ale slave set out the great table, and placed upon it cups
of the very coarsest blue ware, a little brown sugar in one, and
a tiny drop of milk in another, no butter, though the lady
assured us she had a "_deary_" and two cows. Instead of butter,
she "hoped we would fix a little relish with our crackers," in
ancient English, eat salt meat and dry biscuits. Such was the
fare, and for guests that certainly were intended to be honoured.
I could not help recalling the delicious repasts which I
remembered to have enjoyed at little dairy farms in England, not
_possessed_, but rented, and at high rents too; where the clean,
fresh-coloured, bustling mistress herself skimmed the delicious
cream, herself spread the yellow butter on the delightful brown
loaf, and placed her curds, and her junket, and all the delicate
treasures other dairy before us, and then, with hospitable pride,
placed herself at her board, and added the more delicate "relish"
of good tea and good cream. I remembered all this, and did not
think the difference atoned for, by the dignity of having my cup
handed to me by a slave. The lady I now visited, however,
greatly surpassed my quondam friends in the refinement of her
conversation. She ambled through the whole time the visit
lasted, in a sort of elegantly mincing familiar style of gossip,
which, I think, she was imitating from some novel, for I was told
she was a great novel reader, and left all household occupations
to be performed by her slaves. To say she addressed us in a tone
of equality, will give no adequate idea of her manner; I am
persuaded that no misgiving on the subject ever entered her head.
She told us that their estate was her divi-_dend_ of her father's
property. She had married a first cousin, who was as fine a
gentleman as she was a lady, and as idle, preferring hunting (as
they called shooting) to any other occupation. The consequence
was, that but a very small portion of the dividend was
cultivated, and their poverty was extreme. The slaves,
particularly the lads, were considerably more than half naked,
but the air of dignity with which, in the midst of all this
misery, the lanky lady said to one of the young negroes, "Attend
to your young master, Lycurgus," must have been heard to be
conceived in the full extent of its mock heroic.

Another dwelling of one of these landed proprietors was a hovel
as wretched as the one above described, but there was more
industry within it. Th