LETTER X. WOODEN BRIDGE-ALEXANDRIA-EVENTS OF LAST WAR-VISIT TO MOUNT VERNON-MANSION HOUSE-WASHINGTON'S TOMB -ATTEMPT TO STEAL HIS BODY-PROPOSAL OF REMOVING IT TO THE CAPITOL-KEY OF THE BASTILE EARTHEN-WARE MINIATURE OF WASHINGTON-FORT WASHINGTON-A VIRGINIA BARBECUE. Alexandria, September, 1818. THE secluded spots where men of historical celebrity have spent their hours of rural or of literary retirement, have ever been objects of interest to the traveller. A powerful principle in our nature impels us to seek a kind of personal familiarity, with those scenes which occupied the attention of the more distinguished individuals of our race; to which they hastened for relaxation from the fatigues of public life, and where they sought and found a solace amid all its disquietudes. The Sabine farm and the Tusculan villa have awakened the enthusiasm of many a classical wanderer, and could the field be identified in which Cincinnatus was drag ged away from the unfinished furrow, to drive back destruction from his country's gate, how would the heart of the patriot bound within him as he paced its surface, and recalled the circumstances in which the unambitious Dictator returned to the plough! The classic soil of Italy it may never be my favoured lot to tread; but America can boast of a hero second to none of Greek or Roman fame, and who could land upon its shores without the eager desire to visit Mount Vernon? This beautiful spot is about ten miles below Alexandria, on the banks of the Potowmak. In leaving the Federal city the traveller crosses the main branch of the river by a wooden bridge, very nearly a mile in length. This is a simpler erection than the bridges over the Schuylkill; it has no roof, and consists of a floor of planks, supported upon piles, and level from end to end. A portion of it suspended in the form of a drawbridge at the deepest part of the channel, admits of the passage of vessels up or down the river. There is a similar bridge of very nearly the same dimensions, across the Cayuga lake, in the upper part of the State of New York. These prodigious structures may be mentioned as proofs, among many others, of the enterprize and perseverance which are essential ingredients in the national character. The country between Washington and Alexandria is similar to that around the capital. The surface of the ground in the neighbourhood of the river is agreeably diversified with woods, meadows, and sloping inequalities; but the soil, wherever it has been broken up, seems to consist principally of light sand and gravel. Alexandria, seven miles from Washington, is a commercial town of considerable activity, containing about nine thousand inhabitants. The harbour is capacious, and vessels of the largest size can float alongside the wharfs. The town is compactly built, on the plan of Philadelphia; the streets are wide, well paved, and better lighted at night than those of most American towns. The principal articles of export are flour, biscuits, and tobacco. It is said that 200,000 barrels of flour have been inspected here in the course of a single year. The biscuits, or crackers as they are universally called, are quite celebrated, and are shipped in large quantities to all parts of the United States, and even to the West India islands. The principal manufacturers are two worthy countrymen of ours; one of whom served his apprenticeship in a well known baker's shop at the foot of the burn close,' in our native city. It is quite gratifying to meet with a townsman when one is so far from home, and this pleasure I have unexpectedly enjoyed more than once. In Baltimore I became acquainted with an old gentleman, now a marble cutter, who wrought as a mason at the erection of Spreull's land,' and who could talk to me of several individuals whom I intimately knew. One of the cracker bakers was rather unceremoniously used, by some of the British ships of war which went up the Potowmak to Alexandria, to 1A land is the Scotish appellation for a tenement which accommodates several families under one roof. |