precipice, cruel as the bloody panther, swift as the descending eagle, and terrible as the angel of night-the pines crashed beneath their feet, and the lake shrunk when they slaked their thirst; the powerful javelin in vain was hurled, and the barbed arrow fell harmless from their side. Forests were laid waste at a meal, the groans of expiring animals were everywhere heard, and whole villages inhabited by man were destroyed in a moment," &c. &c. The skeleton of an elephant which is placed by its side, appears a very diminutive animal. Amongst the objects of curiosity are Washington's sash, presented by himself, an obelisk of wood from the elm tree under which Penn made his treaty with the Indians in 1680, and a manuscript poem of Major Andrè's, written but two months previous to his execution. It is a satire upon the failure of General Wayne, in an expedition which he commanded for the purpose of collecting cattle for the American army; it is entitled the "Cow Chase," and the first stanza is almost copied literally from the old English Ballad of "Chevy Chase." He is very severe upon the American General, amongst whose captured baggage, he enumerates the following articles: "His Congress dollars, and his prog, His military speeches, His Cornstock whiskey for his grog, Black stockings and silk breeches." and concludes his Poem with a check to his satire "Lest this same warrior-drover, Wayne, Should catch the poet, and hang him." It is a singular fact that the militia-men who took the unfortunate Andrè prisoner, were a party from the army under the immediate command of Wayne; his subsequent unhappy fate is too well known. There is also an interesting gallery of 200 original portraits, principally of those who signed the Declaration of Independence, and the officers who figured in the revolutionary war, during which period most of the likenesses were taken. The lower part of the Arcade, which was built for shops, has caused a severe pecuniary loss to the stockholders, who asked too high a rent for them in the first instance, so that not one-half of them were let, and the mania for visiting the building has long since died away. It is a beautiful structure, with marble fronts of 100 feet, and 150 deep; costing, together with the ground, upwards of 160,000 dollars (34,000l. sterling). The State House, which has one front in Chesnut Street, and the other in Independence Square, is the most interesting building in the city, and, being more than a century old, bears some marks of antiquity: it occupies a great extent of ground, having the courts and public offices attached. There is a thoroughfare through the ground-floor from the street into the square, until 9 o'clock at night, when the gates are closed. On one side of it is the Mayor's Court, which was holding one of its four stated sessions at this time; and on the opposite side is the room in which the celebrated Declaration of Independence was drawn up, and which was read from the steps in front of the building on the 4th of July 1776. Some Goth in office modernized the room, for the purpose, as I was informed, of giving his nephew a job, and tore down all the old panelling and pillars which supported the ceiling, and substituted a coating of plaster and paint. It is a matter of surprise to me that the inhabitants ever permitted such a profanation, being generally so proud of their revolutionary relics and deeds of arms. Those who now have charge of the building are busily engaged in discarding every indication of their predecessors' taste, and are restoring the room to its original state. At the upper end of it, there is a wooden statue of Washington-the work of a cutter of ships' figure-heads. The profile is considered excellent, and he is represented with his right foot upon the torn bond which cemented the colonies to the mother country. On the pedestal is the following inscription: "First in War, First in Peace, First in the hearts of his Countrymen." It is intended to fill a vacant niche behind the figure, which formerly contained the arms of England, with a brass plate bearing the Declaration of Independence as an inscription. The building is surmounted by a tower, the lower part of which is brick; and the upper, of wood, was added in 1828, imitating as closely as possible the original one, which, being much decayed, was taken down soon after the Revolution. I had a very talkative old man to show me over it, who was a perfect match for any of our Westminster, St. Paul's, or Tower guides. The bell in the brick tower was cast in 1753, with the following inscription upon it, well speaking the spirit of the times, which did not, however, burst forth until after the expiration of 20 years: "Proclaim liberty in the land to all the inhabitants thereof-Leviticus, 25 chap. 10 versc. By order of the Assembly of the Province of Pennsylvania, for the State House of Philadelphia." My old conductor rested one hand upon a supporter, while I was copying the above inscription, and then favoured me with a long dissertation upon the blessings of liberty, and an abusive tirade against the English, winding up his discourse with informing me that the bell was rung when the Catholics gained their liberty in the old country. He took me up to the wooden tower, and descanted largely on the fine mechanism of the clock; how many revolutions such a wheel performed in a minute, and the thickness of each bar in the works; how, when he discovered a fire in the city, he tolled the bell, so as to inform the inhabitants in what quarter it was. One toll signified north, two south, three east, and four west; making a short pause between the tolls, as, one, and after a short interval of time, three in rapid succession, signified north-east: the streets running towards the cardinal points, the situation of the fire could be easily ascertained by the firemen. Having then led me on to the outer gallery of the tower, and pointed out the various buildings in the panorama beneath, and after expressing his sorrow that the room where Congress sat during the greater part of the immortal struggle for freedom should have been mutilated, we parted. I attended the District Court, which was sitting in a large carpeted room on the second floor, to witness the trial of an information, filed by the Attorney of the United States, against goods landed without being mentioned in the ship's invoice. There were not more than twenty people present when I entered, and a counsel, attired in a blue coat and black stock, was commencing his address to the jury: he possessed great fluency of language, and spoke warmly in defence of his client, an Englishman. On a marble slab, in a recess at the back of the judges' seat, is the following inscription to the memory of Washington's nephew: "This Tablet records the affection and respect Of the Members of the Philadelphia Bar, for An Associate Justice of the Supreme Court alike distinguished For simplicity of manners Fearless, dignified, and enlightened as a Judge, Could touch his integrity or A zealous Patriot and a Pious Christian. On the 26th of November, A. D. 1829, And to his country The learning, labour, and wisdom, Independence Square, about 270 paces each way, is prettily laid out with walks and fine trees, and surrounded by a strong iron railing; but Washington, the adjoining one, is both larger and a more fashionable promenade, being crowded between the hours of five and six in the evening with elegantly dressed females. The greatest objection to the manner in which all the squares are laid out is, that the grass is allowed to grow; and, when I was in Philadelphia, labourers were making hay in them. In this, as in other instances, the Americans prefer profit to appearances, or even comfort. A statue or monument is shortly to grace the centre of Washington Square, which was a burial ground, or Potter's-field, as it is termed, during the time the yellow-fever raged so violently in the city, at the end of the last century. The twenty-first annual exhibition of the Pennsylva |