After he had finished his sermon, a scene exactly resembling that
at the Cincinnati Revival, took place. Two other priests
assisted in calling forward the people, and in whispering comfort
to them. One of these men roared out in the coarsest accents,
"Do you want to go to hell tonight?" The church was almost
entirely filled with women, who vied with each other in howlings
and contortions of the body; many of them tore their clothes
nearly off. I was much amused, spite of the indignation and
disgust the scene inspired, by the vehemence of the negro part of
the congregation; they seemed determined to bellow louder than
all the rest, to shew at once their piety and their equality.
At this same chapel, a few nights before, a woman had fallen in
a fit of ecstasy from the gallery, into the arms of the people
below, a height of twelve feet. A young slave who waited upon
us at table, when this was mentioned, said, that similar
accidents had frequently happened, and that once she had seen
it herself. Another slave in the house told us, that she "liked
religion right well, but that she never took fits in it, 'cause
she was always fixed in her best, when she went to chapel, and
she did not like to have all her best clothes broke up."
We visited the infant school, instituted in this city by Mr.
Ibbertson, an amiable and intelligent Englishman. It was the
first infant school, properly so called, which I had ever seen,
and I was greatly pleased with all the arrangements, and the
apparent success of them.
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