who lived and died in Philadelphia. The bequest is stated as being 2,000,000 dollars, and the present value of the whole property is said to be 7,000,000 dollars. There is a fine central building of the Corinthian order, and a peristyle. The material is marble, including the roof, whence I enjoyed a remarkably fine view over the city and surrounding country. The system of education, which is strictly and exclusively secular, seemed to me to comprehend almost everything, including mechanics, that could be useful to those to whose welfare the college is dedicated-destitute orphans.

I was indebted to Mr. Pincus, of the city, for his suggestion that his son should come with open carriage and drive me round the grand park, and one fine morning the carriage came. What a fine large undulating and well-wooded park it is! Soon after we entered it, I saw a curious little unpretending, oldfashioned house standing up above the road to our left, quite alone, and seemingly unconnected with all around. But this was not so. It was the old house of old Penn, the first brick building ever erected in Philadelphia, and piously removed from the city and planted in the Park, the possession of which the city so greatly owes to him. It was a matter of course to go and look it over; and in so doing I could not but contrast the humble dwelling and all it seemed to tell of this remarkable man with the exalted position which his gigantic bronze statue was destined to occupy. So be it! His cottage represents him, and

his statue typifies his fame.

On the walls hangs a

drawing of the churchyard of Jordans, near Beaconsfield, in his county of Bucks, where his body lies in an unpretending grave.

Our drive extended to the Floricultural Hall and other objects well worthy of observation, and we had a fine view of the city, which seemed to me to make a great display of red colouring, amidst which the back of the otherwise very fine post-office bears a part. Why was this defective eyesore left? We returned by what is called "the City of Homes," because of the number of small houses in that quarter, though I believe that originally the whole city bore that name in its humble beginnings, before the days of the Public Ledger and the Public Buildings.

I was very well lodged at the "Continental," though the indignant remark of an American at the breakfast-table had some truth in it, when he peremptorily ordered off a jug as containing "very mean cream." This cream is a great feature on the American table. It appears in jugs everywhere, and is always looked for as we look merely for milk. Fancy bread also appears everywhere, and it is sometimes even difficult to obtain the plain.

One other point arose, again connected with the very peculiar American style of newspaper writing. It may or may not be generally known that when any one tells a stale story the Americans cry, "Chestnut," as we cry, "Queen Anne's dead." Some of

them even carry a bell, which they sound on such occasions, called the chestnut bell. Now, being in Chestnut Street, I bought a leading New York paper one morning, wherein the editor was discussing a very serious political question and recording an observation of (I think) the President as to some step he certainly would not take. On this, after a column of serious writing, the Editor winds up with the following somewhat incongruous phrase:—“ Will anybody have the kindness to tintinnabulate the chestnut bell?" But this was not by any means the last or leading impression with which I left the great city of Philadelphia.

CHAPTER XII.

WASHINGTON.

ON Wednesday morning, the 17th of November, I took the train for Washington, passing by Baltimore without stopping, for the weather was cold and wet. A run of about 150 miles brought me to that capital city, where I took up my quarters at the Arlington. As I had been just a day too late for Mr. Childs's opera-ticket, so I was again just a day too late here, for I found a letter from Mr. Carter asking me for the yesterday to attend his diplomatic dinner given on the 16th, in honour of the anniversary of his Hawaiian Majesty's birthday. I was not too late, however, for a pleasant family dinner on the following day.

So here, after visiting various cities, north, east, and west, I found myself at the great Washington City, the political capital of the United States, on the river Potomac. On a little reflection, one comes to understand the feeling that led to the selection of a certain separate and independent position for the chief city of the New Republic; and in a few pages of a most useful little publication, entitled

"Roose's Companion and Guide to Washington," are set forth all the various difficulties and discussions that took place upon the subject before the definite decision was arrived at, and the separate "District of Columbia" was marked out from the two States of Maryland and Virginia as "the District for the permanent seat of the Government of the United States." Whoever, therefore, now writes letters to any one in this city of Washington must always put D.C. to his direction, or his letter will be carried far west into Washington Territory.

The first-chosen area of this District is stated to have comprised one hundred square miles, but I see it now marked as of sixty only, and I suppose this difference may arise from that portion of it which had been ceded by Virginia having been retroceded by Congress to that State in 1846. Washington had desired that the chief city should be called the Federal City, but this was overruled in favour of his own illustrious name; and on the 18th of September, 1793, he laid the foundation-stone of the capitol.

The original plan of the city is due to a young French officer, Major L'Enfant, who was a favourite of General Washington. The basis of this plan was the rectangular form, but the whole city is so sliced. about by the utterly inconsistent diagonal avenues (or aves), running towards a variety of centres, and some of these quite insignificant, that the simplicity of that plan is completely marred, while the diagonal plan amounts only to interruption, and in many parts

T