French, execrating the honeyed-promises of the great men in power, who had doomed me to the obscurity of Occoquan; and earnestly demanding intelligence of William, who occupied my waking and sleeping thoughts. The lively answer of Dufief will amuse those who understand French; and they who are ignorant of the language can find some linguist among their friends to interpret it.

"Mon cher Favori d'Apollon, j'ai été plus "faché que surpris d'apprende que vous "aviez fait un demarche inutile. Je ne voyois

rien de moins sur que ce dont vous vous étiez flatté; et c'étoit la parole du Colonel Albert,* qu'il falloit avoir pour être sûr d'une Lieu"tenance dans son Regiment. .

"Je vous aurois engagé amicalement à attendre parmi nous une Lettre, mais étant près des Vacances, je n'ai vu dans votre Voyage qu' un moyen agréable de passer un tems de desœuvrement.

J'ai pensé plus d'une fois à William, tant pour le lire moi-même, que pour vous en vendre, si je puis, beaucoup d'exemplaires. 66 Chacun a ses tribulations dans ce monde. "J'ai à present le chagrin de voir que mon "Commerce ne va aucunement: pour y faire diversion je me suis jetté dans le profon"deur de la Metaphisique avec Lock et Con"dillac..

[* Secretary Gallatin.]

"Adieu: portez vous bien. Je vous Salue

en Pope & en Shakespear.

"Votre affectioné,

"Le 5, d'Août, 1801."

"N. G. DUFIEF.

They who delight in walking, must, during the summer in Virginia, embrace the night to stimulate their muscular energies. The fierceness of the sun would suspend the steps of the hardiest Traveller; but amidst the freshness of the night, he breathes only odours in journeying through the woods.

No walk could be more delightful than that from Occoquan to Colchester, when the moon was above the mountains. You traverse the bank of a placid stream over which impend rocks, in some places bare, but more frequently covered with an odoriferous plant that regales the Traveller with its fragrance.

So serpentine is the course of the river that, the mountains, which rise from its bank, may be said to form an amphitheatre; and nature seems to have designed the spot for the haunt only of fairies; for here grow flowers of purple dye, and here the snake throws her enamelled skin. But into what regions, however apparently inaccessible, has not adventurous man penetrated? The awful repose of the night is disturbed by the clack of two huge mills, which drown the song and echoes of the

mocking-bird, who nightly tells his sorrow to the listening moon.

Art is here pouring fast into the lap of nature the luxuries of exotic refinement. After clambering over mountains, almost inaccessible to human toil, you come to the junction of the Occoquan with the noble river of the Potomac, and behold a bridge whose semielliptical arches are scarcely inferior to those of princely London. And on the side of this bridge stands a tavern, where every luxury that money can purchase is to be obtained at a first summons; where the richest viands cover the table, and where ice cools the Madeira that has been thrice across the ocean.*

The English bewail the want of convenient taverns in the United States; but the complaint is I think groundless; for I have found taverns in the woods of America, not inferior to those of the common market towns in England. My description of the tavern at the mouth of the Occoquan partakes of no hyperbolical amplification; the apartments are numerous and at the same time spacious; carpets of delicate texture cover the floors; and

[* Cf. La Rochefoucauld, Travels in North America. London, 1799, Vol. II, p. 588,—“ The war, in which all the commercial powers have been engaged for five years more or less, keeps their trade in a state of almost total stagnation. The United States are a kind of temporary depot of the produce of all countries. The commodities over and above the consumption of the United States are re-exported."]

glasses are suspended from the walls in which a Goliah might survey himself.

No man can be more complaisant than the landlord. Enter but his house with money in your pocket, and his features will soften into the blandishments of delight; call and your mandate is obeyed; extend your leg and the boot-jack is brought you.

Having slept one night at this tavern, I rose with the sun and journeyed leisurely to the mills, catching refreshment from a light air, that stirred the leaves of the trees. The morning was beautiful, and my walk produced a little Ode, which will serve as a counterpart to that I have already inserted.

MORNING AT OCCOQUAN

AN ODE

IN the barn the cock proclaims
That the East is streaked with gold;
Strutting round the feather'd dames,
Who the light with joy behold.

Sweet! oh! sweet the breath of morn!
Sweet the mocking-songster's strain;
Where the waving stalks of corn
Bend beneath the ripen'd grain.

Lo! the martins now forsake,
For a while their tender brood;
And the swallow skims the lake,
Each in search of winged food.

See the cottage chimneys smoke,
See the distant turrets gleam;
Lo! the farmer to the yoke,
Pairs his meek submissive team.

Here no negro tills the ground,
Trembling, weeping, woeful-wan;
Liberty is ever found,

On the banks of Occoquan!

But not the muses, nor walks, nor the melody of birds, could divert my mind from the publication of my Novel, which had been so long in the press at Philadelphia,

"Demanding life, impatient for the skies."

Suspense is ever an uncomfortable state of the mind; and I addressed Dufief in another letter, whose answer calmed my solicitude.

"A Philadelphie, ce 15, de Septembre,
"1801.

"Mon cher & ingénieux Romancier, "Monsieur Thompson m'a remis douze Ex"emplaires du volage William. Si le Public goute l'ouvrage comme j'ai fait les premieres pages (car mes occupations multiplieés ne m'ont pas encore permis d'en lire davantage) vous pouvez être assuré d'un prompt "débit.

"Je suis entousiasmé de votre francois. "Vous feriez honte en verité à beaucoup de