produce in this. The king of Prussia advises, in a defensive war to attend to great objects and submit to partial evils.

I recommend moving all the salt and public stores, for the use of the army, now upon the seaside, into the interior country. Salt is such a capital article that not a moment should be lost in putting it in motion. The enemy are as sensible of its importance to us as we are; and as they know it will affect us greatly in the present state of our money, may think it an object to strike at; and the loss of it, generally, would give us a deadly wound, if not a fatal stab.

It is my desire, that the honourable the board of war should be with the army, or in its neighbourhood; and I conceive it indispensably necessary, while the army is so scantily supplied, and the whole executive powers rest with them. There should be not less than five thousand barrels of flour, and five of indian meal, laid up in the different magazines in this state; and there should also be five or six thousand barrels of salted provisions, principally pork, if possible; and not less than three thousand head of cattle put up to stallfeed, to be driven to the army for slaughter as they may be wanted from time to time. Several hundred hogsheads of spirits will be indispensably necessary, especially if there should be active operations this winter.

I would beg leave to propose registering all the wagons and casks in each county and district, and appointing a person to call out such numbers as the service may require, either to serve with the army, or upon the communications, on the application of the staff officers in the quartermaster-general's department. Nothing on my part shall be wanting to render this country every service in my power; and though I may not agree with the people at all times with respect to the mode of conducting the war, they may be assured I have their true interest at heart. I hope and expect the honourable the board will give me all the aid and assistance in their power; without which, recourse must be had to obtain the means of subsistence, not less distressing to the inhabitants, than destructive to the discipline and good government of the army.

I have the honour to be, with great respect,

Your's, &c.

I arrived here on the 2d of this instant, to which place general Gates had advanced with the greater part of the troops from Hillsborough, and the rest were on their march, and have since joined.

It was the opinion of a council of war, held the 4th, that the circumstances of this army, would not admit of an immediate inquiry into general Gates's conduct, during his command in this department, as appears by the inclosed papers from No. 1 to 5, and many officers are of opinion that he is not chargeable with any thing but misfortune. The general sets out this day to visit his family in Virginia.

It had been determined by a council of war, before my arrival, to take post at this place; the strength and condition of the army not admitting of further operations. It is fed by daily collections, and has been subsisted with the utmost difficulty the short time it has been here. The counties of Roan and Mechlenburg have been so ravaged by the enemy, militia, and tories, that little more of any thing is left than is necessary to subsist the inhabitants. Indeed, the whole state has been so ravaged by the numerous militia that have been kept on foot, accompanied with such a scene of plunder and waste, that I am very appre hensive it will be next to impossible to form magazines sufficient for the support of the few regular troops we have. The country is so thinly inhabited, and the want of money, and the means of transportation, render the collections slow and difficult.

The board of war of this state, from an apprchension they cannot subsist the regular classes of militia in the field, and from a persuasion that the policy of employing militia, principally for its defence, is ruinous, have stopt the next class from coming out, until further orders; which will leave us nothing but the few regular troops, and Virginia militia, to oppose the enemy; except the militia under general Sumpter and colonel Marion, who are composed of men whose cases are desperate, being driven from their dwellings, and others who are allied by the hopes of

plunder. The first are the best of citizens, and the best of soldiers; the last are the dregs of the community, and can be kept no longer than there is a prospect of gain. With this force upon such a loose constitution, and in such a wretched state, we shall have it in our power to carry on nothing but a kind of fugitive war. The regular force that is here, is so naked and destitute of every thing, that but little more than half of them are fit for any kind of duty; and unless clothing is soon forwarded, their condition must be deplorable. General Gates has given such a just and full description of their situation, in some of his former letters, that it is unnecessary for me to be more particular. The troops from Virginia may be literally said to be naked. I have desired the governor not to send forward any more, until they are better clothed and equipped; for we had much better be without men, than to have such as are unfit for service. It is a great mistake, which many entertain, that soldiers can do with little clothing in this climate: the variableness of the weather, renders clothing here, equally as necessary as to the northward, and perhaps the complaints and diseases that follow the want of it, are greater here than there.

