with the city's appearance when he stopped here
on his way to England in 1777. "The capital of this province," he
wrote, August 16th, "is situated on the southern extremity of the
island; on one side runs the North, and on the other the East River,
on the latter of which, on account of the harbour, the city is
principally built. In several streets, trees are regularly planted,
which afford a grateful shelter during the intense heat of the summer.
The buildings are generally of brick, and many are erected in a style
of elegance.... Previous to the commencement of this unhappy war, New
York was a flourishing, populous, and beautiful town....
Notwithstanding the late devastation [fire of 1776], there are still
many elegant edifices remaining, which would reflect credit on any
metropolis in Europe."[12]

[Footnote 11: "A Tour in the United States," etc. By J.F.D. Smyth.
London, 1784.]

[Footnote 12: "Letters from America, 1769-1777." By Wm. Eddis.
London.]

Beyond the limits of the city, Manhattan Island retained much of its
primitive appearance. Roads, farms, country-seats, interspersed it,
but not thickly; and as yet the salient features were hills, marshes,
patches of rocky land, streams, and woods. Just upon the outskirts,
midway between the rivers, at about the corner of Grand and Centre
Streets, the ground rose to a commanding elevation on the farm of
William Bayard, which overlooked the city and the island above a
distance of more than three miles. Further east, a little north of the
intersection of Grand and Division Streets, stood another hill,
somewhat lower, where Judge Jones lived, from which opened an
extensive view of the East River and harbor. On the west side, on this
line, the surface sank from Bayard's mount into a spreading marsh as
far as the Hudson, and over which now run portions of Canal and Grand
and their cross streets. Where we have the Tombs and surrounding
blocks, stood the "Fresh Water" lake or "Collect," several fathoms
deep, with high sloping banks on the north and west, and on whose
surface were made the earliest experiments in steam navigation in
1796.

One nearly central highway, known as the King's Bridge or Post Road,
ran the entire length of the island. Where it left the city at Chatham
Square, it was properly the Bowerie or Bowery Lane. Continuing along
the present street by this name, it fell off into the line of Fourth
Avenue as far as Fourteenth Street, crossed Union Square di