being the largest mirrors ever imported into the
United States. The plate glass for the windows
alone cost $35,000; and the entire cost of the
building, independent of the furniture, was about
half a million of dollars.

Many of the stores, banks, and other buildings
for purposes of business, in New York, are
among thdhnost elegant architectural ornaments
of the city. These are too numerous to be
described in this place. As an example of the
largest class of stores, it may suffice to instance
the splendid palace on Broadway, built and occu-
pied by A. T. Stuart as a silk store. Fronting
upon Broadway, it covers the entire block be-
tween Chamber Street and Reed Street, having
a front upon Broadway of 150 feet, and a depth
up both the other streets of the same extent. It
is built of polished white marble, six stories high,
in a style of architectural beauty, without and with-
in, corresponding to the costliness of the materials.

Many of the private residences in the upper
part of the city are of the most costly and beauti-
ful description. Long streets consisting of stately
blocks and terraces, and separate mansions, with
every accessory of architectural splendor, excite
the admiration of the beholder. “ Under the
smiles of fortune,'' says a writer of New York,
“ most classes of our citizens have been pros-
perous, many have grown wealthy, and the
style and expense of living, and the beauty of
some of the principal streets of the city, have
proportionally improved. The buildings now
generally in course of construction by our
wealthy inhabitants, for their private residences,
are among the most splendid and costly city
dwelling houses in the world. The several styles
of architecture are conceived by architects of
great ability, and the designs of the buildings and
interior decorations are in many instances carried
out without regard to cost. $100,000 for the cost
of a single city lot, freestone house and furniture,
is not an unfrequent expenditure. The support
of many private establishments requires an out-
lay of $10,000 to $20,000 a year, some ranging
much higher.''

The number of theatres and places of amuse-
ment in New York is not considered large in
comparison with that of European cities'of the
same size. The principal theatres are the Park
Theatre, opposite the Park; the Bowery The-
atre, Bowery, above Bayard Street; Astor
Place Opera House, near the upper part of
Broadway; Olympic Theatre, Broadway,.above
Canal Street; National Theatre, near Chatham
Square ; Burton's Theatre, Chamber Street, and
Niblo's Theatre, at the corner of Broadway and
Prince Streets. The American Museum, oppo-
site the Astor House, is an excellent and very
extensive establishment of its kind, founded in
1810, and enriched with curiosities of nature and
art from all parts of the world. Its immense
collections occupy five large saloons 100 feet in
length. From the observatory on the top of the
building, which is very high, one of the finest
views of the city, bay, and surrounding country
is obtained. Peale's Museum and Gallery of
Fine Arts, founded in 1825, contains four spa-
cious apartments, filled with choice specimens in
the departments of natural history, painting,
statuary, &c. The cosmoramie views in these
museums are equal to any in the world for num-
ber and variety, and for the truth and perfection
of art with which they are prepared. The Chi-
nese Museum, at 359 Broadway, contains a very
extensive collection of curiosities, illustrative of
the arts and the customs of life in China.

Castle Garden, off the Battery, and Vauxhall
Garden, at the upper end of the Bowery, are
places of pleasant resort for recreation. There
are also in the vicinity of the city several places
of daily resort in the summer season. The prin-
cipal of these is Hoboken, on the opposite bank
of the Hudson, between which and New York,
in pleasant weather, there are continual currents
of persons going and returning by the boats,
which seem, as it were, to bring these places
nearer to the city than if they were within its
limits. The grounds at Hoboken are beautifully
laid out, and shaded and supplied with various
means of innocent and healthful recreation.
Haerlem Village, on the N. end of the island,
included within the city limits, was founded, we
are told, as long ago as 1658, “with a view to
the amusement and recreation of the citizens.''
The Haerlem Railroad, 8 miles in length, con-
nects this village with the very heart of the city.
The cars start from the City Hall several times a
day, passing through Centre and Broome Streets,
the Bowery, and Fourth Avenue, as far as Twen-
ty-Seventh Street, with horses, and thence with
steam to Haerlem, and beyond to other places to
the N. and E. of it. The ride to Haerlem is
pleasant, affording a view of much of the city,
the East River, and surrounding country, and
passing through a tunnel excavated in the solid
rock, 595 feet long. Manhattanville and Bloom-
ingdale, on the W. side of the island, and Astoria,
on the E. side, are also much frequented. Many
of the pleasant places in New Jersey, on Staten
Island, and on Long Island are also brought by
the numerous ferries, railroads, and steamboats
diverging from the city, within a convenient dis-
tance for pleasure excursions.

The markets in New York are numerous, and
well supplied with every necessary and luxury
which the country produces. They are not sit-
uated, as in some other cities, in one or two cen-
tral localities, this being impracticable from the
great extent of the city. The principal markets
are the Fulton, Catharine, Washington, Frank-
lin, Clinton, Tompkins, and Essex. The value
of the country produce brought to market, and
consumed annually by the inhabitants, has been
estimated at $15,500,000.

The city is lighted to a great extent with gas.
The first experiment was made in the Park in
1812. The works of the New York Gas Light
Company, organized in 1823, are in Canal Street,
from which between 30 and 40 miles of pipe
have been laid into all parts of the city. The
light produced is strong and beautiful, imparting
to Broadway, and to other streets in which the
stores are generally lighted in the evening, al-
most the splendor of midday.

But the greatest of the public works of New
York is the Croton Aqueduct, by which, after
much suffering from the want of it, the blessing
of an abundant supply of pure water has been
secured to the inhabitants. This great under-
taking was decided upon by a vote of the citizens
at the charter election in 1835, and it was so far
completed that the water was brought into the
city on the 14th of October, 1842. The aque-
duct commences at a point on the Croton River,
about 6 miles from the Hudson, in Westchester
county, and about 40 miles from the City HalL