Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1831-01-29
RICHMOND, Va. Jan. 1881.


unlass a reasonable consideration should induce
me to continue; and in this resolution l am as
..stifnecked'' as any child of Israel, ana erect
as statue.
Speakipg of statues, reminds me OF one at ka-
]eiub. which is not erect.-General washington
clad in the tosa and mantle OF some hundred
years gone by. looking as if sitting TO Harding
10, his portrait. The artist has amaigamated
fashions in manner suited to t1s politics OF tne
times, in clothing the aIegoricaf figures which
cover the sides of the tablet on which the main
FIGURE is seated; having given them the tight mill
tary coat of the present day aud affixed thereto
the flowing mantle of the Roman Senator. SO
that thew bear Aattering resemblance to corps
of Revolutionary Cowboys. who have robbed
some peDtlewomen's wardrobe and decamped
with the sheets and shawls on their backs. The
face of the statue bears the same likeness to
STARTS picture of Washington, that John Kan
dolph's sharp visage does to the Moon at her ull.
The Statue is beautiful specimen OF art done
by Canova.
Your Boston Statue is nothing to boast OF, al
though the face is better and the legs are not
quite so bare. Chautry had more thought OF the
climate, and gave him wrapper with g. more
length of tail behind" so that, although 1t eX-
cites chilling sensation, it does not create fe-
vers and agues in accidental passers by.
TO my humble apprehension, there Is no force
in the objection which statuaries and vertu-o
people make to the costume of our day: and tho
it will not do to tell the public but between our
selves, believe it to be little better than affec-
tation. Why is it not as easy to chisel out leg
with silk stocking and knee buckles. as to make
men more naked than ditch diggers. Whatever
Washington may have been, the magnates OF the
present day have become particularly notorious
for not erposing themselves. While statues OF
Apollo, and other gentlemen of his day, may
do very we'll in flowing garments, corporations
which wish to honor the memory OF our greatest
and best man. should not purchase statues which
are sure to make the ''groundings laugh" by Its
approximate to caricature.
III the capitol at Richmond, there is also
Statue of Washington. which, as specimen OF
stone cutting. is no mOreto be compared with the
two have mentioned, than 60 | to Hercules"
but it is viewed with infinitely more satisfaction
at least bv all whose taste has not been perverted
bv foreign travel for the simple reason, that 1t Is
like the thing intended to be represented. 1t
is neither Grecian, nor an Indian wrapped
in blanket; but plain General Washington,
with wig and queue, old fashioned military
coat and epaulettes, with pocket-faps on his vest
big enough to make toga like that at Raleigh.
with boots and spurs, a cane in one hand, and
the other resting upon plough. The portrait Is
the best of the three. 1t was done more than
forty years since BY Houdon, an eminent French
artist, who took cast from Washington's face.
1t is very stiff and awkward figure, but 1t has
the appearance of very respectable gentleman
of the old school; and that our first President
was such man, will hardly be questioned, even
by the mighty successor who is not attempting
- To-
amples he left.--Bosf. Cour.
-esss9easps-
We finished last evening the perusal of Moore's
second volume of Notices Of Byron's Lifs-hav
ing read the whole with great attention. We
have found no cause to qualify the general and
sincere opinions of the book, which we expressed
Yesterday. The last thirds certainly more worthy
of interest than the others; but the essence and
impress are the same. Byron's sentiments con,
corning the poetry OF the present age, compared
with that Of Pope and his era and schoo-n re-
lation to the character of the Italians and their
society-and upon the modern Greeks, possess
more value than any thing else in the massive oc-
tavo. AS moralist, and interpreter of human
nature, the biographer is deficient in moral sense,
true principle, and strength or depth of judgment.
He loses himself in maze of losses and sophis-
tical apologies. five should take as criterion
for the character of the suppressed passages in the
correspondence, that of the printed context, they
must be infinitely reprehensible A newspaper,
however. is not the vehicle for particular criti
cism of such work and lifc;---we shall, there
fore. merely note some Of ByrOn's sentences, as
curious. -NaiiOnm Gazette.
Sin Arcadia, saw the pastors with long mus
ket, instead of crook, and pistols in their Cir
dies '-sThe English can't waltZ-never could
never will" ID should, many good day,
have blown my brains out but for the recoIec-
ton that it would have given pleasure to my mo-
tber-n-Iaw; and even then. if | could have been
certain to haunt her, and fling the shattered
scalp of my sinciput, and occiput in her frghtful
face
"With regard to poetry in general am con-
WINGED. the more think Of it, that he and all of
us-Scott, Southey, Wordsworth, Moore, Camp
bell. I.-are all in the wrong, one as much as an
other; that we are upon a wrong revolutionary
poetcaI system, or systems, not worth damn in
itself. and from which none but Rogers and Crab
be are free; and that the present and next gener:
atoms will finally be of this opinion. am the
more confirmed in this by having lately gone over
e II. L