Lady, was, a Sentence that was dropt yesterday by a respectable Member
of our Family, intimating a Desire that I may, on seeing Miss Lee,
after having known, by report, her faultless character, be so pleased
with her person as to try to make her mine, & settle in this
Province--That kind Body, who is for making me happy by settling me in
Virginia, & connecting me with one of the best families in the
Government, little knows how painful it would be if I was indeed
compell'd by any accident of Fortune to spend the remainder of my Days
in Virginia if is the pleasure of Providence that I am to continue for
any length of time in the World--Strong, & sweet are the bands which
tye us to our place of nativity; If it is but a beggarly Cottage, we
seem not satisfied with the most elegant entertainment if we are
totally seperated from it--But if a Princess should solicit me to
accept, together with Herself, 50000£ a Year--I declare, with as great
_pleasure_ as _truth_, that the esteem, & Fidelity which I possess for
my dear, dear _Eliza_ would make me without reflection, evade & refuse
the Proposal--Ben & I returned Home before dark--We had the 'Squire to
drink Coffee with us--He brought us a Newspaper containing the debate,
of the House of Commons concerning the Repeal of the Tea-duty.
_Teusday 5._
While we were at Breakfast came from Hobbes-Holes Mrs _Oakly_ a Woman
who has acted as nurse for several of Mrs Carters Children with great
credit--All the family speak of her with Love & regard--This day is
very warm, but no rain--I gave all the Girls this day to chat with
their old acquaintance--Tho' the weather is warm & very Damp we have
here no Musquetoes; I have not seen one, since I came into the
Province as I can now recollect which seems to me a little strange;
for at Princeton in Jersey some warm evenings in July & August they
are so numerous as to be troublesome, & that is more than twenty miles
from Salt Water, this not more than three times as many _Rod_.--In
the evening, among several other things Mr Carter informed me that he
has on this plantation a Negro Man called Prince who is now unwell of
a Strain--This Man, he swears, he would not sell for 500£ ready
Cash--I was almost ready to say it is more Money than I would give for
all he owns on his Estate--The evening is very pleasant I had an
oppertunity on the Pavement before the Hall Door of shewing away on
Astronomy to Mrs _Carter_, I lectured for half an hour on the
Milky-Way, on several of the Stars, on Jupiter in particular, & on the
Course of Comets--
In bed by half after ten as usual.
_Wednesday 6._
Ben seems pretty well recovered--We dined to day on the Fish call'd
the Sheeps-Head, with Crabs--Twice every Week we have fine Fish, &
every Day good Fruit for Dinner, caudled Apples, Hurtle-Berries with
milk &c--Yes, says Mrs Carter at Supper, this hot weather takes away
all my life; the small Lightning that we now have makes me uneasy &
melancholy--I love to see her in such Distress--_Beauty_ & _Virtue_
when combined together & Strugling against Misfortune; O how such
objects move, & awaken the most delicate sensations of our Souls--Call
in Nancy to her Guitar, says the Colonel. In She minces slow & silent
from her supper--She scratches her Instrument, after a long
preparation, into the Air of "Water parted from the Sea." What, pray
Miss Nancy, what bewitched you with a desire of clipping your
Eye-Brows--The Genius of Woman shines forth in this little Girlish
trick--Pray Mr _Fithian_, was you ever taught Singing? Yes Sir, I
attended two years--Had you any instructions in particular for using
the Shake[184]--I am giving Nancy some Lessons, but She is vastly
indolent--Nancy, play over and sing the Funeral Hymn--Excuse me, Papa,
I have lost the Verses--Happy Soul, thy Days are ended,--Go on--How
steady & how sharp it lightens in the North too--Good Night.
[184] A trill, or rapid reiteration of two notes comprehending an
interval not greater than one whole tone, nor less than a semitone.
