[1] This period has arrived, and hardly before I expected, from all I
had gathered on the subject; for since this work has been in the press,
I have read of an attack made upon a known rendezvous of gamblers by a
party of neighbour planters near this place, by whom, after a smart
action, the hold was forced and carried by assault; when, according to
the usage of war, for which exceeding respectable authorities might be
quoted, the garrison was immediately hanged. A proceeding of this nature
reads very queerly in the London Journals, but drawing inferences from
it after the rules applicable to the County Middlesex, is laughable;
these civil rules might be applied with more justice to the condition of
the Scottish frontier in James the First's time. In my eyes these
popular movements are not only natural, but wholesome; speaking
favourably for the growing morals of the people, and, in the position
they occupy, the only way of eradicating speedily an association as
atrocious as it is wide-spread and powerful. I have gathered much
singular information on this subject, and may in some other shape, when
the opportunity occurs, make it public.