Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 11).djvu/96

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earth; a certain indication of rich land, but of a sickly and pestilential situation.

June 1st.—Closetted with Judge King. This good and honest man deems a monarchical system of government, having a limited monarchy, the best for all countries. The poor are kept in better order by it. He believes also that the republican system is not yet fairly tried in America; the people being scattered over a wide surface, and {72} therefore unable to concentrate or organise themselves against the system yet. He thinks also that the national debt of England is a national good! "A good," rejoined I, "from which may the Lord deliver both us and you!"

2nd.—Waited on Doctor Benjamin Huger, with my introductory letter from Dr. Osgood. These gentlemen were once fellow-students at the university of Cambridge. I thought the doctor a clever and interesting man.

3rd.—Rose, this morning, stung and lamed by mosquitoes. As a remedy I bathed the parts affected in brandy, and then lay half an hour in a warm bath, at 95° by the thermometer. Two of my fellow-boarders, one a rich German Jew, a jeweller, and the other a German quack-doctor, came to me and requested that I would "make a duel" between them. They had quarrelled about a horse running in the Jew's curricle. "I want, and wish, and will," said the doctor, "throw a bullet into the Jew's shoulder." I declined commencing manufacturer of duels. —— Robertson, Esq., from Scotland, a near relative of the celebrated Dr. Robertson, the historian, came to invite me to a dinner at Mrs. Monroe's to-morrow. The party to be composed of Scotch and English merchants only, and the dinner given by one of the party in honour of King George.

4th.—The birth-day of George III. Agreeable to en-