saucers-they all tumble about. I gave him a glass jar of magnesia yesterday to put upon a shelf, under which stood a single China basin. In this shelf was a single hole. He put the jar into the hole, upon which it fell so exactly into the basin that he broke both. This morning I bade him get me some water, for there was none in the ewer; so he asked me whether I wanted to drink or wash, as he could get it accordingly either in the tumbler or the basin. He looked quite surprised at my ingenuity when I assured him that if he got it in the ewer I could do either. I am sure he is the very man who had the cat and kitten, and when he cut a large hole in the door for the cat to go through he cut a little one for the kitten!"

Lewis was quite famous for epigrams and impromptus. On one occasion being in company with Lord Erskine, this noble personage indulged in severe raillery at the ladies: he was thus answered by the "Monk," who though like his brotherhood, a patron of celibacy, was at the same time a gallant :

"Lord Erskine at women presuming to rail

Says "wives are tin canisters tied to one's tail,"
While fair Lady Anne as the subject he carries on,
Feels hurt at his Lordship's degrading comparison,
Yet wherefore degrading? considered aright
A canister 's useful, and polished, and bright,
And should dirt its original purity hide,

That's the fault of the puppy to whom it is tied."

Virginia! brave Virginia!-a happy Mother thou,
Whose children's fame will ever shed a splendor round thy
brow;

The force and skill political which Jefferson could show,
The statesmanship of Madison,-the wisdom of Munroe;

The biting sting of Randolph's wit, the matchless grace
of Wirt,-
An

In reviewing the whole career of so extraordi-
nary a person as "Monk" Lewis, it is difficult to
write impartially and correctly: it would be
wrong to employ with some the language of un-The thrilling words of eloquence that Henry's fervor flung;
The simple majesty of thought that flowed from Marshall's
bounded praise; unjust to use with others the
tongue,-
language of unlimited censure. His life was a
chess-board, on whose chequered paths the pie-
ces of fate took strange and devious ways. Early
sent into the world with competent fortune and
energetic genius, with a high ambition and head-
strong perseverance, his parents separating be-
fore his years of discretion had arrived; his
mother weak in heart and his father haughty
and imperious; what wonder that his morals be-
came loose and his way of life unsettled? It Oh!
should rather be a wonder that amid flattery and
vituperation, the visitor of the green room and
the floor of parliament, he preserved his affec-
tionate habits and generous impulses !

Alexander's zeal that leaves no energy inert;
The saint-like piety of Rice,-McDowell's wealth of

The

thought,

pure and classic mind of Rives with lore so varied fraught ;

where from Maine to Florida, from east to western Can such a shining galaxy, of brilliant names be found!

bound,

And Nature too has dowered thee, the favorite of the band, And scattered beauties everywhere, with most unsparing hand.

The azure mountain-tops are seen, where'er I turn my eye, And stretched between in loveliness the shadowy vallies lie;

If he injured society in one way he benefitted it in another. He was one of those men who are sent into the world for some great and unseen purpose. The moralist may deduce one, In Alpine grandeur Otter's Peaks uprear their lofty forms, and the man of the world another. But be that And stand serenely looking down on sunimer's passing what it may, none who knew him, who had fre

storms.

quent and various opportunities of studying his The first settlement of Virginia was made under Sir virtues and his vices, will say that Matthew Gre-Walter's auspices, though he himself did not accompany gory Lewis lived in vain!

the colonists in person.

Afar among the sloping hills clear springs are bubbling pure gold upon his head. And why? because the bright,

king putteth his trust in the Lord; and in the mercy of the Most Highest he shall not miscarry.

Some poet has declared that "change is the life of nature;" one would imagine it was also essential to the vitality of republics. If there be, as the advocates of free institutions maintain, no position more enviable than that of the elected

And wonders too are here, an arch, proportionate, sub-head of a great nation, there is none which less

lime!

