land carriage. Lake Erie is three hundred miles long, and ninety broad, and communicates with Lake Huron and Lake Michigan'; the former one thousand miles in circumference, the latter not quite so large. Many noble rivers fall into these lakes, after having watered immense tracts of country in various directions, and supplied the means of communication to a vast distance. From Presqu'isle, across Lake Erie to the Falls of Niagara, where nine miles must be passed over land, the navigation of Lake Ontario, and the great river St. Lawrence, is opened on one side; and on the other, that of Lake Superior, by a still shorter land passage, at the Falls of St. Mary. This last lake is fifteen hundred miles in circumference, and is supplied by forty rivers. Beyond this, the water communication extends to a prodigious distance, through the Lake of the Woods to Lake Winnipeg, which is still larger than that of Lake Superior. Compared with these, what are the lakes and rivers of the old world?-But how I have wandered from Washington. It is time to return

to it.

The city is laid out on a neck of land, enclosed between the Eastern Branch and the main stream of the Patowmac; a territory called Columbia, subject to congress only. A magnificent plan was drawn by Monsieur L'Enfant, a Frenchman, and approved; but so few parts of it are yet finished, and so many trees remain growing within the boundaries,

boundaries, that it has more the appearance of a number of villages, scattered in a wood, than one great city.

According to Monsieur L'Enfant's plan, it is intended to be divided into squares, or grand divisions, by streets running from north to south, intersected by others from east to west. Besides these, are very broad streets or avenues, running from some of the most important squares and public buildings, in an oblique direction, which produce a variety of fine prospects. These avenues are bordered with broad gravel walks, planted with trees, and are named after the states of the union. The squares are very numerous, and are designed for the reception of statues, columns, or other memorials of heroes and memorable transactions.

use.

The houses are all to be of brick or stone, though some wooden ones have been erected for present Near the centre, on an eminence, stands the Capitol, commanding a complete view of the city and adjacent country. It contains spacious apartments for the accommodation of the congress, and public offices for the executive department of the government, with the courts of justice, &c. Near it is a fine statue of that great man, General Washington, on horseback.

The house designed for the president is a handsome stone edifice, in which the principal apartment is of an oval form. Between this building and the Capitol is erected a large hotel, which is

brick, ornamented with stone. Two fine malls, intended to be embellished by a variety of elegant buildings, run from the Capitol to the president's house, till they meet on the banks of the river, where they terminate. Places are marked out for many more noble, useful public buildings, but few of them are begun. There is to be a marine hospital, a general exchange, a city hall, churches, colleges, market-houses, theatres, public walks and gardens. Two streams, Reedy Branch and the Tiber, run through the city, and will supply the inhabitants amply with water.

It is impossible to survey the incomplete beginnings of this great city, possessing so many advantages, without a warm wish, that at some future period it may arise to that eminence that is adapted to the head of an extensive empire; and that it may become the seat of arts, learning, and virtue. About a mile from Washington stands George Town, a place of considerable trade, having a small college for catholics.

We went by water to Alexandria, another town, seven miles lower down the river, and had a charming row through a pleasing succession of small hills and beautiful valleys, intersected with streams, the banks of which are adorned with clumps of trees and pleasure-grounds.

Alexandria is one of the most elegant towns in the United States. It stands on a small plain; the streets cross each other; and spacious squares add

to

to its beauty, convenience, and healthiness. The houses are chiefly built of brick, and the large, commodious quays are lined with houses and stores: for this town rivals Washington in trade; exporting the produce of the back settlements to the West Indies, and even to Europe.

Having written a longer letter than I intended, I hasten to conclude, and assure you that I am. sincerely your's,

HENRY FRANKLIN.

LETTER V.

Arthur Middleton to his Brother Edwin.

DEAR BROTHER,

Washington.

THE Falls of the Patowmac, a few miles from this city, were too attractive to be neglected. The smaller falls do not deserve the name of a cataract; but they cause such an obstruction to navigation, that a canal, a mile and a half long, has been cut to remedy the inconvenience. Above these falls, at a place where the river is confined between mountains, a passage over it is formed by a grand bridge of one arch, an hundred and twenty feet wide. The navigation at the Great Falls is made easy by a canal with ten locks, where the C6

water

water rushes down with tremendous impetuosity, over a ledge of rocks, in several different cataracts, winding afterwards, with great velocity, along the bottom of the precipices, whose rocky crags are so intermixed with trees as to produce a beautiful effect. From want of other materials, or because they are at hand, the people in the neighbourhood build their cottages with fragments of these rocks.

:

A gentleman at Alexandria furnished us with borses, and accompanied us to Mount Vernon, the seat of the late General Washington; an object of curiosity to those who revere his memory. It stands nine miles from Alexandria, on the banks of the river; but we were obliged to make a larger circuit by land, on account of the numerous creeks that fall into the Patowmac. We got into the midst of a thick wood, where several roads cross each other unfortunately, we took a wrong one; it began to grow dark; and the weather, which had been sultry hot in the day, became very cold, a sudden alteration that is frequent in this climate. Thus uncomfortably situated, we knew not what to do, as we dreaded passing the night in this solitary forest. After wandering about two or three hours, I espied a glimmering light through the trees. This raised our hopes. We made up to it, and found it proceeded from a small farm-house, where one of the family was sick: we gained an entrance, and related our forlorn circumstances.

The