THE BRITISH SPY: OR, LETTERS, TO A MEMBER OF THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT, WRITTEN DURING A TOUR THROUGH THE UNITED STATES. BY A YOUNG ENGLISHMAN OF RANK. NEWBURYPORT: PRINTED AT THE REPERTORY OFFICE. 1804. iii THIS selection of Letters first appeared in the ARCUs, a paper published in RICHMOND, Virginia. The first inquiry, with every reader, will probably be, who was the Author? The only satisfaction I can give, on this subject, s the address to the Printer, which introduced the first letter. "Mr. PLEASANTS, "THE Manuscript from which the following letters are extracted, was found in the bed chamber of a boarding house, in a seaport town of Virginia. The gentleman who had previously occupied that chamber, is represented by the mistress of the House, to have been a meek and harmless young man, who meddled very little with the affairs of others, and concerning whom no one appeared sufficiently interested to make any inquiry. As it seems, from the manuscript, that the name by which he passed was not his real name, and as, moreover, she knew nothing of his residence, so that she was totally ignorant to whom and whither to direct it, she considered the manuscript as lawful prize, and made a present of it to me. It seems to be a copy of Letters, written by a young Englishman of rank, during his tour through the United States, to a Member of the British Parliament. They are dated from almost every part of the United States, contain a great deal of Geographical description, or delineation of every character of note among us, some literary disquisitions; with a great mixture of moral and political observation. The letters are prettily written. Persons of every description will find in them a light and agreeable entertainment, and to the younger part of your readers they may not be uninstructive. For the present, I select a |