ry Clay, the great
American statesman. General Combe gave us a letter of introduction to
Mr. James B. Clay, his eldest son, who is the present proprietor of the
"location." The house is very prettily "fixed up," to use another
American phrase; but we were disappointed with the 200 acres of park,
which Lord Morpeth, who passed a week at Ashland, is said to extol as
being like an English one. We saw nothing, either of the "locust
cypress, cedar, and other rare trees, with the rose, the jasmine, and
the ivy, clambering about them," which the handbook beautifully
describes. The fact is, the Americans, as I have before observed, have
not the slightest idea of a garden; and on papa's venturing to insinuate
this to Mr. Clay, he admitted it, and ascribed it to its undoubted
cause, the expense of labour in this country.

From Ashland we went to what is really a Kentucky sight, the Fair
Ground. On an eminence at about a mile from the town, surrounded by
beautiful green pastures, there stands a large amphitheatre, capable of
holding conveniently 12,000 spectators. In the centre is a large grass
area, where the annual cattle show is held, and when filled it must be a
remarkable sight. From this we went to the Cemetery, which, like all
others in this country, is neatly laid out, and kept in very good order.
The grave-stones and monuments are invariably of beautiful white marble,
with the single exception of a very lofty monument which is being raised
to the memory of Mr. Clay. It is not yet finished, but to judge either
from what has been accomplished, or from a drawing papa saw of it on a
large scale, in a shop window, it is not likely to prove pretty, and
the yellowish stone of which it is being built, contrasts badly with the
white marble about it.

We went next to see a very large pen, in which there were about forty
negroes for sale; they had within the last few days, sold about 100, who
had travelled by railway chained together. Those we saw, were divided
into groups, and we went through a variety of rooms in which they were
domiciled, and were allowed to converse freely with them all. This is
one of the largest slave markets in the United States, and is the great
place from which the South is supplied. There are, in this place, five
of these pens where slaves are kept on sale, and, judging from this one,
they are very clean and comfortable. But these pens give one a much more
revolting idea of the institution than seeing the