The Presbyterian tutor, from whom we must now part, was a candidate for the ministry, but saw much to admire and little to condemn in the social life of the Virginians. He had been warned "that Virginia is sickly--that the people there are profane, and exceeding wicked. That there I shall read no Calvinistic Books, nor hear any Presbyterian Sermons." He finds himself under no more nor stronger temptations to any kind of vice--perhaps not so great--as at home, "unless sometimes when I am solicited to dance I am forced to blush" not because of its wickedness--Oh, no!--but "because of my _Inability_! I Wish it had been a part of my Education to learn an innocent and ornamental qualification for a person to appear even decent in Company!" This impartial observer of the times in which Mary Washington lived sums up the Virginians thus: "The people are extremely hospitable and Polite--universal characteristics of a gentleman in Virginia. Some swear bitterly, but the practice seems to be generally disapproved. I have heard that this Country is notorious for Gaming, however this may be I have not seen a Pack of _Cards_, nor a _Die_ since I left home, nor gaming nor Betting of any kind except at the Races. The _Northern Neck_ is a most delightful country--the best people are remarkable for regularity and economy, civil and polite and of the highest quality in Virginia--well acquainted with the formality and ceremony which we find commonly in High Life--sensible, judicious, much given to retirement and study," etc., at length, of which the above extract is a fair example. Another tutor, one John Davis, presumably a Welshman, who spent, and wrote of, "Four and a Half Years in America," described the Virginians of George Washington's time and neighborhood and the church he attended:-- "No people could exceed these men in politeness. On the piazza of Mr. Thornton's tavern I found a party of gentlemen from the neighboring plantations carousing over a bowl of toddy and smoking cigars. On my ascending the steps to the piazza, every countenance seemed to say, 'This man has a double claim to our attention, for he is a stranger in the place.' In a moment room was made for me to sit down; a new bowl was called for, and every one who addressed me did it with a smile of conciliation. But no man questioned me whence I had come, or whither I was going. A gentleman in every country is the same--and if good breeding consists in sentiment, it was found in the circle I had got into.