| | 321 | Author: | Brock: Board of Trade | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Whitehall: The Board of Trade to Governor James Glen, November 15, 1750 (excerpt) / by the Board of Trade  | | | | Published: | 2000 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | We come now to that Letter of yours which relates to the internal State
of Your Government. And before we make any observations
on the Reasons given in your Letter to evince the Necessity of a Paper
Currency in your Province and what else you have said upon the Subject,
it will be proper to tell you that the Report of the Committee of
Conference which you have sent us on the present State of Paper Currency
in your Province, and the Bills now outstanding differs from an Account
which we have had prepared here for our Use from the several Acts of
Assembly which have been passed in your Government for emitting such
Currency. We will state to you what We understand to be the Amount of
the Paper Currency at present outstanding in your Province and the
operations which every Act has had, that you may compare our State with
that of the Committee and explain the Reason of their differing. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 322 | Author: | Brock: Glen, James | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | South Carolina: Governor James Glen to the Board of Trade, December 23, 1749 (excerpt) / by James Glen | | | | Published: | 2000 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | I have also inclosed a State of the Paper Currency in this
Province prepared by the Council and Assembly, by which your Lordships
will see that our Paper money of all denominations amounts to no more
than thirteen thousand and six pounds seven shillings and ten pence
Sterling, including both what is legal Tender, and all other kinds, a
sum so small that it is surprising that any person acquainted with the
circumstances of this Country would have complained of more especially
when it is Considered how punctually we have for many years kept the
Public faith by sinking it at the proper periods fixed by Law: We are
a new and improving Province, and are yearly adding to our
wealth, but it is impossible and it were improper that our Increase or
Profit, our Surplus or Ballance from abroad should be immediately turned
and converted into Cash and Bullion, since it may be more profitably
returned in other things that bear a better price. I make no doubt but
that our exported Produce is sufficient to pay for all our Importations
from Great Britain, and to leave an Annual Ballance due to us of several
thousand Pounds Sterling, but instead of purchasing Gold and Silver with
this Ballance, the Planters immediately lay it out in more slaves, these
slaves raise more Rice and Indigo to pay for more Cloaths and to
purchase more Slaves, and this is certainly a more profitable way of
employing the Ballance, for when the Interest of money was at ten per
Cent it was near Eight years before they could double their Capital or
principal sum, whereas a Planter expects that Slaves will pay for
themselves in four or five years, and whatever is most profitable for
the Planter, will in the end prove so for the British Merchant, and it
is to be wished that they were of that Opinion, but some of them seem to
think that nothing is to be regarded
but Gold or Silver. They
may at length repent the pains they have taken to teach the Planters to
love these tempting metals, for should they ever prefer Gold or Silver
to British Manufactures the Cloaths and Household furniture that they
are at present fond of and be forced to make such things as they have
not money to purchase Britain will reap far less benefit from her
Provinces. A Considerable quantity of Cordage has hitherto been
Annually imported into this Province from England, but a Rope walk has
been lately Established here and there can be no doubt of Success. The
amount of sugars sent us Annually from Britain is hardly to be credited,
but we have a Sugar house lately finished and the Sugars are equal to
the London Sugars and are much cheaper, the Merchants here clearly see
the consequences of these things, and I think it were easier to Silence
the Merchants at home, who make a noise about paper Money, by arguments
unanswerable, but I consider that I write to your Lordships whose
superior knowledge makes any observations from me unnecessary, for tho'
it may be pernicious to permit mall Colonies such as Rhode Island to
issue immense Sums without Limitation
and without settled Funds
to call it back into the Treasury again, yet that is not the case of
Carolina and therefore I shall only add that a larger sum in Paper Money
upon a good Fund and to be sunk at different Periods, seems to me to be
Absolutely necessary, without which it will be difficult for the people
