THE CITY OF NEW YORK.

We do not believe there is another city in the world, of no greater magnitude than New York, that strikes the beholder, at first view, with so high an idea of its commercial advantages, its business, and its wealth. Its situation is one of the finest in the world; its roadsteads and its harbor are the envy of every foreign traveller, and the pride of every American. Whether the stran

ger first beholds it from the eastern or northern entrances to its harbor, or whether he comes in from the sea, the view is equally delightful. If he approaches it from Long Island Sound, what can be more beautiful to the eye than the country seats which adorn both sides of the East river? and as you enter the harbor, the long line of wharves, surrounded by a forest of masts, and fronted by a range of stores as far almost as the eye can reach; the city gently sloping from north to a southern point, and its spires outnumbered only by its masts, and scattered over an area of some miles, forms a picture, at a single glance, not equalled in America; while from the southern entrance, on the one hand, the eye stretches far up the Hudson, as the chasm which contains the bed of that mighty river opens upon the view, like the jaws of some huge monster, its wood crowned banks appearing in the distance, as though they almost met each other, and in the dizzy height did greet as neighbors by a friendly touch; while below them lies Manhattan, once the weakest little island in the whole cluster,

now

the seat of the finest city in America, whose swelling population are crowding over to the shores of the surrounding country, whose importance is felt in every quarter of the globe, whose funds are in every country, whose trade is with every people.

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The city stands on an island formed by the Hudson and East rivers, and a small river called Haerlem, which connects them. The length of this island is about fifteen miles from south to north, with an average breadth of about one mile and a half; situated upon a noble harbor, at the mouth of one of the finest navigable rivers in the world; it enjoys a monopoly of the trade of a large and wealthy district of the interior. Hence the increase of the city has kept pace with the development of trade and industry in the neighboring states. The rapid augmentation of population, commerce, and every material of prosperity which the city has witnessed in recent years, is almost without a parallel. Founded by the Dutch in 1614, by the name of New Amsterdam, it did not for a century exceed Boston in point of numbers-but with the settlement of the interior of the state, and the opening of the navigation of the great lakes, New York received an impulse which, added to other advantages, has established its present, and secured its future pre-eminence. In respect to its commerce, it is the second city in the world. Many of the streets of the southern or ancient part of the city are narrow and crooked, but are every year becoming more convenient. The modern or northern part of the city has been laid out in regular squares, and contain many splendid buildings. The finest street is Broadway, which traverses the city in a straight line, commencing at the Battery; it is eighty feet in breadth, and three miles in length, and few streets in the world equal it for the splendor, bustle, and fashion it exhibits.

There are numerous schools of all kinds in the city, in which all classes and colors may be accommodated, so that it is not too much to say, that the means of obtaining such an education as is essential to the ordinary occupations and pursuits of life, are within the reach of