266 JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS [Feb. 19,

eral Laws, relating to sheep and dogs, and to re-enact the
following section in lieu thereof;

Which was read the first time.

Mr. Philpot, from the Select Commitiee, submitted the fol-
lowing

REPORT:

The committee appointed by the Senate to examine the
portraits of the early governors of this State, (painted by
Peal,) and to enquire where they are, and in whose posses-
sion at this time; and also, as regards the purchase of them,
and the propriety of procuring them to be placed in the Exe-
cutive Chamber, beg leave to report that they have attended
to the duties assigned them. And beg leave to state that
upon application to the Mayor of this city, they were in-
formed that the paintings alluded to were in this city, and in
possssion of the authorities of the same. Upon application
to that body, the subject was taken into consideration, and
decided that all the paintings, examined by your committee,
could be purchased at such price as your committee might
deem right and proper, provided they were not removed from
the capitol of the State. Your committee beg. leave further
to report, that in their judgment, the paintings are well
worth the expense of purchase and restoration.

In this connection, your committee cannot but acknowledge
the analogy existing between art and the faculties of the
mind. This truth is evident when contemplating memory,
whose office is to remove the dust of time from the scenes of
early life, and place them before the mental eye, in all their
freshness and beauty; mingling the old, who are sur-
rounded by the tottering relics of age, with the pleasant
hours of childhood, the gaiety of youth, and the sterner con-
flicts of mature manhood. Every mind is as it were a parch-
ment; upon it the deeds of each age are recorded, be they
good or bad, pleasureable or painful. The record of one
era seems, by the touch of time, to have been obliterated ;
the innocency of childhood vanishes before the day dreams of
youth, and they, too, grow dark and saddened as the sterner
period of manhood arrives, apparently obliterating the past ;
but old age, feeble and irregular, casts over all confused and
darker shadows. It is thus that memory with buoyant step and
skillful hands, sweeps away the dust of time, and with the
light of truth brings back again the by-gone scenes of life.

So the skillful artist recalls to freshness and beauty the an-
tiquated paintings, sweeping away the dust of time, and by
his magic touch calls fourth from its gloomy grave the noble
form, symbolical of virtue, grace and honor. Your commit-
the further report that they have consulted an artist of this