at Newcastle; whence I walked to Glasgow, a small village within a
few miles of the river Elk, where general Howe landed his troops, after
sailing two hundred and fifty miles up the bay of Chesapeak. His head
quarters were at the house where I slept; the landlord also informed me,
that I lay on the same bed general Washington occupied four times a year,
in his way to his seat at Mount Vernon; an honour I did not _exactly_ know
the _value_ of till the next morning, when he brought in _his bill_; after
satisfying my conscientious landlord, I walked to French Town, which
consists of _two houses_. This _town_ is about 17 miles from the Delaware,
and has a communication with the Chesapeak by means of the river Elk. But
there is a nearer approximation of the Chesapeak to the Delaware, from a
creek running into the latter at Apoquiminick, where the distance is only
7 miles: over this neck of land, all the trade between Philadelphia and
Baltimore is conveyed in waggons. How soon would a canal be cut in such a
situation in England!

I embarked in the Baltimore pacquet; had a pleasant sail down the Elk; in
four hours entered the bay, and arrived here the same evening.

_September 12th._

The yellow fever is certainly in town. Is it not astonishing the example
of Philadelphia last year did not teach the inhabitants of Baltimore the
necessity of building a lazaretto, and establishing a strict quarantine on
all vessels from the infected islands in the West Indies? The first was
not even attempted, and the last so carelessly performed, that I am
mistaken if the fever has not been imported into more than _one_ part
of the town.

_Sept. 29th_.--The theatre closed at the request of the committee of
health, the fever gaining ground rapidly, and the inhabitants quitting the
town as fast as possible.

_October the 2d_.

The committee of health published their list of deaths, which they mean to
continue every 24 hours. Died since the 1st of August 344 persons. The
next day a violent cold and penetrating N.W. wind set in, with uncommon
severity, which has entirely stopped the infection.

_Oct. 14th_.--The late cold weather has completely destroyed the
yellow fever. The inhabitants are returned, and trade is restored to its
usual course.

Yours, sincerely, &c.

* * * * *

Baltimore and the Point[Footnote: Or Fell's Point, the name given to a
small but well-situated town about a mile lower down the ba