The Westover Manuscripts - Pages 123-144



Page 123

                                     A
                           PROGRESS TO THE MINES,
                             IN THE YEAR 1732.

   September 18th. For the pleasure of the good company of Mrs. Byrd, and 
her little governor, my son, I went about half way to the falls in the 
chariot. There we halted, not far from a purling stream, and upon the 
stump of a propagate oak picked the bones of a piece of roast beef. By the 
spirit which that gave me, I was the better able to part with the dear 
companions of my travels, and to perform the rest of my journey on 
horseback by myself. I reached Shacco's before two o'clock, and crossed 
the river to the mills. I had the grief to find them both stand as still, 
for the want of water, as a dead woman's tongue, for want of breath. It 
had rained so little for many weeks above the falls, that the Naiades had 
hardly water enough left to wash their faces. However, as we ought to turn 
all our misfortunes to the best advantage, I directed Mr. Booker, my first 
minister there, to make use of the lowness of the water for blowing up the 
rocks at the mouth of the canal. For that purpose I ordered iron drills to 
be made about two feet long, pointed with steel, chisel fashion, in order 
to make holes, into which we put our cartridges of powder, containing each 
about three ounces. There wanted skill among my engineers to choose the 
best parts of the stone for boring, that we might blow to the most 
advantage. They made all their holes quite perpendicular, whereas they 
should have humoured the grain of the stone for the more effectual 
execution. I ordered the points of the drills to be made chisel way, 
rather than the diamond, that they might need to be seldomer repaired, 
though in stone the diamond points would make the most despatch. The water 
now flowed out of the river so slowly, that the miller was obliged to pond 
it up in the canal, by setting open the flood-gates at the mouth, and 
shutting those close at the mill. By this contrivance, he was able at any 
time to grind two or three bushels, either for his choice customers, or 
for the use of my plantations. Then I walked to the place where they broke 
the flax, which is wrought with much greater ease than the hemp, and is 
much better for spinning. From thence I paid a visit to the weaver, who 
needed a little of Minerva's inspiration to make the most of a piece of 
cloth. Then I looked in upon my Caledonian spinster, who was mended more 
in her looks than in her humour. However, she promised much, though at the 
same time intended to perform little. She is too highspirited for Mr. 
Booker, who hates to have his sweet temper ruffled, and will rather suffer 
matters to go a little wrong sometimes, than give his righteous spirit any 
uneasiness. He is very honest, and would make an admirable overseer where 
servants will do as they are bid. But eye-servants, who want abundance of 
overlooking, are not so proper to be committed to his care. I found myself 
out of order, and for that reason retired early; yet with all this 
precaution had a gentle fever in the night, but towards morning nature set 
open all her gates, and drove it out in a plentiful perspiration.

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   19th. The worst of this fever was, that it put me to the necessity of 
taking another ounce of bark. I moistened every dose with a little brandy, 
and filled the glass up with water, which is the least nauseous way of 
taking this popish medicine, and besides hinders it from purging. After I 
had swallowed a few poached eggs, we rode down to the mouth of the canal, 
and from thence crossed over to the broad rock island in a canoe. Our 
errand was to view some iron ore, which we dug up in two places. That on 
the surface seemed very spongy and poor, which gave us no great 
encouragement to search deeper, nor did the quantity appear to be very 
great. However, for my greater satisfaction, I ordered a hand to dig there 
for some time this winter. We walked from one end of the island to the 
other, being about half a mile in length, and found the soil very good, 
and too high for any flood, less than that of Deucalion, to do the least 
damage. There is a very wild prospect both upward and downward, the river 
being full of rocks, over which the stream tumbled with a murmur, loud 
enough to drown the notes of a scolding wife. This island would make an 
agreeable hermitage for any good Christian, who had a mind to retire from 
the world. Mr. Booker told me how Dr. Ireton had cured him once of a 
looseness, which had been upon him two whole years. He ordered him a dose 
of rhubarb, with directions to take twenty-five drops of laudanum so soon 
as he had had two physical stools. Then he rested one day, and the next he 
ordered him another dose of the same quantity of laudanum to be taken, 
also after the second stool. When this was done, he finished the cure by 
giving him twenty drops of laudanum every night for five nights running. 
The doctor insisted upon the necessity of stopping the operation of the 
rhubarb before it worked quite off, that what remained behind might 
strengthen the bowels. I was punctual in swallowing my bark, and that I 
might use exercise upon it, rode to Prince's Folly, and my Lord's islands, 
where I saw very fine corn. In the mean time Vulcan came in order to make 
the drills for boring the rocks, and gave me his parole he would, by the 
grace of God, attend the works till they were finished, which he performed 
as lamely as if he had been to labour for a dead horse, and not for ready 
money. I made a North Carolina dinner upon fresh pork, though we had a 
plate of green peas after it, by way of desert, for the safety of our 
noses. Then my first minister and I had some serious conversation about my 
affairs, and I find nothing disturbed his peaceable spirit so much as the 
misbehavior of the spinster above-mentioned. I told him I could not pity a 
man, who had it always in his power to do himself and her justice, and 
would not. If she were a drunkard, a scold, a thief, or a slanderer, we 
had wholesome laws, that would make her back smart for the diversion of 
her other members, and it was his fault he had not put those wholesome 
severities in execution. I retired in decent time to my own apartment, and 
slept very comfortably upon my bark, forgetting all the little crosses 
arising from overseers and negroes.

   20th. I continued the bark, and then tossed down my poached eggs, with 
as much ease as some good breeders slip children into the world. About 
nine I left the prudentest orders I could think of with my vizier, and 
then crossed the river to Shacco's. I made a running visit to three of my 
quarters, where, besides finding all the people well, I had the pleasure 
to see better crops than usual both of corn and tobacco. I parted there 
with my intendant, and pursued my journey to Mr. Randolph's, at Tuckahoe, 
without meeting with any adventure by the way. Here I found Mrs. Fleming, 
who was packing up her baggage with design to follow her husband the next 
day, who was gone to a new settlement in Goochland. Both he and she have 
been about seven years persuading themselves to remove to that retired 
part of the country, though they had the two strong arguments of health 
and interest for so doing. 

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The widow smiled graciously upon me, and entertained me very handsomely. 
Here I learned all the tragical story of her daughter's humble marriage 
with her uncle's overseer. Besides the meanness of this mortal's aspect, 
the man has not one visible qualification, except impudence, to recommend 
him to a female's inclinations. But there is sometimes such a charm in 
that Hibernian endowment, that frail woman cannot withstand it, though it 
stand alone without any other recommendation. Had she run away with a 
gentleman or a pretty fellow, there might have been some excuse for her, 
though he were of inferior fortune: but to stoop to a dirty plebeian, 
without any kind of merit, is the lowest prostitution. I found the family 
justly enraged at it; and though I had more good nature than to join in 
her condemnation, yet I could devise no excuse for so senseless a prank as 
this young gentlewoman had played. Here good drink was more scarce than 
good victuals, the family being reduced to the last bottle of wine, which 
was therefore husbanded very carefully. But the water was excellent. The 
heir of the family did not come home till late in the evening. He is a 
pretty young man, but had the misfortune to become his own master too 
soon. This puts young fellows upon wrong pursuits, before they have sense 
to judge rightly for themselves. Though at the same time they have a 
strange conceit of their own sufficiency, when they grow near twenty years 
old, especially if they happen to have a small smattering of learning. It 
is then they fancy themselves wiser than all their tutors and governors, 
which makes them headstrong to all advice, and above all reproof and 
admonition.

   21st. I was sorry in the morning to find myself stopped in my career by 
bad weather brought upon us by a north-east wind. This drives a world of 
raw unkindly vapours upon us from Newfoundland, laden with blight, coughs, 
and pleurisies. However, I complained not, lest I might be suspected to be 
tired of the good company. Though Mrs. Fleming was not so much upon her 
guard, but mutinied strongly at the rain, that hindered her from pursuing 
her dear husband. I said what I could to comfort a gentlewoman under so 
sad a disappointment. I told her a husband, that stayed so much at home as 
her's did, could be no such violent rarity, as for a woman to venture her 
precious health, to go daggling through the rain after him, or to be 
miserable if she happened to be prevented. That it was prudent for married 
people to fast sometimes from one another, that they might come together 
again with the better stomach. That the best things in this world, if 
constantly used, are apt to be cloying, which a little absence and 
abstinence would prevent. This was strange doctrine to a fond female, who 
fancies people should love with as little reason after marriage as before. 
In the afternoon monsieur Marij, the minister of the parish, came to make 
me a visit. He had been a Romish priest, but found reasons, either 
spiritual or temporal, to quit that gay religion. The fault of this new 
convert is, that he looks for as much respect from his protestant flock, 
as is paid to the popish clergy, which our ill-bred Hugonots do not 
understand. Madam Marij, had so much curiosity as to want to come too; but 
another horse was wanting, and she believed it would have too vulgar an 
air to ride behind her husband. This woman was of the true exchange breed, 
full of discourse, but void of discretion, and married a parson, with the 
idle hopes he might some time or other come to be his grace of Canterbury. 
The gray mare is the better horse in that family, and the poor man submits 
to her wild vagaries for peace' sake. She has just enough of the fine 
lady, to run in debt, and be of no signification in her household. And the 
only thing that can prevent her from undoing her loving husband will be, 
that nobody will trust them beyond the sixteen thousand,(1) which is soon 
run out in a Goochland store. The 

(1. Sixteen thousand pounds of tobacco was the legal salary of a 
minister.--ED.)

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way of dealing there is, for some small merchant or pedler to buy a Scots 
pennyworth of goods, and clap one hundred and fifty per cent. upon that. 
At this rate the parson cannot be paid much more for his preaching than it 
is worth. No sooner was our visiter retired, but the facetious widow was 
so kind as to let me into all this secret history, but was at the same 
time exceedingly sorry that the woman should be so indiscreet, and the man 
so tame as to be governed by an unprofitable and fantastical wife.

   22d. We had another wet day, to try both Mrs. Fleming's patience and my 
good breeding. The north-east wind commonly sticks by us three or four 
days, filling the atmosphere with damps, injurious both to man and beast. 
The worst of it was, we had no good liquor to warm our blood, and fortify 
our spirits against so strong a malignity. However, I was cheerful under 
all these misfortunes, and expressed no concern but a decent fear lest my 
long visit might be troublesome. Since I was like to have thus much 
leisure, I endeavoured to find out what subject a dull married man could 
introduce that might best bring the widow to the use of her tongue. At 
length I discovered she was a notable quack, and therefore paid that 
regard to her knowledge, as to put some questions to her about the bad 
distemper that raged then in the country. I mean the bloody flux, that was 
brought us in the negro-ship consigned to Col. Braxton. She told me she 
made use of very simple remedies in that case, with very good success. She 
did the business either with hartshorn drink, that had plantain leaves 
boiled in it, or else with a strong decoction of St. Andrew's cross, in 
new milk instead of water. I agreed with her that those remedies might be 
very good, but would be more effectual after a dose or two of Indian 
physic. But for fear this conversation might be too grave for a widow, I 
turned the discourse, and began to talk of plays, and finding her taste 
lay most towards comedy, I offered my service to read one to her, which 
she kindly accepted. She produced the second part of the Beggar's Opera, 
which had diverted the town for forty nights successively, and gained four 
thousand pounds to the author. This was not owing altogether to the wit or 
humour that sparkled in it, but to some political reflections, that seemed 
to hit the ministry. But the great advantage of the author was, that his 
interest was solicited by the dutchess of Queensbury, which no man could 
refuse who had but half an eye in his head, or half a guinea in his 
pocket. Her grace, like death, spared nobody, but even took my lord 
Selkirk in for two guineas, to repair which extravagance he lived upon 
Scots herrings two months afterwards. But the best story was, she made a 
very smart officer in his majesty's guards give her a guinea, who swearing 
at the same time it was all he had in the world, she sent him fifty for it 
the next day, to reward his obedience. After having acquainted my company 
with the history of the play, I read three acts of it, and left Mrs. 
Fleming and Mr. Randolph to finish it, who read as well as most actors do 
at a rehearsal. Thus we killed the time, and triumphed over the bad 
weather.

   23d. The clouds continued to drive from the north-east, and to menace 
us with more rain. But as the lady resolved to venture through it, I 
thought it a shame for me to venture to flinch. Therefore, after 
fortifying myself with two capacious dishes of coffee, and making my 
compliments to the ladies, I mounted, and Mr. Randolph was so kind as to 
be my guide. At the distance of about three miles, in a path as narrow as 
that which leads to heaven, but much more dirty, we reached the homely 
dwelling of the reverend Mr. Marij. His land is much more barren than his 
wife, and needs all Mr. Bradley's skill in agriculture to make it bring 
corn. Thence we proceeded five miles farther, to a mill of Mr. Randolph's, 
that is apt to stand still when there falls but little rain, and to be 
carried away when there falls a great deal. Then we pursued a very blind 
path four miles farther, which puzzled 

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my guide, who I suspect led me out of the way. At length we came into a 
great road, where he took leave, after giving me some very confused 
directions, and so left me to blunder out the rest of the journey by 
myself. I lost myself more than once, but soon recovered the right way 
again. About three miles after quitting my guide, I passed the south 
branch of Pamunky river, near fifty yards over, and full of stones. After 
this, I had eight miles to Mr. Chiswell's, where I arrived about two 
o'clock, and saved my dinner. I was very handsomely entertained, finding 
every thing very clean, and very good. I had not seen Mrs. Chiswell in 
twenty-four years, which, alas! had made great havoc with her pretty face, 
and ploughed very deep furrows in her fair skin. It was impossible to know 
her again, so much the flower was faded. However, though she was grown an 
old woman, yet she was one of those absolute rarities, a very good old 
woman. I found Mr. Chiswell a sensible, well-bred man, and very frank in 
communicating his knowledge in the mystery of making iron, wherein he has 
had long experience. I told him I was come to spy the land, and inform 
myself of the expense of carrying on an iron work with effect. That I 
sought my instruction from him, who understood the whole mystery, having 
gained full experience in every part of it; only I was very sorry he had 
bought that experience so dear. He answered that he would, with great 
sincerity, let me into the little knowledge he had, and so we immediately 
entered upon the business. He assured me the first step I was to take was 
to acquaint myself fully with the quantity and quality of my ore. For that 
reason I ought to keep a good pick-axe man at work a whole year to search 
if there be a sufficient quantity, without which it would be a very rash 
undertaking. That I should also have a skilful person to try the richness 
of the ore. Nor is it great advantage to have it exceeding rich, because 
then it will yield brittle iron, which is not valuable. But the way to 
have it tough is to mix poor ore and rich together, which makes the poorer 
sort extremely necessary for the production of the best iron. Then he 
showed me a sample of the richest ore they have in England, which yields a 
full moiety of iron. It was of a pale red colour, smooth and greasy, and 
not exceedingly heavy; but it produced so brittle a metal, that they were 
obliged to melt a poorer ore along with it. He told me, after I was 
certain my ore was good and plentiful enough, my next inquiry ought to be, 
how far it lies from a stream proper to build a furnace upon, and again 
what distance that furnace will be from water carriage; because the charge 
of carting a great way is very heavy, and eats out a great part of the 
profit. That this was the misfortune of the mines of Fredericksville, 
where they were obliged to cart the ore a mile to the furnace, and after 
it was run into iron, to carry that twenty-four miles, over an uneven road 
to Rappahannock river, about a mile below Fredericksburg, to a plantation 
the company rented of Col. Page. If I were satisfied with the situation, I 
was in the next place to consider whether I had woodland enough near the 
furnace to supply it with charcoal, whereof it would require a prodigious 
quantity. That the properest wood for that purpose was that of oily kind, 
such as pine, walnut, hickory, oak, and in short all that yields cones, 
nuts, or acorns. That two miles square of wood, would supply a moderate 
furnace; so that what you fell first may have time to grow up again to a 
proper bigness (which must be four inches over) by that time the rest is 
cut down. He told me farther, that one hundred and twenty slaves, 
including women, were necessary to carry on all the business of an iron 
work, and the more Virginians amongst them the better; though in that 
number he comprehended carters, colliers, and those that planted the corn. 
That if there should be much carting, it would require one thousand six 
hundred barrels of corn yearly to support the people, and the cattle 
employed; nor does even 

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that quantity suffice at Fredericksville. That if all these circumstances 
should happily concur, and you could procure honest colliers and firemen, 
which will be difficult to do, you may easily run eight hundred tons of 
sow iron a year. The whole charge of freight, custom, commission, and 
other expenses in England, will not exceed thirty shillings a ton, and it 
will commonly sell for six pounds, and then the clear profit will amount 
to four pounds and ten shillings. So that allowing the ten shillings for 
accidents, you may reasonably expect a clear profit of four pounds, which 
being multiplied by eight hundred, will amount to three thousand two 
hundred pounds a year, to pay you for your land and negroes. But then it 
behooved me to be fully informed of the whole matter myself, to prevent 
being imposed upon; and if any offered to put tricks upon me, to punish 
them as they deserve. Thus ended our conversation for this day, and I 
retired to a very clean lodging in another house, and took my bark, but 
was forced to take it in water, by reason a light fingered damsel had 
ransacked my baggage, and drunk up my brandy. This unhappy girl, it seems, 
is a baronet's daughter; but her complexion, being red-haired, inclined 
her so much to lewdness, that her father sent her, under the care of the 
virtuous Mr. Cheep, to seek her fortune on this side the globe.

   24th. My friend, Mr. Chiswell, made me reparation for the robbery of 
his servant, by filling my bottle again with good brandy. It being Sunday, 
I made a motion for going to church, to see the growth of the parish, but 
unluckily the sermon happened to be at the chapel, which was too far off. 
I was unwilling to tire my friend with any farther discourse upon iron, 
and therefore turned the conversation to other subjects. And talking of 
management, he let me into two secrets worth remembering. He said the 
quickest way in the world to stop the fermentation of any liquor was to 
keep a lighted match of brimstone under the cask for some time. This is 
useful in so warm a country as this, where cider is apt to work itself off 
both of its strength and sweetness. The other secret was to keep weevils 
out of wheat and other grain. You have nothing to do, said he, but to put 
a bag of pepper into every heap, or cask, which those insects have such an 
antipathy to that they will not approach it. These receipts he gave me, 
not upon report, but upon his own repeated experience. He farther told me 
he had brewed as good ale of malt made of Indian corn as ever he tasted; 
all the objection was, he could neither by art, or standing, ever bring it 
to be fine in the cask. The quantity of corn he employed in brewing a cask 
of forty gallons was two bushels and a half, which made it very strong and 
pleasant. We had a haunch of venison for dinner, as fat and well tasted as 
if it had come out of Richmond park. In these upper parts of the country 
the deer are in better case than below, though I believe the buck which 
gave us so good a dinner had eaten out his value in peas, which will make 
deer exceedingly fat. In the afternoon, I walked with my friend to his 
mill, which is half a mile from his house. It is built upon a rock very 
firmly, so that it is more apt to suffer by too little water, (the run not 
being over plentiful,) than too much. On the other side of this stream lie 
several of Col. Jones' plantations. The poor negroes upon them are a kind 
of Adamites, very scantily supplied with clothes and other necessaries; 
nevertheless, (which is a little incomprehensible,) they continue in 
perfect health, and none of them die, except it be of age. However, they 
are even with their master, and make him but indifferent crops, so that he 
gets nothing by his unjustice, but the scandal of it. And here I must make 
one remark, which I am a little unwilling to do for fear of encouraging of 
cruelty, that those negroes which are kept the barest of clothes and 
bedding are commonly the freest from sickness. And this happens, I 
suppose, by their being all face, and therefore 

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better proof against the sudden changes of weather, to which this climate 
is unhappily subject.

   25th. After saying some very civil things to Mrs. Chiswell, for my 
handsome entertainment, I mounted my horse, and Mr. Chiswell his phaeton, 
in order to go to the mines at Fredericksville. We could converse very 
little by the way, by reason of our different voitures. The road was very 
straight and level the whole journey, which was twenty-five miles, the 
last ten whereof I rode in the chair, and my friend on my horse, to ease 
ourselves by that variety of motion. About a mile before we got to 
Fredericksville, we forded over the north branch of Pamunky, about sixty 
yards over. Neither this nor the south branch run up near so high as the 
mountains, but many miles below them spread out into a kind of morass, 
like Chickahominy. When we approached the mines, there opened to our view 
a large space of cleared ground, whose wood had been cut down for coaling. 
We arrived here about two o'clock, and Mr. Chiswell had been so provident 
as to bring a cold venison pasty, with which we appeased our appetites, 
without the impatience of waiting. When our tongues were at leisure for 
discourse, my friend told me there was one Mr. Harrison, in England, who 
is so universal a dealer in all sorts of iron, that he could govern the 
market just as he pleased. That it was by his artful management that our 
iron from the plantations sold for less than that made in England, though 
it was generally reckoned much better. That ours would hardly fetch six 
pounds a ton, when their's fetched seven or eight, purely to serve that 
man's interest. Then he explained the several charges upon our sow iron, 
after it was put on board the ships. That in the first place it paid seven 
shillings and sixpence a ton for freight, being just so much clear gain to 
the ships, which carry it as ballast, or wedge it in among the hogsheads. 
When it gets home, it pays three shillings and nine-pence custom. These 
articles together make no more than eleven shillings and three pence, and 
yet the merchants, by their great skill in multiplying charges, swell the 
account up to near thirty shillings a ton by that time it gets out of 
their hands, and they are continually adding more and more, as they serve 
us in our accounts of tobacco. He told me a strange thing about steel, 
that the making of the best remains at this day a profound secret in the 
breast of a very few, and therefore is in danger of being lost, as the art 
of staining of glass, and many others, have been. He could only tell me 
they used beech wood in the making of it in Europe, and burn it a 
considerable time in powder of charcoal; but the mystery lies in the 
liquor they quench it in. After dinner we took a walk to the furnace, 
which is elegantly built of brick, though the hearth be of fire-stone. 
There we saw the founder, Mr. Derham, who is paid four shillings for every 
ton of sow iron that he runs, which is a shilling cheaper than the last 
workman had. This operator looked a little melancholy, because he had 
nothing to do, the furnace having been cold ever since May, for want of 
corn to support the cattle. This was however no neglect of Mr. Chiswell, 
because all the persons he had contracted with had basely disappointed 
him. But having received a small supply, they intended to blow very soon. 
With that view they began to heat the furnace, which is six weeks before 
it comes to that intense heat required to run the metal in perfection. 
Neverthless, they commonly begin to blow when the fire has been kindled a 
week or ten days. Close by the furnace stood a very spacious house full of 
charcoal, holding at least four hundred loads, which will be burnt out in 
three months. The company has contracted with Mr. Harry Willis to fall the 
wood, and then maul it and cut it into pieces of four feet in length, and 
bring it to the pits where it is to be coaled. All this he has undertaken 
to do for two shillings a cord, which must be four feet broad, four feet 
high, and eight feet long. Being thus carried to the pits, the 

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collier has contracted to coal it for five shillings a load, consisting of 
one hundred and sixty bushels. The fire in the furnace is blown by two 
mighty pairs of bellows, that cost one hundred pounds each, and these 
bellows are moved by a great wheel of twenty-six feet diameter. The wheel 
again is carried round by a small stream of water, conveyed about three 
hundred and fifty yards over land in a trough, from a pond made by a 
wooden dam. But there is great want of water in a dry season, which makes 
the furnace often blow out, to the great prejudice of the works. Having 
thus filled my head with all these particulars, we returned to the house, 
where, after talking of Col. Spotswood, and his stratagems to shake off 
his partners, and secure all his mines to himself, I retired to a homely 
lodging, which, like a homespun mistress, had been more tolerable, if it 
had been sweet.

   26th. Over our tea, Mr. Chiswell told me the expense which the company 
had been already at amounted to near twelve thousand pounds: but then the 
land, negroes, and cattle were all included in that charge. However, the 
money began now to come in, they having run twelve hundred tons of iron, 
and all their heavy disbursements were over. Only they were still forced 
to buy great quantities of corn, because they had not strength of their 
own to make it. That they had not more than eighty negroes, and few of 
those Virginia born. That they need forty negroes more to carry on all the 
business with their own force. They have fifteen thousand acres of land, 
though little of it rich except in iron, and of that they have a great 
quantity. Mr. Fitzwilliam, took up the mine tract, and had the address to 
draw in the governor, Capt. Pearse, Dr. Nicolas and Mr. Chiswell to be 
jointly concerned with him, by which contrivance he first got a good price 
for the land, and then, when he had been very little out of pocket, sold 
his share to Mr. Nelson for five hundred pounds; and of these gentlemen 
the company at present consists. And Mr. Chiswell is the only person 
amongst them that knows any thing of the matter, and has one hundred 
pounds a year for looking after the works, and richly deserves it. After 
breaking our fast we took a walk to the principal mine, about a mile from 
the furnace, where they had sunk in some places about fifteen or twenty 
feet deep. The operator, Mr. Gordon, raised the ore, for which he was to 
have by contract one and six-pence per cart-load of twenty-six hundred 
weight. This man was obliged to hire all the laborers he wanted for this 
work of the company, after the rate of twenty-five shillings a month, and 
for all that was able to clear forty pounds a-year for himself. We saw 
here several large heaps of ore of two sorts, one of rich, and the other 
spongy and poor, which they melted together to make the metal more tough. 
The way of raising the ore was by blowing it up, which operation I saw 
here from beginning to end. They first drilled a hole in the mine, either 
upright or sloping, as the grain of it required. This hole they cleansed 
with a rag fastened to the end of an iron with a worm at the end of it. 
Then they put in a cartridge of powder containing about three ounces, and 
at the same time a reed full of fuse that reached to the powder. Then they 
rammed dry clay, or soft stone very hard into the hole, and lastly they 
fired the fuse with a paper that had been dipped in a solution of 
saltpetre and dried, which burning slow and sure, gave leisure to the 
engineer to retire to a proper distance before the explosion. This in the 
miner's language is called making a blast, which will loosen several 
hundred weight of ore at once; and afterwards the laborers easily separate 
it with pick-axes and carry it away in baskets up to the heap. At our 
return we saw near the furnace large heaps of mine with charcoal mixed 
with it, a stratum of each alternately, beginning first with a layer of 
charcoal at the bottom. To this they put fire, which in a little time 
spreads through the whole heap, and calcines the ore, which afterwards 
easily crumbles into 

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small pieces fit for the furnace. There was likewise a mighty quantity of 
limestone, brought from Bristol, by way of ballast, at two and sixpence a 
ton, which they are at the trouble to cart hither from Rappahannock river, 
but contrive to do it when the carts return from carrying of iron. They 
put this into the furnace with the iron ore, in the proportion of one ton 
of stone to ten of ore, with design to absorb the sulphur out of the iron, 
which would otherwise make it brittle. And if that be the use of it, 
oyster shells would certainly do as well as limestone, being altogether as 
strong an alkali, if not stronger. Nor can their being taken out of salt 
water be any objection, because it is pretty certain the West India 
limestone, which is thrown up by the sea, is even better than that 
imported from Bristol. But the founders who never tried either of these 
will by no means be persuaded to go out of their way, though the reason of 
the thing be never so evident. I observed the richer sort of mine, being 
of a dark colour mixed with rust, was laid in a heap by itself, and so was 
the poor, which was of a liver or brick colour. The sow iron is in the 
figure of a half-round, about two feet and a half-long, weighing sixty or 
seventy pounds, whereof three hundred weight make a cart-load drawn by 
eight oxen, which are commonly shod to save their hoofs in those stony 
ways. When the furnace blows, it runs about twenty tons of iron a week. 
The founders find it very hot work to tend the furnace, especially in 
summer, and are obliged to spend no small part of their earnings in strong 
drink to recruit their spirits. Besides the founder, the collier, and 
miner, who are paid in proportion to their work, the company have several 
other officers upon wages, a stock-taker, who weighs and measures every 
thing, a clerk, who keeps an account of all receipts and disbursements, a 
smith to shoe their cattle, and keep all their iron work in repair, a 
wheel-wright, cartwright, carpenter, and several carters. The wages of all 
these persons amount to one hundred pounds a year; so that including Mr. 
Chiswell's salary, they disburse two hundred pounds per annum in standing 
wages. The provisions too are a heavy article, which their plantations do 
not yet produce in a sufficient quantity, though they are at the charge of 
a general overseer. But while corn is so short with them, there can be no 
great increase of stock of any kind.

   27th. Having now pretty well exhausted the subject of sow iron, I asked 
my friend some questions about bar-iron. He told me we had as yet no forge 
erected in Virginia, though we had four furnaces. But there was a very 
good one set up at the head of the bay in Maryland, that made exceeding 
good work. He let me know that the duty in England upon bar iron was 
twenty-four shillings a ton, and that it sold there from ten to sixteen 
pounds a ton. This would pay the charge of forging abundantly, but he 
doubted the parliament of England would soon forbid us that improvement, 
lest after that we should go farther, and manufacture our bars into all 
sorts of iron ware, as they already do in New England and Pennsylvania. 
Nay, he questioned whether we should be suffered to cast any iron, which 
they can do themselves at their furnaces. Thus ended our conversation, and 
I thanked my friend for being so free in communicating every thing to me. 
Then, after tipping a pistole to the clerk, to drink prosperity to the 
mines with all the workmen, I accepted the kind offer of going part of my 
journey in the phaeton. I took my leave about ten, and drove over a 
spacious level road ten miles, to a bridge built over the river Po, which 
is one of the four branches of Matapony, about forty yards wide. Two miles 
beyond that, we passed by a plantation belonging to the company, of about 
five hundred acres, where they keep a great number of oxen to relieve 
those that have dragged their loaded carts thus far. Three miles farther 
we came to the Germanna road, where I quitted the chair, and continued my 
journey on horseback 

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I rode eight miles together over a stony road, and had on either side 
continual poisoned fields, with nothing but saplings growing on them. Then 
I came into the main county road, that leads from Fredericksburg to 
Germanna, which last place I reached in ten miles more. This famous town 
consists of Col. Spotswood's enchanted castle on one side of the street, 
and a baker's dozen of ruinous tenements on the other, where so many 
German families had dwelt some years ago; but are now removed ten miles 
higher, in the fork of Rappahannock, to land of their own. There had also 
been a chapel about a bow-shot from the colonel's house, at the end of an 
avenue of cherry trees, but some pious people had lately burnt it down, 
with intent to get another built nearer to their own homes. Here I arrived 
about three o'clock, and found only Mrs. Spotswood at home, who received 
her old acquaintance with many a gracious smile. I was carried into a room 
elegantly set off with pier glasses, the largest of which came soon after 
to an odd misfortune. Amongst other favourite animals that cheered this 
lady's solitude, a brace of tame deer ran familiarly about the house, and 
one of them came to stare at me as a stranger. But unluckily spying his 
own figure in the glass, he made a spring over the tea table that stood 
under it, and shattered the glass to pieces, and falling back upon the tea 
table, made a terrible fracas among the china. This exploit was so sudden, 
and accompanied with such a noise, that it surprised me, and perfectly 
frightened Mrs. Spotswood. But it was worth all the damage, to show the 
moderation and good humour with which she bore this disaster. In the 
evening the noble colonel came home from his mines, who saluted me very 
civilly, and Mrs. Spotswood's sister, Miss Theky, who had been to meet him 
en cavalier, was so kind too as to bid me welcome. We talked over a legend 
of old stories, supped about nine, and then prattled with the ladies, till 
it was time for a traveller to retire. In the mean time I observed my old 
friend to be very uxorious, and exceedingly fond of his children. This was 
so opposite to the maxims he used to preach up before he was married, that 
I could not forbear rubbing up the memory of them. But he gave a very good-
natured turn to his change of sentiments, by alleging that whoever brings 
a poor gentlewoman into so solitary a place, from all her friends and 
acquaintance, would be ungrateful not to use her and all that belongs to 
her with all possible tenderness.

   28th. We all kept snug in our several apartments till nine, except Miss 
Theky, who was the housewife of the family. At that hour we met over a pot 
of coffee, which was not quite strong enough to give us the palsy. After 
breakfast the colonel and I left the ladies to their domestic affairs, and 
took a turn in the garden, which has nothing beautiful but three terrace 
walks that fall in slopes one below another. I let him understand, that 
besides the pleasure of paying him a visit, I came to be instructed by so 
great a master in the mystery of making of iron, wherein he had led the 
way, and was the Tubal Cain of Virginia. He corrected me a little there, 
by assuring me he was not only the first in this country, but the first in 
North America, who had erected a regular furnace. That they ran altogether 
upon bloomeries in New England and Pennsylvania, till his example had made 
them attempt greater works. But in this last colony, they have so few 
ships to carry their iron to Great Britain, that they must be content to 
make it only for their own use, and must be obliged to manufacture it when 
they have done. That he hoped he had done the country very great service 
by setting so good an example. That the four furnaces now at work in 
Virginia circulated a great sum of money for provisions and all other 
necessaries in the adjacent counties. That they took off a great number of 
hands from planting tobacco, and employed them in works that produced a 
large sum of money in England to the persons concerned, whereby the 
country is so much the richer. That 

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they are besides a considerable advantage to Great Britain, because it 
lessens the quantity of bar iron imported from Spain, Holland, Sweden, 
Denmark and Muscovy, which used to be no less than twenty thousand tons 
yearly, though at the same time no sow iron is imported thither from any 
country but only from the plantations. For most of this bar iron they do 
not only pay silver, but our friends in the Baltic are so nice, they even 
expect to be paid all in crown pieces. On the contrary, all the iron they 
receive from the plantations, they pay for it in their own manufacturers, 
and send for it in their own shipping. Then I inquired after his own 
mines, and hoped, as he was the first that engaged in this great 
undertaking, that he had brought them to the most perfection. He told me 
he had iron in several parts of his great tract of land, consisting of 
forty-five thousand acres. But that the mine he was at work upon was 
thirteen miles below Germanna. That his ore (which was very rich) he 
raised a mile from his furnace, and was obliged to cart the iron, when it 
was made, fifteen miles to Massaponux, a plantation he had upon 
Rappahannock river; but that the road was exceeding good, gently declining 
all the way, and had no more than one hill to go up in the whole journey. 
For this reason his loaded carts went it in a day without difficulty. He 
said it was true his works were of the oldest standing: but that his long 
absence in England, and the wretched management of Mr. Greame, whom he had 
entrusted with his affairs, had put him back very much. That what with 
neglect and severity, above eighty of his slaves were lost while he was in 
England, and most of his cattle starved. That his furnace stood still 
great part of the time, and all his plantations ran to ruin. That indeed 
he was rightly served for committing his affairs to the care of a 
mathematician, whose thoughts were always among the stars. That 
nevertheless, since his return, he had applied himself to rectify his 
steward's mistakes, and bring his business again into order. That now he 
had contrived to do every thing with his own people, except raising the 
mine and running the iron, by which he had contracted his expense very 
much. Nay, he believed that by his directions he could bring sensible 
negroes to perform those parts of the work tolerably well. But at the same 
time he gave me to understand, that his furnace had done no great feats 
lately, because he had been taken up in building an air furnace at 
Massaponux, which he had now brought to perfection, and should be thereby 
able to furnish the whole country with all sorts of cast iron, as cheap 
and as good as ever came from England. I told him he must do one thing 
more to have a full vent for those commodities, he must keep a shallop 
running into all the rivers, to carry his wares home to people's own 
doors. And if he would do that I would set a good example, and take off a 
whole ton of them. Our conversation on this subject continued till dinner, 
which was both elegant and plentiful. The afternoon was devoted to the 
ladies, who showed me one of their most beautiful walks. They conducted me 
through a shady lane to the landing, and by the way made me drink some 
very fine water that issued from a marble fountain, and ran incessantly. 
Just behind it was a covered bench, where Miss Theky often sat and 
bewailed her virginity. Then we proceeded to the river, which is the south 
branch of Rappahannock, about fifty yards wide, and so rapid that the 
ferry boat is drawn over by a chain, and therefore called the Rapidan. At 
night we drank prosperity to all the colonel's projects in a bowl of rack 
punch, and then retired to our devotions.

   29th. Having employed about two hours in retirement, I sallied out at 
the first summons to breakfast, where our conversation with the ladies, 
like whip sillabub, was very pretty, but had nothing in it. This it seems 
was Miss Theky's birth day, upon which I made her my compliments, and 
wished she might live twice as long a married woman as she had lived a 
maid. I did 

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not presume to pry into the secret of her age, nor was she forward to 
disclose it, for this humble reason, lest I should think her wisdom fell 
short of her years. She contrived to make this day of her birth a day of 
mourning, for having nothing better at present to set her affections upon, 
she had a dog that was a great favourite. It happened that very morning 
the poor cur had done something very uncleanly upon the colonel's bed, for 
which he was condemned to die. However, upon her entreaty, she got him a 
reprieve; but was so concerned that so much severity should be intended on 
her birth day, that she was not to be comforted; and lest such another 
accident might oust the poor cur of his clergy, she protested she would 
board out her dog at a neighbour's house, where she hoped he would be more 
kindly treated. Then the colonel and I took another turn in the garden, to 
discourse farther on the subject of iron. He was very frank in 
communicating all his dear-bought experience to me, and told me very 
civilly he would not only let me into the whole secret, but would make a 
journey to James river, and give me his faithful opinion of all my 
conveniences. For his part he wished there were many more iron works in 
the country, provided the parties concerned would preserve a constant 
harmony among themselves, and meet and consult frequently, what might be 
for their common advantage. By this they might be better able to manage 
the workmen, and reduce their wages to what was just and reasonable. After 
this frank speech, he began to explain the whole charge of an iron work. 
He said, there ought at least to be a hundred negroes employed in it, and 
those upon good land would make corn, and raise provisions enough to 
support themselves and the cattle, and do every other part of the 
business. That the furnace might be built for seven hundred pounds, and 
made ready to go to work, if I went the nearest way to do it, especially 
since coming after so many, I might correct their errors and avoid their 
miscarriages. That if I had ore and wood enough, and a convenient stream 
of water to set the furnace upon, having neither too much nor too little 
water, I might undertake the affair with a full assurance of success. 
Provided the distance of carting be not too great, which is exceedingly 
burdensome. That there must be abundance of wheel carriages, shod with 
iron, and several teams of oxen, provided to transport the wood that is to 
be coaled, and afterwards the coal and ore to the furnace, and last of all 
the sow iron to the nearest water carriage, and carry back limestone and 
other necessaries from thence to the works; and a sloop also would be 
useful to carry the iron on board the ships, the masters not being always 
in the humour to fetch it. Then he enumerated the people that were to be 
hired, viz.: a founder, a mine-raiser, a collier, a stock-taker, a clerk, 
a smith, a carpenter, a wheelwright, and several carters. That these 
altogether will be a standing charge of about five hundred pounds a year. 
That the amount of freight, custom, commission and other charges in 
England, comes to twenty-seven shillings a ton. But that the merchants 
yearly find out means to inflame the account with new articles, as they do 
in those of tobacco. That, upon the whole matter, the expenses here and in 
England may be computed modestly at two pounds a ton. And the rest that 
the iron sells for will be clear gain, to pay for the land and negroes, 
which it is to be hoped will be three pounds more for every ton that is 
sent over. As this account agreed pretty near with that which Mr. Chiswell 
had given me, I set it down (notwithstanding it may seem a repetition of 
the same thing) to prove that both these gentlemen were sincere in their 
representations. We had a Michaelmas goose for dinner, of Miss Theky's own 
raising, who was now good-natured enough to forget the jeopardy of her 
dog. In the afternoon we walked in a meadow by the river side, which winds 
in the form of a horseshoe about Germanna, making it a peninsula, 
containing about four hundred 

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acres. Rappahannock forks about fourteen miles below this place, the 
northern branch being the larger, and consequently must be the river that 
bounds my lord Fairfax's grant of the Northern Neck.

   30th. The sun rose clear this morning, and so did I, and finished all 
my little affairs by breakfast. It was then resolved to wait on the ladies 
on horseback, since the bright sun, the fine air, and the wholesome 
exercise, all invited us to it. We forded the river a little above the 
ferry, and rode six miles up the neck to a fine level piece of rich land, 
where we found about twenty plants of ginseng, with the scarlet berries 
growing on the top of the middle stalk. The root of this is of wonderful 
virtue in many cases, particularly to raise the spirits and promote 
perspiration, which makes it a specific in colds and coughs. The colonel 
complimented me with all we found, in return for my telling him the 
virtues of it. We were all pleased to find so much of this king of plants 
so near the colonel's habitation, and growing too upon his own land; but 
were, however, surprised to find it upon level ground, after we had been 
told it grew only upon the north side of stony mountains. I carried home 
this treasure, with as much joy, as if every root had been a graft of the 
tree of life, and washed and dried it carefully. This airing made us as 
hungry as so many hawks, so that between appetite and a very good dinner, 
it was difficult to eat like a philosopher. In the afternoon the ladies 
walked me about amongst all their little animals, with which they amuse 
themselves, and furnish the table; the worst of it is, they are so tender-
hearted, they shed a silent tear every time any of them are killed. At 
night the colonel and I quitted the threadbare subject of iron, and 
changed the scene to politics. He told me the ministry had receded from 
their demand upon New England, to raise a standing salary for all 
succeeding governors, for fear some curious members of the house of 
commons should inquire how the money was disposed of, that had been raised 
in the other American colonies for the support of their governors. And 
particularly what becomes of the four and a half per cent., paid in the 
sugar colonies for that purpose. That duty produces near twenty thousand 
pounds a year, but being remitted into the exchequer, not one of the West 
India governors is paid out of it; but they, like falcons, are let loose 
upon the people, who are complaisant enough to settle other revenues upon 
them, to the great impoverishing of these colonies. In the mean time, it 
is certain the money raised by the four and a half per cent. moulders away 
between the minister's fingers, no body knows how, like the quitrents of 
Virginia. And it is for this reason that the instructions, forbidding all 
governors to accept of any presents from their assemblies, are dispensed 
with in the sugar islands, while it is strictly insisted upon every where 
else, where the assemblies were so wise as to keep their revenues among 
themselves. He said further, that if the assembly in New England would 
stand bluff, he did not see how they could be forced to raise money 
against their will, for if they should direct it to be done by act of 
parliament, which they have threatened to do, (though it be against the 
right of Englishmen to be taxed, but by their representatives,) yet they 
would find it no easy matter to put such an act in execution. Then the 
colonel read me a lecture upon tar, affirming that it cannot be made in 
this warm climate, after the manner they make it in Sweden and Muscovy, by 
barking the tree two yards from the ground, whereby the turpentine 
descends all into the stump in a year's time, which is then split in 
pieces in order for the kiln. But here the sun fries out the turpentine in 
the branches of the tree, when the leaves are dried, and hinders it from 
descending. But, on the contrary, those who burn tar of lightwood in the 
common way, and are careful about it, make as good as that which comes 
from the east country, nor will it burn the cordage more than that does. 

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Then we entered upon the subject of hemp, which the colonel told me he 
never could raise here from foreign seed, but at last sowed the seed of 
wild hemp, (which is very common in the upper parts of the country) and 
that came up very thick. That he sent about five hundred pounds of it to 
England, and that the commissioners of the navy, after a full trial of it, 
reported to the lords of the admiralty, that it was equal in goodness to 
the best that comes from Riga. I told him if our hemp were never so good, 
it would not be worth the making here, even though they should continue 
the bounty. And my reason was, because labour is not more than two pence a 
day in the east country where they produce hemp, and here we cannot 
compute it at less than ten pence, which being five times as much as their 
labour, and considering besides, that our freight is three times as dear 
as theirs, the price that will make them rich will ruin us, as I have 
found by woful experience. Besides, if the king, who must have the 
refusal, buys our hemp, the navy is so long in paying both the price and 
the bounty, that we who live from hand to mouth cannot afford to wait so 
long for it. And then our good friends, the merchants, load it with so 
many charges, that they run away with great part of the profit themselves. 
Just like the bald eagle, which after the fishing hawk has been at great 
pains to catch a fish, pounces upon and takes it from him. Our 
conversation was interrupted by a summons to supper, for the ladies, to 
show their power, had by this time brought us tamely to go to bed with our 
bellies full, though we both at first declared positively against it. So 
very pliable a thing is frail man, when women have the bending of him.

   October 1st. Our ladies overslept themselves this morning, so that we 
did not break our fast till ten. We drank tea made of the leaves of 
ginseng, which has the virtues of the root in a weaker degree, and is not 
disagreeable. So soon as we could force our inclinations to quit the 
ladies, we took a turn on the terrace walk, and discoursed upon quite a 
new subject. The colonel explained to me the difference betwixt the 
galleons and the flota, which very few people know. The galleons, it 
seems, are the ships which bring the treasure and other rich merchandise 
to Carthagena from Portobel, to which place it is brought over land, from 
Panama and Peru. And the flota is the squadron that brings the treasure, 
&c., from Mexico and New Spain, which make up at La Vera Cruz. Both these 
squadrons rendezvous at the Havanna, from hence they shoot the gulf of 
Florida, in their return to Old Spain. That this important port of the 
Havanna is very poorly fortified, and worse garrisoned and provided, for 
which reason it may be easily taken. Besides, both the galleons and flota, 
being confined to sail through the gulf, might be intercepted by our 
stationing a squadron of men of war at the most convenient of the Bahama 
islands. And that those islands are of vast consequence for that purpose. 
He told me also that the azogue ships are they that carry quicksilver to 
Portobello and La Vera Cruz, to refine the silver, and that, in Spanish, 
azogue signifies quicksilver. Then my friend unriddled to me the great 
mystery, why we have endured all the late insolences of the Spaniards so 
tamely. The asiento contract, and the liberty of sending a ship every year 
to the Spanish West Indies, make it very necessary for the South Sea 
Company to have effects of great value in that part of the world. Now 
these being always in the power of the Spaniards, make the directors of 
that company very fearful of a breach, and consequently very generous in 
their offers to the ministry to prevent it. For fear these worthy 
gentlemen should suffer, the English squadron, under Admiral Hosier, lay 
idle at the Bastimentos, till the ships' bottoms were eaten out by the 
worm, and the officers and men, to the number of five thousand, died like 
rotten sheep, without being suffered, by the strictest orders, to strike 
one stroke, though 

Page 137

they might have taken both the flota and galleons, and made themselves 
masters of the Havanna into the bargain, if they had not been chained up 
from doing it. All this moderation, our peaceable ministry showed even at 
a time when the Spaniards were furiously attacking Gibraltar, and taking 
all the English ships they could, both in Europe and America, to the great 
and everlasting reproach of the British nation. That some of the ministry, 
being tired out with the clamours of the merchants, declared their opinion 
for war, and while they entertained those sentiments they pitched upon 
him, Col. Spotswood, to be governor of Jamaica, that by his skill and 
experience in the art military, they might be the better able to execute 
their design of taking the Havanna. But the courage of these worthy 
patriots soon cooled, and the arguments used by the South Sea directors, 
persuaded them once again into more pacific measures. When the scheme was 
dropped, his government of Jamaica was dropped at the same time, and then 
general Hunter was judged fit enough to rule that island in time of peace. 
After this the colonel endeavoured to convince me that he came fairly by 
his place of postmaster-general, notwithstanding the report of some evil 
disposed persons to the contrary. The case was this, Mr. Hamilton, of New 
Jersey, who had formerly had that post, wrote to Col. Spotswood, in 
England, to favour him with his interest to get it restored to him. But 
the colonel, considering wisely that charity began at home; instead of 
getting the place for Hamilton, secured it for a better friend: though, as 
he tells the story, that gentleman was absolutely refused, before he spoke 
the least good word for himself.

   2d. This being the day appointed for my departure from hence, I packed 
up my effects in good time; but the ladies, whose dear companies we were 
to have to the mines, were a little tedious in their equipment. However, 
we made a shift to get into the coach by ten o'clock; but little master, 
who is under no government, would by all means go on horseback. Before we 
set out I gave Mr. Russel the trouble of distributing a pistole among the 
servants, of which I fancy the nurse had a pretty good share, being no 
small favourite. We drove over a fine road to the mines, which lie 
thirteen measured miles from the Germanna, each mile being marked 
distinctly upon the trees. The colonel has a great deal of land in his 
mine tract exceedingly barren, and the growth of trees upon it is hardly 
big enough for coaling. However, the treasure under ground makes amends, 
and renders it worthy to be his lady's jointure. We lighted at the mines, 
which are a mile nearer to Germanna than the furnace. They raise abundance 
of ore there, great part of which is very rich. We saw his engineer blow 
it up after the following manner. He drilled a hole about eighteen inches 
deep, humouring the situation of the mine. When he had dried it with a rag 
fastened to a worm, he charged it with a cartridge containing four ounces 
of powder, including the priming. Then he rammed the hole up with soft 
stone to the very mouth; after that he pierced through all with an iron 
called a primer, which is taper and ends in a sharp point. Into the hole 
the primer makes the priming is put, which is fired by a paper moistened 
with a solution of saltpetre. And this burns leisurely enough, it seems, 
to give time for the persons concerned to retreat out of harm's way. All 
the land hereabouts seems paved with iron ore; so that there seems to be 
enough to feed a furnace for many ages. From hence we proceeded to the 
furnace, which is built of rough stone, having been the first of that kind 
erected in the country. It had not blown for several moons, the colonel 
having taken off great part of his people to carry on his air furnace at 
Massaponux. Here the wheel that carried the bellows was no more than 
twenty feet diameter; but was an overshot wheel that went with little 
water. This was necessary here, because water is 

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something scarce, notwithstanding it is supplied by two streams, one of 
which is conveyed one thousand and nine hundred feet through wooden pipes, 
and the other sixty. The name of the founder employed at present is one 
Godfrey, of the kingdom of Ireland, whose wages is three shillings and 
sixpence per ton for all the iron he runs, and his provisions. This man 
told me that the best wood for coaling is red oak. He complained that the 
colonel starves his works out of whimsicalness and frugality, endeavouring 
to do every thing with his own people, and at the same time taking them 
off upon every vagary that comes into his head. Here the coal carts 
discharge their load at folding doors, made at the bottom, which is sooner 
done, and shatters the coal less. They carry no more than one hundred and 
ten bushels. The colonel advised me by all means to have the coal made on 
the same side the river with the furnace, not only to avoid the charge of 
boating and bags, but likewise to avoid breaking of the coals, and making 
them less fit for use. Having picked the bones of a sirloin of beef, we 
took leave of the ladies, and rode together about five miles, where the 
roads parted. The colonel took that to Massaponux, which is fifteen miles 
from his furnace, and very level, and I that to Fredericksburg, which 
cannot be less than twenty. I was a little benighted, and should not have 
seen my way, if the lightning, which flashed continually in my face, had 
not befriended me. I got about seven o'clock to Col. Harry Willis's, a 
little moistened with the rain; but a glass of good wine kept my pores 
open, and prevented all rheums and defluxions for that time.

   3d. I was obliged to rise early here, that I might not starve my 
landlord, whose constitution requires him to swallow a beef-steak before 
the sun blesses the world with its genial rays. However, he was so 
complaisant as to bear the gnawing of his stomach, till eight o'clock for 
my sake. Col. Waller, after a score of loud hems to clear his throat, 
broke his fast along with us. When this necessary affair was despatched, 
Col. Willis walked me about his town of Fredericksburg. It is pleasantly 
situated on the south shore of Rappahannock river, about a mile below the 
falls. Sloops may come up and lie close to the wharf, within thirty yards 
of the public warehouses, which are built in the figure of a cross. Just 
by the wharf is a quarry of white stone that is very soft in the ground, 
and hardens in the air, appearing to be as fair and fine grained as that 
of Portland. Besides that, there are several other quarries in the river 
bank, within the limits of the town, sufficient to build a large city. The 
only edifice of stone yet built is the prison; the walls of which are 
strong enough to hold Jack Sheppard, if he had been transported thither. 
Though this be a commodious and beautiful situation for a town, with the 
advantages of a navigable river, and wholesome air, yet the inhabitants 
are very few. Besides Col. Willis, who is the top man of the place, there 
are only one merchant, a tailor, a smith and an ordinary keeper; though I 
must not forget Mrs. Levistone, who acts here in the double capacity of a 
doctress and coffee woman. And were this a populous city, she is qualified 
to exercise two other callings. It is said the court-house and the church 
are going to be built here, and then both religion and justice will help 
to enlarge the place. Two miles from this place is a spring strongly 
impregnated with alum, and so is the earth all about it. This water does 
wonders for those that are afflicted with a dropsy. And on the other side 
the river, in King George county, twelve miles from hence, is another 
spring of strong steel water, as good as that at Tunbridge Wells. Not far 
from this last spring are England's iron mines, called so from the chief 
manager of them, though the land belongs to Mr. Washington. These mines 
are two miles from the furnace, and Mr. Washington raises the ore, and 
carts it thither for twenty shillings the ton of iron that it yields. The 
furnace is built 

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on a run, which discharges its waters into Potomac. And when the iron is 
cast, they cart it about six miles to a landing on that river. Besides Mr. 
Washington and Mr. England, there are several other persons, in England, 
concerned in these works. Matters are very well managed there, and no 
expense is spared to make them profitable, which is not the case in the 
works I have already mentioned. Mr. England can neither write nor read; 
but without those helps, is so well skilled in iron works, that he does 
not only carry on his furnace, but has likewise the chief management of 
the works at Principia, at the head of the bay, where they have also 
erected a forge and make very good bar iron. Col. Willis had built a flue 
to try all sorts of ore in, which was contrived after the following 
manner. It was built of stone four feet square with an iron grate fixed in 
the middle of it for the fire to lie upon. It was open at the bottom, to 
give a free passage to the air up to the grate. Above the grate was 
another opening that carried the smoke into a chimney. This makes a 
draught upward, and the fire rarifying the air below, makes another 
draught underneath, which causes the fire to burn very fiercely, and melt 
any ore in the crucibles that are set upon the fire. This was erected by a 
mason called Taylor, who told me he built the furnace at Fredericksville, 
and came in for that purpose at three shillings and sixpence a day, to be 
paid him from the time he left his house in Gloucestershire, to the time 
he returned thither again, unless he chose rather to remain in Virginia 
after he had done his work. It happened to be court day here, but the rain 
hindered all but the most quarrelsome people from coming. The colonel 
brought three of his brother justices to dine with us, namely, John 
Talifero, major Lightfoot, and captain Green, and in the evening parson 
Kenner edified us with his company, who left this parish for a better, 
without any regard to the poor souls he had half saved, of the flock he 
abandoned.

   4th. The sun rising very bright, invited me to leave this infant city; 
accordingly, about ten, I took leave of my hospitable landlord, and 
persuaded parson Kenner to be my guide to Massaponux, lying five miles 
off, where I had agreed to meet Col. Spotswood. We arrived there about 
twelve, and found it a very pleasant and commodious plantation. The 
colonel received us with open arms, and carried us directly to his air 
furnace, which is a very ingenious and profitable contrivance. The use of 
it is to melt his sow iron, in order to cast it into sundry utensils, such 
as backs for chimneys, andirons, fenders, plates for hearths, pots, 
mortars, rollers for gardeners, skillets, boxes for cart wheels; and many 
other things, which, one with another, can be afforded at twenty shillings 
a ton, and delivered at people's own homes. And, being cast from the sow 
iron, are much better than those which come from England, which are cast 
immediately from the ore for the most part. Mr. Flowry is the artist that 
directed the building of this ingenious structure[.] which is contrived 
after this manner. There is an opening about a foot square for the fresh 
air to pass through from without. This leads up to an iron grate that 
holds about half a bushel of sea coal, and is about six feet higher than 
the opening. When the fire is kindled, it rarefies the air in such a 
manner as to make a very strong draught from without. About too feet above 
the grate is a hole that leads into a kind of oven, the floor of which is 
laid shelving towards the mouth. In the middle of this oven, on one side, 
is another hole that leads into the funnel of a chimney, about forty feet 
high. The smoke mounts up this way, drawing the flame after it with so 
much force, that in less than an hour it melts the sows of iron that are 
thrust towards the upper end of the oven. As the metal melts it runs 
towards the mouth into a hollow place, out of which the potter lades it in 
iron ladles, in order to pour it into the several moulds just by. The 
mouth of the oven 

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is stopped close with a moveable stone shutter, which he removes so soon 
as he perceives, through the peep holes, that the iron is melted. The 
inside of the oven is lined with soft bricks, made of Sturbridge or 
Windsor clay, because no other will endure the intense heat of the fire. 
And over the floor of the oven they strew sand taken from the land, and 
not from the water side. This sand will melt the second heat here, but 
that which they use in England will bear the fire four or five times. The 
potter is also obliged to plaster over his ladles with the same and 
moistened, to save them from melting. Here are two of these air furnaces 
in one room, that so in case one wants repair, the other may work, they 
being exactly of the same structure. The chimneys and other outside work 
of this building are of free-stone, raised near a mile off, on the 
colonel's own land. And were built by his servant, whose name is Kerby, a 
very complete workman. This man disdains to do any thing of rough work, 
even where neat is not required, lest any one might say hereafter, Kerby 
did it. The potter was so complaisant as to show me the whole process, for 
which I paid him and the other workmen my respects in the most agreeable 
way. There was a great deal of ingenuity in the framing of the moulds, 
wherein they cast the several utensils, but without breaking them to 
pieces, I found there was no being let into that secret. The flakes of 
iron that fall at the mouth of the oven are called geets, which are melted 
over again. The colonel told me, in my ear, that Mr. Robert Cary, in 
England, was concerned with him, both in this and his other iron works, 
not only to help support the charge, but also to make friends to the 
undertaking at home. His honour has settled his cousin, Mr. Greame, here 
as postmaster, with a salary of sixty pounds a year, to reward him for 
having ruined his estate while he was absent. Just by the air furnace 
stands a very substantial wharf, close to which any vessel may ride in 
safety. After satisfying our eyes with all these sights, we satisfied our 
stomachs with a sirloin of beef, and then the parson and I took leave of 
the colonel, and left our blessing upon all his works. We took our way 
from thence to major Woodford's, seven miles off, who lives upon a high 
hill that affords an extended prospect. On which account it is dignified 
with the name of Windsor. There we found Rachel Cocke, who stayed with her 
sister some time, that she might not lose the use of her tongue in this 
lonely place. We were received graciously, and the evening was spent in 
talking and toping, and then the parson and I were conducted to the same 
apartment, the house being not yet finished.

   5th. The parson slept very peaceably, and gave me no disturbance, so I 
rose fresh in the morning, and did credit to the air by eating a hearty 
breakfast. Then major Woodford carried me to the house where he cuts 
tobacco. He manufactures about sixty hogsheads yearly, for which he gets 
after the rate of eleven pence a pound, and pays himself liberally for his 
trouble. The tobacco he cuts is long green, which, according to its name, 
bears a very long leaf, and consequently each plant is heavier than common 
sweet-scented or Townsend tobacco. The worst of it is the veins of the 
leaf are very large, so that it loses its weight a good deal by stemming. 
This kind of tobacco is much the fashion in these parts, and Jonathan 
Forward (who has great interest here) gives a good price for it. This sort 
the major cuts up, and has a man that performs it very handily. The 
tobacco is stemmed clean in the first place, and then laid straight in a 
box, and pressed down hard by a press that goes with a nut. This box is 
shoved forward towards the knife by a screw, receiving its motion from a 
treadle, that the engineer sets a-going with his foot. Each motion pushes 
the box the exact length which the tobacco ought to be of, according to 
the saffron or oblong cut, which it seems yields one penny in a pound more 
at London than the square cut, though 

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at Bristol they are both of equal price. The man strikes down the knife 
once at every motion of the screw, so that his hand and foot keep exact 
pace with each other. After the tobacco is cut in this manner, it is 
sifted first through a sand riddle, and then through a dust riddle, till 
it is perfectly clean. Then it is put into a tight hogshead, and pressed 
under the nut, till it weighs about a thousand net. One man performs all 
the work after the tobacco is stemmed, so that the charge bears no 
proportion to the profit. One considerable benefit from planting long 
green tobacco is, that it is much harder, and less subject to fire than 
other sweet scented, though it smells not altogether so fragrant. I 
surprised Mrs. Woodford in her housewifery in the meat-house, at which she 
blushed as if it had been a sin. We all walked about a mile in the woods, 
where I showed them several useful plants, and explained the virtues of 
them. This exercise, and the fine air we breathed in, sharpened our 
appetites so much that we had no mercy on a rib of beef that came attended 
with several other good things at dinner. In the afternoon, we tempted all 
the family to go along with us to major Ben. Robinson's, who lives on a 
high hill, called Moon's Mount, about five miles off. On the road we came 
to an eminence, from whence we had a plain view of the mountains, which 
seemed to be no more than thirty miles from us, in a straight line, 
though, to go by the road, it was near double that distance. The sun had 
just time to light us to our journey's end, and the major received us with 
his usual good humour. He has a very industrious wife, who has kept him 
from sinking by the weight of gaming and idleness. But he is now reformed 
from those ruinous qualities, and by the help of a clerk's place, in a 
quarrelsome county, will soon be able to clear his old scores. We drank 
exceeding good cider here, the juice of the white apple, which made us 
talkative till ten o'clock, and then I was conducted to a bed-chamber, 
where there was neither chair nor table; however, I slept sound, and waked 
with strong tokens of health in the morning.

