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To perform the promi&longs;e which
I made to you before I began my journey,
I will give you &longs;uch an account of this,
once fore&longs;t, but now cultivated and pleasant
country, as I can collect from my
conver&longs;ation with its inhabitants, and
from the peru&longs;al of their old family papers,
which they have kindly

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permitted me to look into for my entertainment.
By the&longs;e means I have acquainted
my&longs;elf with the &longs;tory of their fir&longs;t
planting, con&longs;equent improvements and
pre&longs;ent &longs;tate; the recital of which will
occupy the hours which I &longs;hall be able to
&longs;pare from bu&longs;ine&longs;s, company and &longs;leep,
during my re&longs;idence among them.

In reading the character of John Bull,
which was committed to paper &longs;ome years
ago by one who knew him well, you mu&longs;t
have ob&longs;erved, that though “he was in
the main an hone&longs;t, plain dealing fellow,
yet he was choleric and incon&longs;tant, and
very apt to quarrel with his be&longs;t friends.”
This ob&longs;ervation you will find fully verified
in the cour&longs;e of the narrative; and
as the opinions and manners of &longs;uperiors
have a very great influence in forming the
character of inferiors, you need not be
&longs;urpri&longs;ed if you find a family likene&longs;s
prevailing among the per&longs;ons who&longs;e history
I am about to recite, mo&longs;t, of whom

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were formerly re&longs;idents in Mr. Bull's
hou&longs;e, or apprentices in his &longs;hop.

There was among the appendages to
John's e&longs;tate, a pretty large tract of land,
which had been neglected by his ancestors,
and which he never cared much about,
excepting that now and then &longs;ome
of his family went thither a hunting, and
brought home veni&longs;on and furs. Indeed
this was as far as I can find the be&longs;t pretence
that John had to call the land his;
for he had no legal title to it. It was
then a very woody country, in &longs;ome parts
rocky and hilly, in other parts level; well
watered with brooks and ponds, and the
whole of it bordered on a large lake, in
which were plenty of fi&longs;h, &longs;ome of which
were often &longs;erved up at John's table, on
fa&longs;t days.

The &longs;tories told by one and another of
the&longs;e adventurers, had made a deep im

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pre&longs;&longs;ion on the mind of Walter Pipeweed,[1]
one of John's dome&longs;tics, a fellow of a roving
and projecting di&longs;po&longs;ition, and who
had learned the art of &longs;urveying. Walter
having frequently li&longs;tened to their chat,
began to think within him&longs;elf, “If the&longs;e
fellows make &longs;o many pence by their excursions
to this wild &longs;pot, what might not
I gain by &longs;itting down upon it? There is
plenty of game and fi&longs;h at hand, for a
pre&longs;ent &longs;upply; plenty of nuts and acorns
to fatten pigs, and with &longs;ome &longs;mall labour
I may be able to rai&longs;e corn and feed
poultry, which will fetch me a good price
at market.—I can carry bi&longs;ket enough in
my pockets, to keep me alive till my fir&longs;t
crop comes in, and my dog can live upon
the offals of the game that I &longs;hall kill.—
Be&longs;ides, who knows what trea&longs;ures the
land it&longs;elf may contain—perhaps &longs;ome
rich mines!—od zounds!—then I am
made for this world.

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Full of this dream, Walter applied to
his ma&longs;ter one day for a lea&longs;e of part of
the fore&longs;t, as it was called. Bull at fir&longs;t
laughed at the propo&longs;al, and put him off;
but Walter followed it up &longs;o clo&longs;e, and
told what advantages might be gained by
&longs;ettling there, and promi&longs;ed, if he &longs;hould
&longs;ucceed, to turn all his trade into his master's
hand, and give him the refu&longs;al of
whatever he might bring to market, and
withal &longs;hewed him &longs;ome draughts, which
he had made with chalk, from the reports
of the hunt&longs;men, that Bull began to think
of the matter in good earne&longs;t, and consulted
his lawyer upon the &longs;ubject, who,
after due confideration of the premi&longs;es,
and &longs;troking his band, advi&longs;ed him as
follows. “Why yes, Mr. Bull, I don't
&longs;ee why you ought not to look about you
as well as your neighbours. You know
that old Lord Peter lays claim to the
whole country, and has a&longs;&longs;umed to parcel
it out among his devotees. He has given
all the we&longs;tern part of it, where this fore&longs;t