_Thursday 7._
Yes Fanny may sit down to Breakfast--Where's Ben--The Weather is hot &
Ben for enjoyment had stript himself naked--Of every thing but his
shirt & Trowsers--Where's Ben--He is not very well, Madam,--This Day
says the Colonel after having Prefac'd our Breakfast with a--"God
bless us in what we are to recieve"--is our Rye yonder to be mown
down; mown down thinks I, do they mow their Grain in Virginia--Yes two
Negroes take naked Sythes & mow down the Grain; others are imploy'd in
raking it into heaps, but much of it is left--Shall I help you, Mr
Fithian, to a Dish of Coffee?--I choose a deep Plate, if you please,
Ma'am, & Milk--Our Corn, Madam, in Jersey is inferior to yours in this
Province--Or your Cooks, Sir, are less Skilful in managing it--Well,
Nancy, I have tuned your Guitar; you are to practice to Day with
Priscilla, who is to play the Harpsichord, till twelve o Clock; You
can repeat the Verses of the Funeral Hymn?--I can Sir--What, Harry, do
you hesitate at that plain Sum in Arithmetical Progression?--_Bob_,
attend to your Business--When I am bedizen'd with these clamorous
children, sometimes I silently exclaim--Once I was told, now I know I
feel how irksome the Pedagoging Scheme is--Fanny--I say, Fanny, dont
you hear me, Fanny, and Betsy, sit down--pray, Sir, must I multiply
here by 32--Yes, thick-Scull--But Mr Fithian, I dont know how to
divide by 5½--Look, Sir, do you see what Mouth's _Harry Willis_ is
making?--I can say my Lesson--Buz, Buz--To divide by 5½ you must
double both your Dividend & divi[sor]--Half after two we were rung to
Dinner; poor _Tasker_, his Fever has continued high since yesterday
afternoon, he lies quiet, and asks for nothing--If his Disorder does
not abate to night, I shall give him in the morning a dose of "James's
Powder"--Will you lend me Jack, he meant my Horse, says Mr Randolph,
to ride tomorrow to Captain Cheltons; Yes Mr Randolph, I will oblige
Jenny so far.
_Fryday 8._
I swear, says Bob, Harry belies me. I never told the Nurse that
Harriot should stay in School all Day--It was Mama's order that so
long as Mrs _Oakly_ the Nurse stays, Harriot is to go into School
after Breakfast, & after Dinner, & say a lesson each time--I was
passing through the Hall from Breakfast--The Nurse, a short Stump of a
[wom]an, who blundered by mere accident, when she was young, out of
the road in which Virgins commonly travel, & felt the difficulties of
being a Mother, several years before She enjoyed the Pleasures of
being a Wife--She call'd to me, & begg'd me to close the Quarrel; You
shall have, said I, dear Madam, with the greatest Freedom my
consent--Harriot shall be with you--At Breakfast--Where is Ben?--He
breakfasts with the House-keeper Madam--At School--What a likeness
there is in the manners of Boys; Bob, & Harry had skulk'd behind the
writing-Table with their Slates on their Knees, & their Faces close
together, just as I have done a thousand Times, in our little
School-House in _Greenwich_--But once I was threshed confoundedly for
a piece of such hidden play--_Tom Parks_ [blotted] asleep, poor Fellow
he is now sleeping in the Dust;--Then he was fast asleep on a Bench,
with his mouth open--I fill'd his mouth with Snuff!--He sprung
up--Nature was in distress, & found all her Avenues too scanty at that
time to clear out at once the tickling penetrating Powder--He
snuffed--He coughed--He--He told the Master, & then I was
tickled--Indeed he made my Feet beat time to his Lash---Says Bob to
Harry, behind the Table, I wonder Mr _Fithian_ has not fallen in Love
yet with some of our Nominy-Girls--Here he sits from Month to
Month--(Not many Months longer said I to myself)--Mr _Marshal_[185]
was always out; I suppose Mr _Fithian_ never thinks of Girls--Indeed
says _Harry_, drawing his chair clos[e &] lowering his voice, I never
in my Life saw a Man who thought so little of these things--Here Tom
the Coachman came in with a wood Tarripin which he brought to be a
resident in our Room to catch the Bugs & Cockroaches--
[185] James Marshall, Fithian's predecessor as tutor of the Carter
children, had formerly been an usher at the College of William and
Mary. Marshall had inherited a plantation in Orange County. The
_Virginia Gazette_ of April 18, 1773 had announced the death of
Marshall, at "Nomini Hall" and had corrected the error in its next
issue.
