Philip Fithian - Journal and Letters of Philip Vickers Fithian - A Plantation Tutor of the Old Dominion, 1773-1774.

After Dinner was finished which was about four o-Clock, Miss Prissy & Myself, together with a Servant (for Mr Carter would not trust us alone he said) rode on Horse-Back to Mr Turbuvilles, about three quarters of a Mile distance; It is the first time I have been there, the House is near, & in Sight, and the families intimate. I rode my Horse for the first time since his misfortune. When we returned about Candlelight, we found Mrs Carter in the yard seeing to the Roosting of her Poultry; and the Colonel in the Parlour tuning his Guitar .

Sunday 2.

The weather warm and Damp – The Family rode to Church to-day and are to dine out. Mr Carter at my request, gave me the Keys of his Book-Cases and allowed me to spend the Day alone in his Library.

The place seems suitable for Study, & the Day ought to be spent in serious contemplation; therefore, as I proposed Yesterday, I shall collect together and write down what I have been doing in the last Year. But will my Life bear the review? Can I look upon my Actions and not Blush! And shall I be no less careful, or have no better Success, in the prosecution of my Duty the Year to come, if I shall be kept alive to the Close of it? —

In the Beginning of the last year I was in Deerfield, in Cumberland County New-Jersey, with the Rev'd Mr Green; Under him I studied the Hebrew-Language and Divinity. I left the college the last of September 1772. After having setled my business at Home, I entered upon the Study of Divinity with the Rev'd Andrew Hunter; I was with him about a Month, and on the first of December I went to Mr Green with a design to acquaint myself with the Hebrew Tongue; he put me to the Grammar, which I learn'd through, and read some Chapters in the Psalter in the Course of the Winter: In Divinity, he advised me to read Ridgeleys body of Divinity for a System: And he gave me several separate treatisses on Repentance, Regeneration, Faith, &c., & towards spring gave me subjects to consider in the Sermon-Way. Yet how barren am I still? It is an arduous task to bring the Mind to close application; & still greater to lay up and retain useful Knowledge. I continued with Mr Green & pursued my studies, I hope with some Success till August 1773. when I was solicited by Dr Witherspoon to go into Virginia & teach in a Gentlemans Family – The Offer seem'd profitable; I was encouraged by the Dr and was to have his Recommendation – I had likewise myself a strong inclination to go – Yet I was in great Doubt, & Wholly undetermined for some Weeks, because many of my friends, and some of my near Relations opposed my leaving Home, and all seem'd utterly unwilling to advise to go – It is time, according to the Course of my Life they said that I was settling to some constant Employment, and they told me I ought especially to enter with as great speed as convenient into that plan of Life for which I have in particular had my Education – That Virginia is sickly – That the People there are profane, and exceeding wicked – That I shall read there no Calvinistic Books, nor hear any Presbyterian Sermons – That I must keep much Company, and therefore spend as much, very probably much more Money than my Salary – These considerations unsettled for a while my mind – On the other hand I proposed to myself the following advantages by going – A longer opportunity for Study than my friends would willingly allow me If I should remain at home – A more general acquaintance with the manners of Mankind; and a better Knowledge of the Soil, & Commerce of these neighbouring Provinces – And a more perfect acquaintance with the Doctrines, & method of Worship in the established Church in these Colonies, & especially with the Conduct of the Clergy of which there have been so many bad reports – All these however when I had laid them together, seem'd to overbear the others, so that I determined at last to break through and go! – Here now I am in a strange Province; But I am under no more nor stronger temptations to any kind of vice, perhaps not so great as at Cohansie, – unless sometimes when I am solicited to dance I am forc'd to blush, for my Inability – I have the opportunity of living with Credit perfectly retired – in a well regulated family – With a man of Sense – May God help me to walk in his fear & Gloryfy his Name! —

Monday 3d.

Last Evening, by Miss Prissy, I was complimented with an Invitation from Mr Turburville to Dine with Him tomorrow – Squire Lee [109] Footnote_109_109 Richard Lee of "Lee Hall." is as Miss Prissy told me, preparing to make a splendid Ball , which is to last four or five Days; we are to be invited! – But I must stay at Home and read Salust – Mr Carter is at Richmond-Court, which is held monthly here in every County. In the Evening Mr Warden, a young Scotch Lawyer came home with him. I spent the Evening in the Parlour – After Supper when I was call'd upon for my Tost I mentioned with Pleasure Miss Betsy Beaty

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Cf. Morton, Louis, Robert Carter of Nomini Hall: A Virginia Tobacco Planter of the Eighteenth Century , pp. 62-87.

In the issue of the Virginia Gazette for May 24, 1751, Thomas Eldridge of Prince George County advertised the sale of his "Mannor Plantation" and three other plantations. Such references to manor plantations appeared frequently in the Gazette and in the wills of the period.

Cf. Wright, Louis B., The First Gentlemen of Virginia , passim .

William and Mary College Quarterly , Vol. VII, series 1, p. 43.

Stanard, Mary Newton, Colonial Virginia , p. 271.

Hornsby, Virginia Ruth, "Higher Education of Virginians," p. 10. Typed M.A. Thesis, Library of the College of William and Mary.

William and Mary College Quarterly , Vol. XX, series 1, p. 437.

Cf. Wright, First Gentlemen , passim .

An Englishman visiting Virginia at the close of the eighteenth century stated, with reference to persons he met who had been educated abroad before the Revolution, that he "found men leading secluded lives in the woods of Virginia perfectly au fait as to the literary, dramatic, and personal gossip of London and Paris." Bernard, John, Retrospections of America, 1797-1811 , p. 149.

Stanard, Colonial Virginia , p. 290.

Letter of Robert Beverley to Landon Carter, Blandfield, May 19, 1772, in possession of Mrs. William Harrison Wellford of Sabine Hall. Cf. "Extracts from Diary of Landon Carter in Richmond County, Virginia"; William and Mary College Quarterly , Vol. XIII, series 1, pp. 160-163.