commences a beautiful bay, six miles in length and two in breadth, strongly resembling that part of Lake George which is visible from the fort, but of less than half the extent, and not terminated to the eye, as that is, by a boundary of mountains. The view here is only beautiful. The winding of the shores is superior to what is seen there. The water is of the purest transparency; and the islands, and points of land, and the distant mountains are all very interesting objects.

The shore in this region is handsome, sufficiently varied, and sloping gracefully towards the water's edge. The soil also is rich, and, wherever it is tolerably cultivated, is covered with a fine verdure. The outlet is a large and sprightly mill-stream.

All the productions of the climate, the grains, the grass, the flax, the hortulane vegetables, and the fruits, flourish in this spot. Peach trees grow well, and resist the severity of the winter. Yet they die within a few years, from some cause unknown to the inhabitants, but not improbably the ravages of the peach worm. Fruits of every other kind are very prosperous. Early frosts in the autumn are rarely known, but the spring is often cold and backward, the atmosphere being chilled by the waters of the lake, which are kept cold for a considerable season by the ice.

"Various kinds of fine fish are caught at the bridge, and elsewhere, in great abundance. Among them are the following:

Trout, weighing from one to twenty pounds: pike, one to four: perch, one to three: roach, one to two: cush, one to four: pout, eels, &c.

Wolfborough, Middleton, Tuftonborough, and various other parts of the neighbouring country, are principally inhabited by Baptists, of the class vulgarly called Free Willers, who are generally extremely ignorant.

It is a very great evil to these settlements, and many others in New-Hampshire, that they are, and for a considerable length of time have been, destitute of well-educated ministers of the Gospel. The last minister of Wolf borough died about fourteen years since; and the reluctance to be at the necessary expense has prevented the inhabitants from settling another. This is an extensive calamity in New-Hampshire.

Five miles east of the bridge is the seat formerly belonging

to his Excellency John Wentworth, Esq. This gentleman was the greatest benefactor to the province of New-Hampshire mentioned in its history. He was a man of sound understanding, refined taste, enlarged views, and a dignified spirit. His manners, also, were elegant, and his disposition enterprising. Agriculture in this province owed more to him than to any other man. He also originated the formation of new roads, and the improvement of old ones. All these circumstances rendered him very popular; and he would probably have continued to increase his reputation, had he not been prevented by the controversy between Great Britain and the colonies. As the case was, he retired from the chair with an unimpeachable character, and with higher reputation than any other man who at that time held the same office in this country.

A specimen of his good taste, and a very striking one, was exhibited in the fact, that he chose the border of this lake for his summer residence. It was not then, and even to the present time has not been, customary for the wealthy inhabitants of New-England to fix their country seats upon the fine pieces of water, with which at little distances it is everywhere adorned. When Governor Wentworth came to this country, the region, surrounding the Winipiseogee, was almost absolutely a forest. Few men have those preconceptions of taste, if I may call them such, especially with respect to subjects, to the contemplation of which the mind is led by conversation, or practice, which anticipates beauty and elegance in a wilderness, and finds them hidden beneath the rude covering of nature. Governor Wentworth, however, found them here ; and, by building on this ground, set an example, which will one day be followed by multitudes of his countrymen. The time will come, when it will not be thought necessary to place a country residence in the purlieus of a great city, or desirable to look for the pleasures of rural life in the neighbourhood of the dwellings of market people and the stalls of butchers.

The house of Governor Wentworth fell, after he left the country, into the hands of persons who were unworthy to succeed him; and, as might be expected, has advanced far in decay and ruin. The ground, on which it stands, will probably invite, at some future period, a man of a similar dispo

sition to revive what it has lost, and add to it new ornaments supplied by wealth, and fashioned by genius and taste.

Wednesday night it blew a storm from the north-east, and rained violently. The rain continued by turns during the following day. We set out, however, at two o'clock, and rode through Tuftonborough and Moultonborough to Center Harbour: twenty miles. The road was such, that we were able to travel without inconvenience five miles an hour, and throughout most of the distance very good. The forests are oak, &c.

The soil of Tuftonborough is alternately good and indifferent, and the surface an interchange of rough and pleasant grounds. We saw nothing like a village. Most of the settlements appear to have been recently made.

There are several arms of the lake stretching far into this township, of which we had a succession of beautiful views.

Moultonborough is a softer, pleasanter township than Tuftonborough. The settlements have been longer made, the cultivation is better, and the inhabitants appear to be more prosperous than their neighbours.

