person, and are chiefly composed of one erection. The rooms and refectories, which are in common, are large and imposing, but every thing else is on a most confined scale. Rumor had said, as we came along, that the place was over full; and our anxious lest they should be rejected. One of them, on inquiry, found that, as a favor, he night be one of five to share a small sleeping chamber.

tures, which charm the eye and regale the spirits. It is not, indeed, as if you saw one human face divine, which appears, and is gone, but will never be forgotten; but it is as if you had interviews in succession with a multitude of faces, intelligent, noble, and smiling, which, by their kind and friendly as-party, after coming so many hundred miles, were pect, made the day among the most pleasant of your life. In descending into the gorges of the hills, you find all that is wild, and dark, and solitary; and at the fall of day you may hear the baying of the wolf, and see the rude huntsman go forth to encounter the bear; still, this is not the cha- | racter of these regions. It is that of elevated cheerfulness. I attribute this principally to two causes. First, that the forest is nowhere on a level; it runs along the sides of the mountains in galleries bathed in the light of heaven, and while it towers over you on the one side, it leaves the more distant prospect on the other side always open to the eye. The second is, that at the feet of these majestic trees, the oak, the pine, the cedar, the beech, and the tulip, you find such an astonishing supply of the finest shrubs and flowers. The laurel, the sumach, the dog-wood, the rhododendron, the cranberry, the whortleberry, and the strawberry; the rose, the marigold, and the campanula, with a thousand wild plants and flowers, were all here, and gave a wonderful freshness and sweetness to the scene. It has all the grandeur of the forest, with all the beauty of the garden.

While many were so eager to enter this temple of health and happiness, those who had established themselves did not impress you with the value of their acquisition. There were about sixty men under the verandas, picking their teeth, crossing their legs, scratching their heads, yawning, spitting; deep in the blues, if appearances did not wholly deceive me. There is a good deal of gambling and dissipation here; and dissipation, whatever may be its buoyancy and brilliancy at night, is a meagre, and cadaverous, and chapfallen thing in the light of morning. This, too, was aggravated, for the morning was wet; and a place devoted to gayety has, of all places, an air of sadness in bad weather. I was not sorry that I was going forward. I tasted the waters; saw Mr. Clay; and then joined the coach.

We took up three passengers here, and did not improve by the exchange; they were young men, and all of them, I fear, deeply versed in sin. One, a disappointed lover, and seeking his cure in dissiThis delightful day's ride had not the most plea-pation; the others, of good connections and better sant close. We arrived at Lewisburg late in the taught, but flippant in infidelity, disrespectful of evening, and as all were more or less weary, we others, and shameless for themselves. All were were eager in our inquiries after beds. It soon ap- pursuing pleasure in the gratification of their paspeared that the court was in session here; and this sions, and were mortified to find themselves still gave us some alarm. On going into the bar-room | displeased and miserable. Two of them, I could of our inn, I saw two men fast asleep in a large learn, were a living sorrow to their parents. 1 box, and undisturbed by all the noise of our arrival; made the best of my situation; and received, at this was sull more ominous. I hastened to require, parting, an apology from one of them, who, in the as I always did, a single-bedded room, hardly hoping midst of his freedoms, still wished to have the reto obtain it. The landlord assured me he could not putation of a gentleman. accommodate me. I begged to see what accommodation he could offer. He took me to a room with five or six beds in it; there was one bed unoccupied, which he assured me I should have to myself; the others had already an occupant each, and they were liable, if necessary, to have another person introduced to them. This kind of room is deemed common; and the guest who cannot find a bed to himself, seeks to participate with some other party; so that it is not very uncommon for the man who went quietly to sleep in sole possession of his couch, to find, on waking, that he has acquired a companion. I turned away from the spectacle, and expressed my resolution to sit up till the coach started, My landlord, seeing me firm, disappeared to make Early in the evening we came to a cottage, which, some arrangements, and then returned to say that because it receives the few persons who travel this he was able to let me have a double-bedded room, road, is called an inn. It has the appearance of a if I would not object that one of my companions by private dwelling, which is so little used, that no the stage should occupy the second bed; might pathway is worn to it across the verdant sod; and rely on it we should have it quite to ourselves. I you are received into the bosom of the family with consented to this; but as the good landlord was a pleasant confidence. The dwelling was respect evidently much pressed, I chose to place my reliable and clean; its fore-court made cheerful by the ance on having the key on the right side of the door. To such an arrangement I had been obliged to yield twice before: but generally, even in these unfrequented regions, you may procure the luxury of a private chamber.