Unworn by wearing centuries, commensurate with time;
A structure most significant,-
-a vast stupendous span,
That rears itself as if to mock the aims of puny man:
One only such in all the world,—and that upon thy sod,
Thou favor'd land,-one only bridge whose architect was
God!

justifies elation of feeling. The tenure is limited and its enduring distinction only results from personal fidelity. To be "clear in this great office" is the test of its glory. The constitution prohibits a long sway; the contests of party give rise to inevitable difficulties, and the responsi

It is not strange that those who first drew breath within ability of the station when sincerely felt, checks

state,

So rich in by-gone memories,-so grandly, nobly great,
Should sometimes boast, and manifest an overweening pride,
As if their birth-right lifted them o'er every State beside;

A pardonable weakness,-yet, we judge of men alone,
Not by their sires' immortal deeds and words, but by their

own.

the exultation of success. The momentous principles at issue throughout the world and involved in the grand experiment of popular rule, of which this country is the arena, render the administration of its government more widely influential than that of any dynasty on earth; and this consideration, added to the intrinsic bearing of the

But now from all these glowing scenes my thoughts return course pursued on the honor and welfare of her again,

With filial reverence to thee, dear sylvan land of Penn!
Thou, too, canst boast a thousand charms that make thy
vallies bright,-

O'er which affection sweetly pours a flood of golden light;
Thy shaded homes lie lovingly by many a sparkling stream,
Thy rivers, mountains, fields and groves,-how beautiful
they seem!

Beside Virginia's would I place thy justly honored name,
And claim equality for thee upon the scroll of fame;
But while with admiration deep, I humbly dedicate,
A heart of zealous loyalty to my adopted state,—
Yet true to all my earliest love, I still will turn again

people, is enough to solemnize the advent of a new executive and cabinet.

Washington cannot be termed a "Mecca of but at every transition epoch in our annals, it is the mind," as Halleck calls the grave of Burns; the goal of innumerable pilgrims. They come from all quarters of the continent, inspired by varied motives,—those of selfish aggrandizement, liberal curiosity, patriotic sentiment, the magnetism of fashion and the hope of enjoyment. A kind of serious carnival ensues; speculation is rife; ambition plumes her wings; policy shar

With fondlier feelings far to you, oh! sylvan shades of pens its wits; beauty opens her caskets of jew

Penn.

Lexington, Virginia.

THE INAUGURATION.

BY H. T. TUCKERMAN.

els; and the honest pride of citizenship revives. Expectancy vague yet ardent, is quickened. Opinion finds a response in events; the past is decently buried; and over the future hangs the iris of hope evoked from the subsiding tide of faction. The occasion, when justly appreciated, eloquently explains these signs of the times; and the disproportion of the scene and the symbols, to an imaginative and thoughtful observer, heightens their moral significance.

It is a singular fact, that the only city in the After more than a week's disappearance, the United States planned with reference to extensun broke forth on the 4th of March, 1849. It sive growth, is the only one which has never was the Sabbath and the ceremonies that usher reached its anticipated bounds. The broad avenin a new president had been deferred until the ues, scattered and inadequate dwellings and following morning. By many the cheering al- lonely thoroughfares of Washington, though teration in the weather was hailed as a felicitous cheerless to the eye, are suggestive to the imagaugury; and not a few hearts responded to the ination. An aspect so incongruous as is here chapter of the day, among the crowded audi- presented,-the blending of village and metropence that engaged in the religious services at St. olis, of splendid equipages and comfortless streets, John's: "For thou shalt prevent him with the of vast capabilities and inelegant utility-the blessings of goodness; and shalt set a crown of noble Capitol and the straggling houses, plain

citizens grouped around inn doors, public edifices | rhetoric; and refined minds learn to hate anew of substantial architecture and a frame building the coarseness and bigotry of partisans, and phierected for a national ball-all indicate the un-losophers the narrowness of a statesmanship acfulfilled destinies, the utilitarian instincts and at quired in the practice of venal casuistry-where the same time the boundless promise of the re- the most generous and profound reasoning has public. All that meets the gaze in Washington, often thrown new light on questions of vital imexcept the Capitol and the Departments, seems portance to humanity. The foundation of the temporary. The city appears like the site of an long-delayed monument to him of whom it has encampment—as if it were adapted more for a been so admirably said, that "providence made bivouack than a home. Stone ramparts and him childless that his country might call him fagrated palaces immediately announce to the tra- ther;"-the slowly-rising walls of the Smithsoveller abroad, an ancient seat of power; here nian Institute, the vacant panels of the Rotunda, every thing whispers of "brief authority" and the sculptured deformities on the eastern front proclaims that the officials of every grade are for of the Capitol, and the very coin, freshly mintthe time being only servants of the people. ed from California gold-awaken that painful sense of the incomplete, or that almost perplexing consciousness of the new, the progressive and the unattained which is peculiar to our country.

