IX. Whoe'er thou wert, who by a fellow mortal A PLAN OF LIFE. [The fate of the late Mrs. THEODOSIA BURR ALSTON, daughter of Col. A. Burr, has excited a deep interest in the public mind. From a variety of manuscripts, in her own hand-writing, now in my possession, I have selected the following scrap. If you think with me, that it is not unworthy a place in the American Monthly Magazine, you will be pleased to insert it in your next number. I transmit you a literal copy of what bears evident marks of being the original, and perhaps the only copy ever made. Those who had the happiness to know her, will acknowledge this effusion as descriptive of her feelings. — D.] How charmingly does Rousseau describe his maison champêtre. How fascinating does he render a country life. Yet I differ from him. I would have a commodious house, surrounded by a large garden, in the midst of a considerable city. I should prefer to be wealthy, that abundance unstinted, comforts and elegancies, might surround me; that I might frequently give agreeable parties, without long premeditation or studied preparations; that my friends might be sometimes pleased with those trifling, but delicate proofs of attention which sweeten the intercourse of life; that they might sometimes receive more useful marks of my attachment, if overtaken by the storms of adversity, and that I might relieve the sufferings of my fellow-creatures. Nothing about me should be very costly. My expenses should be so regulated, that no article, by approaching the verge of my utmost income, should put it in the power of any one to distress me by a momentary accident. My furniture should never be rich: I would rather change it frequently, to preserve that air of freshness which so enlivens an apartment: and, distinguished rather by taste than fashion, my dress should be characterized in the same way. My parties should never be crowded or expensive. I should not care that any one on leaving my house burst forth in admiration of my ball-room or my supper table; but that all should say "I hope Mrs. A. will soon give us another party." There should be but few servants in my house; but high wages and some indulgences should procure the best. I would have only a small library, consisting of a few favorite authors; but by subscribing to the best public collections, secure a larger choice than any private fortune could aspire to; and thus preserve myself from the chagrin incurred by the constant loss of lent books, or the ill-will which is produced by refusing them. The whole morning should be devoted to domestic affairs—such as are incumbent on every woman to study, or to the intercourse of the heart in the exclusive society of those I love. At dinner, frequently a few friends; - always room for one or two. In the evening my house should be open; my musical visitors should find the best instruments, and all should share in good cheer without the appearance of exertion from any one. Frequent small select parties at supper would render my house attractive to the sprightly. My father and my husband would be sought by men of literature and talents. To render my conversation worthy of them should be a part of the morning's business; and, though unable to strengthen or illuminate, I might chance sometimes to throw in an airy ornament, and hang now and then a wreath of violets in the temple of Minerva. Large assemblies I would never enter. The necessary preparations; the loss of time so disproportionate to its object; the bustle and the crowd, all render them detestable. I would have, too, a small country residence--a cottage near a town, where every thing should be rustic. A wild exuberance of fruits and flowers; multitudes of singing birds attracted by security; a deep grove, where Æolian harps should sigh through the trees; a bathinghouse; some books, musical instruments, and pure air should render my cottage delightful. I would sometimes retire to taste solitude. Thither my friends might ride with us, to partake of a rural meal distinguished by simplicity and ease-not prescribed to any particular place, in set regularity; but in the dining or breakfast room; the piazza, or on a rock overhanging a river, or among the old trees richly adorned with garlands exhaling perfumes. My great rule should be never to aim at competition in things extrinsic and really trivial. I would seek the honey-cup, and let those who choose prefer the corolla. ANTIQUITIES OF NORTH AMERICA. In the history of our country every thing relating to the earliest inhabitants must be interesting, not only to the professed antiquary but to the general reader. There is much evidence to show, that the postdiluvian earth was originally but one continent-that this country, America, was peopled from CENTRAL ASIA, before the dismemberment of that single continent that the people brought with them the manners, arts, and civilizations of Central Asia; perhaps the very manners, arts, arms, and modes of warfare described in the Homeric poems; and that, some time after America was separated from the other continent, immense hordes from the NORTH OF ASIA Crossed Behring's Straits, and gradually took possession of the country. Before these barbarian invaders the inhabitants retired south into Mexico, carrying with them the arts and civilization that afterward so astonished their more modern invaders from Spain. It is a fact well known in history, that Cortes found in Mexico arms and utensils such as are known to have been used in Asia Minor, and such as have been found nowhere else. And the discoveries recently made at Palenqué and Vehemel, plainly point to Central Asia as the country of their origin. That the Indians found here by the discoverers were not the original inhabitants, has, we believe, never been disputed; on the contrary, it has ever been acknowledged that there was a distinct race anterior to them. But whence came this race, whither they went, and what monuments they have left here, are questions that have afforded matter for much speculation. It has generally been believed that the mounds in the western country are the work of their hands, notwithstanding that some ingenious gentlemen have lately argued, perhaps to their own