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lies, to Lord Strut, and he has a large
manor adjoining to your fore&longs;t, which,
they &longs;ay, yields him a fine rent, and who
knows but this may bring you in as much,
or more?—Then there is old Lewis, the
cudgel player, and Nic Frog, the draper,
who have, perhaps, (I &longs;ay perhaps, Mr.
Bull, becau&longs;e there may be a little doubt
on both &longs;ides, and in that ca&longs;e, you know
&longs;ir, it would not become gentlemen of our
cloth, to &longs;peak po&longs;itively) as good a claim
as your honor to this land; but then it is
a maxim, you know, that po&longs;&longs;e&longs;&longs;ion is eleven
points of the law, and if you once
get your foot upon it, they cannot ou&longs;t
you without a proce&longs;s, and your honor
knows that your pur&longs;e is as long as theirs,
and you are as able to &longs;tand a &longs;uit with
them as they are with you. I therefore
advi&longs;e you to humour your man Walter,
and give him a lea&longs;e, and a pretty large
one—you may find more advantages in it
than you are aware of—but lea&longs;e it, lea&longs;e
it at any rate.” Upon this he was

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ordered to make out a lea&longs;e; and Walter being
thus inve&longs;ted with as good authority
as could be obtained, filled his pockets
with bread and chee&longs;e, took his gun,
powder fla&longs;k, and &longs;hot of various kinds,
with a parcel of fi&longs;hing lines and hooks,
his &longs;urveying in&longs;truments, and a bag of
corn on his &longs;houlders, and off he trotted
to his new paradi&longs;e.

It was &longs;ome time before he could fix
upon a &longs;pot to his liking, and he at fir&longs;t
met with &longs;ome oppo&longs;ition from the bears
and wolves, and was greatly expo&longs;ed to
the weather, before he could build him a
hut; once or twice the &longs;avage animals had
almo&longs;t devoured him, but being made of
good &longs;tuff, he &longs;tood his ground, cleared a
little &longs;pot, put his &longs;eed into the earth, and
lived as well as &longs;uch adventurers can expect,
poorly enough at fir&longs;t, but supported
as all new planters are, by the hope of
better times. After a while he began to
thrive, and his ma&longs;ter Bull recommended

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a wife,[2] whom he married, and by whom
he had a number of children. Having
found a new &longs;ort of grain in the fore&longs;t,
and a certain plant of a narcotic quality,
he cultivated both, and having procured
a number of black cattle, he went on pretty
gaily in the planting way, and brought
his narcotic weed into great repute, by
&longs;ending a pre&longs;ent of a quantity of it to his
old ma&longs;ter, who grew exce&longs;&longs;ively fond of it,
and kept calling for more, till he got the
whole trade of it into his own hands, and
&longs;old it out of his own ware hou&longs;e to old
Lewis, Nic Frog, and all the other tradesmen
around him. In return he &longs;upplied
Walter with cloths and &longs;tuffs for his family,
and uten&longs;ils for his hu&longs;bandry; and
as a reward for being the fir&longs;t, who had
courage to make a &longs;ettlement in his fore&longs;t,
and in token of his high e&longs;teem of him as
a cu&longs;tomer, as well as for certain other
rea&longs;ons, he made it a practice every year,
to pre&longs;ent him with a waggon load of or

