Abigail Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, September 15, 1787

Sepbr 15 th [ 1787 ]
Grosvenour Square

my dear sister

When I wrote you last, I was just going to Set out on a journey to the West of England.
I promised you to visit mr Cranchs Friends and Relatives, this we did as I shall relate
to you we were absent a month, and made a Tour of about six hundred Miles. the first
place we made any stay at, was Winchester. There was formerly an Earl of Winchester, by
the Name of Saar de Quincy. he was created Earl of Winchester by King john in 12.24. and
Signed Magna Charta, which I have seen, the original being now in the British Museum
with his Hand writing to it. 1

it is said that the year 1321 the Title became extinct, through failure of male Heirs,
but I rather think through the poverty of some branch unable to contend for it. the
family originally came from Normandy in the Time of William the Conquerer. they bear the
same Arms with those of our Ancesters except that ours Substituded an animal for the
crest in lieu, of an Earls coronet. I have a perfect remembrance of a parchment in our
Grandmothers possession, which when quite a child I used to amuse myself with. this was
a Geneological Table which gave the descent of the family from the Time of William the
conquerer this parchment mr Edmund Quincy borrowed on some occasion, & I have often
heard our Grandmother Say with some anger, that she could never recover it. as the old
Gentleman is still living, I wish mr Cranch would question him about it, & know
what Hands it went into, & whether there is a probability of its ever being
recoverd, and be so good as to ask uncle Quincy how our Grandfather came by it, &
from whence our Great Granfather came? where he first Settled? & take down in
writing all you can learn from him, & mr Edmund Quincy respecting the family. 2 you will Smile at my Zeal, perhaps on this
occasion, but can it be wonderd at, that I should wish to Trace an Ancesstor amongst the
Signers of Magna Carta, amongst those who voted against receiving an explanatory Charter
in the Massachusetts, Stands the Name of our venerable Grandfather, accompanied only
with one other. this the journals of the House will shew to his immortal honour. 3 I do not expect either titles or estate
from the Recovery of the Geneoligical Table, were there any probability of obtaining it,
yet if I was in possession of it, money should not purchase it from me. But to return to
winchester, it is a very ancient place, and was formerly the residence of the Saxon and
Norman Kings. there still remains a very famous Cathedral church, in the true Gothic
Architecture, being partly built in the year 1079. 4 I attended divine service there, but was much
more entertaind with the Venerable and Majestic appearence of the Ancient pile, than
with the Modern flimsy discourse of the preacher, a meaner performance I do not
recollect to have heard, but in a Church which would hold several thousands it might
truly be said, two or three, were met together, 5 and those appeard to be the lower order of the
people. from Winchester we proceeded to Southhampton, which is a very pretty sea port
Town and much frequented during the summer months as a Bathing place, and here for the
first time in my Life I tried the experiment. it would be delightfull in our warm
weather as well as very salubrious if such conveniencys were Erected in Boston,
Braintree, Weymouth, which they might be with little expence. the places are under
cover, you have a woman for a Guide, a small dressing room to yourself an oil cloth cap,
a flannel Gown and socks for the feet; 6 we tarried only two days at Southhampton, and went ten miles out of our way in order to
visit Weymouth merely for its Name. this like my Native Town is a Hilly country a small
sea port, with very little buisness, & wholy supported by the resort of company
during the Summer Months, for those persons who have not Country Houses of their own,
resort to the Watering places as they are call’d, during the summer months, it being too
vulgar and unfashionable to remain in London, but where the object of one is Health,
that of 50 is pleasure, however far they fall short of the object. this whole Town is
the property of a widow Lady. Houses are built by the
Tenants & taken at Life Rents, which upon the discease of the Leasors revert back
again to the owner of the Soil; thus is the landed property of this Country vested in
Lordships, and in the Hands of the Rich altogether. the pesantry are but slaves to the
Lord, notwithstanding the mighty boast they make of Liberty, 6 pence & 7 pence pr
day is the usual wages given to Labourers, who are to feed themselves out of the
pittance. in travelling through a Country fertile as the Garden of Eden, loaded with a
Golden harvest, plenty Smiling on every side, one would imagine the voice of poverty was
rarely heard, and that she was seldom seen, but in the abodes of indolence and vice, but
it is far otheways. the Money earned by the sweat of the Brow must go to feed the
pamperd Lord & fatten the Greedy Bishop, whilst the misierble shatterd thatched roof
cottage crumbles to the dust for the want of repair. to hundreds & hundreds of these
abodes have I been a witness in my late journey. the cheering Rays of the Sun are
totally excluded, unless they find admittance through the decayed roof equally exposed
to cold & the inclemnant season, a few Rags for a Bed, a joint Stool, comprise the
chief of their furniture, whilst their own appearence is more wretched, than one can
well conceive. during the season of Hay and Harvest, Men women & children are to be
seen labouring in the Fields, but as this is a very small part of the year, the little
they acquire then is soon expended, and how they keep soul and Body together the
remainder of the year; is very hard to tell. it must be oweing to this very unequal
distribution of property that the poor rate, is become such an intollerable burden. the
inhabitants are very thinly scatterd through the Country, though large Towns are well
peopled. to reside in & near London, and to judge of the Country from what one sees
here, would be forming a very eronious opinion. How little cause of complaint have the
inhabitants of the united States, when they compare their Situation, not with despotic
monarchies, but with this Land of Freedom? the ease with which honest industry may
acquire property in America the equal distribution of justice, to the poor as well as
the rich, and the personal Liberty they enjoy, all all call upon them to support their
Governments and Laws, to respect their Rulers, and gratefully acknowledge their
Superiour Blessings, least Heaven in wrath Should Send them a. . . .