If inconveniences arose at these houses, they were, as we travelled, of very brief duration. We started again at daylight on our way to Lexington, in Virginia. Most of our company, however, were to part from the conveyance at the White Sulphur Springs, and it was still the early morning when we reached them. These springs are finely situated, and are among the most popular in the States. The accommodations here are all provided by one

My attention, however, was still engaged with the delightful scenery; and had the weather allowed, I should have suffered no deduction on the part of my company. We were still among the mountains, and quickly, on leaving the springs, began to ascend them. These are, I believe, strictly of the Allegany family; but they are not so considerable as the Sewell mountains which we had passed. The scenery was very similar to that of yesterday; if any thing, it is even more picturesque, and is greatly assisted in its effect by the Jackson river. The lover of nature might spend weeks here, and still lament that he had not weeks and months to spend.

beautiful althea ard other flowers. I secured a parlour, which had a very comfortable bed in it; and was gratified with the prospect of something like a night's rest.

Tea or supper, as you choose to call it, was prepared for us. The husband and wife took the ends of the table, and the daughter waited as occasion required. All was plain; but all was good, and there was an abundance of it; fowl, bacon, cornbread, hot wheaten bread, bilberry-tart, honey, milk, and coffee. But the young men had a quarrel with it. It was a temperance house, and there was no mint-julap, nor spirits, nor wine of any kind, to be had; nor, in fact, any chance of sport or mis

you one of the richest and most lovely valleys which this vast country boasts. You look opposite to you, and the great and prominent mountains just break away so as to form the foreground to a yet more distant prospect, which is bathed in sunlight and in mist, promising to be equal to any thing you see. Everywhere, above, around, beneath, was the great, the beautiful, the interminable The forest had often surrounded and overwhelmed me; I had never before such command of it. In a State so long settled, I had expected to see comparatively little of it: but there it was, spreading itself all around like a dark green ocean, and on which the spots that were cleared and cultivated, only stood out like sunny islets which adorned its bosom.

With a good bed, a weary body, a room to myself, and the key turned on it, I had the prospect of a refreshing sleep; but I was to be again disap-forest. Nothing impressed me so much as this. pointed. Just as I was sinking into unconsciousness, I was assailed by all sorts of scratching, tumbling, squeaking noises; which were renewed from time to time, till my summons came to join the coach. I soon found that the disturbance was in the chimney; and afterward discovered, that the whole of it, from the floor upwards, was sacred to the house-swallow, and that many hundreds had made a lodgment in it. Some of these lodgings must have been insecure, and have given way, to have created all this annoyance. I did not wish the innocent things to be dispossessed; but perhaps I had a passing wish that their dwellings had been more lasting-were it only by a single day.

On the whole, I had, as you will see, been travelling for three days over most delightful country. For 160 miles you pass through a gallery of pictures most exquisite, most varied, most beautiful. The ride will not suffer in comparison with a run along the finest portions of the Rhine, or our own drive from Shrewsbury to Bangor. It is often indeed compared with Switzerland; but that is foolish; the best scenery in that land is of another and a higher class. I was not at all aware that I should be thus gratified; and therefore perhaps had the more gratification. I am thankful that I have seen it; and for the same reasons that I am thankful to have seen something of the west; because they contribute greatly to form just conceptions of America.

