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Letter to Editor
August 7, 1838
Alexandria Gazette
Alexandria, Alexandria County, District Of Columbia
What is this article about?
A visitor to the Senate in 1838 describes a horrifying, corpse-like figure lurking behind a screen, implying it inspired the harsh personal attacks on Mr. Bond's speech in the Globe newspaper. Signed by 'A Hypochondriac' from Washington on July 25, 1838.
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Full Text
COMMUNICATED.
Visiting the Senate during the late session of Congress, circumstances placed me for a few minutes in the lobby, behind the Vice President's chair. My affrighted vision was presently attracted to a dreadful head, which was peering from behind a screen near the main entrance of the Chamber. No language can adequately describe that head. It seemed to belong to the corpse of one who had died so utterly friendless and neglected, that none were found to do the last sad office of closing the eyes and tying up the jaw. There was "no speculation in those eyes that it did glare withal," and the mouth, over which, I could imagine an invisible finger had written "Mene, Mene, Tekel Upharsin," was gasping and cavern-like;—every feature was frightfully pale, rigid, and cartilaginous. I could contemplate the horrible shadow but a moment, when a cold shudder overcame me, and I rushed from the Hall. I know not how it is, but I cannot divest myself of the impression that some-how or other, the strictures on the speech of Mr. Bond, and the personal reflections on that gentleman, which have lately appeared in the Globe newspaper, were concocted in the terrible head I have attempted to describe.
A HYPOCHONDRIAC.
Washington, July 25, 1838.
Visiting the Senate during the late session of Congress, circumstances placed me for a few minutes in the lobby, behind the Vice President's chair. My affrighted vision was presently attracted to a dreadful head, which was peering from behind a screen near the main entrance of the Chamber. No language can adequately describe that head. It seemed to belong to the corpse of one who had died so utterly friendless and neglected, that none were found to do the last sad office of closing the eyes and tying up the jaw. There was "no speculation in those eyes that it did glare withal," and the mouth, over which, I could imagine an invisible finger had written "Mene, Mene, Tekel Upharsin," was gasping and cavern-like;—every feature was frightfully pale, rigid, and cartilaginous. I could contemplate the horrible shadow but a moment, when a cold shudder overcame me, and I rushed from the Hall. I know not how it is, but I cannot divest myself of the impression that some-how or other, the strictures on the speech of Mr. Bond, and the personal reflections on that gentleman, which have lately appeared in the Globe newspaper, were concocted in the terrible head I have attempted to describe.
A HYPOCHONDRIAC.
Washington, July 25, 1838.
What sub-type of article is it?
Satirical
Provocative
Political
What themes does it cover?
Politics
Press Freedom
What keywords are associated?
Senate Chamber
Vice President
Globe Newspaper
Mr Bond Speech
Personal Reflections
Horrifying Figure
Satirical Description
What entities or persons were involved?
A Hypochondriac
Letter to Editor Details
Author
A Hypochondriac
Main Argument
the writer encounters a ghastly figure in the senate chamber and believes it to be the source of the recent harsh criticisms and personal attacks on mr. bond's speech published in the globe newspaper.
Notable Details
References Shakespeare's Macbeth: 'No Speculation In Those Eyes That It Did Glare Withal'
Biblical Allusion: 'Mene, Mene, Tekel Upharsin' From Daniel