Rambles about Portsmouth. Sketches of persons, localities, and incidents of two centuries: principally from tradition and unpublished documents. By Charles W. Brewster.

42 RAMBLES ABOUT PORTSMOUTH.
and all those I saw at Portsmouth, are very handsome and
well furnished.
"I proposed, on the morning of the l1th, to make a tour
among the islands in the harbor; but some snow having
fallen, and the weather being by no means inviting, I contented myself with paying visits to some officers of the
navy, and among others to the Count de Vaudreuil, who
had slept on shore the preceding night; after which we
again met at dinner at Mr. Albert's, a point of union which
was always agreeable. After dinner, we again drank tea at
Mr. Langdon's, and then paid a visit to Dr. Brackett, an
esteemed physician of the country, and afterwards to Mr.
Thompson. The latter was born in England; he is a good
seaman, and an excellent ship-builder, and is besides a sensible man, greatly attached to his new country, which it is
only fifteen years since he adopted. His wife is an American, and pleases by her countenance, but still more by her
amiable and polite behavior. We finished the evening at
Mr. Wentworth's, where the Count de Vaudreuil lodged;.
he gave us a very handsome supper, without ceremony,
during which the conversation was gay and agreeable.
"The 12th I set out, after taking leave of M. de Vaudreuil,
whom I met as he was coming to call on me, and it was
certainly with the greatest sincerity that I testified to him
my sense of the polite manner in which I had been received
by him, and by the officers under his command.
"The following are the ideas which I had an opportunity
of acquiring relative to the town of Portsmouth. It was
in a pretty flourishing state before the war, and carried on
the trade of ship-timber, and salt fish. It is easy to conceive that this commerce must have greatly suffered since
the commencement of the troubles, but notwithstanding,
Portsmouth is, perhaps, of all the American towns, that
which will gain the most by the present war. There is
every appearance of its becoming to Vew-England,, what