Yes, Harry, & Bob, _Fithian_ is vulnerable by Cupids Arrows--I assure
you, Boys, he is, Not by the Girls of Westmorland--O my dear Laura, I
would not injure your friendly Spirit; So long as I breathe Heavens
vital air I am unconditionally & wholly Yours--At Dinner, Mrs Carter
call'd for the Chariot, Mrs Turburville will think me rude, unless I
welcome her Home. I will take Priscilla this Afternoon & make her a
visit--I saw in a moment that _Miss_ was better pleased with the
notion of trotting off in the Carriage, than to be [blotted] up with
Multiplication & Division--O yes, says Mrs _Oakly_, I know Dadda
_Gumby_ at _Williamsburg_. I think you look as brisk, as hearty & as
young now as you did ten years ago--_Gumby_--I & my old Woman, here
Master, are the two oldest Negres in Mr _Carters_ Estate. Here we
live, Master, on our worthy Landlords Bounty--The _Nurse_, _Betsy_, &
_Harriot_ were at Gumby's House which stands about twenty Rod from the
Garden--I was walking, with a Book in my Fist, musing & stumbling
along--I saw them, I went up, & with a lower Bow than I should give to
a Nurse, if Women were plenty, says I, pray Mrs _Oakly_ do you know
Dadda Gumby? We stood chattering with the old African, or rather he
stood chattering with us, relating one story after another, leaving
some of his Narrations half untold, beginning others in the middle
having entered into the true Spirit of Loquacity--Dennis, in the
Height of a Story about his Grandfathers Uncle's harpooning a
_Porpoise_ summoned me to Coffee--Mrs Oakly, will you walk?--Come
Betsy--Where's Ben?--Says the Colonel has Ben r[e]tired from the
World?--He rode out this Evening, Sir, about five o Clock for
Exercise--Mrs Carter, Mr Carter, good Night--
_Saturday 9._
I was waked by _Sam_ the Barber thumping at my Door--I was dressed--In
Powder too; for I propose to see & dine with Miss _Jenny Washington_
to Day. D--n the Bugs & Chinches, says _Ben_ rolling over on the Bed,
& rubbing his Eyes, I have slept none for them--Mr Fithian, do you
rest any o-Nights? Dont these cursed Bugs keep you awake?--No Sir; for
you see I commonly sit & read til half after ten, or eleven--So that
by the Time I lay my poor Skin & Bones on the Bed, I am so much
fatigued with the tumultuous Business of the Day, & the Study of the
Evening that my sleep the rest of the night is sound & unbroken--
Priscilla hangs her head a little this morning, She looks feverish,
dispirited, sits on a low bench, with her Elbow in her Lap, & Leaning
her head upon her hand, swings backwards and forwards, just as I have
seen beautiful Quaker Girls when they are weeping at the frightful
distortions & Grimaces of some deep-inspired _Father_. But _Priscilla_
& _Tasker_ are unwell--Fanny teizes me for a Picture, I must draw her
a slip, she says, on Paper like the one I drew for Her the other Day
with my finger in the Sand--I love the little careless Girl, & will
oblige her--On the writing-Table in the School-Room I found this
morning an old Book of Esops Fables done into English Verse; In the
Margins of this Book up & Down Bob had in his scribbling Way recorded
the Names of several young Ladies of Westmorland & Richmond Counties.
I shall set them down, as I turned over the Leaves & found them--I do
not insinuate, by writing this Story, the smallest reproach to either
of the Ladies; I mention it solely to shew _Bob's_ Taste, & the
Meditations of his heart when wholly alone. In the Life of Esop, page
23, at the Bottom of the Leaf his own Name is written at full length &
in as elegant a hand as he is master of with a Dash below.
_Robert Bladen Carter._
He has in the same manner introduced it a few leaves further on, he
has done this to be a kind of Preface for what is to follow; he has
also very cleverly interspersed it with the Ladies, either that the
Ladies Names should be a foil to set his off to advantage, or that his
Name be a Foil to adorn the Ladies--In the Life of Woglog the great at
the first page
Miss Lucy Carter of Sabine-Hall.
