Hamilton's Itinerarium : being a narrative of a journey from Annapolis, Maryland, through Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, from May to September, 1744 / by Doctor Alexander Hamilton; edited by Albert Bushnell Hart.

  • Hamilton, Alexander, 1712-1756.
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Hamilton's Itinerarium : being a narrative of a journey from Annapolis, Maryland, through Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, from May to September, 1744 / by Doctor Alexander Hamilton; edited by Albert Bushnell Hart. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    horses at some tavern. The coffee-houses were something more than eating-houses and less than a club, resembling the modern hotel restaurants in which a knot of friends habitually take lunch to- gether. At one of the taverns in Philadelphia he reports that he “spent the night agreeably and went home sober at eleven.” In several cities Hamilton was made free of social clubs meeting from week to week. In the Govern- our’s Club at Philadelphia, where he was intro- duced by Dr. Phineas Bond, he met many interest- ing strangers who were also visiting Philadelphia. “Several toasts were drank, among which were some celebrated ones of the female sex.” The Governor of the Province was a member. The Hungarian Club of New York seems to have practised less gravity and he complains that its principal purpose was to drink bumpers. The Physical Club in Bos- ton, of which the celebrated Dr. Douglass was presi- dent, seems to have been a medical society. At the Philosophical Club at Newport, Hamilton was dis- appointed to find that the chief talk was of privateer- ing and the building of vessels. He remarks sev- eral times on the music he heard, which appeared to give him great pleasure; and he enjoyed attendance at the Music Club at Philadelphia, “where I heard a tolerable concerto performed by a harpsichord and three violins.” Although Hamilton had an eye for the maid ser- vants, he was no gallant with ladies. In Albany a friend “introduced me into about twenty or thirty houses, where I went thro’ the farce of kissing most of the women, a manner of salutation which is ex- pected from strangers coming there. This might