It being near the hour of dinner when we arrived, we joined the company at table, consisting chiefly of constant boarders, who, after a quick and silent repast, vanished; leaving at table two pleasant and travelled men, one a man of law from Boston, (Massachusetts,) the other a gentleman resident in Virginia. We talked of slavery, which the latter defended ingeniously, though not convincingly, by quotations from the sacred writings, St. Paul, &c.;--he owned a numerous establishment of slaves, and such was his reliance upon their attachment and content, that he had not the slightest apprehension of danger to his family during his absence: he had come to Pittsburgh to attend a trial, and entertained us with an account of the conduct in court of his Counsel, who, he gave us to understand, was a man high in the profession; neither Counsel nor Judge as is well known, put on here any gown but the heat of the day had induced this gentleman's {49} Counsel first to put off his coat, and not finding himself yet cool enough he got rid of waistcoat also; and then, further to cool his constitution and assist thought, he put a cigar into his mouth, and in this trim paraded up and down the court. The old gentleman, who had been in most parts of Europe, then asked what could strangers, just coming from England, think of such conduct in a court of trial? The glass circulated and in such conversation the time passed agreeably, until, at some general observation I made, the Bostonian fired up and we were as near a quarrel as any prudent people need to be; when the Virginian interposed and succeeded in making peace: however, harmony had been broken and we soon after separated. In the evening, expecting a pleasant drive of three miles, we left Pittsburgh; and, crossing the river by a respectable new-covered-bridge, for which I paid a toll of one dollar each carriage, took a wrong turn on the other side; and after encountering most dreadful roads, and making a tour of above six or eight miles instead of three, arrived by moonlight at the long-looked-for tavern.