Whether it be owing to the abolition of negro slavery, and the sale of irish, and german redemptioners, (which, by the by, is nearly as bad, and ought not to be tolerated in a free country,) or to the great population, or to the produce of the land being of less value than in the south:  I say whether it be owing to any, or to all of these causes, I know not; but certain it is, a greater strain of industry runs through all ranks of people than with you; and it is equally certain, that the lower order of citizens receive a better education, and of course are more intelligent, and better informed.  This you will not wonder at, when I tell you there are seven free schools in Boston, containing about nine hundred scholars, and that in the country schools are in a still greater proportion.  They are maintained by a tax on every class of citizens, therefore education may be claimed by all as a right.

This climate is much colder, compared with yours, than I can account for geographically; but it may perhaps be owing to our having a greater proportion of easterly winds, which, coming immediately from the banks of Newfoundland, are attended with a cloudy sky, and thick atmosphere.  These may tend to mitigate the heats of summer, but are very disagreeable in the other seasons.  The coldness of the climate is plainly to be perceived in the birch tree, which is here common in the woods; and the want of the mocking bird, the red bird, and a great variety of others, that visit you in the glimmer from South America.  The fox squirrel too is scarce, and the gray squirrel almost white.  We cannot cultivate the sweet, or tropical potatoe, but import it from Carolina.  Even the peach is late, small, and acid.  The coldness of the climate, and the fanaticism of the inhabitants, make the New England states by no means such desirable places of residence, as those of the south, to

Yours, &c.

* * * * *

Dover, April 22nd, 1797.

DEAR FRIEND,

On the 12th of March I embarked in the Betsy, captain Hart, for London; my live stock consisted of some fowls, four brace of partridges, a flying squirrel, and a young racoon.  We sailed about midnight, with a good breeze at S.W., and were in a few hours clear of the land.

On the evening of the 13th, we met with a hard gale at N. E. by N.—­The degree of cold was intolerable.  We shipped some heavy seas, and our rigging being intirely incrusted with ice, our captain was resolved to stand to the south, in search of better weather.  The next morning being on the edge of the gulf stream, we were witness to a strange struggle between the warmth of the current, and the coldness of the surrounding ocean and atmosphere:  the stream actually smoaked like a caldron!  We ran as far to the south as latitude 38, when the wind shifting to the S. W., in a few hours we found a wonderful change of climate:  the degree of heat was, at least, equal to that of a usual summer day in England, without the disagreeable pressure experienced from a thick atmosphere.  The air was perfectly clear, elastic, and animating, nothing could be more charming; but this was of short continuance; the next morning the wind shifted to the N. E., and blew a gale, which lasted eighteen hours.  We had then a calm, which was succeeded by westerly winds,