chapter 7 marketmuseumpicture galleryacademy of fine arts drawing schoolphrenological societymiss wrights lecture. perhaps the most advantageous feature in cincinnati is its market, which, for excellence, abundance, and cheapness, can hardly, i should think, be surpassed in any part of the world, if i except the luxury of fruits, which are very inferior to any i have seen in europe. there are no butchers, fishmongers, or indeed any shops for eatables, except bakeries, as they are called, in the town; every thing must be purchased at market; and to accomplish this, the busy housewife must be stirring betimes, or, spite of the abundant supply, she will find her hopes of breakfast, dinner, and supper for the day defeated, the market being pretty well over by eight oclock. the beef is excellent, and the highest price when we were there, four cents (about two-pence) the pound. the mutton was inferior, and so was veal to the eye, but it ate well, though not very fat; the price was about the same. the poultry was excellent; fowls or full-sized chickens, ready for table, twelve cents, but much less if bought alive, and not quite fat; turkeys about fifty cents, and geese the same. the ohio furnishes several sorts of fish, some of them very good, and always to be found cheap and abundant in the market. eggs, butter, nearly all kinds of vegetables, excellent, and at moderate prices. from june till december tomatoes (the great luxury of the american table in the opinion of most europeans) may be found in the highest perfection in the market for about sixpence the peck. they have a great variety of beans unknown in england, particularly the lima-bean, the seed of which is dressed like the french harico; it furnishes a very abundant crop, and is a most delicious vegetable: could it be naturalised with us it would be a valuable acquisition. the windsor, or broad-bean, will not do well there; mr. bullock had them in his garden, where they were cultivated with much care; they grew about a foot high and blossomed, but the pod never ripened. all the fruit i saw exposed for sale in cincinnati was most miserable. i passed two summers there, but never tasted a peach worth eating. of apricots and nectarines i saw none; strawberries very small, raspberries much worse; gooseberries very few, and quite uneatable; currants about half the size of ours, and about double the price; grapes too sour for tarts; apples abundant, but very indifferent, none that would be thought good enough for an english table; pears, cherries, and plums most miserably bad. the flowers of these regions were at least equally inferior: whether this proceeds from want of cultivation or from peculiarity of soil i know not, but after leaving cincinnati, i was told by a gentleman who appeared to understand the subject, that the state of ohio had no indigenous flowers or fruits. the water-melons, which in that warm climate furnish a delightful refreshment, were abundant and cheap; but all other melons very inferior to those of france, or even of england, when ripened in a common hot-bed. from the almost total want of pasturage near the city, it is difficult for a stranger to divine how milk is furnished for its supply, but we soon learnt that there are more ways than one of keeping a cow. a large proportion of the families in the town, particularly of the poorer class, have one, though apparently without any accommodation whatever for it. these animals are fed morning and evening at the door of the house, with a good mess of indian corn, boiled with water; while they eat, they are milked, and when the operation is completed the milk-pail and the meal-tub retreat into the dwelling, leaving the republican cow to walk away, to take her pleasure on the hills, or in the gutters, as may suit her fancy best. they generally return very regularly to give and take the morning and evening meal; though it more than once happened to us, before we were supplied by a regular milk cart, to have our jug sent home empty, with the sad news that the cow was not come home, and it was too late to look for her to breakfast now. once, i remember, the good woman told us that she had overslept herself, and that the cow had come and gone again, not liking, i expect, to hanker about by herself for nothing, poor thing. cincinnati has not many lions to boast, but among them are two museums of natural history; both of these contain many respectable specimens, particularly that of mr. dorfeuille, who has moreover, some highly interesting indian antiquities. he is a man of taste and science, but a collection formed strictly according to their dictates, would by no means satisfy the western metropolis. the people have a most extravagant passion for wax figures, and the two museums vie with each other in displaying specimens of this barbarous branch of art. as mr. dorfeuille cannot trust to his science for attracting the citizens, he has put his ingenuity into requisition, and this has proved to him the surer aid of the two. he has constructed a pandaemonium in an upper story of his museum, in which he has congregated all the images of horror that his fertile fancy could devise; dwarfs that by machinery grow into giants before the eyes of the spectator; imps of ebony with eyes of flame; monstrous reptiles devouring youth and beauty; lakes of fire, and mountains of ice; in short, wax, paint and springs have done wonders. to give the scheme some more effect, he makes it visible only through a grate of massive iron bars, among which are arranged wires connected with an electrical machine in a neighbouring chamber; should any daring hand or foot obtrude itself with the bars, it receives a smart shock, that often passes through many of the crowd, and the cause being unknown, the effect is exceedingly comic; terror, astonishment, curiosity, are all set in action, and all contribute to make dorfeuilles hell one of the most amusing exhibitions imaginable. there is also a picture gallery at cincinnati, and this was a circumstance of much interest to us, as our friend mr. h., who had accompanied miss wright to america, in the expectation of finding a good opening in the line of historical painting, intended commencing his experiment at cincinnati. it would be invidious to describe the picture gallery; i have no doubt, that some years hence it will present a very different appearance. mr. h. was very kindly received by many of the gentlemen of the city, and though the state of the fine arts there gave him but little hope that he should meet with much success, he immediately occupied himself in painting a noble historical picture of the landing of general lafayette at cincinnati. perhaps the clearest proof of the little feeling for art that existed at that time in cincinnati, may be drawn from the result of an experiment originated by a german, who taught drawing