to pay the Taxes for the support of his Majestys Government, to pay the
King's Quit Rents to carry on their Commerce, or even to drive their
little domestic Trade, all intercourse between Man and Man must for some
time be at a stand and they must deny themselves the most common and
ordinary necessaries of life, not for want of means but for want of a
Medium. The Planter must give the Merchant a Slave for a Suit of
Cloaths, which the Merchant must sell again to the Spaniards for silver
to send home. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 323 | Author: | Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Alice Doane`s Appeal | | | | Published: | 2000 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | ON A PLEASANT AFTERNOON of June, it was my good fortune to be the
companion of two young ladies in a walk. The direction of our course
being left to me, I led them neither to Legge's Hill, nor to the
Cold Spring, nor to the rude shores and old batteries of the Neck, nor
yet to Paradise; though if the latter place were rightly named, my
fair friends would have been at home there. We reached the outskirts
of the town, and turning aside from a street of tanners and
curriers, began to ascend a hill, which at a distance, by its dark
slope and the even line of its summit, resembled a green rampart along
the road. It was less steep than its aspect threatened. The eminence
formed part of an extensive tract of pasture land, and was traversed
by cow paths in various directions; but, strange to tell, though the
whole slope and summit were of a peculiarly deep green, scarce a blade
of grass was visible from the base upward. This deceitful verdure
was occasioned by a plentiful crop of "woodwax," which wears the
same dark and glossy green throughout the summer, except at one
short period, when it puts forth a profusion of yellow blossoms. At
that season, to a distant spectator, the hill appears absolutely
overlaid with gold, or covered with a glory of sunshine, even
beneath a clouded sky. But the curious wanderer on the hill will
perceive that all the grass, and everything that should nourish man or
beast, has been destroyed by this vile and ineradicable weed: its
tufted roots make the soil their own, and permit nothing else to
vegetate among them; so that a physical curse may be said to have
blasted the spot, where guilt and frenzy consummated the most
execrable scene that our history blushes to record. For this was the
field where superstition won her darkest triumph; the high place where
our fathers set up their shame, to the mournful gaze of generations
far remote. The dust of martyrs was beneath our feet. We stood on
Gallows Hill. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 324 | Author: | Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | John Inglefield's Thanksgiving | | | | Published: | 2000 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | On the evening of Thanksgiving Day, John Inglefield, the
blacksmith, sat in his elbow-chair, among those
who had been keeping festival at his board. Being
the central figure of the domestic circle, the
fire threw its strongest light on his massive and
sturdy frame, reddening his rough visage, so that
it looked like the head of an iron statue, all
aglow from his own forge, and with its features
rudely fashioned on his own anvil. At John
Inglefield's right hand was an empty chair. The
other places round the hearth were filled by the
members of the family, who all sat quietly, while,
with a semblance of fantastic merriment, their
shadows danced on the wall behind them. One of
the group was John Inglefield's son, who had been
bred at college, and was now a student of theology
at Andover. There was also a daughter of sixteen,
whom nobody could look at without thinking of a
rose-bud almost blossomed. The only other person
at the fireside was Robert Moore, formerly an
apprentice of the blacksmith, but now his
journeyman, and who seemed more like an own son of
John Inglefield than did the pale and slender
student. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 325 | Author: | Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Lady Eleanore`s Mantle | | | | Published: | 2000 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | MINE excellent friend, the landlord of the Province House,
was pleased, the other evening, to invite Mr. Tiffany and
myself to an oyster supper. This slight mark of respect
and gratitude, as he handsomely observed, was far less than
the ingenious tale-teller, and I, the humble-note-taker of
his narratives, had fairly earned, by the public notice
which our joint lucubrations had attracted to his
establishment. Many a cigar had been smoked within his
premises-many a glass of wine, or more potent aqua vita,
had been quaffed-many a dinner had been eaten by curious
strangers, who, save for the fortunate conjunction of Mr.
