below. The four chambers are appropriated to the eight gentlemen who board in the family. In each chamber are two narrow field beds and field curtains, with every necessary convenience for the boarders. Mr. Read and myself have, I think, the pleasantest room in the house, or in the whole city. It is in the third story, commanding a delightful prospect of the Capitol, of the President's house, Georgetown, all the houses in the city, a long extent of the river, and the city of Alexandria.

The air is fine, and the weather, since I have been here, remarkably pleasant. I am not much pleased with the Capitol. It is a huge pile, built, indeed, with handsome stone, very heavy in its appearance without, and not very pleasant within. The President's house is superb, well proportioned and pleasingly situated.

But I will hasten to give you a more particular account of our family, which, I presume, will be more interesting to you than the Geography of this District. Mr. King's family consists only of himself, his lady and one daughter, besides the servants, all of whom are black. Mr. King was an officer in the late American Army, much of a gentleman in his manner, social and very obliging. I have seen few women more agreeable than Mrs. King. She almost daily brings to my mind. Dr. Lakeman's first wife. She was the daughter of Mr. Harper, a very respectable merchant in Baltimore; has been favored with an excellent education, has been much in the first circles of society in this part of the country, and is in nothing more remarkable than her perfect freedom from stiffness, vanity, or ostentation. Their only daughter, Miss Anna, is about seventeen, well formed, rather tall, small featured, but is considered very handsome. She has been educated at the best schools in Baltimore and Alexandria. She does not converse much, but is very modest and agreeable. She plays with great skill on the Forte Piano, which she always accompanies with a most delightful voice, and is frequently joined in the vocal part by her mother. Mr. King has an excellent Forte Piano, which is connected with an organ placed under it, which she fills and plays with her foot, while her fingers are employed upon the Forte Piano.

The gentlemen, generally, spend a part of two or three even

ings in a week in Mr. King's room, where Miss Anna entertains us with delightful music. After we have been fatigued with the Larangues of the Hall in the day, and conversing on polities, inferent circles for we talk about nothing else, in the evening, an hour of this music is truly delightful. On Sunday evenings, she constantly plays Psalm tunes, in which her mother, who is a woman of real piety, always joins. We have three gentlemen in the family General Mattoon, Mr. Smith, an i Mr. Perkins, who are good singers and extravagantly fond of music, and always join in the Psalmody. Miss Anna plays Denmark remarkably well, ani, when joined with the other singers, it excee is what I have ever heard before. But the

et of the Psalm tunes our gentlemen prefer are the old ones, such as Old Hun ired, Canterbury, which you would be delighted to bear on the Forte-Piano, assisted by the organ ani accompanied with the voice.

We breakfast at nine, dine between three and four. If we happen to be in the parlor in the first of the evening, at the time Mrs. King makes tea in her own room, she sends in a servant with a salver of tea and coffee and a plate of toast, but we never eat any super.

I can not conclu le without giving you some description of cur fellow-lolgers, with whom I enjoy a happiness which I by no means expected. We have Mr. House, of New Haven, ani Julze Fister, of Brookfield, two of the most sensible and respectable members of the Senate; Mr. Davenport,* of ConLecticut, who is a deacon and a very pleasant, agreeable man; Mr. Smith, who is the son of a clergyman, of very sprightly

Chn Davept lawyer; member of Cigres 1766-187; born at Stam onn. Jan 16 1772; diei there, 28ta Nor, 837 Yale Colirze ant or there, 1773, an active Revolutary patriot and a Major in the 4, mmissary Department -Heng fota fri.

John Cotton Sm th, torn in Sharin, Conn, Feb 12 1765; graduated at Yale in 1753. He was a member of the Get eral Assembly in 178 an i from 17v6–18“), member of the Lower House; in 1792, was elected speiker; member of Congress from 180-18 6; again a mem ber of the Legislature, in 1902, He held the several offices of Gov• ernor of Connecticut, from 1812-'§ 7, Lieutenant Governor, and Judge of the Superior Court. He received the degree of LL D. from Yale; was s member of the Nortuern Society of Antiquaries in Copenhagen; also

and distinguished talents; Mr. Perkins,* of New London, a man of very handsome abilities; General Mattoon,† much of a gentleman, facetious; and Mr. Read and myself. It is remarkable that all these gentlemen are professors of religion, and members of the churches to which they respectively belong. An unbecoming word is never uttered by one of them, and the most perfect harmony and friendliness pervades the family.

Colonel Tallmadge came here with the hopes of boarding with us, and tarried two or three days, but, when the other gentlemen came, who had previously applied to Mr. King, he was obliged, much to his regret and mine, to take lodgings in another house.

I must add that I am exceedingly happy with Mr. Read.‡ Were I to have made my choice among all the members of Congress for one to have lived in the same chamber with me, all things considered, I should have chosen Mr. Read. But, after all I have said to you, it is not home, it is not where I wish to be, and I long for the day when I shall set my face eastward, to return to our family.

