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Lambertus; but an acquaintance with these writers, however it may display reading, discovers little judgment.

Two

young men, of similar pursuits, soon become acquainted. The day of my introduction to Mr. George, we exchanged thoughts without restraint; and during three months that I continued at Charleston, we were inseparable companions.

I know not whether I was qualified to fill the vacant chair of instruction at the College; but I remember, that zealous to acquit myself with dignity in my new office, I assumed the aspect of a pedagogue, and when an idle boy stared at me, I checked him with a frown. I, however, was not ambitious of this honour more than six weeks; a space of time, which, however it cannot be long, may surely be tedious. The Professor complained that I was always the last in the College; and I replied by desiring my discharge.

I was now dismissed from the College; but I was under no solicitude for my future life. A Planter of the name of Brisbane, had politely invited me to his plantation, to partake with him and his neighbours, the diversion of hunting, during the winter; and another of the name of Drayton, the owner of immense forests, had plied to me to live in his family, and undertake the tuition of his children. Of these proposals, the first flattered my love of ease, and the other insured me an augmentation of wealth. I was

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not long held in suspense which of the two to chuse; but I preferred the summons of industry to the blandishments of pleasure.

The winters of Carolina, however piercing to a native, who during the summer months may be said to bask rather than breathe, are mild to an Englishman accustomed to the frosts of his island. In the month of November my engagement led me to Coosohatchie, an insignificant village about seventy-eight miles from Charleston; for the plantation of Mr. Drayton was in the neighbouring woods. The serenity of the weather invited the traveller to walk, and, at an early hour of the morning, I departed on foot from Charleston, having the preceding evening taken leave of Mr. George.

The foot-traveller need not be ashamed of his mode of journeying. To travel on foot, is to travel like Plato and Pythagoras; and to these examples may be added the not less illustrious ones of Goldsmith and Rousseau. The rambles of the ancient sages are at this distance of time uncer tain; but it is well known, that Goldsmith made the tour of Europe on foot, and that Rousseau walked, from choice, through a great part of Italy.

An agreeable walk of ten miles, brought me to the bank of Ashley River, where I breakfasted in a decent public-house, with the landlord and his family. That man travels to no purpose who sits down alone to his meals; for my part I

love to mingle with the sons and daughters of industry; to mark the economy of their household, and compare their mode of living with that of the same class of people in my own country. The opulent of every nation are nearly the same; refinement has polished away the original stamp of character: the true estimate of manners is to be made among those in a middle rank of life.

Having crossed the ferry, I resumed my journey through a country which might be assimilated to one continued forest. Tall trees of pine, planted by the hand of nature in regular rows, bordered the road I travelled; and I saw no other animals, but now and then a flock of deer, which ceasing awhile to browse, looked up at me with symptoms of wonder rather than fear.

"Along these lonely regions, here retir'd,

From little scenes of art, great Nature dwells
In awful solitude, and nought is seen

But the wild herds that own no master's stall."

At three in the afternoon I reached Jacksonborough, the only town on the road from Charleston to Coosohatchie. Though a foot-traveller, I was received at the tavern with every demonstration of respect; the landlord ushered me into a room which afforded the largest fire I had ever seen in my travels: yet the landlord, rubbing his hands, complained it was cold, and exclaimed against his negroes for keeping so bad a fire. Here, Syphax, said he, be quick and bring more

wood you have made, you rascal, a Charlesion fire: fetch a stout back-log, or I'll make a backlog of you.

The exclamations of the landlord brought his wife into the room. She curtesied, and made many eloquent apologies for the badness of the fire; but added, that her waiting man Will had run away, and having whipped Syphax till his back was raw, she was willing to try what gentle means would do.

A dinner of venison, and a pint of Madeira, made me forget I had walked thirty miles; and it being little more than four o'clock, I proceeded forward on my journey. The vapours of a Spanish segar promoted cogitation, and I was lamenting the inequality of conditions in the world, when night overtook me.

I now redoubled my pace, not without the apprehension that I should have to seek my lodgings in some tree, to avoid the beasts that prowled nightly in the woods; but the moon, which rose to direct me in my path, alleviated my perturbation, and in another hour I descried the blaze of a friendly fire through the casements of a loghouse. Imaginary are worse than real calamities; and the apprehension of sleeping in the woods. was by far more painful than the actual experience of it would have been. The same Being who sends trials, can also inspire fortitude.

The place I had reached was Asheepo, a hamlet

consisting of three or more log-houses; and the inhabitants of every sex and age had collected round a huge elephant, which was journeying with his master to Savannah.

Fortune had therefore brought me intò unexpected company, and I could not but admire the docility of the elephant, who in solemn majesty received the gifts of the children with his trunk. But not so the monkey. This man of Lord Monboddo was inflamed with rage at the boys and girls; nor could the rebukes of his master calm the transports of his fury.

I entered the log-house which accommodated travellers. An old negro-man had squatted himself before the fire. Well, old man, said I, why don't you go out to look at the elephant? Hie! Massa, he calf! In fact the elephant came from Asia, and the negro from Africa, where he had seen the same species of animal, but of much greater magnitude.

Travelling, says Shakespeare, acquaints a man with strange bed-fellows; and there being only one bed in the log-house, I slept that night with the elephant-driver. Mr. Owen was a native of Wales, but he had been a great traveller, and carried a map of his travels in his pocket.-Nothing shortens a journey more than good company on the road; so I departed after breakfast from Asbeepo, with Mr. Owen, his elephant, and his monkey.

Mr. Owen related to me the wonders of his

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