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down together. Those who arrive after this species of public breakfast, have to wait for dinner, and such as miss the dinner hour must fast till night. They have other customs calculated also to annoy; for instance, on entering the Paris inn, I expressed a wish to have breakfast as soon as possible, as I had to reach Lexington to dinner. And to expedite the breakfast, I begged to have nothing prepared but tea or coffee. These instructions availed me nothing. Children were dispatched after fowls which took to the gardens and fields, in vain to prolong their minutes, which were numbered, they were caught, plucked, and put on the fire, part of which was previously occupied baking bread, frying ham, &c. &c. After the expiration of two hours, a table was set out with knives, forks, pickles, &c. &c. covered with several dishes of cold and hot meat, while the tea was held at a

distance, to be handed at intervals for drink. I made my breakfast on tea and heavy hot bricks, and could not resist telling the landlady that she would have spared herself much trouble and given me much time, had she made but a cup of tea in the first instance. She observed, that might be, but that she was always used to do as she had done, and altered her ways for nobody. I asked her what was to pay, and cast a dollar upon the table, enraged at the low state of some minds, their attachment to wrong, and determination to persist in evil and dull habits, which they know to be adverse to their prosperity and improvement. She took up the dollar, and pitching it to a negro, desired him to chop it. "Chop it! ma'am, I want it changed." She made no reply, but, going to the man, desired him to chop out of the dollar one quarter and one eight; in other words, to cut out her

charge of one shilling and threepence for my breakfast, and ninepence for my horse. The man did this with great dexterity, and returned me the dollar with nearly one fourth cut out, with an angle running to the middle, which gave it the appearance of three fourths of a circle. Learning that this was the legal mode of procuring change, I got the saine dexterous person to transform a couple more dollars with his chissel, into quarters, eighths, and sixteenths. He executed that service in a few moments; I received a handful of small change, which I found of advantage on the road.

Supplied with change and fresh information, I left Paris, and arrived at Lexington, through a country for the most part fertile, and cultivated in the proportion of one enclosed acre to one thousand waste. A very great proportion in favor of agriculture above any

part I have seen since my descent of the river, or since my arrival on the west side of the Alleghany mountains. Farewell, I shall resume this route in my

next.

LETTER XXII.

Lexington described-Churches-UniversityAmusements-Concerts and balls-The in. habitants, male and female-Trade-The merchants, their great wealth-The market -Expence of boarding-The town likely to decrease-climate-fevers-their causes -soil-farms, produce, &c.-A catacomb with mummies-manner of embalming

Maysville, or Limestone, July, 1806.

LEXINGTON stands in that portion of the state of Kentucky which has

been so celebrated for its excessive fertility, pre-eminent beauty, and abundant advantages. It is the most flourishing and with but one exception, the largest inland town in the United States. The site is a valley running between the rise of grounds, which undulate like the sea, and subside into plains whose inclination is merely sufficient to cast off the waters without confining the circulation of air or circumscribing the prospect around. situation could be more favorable, except for the absence of water.

No

The town is composed of upwards of three hundred houses ranged into streets intersecting each other at right angles. They are principally built of brick, in a handsome modern manner, and many of them are furnished with some pretensions to European elegance. The public buildings consist of a University, Court-house, Market, Hall,

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