latter had sufficient patience to wait for the transmission; and his mind was not too dense to be penetrated by the ray, or turn it aside. MY FIRST VISIT TO WASHINGTON. BY A LADY OF ARKANSAS. WASHINGTON City has been called in derision by a writer of this place, "the city of magnificent beginnings," but though on seeing the above remark, and some accompanying observations from the same pen, I was reluctantly compelled to admit there was some foundation for them; I could not but be impressed with the different effects produced upon different minds, by a view of the same objects. On visiting the seat of our confederated Republic, we cannot turn our eyes without meeting the commemoration of some event that excites gratitude towards our magnanimous progenitors, and draws forth reverance and adoration towards that Supreme Ruler of the Universe, under whose special Providence this nursery from political and religious thraldom has been planted and sustained, a view of which is well calculated to awaken the most latent spark of patriotism within the breast of every true American citizen. The occasion of this, my first visit to Washington, was to see the inauguration of James K. Polk. It was a most beautiful and impressive spectacle; the Capitol itself, noble in size, with its richly sculptured capitals and cornices, Persico's fine group, conspicuous on the front entrance, representing Columbus just landing on our shores, beside him the awe-struck Indian with clasped hands, too mute for words at the sight of this prodigy of another hemisphere, the great navigator with a globe in his outstretched hand, declaring by what theory he had at length discovered the Indies; the massy columns, the far-spreading wings and terraces, the grounds and gates with the crowd of carriages, the line of soldiers with their silken banners playing in the breeze, the crowd of heads, the innumerable eyes all bent on one spot, the towering portico covered with senators and congressmen, officers of the army and navy, in their handsome uniforms, foreign ministers, in their court dresses, ladies decked in all the varying hues of fashion, bending over in listening attitude, watching the issue of the scene, the President elect in the act of utterance, all taken together, presented even to the outward eye, an assemblage of images never to be forgotten; but as I had, during the morning, taken a minute survey of the Rotunda, my mind involuntarily wandered back to the musings which had then been called up by the objects I had seen. The "Embarkation of the Pilgrims," a fine painting by Weir, hanging in the Rotunda, carried me back to the hazardous voyage of the Speedwell and the landing of those pilgrims on the then savage shores of our continent; "The Baptism of Pocahontas," commemorating one of the earliest and most interesting events of our colonial history, representing the Christian's altar, near which appears the immortal Smith, who is to act as god father in the approaching ceremony; the priest in his Episcopal robes, prepared to bestow the outward type of that inward and spiritual grace, which appears already to have set its seal upon the countenance of the Indian maiden, who with Christian meekness before the altar of her God, is ready to receive the sacred rite of baptism, in acknowledgment, that henceforth the Christian's God is her's; the painted savages, with startled countenances as if they but half comprehended the scene; carried the mind back to the state of this great Continent at that epoch. Trumbull's war scenes continued the picture, "The Declaration of Independence," "The Battles of Saratoga and York Town," and last, but more impressive than either, "General Washington Resigning his Commission at Annapolis, at the close of the Revolutionary War," that war which gave birth to a nation, and which after a seven years sanguinary contest, is brought to a successful issue, and established for us that independence which we had before declared; in imagination I could but follow our military chieftian and his illustrious compatriots, those mighty spirits who brought forth the energies and sealed the happy destinies of this people down to the adoption of our Constitution, the election of the hero to the first presidency, his triumphal march to New-York, where Congress was then assembled to the day (30th April, 1789,) and the hour when the "Tyrant Tamer" was acting the part now acted by James K. Polk; when I remembered that here was the only truly truly free republic on earth, now in the very act of conferring its highest dignity and trust by the voice of the majority, on one of our own free citizens, and then looked around on the quietness, the order and the simplicity of the scene, it was impossible to repress the swell of mingled feelings, impossible to forget the Hand which has thus pre-eminently filled our borders with His blessings; and when I reflected that this scene had been