Before I dismiss this portion of my excursion, let me observe, that there is an excellent road recently cut over this mountain, and into Lexington. It embraces altogether an extent of forty miles, and is no small achievement; and the praise of it is due to the spirited inhabitants of the town. Perhaps I should not say this without referring to the share the Government takes in it. If, generally, a plan for local improvement is acceptable to the government, it agrees to take two-fifths of the responsibility, while the residents take the remaining threefifths. The government also receives its proportion of the profits; and these profits replenish a fund for general improvement. I have frequently referred to the roads, and with complaint; but let me not be misunderstood. It is true that many of them are very bad, and bring much suffering to the traveller; but the real wonder is, that, under all circumstances, they are so good and so numerous. Never, in any other country, was there so much done in so short a period. Rail-roads and steamboats are now come to their help, and perhaps to their salvation; for certainly it has not been sufficiently considered, that it is a source of national weakness, and not of strength, to have a spare population scattered over an immense territory.

We had not more than about twenty miles to reach Lexington; but still, as the custom is, we started very early. This distance was to be filled in mostly by the ascent and descent of the North mountain, which stands at the head of the western valley of Virginia. I was led to expect that the scenery was first rate; and I took my seat with a civil driver, in order to command it. Every thing in the approach to this mountain is beautiful; as you ascend it, it becomes grand; and when you come to the highest parts of the passage, you have indeed a most commanding station. The morning would have been deemed unfavorable; yet it as sisted you with such a picture as you can seldom see, and as you most desire to see. The atmosphere was heavy and humid, and threatened rain; but the eye could reach over the whole mountain scenery. The thick mists of the night found no sun to exhale them; and they lay on all the valleys like a sea of sleeping waters. The breasts of the mountains rose above these mists, and appeared like so many rocky islands; while the lighter inists, attenuated by the mountain breeze, floated gracefully about their heads. It was very peculiar and fascinating; and reminded me very pleasantly of my last visit to Snowden, which at break of day was in a similar condition. I had wished that before we began our descent, the sun might rise on this world of vapors, and present to one all those bewitching forms of unearthly, aerial, and ever changing beauty, which entranced us in Wales; but instead of this, the mists thickened into rain, and hid much of what we had seen from our sight. Let me observe, however, that I had afterward an opportunity of seeing this noble picture in an opposite condition; illustrated by the presence of a powerful and glorious sun. Now every thing was About eleven o'clock in the day we drove into to be seen, and was worth seeing. The great point Lexington. Mr. Carruthers, whom I had known of sight is called the Grand Turn. It is an angular at the General Assembly, saw me as we passed, and projection from the side of the mountain, and is kindly followed the stage to the inn, to request that supplied with a low parapet of loose stones, to pro- I would consider his house my home. I had traveltect you from the precipice below. The old jagged led a week without a fair night's rest. This is the pine of the forest, which has braved the tempest great source of exhaustion here, and it is wholly age after age, stands up in its clustered grandeur the fault of the stage proprietors. With the same behind you. The lone and ravenous vulture is roads, and with the same cattle, you might go the wheeling over your head in search of prey. The same distance in the same time, and save all your broken rock-work falls away abruptly, some eighty|nights; and, of course, most of your fatigue. feet immediately beneath your standing, and then runs down in softer lines to the glens below. You look to the left, and there stand, in all their majesty, the everlasting mountains, which you have traversed one by one, and sketching on the blue sky one of the finest outlines you ever beheld. You look to the right, and there lies expanded before

LETTER XV.

MY DEAR FRIEND-I had no sooner arrived at Mr. Carruthers's than my esteemed friend, the Rev. J. Douglas, called on me. He was pastor of the Pres byterian church here, and we had formed a friend

ship when he visited England as an invalid, and | ing so. He gave out Dr. Watts's beautiful Psalm, spent some time in my family. I now expected "Show pity, Lord; O Lord, forgive," &c. They pleasure and information in his society for a short all rose immediately. They had no books, for they period. As the ensuing day was the Sabbath, he could not read; but it was printed on their memory, very considerately excused my preaching, on con- and they sang it off with freedom and feeling. dition that I would, on a following day, allow my- There is much melody in their voice; and when self to be announced for an extra service. I was they enjoy a hymn, there is a raised expression of the more obliged for this, as it would supply me the face, and an undulating motion of the body, with an opportunity of hearing, which I always keeping time with the music, which is very touching.

coveted.