Page 3d at the Bottom of the Leaf
Miss Lettitia Turberville of Hickory Hill.
Page 8.
Miss Betsy Carter of Sabine-Hall.
Page 9.
Miss Priscilla Carter of Nomini-Hall--his Sister:
Esops Fables Page 1st he writes the Name of the Girl he loves
above all others
Polly Tayloe the Lovely of Mount-Airy.
Page 39th Miss Betsy Lee.
Page 41.
Miss Kitty Tayloe. Mount Airy.
Page 43.
Miss Lydia Pettit has d--m'd ugly Freckles in her Face, otherways
She is handsome & tolerable--
Page 45.
Miss Betsy Gaskins.[186]
Page 47.
Miss Sally Tayloe.
Page 50.
Miss Jenny Washington of Bushfield is very Pretty.
Then he Bolts in
Robert Carter.
Page 57.
Miss Polly Tolliver.[187]
Page 59.
Miss Steerman is a beautiful young Lady.
Miss Jane Corbin.
-- Aphia Fantleroy.
-- -- Edwards.
-- Betsy Jones
-- Sally Panton.
[186] The Gaskins family lived in Northumberland County. Elizabeth
Gaskins, daughter of Colonel Thomas Gaskins of that County married
Edward Digges of "Bellfield" in York County in 1775.
[187] The Taliaferro family was a prominent one in Tidewater Virginia.
While the name is pronounced "Tolliver," it is believed to be of
Italian origin.
But this afternoon Mrs _Oakly_ is taken with a Fever; I suppose, She
was out last evening without any thing on her head rather too late,
when I saw her at Daddy Gumby's--
_Sunday 10._
A Sunday in Virginia dont seem to wear the same Dress as our Sundays
to the Northward--Generally here by five o-Clock on Saturday every
Face (especially the Negroes) looks festive & cheerful--All the lower
class of People, & the Servants, & the Slaves, consider it as a Day of
Pleasure & amusement, & spend it in such Diversions as they severally
choose--The Gentlemen go to Church to be sure, but they make that
itself a matter of convenience, & account the Church a useful weekly
resort to do Business--I am told, for I have not yet been to Church
since my Return, that all the Sermons are in the forensic Style, & on
political Subjects. But I shall go to Church to Day--I am sorry that I
may relate an accident which happened last night--By some accident; or
by the carelessness of some Negroes Mr Turburville's Barn took fire
and burnt Down--His loss is judged at 300£ which is something
considerable for a Man who is with the greatest Anxiety turning every
ear of Corn into Money--At Church Parson _Smith_ Read to the
Congregation an Order Issued out lately by the Governor to elect
Burgesses in the several Counties--He preached us a Sermon on
Brotherly Love--Dined with us to Day Mr Parker,[188] a Lawyer of this
County, & his Son, a young Man about 20 who is also licensed to plead
Law--And Mr _Cunningham_--I am not very well to Day. I have pains in
several parts of my Body--Mr _Lowe_ informed me that Colonel
Washington is unwell of a sort of _Cholic_--
[188] Richard Parker (1729-1813) of "Lawfield" was a distinguished
lawyer in Westmoreland County at this time.
_Monday 11._
Indeed says Mrs Carter at Breakfast a Fire this morning would be very
pleasant--Yes says I, for I have had the look & feeling of November
all the morning; My Room shut up, My Coat buttoned, & yet my Body cold
Besides!--Mr Carter on this, advanced a strange Assertion, that there
is not a single Person on this whole Continent, if this Change is as
powerful through the Continent as it is here, who is not to day, in a
greater or less Degree affected with a Fever!--My poor skinny Body, I
know is in a prodigious Tumult; I impute it tho to my ride Yesterday
to Church in the schorching Sun; & to drinking five or six Glasses of
Wine extraordinary--_Priscilla_ & _Harriot_ are confined at Home of an
eruptive Fever, some think it a Swine Pox at any Rate they are sick, &
break out into Pustules--I am in such Ferment to Day that I cannot sit
nor Walk, nor Write with any Stomach--I made out tho' with some
Difficulty to finish a rough Draught of my Sermon, & laid by for
future Perusal.