acted quadrennially for forty-six years, imagination led me on through the long vista of years, when another and another, and still another and another inaugural scene shall have perpetuated our Republic, till time shall have set at defiance the opinion of political sceptics, who have doubted the stability of our free institutions, and the power of a people to govern themselves. Now one burst of feeling from the mighty mass of human beings, who had a moment before, been all in quietude and listening attention, announced the close of the inaugural address. then commenced the bustle of retiring from the scene,-it was one never to be forgotten. March the 5th-I again went with a pleasant company, to take a careful survey of the Capitol and public grounds. After a pleasant walk around the enclosure, we visited the Hall of Representatives, here too was matter for reflection, here it is, that at stated intervals, congregate the delegates of this mighty nation, for the purpose of attending to the interests of their diverse constituencies, how diverse, let the wide spread era of our country say; from thence, through the Rotunda, we passed to that chamber where assemble the most august body in the world,-"The American Senate," the safeguard of American liberty. On this floor has shone forth the master spirits of our race, orators, philosophers, philanthropists, diplomatists, patriots and statesmen, in the most enlarged sense of the word, have all figured on this floor; here it was that Mr. Calhoun won for himself and country, immortal honor, contending against the dangerous doctrine of consolidation, and others equally inimical to the spirit of our free institutions; and on this floor has been fought and won, the battles of freedom, by those true hearted patriots, who have heretofore successfully contended against executive usurpation and partisan leaders. In this chamber, yesterday, nine new Senators were installed in their office, and lost indeed must that man be, to all moral rectitude, who could take his oath of office in this sacred chamber, and ever permit himself to trifle with the liberties entrusted by a confiding people to his safe keeping. We next visited the Congressional Library, and saw in its ponderous tomes and well filled shelves, a guarantee of our nation's intelligence, and a demonstration that we are not the ignorant barbarians that European monarchists have delighted in representing us to be. Near the entrance of the Capitol, that fronts Pennsylvania avenue, in commemoration of a naval achievement, is a monument of beautiful design and workmanship, rising from a spacious basin of water, in honor of the memory of the dauntless young heroes who fell in burning the ship Philadelphia, after she had been captured by the Tropolitan Corsairs, and which they so nobly resolved should never be used for piratical purposes. From the Capitol, we went to see the Patent Office; here we were at once struck with the magnitude of our country, the extention of our commerce, and the industry and inventive genius of our citizens: see the beautiful collection of plants and shrubs, natives of all parts of the world, brought together by the different exploring expeditions sent out by the United States, to dircover what they could find new beneath the sun: and see the different specimens of marine animals and shells from the islands near and remote, that have been visited by our enterprising citizens. Here, too, we find the most perfect specimens of sculpture, by native Americans, executed at Rome, the ancient mistress of the world, machinery, the invention of the sons of all parts of this vast Republic, specimens of nature from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, marble from Iowa, and oil stone from Arkansas, calico from the eastern, hemp bagging from the middle and cotton from the southern states, fruits of all climates, the northern apple and the southern orange, demonstrating to the beholder that we have all the outward elements of wealth, happiness and contentment within ourselves; with what feelings of commiseration must we compare with these, the attempts here also brought before us of the poor savage Islanders to clothe themselves with a cloth made of a kind of pliable bark with even some rude attempts at ornaments, look at the cloaks of their chieftains with tassels of hair dyed different colors, the most ornamental article that suggested itself to their unrefined imagination, here too we see specimens of the finest productions from the looms of the luxurious Europeans and Asiatics all collected by the enterprise of our commercial citizens; on a review of this vast collection from all parts of the world, we find two things that pertain alike to the civilized and the savage, a love of ornament in the females and a preparation for bloodshed by the males, the European and Asiatic ladies have their dimonds, pearls and precious stones, while