BOTANICAL GARDEN AND LIBRARY. 121 



a most favourable impression of the female society of 

 her country, and what a boon Mr Shaw was adding to 

 his splendid public gift by affording to future wanderers 

 a quiet scene for converse and contemplation. 



While at St Louis, Mr Campbell also took me to see 

 the large public rooms and mercantile library, built by 

 private subscription, where in and among other choice 

 selections of art I saw a statue of the alleged parricide 

 Beatrice de Cenci, representing her the night previous 

 to her execution for the murder of her father. Beatrice 

 is represented with the cross in her hand, and is a grace 

 ful production, executed in Rome by Miss Harriet 

 Hosmer. There was also a statue of the nyniph (Enone, 

 of Mount Ida, the size of life ; and the artist has repre 

 sented the nymph at the moment of her desertion by 

 Paris. The attitude of (Enone and her form, to my 

 mind, are perfection ; the latter chiselled in the fullest 

 mould of womanly beauty. The hand, however, as 

 well as the foot, arrests the eye of the observer, and by 

 their obtrusive claim to notice they give an indication of 

 being too large. The wrist, too, though the arm is as 

 round and full as it could and ought to be, is not quite 

 in accordance with the delicate symmetry of the rest of 

 the figure. There is also a statue of Webster. It was 

 in the large room of this handsome public institution, 

 and while I was inspecting the building, that my friend 

 Mr Campbell suggested to me the idea, afterwards car 

 ried out, of my giving a public lecture. 



St Louis struck me as one of the most rising cities that 

 I saw during my journey through the United States ; 

 and when its public buildings, as well as the numerous 

 private houses which are in course of erection, are con 

 sidered, it is very evident to me that it will one day 