_Teusday 12._
Indeed I enjoy this fine cool weather, says Ben as he lay on his Back
in the Bed rubbing his Eyes, & ears about half after six o-Clock;
_Lancelot Lee_ had never I am sure, more sensible Pleasure in
swallowing a well prepar'd Dinner--To be sure I have slept last Night
with the sweetest composure in Spight of the Chinches, & in spight of
my Disorder!--Get up, Lump of Indolence, said I to him; Get up & clap
to _Virgil_ instead of lying there & boasting--Breakfasted with us
Captain Guthrie, of a Small Schooner of _Norfolk_; & Mr Stadley the
Musician--I love this good German, He used to teach in _New York_ &
_Philadelphia_--He has much simplicity & goodness of heart--He
performs extremely well--He is kind & sociable with me--Dined with us
one--one--Mr--Mr--I forget his name--I know his trade tho': An
Inspector--He is rather Dull, & seems unacquainted with company for
when he would, at Table, drink our Health, he held the Glass of Porter
fast with both his Hands, and then gave an insignificant nod to each
one at the Table, in Hast, & with fear, & then drank like an Ox--The
Good Inspector, at the second toast, after having seen a little our
Manner "Gentlemen & Ladies (but there was none in Womans Cloathing at
Table except Mrs Carter) The King"--I thought that during the Course
of the Toasts, he was better pleased with the Liquor than with the
manner in which he was at this Time obliged to use it--I made a
b[e]gining of my Latin Thesis--"Cuinam Usui inservi: at Lex moralis
sub Evangeliis." I made out to write thus much--Duabus hisce
Propositionibus sequentibus simulatim Respondeo.--But if I wrote so
much every Day for a twelve Month my Thesis will be short. The Day is
pleasant, cool enough: & my disorder which has been for several days a
growing painful _Dysentery_, seems to have subsided--
[LETTER OF PHILIP V. FITHIAN TO ELIZABETH BEATTY]
Nominy-Hall July 12. 1774.
TO LAURA.
The Summer is advancing briskly on, & bringing me with it every Day
still nearer to you--And to my last Change--With you I am looking for
the purest Happiness in Friendship & Love that I can derive from any
thing below; And it will add to measure of Felicity if I can make the
Woman I choose to protect & esteem think me worthy her Regard.
I said that the swift Advances of Summer are bringing me swiftly on to
Death--In Virginia there are numberless Admonitions to this
Reflection, but I suppress any farther Declaration. I wrote you by Mr
---- early last Month; & at the same Time I wrote to several of my
Acquaintances: but if they lived in the Moon I could hear from them as
often as I do now when only a Couple of Hundred Miles, or a little
more, separates us: Would it not be more agreeable to me if they
did--? For then I should every Night almost, see, at least, the Place
of their Habitation, tho' we could have no Correspondence.
You are such a Pilgrim, Laura; I mean such a Rover, that I am at some
Loss to know how to direct a Letter to you; & I want my Letters, while
they are on their Passage to go through as few Hands as possible, not
because I write any _Secrecy_, or _Scandal_, for you will not allow
either the one or the other; but only that you may speedily receive &
read the Little I do write, fresh from my Heart.
I suppose that Miss ---- has before now seen Cohansie--And cloyed of
it too, no Doubt. She is a lively, sportful Soul. But that dear Place,
which ingrosses so many of my Thoughts, has not Variety enough to
entertain her long--You yourself, who are not always soaring on
Follie's Wing, through the Regions of Vanity & Nonsense, sometimes
find the Country dull--But Miss ---- does not find Satisfaction in the
City; it is plain then since that young Lady cannot find Contentment
either in City or Country, that She cannot be happy at all.
Merciful, merciful Heaven! O grant me what I am trying hard to obtain;
grant that my Inclinations be all duely bended to a perfect
Satisfaction with my Lot here--! With such a Temper I shall be at
Rest, be happy, if I continue here in Virginia; Or I shall be happy
if I remove into new Jersey; But, must I declare it, Laura, that if I
am destitute of this, I should be wretched, tho' your Friend &
Companion--I am,
Laura, thine
PHILIP. V. FITHIAN.
