Our mornings were spent, as all travellers’ mornings must be, in asking questions, and in seeing all that the answers told us it was necessary to see. Perhaps this can be done in no city with more facility than in Philadelphia; you have nothing to do but to walk up one straight street, and down another, till all the parallelograms have been threaded. In doing this you will see many things worth looking at. The United States, and Pennsylvania banks, are the most striking buildings, and are both extremely handsome, being of white marble, and built after Grecian models. The State House has nothing externally to recommend it, but the room shown as that in which the declaration of independence was signed, and in which the estimable Lafayette was received half a century after he had shed his noble blood in aiding to obtain it, is an interesting spot. At one end of this room is a statue in wood of General Washington; on its base is the following inscription1:-
First in Peace,
First in War,
and
First in the hearts of his Countrymen.
There is a very pretty enclosure before the Walnut2 Street entrance to the State House, with good well-kept gravel3 walks, and many of their beautiful flowering trees. It is laid down in grass, not in turf; that, indeed, is a luxury I never saw in America. Near this enclosure is another of much the same description, called Washington Square. Here there was an excellent crop of clover; but as the trees are numerous, and highly beautiful, and several commodious4 seats are placed beneath their shade, it is, in spite of the long grass, a very agreeable retreat from heat and dust. It was rarely, however, that I saw any of these seats occupied; the Americans have either no leisure, or no inclination5 for those moments of delassement that all other people, I believe, indulge in. Even their drams, so universally taken by rich and poor, are swallowed standing6, and, excepting at church, they never have the air of leisure or repose7. This pretty Washington Square is surrounded by houses on three sides, but (lasso!) has a prison on the fourth; it is nevertheless the nearest approach to a London square that is to be found in Philadelphia.
One evening, while the rest of my party went to visit some objects which I had before seen, I agreed to await their return in this square, and sat down under a magnificent catalpa, which threw its fragrant8 blossoms in all directions; the other end of the bench was occupied by a young lady, who was employed in watching the gambols9 of a little boy. There was something in her manner of looking at me, and exchanging a smile when her young charge performed some extraordinary feat10 of activity on the grass, that persuaded me she was not an American. I do not remember who spoke11 first, but we were presently in a full flow of conversation. She spoke English with elegant correctness, but she was a German, and with an ardour of feeling which gave her a decidedly foreign air in Philadelphia, she talked to me of her country, of all she had left, and of all she had found, or rather of all she had not found, for thus ran her lament:-
“They do not love music. Oh no! and they never amuse themselves — no; and their hearts are not warm, at least they seem not so to strangers; and they have no ease, no forgetfulness of business and of care — no, not for a moment. But I will not stay long, I think, for I should not live.” She told me that she had a brother settled there as a merchant, and that she had passed a year with him; but she was hoping soon to return to her father land.
I never so strongly felt the truth of the remark, that expression is the soul of beauty, as in looking at, and listening to this young German. She was any thing but handsome; it is true she had large eyes, full of gentle expression, but every feature was irregular; but, oh! the charm of that smile, of that look of deep feeling which animated12 every feature when she spoke of her own Germany! The tone of her voice, the slight and graceful13 action which accompanied her words, all struck me as so attractive, that the half hour I passed with her was continually recurring14 to my memory. I had often taxed myself with feeling something like prejudice against the beautiful American women; but this half hour set my conscience at rest; it is not prejudice which causes one to feel that regularity15 of features is insufficient16 to interest, or even to please, beyond the first glance. I certainly believe the women of America to be the handsomest in the world, but as surely do I believe that they are the least attractive.
We visited the nineteenth annual exhibition of the Pennsylvanian academy of the fine arts; 431 was the number of objects exhibited, which were so arranged as to fill three tolerably large rooms, and one smaller called the director’s room. There were among the number about thirty engravings, and a much larger proportion of water-colour drawings; about seventy had the P.A. (Pensylvanian Academician) annexed17 to the name of the artist.
The principal historical composition was a large scripture18 piece by Mr. Washington Alston. This gentleman is spoken of as an artist of great merit, and I was told that his manner was much improved since this picture was painted, (it bears date, 1813). I believe it was for this picture Mr. Alston received a prize at the British Gallery.
