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).

[From Rev. Dr. Dana to Dr. Cutler.] IPSWICH, MASS., Dec. 22, 1801. I think much, and with sincere sympathy, of the disagreeables of a situation where such a strong tide seems to be against you. But I trust that gracious Heaven will never cease to strengthen your heart, and the hearts of all your virtuous companions, and carry you safe. There is yet a great part to be acted for our country, and the sense of an enlightened and virtuous minority, expressed according to the solemnity of the occasion, if it does not prevail within doors, may without.

The message, I think, must have confirmed all the preceding apprehensions. I hope it will arrest the attention of every thinking American. It is indeed very plausible, and will be flattering to many. There is a weak side, by which many are exposed, that whoever holds up the idea of great reforms, great economy, and a lightening of their burdens, may too easily run away with them. Your friend and brother,

J. DANA.

JOURNAL.

Jan. 1, 1802, Friday. Although the President has no levees, a number of Federalists agreed to go from the Capitol in coaches to the President's house, and wait upon him, with the compliments of the season. We were received with politeness, entertained with cake and wine. The mammoth cheese having been pre

* When Jefferson was chosen President, Elder John Leland proposed that his flock should celebrate the victory by making for the new Chief Magistrate the biggest cheese the world had ever seen. Every man and woman who owned a cow was to give for this cheese all the milk yielded on a certain day-only no Federal cow must contribute a drop. A huge cider-press was fitted up to make it in, and on the appointed day the whole country turned out with pails and tubs of curd, the girls and women in their best gowns and ribbons, and the men in their Sunday coats and clean shirt-collars. The cheese was put to press with prayer, and hymn-singing, and great solemnity. When it was well dried it weighed 1,600 pounds. It was placed on a sleigh, and Elder John Leland drove with it all the way to Washington. It was a journey of three weeks. All the country had heard of the big cheese, and came out to look at it as the Elder drove along.

sented this morning, the President invited us to go, as he expressed it, "To the mammoth room and see the mammoth cheese." There we viewed this monument of human weakness and folly as long as we pleased, then returned. After taking an early dinner eight of us set out for Mt. VernonMr. Hillhouse, Mr. Davenport, Mr. Smith, General Mattoon, Mr. Perkins, Colonel Tallmadge, Mr. Goddard, and myself. We went in the ferry-boat to Alexandria, and lodged at Gadsby's hotel. This is said to be the first public house in America, and equal to most in Europe. We supped on canvas-back ducks.

.

Jan. 2, Saturday. Set out for Mt. Vernon in two coaches. at seven, arrived at nine. We were cordially received and politely entertained by Mrs. Washington. After breakfast we rambled over the gardens, shrubberies, etc. She urged us to stay and dine, but we returned, and dined at Gadsby's, and came home in the evening. In a letter to his daughter Doctor Cutler writes of this visit: "We left this city about one (eight of us in number); it being a perfect calm, we did not arrive at Alexandria until some time in the evening. Two coaches were ordered to be ready at six in the morning, with the view of arriving at Mt. Vernon at eight, sufficiently early to breakfast with Madam Washington. We rose at four, and were dressed for our visit before the daylight appeared, but by an unfortunate blunder in the servants the coaches were not at the door until almost seven. The distance is only nine miles, which might then have been traveled in season, had not the road proved amazingly bad, and our horses still worse. We did not arrive until after ten. After leaving Alexandria about three miles, we entered a woodland, which continued, with the exception of a few openings of cultivated fields, until we came within about a quarter of a mile of the mansion-house on Mt. Vernon. As the road goes out of the woods, which consist of tall and beautiful forests, variegated with all the different kinds of trees, native in this part of the country, it passes by a gate, where we leave the road and pass through the gate nearly at right-angles, and enter an open pasture. On passing through the gate, which stands on an eminence, we at once, and very abruptly, come

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.

Mrs.

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. 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 scated 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,