[JOURNAL]
_Wednesday 13._
I drew off this morning for Dadda _Gumby_ a List of his Children, &
their respective ages--He himself is 94--For this office I had as many
_Thanks_, As I have had _blessings_ before now from a Beggar for
Sixpence--Thank you, thank you, thank you Master, was the language of
the old Greyheaded pair.--Call on us at any time, you shall have
_Eggs_, _Apples_, _Potatoes_--You shall have every thing we can get
for you--Master!--In this Torrent of Expressions of Gratitude I was
rung to Breakfast; I bow'd to the venerable old Negroes, thank'd them
in my Turn for their Offers, & left them--
[Illustration: man greeting elderly pair]
Indeed, said the Colonel at Breakfast, cool as it was last Night, I
kept my Window up the whole night--I am not fond of your hot a dust
Air--Was yours up Mr Fithian no truly; so long as I can breath without
panting I am for keeping my Window down, & my Room close on summer
nights; especially here in Virginia, Madam, where the Dews are so
heavy, and so dangerous--The Postilion keeps a fox at the Stable & I
am often much diverted with his Cunning Tricks. The other Day, Mrs
Carter was lying in the long room among the Books on the Couch; In
jumps Reynard, through a broken Pane of Glass, & begins to frisk & hue
about the Room like a Bedlam--How is Nurse, pray, says the Colonel at
Dinner? She has her Ague & Fever again to Day, Sir--This is a fine
Sheeps-Head, Mr Stadly shall I help you?--Or would you prefer a _Bass_
or a _Perch_?--Or perhaps you will rather help yourself to some picked
_Crab_--It is all extremely fine, Sir, I'll help myself--Well says the
Colonel when we had almost finished our Dinner with a Glass of
sparkling Porter on the Table before him, we have but fasted to Day;
here stands a fine Ham, & a Shoulder of excellent Mutton yet
untouched--At least, says the merry, good-hearted Man, we have kept
_Lent_--Yesterday evening I scribled a little for _Laura_, & to Day I
drank her Health from my Heart in generous Medaira--Yes, best of
Women, when you are the Toast I drink wine with Pleasure--
_Thursday 14._
To Day is the election of Burgesses in Richmond the neighbouring
County--Come, Fithian, will you go? My old objection recurs; I am too
busy--I met this morning in Wingates Arithmetic, with the following
merry Problem--"To discover a Number which any one shall have in his
mind, without requiring him to reveal any part of that or any Number
whatsoever"--After any one has thought upon any number at Pleasure;
bid him double it, & to that double bid him add any such even number
as you please to assign: Then from the Sum of that Addition let him
reject one half, & reserve the other half; Lastly, from this half bid
him subtract the Number which he first thought upon; then you may
boldly tell him what Number remains in his mind after that Subtraction
is made, for it will be always half the Number which you assigned him
to add--A Reason for the Rule is added. "Because, if to the double of
any number (which number for Distinction sake I call the first) a
second number be added, the half of the Sum must necessarily consist
of the said first number, & half the Second: Therefore if from the
said half sum the first Number be subtracted, the remainder must of
necessity be half the second Number which was added--Mr Inspector
dined with us again to day--We had after Dinner, _Lime Punch_ &
_Madaira_: but he chose & had a Bowl of _Grogg_--You are a mean Puppy,
a treacherous, ungenerous Scoundrel, says _Bob_, to Harry just as I
entered the School after Dinner--you told Mr _Lowe_, you did more, you
published in Mr Washingtons Family that Mr _Fithian_ horsed me for
Staying out all night--That he call'd in John the Waiter to help
him--& that you was sent to cut & bring in Whips--After School with
Ben I rode out the Day is warm, & the Ground grows to be very dry--I
was not a little Surprized to see Corn out in Tassel--But the Tobacco
looks dismal, it is all poor, much of it is dead with the drouth; I
think, however, that the Season is ten days or two Weeks earlier here
than in New Jersey.--
Mr Stadly, left us to Day. I love that Man, he is gone to Colonel
Taylors[189]--
[189] Colonel John Tayloe.
_Fryday 15._