conviction, that the mounds are the direct work of nature, and raised by the action of water. But as to the mounds, we leave the question where we find it the old race have left other monuments. The Indians found here by the discoverers, in fact never pretended to be the original inhabitants; but had a tradition, that their forefathers came into the country across the sea probably Behring's Straits that with the inhabitants they that they found the country inhabited waged a long war, and ultimately drove them south into the sea. Such was the tradition—the fact probably was, that the conquered people retired to Mexico. The Mexicans also had a tradition strongly corroborative of this that their forefathers lived at the north for many ages, and then gradually emigrated south. These traditions alone, without any other evidence, afford ground for a strong presumption that the territory, now the United States, was inhabited by the race that afterwards peopled Mexico. But the evidence does not stop here; there are other facts that go far to reduce the presumption to a certainty. The Mexicans worked the metals for various purposes of use and ornament; the Indians found here by the discoverers never used the metals in any way; but wood, stone, shells, &c. supplied them with weapons and ornaments. Hatchets, swords, and arrow-heads of brass have been found in various parts of the United States, many of them in good preservation. These, although rude in form and design, are yet skilfully made; but with that pains-taking and laborious skill that ever marked the infancy of the arts. But it may be asked, why are not these relics more frequently discovered, if it be true that a whole nation, to whom the manufacture of them was known, were once transient dwellers in this land? We think the wonder should rather be, how many of them have been preserved. The preservation of the few that have have been found must undoubtedly be ascribed to the nature of the soil at the time of their deposit. Since in some soils, and under some circumstances, they would be preserved by earthy particles, uniting themselves with the salts of the brass in the first stages of oxydation, and thus forming a sort of petrified incrustation that would prevent decay. But a discussion of these theories is not intended, since it would necessarily involve speculations too prolix and discussive for the limits of this paper; the main object of which is, to give a description of what we consider the most interesting relic of antiquity ever discovered in North America- the remains of a human body, armed with a breast-plate, a species of mail and arrows of brass; which remains we suppose to have belonged either to one of the race who inhabited this country for a time anterior to the so called Aborigines, and afterwards settled in Mexico or Guatamala, or to one of the crew of some Phonician vessel, that, blown out of her course, thus discovered the western world long before the Christian era. These remains were found in the town of Fall River, in Bristol county, Massachusetts, about eighteen months since. In digging down a hill near the village, a large mass of earth slid off, leaving in the bank, and partially uncovered, a human skull, which on examination was found to belong to a body buried in a sitting posture; the head being about one foot below what had been for many years the surface of the ground. The surrounding earth was carefully removed, and the body found to be enveloped in a covering of coarse bark of a dark colour. Within this envelope were found the remains of another of coarse cloth, made of fine bark, and about the texture of a Manilla coffee bag. On the breast was a plate of brass, thirteen inches long, six broad at the upper end and five at the lower. This plate appears to have been cast, and is from one eighth to three thirty-seconds of an inch in thickness. It is so much corroded, that whether or not any thing was engraved upon it has not yet been ascertained. It is oval in form - the edges being irregular, apparently made so by corrosion. Below the breast-plate, and entirely encircling the body, was a belt composed of brass tubes, each four and a half inches in length, and three sixteenths of an inch in diameter, arranged longitudinally and close together; the length of a tube being the width of the belt. The tubes are of thin brass, cast upon hollow reeds, and were fastened together by pieces of sinew. This belt was so placed as to protect the lower parts of the body below the breast-plate. The arrows are of brass, thin, flat, and triangular in shape, with a round hole cut through near the base. The shaft was fastened to the head by inserting the latter in an opening at the end of the wood, and then tying it with a sinew through the round hole a mode of constructing the weapon never practised by the Indians, not even with their arrows of thin shell. Parts of the shaft still remain on some of them. first discovered the arrows were in a sort of quiver of bark, which fell in pieces when exposed to the air. When The skull is much decayed, but the teeth are sound, and apparently those of a young man. The pelvis is much decayed, and the smaller bones of the lower extremities are gone. The integuments of the right knee, for four or five inches above and below, are in good preservation, apparently the size and shape of life, although quite black. Considerable flesh is still preserved on the hands and arms, but none on the shoulders and elbows. On the back, under the belt, and for two inches above and below, the skin and flesh are in good preservation, and have the appearance of being tanned. The chest is much compressed, but the upper viscera are probably entire. The arms are bent up, not crossed; so that the hands turned inwards touch the shoulders. The stature is about five and a half feet. Much of the exterior envelope was decayed, and the inner one appeared to be preserved only where it had been in contact with the brass. The following sketch will give our readers an idea of the posture of the figure and the position of the armor. When the remains were discovered the arms were brought rather closer to the body than in the engraving. The arrows were near the right knee. |