incidentally "prolongs the dubious tale." An old paper must make us thoughtful, for we also shall make our exit; there every name we read of in print is already cut upon tombstones. The names of doctors have followed their patients; the merchants have gone after their perished ships; and the celebrated actor furnishes his own scull for his successor in Hamlet.

The

"The American Weekly Mercury" was begun by Andrew Bradford, son of William, in Philadelphia, 1719, in company with John Copson. This was the first gazette ever published in our city. It was begun the 22d of December, 1719, at ten shillings per annum. general object of the paper is said to be, "to encourage trade." It does not seem to be the spirit of the paper to give the local news; or rather, they did not seem to deem it worth their mention. It might have been but a tale twice told," for which they were unwilling to pay, while they thought every man could know his domestic news without an advertiser.

66

WHALES AND WHALERY.

"The huge potentate of the scaly train."

It will much surprise a modern Philadelphian, to learn how very much the public attention was once engaged in the fishery of whales along our coast, and to learn withal, that they disdained not occasionally to

leave their briny deeps to explore and taste the gustful fresh waters of our Delaware, even there,

"Enormous sails incumbent, an animated isle,

And in his way dashes to heaven's blue arch the foaming wave."

"The Free Society of Traders" had it as a part of their original scheme of profit, to prosecute extensively the catching of whales. To this purpose, they instituted a whalery near Lewestown; and, as I am inclined to think, there was once in some way connected with the whalery, a place of sale or deposit at the junction of " Whalebone alley" and Chesnut street, on the same premises now Pritchet's. The old house which formerly stood there, had a large whalebone affixed to the wall of the house, and when lately digging through the made earth in the yard, they dug up several fragments of whales, such as tails, fins, &c. Its location there originally was by the tide water ranging in Dock creek. Be this as it may, we are certain of the whales and the whaleries, from facts like the following, to wit:

In 1683, William Penn, in writing to the above society, says, "The whalery hath a sound and fruitful bank, and the town of Lewes by it, to help your people."

In another letter of the same year, he says, " Mighty whales roll upon the coast, near the mouth of the bay of the Delaware; eleven caught and worked into oil in one season. We justly hope a considerable profit by a whalery, they being so numerous and the shore so suitable."

In another letter of 1683, William Penn again says, "Whales are in great plenty for oil, and two companies

of whalers, and hopes of finding plenty of good cod in the bay."

In 1688, Phineas Pemberton, of Pennsbury, records a singular visiter, saying, "A whale was seen in the Delaware as high as the Falls!"

In 1722, deficiency of whales is intimated, saying in the gazette, that there are but four whales killed on Long Island, and but little oil is expected from thence.

In 1730, a cow-whale of fifty feet length is advertised as going ashore to the northward of Cape May, dead. The harpooners are requested to go and claim it. Thus showing, I presume, that a fishery was then near there, by the same persons who may have harpooned it.

In 1733, month of April, two whales, supposed to be a cow and a calf, appeared in the river before the city. They were pursued and shot at by people in several boats, but escaped notwithstanding. What a rare spectacle it must have been to the fresh water cockneys of the city!

In 1735, month of July, some fishermen proved their better success at this time in capturing an ocean fish, such as a shark of seven feet length in a net, a little above the city. The gazette of the day says it is but seldom a shark is found so high in fresh water. If that was strange in that day, it was still stranger in modern times, when "a voracious shark," of nine feet long and 500wt. was caught at Windmill Cove, only five miles below Philadelphia, in July, 1823. Not long after, say in January, 1824, near the same place, was taken a seal of four feet four inches long, and 61lbs. weight, near the Repaupa flood gates.

About the same time another was taken in Elk river.

Many years ago seals were often seen about Amboy, but to no useful purpose.

In 1736, February, "two whales are killed at Cape May, equal to forty barrels of oil," and several more are expected to be killed "by the whalemen on the coast."

Finally, the last "huge potentate of the scaly train" made his visit up the Delaware about the year 1809,then a whale of pretty large dimensions, to the great surprise of our citizens, was caught near Chester. He was deemed a rare wanderer, and as such became a subject of good speculation as an exhibition in Philadelphia and elsewhere. Thomas Prior, who purchased it, made money by it, and in reference to his gains was called "Whale Pryor." The jaws were so distended as to receive therein an arm chair in which visiters sat.

GRAPES AND VINEYARDS.

NUMEROUS incidental intimations and facts evince the expectations originally entertained for making this a flourishing grape and wine country. Before Penn's arrival, the numerous grapevines every where climbing the branches of our forest trees, gave some sanction to the idea that ours may have been the ancient Wineland so mysteriously spoken of by the Norwegian writers. Almost all the navigators, on their several discoveries, stated their hopes, from the abundance of grapevines, with exultation. But neglecting these, we have substituted whiskey!

Penn, in his letter of 1683 to the Free Society of Traders, says, "Here are grapes of divers sorts. The great red grape, now ripe, (in August,) called by ignorance the foxgrape, because of the rich relish it hath with unskilful palates, is in itself an extraordinary grape, and by art, doubtless, may be cultivated to an excellent wine-if not so sweet, yet little inferior to the Frontinac, as it is not much unlike in taste, ruddiness set aside, which in such things, as well as mankind, differs the case much. There is a kind of muscadel, and a little black grape, like the cluster grape of England, not yet so ripe as the other, but, they tell me, when ripe sweeter; and that they only want skilful vignerons to make good use of them." Then he adds, "I intend to venture on it with my Frenchman this season, who shows some knowledge in these things." At the same time he questions whether it is best to fall to fining the grapes of the country, or to send for foreign stems and sets already approved. If God spare his life, he will try both means-[a mode of practice recently obtaining favour with several experimenters.] Finally, he says, I would advise you to send for some thousands of plants out of France, with some able vignerons."

With such views, Penn, as we shall presently show, instituted several small experiments. He and others naturally inferred, that a country so fruitful in its spontaneous productions of grapes, must have had a peculiar adaptation for the vine. When the celebrated George Fox, the founder of Friends, was a traveller through our wooden wilderness, he expressly notices his perpetual embarrassments in riding, from the numerous entangling grapevines. The same, too, is expressly