From Weymouth our next excursion was to Axmister the first Town in the County of
Devonshire. it is a small place, but has two manufactures of Note, one of Carpets &
one of Tapes—both of which we visited; the manufactory of the carpets is
wholy performed by women and children. you would have been suprized to see, in how
ordinary a Building this rich manufactory was carried on, a few glass windows in some of
our Barns would be equal to it. they have but two prices for their carpets wove here,
the one is Eighteen shilling, and the other 24, a square yard. they are wove of any
dimensions you please, and without a seam, the coulours are most beautifull, and the
carpets very durable here we found mr J Cranch, he dined with us, and we drank Tea with
him; this is a curious Genious, he is a middle sizd man of a delicate countanance, but
quite awkerd in his manners. he seldom looks one in the Face, and seems as if he had
been crampd and cow’d in his youth; in company one is pained for him, yet is he a man of
Reading and an accurate taste in the fine Arts, poetry, painting, musick, sculpture,
Architecture; all of them have engaged his attention. his profession does not seem to be
the object of his affections, and he has given up the practise, with an intention of
persueing some other employment; he appears to me to be a man whose soul wants a wider
expansion than his situation & circumstances allow. dejected spirits he is very
liable to, I do not think him a happy man, his sentiments are by no means narrow or
contracted; yet he is one by himself— he accompanied us in our journey to Exeter
Plimouth and Kings-Bridge. at Exeter we tarried from Saturday till monday afternoon mr
Bowering came to visit us. you know him by character, he appears a Friendly honest
worthy man, active in buisness a warm and Zealous Friend to America, ready to serve his
Friends, and never happier than when they will give him an opportunity of doing it his
wife and daughter were on a visit to their Friends at Kings Bridge, so that we did not
see them. he requested however that we would drink tea with him after meeting, and as
our intention was to see mr Cranchs Brother Andrew, he engaged to get him to his House.
the old Gentleman came, with some difficulty, for he is very lame and infirm; he seemd
glad to see us, and asked many questions, respecting his Brother & sister in
America. I think he must have had a paralityc stroke as his Speach is thick. he has not
been able to do any buisness for a Number of years, and I believe is chiefly supported
by his son, who is in the Clothiers buisness with mr Bowering. Mrs Cranch, tho near as
old as her Husband, is a little smart, sprightly active woman, and is wilted just enough
to last to perpetuity. She told me that her Husband took it very hard that his Brother
had not written to him for a long time. I promised her that he should hear from him
before long; and I know he will not let me be surety for him;
without fulfilling my engagement. mr Cranchs daughter married mr Bowerings Brother, they
have three sons. she is a sprightly woman like her Mother, and mr Bowerings daughter
married a son of mr Natll Cranchs, so that the family is doubly linked together, and
what is more; they all seem united, by the strongest ties of family harmony and
Love. 7 from Exeter we went to plimouth
there we tarried Several days, and visited the fortifications, plimouth dock, &
crossd over the water to mount Edgcume; a seat belonging to Lord Edgcume. 8

