CHAPTER XX.

SEC. I. CHIEF COMMERCIAL CITIES.-Boston. Origin of the name. Its geographical situation and commercial importance. Harbour, shipping, suburbs, population. Literary and scientific institutions. Public buildings. Harvard university. Newton theological institution. Cemetery. Seminary for training female teachers. Common schools. Number of places of religious worship. Particular circumstances for which Boston is celebrated in history. Prevalence of religion. Principal religious denominations. Architecture of public edifices. Public places of resort. Boston common. Mt. Auburn cemetery, &c.

Chief towns. Public

Rural attractions. Roger Williams. His Origin, progress, and

SEC. II. Rhode island. Situation and extent. Salubrious climate. buildings. Benevolent institutions. Population. Face of the country. Origin of cotton cultivation and manufacture. State when founded. history. Origin and nature of the government. Brown university. present state. President Wayland,

SECTION I.

Boston, originally Shawmut or Tri-mountain, was called Boston from Boston in Lincolnshire, of which town many of the Pilgrim Fathers are supposed to have been natives. By railroad it is thirty-seven miles from Plymouth, the landingplace of the Pilgrims, and two hundred and thirty-six miles from New York. The fare from the latter town is five dollars, and the rate of travelling twenty-five miles an hour, en route through New Haven, Hertford, Springfield, and Worcester; passing over a populous country, and through the State of Connecticut, along the valley of the Connecticut River. It is the capital of the State of Massachusetts, which State is divided into fourteen counties, and contains three hundred and three towns. Some of these towns are important as marts of manufactures and commerce, and are distinguished for their architectural beauty and for the scenery around.

Boston is the metropolis or principal town in New England; and New England is a portion of the Union that includes the States of Maine and New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.

Boston principally occupies the peninsula of the Bay of Massachusetts, a peninsula which is nearly three miles in length, with an average breadth of one mile, and is distinguished by triple hills. Like Venice, though not actually built on the sea,

BOSTON.

255 it is also surrounded by broad, deep waters, except at a narrow point at the western extremity of the bay at the mouth of the Charles River, which is connected with the surrounding country by curiously-constructed artificial avenues or bridges, and railroad viaducts; and from the first of these peculiarities as to situation the town is said to have derived its original designation.

The Harbour is a magnificent basin, nearly encircled by a beautiful country rising in gentle acclivities of from fifty to one hundred and ten feet above the sea. From its neatness, its irregularity, and its beautiful suburban villas, it might be taken for one of our English sea-ports. Some of the streets are narrow and circuitous, but others (among which is Washington Street, extending through the city) are not much inferior to the best in our English provincial towns; many of them have also broad side-way pavements of granite, and are thronged with passengers. For many miles around the prospect extends over as fair a land as ever rejoiced the heart of man: mountain and valley, forest and water, city and solitude, grouped together or dispersed in forms of almost ideal beauty; these, with the numerous islands which dot the harbour, present a highly commanding and picturesque appearance from the sea, as also from Dorchester Heights and Mount Washington.

The town may be said to be almost entirely English, both in its aspect and character. Not rectangular, as is usual in America,—not with rows of trees shading the side-walks-it bears no similarity to Philadelphia and Washington, the streets and buildings there resembling a chess-board ;-but its plan is irregular, and its streets broad and narrow, straight, crooked, and diverging. So little is there of what is foreign and novel, either in the town or in the manners and customs of the inhabitants, that an Englishman at times can hardly persuade himself that he is in the New World, or at all beyond the precincts of his native land.

This town is distinguished both as the literary and the commercial emporium of New England, and the manufacturing centre of almost the entire continent. It is also the centre of the railroad system; and, including South Boston, which does not stand upon the peninsula, is the largest town in the whole of the United States, extending over nearly three square miles. Boston is not in reality a city; and there is not a city, in the true meaning of the term, in all New England, as no one town,

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of whatever magnitude,-Providence in Rhode Island excepted, -contains a Mayor, Aldermen, and the other municipal officers which form the necessary adjuncts of a Corporation.

The shipping of Boston amounts to more than one-eighth of the whole tonnage of the United States. Its trade extends to all parts of the world, and it is the fourth in rank among the mercantile cities of the Union. Situated at the most favourable point of the eastern coast for trade with England, and the nearest to the shores of the Old World, it is said to possess advantages for foreign as well as coasting trade over every other American port.* Its navy yard, called the United States Navy Yard and Dry Dock, is without a rival in the country. The former is of great extent, and contains three large sheds for ship-building, one of which is occupied by the ship Virginia, which has been on the stocks for more than twenty years.

The population is about 150,000, but with its environs, including Cambridge and South East Boston, it is estimated at about 300,000. The whole district is supposed to contain half a million of inhabitants. Boston is celebrated, among other distinguishing characteristics of eminence, for the number and elegance of its public buildings, and its literary and philanthropic institutions. Altogether there are about fifty churches and other public edifices deserving of notice. Among these are the State House, the State Prison, the New Market House, Fremont House, the King's Chapel, the Massachusetts General Hospital, the Institution for the education of the Blind, the New Custom House, and Faneuil Hall.

