LETTER VIII. BALTIMORE-STREETS AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS-ROMISH CATHE- TANTS. Baltimore, September, 1818. BALTIMORE is built at the top of a small bay in the river Patapsco, near its entrance into the Chesapeake, and consists of two portions, nearly a mile asunder; the upper of which is properly speaking the town, and the lower called Fell's Point is the harbour. The water comes up to the town but it is shallow and in general none but coasters go past the Point. The bay is formed and protected by a peninsular tongue of land which stretches downwards into the river; the entrance is narrow and is completely commanded by a fort, which sustained a heavy bombardment during last war. The town is built with considerable regularity, upon portions of three hills and their intervening valleys; many of the streets cross each other at right angles, and they are in general spacious and well paved. A large proportion of the buildings are of brick; the more ancient, in consequence of inattention to painting, have rather a gloomy aspect, but the modern ones resemble in every respect those of New York and Philadelphia. In public buildings Baltimore aspires to distinction, but some of the most considerable are as yet only in progress. A massy brick edifice which is intended for an Exchange has been roofed in; externally it is remarkable for dimensions rather than elegance, and of its internal appearance I can say nothing. can say nothing. Two new churches are going forward, the one destined to be a Romish Cathedral the other a Socinian Chapel. They stand very near each other, rather above the city, and as yet a considerable space is open around them. The style of the respective buildings strikes me as somewhat appropriate to the system which it has been erected to support. The Cathedral is built of dark coloured stone in the form of a cross, with a dome over the centre, but the length is not nearly so great as in our ancient churches; the walls and roof are finished and a shoal of Irish labourers are busied on the interior. It is rather singular that they have not attempted the Gothic in this building; probably the great expense of that style may have been the cause of the Roman Doric being preferred. The PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 221 principal entrances are arched, and a few pilasters carried round the walls are its principal ornament ; the size and disposition of the windows, with the crossing of the transept, have been so managed as to throw into the body of the church a strong depth of shadow, the holy gloom of which will doubtless be esteemed highly conducive to genuine religious emotion, and which at least we must grant to be no way inappropriate in that ritual, of which the burning of candles forms so important a portion. The Socinian Chapel, a more lightsome and tasteful fabric, is nearly finished, and although not a large building is said to have cost upwards of twenty thousand pounds sterling. In front is an arched portico, and in the tympanum of the pediment is a stucco angel descending from a cloud; the walls are covered externally with composition, lined and painted to resemble stone. The interior is profusely decorated. The pulpit is of polished marble of various colours, with a baptismal font before it of the same material; upon the wall behind are two white marble slabs, resembling the tables of the Law in the ancient pictures of Moses, upon which are inscribed a few texts of Scripture.1 The I noted these passages in my memorandum book and subjoin them for the gratification of enquirers. The one table bore in full length 1 Tim. i. 17. Phil. iv. 6. Mark xii. 29. Matth. v. 16. 2 Tim. ii. 19:-the other John xvii. 3. Matth. vii. 12. Heb. xii. 1, 2. and xi, 14. ends of the pews are beautifully carved and bronzed in imitation of the antique. The ceiling is covered with rich stuccoed work, and in the gallery is a large organ the front of which is very tastefully finished in the form of the ancient lyre. The effect of the whole is certainly very splendid; but the more splendid it is, the more must we regret the purpose for which so costly an edifice has been erected. Two public monuments have been recently begun; the one to Washington, the other to commemorate the attack on the city during last war, and to record the names of those who fell in its defence. Washington's monument occupies the front of a rising ground a little above the city; the other the centre of a square within it. The name and the deeds of Washington stand so conspicuously pre-eminent in the history of this nation, that to rear a suitable monument to his fame must be a matter of no trifling difficulty. The structure must be magnificent and durable, above all ordinary edifices, which aspires to outshine or outlast the splendour of his name. Probably this is one reason why no national monument has hitherto been erected to the Father of American liberty. The Baltimore one is the first of an architectural kind that has been attempted. Two statues however are in progress; one by Canova to be placed in the State House of Raleigh, the MONUMENT TO WASHINGTON. 223 capital of North Carolina, the other by Chantrey for the town of Boston.2 The Baltimore monument is a plain column rising from a square base, to be surmounted by a colossal statue by some artist whose name I have not heard. The work has advanced as yet but a short way, so that it is impossible to form a correct idea of the ultimate effect; the situation however is commanding and it must eventually form a conspicuous object in the distant prospect. The fabric is brick within, and white marble without, with a spiral staircase in the centre. No loop holes have been left for the admission of light; the stair is consequently very dark, and when the column attains to its full height will be somewhat disagreeable to ascend. ? A writer in the North American Review thus writes with regard to these rival statues and their sculptors. "With respect to this statue, the only work of Canova, as far as we are aware, which our country can boast, if indeed it has already reached Raleigh, we can speak only of the model in clay. The likeness is certainly not strong, and the artist complained of the want of materials to deduce it from; a circumstance the more to be regretted, as no countenance is better ascertained than Washington's, and if materials were not put into his hands, it could not be because they do not exist. We apprehend, moreover, that the costume of the statue will not suit the American taste. Gen. Washington is represented sitting, with a tablet supported by his left hand, on which he is about to write the constitution of America, with a style which he holds in his right. Though thus occupied as a civil legislator, he is clad in the Roman military dress with the brazen cuirass, half of the thigh, the knees and legs bare, and military sandals. It seems to us that this dress is in itself unbecoming, besides being inconsistent with the legislative or |