Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1834 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XV. That feeling which tells him that man was never made to be the property of man. Sheridan. Richmond is the capital of Virginia. Few cities in the Union can be said to have a more beautiful and picturesque situation. It is built on a chain of hills, between which James River, navigable to this place, rolls its silvery waters. The public buildings, such as the Capitol, the Court House, and others, are erected on elevated points, and visible in every direction; their exterior, which would produce effect any where, contributes to embellish the whole. The bustle in the lower part of the town proves the flourishing state of the city; manufactories and institutions of various kinds add to the general activity, and give life to the picture. I visited one day the Capitol, as it is called, or Statehouse, occupied by the Legislature of THE CAPITOL AT RICHMOND. 319 the State, not then sitting, but which generally meets on the 1st day of December, and is, as in all the other States, divided between a Senate and a House of Delegates. The first is composed of thirty-two members, elected for four years, one fourth of whom are changed annually, and the latter, of one hundred and thirty-four members, elected every year. This edifice is situate on an eminence in the upper part of the city, and modelled after the well-known maison carree at Nismes in France. Eight Ionian pillars adorn that part of the building fronting the lower end of the city. Two entrances, in opposite directions, lead to a kind of vestibule, in the centre of which is a marble statue of Washington. It is made the size of life, and represents him in the same simple garb which he was accustomed to wear. There is something so unpoetical in a coat in reality, that it is hardly...
