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the two Richmonds. What celebrated Teacher flourished at one of them?-and who were his most eminent Disciples ?

13. What were the various sorts of paper in use amongst the English? To what purpose was whited-brown chiefly applied? What was size? Distinguish between this and College Sizings, and state the ordinary expense of papering a room.

14. "For every one knows little Matt's an M.P." Frag. Com. Inc. ap. Morn. Chron. vol. 59, p.

1624.

What reasons can you assign for the general knowledge of this fact? Detail, at length, the ceremony of chairing a Member. What were the Hustings? Who paid for them? Explain the abbreviations-Matt.-M.P.-Tom.

-Dick.-F.R.S. —LL.D.—and

A.S.S.

15. What was the distinguishing title of the Mayors of London? Did any other city share the honour? Give a list of the Mayors of London from Sir Richard Whittington to Sir William Curtis, with an account of the Cat of the first, and the Weight of the last. What is meant by Lord Mayor's day? Describe the Apothecaries' Barge, and give some

account of Marrow-bones and Cleavers.

16. When was Spyring and Marsden's Lemon Acid invented? Distinguish between this and Es

sential Salt of Lemons. Enu

merate the principal Patentees, especially those of Liquid Blacking.

17. Scan the following LinesBut for shaving and tooth-drawing, Bleeding, cabbaging and sawing, Dicky Gossip, Dicky Gossip is the man!

What is known of the character and history of Dicky Gossip?

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

HISTORY.-The district of Columbia was originally inhabited by a tribe of Indians called the Manahoacs, who, who according to Smith, were at constant enmity with the Powhatans of Virginia. Their history is but im perfectly known. War, the small-pox, and the introduction of spirituous liquors, thinned the population rapidly. In 1669 a census was taken; and it was found that in sixty-two years one. third of their former numbers was wanting. They are said to have migrated westwardly, and to have become blended with the Tuscaroras. This district was ceded by Virginia and Maryland in 1794, and became the permanent seat of the general gover ment in 1800. At the time of it cession, the principal proprietors on the eastern side of the Poto mac were D. Carrol, N. Young and D. Burns, who cultivate corn, tobacco, and wheat, where the city now stands. The selec tion of this site enriched those proprietors, particularly the former, who, however, from a mistaken policy, has withered the growth of that section of the city in which most of his property lies. The heir of the latter, Mr. Von Ness, pursued a different sys tem, and by disposing of his ground on moderate terms, ha contributed to the rapid improve ment of his section of the metropolis, and to the consequent increase of value in property.

TOPOGRAPHY

TOPOGRAPHY.-This district is 10 miles square, and includes within its limits the city of Washington, Alexandria, and Georgetown; its diagonal lines are north and south, east and west. The southern angle is at Fort Columbus, at the mouth of Hunting Creek, on the left bank of the Potomac. From this the lines run at an angle of 45 degrees to the distance of 10 miles.

The district is composed of portions of Virginia and Maryland on the east and west side of the Potomac, a grand and beautiful river, which rises in the Allegany Mountains, and after a meandering course of near 400 miles, empties itself into the Chesapeake Bay. The Potomac is navigable to vessels of considerable burden as high as George-town; and by means of locks which have been erected at the great and little falls, a navigation is afforded to boats of no inferior magnitude, for 100 miles nearer its

source.

There are several fisheries on the Potomac very productive and valuable, not only to the proprietors, but to the inhabitants, who are thus easily and cheaply furnished with the means of subsistence during the remainder of the year. Shad are sold at the different landings for three dollars per hundred, and herrings at fifty cents per thousand. The following is a list of the principal fish caught at these fisheries:-viz. shad, herrings, sturgeon, rock, gar, carp, pike, six varieties of the perch, mullett, and cat-fish.

The soil is various-on the banks of the Eastern Branch and Potomac there is a deep and rich

alluvium, which contains "fragments of primitive mountains, pyrites, gravel and sand, shells, and the remains of vegetable substances." Mr. Goden says, that Rock Creek, which divides Georgetown from the city, separates the primitive from the alluvian soil.