One of the elders then prayed; and the other followed him, by reading and exposition of Scripture. The passage was on relative and social duties; and I could not avoid observing how it reflected on the conduct of the white, and pleaded for the poor slave. They sang again, "Come, ye that love the Lord," and with equal freedom and pleasure. The senior black, who was a preacher among them, then offered prayer, and preached. His prayer was humble and devotional. In one portion of it, he made an affecting allusion to their wrongs. "Thou knowest," said the good man, with a broken voice, "our state-that it is the meanest-that we are as mean and low as men can be. But we have sinned

On the morning of the Sabbath, I attended an interesting service at my friend's church. It was placed at the head of the town, on elevated ground, commanding a pretty view of it, and of the fine blue mountains in the distance. It had a paddock attached to it for the use of the horses during the time of worship, and there were from forty to fifty now occupying it. All the persons who came in from the vicinity came on horseback; and the horses are nearly as numerous as the people of these parts. The church has five doors, and these and all the windows were open in consequence of the heat of the weather. This created some distraction to the congregation. Besides, there were fans in motion everywhere, and small kegs full of we have forfeited all our rights to Thee-and we water, with ladles, were placed in the window-seats would submit before Thee to these marks of thy and beneath the pulpit, which were used by the displeasure." children, not only before, but during the service, He took for the text of his sermon those words, and this caught the attention of a stranger, but did "The Spirit saith, come," &c. He spoke with connot seem much to discompose the people. The gal-nection of our original distance; of the means proleries were mostly occupied by blacks. The gene- vided for our approach and redemption-of the inral attendance was good; the congregation wore a vitation as founded on these-and closed by an serious complexion; but there were not wanting earuest and well-sustained appeal to them to act on some instances of negligent and irreverent man- the gracious Invitation. "Ah, sirs!" he exclaimed, "do you ask, what it is to come? Oh, it is to know your own weakness; it is to know your own unworthiness; it is to know that you are sinners, and ready to fall into hell for your sins; it is to fly to Jesus Christ as your help and your Saviour; and to cry, 'Lord, save, or I perish!-To come! Oh, it is to fall down at his feet-to receive him as your new Master-to become new creatures--and to live a new life of faith and obedience," &c.-" O, sirs!* he continued, "that you would come! How can I persuade you to come! I have seen the good and the evil. I have seen the Christian dying, and I have seen the sinner dying." He spoke of both; and then referred to his own experience-the change religion had made in him-the happiness he had had since he knew it—the desire he had that they should be happy likewise. It was indeed a very

ners.

A recent attempt to produce a revival here had been made by an itinerant revivalist; but it had failed. I took pains to acquaint myself with it. My conclusion was, that it was a harsh and indiscreet affair; not producing even the effects it sought, and working to the disadvantage of religion, both with its friends and enemies. This was certainly Mr. Douglas's opinion.

I learned that in the afternoon there would be worship at the African Church, and I resolved to go. My obliging friend, Mr. Carruthers, attended me. The building, called a church, is without the town, and placed in a hollow, so as to be out of sight; it is, in the fullest sense," without the gate." It is a poor log-house, built by the hands of the negroes, and so placed as to show that they must worship by stealth. It is, perhaps, 20 by 25; with board-earnest and efficient appeal. ing and rails breast-high, run round three sides, so as to form galleries. To this is added a lean-to, to take the overplus, when the fine weather should admit of larger numbers. There were three small openings, besides the door and the chinks in the building, to admit light and air. The place was quite full, the women and men were arranged on opposite sides; and although on a cold or rainy day there might have been much discomfort, the impression now was very pleasing. In the presence of a powerful sun, the whole body were in strong shadow; and the light streaming through the warped and broken shingle on the glistening black faces of the people, filled the spectacle with animation. I had taken my place by the door, and was waiting the commencement.