Moultonborough includes a single congregation, at the head of which is a worthy minister. This fact, to an observer of human affairs, will easily explain the superiority of their character and their circumstances.

Rochester contained, in 1790, 2,857; in 1800, 2,646; in 1810, 2,118 inhabitants. Middleton contained, in 1790, 617; in 1800, 431; in 1810, 439 inhabitants. Wolfborough contained, in 1790, 447; in 1800, 941; in 1810, 1,376 inhabitants. Tuftonborough contained, in 1790, 109; in 1800, 357; in 1810, 709 inhabitants. Moultonborough contained, in 1790, 565; in 1800, 857; in 1810, 994 inhabitants.

We reached Center Harbour in the evening, and lodged at the house of Mrs. Little. Mr. Little died the preceding spring, universally lamented as a benefactor to this part of the country.

The next morning we determined on an excursion to the summit of the Red Mountain, for the purpose of taking a complete view of the Winipiseogee, or, as I shall henceforth call it, the Wentworth. Accordingly we set out on horseback

at an early hour, and rode quite to the highest point. The ascent was often steep and difficult, but nowhere impracticable. When we had reached the summit, we found a prospect worth not only the trouble of the ascent, but that of our whole journey. We stood on the south-eastern point of these mountains, which was posited with extreme felicity for our purpose, and commanded, without obstruction, a view of all the subjacent and surrounding country.

South-westward, at the distance of seventy miles, appeared the conical summit of Monadnoc, like a blue cloud in the skirt of the horizon, and looked down on every object in that part of the hemisphere. A succession of other mountains, of diversified forms and elevations, extended on either hand from this eminence, till they reached and passed our parallel. Directly north of us rose the Sandwich mountains, a magnificent range, proceeding in a north-eastern direction, and terminating at the distance of thirty miles. Here a succession of finely varied summits, of the boldest figures, and wrapped in a mantle of misty azure, ascended far above all parts of the visible earth. Singly, they were in an eminent degree sublime; in their union, they broke upon the view with grandeur inexpressible.

I have already mentioned the appearance of the Great Ossapee, Mount Major, Moose Mountain, and the mountain of Alton. I shall only add, that they were seen from this point with an advantage so superior to what had appeared in the prospect taken by us in the preceding year, as to be in a sense wholly new.

Immediately at the foot of the height on which we stood, and in the bottom of the immense valley below, spread southeastward the waters of the Wentworth in complete view, except that one or two of its arms were partially concealed by intervening peninsulas. A finer object of the same nature was perhaps never seen. The lakes, which I had visited in my northern and western excursions, were all of them undivided masses, bordered by shores comparatively straight. This was, centrally, a vast column, if I may be allowed the term, twenty-three miles in length, and from six to eight in breadth, shooting out with inimitable beauty a succession of arms, some of them not inferior in length to the whole breadth of the lake.

These were fashioned with every elegance of figure, bordered with the most beautiful winding shores, and studded with a multitude of islands. Their relative positions, also, could scarcely be more happy.

Many of the islands in the lake are large, exquisitely fashioned, and arranged in a manner not less singular than pleasing. As they met the eye, when surveyed from this summit, they were set in groupes on both sides of the great channel, and left this vast field of water unoccupied between them. Their length was, universally, at right angles to that of the lake, and they appeared as if several chains of hills, originally crossing the country in that direction, had by some convulsion been merged in the water so low, that no part of them was left visible except the oblong segments of their summits. Of those, which, by their size and situation, were most conspicuous, I counted forty-five, without attempting to enumerate the smaller ones, or such as were obscured.

The points, which intrude into this lake, were widely different from those which were mentioned in the description of Lake George, bold, masculine bluffs, impinging directly upon the water. These in several instances were spacious peninsulas, fitted to become rich and delightful residences of man, often elevated into handsome hills, and sloping gracefully into the lake.

On the west, also, immediately beneath our feet, lay Squam Lake, which I shall take the liberty to call by the name of Sullivan, from Major General Sullivan, formerly president of this state. This sheet of water is inferior in beauty to no other, and is richly furnished with its suite of islands, points, and promontories, among the least of which was the mountain, whence we gained our prospect. The separation between these lakes is formed by a narrow isthmus, capable, in the judgment of Mr. Little, of admitting a navigable communication between them, at the expense of five hundred dollars. To us they appeared but one, a narrow part of which was naturally supposed to be hidden by the intervening forest.

Nothing could be more cheerful than the appearance of these fields of water, extending on both sides of the promontory where we stood, between thirty and forty miles. The whole scene was made up of the most beautiful parts, and