Tiffany and me, would never have ventured through that
darksome avenue, which gives access to the historic
precincts of the Province House. In short, if any credit be
due to the courteous assurances of Mr. Thomas Waite, we
had brought his forgotten mansion almost as effectually
into public view as if we had thrown down the vulgar range
of shoe-shops and dry-good stores, which hides its
aristocratic front from Washington Street. It may be
unadvisable, however, to speak too loudly of the increased
custom of the house, lest Mr. Waite should find it difficult
to renew the lease on so favorable terms as heretofore. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 326 | Author: | Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Main-Street | | | | Published: | 2000 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | A respectable-looking individual makes his bow, and
addresses the public. In my daily walks along the principal street of my
native town, it has often occurred to me, that, if its growth from infancy
upward, and the vicissitude of characteristic scenes that have passed along
this thoroughfare, during the more than two centuries of its existence, could
be presented to the eye in a shifting panorama, it would be an exceedingly
effective method of illustrating the march of time. Acting on this idea, I
have contrived a certain pictorial exhibition, somewhat in the nature of a
puppet-show, by means of which I propose to call up the multiform and
many-colored Past before the spectator, and show him the ghosts of his
forefathers, amid a succession of historic incidents, with no greater trouble
than the turning of a crank. Be pleased, therefore, my indulgent patrons, to
walk into the show-room, and take your seats before yonder mysterious curtain.
The little wheels and springs of my machinery have been well oiled; a
multitude of puppets are dressed in character, representing all varieties of
fashion, from the Puritan cloak and jerkin to the latest Oak Hall coat; the
lamps are trimmed, and shall brighten into noontide sunshine, or fade away in
moonlight, or muffle their brilliancy in a November cloud, as the nature of
the scene may require; and, in short, the exhibition is just ready to
commence. Unless something should go wrong, — as, for instance, the misplacing
of a picture, whereby the people and events of one century might be thrust
into the middle of another, or the breaking of a wire, which would bring the
course of time to a sudden period, — barring, I say, the casualties to which
such a complicated piece of mechanism is liable, I flatter myself, ladies and
gentlemen, that the performance will elicit your generous approbation. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 327 | Author: | Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The Prophetic Pictures | | | | Published: | 2000 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | BUT THIS PAINTER!" cried Walter Ludlow, with animation. "He not
only excels in his peculiar art, but possesses vast acquirements in
all other learning and science. He talks Hebrew with Dr. Mather, and
gives lectures in anatomy to Dr. Boylston. In a word, he will meet the
best instructed man among us on his own ground. Moreover, he is a
polished gentleman, a citizen of the world-yes, a true cosmopolite;
for he will speak like a native of each clime and country of the globe
except our own forests, whither he is now going. Nor is all this
what I most admire in him." | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 328 | Author: | Brock: Hutchinson, Thomas | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The History of the Province of Massachusetts Bay (excerpt) / by Thomas Hutchinson | | | | Published: | 2000 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | Mr. Hutchinson, who was then speaker of the house of representatives,
imagined this to be a most favorable opportunity for abolishing bills of
credit, the source of so much iniquity and for establishing a stable
currency of silver and gold for the future. About two million two
hundred thousand pounds would be outstanding in bills in the year 1749.
One hundred and eighty thousand pounds sterling at eleven for one which
was the lowest rate of exchange with London for a year or two before,
and perhaps the difference was really twelve for one, would redeem
nineteen hundred and eighty thousand pounds, which would leave but two
hundred and twenty thousand pounds outstanding, it was therefore
proposed that the sum granted by parliament should be shipped to the
province in Spanish milled dollars and applied for the redemption of the
bills as far it would serve for that purpose, and that the remainder of
the bills should be drawn in by a tax on the year 1749. This would
finish the bills. For the future, silver of sterling alloy at
6s. 8d.