There was a portrait of a lady, which, in the catalogue, is designated as “the White Plume,” which had the reputation of being the most admired in the collection, and the artist, Mr. Ingham, is said to rank highest among the portrait-painters of America. This picture is of very high finish, particularly the drapery, which is most elaborately worked, even to the pile of the velvet19; the management of the light is much in the manner of Good; but the drawing is very defective20, and the contour, though the face is a lovely one, hard and unfleshy. From all the conversations on painting, which I listened to in America, I found that the finish of drapery was considered as the highest excellence21, and next to this, the resemblance in a portrait; I do not remember ever to have heard the words drawing or composition used in any conversation on the subject.
One of the rooms of this academy has inscribed22 over its door,
ANTIQUE STATUE GALLERY
The door was open, but just within it was a screen, which prevented any objects in the room being seen from without. Upon my pausing to read this inscription, an old woman who appeared to officiate as guardian23 of the gallery, hustled24 up, and addressing me with an air of much mystery, said, “Now, ma’am, now; this is just the time for you — nobody can see you — make haste.”
I stared at her with unfeigned surprise, and disengaging my arm, which she had taken apparently25 to hasten my movements, I very gravely asked her meaning.
“Only, ma’am, that ladies like to go into that room by themselves, when there be no gentlemen watching them.”
On entering this mysterious apartment, the first thing I remarked, was written paper, deprecating the disgusting depravity which had led some of the visitors to mark and deface the casts in a most indecent and shameless manner. This abomination has unquestionably been occasioned by the coarse-minded custom which sends alternate groups of males and females into the room. Were the antique gallery thrown open to mixed parties of ladies and gentlemen, it would soon cease. Till America has reached the degree of refinement26 which permits of this, the antique casts should not be exhibited to ladies at all. I never felt my delicacy27 shocked at the Louvre, but I was strangely tempted28 to resent as an affront29 the hint I received, that I might steal a glance at what was deemed indecent. Perhaps the arrangements for the exhibition of this room, the feelings which have led to them, and the result they have produced, furnish as good a specimen30 of the kind of delicacy on which the Americans pride themselves, and of the peculiarities31 arising from it, as can be found. The room contains about fifty casts, chiefly from the antique.
In the director’s room I was amused at the means which a poet had hit upon for advertising32 his works, or rather HIS WORK, and not less at the elaborate notice of it. His portrait was suspended there, and attached to the frame was a paper inscribed thus:-
‘PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR
of
The Fredoniad, or Independence Preserved,
a political, naval33, and military poem,
on the late war of 1812, in forty cantos;
the whole compressed in four volumes;
each volume averaging more than 305 pages,
By RICHARD EMMONS, M.D.”
I went to the Chesnut Street Theatre to see Mr. Booth, formerly34 of Drury Lane, in the character of Lear, and a Mrs. Duff in Cordelia; but I have seen too many Lears and Cordelias to be easily pleased; I thought the whole performance very bad. The theatre is of excellently moderate dimensions, and prettily35 decorated. It was not the fashionable season for the theatres, which I presume must account for the appearance of the company in the boxes, which was any thing but elegant; nor was there more decorum of demeanour than I had observed elsewhere; I saw one man in the lower tier of boxes deliberately36 take off his coat that he might enjoy the refreshing37 coolness of shirt sleeves; all the gentlemen wore their hats, and the spitting was unceasing.
On another evening we went to the Walnut Street Theatre; the chief attraction of the night was furnished by the performance of a young man who had been previously38 exhibited as “a living skeleton.” He played the part of Jeremiah Thin, and certainly looked the part well; and here I think must end my praise of the evening’s performances.
The great and most striking contrast between this city and those of Europe, is perceived after sunset; scarcely a sound is heard; hardly a voice or a wheel breaks the stillness. The Streets are entirely39 dark, except where a stray lamp marks an hotel or the like; no shops are open, but those of the apothecary40, and here and there a cook’s shop; scarcely a step is heard, and for a note of music, or the sound of mirth, I listened in vain. In leaving the theatre, which I always did before the afterpiece, I saw not a single carriage; the night of Miss Wright’s lecture, when I stayed to the end, I saw one. This darkness, this stillness, is so great, that I almost felt it awful. As we walked home one fine moonlight evening from the Chestnut41 Street house, we stopped a moment before the United States Bank, to look at its white marble columns by the subdued42 lights said to be so advantageous43 to them; the building did, indeed, look beautiful; the incongruous objects around were hardly visible, while the brilliant white of the building, which by daylight is dazzling, was mellowed44 into fainter light and softer shadow.
