Of Bow bell, could suddenly be
conveyed from his bed, in the middle of the night, and laid, fast asleep,
in an american swamp, he would, on waking, fancy himself in the infernal
regions: his first sensation would be from the stings of a myriad of
mosquitoes; waking with the smart, his ears would be assailed with the
horrid noises of the frogs; on lifting up his eyes he would have a faint
view of the night-hawks, flapping their ominous wings over his devoted
head, visible only from the glimmering light of the fire-flies, which he
would naturally conclude were sparks from the bottomless pit. Nothing
would be wanting at this moment to complete the illusion, but one of those
dreadful explosions of thunder and lightning, so _extravagantly_
described by Lee, in Oedipus: -
"Call you these peals of thunder, but the yawn or bellowing clouds? by
Jove, they seem to me the world's last groans, and those large sheets of
flame it's last blaze!"
I have often traversed the woods by myself at night, and sometimes during
_such scenes_; and though I was conscious that all round me proceeded from
natural causes, I could not at these times entirely forget,
"All that the _priest_ and all the nurse had taught."
Farewell. - Believe me
Yours very sincerely, &c.,
* * * * *
_Philadelphia, August 10th, 1794._
DEAR SIR,
Having a few weeks vacation at the theatre, we agreed upon a scheme to
give three concerts at Lancaster, a town in Pennsylvania, about seventy
miles west of this city. Our band was small, but select; and our singers
Darley, and miss Broadhurst. We crossed the Scuylkill about two miles
below the Falls.
The country, which, from the Atlantic to this spot, is nearly a level, now
abruptly swells into hills, and rises as you advance westerly, till you
reach the Allegany mountains, the great _back bone_ of America, as
the Indians call that chain of mountains. There is then a considerable
descent; but that the country rises afterward for many hundred miles is
certain from the course of the rivers. No traveller has penetrated so far
west, in these latitudes, as to find a river which did not ultimately run
into the Atlantic Ocean,
We slept about a mile from the _Pioli_. I took a walk to reconnoitre
the field of battle, with one who was present at that horrid affair.
General Wayne was here completely surprised, but had his revenge at Stoney
Point.
After St. Claire's defeat, he was appointed by Congress to the command of
the continental army in the present indian war. The fatal surprise at the
Pioli has been an excellent lesson for him; since his present appointment
he has established the most rigid discipline:
