W years since, a young gentleman at the University in
_Cambridge_ asked of a Collegian the loan of his _W_irgil.
The inelegant pronunciation of the word _Virgil_ was
burlesqued by the young Collegian in the following story,
with which his invention readily supplied him:--_Lately_
(says he) _I set out on a woyage to Wersailles, with one
Captain Winal, in a British wessel called the Wiper; but we
soon met with a wiolent storm, which drove us into a port in
Wirginia; where one Capt. Waughn, a wery wicious man,
inwited us aboard his wessel, and gave us some weal and
wenison, with some winegar, which made me wery sick; so I
did womit like wengeance;_ (and added, reaching out the
book) _You may have my Wirgil, and welcome_. This humor had
the desired effect; the young gentleman saw the absurdity of
doing such w_iolence_ to the letter V, and has ever since
spoke like other people.

_Salem Gazette,_ April 26, 1791.

* * * * *

What Mr. Welby, an English gentleman, saw when he was in the United
States in 1821. A very flattering picture of the West.

More Travellers' Stories.

_From the National Gazette._

A new book of Travels in America has been recently issued in
London which rivals the volumes of our old friends Weld,
Ashe, Fearon, &c. It is entitled "A Visit to North America
and the English Settlements in Illinois, with a winter
residence in Philadelphia; solely to ascertain the actual
prosperity of the Emigrating Agriculturist, Mechanic, and
Commercial Speculator"--by Adlard Welby, _Esquire_, of South
Rauceby, Lincolnshire. This esquire has said enough, should
he be believed, to settle ultimately the point of the truth
or falsehood of Godwin's notable doctrine, that we owe the
increase of our numbers chiefly to emigration. No sane
European would venture among us after having read Mr.
Welby's book. He discovered that, in Philadelphia, living
was _very dear_, comfort _very uncommon_, and good manners
still more rare. Throughout his journey he found in the
taverns "a system of impertinence, rudeness, rascality, and
filth, rendered more intolerable by an antipathy to the
English, in the brutal manifestation of which most of the
Colonel, Doctor, and Squire, keepers of the taverns,