I have parties out exploring the rivers Dan, Yadkin, and Catabaw, to see if I can't aid the business of transportation by water; without which, I am convinced our supplies will be scanty, if we are able to subsist at all. Virginia must aid us, for this state is unequal to the burthen.

Lord Cornwallis is at Winnsborough, about half way between Camden and Ninety-Six, both of which places are strongly forti fied, the first with five redoubts, and the last with

Besides these places, there are a number more fortified posts, in different parts of the state, and about twelve or fourteen hundred militia under arms. The reenforcement from Newyork is said to be arrived in part, if not the whole. I cannot ascertain their numbers: several people from lord Cornwallis's camp, say he is preparing to move, but where is unknown.

The inclosed papers, No. 6 and 7, contain the reports of gcneral Sumpter's last action, and colonel Washington's stratagem, by which he took colonel Rugely and his party. I hope these lit tle flashes of success may not slacken the measures for giving

support to this army; for nothing of consequence can be effected until we have a permanent army to offer the enemy battle, and then I would march into the heart of Southcarolina, and oblige them to evacuate all their out posts. In this situation, we should have the country with us, and the success of the war here depends much upon opinion and appearances; such is the state of the money, and the division of sentiment among the inhabitants.

All the prisoners taken by colonel Campbell, at Kingsmountain, are enlarged upon different conditions, except about one hundred and thirty: many have been enlisted into the militia as substitutes, and others paroled: the officer that had them in charge, confesses his fault and folly, but that will not produce the prisoners; they would have been of the utmost importance in the exchange with lord Cornwallis.

An auditor of accounts is exceedingly wanted here, and the public service suffers for want of one.

I have appointed lieutenant colonel Carrington deputy quartermaster general for this army, which I hope will meet the ap probation of congress.

I have the honour to inclose for your perusal, a Charlestown paper of the 27th ult. and am, with sentiments of the highest esteem and respect,

Your excellency's, &c.

DR. JOHNSON'S LEXICOGRAPHICAL PECULIARITIES.

From an English publication.

In all the varieties of inquiry which have been instituted into the writings of Johnson, his dictionary seems to have escaped with less examination, after that which its first appearance excited, than any of his other works. It presents, however, many things curious in literary estimation, as significant of his prejudices, his affections, and his sentiments. In the course of many years assiduous use of this dictionary, I have been careful to note down these peculiarities as often as they occurred, and if

the following selection should be considered interesting to your readers, I shall be happy to occupy a leisure moment by sending you one or two more specimens.

He tells us in his preface, that his intention originally was to admit "no testimony of living authors;" but he adds, "he departed from this resolution when some performance of uncom mon excellence excited his veneration, when his memory supplied him, from late books, with an example that was wanting, or when his heart, in the tenderness of friendship, solicited ad mission for a favourite name." To which of the above three causes I am to attribute the quotation of himself as an authority, I know not; but I find the word idler illustrated by the following line from his own tragedy:

Thou sluggish idler, dilatory slave!

IRENE.

It was probably the tenderness of affection that induced him to quote from Goldsmith, but he quotes him wrong, as may be seen under the verb to breast, where he has these lines:

"The hardy Swiss

Breasts the keen air, and carols as he goes."

GOLDSMITH.

The couplet runs thus in every copy of Goldsmith's Traveller which I have seen:

"Cheerful at morn, he wakes from short repose,

Breathes the keen air, and carols as he goes."

It is evident he quoted from memory.

Beattie is another contemporary whom he uses as an authority; but his acquaintance with him did not commence till about the year 1770, at which time he was beginning to rise into notice, having then published, within a short space of each other, his Essay on Truth, and his Minstrel. I could almost be tempted to think that Johnson quoted him on one occasion merely to mark his friendship, for under the adverb of negation no, he introduces this line," poor Edwin was no vulgar boy," from the first book of his Minstrel. But surely it did not require Dr. Beattie's example to strengthen those of Pope, Swift, and the translators of the Bible, all of whom Johnson cites. The other occasion, on which he quotes Beattie, is for a definition of the word