Memoirs of Anne C.L. Botta,: written by her friends. With selections from her correspondence and from her writings in prose and poetry.

Selecttons from ber Mrtttn0o
vation and nobility of character, that circumstances could no
more give than they could take away,-the possession of all these
qualities rendered her fit to be the mother of such a son. Hav ing been separated from her during the whole period of the war,
after the surrender at Yorktown, he hastened to join her at Fred ericksburg. She received him with that calm approval that
expressed no surprise at his splendid career, but which conveyed
the far higher praise of his having only fulfilled her expectations.
Lafayette said of the mother of Washington, that she belonged
to the Roman matrons of the best days of the republic. On his
first presentation to her, he found her in her morning-dress attending the flowers in her garden; but with the air of one conscious
that her dignity did not depend on her garments, she advanced
to meet him, and said: "Marquis, I wish not to pay you the
poor compliment of making my toilet before I bid you welcome
to my house."
The public buildings, of course, constitute one of the most
important external features of Washington; and it is to be regretted, as much on the score of convenience as of effect, that
they are so scattered and often on such ill-chosen sites. Through
a wholly mistaken economy, the Capitol and almost all the public edifices are built of a sandstone found in the vicinity, which
is incapable of resisting the action of the atmosphere, and the
cost of the paint required to preserve it equals that of erecting
new walls every thirty years. The error has been at last perceived, and the wings to the Patent Office, and the additions to
the Capitol now being erected, are of pure white marble.
As the public taste improves, more liberal ideas direct the
legislation which has hitherto seemed to reverse the principle
that prevailed in the republics of Greece and Rome, where, according to Gibbon, " the modest simplicity of private houses
announced the equal condition of freemen; while the sovereignty
of the people was represented in the majestic edifices destined for
public use." One of our own writers on this subject says: "With
us it is the people alone whose sovereignty is constant and unchangeable. But what manifestation have we of their power,
written in that eternal alphabet of stone and marble, which has
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