better than any part of the one between Washington and
Baltimore, or than the Boston and Providence turnpike, as I had last
experienced it. The country through which we rode was under excellent
cultivation; the barns attached to the roadside houses were all large,
brick-built, and in the very neatest condition. The approach to
Lancaster, a fine town about forty miles from Philadelphia, was very
beautiful, and bespoke the people rich in agricultural wealth. I have
seldom seen a finer valley, or one under more careful cultivation.

The next large place we arrived at was Harrisburg, the capital of the
State of Pennsylvania: it was midnight when we reached it; but I
immediately walked to look at the State-house, where the legislature
assembles, and about which are ranged the public offices.

The mass appeared large; and the effect of the buildings with their
lofty classic porticos, viewed under the influence of a fine starlight
night, was imposing enough: the situation is well chosen, appearing like
a natural elevation in the midst of a plain, and overlooking the waters
of the Susquehannah, above whose banks the city is built.

One always feels something like disappointment on entering one of these
capitals, although previously aware that the site is selected with
regard only to the general convenience of the community, and without
reference to the probabilities of its ever becoming important for its
trade or of monstrous size. A European accustomed to seek in the capital
of a country the highest specimens of its excellence in art, and the
utmost of its refinement in literature, and indeed, in all which relates
to society, is necessarily hard to reconcile to these small rustic
cities, whose population is doubled by villages he has only heard named
for the first time whilst journeying on his way to the Liliputian
mistress of them all. As places of meeting for the legislature, I am of
those who think the smallness of the population an advantage. Firstly,
the members are freed from the expense consequent upon living in large
cities; and next, the chambers are removed from having their
deliberations overawed or impeded by any of those sudden outbreaks of
popular madness to which all people are prone, and to which the nature
of this government more immediately exposes it, without possessing any
power quickly to arrest or even control such licence.

Harrisburg is highly spoken of for the salubrity as well as the beauty
of its