brought on board the
ship the newspapers of the morning. In these, many of the advertisements
had, to Mr. Fearon, the character of singularity. One of them,
announcing a play, terminated thus: "gentlemen are informed that no
smoking is allowed in the theatre." Several sailing boats passed, with
respectable persons in them, many of whom wore enormously large straw
hats, turned up behind. At one o'clock, the vessel was anchored close to
the city; and a great number of persons were collected on the wharf to
witness her arrival. Many of these belonged to the labouring class;
others were of the mercantile and genteeler orders. Large straw hats
prevailed, and trowsers were universal. The general costume of these
persons was inferior to that of men in the same rank of life in England:
their whole appearance was loose, slovenly, careless, and not remarkable
for cleanliness. The wholesale stores, which front the river, had not
the most attractive appearance imaginable. The carts were long and
narrow, and each was drawn by one horse. The hackney-coaches were open
at the sides, an arrangement well suited to this warm climate; and the
charge was about one fourth higher than in London.

This city, when approached from the sea, presents an appearance that is
truly beautiful. It stands at the extreme point of Manhattan, or York
island, which is thirteen miles long, and from one to two miles wide;
and the houses are built from shore to shore. Vessels of any burden can
come close up to the town, and lie there in perfect safety, in a natural
harbour formed by the _East_ and _Hudson's rivers_. New York contains
120,000 inhabitants, and is, indisputably, the most important commercial
city in America.

The _streets_ through which Mr. Fearon passed, to a boarding-house in
State-street, were narrow and dirty. The _Battery_, however, is a
delightful walk, at the edge of the bay; and several of the houses in
State-street are as large as those in Bridge-street, Blackfriars,
London. At the house in which Mr. Fearon resided, the hours of eating
were, breakfast, eight o'clock; dinner half-past three, tea seven, and
supper ten; and the whole expence of living amounted to about eighteen
dollars per week.

The _street population_ of New York has an aspect very different from
that of London, or the large towns in England. One striking feature of
it is formed by the number of blacks, many of whom are finely dressed:
the females are ludicrously so, g