Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1854-01-14

SINoPE, THE CoAsr OF PoNTAs, IN ASIA
MMoR.-The following notice Of Sinope, where
the recent battle was fought between the Turks
and Russians, will, at the present moment, be
read with interest:
"The temples palaces and porticoes, erected
by powerful line of kings, have been levelled
with the dust. Naught remains of so much
magnifcence save dirty oriental town of
thousand wretched houses, surrounded by crum.
bling walls and lettering towers, of Byzantine
construction. Almost equally wreck is the
enormous hull of an embryo two-deeker, which
stands unlaunched on the stocks; builthere where
timber and work are cheap; never finished; al
lowed to rot Does this fact elucidate the sub
ject? Alas for Sinope.
"The ancient capital of Pontus, under that
great man Mithridates Equator, and the birth
place of that great beast Diogenos the Cynic,
originally colony ofthe Milesians, and deriving
its name from an amphibious young lady who
was the unnatural offspring of river and
town, the Asopus and Methone, after she eloped
hither with a third element, Apollo or the Sun,
shows, indeed, but few traces Of such illustr-
GUS antecedents. Many fragments of ancient
architectural art, however, such as broken
columns, mutilated cornices, and half defaced
inscriptions on architraves and sepulchral
stones, have been made use of in raising these
feeble Notifications, and they still attest what
Sinope once was; while the quarries above the
town, whence one of the calcareous beds in the
tracytic rock overlaid by black volcanic for
nation, seems to have furnished its building
material, tell an eloquent tale of its sudden
downfall, for large blocks lie there hewn and
ready for removal some sculptured, and some
actually on their way to the city. We saw,
also, the picturesque ruins of an acqueduct,
designed by Pliny the Younger to supply the
Sinopians with good water from distance of
distinguished under the sea- enclosing con-
siderable space along the shore, and leaving
only narrow entrance for galleys, but many
of the great square stones composing it have
been worn and displaced by the action of the
waves, with the aid of that universal destroyer,
Time"
HARD TINES ON PARNAssUs.-Some time
ago, one Mr.. Latham, gentleman living in
Washington, having more money than he knew
what to do with, on being moved by pure love
of divine poesy, organized grand Pegasian
scrub race, with a sweep stake of $500 to the
winning man. In other words, he proposed to
pay that sum to the happy author of the best ma
tional ode. He hired a committee to pass judg
ment upon the metrical mass, and to pick out
the prettiest awe say hired, for we fancy nobody
would undertake such job as that, without
sticking for handsome pay. Upon this an
nouncement, every hunger-btten son of the
Muses. entered the list with enthusiasm. The
inspiration was very tremendous and very
general. Five hundred sweet singers threw
themselves at once into the pangs Of parturi-
ton. Five hundred votaries Of the Tyre sent
five hundred odes to Washington, and every
addle pated thrummer among them thought his
"poem' superior to "Alexander's feast"
Such was the beginning but very dolefnl
has been the result. Wordsworth says, that
poets start in gladness and end in Madness
and very mad these poets will be to hear the
result Of the contest. Not more wrathy than
they will be was Pindar, when the judges gave
the medal to Sappho, and the grumbling old
lyrist complained that he was beaten by a
pretty face. Poets are unfortunate-th
doom is very predestinate. The committee
having attended to the duty assigned them,
beg leave respectfully to report that not one
of the FIVE hundred odes is worth brass far
thing, and they respectfully advise Mr.. Latham
not to pay out good money for bad article.
We are horror-struck to learn that Mr.. Latham,
not content with causing these "odes" to be
written, to the manifest spelling of much good
paper, now threatens to print the whole FIVE hun
dred in volume! This is carrying a joke al
together too far, and we hope some Christian
member of Congress will at once bring in a
bill for the suppression, by law, of this impend-
ing national nuisance.-NeW Bed ford Mercury.