Note 26 — LETTER XIX.
Reading edition
Our landlord, as soon as he found out who we were, immediately came to us, to request that we would excuse the confused state in which his house was, as this was the anniversary day of “American Independence,” or, as some, indeed, more properly called it, of “American Repentance.” We were all of us not a little surprised at this address, and from such a person; instances, however, are not wanting of people openly declaring, that they have never enjoyed so much quiet and happiness in their own homes since the revolution as they did when the states were the colonies of Great Britain. Amongst the planters in Virginia I heard language of this sort more than once.