covered with shingles, a kind of wooden trie. This must be very pe*
rilous where such quantities of mercantile stores are constantly ex+
posed to the danger of being destroyed by fire; butithe cheapness of
timber tempted the first settlers to risk this?hazard j howeveiv of late
they begin to build with bricks. The wooden draw-bridges by which
Boston is connected .to the continent, are very remarkable; the one
leading to the village of Charles Town, as- fifteen hundred feet; long
and forty-two feet wide, where it is said to have been at the lowest
ebb twenty-eight feet depth of water; and the flow of the tide is from
twelve to sixteen feet more; this bridge has; besides;?resisted the
shocks of considerable shoals of ice, sometimes of three and four feeit
in thickness. A similar bridge stands between Boston and the vib
lage of Cambridge, and which is said to be near a mile, long; The
architect is Mr. Cox, an American, who lias improved his genius by
the study of nature; his principle, mrthese sort of buildings, is to
support the bridges with numerous, but slender^ piles, leaving a
proportionate vacancy between them to give as little? resistance to
the power of the passing flood as possible.
Trom all that I had see» in Boston; I felt ja regret at; not beiiig
able to stay a few days longer there; for though I saw the* town and
its principal buildings, yet I had little or no opportunity of observ*
ing the customs and character of the inhabitants^ On these ocfca-
sions a traveller is often tempted- to make what, occurs to himself
the characteristic delineation of the general manners* though what
he saw or. experienced might be merely accidental. In the morning
when I went out, I saw a.gentleman passing a court from which a
driver was just starting with his cart, and as thehorse was' near run*
ring against him, he waved his hand to prevent it, but he was very
roughly abused by the carter; and when I took a ride with the
friend of Mr. T-—, who was driving, as we passed over a bridge
which was near half a mile long, another driver of a cart with a heavy
load, would not let us pass; and still whatever side we tried he turned
his horses irfördêr to block up the way ; at last, by a manoeuvre,we
got dfear of him, when* tb& gentleman with mo gave.a lash to the
horses of the carter,' saying to'me, that on such an occasion he rather
wished to see; it-applied to the driver^ and he was not backward
in confessing that such occurrences happen very frequently at
Boston. pi
As the coach for Providence set-off from hence before day break,
I wished to retire soon, but though-1 had been directed to the best
hotel at Boston, they Could not give me a separate bed-room ; and
when 1 told the landlady that I would then' try? some other house,
she replied, that there perhaps I should* find the rooms occupied by
three or four gentletfleii together! Having, therefore, little chance
of bettering myself, and being much fatigued; I went to bed : as I
was obliged to leave; my door unlocked,- in the middle of the night
I was awakened by the light of a candle, and perceived two gentlemen
standing before the bed, who told me, that as they had heard I
only travellediïfor pleasure, and they had sömë'particular business
to do at Providence, but had found that all the places were taken except
one in the coach, begged to know whether I would decline my
seat : when I replied, as it was not very pleasant to travel by night,
they might have considered it was not very likely to be merely for
pleasure I had chosen to set off at that time’; and. therefore I must
have some particular reason? for so doing, which might have saved
them the trouble of calling on me at süeh an hour, especially as I
could not possibly grant their request. A new play which was to
be performed thé next day at Providence, and at which they éx-
pected many spectators from Boston, was very likely the gréât business
these? two gentlemen had to do ; at least their age and garb
rendered this idea very probable. Being once disturbed from my rest;
and fearing that the two eager travellers might try some other
means to get my seat, I soon got up, and wént to the house from
whence thé coach started much before the fixed time.
B b