72 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



Gay's. They were plain, sensible men, but apparently of 

 moderate information. All mouths at Dedhani were full 

 of the shocking murder committed the day before ; and the 

 perpetrator lay, groaning with his wounds, at a neighboring 

 house. The appearance of the country had been very fine 

 ever since we entered Massachusetts, but Dedham is a de- 

 lightful spot, and Mr. Ames has the most charming seat in 

 it. At three o'clock P.M. we started for Boston, and as 

 we proceeded, the country grew more and more delightful. 

 About four miles from Boston, my horse, which, in conse- 

 quence of his being shod very badly at Providence, had 

 frequently stumbled in the course of the day, when going 

 upon a full trot, fell headlong with great violence, and 

 pitched me over his head three or four yards. Owing to 

 the great goodness of my Preserver, 1 was not in the least 

 degree injured, but after leading my horse on for two miles 

 I left him to be shod again in Roxbury, and I walked into 

 Boston. We put up at Vose's, in School Street, an ex- 

 cellent house. Button's and Denison's lodgings were only 

 two doors off, but they being out, we spent the evening at 

 the Columbian Museum. There we saw a great multitude 

 of curious things, wax figures, and particularly wax 

 beauties in abundance ; but I declare to you I am so little 

 of a connoisseur, that these same wax figures freeze me ; 

 they have the coldness of death ; -in truth, I had rather 



spend half an hour with Miss than a whole year with 



these wax beauties. 



Wednesday, 21**. After breakfast we went with Dut- 

 ton and Denison into the Mall and Common, and ascended 

 to the pinnacle of the new State House, where we were 

 presented with a prospect which for extent and beauty ex- 

 ceeded anything I had ever seen. The limits of my paper 

 will not allow me to give a description of Boston and its 

 vicinity. But I will just remark that the country around 

 Boston is really a terrestrial paradise. After descending 

 from the State House, Ely and I mounted our horses and 



