this building are very massive. As one enters by the steps to the
south there are two flat stones, one on each side of the ascent, the
surface of each of which is about twenty feet by eighteen. The
columns are, I think, all monoliths. Of those which are still to be
erected, and which now lie about in the neighboring streets, I
measured one or two--one which was still in the rough I found to be
thirty-two feet long by five feet broad, and four and a half deep.
These granite blocks have been brought to Washington from the State
of Maine. The finished front of this building, looking down to the
Potomac, is very good; but to my eyes this also has been much
injured by the rows of windows which look out from the building into
the space of the portico.

The President's house--or the White House as it is now called all
the world over--is a handsome mansion fitted for the chief officer
of a great republic, and nothing more. I think I may say that we
have private houses in London considerably larger. It is neat and
pretty, and with all its immediate outside belongings calls down no
adverse criticism. It faces on to a small garden, which seems to be
always accessible to the public, and opens out upon that everlasting
Pennsylvania Avenue, which has now made another turn. Here in front
of the White House is President's Square, as it is generally called.
The technical name is, I believe, La Fayette Square. The houses
round it are few in number--not exceeding three or four on each
side, but they are among the best in Washington, and the whole place
is neat and well kept. President's Square is certainly the most
attractive part of the city. The garden of the square is always
open, and does not seem to suffer from any public ill usage; by
which circumstance I am again led to suggest that the gardens of our
London squares might be thrown open in the same way. In the center