Yet we were remarkably fortunate in our domestic ar-
rangements there. We joined a party of highly esteemed
and kind friends : a member of the House of Representa-
tives from Massachusetts, his wife and sister-iu'-law, and a
senator from Maine. We (the above party) had a drawing-
room to ourselves and a separate table at Mrs. Peyton's
boarding-house ; so that we formed a quiet family group
enough, if only we had had any quiet in which to enjoy jthe
privilege. '■

We arrived at Washington on the 1 3th of January, 1835,
the year of the short session of Congress which closes on
ihe 4th of March, so that we continued to see the proceed-
ings of Congress at its busiest and most interesting time,
[xhe approach to the city is striking to all strangers from
its oddness. 1 saw the dome of the Capitol fr»m a consid-
erable distance at the end of a straight road ; but, though I
was prepared by the descriptions of preceding travellers, I
was taken by surprise on finding myself beneath the splen-
did building, so sordid are the enclosures and houses on its



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144 WSSTXlUf TRAVBIm;

very verge. We wound round its base, and entered Penn-
sylvania Avenue, the only one of the grand avenues intended
to centre in the Capitol which has been built up with any
completenessTl Our boarding-house was admirably situated,
being some little way down this avenue, a few minutes' walk
only from the Capitol, and a mile in a straight line from the
White House, the residences of the heads of departments
and the British legation.
