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

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General Washington, and afterward deputy adjutant-general under General Gates. He early resolved to cultivate his talents for
painting in order that he might become the delineator of the
heroic scenes in which he took part. After the close of the war
he continued his studies abroad; and on his return, he visited
various parts of the country from New Hampshire to Carolina,
and completed his collection of portraits and views of places.
In i8i6 Congress passed a resolution authorizing him to paint
the four pictures that adorn the walls of the Rotunda, and which
are the Declaration of Independence, the Surrender of Burgoyne,
the Surrender of Cornwallis, and the Resignation of Washington.
The heads in these pictures are mostly from life. There are
besides these, three other pictures: the Embarkation of the Pilgrims, by Weir; the Baptism of Pocahontas, by Chapman; and
the Landing of Columbus, by Vanderlyn.
The House of Representatives, occupying the south wing of the
Capitol, has the distinction of being the most badly constructed
hall for public speaking known in any country. At certain
points, a whisper scarcely audible to the ear into which it is
breathed, is distinctly heard at some remote extremity, while, at
others, the voice of the loudest speaker seems lost in vacuum.
Political and other secrets are thus discovered, and eloquence is
often wasted on the empty air. The hall is built in the form of the
ancient Grecian theater, with the dome, which is sixty feet in
height, supported by columns of variegated marble. Above the
speaker's chair is a colossal figure of Liberty, and in front ard immediately over the entrance is a beautiful statue in marble, representing History, in a winged car, traversing the globe, on
which are figured the signs of the zodiac, and the wheel of the
car constitutes the face of a clock. The whole design is full of
significance, the visible personification of a great truth. While
the hours roll on, History, in her winged car, is indeed there to
record the thoughts that are uttered, and to bear them over the
world that listens for them anxiously, but with hope and faith.
The Senate Chamber, which is in the north wing of the Capitol, is poor and meager in design, and although in some respects
similar to the House of Representatives, is of much smaller di 423
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