Some fine copies of Claude give a mellow warmth to the parlor of the friend with whom I sojourned; and the bare walls of the East Room of the Presidential mansion, look more desolate from the contrast. They should be adorned with na- It is indeed wonderful to contrast our immense tional pictures. With such painters as we now territory with the seat of government, and with boast, this would be an object of easy achieve- the ceremonial and magnificence of the most ment. It is to be regretted that Washington was petty court in Europe fresh in the memory, to ever incorporated as a municipal town; as the note the simplicity of our political arrangements. property of the country it might have been filled The richly caparisoned steeds and gaudy footwith handsome residences for ambassadors, heads men, the splendid uniform of the soldiery, the of departments, and other officials, at the expense line of thronged ante-chambers, the formal anof government; and it would thus have become nouncements and prescribed costume that rena compact and picturesque metropolis. As it is, der those scenes memorable to a transatlantic the houses tremble from roof to cellar beneath spectator, are all wanting here. When we rethe gay steps of the dancers; we emerge from flect upon the idea in the abstract, there is a sublighted rooms glowing with "fair women and limity in this apparent superiority to external brave men," into mud and darkness; hacks are blandishments as emblems of authority. Patriindispensable, and a clean promenade, a rare otism thus recognised, is like religion when cherluxury. It is one of the striking peculiarities of ished as a sentiment. The feeling seems adeAmerica, that her Capital, which, in every other quate to its own realization, independent of land, is the centre of refinement and external form, as if the essential greatness of free instiluxury, is the least significant, of all her cities, tutions obviated the necessity for any outward of the state of civilization. Yet, here are gath- demonstration of rule. It is a lesson both for ered the trophies of mechanical skill; here are the conservative and the radical of the old world breathed the noblest strains of eloquence; here to witness such a scene as was presented at originate the laws; and here annually congre- the ex-President's final levee. Let us remember gate the wisdom and beauty of the land. To an that in three days, the highest office in the gift ardent republican, however, all this betokens of the people is to be resigned, that the lady the triumph of his favorite principles. He will who, with such dignified urbanity, receives the regard it as a proof that the interests of office salutations of the throng, is dispensing her graceare secondary to those of general prosperity, and ful hospitalities for the last time, that hundreds that its agents and locality are not suffered to ab- of hearts in that vast assembly are thirsting for sorb the benefits designed for the whole people. the emoluments and distinctions of office ;-and In the National Institution, like nearly all of then contemplate the order, propriety, self-reour scientific and literary establishments, as yet in spect and good-feeling with which greetings are embryo,-sea quadrupeds from the Arctic Zone, exchanged! Observe, too, the "infinite variety” birds of rare plumage, the coat in which Jack-of classes, dress, manners and character, and son fought at New Orleans, the rifle of an Indian where else on the face of the earth, could such chief, plants, fossils, shells and corals, mummies, elements be brought together without an array of trophies, busts and relics, typify inadequately physical force to subdue and regulate them? natural science and bold adventure. Cruikshank Yet group follows group, the heiress in her silks might discover new hints for ungraceful atti- and diamonds hard pressed by the servant-maid tudes in a hall consecrated by the triumphs of in calico, the snowy cap of an old quaker lady

