:
A dangerous strait, between stupendous rocks.] and the Sound is very
pleasant at this season; but the fear of being obliged to perform a
quarantine at my arrival prevented me. I set off this morning, in the
stage. Our course lay the whole length of the island, which is barren and
rocky; affording some romantic situations, in several of which I observed
(to use a cockney phrase) _snug little boxes_; these, I was informed,
belonged to the wealthy citizens; they commanded a view of the city, the
North River, the Sound, and adjacent islands.

At noon we entered Connecticut, the most southerly of the New England
states. Slept at Fairfield.

On the night of the 20th we reached Hertford, the capital of the state.--
About five miles from it, a house was pointed out to me, where a very
shocking circumstance took place a few years ago.--A merchant, not being
able to bear a change in his circumstances from affluence to extreme
poverty, coolly and deliberately shot his wife and five children, and
afterward himself. He tried every means, for several days, to send his
wife away; but she preferred dying with him and the children. He left a
paper on the table, informing his friends, that his only motive for
committing this rash action was to rescue his family from a situation,
which he himself found insupportable.

_Sept. 21st._--We this afternoon entered the state of Massachusetts.
I found New England very different from any part of America I had before
seen; the soil but very indifferent, rocky, and mountainous, interspersed
with some rich tracts of land in the valleys; the up lands are divided by
means of stone walls, as in Derbyshire, and some other parts of Great
Britain.

They have few negroes, or european emigrants; so far from wanting the
latter, as in the South, they send great numbers every year to the new
settlements in the South-west.

When we made any stay at a tavern on the road, I observed one of my
fellow travellers (who was very eloquent upon this subject) take every
opportunity of singing forth the praises of _New Virginia_[Footnote: A
rich tract of country, west of the Allegany Mountains.].--The north-west
wind continuing, the morning of the 22d was very cold; and we breakfasted
with a number of strangers. Our orator did not lose this opportunity of
holding forth on his favourite topic. I recollect the latter part of his
harangue was to the following effect:--_"There,"_ says he, (while the New
Englanders were