Your affectionate parent,

M. CUTLER.

of the Connecticut Historical Society and various religious associations. Died at Sharon, Conn., Nov. 7, 1845.-Dict. of Congress (Lanman).

* Elias Perkins, Representative in Congress from Connecticut from 1801-1803, having graduated at Yale College in 1786. He died in 1845.-Dict. of Congress (Lanman).

General Mattoon (Ebenezer), Revolutionary officer; born at Amherst, Mass., Aug. 19, 1755; died there, Sept. 11, 1843; grad. Dartmouth College, 1776; from 1797-1816, Major-General of the 4th Division; Adjutant-General of the State, 1816; State Senator, 1795-6; twenty years sheriff of Hampshire; member of Congress, 1801–3. General Mattoon was a scientific and practical farmer.-Drake's Dict. Amer. Biog.

Nathan Read, born in Essex County, Mass., in 1760; graduated at Harvard, 1781; member of Congress from Massachusetts from 1801–3. He was devoted to science, and a petitioner for a patent for an invention before the patent laws were enacted; and before the time of Fulton's experiments, he tried the effect of steam upon a boat in Wenham Pond. He died at Hallowell, Jan. 20, 1849.-Dict. of Congress (Lanman).

in full view of the house, on the side back from the river. It appears on an eminence, not like a hill, but a level ground, with a pretty deep valley between, covered with woods and bushes of different kinds, which conceal the winding passage from the gate to the house. . . . In this situation the house, with two ranges of small buildings extending in a curved form, from near the corners of the house, till interrupted by the trees, has quite a picturesque appearance, and the effect is much heightened by coming out of a thick wood, and the sudden and unexpected manner in which it is seen.

. When our coaches entered the yard, a number of servants immediately attended, and when we had all stepped out of our carriages a servant conducted us to Madam Washington's room, where we were introduced by Mr. Hillhouse, and received in a very cordial and obliging manner. Mrs. Washington was sitting in rather a small room, with three ladies (grand-daughters), one of whom is married to a Mr. Lewis, and has two fine children; the other two are single. Mrs. Washington appears much older than when I saw her last at Philadelphia, but her countenance very little wrinkled and remarkably fair for a person of her years. She conversed with great ease and familiarity, and appeared as much rejoiced at receiving our visit as if we had been of her nearest connections. She regretted that we had not arrived. sooner, for she always breakfasted at seven, but our breakfast would be ready in a few minutes. In a short time she rose, and desired us to walk into another room, where a table was elegantly spread with ham, cold corn-beef, cold fowl, redherring, and cold mutton, the dishes ornamented with sprigs of parsley and other vegetables from the garden. At the head of the table was the tea and coffee equipage, where she seated herself, and sent the tea and coffee to the company. We were all Federalists, which evidently gave her particular pleasure. Her remarks were frequently pointed, and sometimes very sarcastic, on the new order of things and the present administration. She spoke of the election of Mr. Jefferson, whom she considered as one of the most detestable of mankind, as the greatest misfortune our country had ever experienced. Her unfriendly feelings toward him were naturally to be ex

pected, from the abuse he has offered to General Washington, while living, and to his memory since his decease. She frequently spoke of the General with great affection, viewing herself as left alone, and her life protracted, until she had become a stranger in the world. She repeatedly remarked the distinguished mercies heaven still bestowed upon her, for which she had daily cause of gratitude, but she longed for the time to follow her departed friend.

After breakfast we rambled about the house and gardens, which were not in so high a style as I expected to have found them. The house stands on an elevated level, is two stories high, with a piazza in front, supported by a row of pillars on the side toward the river, and is about five or six rods from a steep bank descending to the edge of the water. The river is wide, and affords a most delightful prospect far distant up and down the stream, as well as beyond the opposite shore. But the whole country appears to be an extended woods, with very few houses or cultivated fields in any direction. In front of the house is a grass plot, with trees on each side, and inclosed with a circular ditch. On the right is an orchard, consisting principally of large cherry and peach trees. At the bottom of this orchard, and nearly opposite the eastern end of the house, is the venerable tomb, which contains the remains of the great Washington. This precious monument was the first object of our attention. I will not attempt to describe our feelings, or the solemn gloom on every countenance, as we approached the revered mound of earth. It is the sepulcher of of the Washington family, where many of the ancestors of the General are deposited. Situated at the extremity of the grass plot, and on the edge of the bank, it is not seen until you approach near to it. The mound of earth is not much elevated, and is covered over with a growth of cypress trees, a few junipers, and near it the ever-green holly tree, which conceals it from the view until you come almost to it. The side of the steep bank to the river is covered with a thicket of forest trees in its whole extent within view of the house. The tomb opens nearly toward the river, at an upright door, which was locked, and all the stone work is covered with earth, overgrown with tall grass and these trees,