The accommodations at the taverns, by which name they call all inns, &c. are very indifferent in Philadelphia, as indeed they are, with a very few exceptions, throughout the country. The mode of conducting them is nearly the same every where. The traveller is shewn, on arrival, into a room which is common to every person in the house, and which is generally the one set apart for breakfast, dinner, and supper. All the strangers that happen to be in the house sit down to these meals promiscuously, and, excepting in the large towns, the family of the house also forms a part of the company. It is seldom that a private parlour or drawing room can be procured at any of the taverns, even in the towns; and it is always with reluctance that breakfast or dinner is served up separately to any individual. If a single bed room can be procured, more ought not to be looked for; but it is not always that even this is to be had, and those who travel through the country must often submit to be crammed into rooms where there is scarcely sufficient space to walk between the beds.[5] Strangers who remain for any length of time in the large towns most usually go to private boarding houses, of which great numbers are to be met with. It is always a difficult matter to procure furnished lodgings without paying for board. Footnote 5: Having stopped one night at Elkton, on my journey to Baltimore in the public carriage, my first enquiries from the landlord, on alighting, as there were many passengers in the stage, were to know what accommodation his house afforded. He seemed much surprized that any enquiries should be made on such a subject, and with much consequence told me, I need not give myself any trouble about the extent of his accommodations, as he had no less than _eleven_ beds in _one_ of his rooms. [Sidenote: PHILADELPHIA.]