dandy, who, I verily believe, was so truly intimidated with the huge corporation and abusive language of Betsy Austin, that he would not have remained with her alone, to preserve any thing less than his valuable life.

Be this as it may, we proceeded to the tavern kept by an old, fat, black woman, well stricken in years, who commonly goes by the denomination of Sabina Brade, although her slaves, bred in the school of politeness and courtesy, are wont to call her Miss Sabina.

Here we procured refreshments; and after an hour's conversation on the miseries of our first reception, we retired to very comfortable apartments, to enjoy therein a still more comfortable sleep.

I must not omit to recount an instance of shrewdness in the servant who conducted me to my room, in guessing at the profession of our dandy, whose manners, I suppose, somewhat amused her before pointing out my apartment, she archly inquired,"Dat tight buckra, he one play actor-no?" and a very incredulous smile was the only answer I received to my assurances of the contrary.

In the morning our party assembled to breakfast; after which meal I again repaired on board our vessel, and now beheld all the beauties of the island, which the darkness of the preceding evening had concealed from my view.

The town, as seen from the Bay, appears of considerable extent; and the beautiful little clusters of

palm and cocoa-nut trees, which are seen, ever and anon, rising amongst the houses, give it a very pretty and interesting appearance. The harbour, too, is one scene of life and bustle :—a little fleet lying in the bay, and a frigate with its lofty masts o'ertopping those of the surrounding ships, and waving its long pennant in the sunbright air :-vessels lately arrived, with all their colours flying; and one or two under full sail, tacking about the mouth of the harbour, and endeavouring to make good their entrance:-boats too, ❝ in number numberless ;" and sloops, and schooners, and canoes :-mingled sounds-the hallooing of sailors, the clanging of cable chains, the rattling of cordage, and the merry song of the watermen, as they towed immense flats, laden with sugar, to the ships that were to take them in.

The country too, for it was in the time of crop, was in itself pretty; but being without mountain or valley to interrupt the sameness of the scene, it presented no variety.

Our ship had warped further in, and dropped anchor near the Carenage, consequently we were enabled to land our baggage without difficulty; and by mid-day, I should say, we were comfortably settled in our hotel.

The first week after my arrival I spent in ascertaining the extent of Bridgetown, with the number of its inhabitants; and these, with every thing else therein contained, that is any way worthy of notice, my readers shall have an account of in the next chapter.

.

BRIDGETOWN, which in many points resembles an English town, more than the principal towns in the other Leeward Islands, is the capital of Barbados, and is about two miles long, although its breadth does not exceed half a mile. The mere fact of its containing twenty thousand people, will lead my readers to infer that the houses are well stocked with inhabitants. These, for the most part, are irregularly built, without any regard to order, or the slightest attention to the rules of architecture. This is a general rule, but like all others, not without some exceptions; as there are one or two streets which undoubtedly present a neater and more pleasing appearance than the rest. Among these we may rank the Square, in the centre of which, surrounded by iron rails, is a tolerably good statue of the immortal Nelson, on which the Barbadians pride themselves not a little.

Bridgetown, besides the Cathedral, contains another church, which has been lately erected, and which is

certainly superior in taste and elegance to the former. Indeed, the Cathedral, although a large, capacious, and very convenient building, by no means possesses any exterior attractions, but is rather in accordance with the other buildings of the town.

The houses, generally speaking, are of wood, supported by pillars of brick or stone, and have commonly covered balconies in front. The inhabitants live and sleep on what in England is called the first floor; and their dwellings seldom extend higher. The lower apartments are chiefly store and servants' rooms; and the kitchen is always, with the rest of the outhouses, away from the house.

The merchants in town, generally speaking, keep stores (by no means resembling our English shops), where articles of almost every description may be bought. I think, in this instance, I may compare them to our chandlers' shops, only they are on a much larger scale, and have no show in the windows; they also commonly contain a counting house, with one or two clerks, and were it not for the retailing of articles, would have all the air of an English merchant's store. The proprietors are generally wealthy, always respectable, and very often gentlemen who mix in society, and have estates in the country.

In Jew Street, however, there are many actual shops, with a great display of articles, chiefly for ladies, such as dresses, jewellery, lace, bonnets, caps, &c. These are, for the most part, kept by Jews, and, in consequence of the great demand for these articles, thrive extremely well.

I

may here remark, and it is an extraordinary fact, that no colony, at least no British colony, in the West Indies, contains shops or stores that have their own peculiar sale of articles. There are no hatters, no linendrapers, no cheesemongers; all sell the same things, and consequently all may be said to be in opposition to each other. There are indeed ironmongers, tailors, and shoemakers, who keep to their own particular line of business; yet these persons have not the entire monopoly of the articles which they sell, because the merchants, whose stores contain salt-fish, hams, cheeses, and tongues, also dispose of ironmongery, clothes, and shoes. I think this arrangement, or rather want of arrangement, is a source of disadvantage to all parties.

The doctors' shops in the Square are a good imitation of our London ones, and when lit up present a pretty appearance. One unfortunate race of tradesmen appear to have been expelled, as if by common consent, from our colonies; and I think I am not saying much either for the good taste or literary reputation of their inhabitants, when I declare, that I never yet could find (and Heaven knows how I have searched and ransacked their goodly streets) a single bookseller's shop: and I think I may venture to say, that there are only two stores in the great capital of the ipse dixit Little England, that contain for sale any thing in the shape of a volume, beyond "Vyse's New London Spelling Book," or " Murray's English Grammar."

The lower class of stores in Bridgetown are those