the savage beauty displays her strings of shells and even the teeth of wild animals for bracelets and beads. The European warrior has his fire-arms, the Asiatic his cimitar, the Feegee chieftain his war club, and the Indian his arrow and tomahawk. What heart stiring emotions does a minute survey of one show box excite. There hangs General Washington's full suit of regimentals in which he resigned his commission at Annapolis at the close of the Revolutionary war, his simple camp utensils from which his frugal meals were taken, his body sword with which he fought the battles of his countary, his inner tent cloth behind which he retired to hold his councils of war and write those important dispatches that had such influence on our destiny as a nation, and there hangs his Commission issued by the Continental Congress, signed John Hancock, President,-that commission which constituted him. Commander in Chief of the American forces,—and there too, is the original Declaration of Independence, with the autograph signatures of the twenty six immortal names, whose sign manual declared us no longer a British colony; here is Dr. Franklin's walking cane, and his first printing press, from which he issued "Poor Richard's Almanac;" just by these sacred mementoes of departed greatness, see the rich gifts of foreign potentates, to our naval and executive officers, but with what feelings of reverance do we turn from these last named intimations of our nation's importance in the eyes of foreign governments, and think of the early struggles of the great philosopher, which the view of his printing press brings forcibly to mind, or contemplate the scene of the father of his country, voluntarily resigning that power which had been gratuitously bestowed upon him, and using that influence which his well tried integrity had gived him over an ill paid so diery, to disband his army in peace, and after nobly fulfilling the behest of his country, retiring to privacy to enjoy that freedom for which he had so intrepidly fought. MARY W. B. H Helena, Ark's., Sept. 29th, 1845. ASK ME NOT WHITHER. J. Ask me not whither, ask me not whither, Fly with me dearest, fly with me thither, What if no flowers, Garland thy bowers, What if no birds in thy mansions make song, Yet a true heart beside thee, Is throbbing to guide thee, A true heart that loves and has sighed for thee long, II. Ask me not whither, ask me not whither, Fly with me dearest, fly with me thither, Think, as thou hearest, A true heart, my dearest, FROM repeated conversations with a literary friend upon the subject of these "Rules," we have been led to give them a more attentive consideration than we should perhaps have otherwise done-and possibly, more than they may merit. We were at one time inclined to regard them as prescriptions wholly arbitrary, or very nearly so; and, we confess, if the necessity of enforcing their observance to the very letter be insisted on, we shall be apt to rebel-and free our literary taste from all allegiance to these despotic precepts, which, it is very easy and sounds very well to discourse upon-but which, in the progress of a dramatic composition, will be found to stand somewhat in the way of the writer. You are very gravely informed by those who advocate this subject, that rules apply not less to a literary performance than they do to a piece of mechanism;-that you see design and infinite art dis played in the "meanest flowret of the vale ;"—that the earth, and "the waters under the earth," came perfect from the hands of the Divine Architect-in short, that there is an art and grace in every thing that has been either said or done since the creation-an art in talking-walking-dancing; until, at length, some one has presented us with a book on the "Art of Thinking!" All this, as we have just said, is very well, and some of it is true. We have no objection that our wife should sing, play, and dance well; and, with a little assiduity, she might carry these arts to perfection in a twelvemonth; but could we ever hope to teach her the "art of thinking" rightly-or, indeed, of thinking at all? The English, French, and German critics, have been for some time past at issue upon the subject of these "Rules of the Drama ;" and the question seems to rest pretty much where it did half a century ago. Now, it appears to us, that could the thinking heads among these disputants, be brought to make a few mutual concessions, they would perhaps find the matter somewhat simplified; and their respective claims, consequently, better understood-and, possibly, finally adjust ed. We are aware how little disposed in general are persons to an accommodation of this sort; and very few of us know how to apologise for faults, or explain mistakes with a good grace. What are these concessions? We address the question, not to those who are more immediately interested in its decision-not to the dramatic wri. VOL. II.-NO. VI. 35 |