Though the soil in parts of the district is steril, it is capable of being highly improved by the application of plaster or any other species of compost, and might, from its convenience to an excellent market, be made, by enterprising and industrious agriculturalists, eminently productive and fertile. Its natural productions are such as are common to the adjacent states. There is, convenient to it, an extensive quarry of free-stone on the Acquia Creek, and another of beautiful marble on the Seneca, which has recently been discovered.

CLIMATE, &C.-The climate of the district is liable to frequent and sudden changes-in summer excessively hot, and in winter very cold; but it does not appear to be more pregnant with diseases than other portions of the United States. The healthy appearance and longevity of the inhabitants indicate its salubrity; and, indeed, when we consider the flowing nature of its surface, the free admission of pure and wholesome air, and the excellence of its water, in which it stands unrivalled in the United States, we cannot but believe it must be healthy.Mr. Blodget estimated the annual deaths in Washington at one of 48 to 50 at New York, one of 44 to 50; Baltimore, one of 42 to 49; and in Charleston, one of 35 to 40, which establishes the 2 R2 superior

superior healthiness of Washington to those cities. In European cities, the annual deaths are, one to 28, making a vast difference in favour of Washington.

POPULATION. The population of the district of Columbia, at the last census (1810,) amounted to 24,023—now, in all probability, 30,000. The city contained 8,208, Georgetown 4,948, and Alexandria 7,227; Washington county 2,315, and Alexandria county 1,325 inhabitants.

COMMERCE.Its commercial importance has, perhaps, never been duly appreciated. From its central situation, surrounded by a rich, fertile, and, flourishing country, commanding the most extensive internal resources, it must soon become one of the richest commercial territories in the United States. In 1813, it exported, in domestic productions and manufactures, to the amount of 1,387,000 dollars; thus surpassing in exports alone, both Connecticut and Vermont; and in 1803 it paid in duties on imports 143,000 dollars. Its rising prosperity is marked and perceptible; and though it has been opposed by all the violence of prejudice, and all the obstacles of conflicting interests, it has risen with great rapidity, and promises to be of vast political and commercial importance to the United States. Its natural advantages are calculated to promote that object. Situated on the great postroad from the northern to the southern extremities of the United States, and almost equi-distant from the Atlantic on the one side and the Ohio on the other, which yield it every facility of naviga

tion, and open to it all the trade of the west, it is impossible that it can avoid becoming the most wealthy and eligible territory in the Union.

MANUFACTURES.--Its manufactures are in a flourishing condition, and are daily increasing in variety and capital,

CONSTITUTION AND LAWS.By the constitution of the United States the national legislature have the power to exercise exclusive legislation over this, territory, and to enact such laws in relation to it, as may be deemed necessary and proper. Whether Government could assume this right, consistently with the nature and principles of our political institutions, and thus exclude a large population from the privileges of freemen, we shall not now pause to examine. It is, however, certain, we are for many years destined to be deprived of the right of suffrage; a privilege so much and so highly prized by our countrymen.

The laws of Virginia and Maryland, prior to the year 1800, are still in force in the district, excepting such as have been repealed or modified by the national legislature, who have exclusive jurisdiction over it. Congress have, however, lately passed a law authorizing the Judges of the Circuit Court, in conjunction with the Attorney General of the United States, to form a code of laws for its government, which we trust will obviate all those difficulties hitherto experienced from the various and conflicting statutes of the adjacent States, and from the inconvenient organization of the District Courts.

WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON CITY.-The city of Washington, which forms an important section of the district of Columbia, was selected by General Washington, from whom it takes its name, as the metropolis of the United States; and no selection could have been more judicious or excellent. Its central situation-the romantic and picturesque beauty of its site-the salubrity of its climate-and the excellence of its water-all combine to render it the most desirable spot in the United States. It comprises a square of four miles in extent, and is watered by the Potomac and Anacostia rivers, which add to its natural beauty, and will contribute to the facility of its commerce. There are on each side of those rivers, and, in deed, in almost every possible direction, the most beautiful elevations, calculated for the residence of private gentlemen, of those who may wish to retire from the turmoil and bustle of the town. These heights command extensive and variegated prospects of the district, of the surrounding country, and of the meanderings of the Potomac, as far as the eye can reach while their convenience to the neighbouring towns of the district enables them to afford every advantage and pleasure that can result from a union of town and country. The city is divided into squares by streets running north and south, cast and west; but to destroy the sameness and insipidity which this plan would produce there are diagonal streets, or avenues, leading from one public place to another, which tend to diversify and variegate prospects