The last-named building, as is generally known, is celebrated for the meetings held within its walls during the struggles for independence. It is on this account greatly venerated by the whole American people, and is styled the cradle of liberty. Scarcely less celebrated has it more recently become for the assemblage of brave men who attempted the rescue of Burns, the first victim of the fugitive slave law, and for the resolutions there passed against that iniquitous statute. The State House is a handsome building, occupying the summit of Beacon Hill, an eminence in the midst of the town, from the cupola or dome of which a most beautiful panoramic view is commanded, both of the whole town and of the surrounding

* According to the calculations of Lieut. Maury, the distance from Boston to Liverpool is 2,880 miles, 160 miles nearer than from New York.

also a drawing school, or school of design for girls. "Young women, at one or both of these admirable institutions, learn Latin, Greek, Mathematics, Algebra, and the Physical Sciences; and, it is said, evince the greatest facility in acquiring knowledge of these subjects, which have been considered so difficult, if not incomprehensible to the female intellect."*

Nor is it merely for educational purposes that the spirit of the New World is preparing woman for a freer development of her being, and a wider sphere of activity; as already shown, it opens to her free paths in arts and manufactures. This is the object of the drawing school, as will be hereafter described. Literary and Philanthropic societies, as also private as well as public schools, are perhaps more numerous and more efficient here than in any other town, or city, or district of the Union. Literature, music, and the fine arts are therefore more cultivated and better appreciated, and the inhabitants are more refined. While it is somewhat remarkable as a fact, suggestive both of the social state and prudential character of the people of New England in general, that the State of Massachusetts contains fourteen hundred and six physicians or medical men, or one to every seven hundred and seven of the inhabitants. The town and whole district of Massachusetts it may be added, indeed the whole North-Eastern States, are distinguished for order, cleanliness, regularity, and social arrangements in general, giving evidence, from age to age, of the characteristics of their high Puritan lineage. 'The tone of society here," says Mr. Dickens, "is one of perfect politeness, courtesy, and good breeding. The ladies are unquestionably very beautiful; their education is much the same as with us.

Religion has strongly entrenched itself in this celebrated town. Boston contains at the present time upwards of forty large and, for the most part, elegant places of worship, and probably eight or ten of inferior size.

The population of Boston proper, according to the last census in 1850, was 138,788; of the whole district, within a circle of nine miles, it was 269,874. Estimating the population of the town alone at about 160,000, there will be found one place of worship to about 12,000 inhabitants.

The church edifices in Boston, especially those of the Congregational (including Baptist) and the Episcopal denomina

• Aliss Bremer,

hibiscus (rosa sinensis), the arborescent euphorbia, tilandsias, the amias, the ligar, and scarlet belladonna lily; some beautiful vacciniums, as well as monotropa, called the Indian pipes, with others of unusual splendour, many of them common to the gardens and pleasure grounds of England.

Among the tombs that command the especial interest of the casual visitor, are those of Mrs. Hannah Adams, the wife of one of the ablest statesmen and Presidents of the Union; and Dr. Spurzheim, the phrenologist; Judge Storey, the distinguished jurist; and the celebrated Dr. Channing. While, more recently, the remains of Margaret Fuller Ossoli have been there deposited, or, at least, a marble monument has been erected to her-memory and that of her husband and child.

The Common, in the summer season, is a delightful spot, situate at the extremity of Fremont Street, which runs parallel with Washington Street, and is a place of great resort, especially to the youthful part of the population. As a promenade, it is to the Bostonians in general, what St. James's and Regent's Parks are to the populace of London; and is scarcely less attractive in native and artificial convenience and beauty. It consists of about fifty acres of land, containing in its centre a beautiful and extended reservoir or lake; this reservoir is supplied from what is now called Cochituate Lake, which drains a surface of nearly twelve thousand acres of the surrounding country. It is nearly surrounded by streets or terraces of elegant houses, occupied by the most wealthy of the citizens, and the beautiful suburbs, studded with numerous country seats and well cultivated farms, give an additional charm to this source of rural recreation. Some of the vast trees that ornament these charming haunts of the country-loving citizen, are supposed to be one hundred years of age.

Boston and its neighbourhood derives additional interest to the passing stranger, from the many illustrations of history it presents in the surrounding memorials of the great revolutionary struggle. This metropolis of the North being, as already intimated, the cradle of education and of general enlightenment in the New World, as well as of liberty, is often designated the American Athens. Public schools are numerous, and may be said to be models of what such institutions should be; the respectable portion of the population, generally, taking an interest in them. At West Newton, near to Boston, is a seminary for female teachers, established by Horace Mann, and

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