the ounce, if payment should be made in
bullion or otherwise milled
dollars at 6s. each should be the lawful money of the province and no
person should receive or pay within the province, bills of credit of any
of the other governments of New-England. This proposal being made to the
governor he approved of it as founded in justice and tending to promote
the real interest of the province, but he knew the attachment of the
people to paper money and supposed it impracticable. The speaker,
however, laid the proposal before the house, where it was received with
a smile and generally thought to be an Utopian project and, rather out
of deference to the speaker, than from an apprehension of any effect,
the house appointed a committee to consider of it. The committee treated
it in the same manner but reported that the speaker should be desired to
bring in a bill for the consideration of the house. When this came to be
known abroad, exceptions were taken and a clamour was raised from every
quarter. The major part of the people, in number, were no sufferers by a
depreciating currency, the number of debtors is always more than the
number of creditors, and although debts on specialties had allowance
made in judgments of court for depreciation of the bills, yet on simple
contracts, of which there were ten to one specialty, no allowance was
made. Those who were for a fixed currency were divided. Some supposed
the bills might be reduced to so small a quantity as to be fixed
andstable and, therefore, were for redeeming as many by bills of
exchange as should be thought superfluous; others were for putting an
end to the bills, but in a gradual way, otherwise it was said a fatal
shock would be given to trade. This last was the objection of many men
of good sense. Douglass, who had wrote well upon the paper currency and
had been the oracle of the anti-paper party was among them and, as his
manner was with all who differed from him, discovered as much rancor against the author and promoters of this new
project as he had done against the fraudulent contrivers of paper
money emissions. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 332 | Author: | Knight, Enoch | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The Real Artemus Ward | | | | Published: | 2000 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | THE above epitaph, written by the genial humorist's mother, one may
read on a marble slab in the little cemetery at Waterford, Oxford
County, Maine,— "Water-ford near Rum-ford," as he used to say, "the
little village that nestled amongst the hills and never did anything but
nestle." It is a charming spot where rest the remains of Charles Farrar
Browne, looking out upon the little lake, and hard by the edge of a
beech and maple wood,
Where ruddy children tumbled in their play,
And lovers came to woo,
in the days when I first knew the place. Born in the same year and in
the same neighborhood as himself, and all the scenes of his early life
being as dear and familiar to me as the songs of the birds or the crests
of the bordering hills, it has seemed partly a duty, as well as a
privilege and pleasure, to add my little contribution to the literature
his career has called forth. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 335 | Author: | Melville, Herman, 1819-1891 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | Billy Budd / by Herman Melville | | | | Published: | 2000 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | IN THE time before steamships, or then more frequently than now, a
stroller along the docks of any considerable sea-port would
occasionally have his attention arrested by a group of bronzed
mariners, man-of-war's men or merchant-sailors in holiday attire
ashore on liberty. In certain instances they would flank, or, like a
body-guard quite surround some superior figure of their own class,
moving along with them like Aldebaran among the lesser lights of his
constellation. That signal object was the "Handsome Sailor" of the
less prosaic time alike of the military and merchant navies. With no
perceptible trace of the vainglorious about him, rather with the
off-hand unaffectedness of natural regality, he seemed to accept the
spontaneous homage of his shipmates. A somewhat remarkable instance
recurs to me. In Liverpool, now half a century ago, I saw under the
shadow of the great dingy street-wall of Prince's Dock (an obstruction
long since removed) a common sailor, so intensely black that he must
needs have been a native African of the unadulterate blood of Ham. A
symmetric figure much above the average height. The two ends of a
gay silk handkerchief thrown loose about the neck danced upon the
displayed ebony of his chest; in his ears were big hoops of gold,
and a Scotch Highland bonnet with a tartan band set off his shapely
head. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
| 336 | Author: | Merritt, Abraham, 1882-1943 | Requires cookie* | | | Title: | The Metal Monster / by Abraham Merritt | | | | Published: | 2000 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | IN THIS great crucible of life we call the world—in the
vaster one we call the universe—the mysteries lie close
packed, uncountable as grains of sand on ocean's shores.
They thread gigantic, the star-flung spaces; they creep,
atomic, beneath the microscope's peering eye. They walk
beside us, unseen and unheard, calling out to us, asking
why we are deaf to their crying, blind to their wonder. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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