“The morning of the 29th the good man of the house advised me that I might now cross. A crowd of people were at the bank to see us make the attempt. My servant stripped himself and ventured in (on horseback) with the carriage. He had hardly left the bank when the force of the stream swept him down and overturned the calesche. I called to him from where I was standing that his only hope was to let the horse go, and swim; he kept by the horse, and managed to save both it and himself. I resolved never again, in the matter of ferrying a swollen stream, to trust to the advice of these wild pioneers. The next morning I was able to cross, and at the North River was taken over in a flat canoe, the horses swimming at the side. “The following day, having passed Smith Creek, a dangerous stream, I came into a new road, full of roots and bad from the rain besides. The wheels of the calesche, which had already been many times repaired, broke into a hundred pieces, and at the first smithy I determined to abandon the vehicle and continue the journey on horseback. Beyond the Shenadore, which we crossed in a canoe, the horses swimming behind, we fell into a marshy and rocky road, which leads over Mill Creek and Stony Creek. Keeping on, through a country of many delightful prospects, between the Blue and the Alleghany Mountains, we passed through Millerstown, the county seat of the county of Shenadore, Stowerstown, Newtown, and arrived at Winchester. “Winchester, for commerce, is one of the most important towns of Virginia. The number of the houses is about 200. The traffic is in wheat, flour and hemp, sold at Baltimore and Philadelphia, whence European manufactures are brought and expedited further beyond the mountains. The water at Winchester--limestone--has a strong effect on first being used. The 18th of June I left Winchester and spent that night at Weathers-don-Marsh, called also Charletown, and from there, on the following day, passed the Blue Ridge for the second time at Harper’s Ferry.” _VII._ _DR. COKE IN VIRGINIA._ _1785-1791._ _Dr. Thomas Coke--The Eastern Shore--Alexandria--Swollen Creeks--The Pies of Mecklenburg--A Retired Dancing-Master--Halifax County--Following the Spring--Petersburg--Dan River Landscapes--Richmond--Port Royal._