Mr. Carruthers kindly reminded me, as he paused, that it was time to leave, if I fulfilled my intention of going to the Presbyterian Church. But I felt I could not leave before the close. I could have done so in ordinary circumstances; but I could not bring myself to do any thing that might seem disrespectful to this band of despised and oppressed Chris tians.

The other man of color followed with a spontaneous address, meant to sustain the impression. He had some conceit and forwardness in his manner, but much point in what he said. He concluded by noticing what had been doing among them lately; and by calling on those who were really concerned to come to the Saviour, to show it by occupying the anxious seat. They sang again; and, while sing By the law of the State, no colored persons are ing, some forms before the pulpit were cleared, and permitted to assemble for worship, unless a white about twelve persons knelt down at them with great person be present and preside. On this account, seriousness of manner. There was no confusion, the elders of Mr. Douglas's church attend in and the act of coming out does perhaps less vio turn, that the poor people may not lose the privi-lence to their feelings, as they are a small body, and leges they prize. At this time, two whites and two blacks were in the pulpit. One of the blacks, addressing me as their" Strange master," begged that I would take charge of the service. I declined do

are on an equality. One of the elders now took the matter into his hands, and offered prayer. Had he sought to cool down the state of feeling, it could not have been better done. But there was no need for

On leaving, we found we were too late for our first purpose; but as the Methodists were just assembling for service, I expressed a wish to unite with them. There were few persons present: not more than 150. A gentleman, one of their local preachers, took the duties of the pulpit. The services in his hands were very uninteresting. He had much conceit, poor wit, and many words; and all he said was gabbled and uttered seemingly by rote. His address abounded with such plumed and wise expressions as- -"I put it to your rationalitywhite-robed angels of light-your spirit shall fluiter before God in never-ending bliss" and "when you hear the clods of the valley tumbling on your cof-waters were high, and they ran over the horse's fin." It was a sorry affair, and in contrast with what I had just witnessed. This, however, is no specimen of the average means possessed by this people.

handsome and large apartment, about 100 feet long, 36 wide, and 26 high. Its floor is so level as to admit of dancing, and it has been used for this purpose. There is in the centre of it a large calcareous deposite, which has received the name of Paganini's Statue; the whole room is relieved by grotesque concretions; and the effect of the lights burning at every elevation, and leaving hidden more than they revealed, is exceedingly fine.

explore. You ascend the side of the hill by a zig- | yourself in what is named the Ball-room. It is a zag path of about 150 yards long, and then find yourself opposite a wooden door, which is the entrance, and having a bench, on which you rest, to get cool, or to prepare otherwise for ingress. Having passed the door, you find yourself in a small cave, which may be regarded as a lobby to the whole apartments. With raised expectations, you look about you, by the aid of the daylight, which is struggling to enter, for some openings more considerable. All that you see, however, is the mouth of what appears a dark recess about four feet square; and you are told this is your passage onward. You have no alternative, but to double yourself up into the smallest possible dimensions, and move along, after the lights of your guides, as well as you may, by the assistance of your hands.

