s; each street running to
the river, and presenting to the view a forest of masts.

There are some fine buildings in this city, but not many. Astor House,
although of simple architecture, is, perhaps, the grandest mass; and
next to that, is the City Hall, though in architecture very indifferent.
In the large room of the latter are some interesting pictures and busts
of the presidents, mayors of the city, and naval and military officers,
who have received the thanks of Congress and the freedom of the city.
Some are very fair specimens of art: the most spirited is that of
Commodore Perry, leaving his sinking vessel, in the combat on the Lakes,
to hoist his flag on board of another ship. Decatur's portrait is also
very fine. Pity that such a man should have been sacrificed in a
foolish duel!

At the corner of many of the squares, or _blocks_ of buildings, as they
are termed here, is erected a very high mast, with a cap of liberty upon
the top. The only idea we have of the cap of liberty is, the _bonnet
rouge_ of the French; but the Americans will not copy the French,
although they will the English; so they have a cap of their own, which
(begging their pardon), with its gaudy colours and gilding, looks more
like a _fool's cap_ than any thing else.

New York is not equal to London, nor Broadway to Regent Street, although
the Americans would compare them. Still, New York is very superior to
most of our provincial towns, and, to a man who can exist out of London,
Broadway will do very well for a lounge--being wide, three miles long,
and the upper part composed of very handsome houses; besides which, it
may almost challenge Regent Street for pretty faces, except on Sundays.
[On Sundays the coloured population take possession of Broadway.] Many
of the shops, or _stores_, as they are here called, (for in this land of
equality nobody keeps a shop), have already been fitted up with large
plate-glass fronts, similar to those in London, and but for the
depression which has taken place, many more would have followed the
example.

Among the few discrepancies observable between this city and London, are
the undertakers' _shops_. In England they are all wooden windows below
and scutcheons above; planks and shavings within--in fact, mere
workshops. Here they are different: they have large glass fronts, like
a millinery or cut-glass shop with us, and the shop runs back thirty or
forty feet, its sides being filled with coffins st