequence, of our landlord, who was highly dissatisfied with the effect produced by the eloquence of the dandy.

It was midnight before we reached our place of destination. To find accommodation at such an unseasonable hour is a thing I have been taught by woful experience never to expect in America. Upon this occasion, I had to enjoy the benefit of a nocturnal drive through the streets of Philadelphia, from house to house, without a chance of success alone, and unacquainted with the place till daylight at length began to dawn upon me. An honest watchman (to the credit of the profession be it mentioned) at last took compassion on me, and indicated a house where I could at least, as he observed, get shelter for

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DISAGREEABLE QUARTERS.

the night. But rest was out of the question. A creaking bed, a broken pane of glass, with a pair of inexpressibles filling the gap, and a confined atmosphere, formed the sum total of my comforts. Add to this, the size of the room, more suited for a dwarf than a full-grown person; and it is, after all, but an imperfect picture of my lonely lodging. By way of a substitute for a candle, a dismal lamp was handed to me, from which issued a smell so obnoxious to the spiders and rats (co-occupants with me of this cage) that these little animals were actually taken ill with it, and kept in constant motion till the sun at length broke in upon them. To lie down in such a place, when exhausted with fatigue, is easily done; but the waking in the morning inspires reflexions of a serious stamp. A glance at the scattered objects around is enough to banish the inmate. I lost no time, as may be supposed, in taking leave of my comfortless quarters, and removed to Head's Hotel, the best, without exception, in the United States.

Philadelphia is, if I may be allowed the expression, a coquettish city. Like a young and agreeable lady, she takes peculiar care of her exterior appearance, endeavouring to please all. Every object appears as clean and bright

ASPECT OF PHILADELPHIA.

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as if a personage of note were expected. The exterior walls of the houses are washed and scoured; as to the streets, they are proverbially clean. Every thing announces wealth and comfort. There is certainly nothing extraordinarily grand; but on the other hand nothing mean. No palaces are observed; but, again, no wretched dwellings. Here the real and true republicanism is exemplified: it is as distant from democracy as from aristocracy. The inhabitant himself, the easy, though not purse-proud Quaker, bears the stamp of it. The only possible fault that might be advanced against the aspect of this city is its uniformity and sameness. This is perhaps fatiguing to eyes accustomed to the crooked streets of Amsterdam and Hamburg; but the latter are again as disagreeable to him who resides in the parallel streets of Berlin or Philadelphia.

The city is situated on a narrow stripe of land between the Rivers Delaware and Schuylkill, and built in squares. The streets are either in a line with the rivers, or at right angles with them: the former are numbered 1st, 2nd, 3rd street, and so on; the latter, again, bear the name of trees, such as chesnut, walnut, &c. The city is least in

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