While pausing before this modern temple of Theseus, we remarked that we alone seemed alive in this great city; it was ten o’clock, and a most lovely cool evening, after a burning day, yet all was silence. Regent Street, Bond Street, with their blaze of gas-light bijouterie, and still more the Italian Boulevard of Paris, rose in strong contrast on the memory; the light, which outshines that of day — the gay, graceful, laughing throng45 — the elegant saloons of Tortoni, with all their varieties of cooling nectar — were all remembered. Is it an European prejudice to deem that the solitary46 dram swallowed by the gentlemen on quitting an American theatre indicates a lower and more vicious state of manners, than do the ices so sedulously47 offered to the ladies on leaving a French one?
The museum contains a good collection of objects illustrative of natural history, and some very interesting specimens48 of Indian antiquities49; both here and at Cincinnati I saw so many things resembling Egyptian relics50, that I should like to see the origin of the Indian nations enquired51 into, more accurately52 than has yet been done.
The shops, of which there appeared to me to be an unusually large proportion, are very handsome; many of them in a style of European elegance53. Lottery54 offices abound55, and that species of gambling56 is carried to a great extent. I saw fewer carriages in Philadelphia than either at Baltimore or Washington, but in the winter I was told they were more numerous.
Many of the best families had left the city for different watering-places, and others were daily following. Long Branch is a fashionable bathing place on the Jersey57 shore, to which many resort, both from this place and from New York; the description given of the manner of bathing appeared to me rather extraordinary, but the account was confirmed by so many different people, that I could not doubt its correctness. The shore, it seems, is too bold to admit of bathing machines, and the ladies have, therefore, recourse to another mode of ensuring the enjoyment58 of a sea-bath with safety. The accommodation at Long Branch is almost entirely at large boarding-houses, where all the company live at a table d’hote. It is customary for ladies on arriving to look round among the married gentlemen, the first time they meet at table, and to select the one her fancy leads her to prefer as a protector in her purposed visits to the realms of Neptune59; she makes her request, which is always graciously received, that he would lead her to taste the briny60 wave; but another fair one must select the same protector, else the arrangement cannot be complete, as custom does not authorise tete a tete immersion61.
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inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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walnut
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| n.胡桃，胡桃木，胡桃色，茶色 | |
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gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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commodious
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| adj.宽敞的；使用方便的 | |
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inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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gambols
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| v.蹦跳，跳跃，嬉戏( gambol的第三人称单数 ) | |
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feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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recurring
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| adj.往复的，再次发生的 | |
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regularity
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| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
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insufficient
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| adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的 | |
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annexed
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| [法] 附加的，附属的 | |
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scripture
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| n.经文，圣书，手稿；Scripture:(常用复数)《圣经》，《圣经》中的一段 | |
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velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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defective
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| adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的 | |
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excellence
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| n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德 | |
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inscribed
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| v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接 | |
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guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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hustled
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| 催促（hustle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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refinement
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| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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affront
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| n./v.侮辱，触怒 | |
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specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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peculiarities
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| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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advertising
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| n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的 | |
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naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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prettily
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| adv.优美地；可爱地 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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refreshing
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| adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的 | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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apothecary
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| n.药剂师 | |
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chestnut
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| n.栗树，栗子 | |
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subdued
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| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
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advantageous
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| adj.有利的；有帮助的 | |
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mellowed
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| （使）成熟( mellow的过去式和过去分词 )； 使色彩更加柔和，使酒更加醇香 | |
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throng
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| n.人群，群众；v.拥挤，群集 | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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sedulously
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| ad.孜孜不倦地 | |
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specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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antiquities
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| n.古老( antiquity的名词复数 )；古迹；古人们；古代的风俗习惯 | |
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relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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enquired
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| 打听( enquire的过去式和过去分词 )； 询问； 问问题； 查问 | |
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accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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lottery
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| n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事 | |
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abound
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| vi.大量存在；(in，with)充满，富于 | |
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gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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jersey
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| n.运动衫 | |
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enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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Neptune
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| n.海王星 | |
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briny
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| adj.盐水的；很咸的；n.海洋 | |
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immersion
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| n.沉浸；专心 | |
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