The centre of Richmond is a park of twelve acres, surrounding the Capitol, a venerable building upon the summit of Shockoe Hill, and the most conspicuous structure in the city. It was built just after the American Revolution, the plan having been brought from France by Thomas Jefferson, and modelled from the ancient Roman temple of the _Maison Carrée_ at Nismes, the front being a fine Ionic portico. From the roof, elevated high above every surrounding building, there is an excellent view, disclosing the grand sweep of the river among the islands and rapids, going off to the south, where it disappears among the hills behind Drewry's Bluff, below the town. The square-block plan with streets crossing at right angles is well displayed, and the abrupt sides of some of the hills, where they have been cut away, disclose the high-colored, reddish-yellow soils which have been so prolific in tobacco culture, and give the scene such brilliant hues, as well as dye the river a chocolate color in times of freshet. The city spreads over a wide surface, and has populous suburbs on the lower lands south of the James. This Capitol was the meeting-place of the Confederate Congress, and the locality of all the statecraft of the "Lost Cause." It contains the battle-flags of the Virginia troops and other relics, and in a gallery built around the rotunda are hung the portraits of the Virginia Governors and of the three great military chiefs, Lee, Johnston and Jackson. Upon the floor beneath is Houdon's famous statue of Washington, made while he was yet alive. In 1785, the talented French sculptor accompanied Franklin to this country to prepare the model for the statue, which had been ordered by the Virginia Government. He spent two weeks at Mount Vernon with Washington, taking casts of his face, head and upper portion of the body, with minute measurements, and then returned to Paris. The statue was finished in 1788, and is regarded as the most accurate reproduction of Washington existing. A statue of Henry Clay and a bust of Lafayette are also in the rotunda. [Illustration: _Washington Monument, Richmond, Va._]