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the great joy of the Doctor, who had not yet eaten half of what he wished to eat on board. sieur Lartigue had abundantly stocked himself with comfitures and wine; and I doubt not but the Doctor still remembers the poignancy of his preserved cherries, and the zest of his claret.

CHAP. II.

Projects at Charleston.-Solemnity the Mask of Ignorance.-Interview with a Planter and his Lady. -The Erudition of a Professor.-A new and desirable Acquaintance.-College Toils.-A Journey on foot from Charleston to Coosohatchie.

I Landed at Charleston with Doctor De Bow, who had clad himself in his black suit, and though a young man, wore a monstrous pair of spectacles on his nose. Adieu jollity! adieu laughter! the Doctor was without an acquaintance on a strange shore, and he had no other friend but his Solemnity to recommend him. It was to no purpose that I endeavoured to provoke him to laughter by my remarks; the Physician would not even relax his risible muscles into a smile.

The Doctor was right. In a few days he contrived to hire part of a house in Union-street; obtained credit for a considerable quantity of drugs; and only wanted a chariot to equal the best Physician in Charleston.

The Doctor was in possession of a voluble tongue; and I furnished him with a few Latin phrases, which he dealt out to his hearers with an air of profound learning. He generally concluded. his speeches with Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri!

Wishing for some daily pursuit, I advertised in one of the papers for the place of Tutor in a respectable family; not omitting to observe that the advertiser was the translator of Buonaparte's Campaign in Italy. The editor of the Gazette assured me of an hundred applications; and that early the next morning I should not be without some. His predictions were verified; for the following day, on calling at the office, I found a note left from a Planter who lived a mile from the town, desiring me to visit him that afternoon at his house. I went thither accordingly. Every thing indicated opulence and ease. Mr. Hreceived me with the insolence of prosperity. You are, said he, the person who advertised for the place of Tutor in a respectable family? I answered with a bow.

Planter. What, Sir, are your qualifications? Tutor. I am competently skilled, Sir, in the Latin and French languages, not unacquainted with Greek, conversant with Geography, and accustomed to composition in my vernacular idiom.

Planter. But if you possess all that there learning, how comes it you could not get into some College, or School.

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Tutor. Why, Sir, it is found even in Colleges that dunces triumph, and men of letters are disregarded by a general combination in favour of dulness.

Planter. Can you drive well, Sir ?*

Tutor. Drive, Sir, did you say? I really do not comprehend you.

Planter. I mean, Sir, can you keep your scholars in order?

Tutor. Yes, Sir, if they are left entirely to my direction.

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Planter. Ah! that would not be. Mrs. H—, who is a woman of extensive learning, (she lost a fine opportunity once of learning French, and only a few years ago could write the best hand of any lady in Charleston,) Mrs. H- would intend your management of the school. Tutor. Mrs. H—, Sir, would do me honour. Planter. Mrs. H—, Sir, is, in the real sense of the word, a woman of literature; and her eldest daughter is a prodigy for her age. She could tell at nine years old whether a pudding was boiled enough; and now, though only eleven, can repeat Pope's Ode on Solitude by heart. Ah! Pope was a pretty poet; my wife is very fond of Pope.

*The term drive, requires some little note explanatory to the English reader. No man forgets his original trade. An Overseer on a Plantation, who preserves subordination among the negroes, is said to drive well; and Mr. H- having once been an Overseer himself, the phrase very naturally predominated in his mind.

You have read him, I make no doubt, Sir. What is your opinion of his works?

Tutor. In his Rape of the Lock, Sir, he exhibits most of the vis imaginandi that constitutes the poet; his Essay on Criticism is scarcely inferior to Horace's Epistle to the Pisoes; his Satires

Planter. But I am surprised, Sir, you bestow no praise on his Ode on Solitude. Mrs. H who is quite a critic in those matters, allows the Ode on Solitude to be his best, his noblest, his sublimest production.

Tutor. Persuaded, Sir, of the critical acuteness of Mrs. H——, it is not safe to depart from her in opinion;-and if Mrs. Haffirms the Ode on Solitude to be the sublimest of Mr. Pope's productions, it would be rather painful than pleasant to undeceive her in opinion.

Planter. That is right, Sir, I like to see young men modest. What spelling-book do you

use?

Tutor. What spelling-book, Sir? Indeedreally-upon my word, Sir,-any-oh! Noah Webster's, Sir.

Planter. Ah! I perceive you are a New England man, by giving the preference to Noah Webster.

Tutor. Sir, I beg your pardon; I am from Old England.

Planter. Well, no matter for that, but Mrs. H-, who is an excellent speller, never makes

use of any other but Matthew Carey's spellingbook. It is a valuable work, the copyright is secured. But here comes Mrs. H herself.

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Mrs. H now entered, followed by a negro girl, who held a peacock's feather in her hand. Mrs. H- received my bow with a mutilated curtesy, and throwing herself on a sopha, called peremptorily to Prudence to brush the flies from her face. There was a striking contrast between the dress of the lady and her maid; the one was tricked out in all the finery of fashion; while the black skin of the other peeped through her garments.

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Well, my dear, said Mr. H, this man is the person who advertised for the place of tutor in a respectable family. A little conversation with him will enable you to judge, whether he is qualified to instruct our children in the branches of a liberal education.

Mrs. H. Why independent of his literary attainments, it will be necessary for him to produce certificates of his conduct. I am not easily satisfied in my choice of a tutor; a body should be very cautious in admitting a stranger to her family. This gentleman is young, and young men are very frequently addicted to bad habits. Some are prone to late hours; some to hard drinking; and some to Negur girls: the last propensity I could never forgive.

Mr. H. Yes, my dear, you discharged Mr. Spondee, our last tutor, for his intimacy with the

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