Of places of public amusement, in our English acceptation of the term, there are not many in Philadelphia. There are three large theatres, one of which is closed, and the other two but occasionally opened; these are not much frequented by the more opulent or intelligent classes, but are sustained by the middle and humbler ranks. Music is more cul

tivated and better supported. A society exists called the Musical Fund Society, the hall of which will seat comfortably 1200 persons, and it is as well adapted for musical performances as any hall in Europe. Its meetings of members for practising concerts are frequent, and generally well attended. We were present at a concert given here by Madame Caradori Allen, which was very superior to the one given by her at Washington, both in the number and quality of the instrumental accompaniments, and in the character of the vocal selections. The conductor, Mr. Cross, played with great skill and power on the piano; a first-rate violinist, Mr. Keyser, a German, performed exquisitely on his instrument. Mr. Plaff, another German, executed pieces of great difficulty on the corno bassetto. And Madame Caradori herself sang with all her accustomed sweetness and good taste, and with more than her usual power. The audience was not so numerous as might have been expected (about 500 persons :) but the taste of the majority, like that of the assemblage at Washington, was below that of almost any audience of a similar city in England, as the only songs encored by them, among several of great merit and beauty, were the ballads of "Cease your funning," and "I'm over young to marry yet," the last of which seems to be an especial favourite with the multitude.

There are more public squares for promenades, and larger and better ones too, in every respect, in Philadelphia, than in New York, or Baltimore. They have been longer laid out, and their grass lawns, large trees, and fine gravel walks, render them most agreeable; but they are probably less valued here than they would be in almost any other city, from the circumstance of the streets being such agreeable places for walking, so perfectly level, so smoothly paved on the causeways at least, and so agreeably shaded with trees on each side.

Of these squares, Franklin Square is the largest, being 632 feet from east to west, and 600 feet from north to south. A much larger square than this was planned by William Penn for the centre of his city, and which still bears his name; but it has been divided into four smaller squares, each of a good size.

The square of Penn, indeed, has followed the fate of his city, in being contracted within narrower dimensions than at first intended; for his original plan is said to have been formed on a scale of three miles for each of its sides, or a square of twelve miles for the whole city; whereas it was subsequently abridged to two miles in length from east to west, and one mile in breadth from north to south, which forms the street limits of the present city, all beyond these limits belonging to the suburbs and liberties.

Independence Square, to the south of the State House, is 470 feet by 398; and Washington Square, near it, is 456 feet by 370; while Logan Square and Ruttenhouse Square are hardly inferior in size; and when the trees in each are more fully grown, there

will be valuable additions to the means of healthy recreation and exercise for the population.

The newspapers of Philadelphia are as numerous as they are in all the large towns of the United States. There are seven daily morning papers, and two daily evening papers; the former are the United States Gazette, the Commercial Herald, the Pennsylvanian, the Inquirer, the Sentinel, the Public Ledger, and the Advertizer; and the latter are the National Gazette, and the Philadelphia Gazette. Of all these, there is but one, the Public Ledger, which is strictly neutral in politics, (this being what is called a penny paper, though selling at one cent, or about a halfpenny per copy, and not more than half the size of the other papers,) and one only, the Pennsylvanian, which is democratic, or in favour of the present administration. All the rest are Whig, or, as we should call them in England, Conservative; that is, anti-democratic. In point of talent, they are all conducted with more ability and more fairness, as it struck me, than the papers of New York. There is less of personal vituperation and party abuse, and less of puffing and strained attempts at extravagance for wit. Their current of thought and tone of feeling is graver, and more dignified, and their style of expression more courteous and less dogmatical.

In addition to the daily papers, there are some few weekly ones, and three of large circulation, devoted exclusively to religious articles. Of these, the Presbyterian takes the first rank in circulation, and after this, the Episcopal Recorder and the

Philadelphia Observer. They are each conducted with ability and consistency. The editors and proprietors are ministers and members of the respective sects of Christians to which they belong; and these papers answer here the purpose which monthly religious periodicals do in England, and answer it better; because the frequency of their appearance, once a week, makes them fitting vehicles of religious news, which causes them to find their way where books without news would hardly be welcome visitors; while their cheapness, ready transmission by the post, and freshness, occasions their religious essays to be read by thousands who would not approach them in any other shape.

Though there are two or three extensive publishers in Philadelphia, it is not so literary a city as New York, and still less so than Boston. There was a Quarterly Review published here a few years ago, and well conducted, but it could not be sustained, and it is now merged into some other periodical elsewhere, nor has its place been since supplied. Cheap literature is that which is most in request here; and the two classes of publications, which find the readiest sale, are cheap theological works of early or of modern date and cheap reprints of English novels, and works of imagination. These are often sold in the same shop, where, over the door-way, may be seen the words "Theological Book-store," and "Catalogues of Religious Books to be had within," while placards in front of the same door, announce Byron's "Don Juan"-Lady Bury's "Flirtation," and Bulwer's "Ernest Maltravers," as among the popular works of the day.

CHAP. IV.

Manufactures, trade, and commerce of Philadelphia-Municipal government, mayor, alderman-Select and common councilsLegislation-Population, gradual increase from 1790-Proportion of white and coloured races- -Proportion of males and females in each-Proportion of deaths to the whole numbers-Classes of society, aristocracy of birth and wealth-Middle class of general society-Dinner from the bar to the bench of Pennsylvania General appearance of the inhabitants-Manners of Philadelphia society-Wretched condition of some labouring classes-Individual cases of extreme distress-Decline in the spirit of benevolence-Attributable to increasing wealth-Suggestion of a selftaxing society-Instances of munificent legacies-Contrast of the living and the dying.

Of the manufactures, trade, and commerce of Philadelphia, more may be said as to its prospects than as to its actual condition. At present, there is not nearly so much of either, as there might have been, or as there will be a few years hence, when the vast resources of the State come to be more fully developed. The few manufactories now carried on here are confined to carpets, floor-cloth, some hardware of a coarse kind, glass, porcelain, and articles of domestic consumption; but little or nothing is made for exportation, if we except a very extensive and excellent manufactory of steam-engines, conducted on a large scale, and supplying both the cities of the seacoast, and the rising towns of the western waters.

The foreign commerce is almost as limited as the home trade, the shipping of Philadelphia not equalling