Boston, the capital of Massachusetts, and the
yhief city in New England, stands upon a penin-
sula in a capacious harbour, at the western ex-
tremity of Massachusetts Bay. Its situation is
noble and commanding, the site being elevated
and the city nearly surrounded by water, so that
to the eye of the spectator its lofty domes and
spires seems like those of Venice to rise out of
the waves. In the interior, there is much irregu-
larity, and many crooked and narrow streets, but
there are .also in Boston a greater number of ele-
gant buildings, beautiful sites, and objects that
display the wealth, taste, and public spirit of the
inhabitants, than in any other city of the United
States. The beautiful common in the western

part, occupies the southerly slope of Beacon Hill.
It is a quarter of a mile in extent, surrounded bv
a mall planted with elms, with an open prospect
to the west and fronted in other parts by elegant
buildings. The State House, which stands on the
summit of the hill overlooking the common, and
indeed the whole city, is a spacious brick edifice,
painted of a stone colour and surmounted by a
lofty dome. The finest ornament of its interior,
is a statue of Washington in white marble, by
Chantry. Fronting the mall, is also St. Paul’s
church, built of hammered granite with a facade
of freestone, exhibiting six massy Doric columns.
The effect of the simple elegance of this structure
is much injured by the contrast of a huge gothic
pile at its side, the Masonic Temple, whose lofty
front, however, exhibits an imposing specimen of
that order of architecture. The Stone Chapel is
the name given to a church of considerable an-
tiquity ; it is a plain edifice, with a square tower,
surrounded by a Doric colonnade, and the style is
both chaste and dignified. Trinity church is of
rough gTanite, in the mixed gothic style, with a
lofty tower, and its whole appearance is massy
and imposing. The congregational church in
Bowdoin street.is another edifice in the same style,
but smaller. The church, in Church Green, is of
white granite, octagonal in shape and supporting
a tall and slender spire; it is much admired by
many, but a rather finical. The Brattle Street
church xc2xbb worthy a stranger’s notice for displaying
in its front the cannon ball shot into it during the
siege of Boston in 1775. The Old South church,
which the British soldiers turned into a hippo-
drome while they held possession of the city, still
remains, but its locality is now central and not
southerly. Park Street church at the head of the
mall, has a spire that towers above every other in
the city. There are besides these, many houses
of worship, not without claims to notice.

But the structure which most strikes the atten-
tion of the stranger, is perhaps Fanueil Hall Mar-
ket. This pile is 536 feet in length, two stories
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high, and is built of white granite, with porticoes
of columns cut from a single stone. This is
probably the handsomest market-liouse in the
world, and is fronted on both sides by solid blocks
of stone stores in a uniform architecture. The
street on the north front is 65, and that on the south,
102 feet in width. In the halls of the upper story,
are annually held the great sales of American
manufactures. Old Faneuil Hall, immortal in
the annals of our country as the xe2x80x98 cradle of
Liberty,’ stands west of the market, and is an an-
cient pile of brick, containing a spacious hall, in
which popular assemblies are still held'and pub-
lic dinners, celebrations, &c. are performed. The
Post Office and City Hall are in the Old State
House, at the head of State,Street. Many ofthe
banks are elegant stone edifices. The County
Court House is stone and of handsome propor-
tions, but its situation is unfavourable for display,
and the spot it occupies would be more service-
able for a public square. The Massachusetts
General Hospital is large, and elegantly built of
stone; it is a monument of the philanthropic
munificence of private citizens.

Here also the finest hotel in the United States dis-
plays the public spirit and liberality of the Boston
people. This edifice is called the Tremont House,
and occupies a beautiful situation ; its main body
is granite, with an elegant portico of fluted col-
ums cut from a single stone. The wings in the
rear are brick with stone basements, and with the
front, form three sides of a quadrangle. This
hotel contains nearly 200 apartments, and is un-
rivalled in the country for the excellence of its
accommodations. There are other structures for
public objects worthy of attention, as the prisons,
houses of industry, &c., these are generally of
Quincy or Chelmsford granite, an excellent
Duilding stone, of which there is an abundance in
the neighbourhood of the place.

Alterations and additions have of late years
vastly improved the appearance of Boston. The
streets which were formerly almost without an
exception, narrow and crooked, have been in
a great degree rendered wide and commodious ;
the old wooden structures, have in the greater
part of the city been replaced by handsome build-
ings of stone or brick. In the western part, par-
ticularly, there is much neatness and elegance.
The splendour of the private buildings here, is
not equalled in any other part of the Union.

The literary institutions of this city are of the
first order. The public libraries contain 70,000
volumes. The Boston Atheneum is the finest es-
tablishment of its kind in the United States ; its
library contains above 25,000 volumes, and a read-
ing room, in which the most esteemed periodicals,
from all parts of the world, may be found. If we
add to these the library of Harvard College, in the
neighbourhood, of 40,000 volumes, making the
number of books within the reach of the citizens

110,000, it must be allowed that Boston offers to
the scholar a more advantageous residence than
any other spot in the western world. The litera-
ry character of the citizens corresponds to these
advantages; Boston is distinguished for the num-
ber and talent of its periodical works : the North
American Review, which is allowed to be the
most able of all the literary journals of our coun-
try, and the only one that has gained a reputation
in Europe, is published here. The Christian Ex-
aminer, which has now enlarged its plan, and as-
sumed more of a purely literary character, is rank-
ed among the first publications of the day. The
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