The Cod Are From Seventy To Eighty Pounds. Mackarel _Often_ Exceed Four, And Lobsters _Sometimes_ Thirty-Five Pounds Weight.

I have preserved a claw of one of the latter, which weighed thirty pounds:

This I shall bring home with me, lest my friends should think that, in this particular, I take too liberal an advantage of the _traveller's privilege_, which I assure you I do not, when I subscribe myself

Your sincere friend.

* * * * *

_Boston, December 27th, 1796._

DEAR FRIEND,

There is no calamity the bostonians so much, and justly dread, as fire. Almost every part of the town exhibits melancholy proofs of the devastation of that destructive element. This you will not wonder at, when I inform you that three fourths of the houses are built with _wood_, and covered with _shingles_, thin pieces of cedar, nearly in the shape, and answering the end of tiles. We have no regular fire-men, or rather mercenaries, as every master of a family belongs to a fire-company: there are several in town, composed of every class of citizens, who have entered into a contract to turn out with two buckets at the first fire alarm, and assist to the utmost of their power in extinguishing the flames, without fee or reward.

I awoke this morning about two o'clock by the cry of fire, and the jingling of all the church bells, which, with the rattling of the engines, call for water, and other _et caetera_ of a bostonian fire-alarm, form a concert truly horrible.

As sleep was impossible under such circumstances, I immediately rose, and found the town illuminated. When the alarm is given at night, the female part of the family immediately place candles in the windows. This is of great service in a town where there are few lamps.

I found the fire had broken out in one of the narrow streets, and was spreading fast on all sides. I was much pleased with the regularity observed by these _amateur_ fire-men. Each engine had a double row, extending to the nearest water; one row passed the full, and the other the empty buckets. The citizens not employed at the engines were pulling down the adjacent buildings, or endeavouring to save the furniture; their behaviour was bold and intrepid. The wind blew fresh at N.W.; and nothing but such uncommon exertions could possibly have saved the town, composed, as it is, of such _combustible_ materials. You will naturally inquire, whether they have no other. Yes, brick and stone in great plenty; but the cheapness of a frame, or wooden building, is a great inducement for the continuance of this dangerous practice: but there is one still greater, viz. a strange idea, universal in America, that wooden houses are more healthy, and less liable to generate or retain contagious infection than those of brick or stone. This notion has been ably controverted by one of their best _writers_[Footnote: Jefferson, vicepresident of the United States.], but with little effect; and, like all other deep-rooted prejudices, will not easily be eradicated.

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