Yet, I confess, it was a day I rather dreaded than wished; for, without the company of Virginia, I gave myself up to despondency. Urit me Glyceræ nitor Splendentis Pario marmore purius: Et vultus nimium lubricus aspici.*) Had I lived near the Alps I should certainly have adopted the plan of Saint Preux, and striven to dissipate my melancholy by climbing to their summit. The Blue Ridge Mountains were in sight, and why did I not ascend them? Alas! the manners of the Blue Ridgers possess none of that simplicity which characterizes the inhabitants of the mountains of Switzerland. Finding the hours hang heavy, I bethought myself of some invitation that had been given me to a neighbouring plantation, and one visit leading to another, in my round of calling on one or another, I came to the house whither Virginia had gone before me. Virginians are ever hospitable; ever open-hearted to the stranger who enters their doors. The house of a Virginian is not less sacred to hospitality than the tent of an Arab. I was received always with transport. Here, Will, take this "gentleman's horse. Edward, run up stairs, [* Horace, Odes, I, 19, 5-9.] my dear, and tell your mother and the girls to come down." My recreation after school in the evening was to sit and meditate before my door, in the open air, while the vapours of a friendly pipe administered to my philosophy. In silent gravity I listened to the negro calling to his steers returning from labour, or contemplated the family groupe on the grass-plat before the dwelling-house, of whom the father was tuning his violin, the mother and daughters at their needles, and the boys running and tumbling in harmless mirth upon the green. Before me was an immense forest of stately trees; the cat was sitting on the barn door; the firefly was on the wing, and the whip-poor-will in lengthened cries was hailing the return of night. I was now, perhaps, called to supper, and enjoyed the society of Mr. Ball and his family till the hour of their repose, when I returned to my log-hut, and resumed my pipe before the door. The moon in solemn majesty was rising from the woods; the plantation-dog was barking at the voices of the negroes pursuing their nightly revels on the road; while the mocking songster mimicked the note of every bird that had sung during the day. A skilful chymist will endeavour to extract good from every substance, and I declined not the conversation of a man because his face differed in colour from my own. Old Dick, the negro whom I had met on the road, never failed to visit my cell in the evening, and the purpose of his visit was to obtain a dram of whiskey. Dick said that it comforted him, and I never withheld my comfort from him. As I considered old Dick a much greater philosopher than many of his white brethren who have written volumes on resignation under misfortunes, but could never bear the tooth-ache patiently; I always put him upon talking about himself, and one evening when he came to see me, I desired he would relate to me the story of his life. STORY OF DICK THE NEGRO "I was born at a plantation on the Rappa"hannoc River. It was the pulling of corn time, when 'Squire Musgrove was Governor "of Virginia. I have no mixed blood in my "veins; I am no half and half breed; no chestnut-sorrel of a mulatto; but my father and "mother both came over from Guinea. When I was old enough to work, I was put to look after the horses, and, when a boy, "I would not have turned my back against the best negur at catching or backing the most "vicious beast that ever grazed in a pasture. 'Squire Sutherland had a son who rode every fall to look at a plantation on James River, which was under the care of an over seer. Young master could not go without "somebody on another horse to carry his sad"dle-bags, and I was made his groom. "This young chap, Sir, (here Dick winked "his left eye,) was a trimmer. The first thing "he did on getting out of bed was to call for "a Julep;* and I honestly date my own love of whiskey, from mixing and tasting my young master's juleps. But this was not all. He was always upon the scent after game, and mighty ficious when he got among the negur "wenches. He used to say that a likely negur "wench was fit to be a Queen; and I forget "how many Queens he had among the girls on "the plantations. My young master was a mighty one for music, and he made me learn to play the "Banger. I could soon tune it sweetly, and "of a moonlight night he would set me to play, and the wenches to dance. My young master himself could shake a desperate foot at the fiddle; there was nobody that could "face him at a Congo Minuet; but Pat Hickory could tire him at a Virginia Jig. "The young 'Squire did not live long. He was for a short life and a merry one. He was killed by a drunken negur man, who "found him over-ficious with his wife. The * A dram of spirituous liquor that has mint in it, taken by Virginians of a morning. A kind of rude Guitar. negur man was hanged alive upon a gibbet. "It was the middle of summer; the sun was full upon him; the negur lolled out his tongue, his eyes seemed starting from their sockets, and for three long days his only cry (6 was Water! Water! Water! "The old gentleman took on to grieve 'mightily at the death of his son; he wished (( that he had sent him to Britain for his educa tion; but after-wit is of no use; and he fol"lowed his son to that place where master and man, planter and slave must all at last lie "down together. "The plantation and negurs now fell to the "lot of a second son, who had gone to Edinburgh to learn the trade of a Doctor. He was not like 'Squire Tommy; he seemed to "be carved out of different wood. The first thing he did on his return from Britain, was to free all the old negur people on the plan"tation, and settle each on a patch of land. "He tended the sick himself, gave them medi"cine, healed their wounds, and encouraged every man, woman and child to go to a Meeting-house, that every Sunday was opened be"tween our plantation and Fredericsksburgh. Every thing took a change. The young "wenches, who, in Master Tommy's time, "used to put on their drops, and their bracelets, and ogle their eyes, now looked down "like modest young women, and carried their |