ers, liable to be cheated out of my teeth
almost, and, if I had gone to London without Mr. Allston, by waiting at a
boarding-house, totally unacquainted with any living creature, I should
probably have expended the difference by the time he had arrived.... I
trust you will not think it extravagant in me for doing as I have done,
for I assure you I shall endeavor to be as economical as possible.

"I also mentioned in my letter that I could scarcely expect to steer free
from imposition since none of my predecessors have been able to do it.
Since writing that letter I have found (in spite of all my care to the
contrary) my observation true. In going from the Liverpool Arms to Mr.
Woolsey's, which is over a mile, I was under the necessity of getting
into a hackney-coach. Upon asking what was to pay he told me a shilling.
I offered him half a guinea to change, which I knew to be good, having
taken it at the hank in New York.

"He tossed it into the air and caught it in his mouth very dexterously,
and, handing it to me back again, told me it was a bad one. I looked at
it and told him I was sure it was good, but, appealing to a gentleman who
was passing, I found it was bad. Of course I was obliged to give him
other money. When I got to my lodgings I related the circumstance to some
of my friends and they told me he had cheated me in this way: that it was
common for them to carry bad money about them in their mouths, and, when
this fellow had caught the good half-guinea in his mouth, he changed it
for a bad one. This is one of the thousand tricks they play every day. I
have likewise received eleven bad shillings on the road between Liverpool
and this place, and it is hardly to be wondered at, for the shilling
pieces here are just like old buttons without eyes, without the sign of
an impression on them, and one who is not accustomed to this sort of
money will never know the difference.

"I find, as mama used to tell me, that I must watch my very teeth or they
will cheat me out of them."

"_Friday, 16th, 1811._ This morning I called on Mr. Bromfield and
delivered my letters. He received me very cordially, enquired after you
particularly, and invited me to dine with him at 5 o'clock, which
invitation I accepted.... I find I have arrived in England at a very
critical state of affairs. If such a state continues much longer, England
must fall. American measures affect this country more than you can have
any idea of. The embargo, i