From the Ball-room you make an ascent of 40 feet. This is named Frenchman's Hill; from the circumstance that a visiter from France, with his guide, had their lights extinguished at this spot.Happily, the guide had such an accurate knowledge of the locality, that after much difficulty, they got safely back, a distance of more than 500 feet. Having scrambled along for about twenty-five You wind your way through passages, and make a feet, you come into some larger openings, which al- descent of nearly 30 feet, by what is known as Jalow you the free use of your person. You look up-cob's Ladder, with pits and caverns opening about ward and around you, and find yourself surround-you, and come into the Senate Chamber, and aftered by the most grotesque figures, formed, through ward to Congress Hall. The last is a fine room, ages, by the percolation of the waters, through the very like the Ball-room, but with an uneven floor. heavy arches of rock-work over your head; while As you leave it, an immense cavern spreads itself the eye, glancing onward, catches the dim and dis- before you, with the dim lights gleaming over its tant glimmer of the lights-some in the deeps be- mouth, so as to make its unfathomed darkness horlow, and some in the galleries above. On quitting rible. You gaze on it with amazement, and instincthese smaller rooms and galleries, you enter an as- tively long to pass on, lest it should drink you up. cending passage, of easy access; and on coming to It has received the name of "Infernal Regions." its extremity, you see the opening of a large cavern By another lobby, and another descent, you enter spread before you, and the commencement of some Washington Hall. This is the most wonderful steps by which you are to descend. Your care is opening of the whole. It is 250 feet long, and 33 engaged in getting safely down; but when you have feet high. There is a fine sheet of rock-work runobtained your standing on the floor, you are delight- ning up the centre of this room, and giving it the ed to find yourself in a large cavern, of irregular aspect of two separate and noble galleries, till you formation, and full of wild beauty. It is about look above, where you observe the partition rises thirty by fifty feet, and is called Solomon's Temple. only 20 feet towards the roof, and leaves the fine The incrustations become finer here. At your arch expanding over your head untouched. There right hand, they hang just like a sheet of water that is a beautiful concretion here standing out in the had been frozen as it fell. There they rise before room, which certainly has the form and drapery of you in a beautiful stalactitic pillar; and yonder a gigantic statue; it bears the name of the Nation's they compose an elevated seat, surrounded by sparry Hero, and the whole place is filled with those propinnacles, which sparkle beautifully in the light.jections, appearances which excite the imagination The one is called Solomon's Throne, and the other his Pillar.

On leaving the Temple, you enter another room more irregular, but more beautiful. Besides having ornaments in common, it spreads over you a roof of most admirable and singular formation. It is entirely covered with stalactites, which are suspended from it like inverted pinnacles. They are of the finest material, and are most beautifully shaped and embossed.

mind can receive but once, and will retain for ever.

by suggesting resemblances, and leaving them unfinished. The general effect, too, was perhaps indescribable. The fine perspective of this room, four times the length of an ordinary church; the numerous tapers, when near you, so encumbered by deep shadows as to give only a dim religious light; and when at a distance, appearing in their various attitudes like twinkling stars on a deep dark heaven; the amazing vaulted roof spread over you, with its carved and knotted surface, to which the You now make an ascent of several feet, and streaming lights below in vain endeavored to conmove along a passage, and through two or three vey their radiance; together with the impression lobbies, and come to what is called the Twin-room, that you had made so deep an entrance, and were and find your way is just on the verge of a dark so entirely cut off from the living world and ordicavern, which is yawning at your feet, and is nam-nary things; produces an effect which, perhaps, the ed the Devil's Oven. A descent is now made of some difficulty, and from an elevation of about forty feet; and you enter a large room, which is called the Tanyard. This, like some of the rest, is an absurd name; but it has been adopted from the force of association. There are in the rocky floor of this room large cavities, which may be thought to resemble the tanpits; and from the ceiling are suspended large sheets of beautiful stalactites, which resemble the tanner's hides. You advance to an upper floor in this room, which has chiefly one ornament, and that is sufficient. There is, extending along the room, and from roof to floor, an immense sheet of the finest stalactite. When it is struck with the hand, it emits deep and mellow sounds, like those of a muffled drum, and is called the Drum-room.

You now rise by some natural steps to a platform, which you have again to descend, and then find

On leaving these striking apartments, you pass through a passage in which is standing some grand formations, named Cleopatra's Needle, and the Pyramids; and then enter a room called the Church. The appearances in this instance suggest the name. It has about the dimensions of a church, and has an elevation of about 50 feet. There is at one end an elevated recess, which has the air of a gallery. At the back of this gallery there are a number of pendent stalactites, of an unusual size and beauty. They are as large as the pipes of a full-sized organ, and are ranged similarly. They emit, when struck, mellow sounds of various keys; and if a stick is run over them, as we run the finger over musical glasses, they make pleasant music. There is nothing forced in giving this instrument the appellation of organ; it is one of the best that nature ever made; and the most remarkable that I ever beheld.