Philadelphia, 10 May, 1777.
The day before yesterday I took a walk with my friend Whipple to Mrs.
Wells's, the sister of the famous Mrs. Wright,[172] to see her wax-work.
She has two chambers filled with it. In one, the parable of the prodigal
son is represented. The prodigal is prostrate on his knees before his
father, whose joy and grief and compassion all appear in his eyes and
face, struggling with each other. A servant-maid, at the father's
command, is puffing down from a closet shelf the choicest robes to
clothe the prodigal, who is all in rags. At an outward door in a corner
of the room stands the brother, chagrined at this festivity, a servant
coaxing him to come in. A large number of guests are placed round the
room. In another chamber are the figures of Chatham, Franklin,
Sawbridge, Mrs. Macaulay, and several others. At a corner is a miser,
sitting at his table weighing his gold, his bag upon one side of the
table and a thief behind him endeavoring to pilfer the bag.
There is genius as well as taste and art discovered in this exhibition.
But I must confess the whole scene was disagreeable to me. The imitation
of life was too faint, and I seemed to be walking among a group of
corpses, standing, sitting, and walking, laughing, singing, crying, and
weeping. This art, I think, will make but little progress in the world.
Another historical piece I forgot, which is Elisha restoring to life the
Shunamite's son. The joy of the mother upon discovering the first
symptoms of life in the child is pretty strongly expressed. Dr. Chovet's
wax-work, in which all the various parts of the human body are
represented for the benefit of young students in anatomy, and of which I
gave you a particular description a year or two ago, was much more
pleasing to me. Wax is much fitter to represent dead bodies than living
ones.
Upon a hint from one of our Commissioners abroad, we are looking about
for American curiosities to send across the Atlantic as presents to the
ladies. Mr. Rittenhouse's planetarium, Mr. Arnold's collection of
varieties in the virtuoso way, which I once saw at Norwalk in
Connecticut, Narraganset pacing mares, mooses, wood-ducks, flying
squirrels, red-winged blackbirds, cranberries, and rattlesnakes have all
been thought of. Is not this a pretty employment for great statesmen as
we think ourselves to be? Frivolous as it seems, it may be of some
consequence. Little attentions have great influence. I think, however,
we ought to consult the ladies upon this point. Pray what is your
opinion?