Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1842-09-09

of the rooms were composed exclusively of
wooden panels, upon which hung some old
oil paintings of merit, -engravings of Naval
actions between the English and the Dutch,
and the French and a small enamel mina-
ture, which is considered the best likeness
extant of Washington. Curiosites Of vari-
Gus kinds covered the shelves and the man
ties, and the painted porcclains aud china
jars, stood in stately display behind the glass
doors of the old fashioned beauflits in the
corners.
Our attention was arrested for moment,
as we passed through one Of the rooms, by
large rusty key of iron enclosed in glass
case. 1t was the Key of the Bastie, that
Internal prison, monument of centuries of
grinding cruelty and oppression, when men
vanished, and were seen no more Of their
day and generation, where, by the intrigues
of the courter, the subtle Establishments of
the miuon of the palace, letters de cachet
| plunged equally the innocent, the imprudent
and the generous into the jaws of living
death, that accurscd congere of dungeons
where from amid fellowship of rats and
spiders, such scraps of soilcd paper, written
in the blood Of the poor prisoner, lluuering
from loophole in its lofty towers, arrests
the footstep of,he casual passenger upon the
causeway
"Mases de Latude Mirfy-t,ro years pris-
oncr in the Bastile, implores good christians
to intercede for him, so that he may once
more embrace his poor old father and moth
er, if they yet live, and die in the open
world"
Surely, nothing but the hallowed air of
Mount Vernon could have prevented the
Prince of Darkness from bodily carrying off
so precious gem for his cabinet One
side of the great drawing room was orna-
mented with a highly sculpturcd mantle in
Italian marble, presented by Lafayette, the
other was covered with cases containing
books of high toned selection, while from
the third its gren silk curtain drawn aside,
was suspended portrait of the present fam
lily, by Chapman. The figures Of the por-
trait as large as life, presented lady of mid
die age, clad in mourning, surrounded by
group of children advanced into youth. 1t
is well executed, and in the dgni6ed and
saddened serenity, in the simple and natural
grouping, and the pure and unaffected ex-
preston of the countenance, an American
in any part of the world, would have at once
HiOup VI tHC hio'c
lcctual and refined of his own country. As
we walked through the various rooms, from
which the family had withdrawn, we were so
overcome with the illusion, the work basket
with It's scissors and thrcad-the hall-open-
ed book lying upon the table, the large BIZ
BILE conspicuously, not ostentatiously, IN its
place, the portraits on the walls, the busts
on their pedes,als, all causing such vivid
impression of present life and being, that
we almost expected to see the towering form
of the General entering the doorway, or
passing over the green lawn spread between
us and that Potomac which he had so often
viewed from the same windows. We were
at first disappointed at not seeing in some
} conspicuous place that sword, which had
! so often been extended by the hand whose
pulses quickened not in the hour OF eXtrem-
est peril, as it marshalled the road of human
liberty; but our disappointment turned to
admiration, and our hearts beat still higher,
5 as we referred 10, aud read this clause in his
last testament
: "To each Of my four nephews, bequeath
: one of the swords of which may die possess
: ed These swords are accompanied with
the Injunction not to unsheath them for the
l purpose of shedding blood, except it be ior
' selt-deience, or in defence of their country
and its rights and III the latter case to keep
: them nnsheathed, aud prefer falling with
= them in their hands TO the REIMBURSEMENT
thereof"
! Passing through the great hall, ornament
2 ed with pictures of English hunting scenes
1 we assembled the oaken staircase, with ii:
] carved and antique balustrade. We stood
= at the door-we pressed the handle-thC
: room and the bed where he died were before
a us. Nothing in the lofty drama of his eXis
c tence surpassed the grandeur of that iina
. scene. The cold which he had taken from
! exposure, in overseeing some part of hi
n grounds, aud which resisted the earlier do
, nestle remedies that were applied, advanced
D in the course of two short days into tina
: frightGul iorp of the disease of the throat
: LaryngitiS. 1t became necessary for hin
n to take to his bed. His valued friend, DIR
Craik, was instantly summoned, and assist
c ed by the best medical skill of the surround
+ ing country, exhausted all the means of hi!
G art, without afiording him relief He pa
C tently submitted though in great distress
d to the various remedies proposed, but IT be
+ came evident from the deep gloom setting
d upon the countenances of the medical gen
+ temen, that the case was hopeless. Advan
/ cling insidiously, the disease had fastened it
e self with deadly certainty. Looking will
i perfect calmness upon the sobbing grouI
}, around him, he said-"Grieve not, m.
d friends-t is as anticipated from the frs
y the debt which we all owe is now abou
, to be paid am resigned to the event.
e Requesting Mrs. Washington to bring hin
J. two wills from his escritore, he directed on
a 10 hn hnrnnh and nlacnh tho other in he