the Natural advantages of this place are superiour to any I have before seen,
commanding a wide and extensive view of the ocean, the whole Town of plimouth, and the
adjacent Country with the Mountain of cornwall— I have not much to Say with respect to
the improvements of art, there is a large park well stockd with Deer, and some shady
walks, but there are no Grottos Statuary Sculpture or Temples.—

at Plimouth we were visited by a mr & mrs Sawry; with whom we drank Tea one
afternoon; mr Sawry is well known to many Americans, who were prisoners in plimouth jail
during the late war. the money which was raised for their relief, past through his Hands
and he was very kind to them, assisting many in their escape.— 9 from plimouth we made an enterprize one day to
Horsham and as we attempted it in a coach & four, we made a curious peice of work,
taking by mistake a wrong road, but this part of my story I must reserve for my dear
eliza.

our next Movement was a Kings Bridge, but before I relate this, I ought to inform you,
that we made a stop at a place call Ivey Bridge where we dined, and mr Adams accompanied
mr Cranch to Brook about 3 miles distant, to visit his uncle mr William Cranch, who has
been for several years quite lost to himself and Friends. there is some little property
in the hands of the family who take charge of him, sufficient to Support a person who
has no more wants than he has. he appeard clean & comfortable, but took no notice
either of the conversation, or persons. the only thing which in the least roused him,
was the mention of his wife, he appeard to be wrestless when that Subject was touchd.
The Character of this Man, as given by all his Friends and acquaintance, leads one to
regreet in a particular manner the loss of his intellects, possesst of a Genious
superiour to his station, a thirst for knowledge which his circumstances in Life
permitted him not to persue, most amiable and engageing in his manners, formed to have adornd a superiour Rank in Life, fondly attachd to an
amiable wife, whom he very soon lost, he fell a sacrifice to a too great Sensibility,
unable to support the shock, he grew melancholy and was totally lost.— 10 But to return to Kings Bridge, the Chief resort
of the Cranch family. we arrived at the Inn, about Six oclock a saturday Evening, about
8 we were saluted with a ringing of Bells—a circumstance we little expected. very soon
we were visited by the various Branches of the Cranch family both male & female
amounting to 15 persons, but as they made a strange jumble in my Head, I persuaded my
fellow Traveller to make me out a Genealogical Table, which I send you. 11 mr & mrs Burnell mr & mrs Trathan, both
offerd us beds and accommodations at their houses, but we were too numerous to accept
their Kind invitation, tho we engaged ourselves to dine with mr Burnell, & to drink
Tea with mr Trathan the next day. Mrs Burnell has a strong resemblance to mrs palmer she
is a Geenteel woman, and easy & polite. we dinned at a very pretty dinner, and after
meeting drank Tea at the other House mr Trathans. their Houses are very small, but every
thing neat and comfortable, mr Burnel is a shoe maker worth 5000 pounds and mr Trathan a
Grocier in good circumstances. 12 the rest
of the families joind us at the two houses. they are all serious industerius good people
amongst whom the greatest family harmony appears to Subsist. the people of this County
appear more like our Newengland people than any I have met with in this Country before,
but the distinction between Tradesmen & Gentry as they are termd is widely different
from those distinctions in our Country. with us in point of Education and manners the
Learned professions and many merchants Farmers & Tradesmen, are upon an equality
with the Gentry of this Country. it would be degrading to compare them with many of the
Nobility here. as to the Ladies of this Country their manners appear to be totally
depraved, it is in the middle ranks of society, that virtue & morality are yet to be
found. nothing does more injury to the Female Character, than frequenting publick
places, and the rage which prevails now for the Watering places and the increased Number
of them, is become a National evil as it promotes and encourages dissapation, mixes all
characters promiscuously, is the resort of the most unprincipald female characters who
are not ashamed to shew their faces wherever men dare to go modesty and diffidence, are
calld ill Breeding, and Ignorance of the world. an impudent stare, is substituted in
lieu of that modest deportment and that retireing Grace which aws, whilst it enchants. I have never seen a female Modle here, of such
unaffected modest, & sweetly amiable manners, as mrs Guile mrs Russel, & many
other American females exhibit.—

Having filld 8 pages I think it is near time to hasten to a close. Cushing and Folger
are both arrived, by each I have received Letters from you. a new sheet of paper must
contain a replie to them, this little Space Shall assure you of what is not confined to
Time or place / the ardent affection of your / sister

A Adams.