Travels In The United States Of America; Commencing In The Year 1793, And Ending In 1797. With The Author's Journals Of His Two Voyages Across The Atlantic By William Priest
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Several _Uniform_ And Elegant Rows Of Houses Have _Lately_ Been Built.
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_Philadelphia, March 7th, 1794._
DEAR SIR,
It is a general observation with respect to the English, that they eat
more animal food than the people of any other nation. The following
statement of the manner of living of the Americans[Footnote: By the term
_American_ you must understand a white man descended from a native of
the Old Continent; and by the term _Indian_, or _Savage_, one of
the aborigines of the New World.] will convince you of the falsity of this
opinion.
About eight or nine in the morning they breakfast on tea and coffee,
attended always with what they call _relishes_, such as salt fish,
beef-steaks, sausages, broiled-fowls, ham, bacon, &c. At two they dine on
what is usual in England, with a variety of american dishes, such as bear,
opossum, racoon, &c. At six or seven in the evening they have their
supper, which is exactly the same as their breakfast, with the addition of
what cold meat is left at dinner. I have often wondered how they acquired
this method of living, which is by no means calculated for the climate;
such stimulating food at breakfast and supper naturally causes thirst, and
there being no other beverage at these meals than tea, or coffee, they are
apt to drink too freely of them, particularly the female part of the
family; which, during the excessive heats in summer, is relaxing and
debilitating; and in winter, by opening the pores, exposes them to colds
of the most dangerous kind.
The manner of living I have been describing is that of people in moderate
circumstances; but this taste for _relishes_ with coffee and tea extends
to all ranks of people in these states. Soon after my arrival at
this city, I went on a party of pleasure to a sort of tea-garden and
_tavern_[Footnote: By the word _tavern,_ in America, is meant an inn or
public house of any description.], romantically situate on the bank of the
Scuylkill. At six in the evening we ordered coffee, which I was informed
they were here famous for serving _in style_. I took a memorandum of what
was on the table; viz. _coffee, cheese, sweet cakes, hung beef, sugar,
pickled salmon, butter, crackers, ham, cream_, and _bread_. The ladies all
declared, it was a most _charming relish_!
Yours sincerely, &c.
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_Philadelphia, March 12th, 1794._
Dear Friend,
The price of labour in this country is very great, owing to the prospect
an industrious man has of procuring an independance by cultivating a tract
of the waste lands; many millions of acres of which are how on sale by
government; to say nothing of those held by individuals. The money arising
from the sale of the former is appropriated to the discharge of the
national debt.
During my residence in Jersey, I was at no little pains to inform myself
of the difficulties attending a back settler. We will suppose a person
making such an attempt to possess one hundred pounds, though many have
been successful with a much less sum:
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