brushed by the gold epaulette of a naval hero, | Avenue recal the characteristic anecdote of John and the cold but well-defined profile of one of Randolph, when he said to an acquaintance who the Boston aristocracy relieved against the bron- there overtook him and complained that it was zed cheek of a gigantic Chippewa! The atten-difficult to keep up with him-"Sir, I will inuated and keen, yet genial physiognomy of the crease that difficulty"-striding on at a quickeneditor of the Union is in juxtaposition with the ed pace. The Congressional burying-ground has ear of one of his talented opponents, whose smile cherished memorials; and beneath yonder lofty proves that their intercourse is jocose. The un-dome, within a few months, a venerable statessuccessful candidate for the occupancy of this man died the death of Chatham. The oratory very dwelling, is laughing with a member of the of Pinkney, Wirt, Clay, and a host of others, triumphant party; a half civilized Texian is in hallows the scene; but, with singular pertinaconclave with the accomplished New England city, it ever breathes of the immediate, which Speaker; the high brow of a judge of the Su- De Tocqueville truly says is the natural language preme Court is benignly turned upon the spark- of democracy. Yet how impressive, at certain ling face of a little country belle; and one of the exigencies, is that language! Now that scarcely wounded colonels of Monterey is detailing the a country of Europe owns genuine tranquillity, fight to a pale but intent artist. Here comes the when every popular movement is fraught with eloquent defender of the Constitution, of whom terror, and propriety and domestic life seem at Carlyle said that he was the only man whose ap- the mercy of revolutionary excitement, there arpearance ever realized to him the idea of a great rives here a family from the extreme South, in statesman. Calhoun, with his mass of iron-gray manners, dress and appearance, in no degree suhair and his nervous figure, is shaking hands perior to the mass,-unpretending, simple, kindwith Duff Green, their two heads in the light of ly-without any escort but that of friends and the chandelier, reminding us of Salvator's con- citizens, receiving homage in the limited apartspiracy of Catiline. There stands the venerable ments of a hotel, and called from their distant Mrs. Madison, like one of Stuart's ladies, reani- farm by the popular suffrage. Now and then a mated from the canvass. To be appreciated, crowd in the entries, or a shout in the street, the however, she should be seen in her own apart-attendance of a committee, or the flight of a ment, where the portraits of the departed presi- rocket, the display of the national banner, or a dents, her scanty and plain furniture, and her knot of earnest talkers may betray the occurrence wood-fire harmonize with the associations of of something more than common. Otherwise the other days. Farmers with huge paws, sailors stranger would perceive no inkling of a political with a rolling gait, the sleek adventurer, the bar-advent. The usual avocations of life go on withroom politician, the mercurial southern represen-out interruption. Not an element of society is tative, the calm and portly senator, the eager disturbed. Anxiety, doubt, exultation are equaloffice-seeker and the philosophic idler,-faces ly subdued; and, though under this apparent lowering with vulgar obtuseness, or kindled by cul- quietude, we know there is heaving a deep tide tivated sympathies, heads massive with thought, of individual ambition, curiosity, joy and disapor oscillating with vanity, make up a human pointment, the surface is almost unruffled. One panorama which no limner can adequately re-accustomed to the etiquette and parade by which flect. And if we seek to define the motley so- less secure authority is retained and transmitted, cial characteristics, imagination is equally baffled; and, at the same time, cognizant of the alternafor, although political aspirations and fraternity tions thus unostentatiously realized, must view and "the insolence of office" form the basis,-the the circumstances with incredulous wonder. variety of talent and disposition thus associated, I was seated in the public room awaiting a necessarily create an accessible, frank and universal tone, which renders society here more free of conventional drawbacks, and more inciting to vivacious intercourse than can be found elsewhere in the land.

friend upon whom I had made a morning call, when an honest-looking man with gray hair, in a suit of blue a little worn and unfashionably cut, walked in with four companions. The latter placed themselves respectfully about him and one How recent too, are all memories compared with with a parchment scroll in his hand, in emphatic those which haunt the pilgrim at other shrines! yet courteous terms, and with a graceful elocuA morning's walk may bring him to the spot tion, announced to him his election to the chief where the gallant Decatur fell; he may think of magistracy of the Union,-spoke of the hardthe British invasion on the shores of the Poto- fought battles which had endeared him to his mac, or give a day to a visit to Mount Vernon country, the confidence thus awakened in the where the ashes of the stainless chief repose. people, and the freedom and discrimination of The convent at Georgetown may possibly awa- their choice. The old man listened with downken an affecting reminiscence, and Pennsylvania cast eyes, a thoughtful and self-possessed mien,