naturally elegant. The avenues are called after the different states which constituted the union at the time the city was laid out, and are from 130 to 160 feet wide, including a pavement of 10 feet, and a gravel walk of 30 feet, planted on each side with trees. The other streets are from 90 to 110 feet wide, and are named numerically when they run from north to south, and alphabetically when from east to west. The Eastern Branch, or Anacostia river, affords from the depth of its channels, and its security from storms, one of the safest and most commodious harbours in the United States, and will unquestionably become, from the convenience which the canal, now nearly completed, will afford, the most commercial portion of the metropolis.

The capitol is a large and massy edifice of free-stone, built according to the Corinthian order, and situated on a beautiful elevation of ground, equidistant from the Eastern Branch and the President's house. But two wings of this elegant edifice have yet been completed, and these were unfortunately very much injured by the rude hand of our late foe. They are, however, in a fair way to be speedily repaired, and restored to more than their pristine beauty and elegance which will be augmented when the capitol square, lately authorized to be graduated, shall have been laid off into walks, planted with trees, and decorated with taste. The wall around the square is nearly completed; the coping of stone is now on one third of it, and a portion of the iron-railing will go on this season. A delightful ave-.

nue

nue leads from the capitol to the President's house, another elegant edifice, built also of free-stone, according to the Ionic proportions. This, like its companion, the capitol, has been partially destroyed by the hand of our late enemy. The barbarous and absurd policy of waging a savage and destructive warfare against the productions of art cannot be sufficiently reprobated. We had hoped that at this period of the world, when the refinements of civilization had introduced a liberality of sentiment and generosity of feeling into modern war, such arts of Vandalism would have been avoided. We had hoped, that a nation that had so frequently boasted of her refinement, and of the encouragement and protection she has afforded to the productions of human ingenuity, would have been the last to have cast the firebrand amid the monuments of those arts she 'affects to be solicitous to protect and defend.

The next object in the city to which the attention is attracted is the naval yard. This establishment is at present resuscitating from the smouldering ruins of war, and will, from the attention Government seems to pay it, soon surpass the flourishing condition which it had once attained. They have now nearly completed the line of battle ship, and promise to be speedily able to build vessels of any magnitude less than a 74. There is, perhaps, no situation in the United States better calculated than this for a national establishment of this kind. The facility with which materials and munitions of war can be procured, the

depth and excellence of the har bour, and its security from destruction by storms and enemies, particularly when the Chesapeake, which is now in contemplation, shall be properly and effectually defended, contribute to render it an essential object of governniental attention. In this yard, near its entrance, the officers of the navy have erected a monument to the memory of Wadsworth, Israel, &c., those gallant young men who voluntarily sacrificed themselves on the altar of freedom, rather than become the slaves of despotic barbarians. This monument, which is of marble, was executed in Italy, by eminent artists. It has not yet, however, received its last polish, and still remains for the hand of the mas

ter.

It is a small column of the Doric order, with emblematical embellishments, and crowned with an eagle in the act of flying. This pillar rests on a base, sculptured in basso-relievo, representing Tripoli, its fortresses, the Mediterranean, and our fleet in the fore-ground; and on each corner stands an appropriate figure, elegantly executed. The one represents Columbia, directing the attention of her children to History, who is recording the daring and intrepid action of the American heroes; the third represents Fame, with a wreath of laurel in one hand, and a pen in the other; and the fourth represents Mercury, or the God of Commerce, with his cornucopia and caducéus. These are the principal monuments of art which Washington contains. We must not, however, neglect to mention, among other curiosities of the metropolis,

a curiosity

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