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dure,[3] the &longs;weepings of his back yard, the
&longs;crapings of his dog kennel, and contents
of his own water clo&longs;et. This was a mark
of politene&longs;s which John valued him&longs;elf
much upon. “It may &longs;eem odd (&longs;aid
he one day to a friend) that I make &longs;uch
a kind of compliment as this to my good
cu&longs;tomer; but if you con&longs;ider it aright
you will find it a piece of refined policy—
for by this means I get rid of a deal of
tra&longs;h and rubbi&longs;h that is nece&longs;&longs;arily made
in &longs;uch a family as mine; I get a cur&longs;ed
&longs;tink removed from under my no&longs;e, and
my good friend has the advantage of it
upon his farm, to manure his grounds,
and make them produce more plentifully
that precious weed in which we all &longs;o
much delight.” Walter was often &longs;een,
on the arrival of Bull's waggon, to clap
his handerchief to his no&longs;e; but as he
knew his old ma&longs;ter was an odd &longs;ort of a
fellow, and it was his intere&longs;t to keep in
with him, he generally turned off the

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compliment with a laugh, &longs;aying, good
naturedly enough, “Let him laugh that
wins,” without explaining his meaning,
though it might admit of a double entendre—
and calling &longs;ome of his &longs;ervants, he
ordered them to &longs;hovel out the dung, and
make his black cattle mix theirs with it—
and when &longs;pread over the land, the air
took out mo&longs;t of the &longs;cent, and the &longs;alts
were of &longs;ome advantage to the &longs;oil.

After Walter Pipeweed had got his
affairs into tolerable order, he was vi&longs;ited
in his retirement by Cecilius Peter&longs;on,[4] another
of Bull's apprentices, who had
taken a fancy to the &longs;ame kind of life,
from a di&longs;gu&longs;t to &longs;ome things that had
happened in the family. He had not
been long with Walter before he found
it would not do for him to remain there.
Peter&longs;on was &longs;uppo&longs;ed to be a natural &longs;on

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of old Lord Peter, after whom he was
nick named. He had the &longs;ame affected
airs, and a tincture of the high flying notions
of his reputed father. The&longs;e made
him rather di&longs;gu&longs;tful to Walter, who had
learned his manners of Mr. Bull's mother,
when &longs;he was in her &longs;ober &longs;en&longs;es, and between
her and Lord Peter there had been
a long variance. When Peter&longs;on perceived
that his company was not de&longs;ired,
he had &longs;o much good &longs;en&longs;e as to leave
Walter's plantation, and paddling acro&longs;s
a creek, &longs;eated him&longs;elf on a point of land
that ran out into the lake. Of this he obtained
a lea&longs;e of his old ma&longs;ter, and went
to work in the &longs;ame manner as Walter had
done, who, liking his company be&longs;t at a
di&longs;tance, was willing to &longs;upply him with
bread and meat till he could &longs;cramble for
him&longs;elf. Here he took to hu&longs;bandry,
rai&longs;ing corn and the narcotic weed, and
buying up black cattle, and after a while
turned his produce into his old ma&longs;ter's
ware hou&longs;e, and received from him the

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annual compliment of a waggon load of
dung, excepting that when there had not
been &longs;o much as u&longs;ual made, he and Walter
were to &longs;hare a load between them.

To ingratiate him&longs;elf &longs;till farther with
his old ma&longs;ter, he accepted of a girl out
of his family for a wife, (for John was always
fond of his tenants marrying for fear
of their doing wor&longs;e) he took as little notice
as po&longs;&longs;ible of his reputed father, and
dropping, or di&longs;owning his nick name of
Peter&longs;on, he a&longs;&longs;umed that of Marygold,
which old Madam Bull under&longs;tood as a
compliment to one of her daughters. He
al&longs;o made his court to the old lady by
kneeling down and ki&longs;&longs;ing the fringe of
her embroidered petticoat, as was the
fa&longs;hion of that day. This ceremony,
though a trifle in it&longs;elf, helped much to
recommend him to Mr. Bull, who was a
very dutiful &longs;on, and took his mother's
advice in mo&longs;t parts of his bu&longs;ine&longs;s. In
&longs;hort, Cecilius was too much of a politi

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cian to &longs;uppo&longs;e that filial affection ought
to &longs;tand in the way of a man's intere&longs;t,
and in this he judged as mo&longs;t other men
would have done in the fame circumstances.

eaf005.n1

[1] Sir Walter Raleigh.