7. Social Pleasures in Philadelphia
BY JOHN ADAMS (1774)[11]
DINED with Mr. Miers Fisher, a young Quaker and a lawyer. We
saw his library which is good. But this plain Friend and his plain,
though pretty wife, with her thees and thous, had
provided us the most costly entertainment: ducks, hams, chickens, beef,
pig, tarts, creams, custards, jellies, fools, trifles, floating islands, beer,
porter, punch, wine, and a long etc.
We had a large collection of lawyers at table. We had much
conversation upon the practice of law in our
different provinces, but at last we got swallowed up in politics.
Thursday.—Dined at Mr. Powell's with many others. A
most sinful feast again! Everything which could delight the eye or
allure the taste: curds and cream jellies, sweetmeats of various sorts,
twenty sorts of tarts, fools, trifles, floating islands, whipped syllabubs,
etc., etc., Parmesan cheese, punch, wine, porter, beer, etc.[12] At evening we climbed up the steeple of
Christ Church with Mr. Reed, from whence we had a clear and full
view of the whole city and of Delaware River.
Saturday.—Dined at home. Several other gentlemen
dined with us upon salt fish. Rambled in the evening with Mr. Joe
Reed. Mr. Reed returned with Mr. Adams[13] and me to our lodgings, and a very sociable,
agreeable, and talkative evening we had.
Sunday.—Dined at Mr. Willing's, who is a judge of the
supreme court here, with the gentlemen from Virginia, Maryland, and
New York. A most splendid feast again—turtle and everything else.
Mr. Willing told us a story of a lawyer here who, the other
day, gave him the following answer to the question, Why the lawyers
were so increased in number?[14]
"You ask me why lawyers so much are increased?
Tho' most of the country already are fleeced;
The reason, I'm sure, is most strikingly plain;—
Tho' sheep are oft sheared, yet the wool grows again;
And tho' you may think e'er so odd of the matter,
The oftener they're fleeced, the wool grows the better.
Thus downy-chinned boys, as oft I have heard,
By frequently shaving, obtain a large beard."
Mr. Willing is the most sociable, agreeable man of all. He told us a
law of this place, that whereas oysters,
between the months of May and September, were found to be
unwholesome food, if any were brought to market, they should be
forfeited and given to the poor.
We drank coffee, and then Reed, Cushing, and I strolled to the
Moravian evening lecture, where we heard soft, sweet music, and a
Dutchified English prayer and preachment.
Monday.—Dined with Mr. Dickinson at his seat at Fair
Hill.[15] Mr. Dickinson has a fine place, a
beautiful prospect of the city, the river, and the country, fine gardens,
and a grand library. Mr. Dickinson is a very modest man and very
talented, as well as agreeable. He has an excellent heart, and the cause
of his country lies near it.
[[11]]
Written by John Adams while a delegate from
Massachusetts to the First Continental Congress.
[[12]]
The drinking habits of the time were shocking,
Total abstainers from intoxicants were almost unknown, and liquor was
served even at funerals.
[[14]]
The lawyer who wrote the lines was a Mr.
Peters.
[[15]]
John Dickinson, a very eminent member of the
Continental Congress.
