ington is an evidence of the truthfulness of the costume, for it is an exact representation of the real weapon just described and depicted, which stands in a case on the opposite side of the room.
Leaving the room of the National Institute, I went up to the Capitol, and peeped in upon the sages of the Senate and House of Representatives, who seemed busily engaged in preparing to do something in the way of legislation.
It is a practice quite too common for our writers to speak disparagingly of members of Congress, with the apparent feeling that they being the servants of the people, every scribbler has a right to exercise his freedom of utterance, censuring them to the fullest extent. Doubtless some of our representatives are entitled to much censure, and some to ridicule; but, as a body, they generally appear to the candid visitor as a collection of wise and honorable men. An English gentleman who accompanied me to both chambers, assured me that he had often sat in the gallery of the House of Commons of England, of the Chamber of Deputies of France, and of the Diet of Frankfort and other Germanic Legislatures, and not one of them could rival in apparent talent, wisdom, decorum, and faithfulness to their constituents, the members of the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, in listening to whose delegates he had spent many weeks during three consecutive sessions. Being more interested in the historical pictures in the Rotunda of the Capitol, and in the books in the library of Congress, than in the preliminary business of the Legislature, I repaired thither, and occupied the remainder of the day in making sketches of portraits contained in Trumbull's celebrated pictures, which adorn four of the panels of that spacious room. *
Early on the following morning I again went up to the Capitol, and sketched the statue of Washington, by Greenough; the group of Columbus and the Indian Girl, by Persico; and the elegant monument erected to the memory of the naval heroes who fought at Tripoli. The first is a colossal statue of the Father of his Country, sculptured in Parian marble by Greenough, draped In classic style, and seated upon an elaborately-wrought chair, the whole supported by a granite pedestal. In his left hand the chief holds a Roman short sword, in the act of presenting the right hand, with the index finger extended, is lifted toward heaven. The chair has a filagree scroll-work back On the left is a small
* The Rotunda is under the dome, in the middle of the center building. It is 9 feet in diameter, and of the same height. Just below the cornice, at the base of the dome, are four basso relievos, representing Smith delivered from Death by Pocahontas; The Landing of the Pilgrims; Conflict of Daniel Boone with the Indians; and Penn's Treaty. The Rotunda has eight panels, in four of which are pictures by Colonel John Trumbull, representing The Presentation of the Declaration of Independence to Congress * The Surrender of Burgoyne; the Surrender of Cornwallis; and Washington resigning his Commission to Congress at Annapolis. Besides these is a representation of the Baptism of Pocahontas, by John G. Chapman; The Embarkation of the Pilgrims, by Robert W. Weir; and The Landing of Columbus, by John Vanderlyn. One panel remains to be filled.
* According to Colonel Trumbull's circular, now before me, the picture of The Presentation of The Declaration of Independence. so familiar to every American, was begun in Europe in 1787. It contains faithful portraits of thirty-six members, who were then living, and of all others of whom any correct representation could, at that early period, be obtained. These, with others which have since been obtained, to the number of forty-nine, are faithfully given in the frontispiece to this volume. There are two heads among them who were not signers of the Declaration: John Dickenson and Thomas Willing, of Pennsylvania. Trumbull's picture was engraved by A. B. Durand, the now eminent painter, in 1820-1. The paper on which it was printed was made by Messrs. Gilpin, at Brandywine, and the printing was executed in New York. It was first published in 1822, and is the original of the millions of copies of all sizes which are in circulation. The portraits of the officers of the French army in America, delineated in the picture of the Surrender of Cornwallis, were painted from life, by Colonel Trumbull, at the house of Mr. Jefferson, at Paris. Copies of these portraits, fourteen in number may be found in another portion of this work.
Description of Greenough's Statue.—Tuckerman's Poem.—A Chippewa's Speech.—Persico's Group.