   6th. When I got up about sunrise, I was surprised to find that a fog 
had covered this high hill; but there is a marsh on the other side the 
river that sends its filthy exhalation up to the clouds. On the borders of 
that morass lives Mr. Lomax, a situation fit only for frogs and otters. 
After fortifying myself with toast and cider, and sweetening my lips with 
saluting the lady, I took leave, and the two majors conducted me about 
four miles on my way, as far as the church. After that, Ben. Robinson 
ordered his East Indian to conduct me to Col. Martin's. In about ten 
miles, we reached Caroline court-house, where Col. Armstead and Col. Will. 
Beverley, have each of them erected an ordinary, well supplied with wine 
and other polite liquors, for the worshipful bench. Besides these, there 
is a rum ordinary for persons of a more vulgar taste. Such liberal 
supplies of strong drink often make Justice nod, and drop the scales out 
of her hands. Eight miles beyond the ordinary, I arrived at Col. Martin's, 
who received me with more gravity than I expected. But, upon inquiry, his 
lady was sick, which had lengthened his face and gave him a very mournful 
air. I found him in his night-cap and banian, which is his ordinary dress 
in that retired part of the country. Poorer land I never saw than what he 
lives upon; but the wholesomeness of the air, and the goodness of the 
roads, make some amends. In a clear day the mountains may be seen from 
hence, which is, in truth, the only rarity of the place. At my first 
arrival, the colonel saluted me with a glass of good Canary, and soon 
after filled my belly with good mutton and cauliflowers. Two people were 
as indifferent company as a man and his wife, without a little inspiration 
from the bottle; and then we were forced to go to the kingdom of Ireland, 
to help out our conversation. There, it seems, the colonel had an elder 
brother, a physician, who threatens him with an estate some time or 
another; though possibly it might come to him sooner if the succession 
depended on the death of 

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one of his patients. By eight o'clock at night we had no more to say, and 
I gaped wide as a signal for retiring, whereupon I was conducted to a 
clean lodging, where I would have been glad to exchange one of the beds 
for a chimney.

   7th. This morning Mrs. Martin was worse, so that there were no hopes of 
seeing how much she was altered. Nor was this all, but the indisposition 
of his consort made the colonel intolerably grave and thoughtful. I 
prudently ate a meat breakfast, to give me spirits for a long journey, and 
a long fast. My landlord was so good as to send his servant along with me, 
to guide me through all the turnings of a difficult way. In about four 
miles we crossed Mattaponi river at Norman's ford, and then slanted down 
to King William county road. We kept along that for about twelve miles, as 
far as the new brick church. After that I took a blind path, that carried 
me to several of Col. Jones's quarters, which border upon my own. The 
colonel's overseers were all abroad, which made me fearful I should find 
mine as idle as they. But I was mistaken, for when I came to Gravel Hall, 
the first of my plantations in King William, I found William Snead (that 
looks after three of them) very honestly about his business. I had the 
pleasure to see my people all well, and my business in good forwardness. I 
visited all the five quarters on that side, which spent so much of my 
time, that I had no leisure to see any of those on the other side the 
river; though I discoursed Thomas Tinsley, one of the overseers, who 
informed me how matters went. In the evening Tinsley conducted me to Mrs. 
Sym's house, where I intended to take up my quarters. This lady, at first 
suspecting I was some lover, put on a gravity that becomes a weed; but so 
soon as she learned who I was, brightened up into an unusual cheerfulness 
and serenity. She was a portly, handsome dame, of the family of Esau, and 
seemed not to pine too much for the death of her husband, who was of the 
family of the Saracens. He left a son by her, who has all the strong 
features of his sire, not softened in the least by any of hers, so that 
the most malicious of her neighbours cannot bring his legitimacy in 
question, not even the parson's wife, whose unruly tongue, they say, does 
not spare even the reverend doctor, her husband. This widow is a person of 
a lively and cheerful conversation, with much less reserve than most of 
her countrywomen. It becomes her very well, and sets off her other 
agreeable qualities to advantage. We tossed off a bottle of honest Port, 
which we relished with a broiled chicken. At nine I retired to my 
devotions, and then slept so sound that fancy itself was stupified, else I 
should have dreamed of my most obliging landlady.

   8th. I moistened my clay with a quart of milk and tea, which I found 
altogether as great a help to discourse as the juice of the grape. The 
courteous widow invited me to rest myself there that good day, and go to 
church with her, but I excused myself, by telling her she would certainly 
spoil my devotion. Then she civilly entreated me to make her house my home 
whenever I visited my plantations, which made me bow low, and thank her 
very kindly. From thence I crossed over to Shaccoe's, and took Thomas 
Tinsley for my guide, finding the distance about fifteen miles. I found 
every body well at the Falls, blessed be God, though the bloody flux raged 
pretty much in the neighbourhood. Mr. Booker had received a letter the day 
before from Mrs. Byrd, giving an account of great desolation made in our 
neighbourhood, by the death of Mr. Lightfoot, Mrs. Soan, Capt. Gerald and 
Col. Henry Harrison. Finding the flux had been so fatal, I desired Mr. 
Booker to make use of the following remedy, in case it should come amongst 
my people. To let them blood immediately about eight ounces; the next day 
to give them a dose of Indian physic, and to repeat the vomit again the 
day following, unless the symptoms abated. In the mean time, 

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they should eat nothing but chicken broth, and poached eggs, and drink 
nothing but a quarter of a pint of milk boiled with a quart of water, and 
medicated with a little mullein root, or that of the prickly pear, to 
restore the mucus of the bowels, and heal the excoriation. At the same 
time, I ordered him to communicate this method to all the poor neighbours, 
and especially to my overseers, with strict orders to use it on the first 
appearance of that distemper, because in that, and all other sharp 
diseases, delays are very dangerous. I also instructed Mr. Booker in the 
way I had learned of blowing up the rocks, which were now drilled pretty 
full of holes, and he promised to put it in execution. After discoursing 
seriously with the father about my affairs, I joked with the daughter in 
the evening, and about eight retired to my castle, and recollected all the 
follies of the day, the little I had learned, and the still less good I 
had done.

   9th. My long absence made me long for the domestic delights of my own 
family, for the smiles of an affectionate wife, and the prattle of my 
innocent children. As soon as I sallied out of my castle, I understood 
that Col. Carter's Sam was come, by his master's leave, to show my people 
how to blow up the rocks in the canal. He pretended to great skill in that 
matter, but performed very little, which however might be the effect of 
idleness rather than ignorance. He came upon one of my horses, which he 
tied to a tree at Shacco's, where the poor animal kept a fast of a night 
and a day. Though this fellow worked very little at the rocks, yet my man, 
Argalus, stole his trade, and performed as well as he. For this good turn, 
I ordered Mr. Samuel half a pistole, all which he laid out with a New 
England man for rum, and made my weaver and spinning woman, who has the 
happiness to be called his wife, exceedingly drunk. To punish the varlet 
for all these pranks, I ordered him to be banished from thence for ever, 
under the penalty of being whipped home, from constable to constable, if 
he presumed to come again. I left my memoranda with Mr. Booker, of every 
thing I ordered to be done, and mounted my horse about ten, and in little 
more reached Bermuda Hundred, and crossed over to Col. Carter's. He, like 
an industrious person, was gone to oversee his overseers at North Wales, 
but his lady was at home, and kept me till supper time before we went to 
dinner. As soon as I had done justice to my stomach, I made my honours to 
the good humoured little fairy, and made the best of my way home, where I 
had the great satisfaction to find all that was dearest to me in good 
health, nor had any disaster happened in the family since I went away. 
Some of the neighbours had worm fevers, with all the symptoms of the 
bloody flux; but, blessed be God! their distempers gave way to proper 
remedies.

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CONTENTS.
EDITOR'S PREFACE, III 
HISTORY OF THE DIVIDING LINE, 1 
APPENDIX, 94 
A JOURNEY TO THE LAND OF EDEN, 103 
A PROGRESS TO THE MINES, 123