The

and when the address ended and the certificate rounding grounds, on the esplanade and the balwas received, read his answer in a tremulous but conies, clustered an eager multitude, the bright clear voice, but with a hesitancy indicating how hues of the female costumes giving a cheerful aslittle he was accustomed to express his senti-pect to the sombre groups that stood in quiet ments in words. He spoke of the greatness of conversation, or roamed to and fro awaiting the the honor conferred, of his deep sense of inade- procession. At length it was seen coming up quacy, his solemn determination to be faithful to the avenue below. A few volunteer corps formthe duties of the office, to the requisitions of the ed the only escort. As it approached, the crowd constitution and the example of Washington. gathered densely around the stage erected at the The ceremony over, he interchanged a few nat-eastern point. The colossal statue of Washingural observations with those around, returned the ton rose in the far back ground; and immedicordial grasp of such as were introduced, and ately before the spectators, was the elegant fathen retired with the avowed intention of visit-çade. Scarcely half an hour elapsed, when the ing the present incumbent whom, in a few days, judges in their robes, the diplomatic corps in their he was to supersede. In the course of three uniforms, the senators and numerous officers of years this man had become known to the world the army and navy, appeared; and on the sofa by the integrity and valor displayed in a war de- at the edge of the platform, were seated the clared by the government he served, and, if re- newly elected heads of the republic. General port does not err, undertaken against his own Taylor looked the impersonation of that large convictions and sympathies. His troops mani- and sterling middle class that form the strength fested somewhat the feeling towards him which and the credit of the United States; he was the Frederic of Prussia inspired. "Old Fritz" was image of a benign and patriotic country gentletheir watchword and " Old Zach" that of the man; and read the noble pledges of his InauguAmerican soldiers. The fields of Palo Alto and ral with modest self-possession. The oath was Buena Vista at once became renowned in mili- then administered and uttered with an air of tary history. The despatches of the General, reverence and sealed by a kiss upon the very reputed to have been written by the officer Bible with which Washington was sworn. now his son-in-law, were admired for their sol-President instantly received the congratulations dier-like point and brevity; and, by degrees, the of the Ex-President, and the distinguished pername of the faithful warrior became endeared to sonages in his vicinity; and then advanced the people. With the trust and the gratitude and bowed to the vast assembly. Shout after naturally inspired by his services, they elected shout rent the air; peal after peal of cannon him President of the United States; and he had echoed from the hill; the multitude dispersed on at the appointed time come to the Capital to every side without tumult; and accompanied the be inducted into office. Such is the explanation carriage of their new executive with cheers. of all these informal phenomena; thus simple is The bands played their liveliest airs. Wide to it possible for the mechanism of government to the breeze fluttered the star-spangled banner. be! Fair hands waved handkerchiefs from every winFor one inclined to carp at the inefficiency of de- dow; and thus the cavalcade passed on to the tails and the unimpressive in outward feature, the White House. There, entrenched behind a slenInauguration was a scene prolific in material for der barricade of chairs, to avoid the pressure of humorous complaint; but viewed by the eye of the throng, stood the venerable man, while bereflection, it abounded in the moral sublime. fore him in an almost endless file, moved the There is no modern public structure with a site people to welcome him to the home his integrity so commanding as that of the American Capitol, and valor had won. About a twelvemonth since if we except the monastery of La Superga at the Parisian populace broke into the Tuilleries; Turin; and although the panorama visible from the but they wandered through the gorgeous apartformer is meagre in all that relates to grandeur ments with a kind of savage wonder and to dein scenery and art, it is extensive and character-stroy the luxurious insignia of royal authority; istic. The widely scattered buildings, the wind- clowns and workmen, the poor and the rude, as ing Potomac, and the broad fields lost in the dis-well as the gentle and the wealthy, composed the tance, reposed beneath a cloudy sky; but the neutral tints thus yielded, allowed the gaze to wander with freedom and rest undazzled on the prospect. There was something too in the gray Thus direct, unostentatious and kindly is the atmosphere now and then flecked with snow, that popular recognition of the transit of power, with was adapted to the thoughtful mind busy with an no intermediate authority to control, no pageantoccasion that suggested grave as well as happy ry to beguile and no exhibition of force to awe ideas. Along the steps and alleys of the sur- the spectators. The reason is obvious—all par

mass that overran the Presidential abode; yet a sense of mutual relation and individual privilege, subdued to courtesy the most uncultivated.