periodicals of the city are more than 60, including
31 newspapers, 7 of which are daily. The pub-
lic schools are not equalled in any other city in
the world. The ambition of the scholars is exci-
ted by annual rewards to the most worthy, in the
shape of a public dinner at Faneuil Hall in com-
pany with the Mayor and officers of the city;
and the distribution of gold and silver medals,
the product of a fund for this purpose established
by the great Franklin, who was born in this
city. In the department of the fine arts, there is
much taste and liberal patronage displayed here.
The annual exhibitions of paintings in the gallery
of the Atheneum is the best in the country, and a
fund is collecting from its proceeds for the encour-
agement of the arts.

This city is distinguished for the early and res-
olute stand which it made in favour of American
liberty. It was, in fact, the birth-place of our in-
dependence, and the first American blood shed by
the British, was in the skirmish between the citi-
zens of Boston and the soldiery, in State Street,
on the 5th of March, 1770, which is known by the

name of the Boston Massacre. The animosity
occasioned by this occurrence never subsided, and
six years afterward the British were driven from
the place.

In commerce, Boston is the second city in the
union, and its trade is carried on with every quar-
ter of the    world.    The    yearly    imports are

13,000,000 dollars, and the exports 9,000,000.
The shipping of the port amounted in 1828, to
161,583 tons. The wharves here are the finest in
the United    States.    Long    Wharf    and Central

Wharf are    each nearly a    quarter    of- a mile in

length, and    covered    with    stores;    those of the

latter are a solid pile, with an observatory in the
centre, where signals are received by telegraph
from the islands in the bay. India Wharf has a
solid pile of buildings, of large extent. All these
form spacious docks, and are furnished with broad
carriage ways.

The manufactures of the city and suburbs, con-
sist of glass, iron, cordage, leather, &c.; the finest
cut ana crown glsss in the country is made here.
The manufacturing interests are strongly support-
ed in Boston, and a great portion of its capital lies
in the establishments of Lowell, Waltham and oth-
er manufacturing towns. A railroad is in progress
from Boston to Lowell, which, when completed,
will give additional spirit to the manufacturing in-
dustry of the state and contribute to the prosperi-
ty of the capital. There are 8 avenues to the city,
viz., 6 bridges, the neck, and the western cause-
way. The bridges lead from Charlestown, Cam-
bridge and South Boston ; they are of wood, and
that leading to Cambridgeport is nearly two thirds
of a mile in length. The western avenue is of solid
earth, faced with stone, and is a mile and a half
in length. The traveller who approaches the city
on a dark evening, admires the brilliant and pic
turesque appearance of the lights upon the aven-
ues, stretching in long lines across the wide bay
that embosoms the city. The western portion of
the bay is enclosed by the causeway above mem-
tioned, and serves for a mill-basin.

The wealth of Boston ii computed at 92 millions
of dollars; probably no other city of its size can
be found equally rich. The inhabitants, although
distinguished for being xe2x80x98 full of notions,’ yet have
more of a settled and permanent character than
those of any other American city. The high de-
gree of wealth, education and literary talent
which prevails here, has imparted to the upper
classes a portion of that exclusive feeling, which,
for want of a more precise definition is called
aristocracy* although there is no wider distinction
of classes than such as the natural operations of
society mark out. The rich, the gifted, and the
well-bred, are self-complacent in the possession of
their power, or superiority, but their pride is tem-
pered with urbanity and never wears a repulsive
shape. No people are more tolerant in religion,
and they have long since discarded every thing
offensive in the strait-laced puritanism of their
ancestors; yet no where is the state of moral feel-
ing more correct. There are all sects in religion,
but the Unitarians are the most numerous, and
their clergy can boast of some of the ablest heads
of the day. The people are noted for their love
of parade, pomp, and public celebrations, but the
occasions are generally well chosen, and the per-
formances seldom offend good taste.

The facilities for travelling in the neighbour-
hood of Boston are very great. There are more
stage coaches running to and from this city than
any other in America. Hourly and half-hourly
stages carry passengers to the neighbouring towns
at a very low rate. The number of daily arrivals
and departures is about 250. In summer there
are steamboats running to Hingham, Nahant and
the coast of Maine. The roads about Boston are
excellent, and the public houses of the first order.
The country here is exceedingly varied and pic-
turesque, adorned with every graceful variety of-
hill and dale, garden and grove, and abounding
in beautiful villages and elegant country seats.
From the dome of the State House, the spectator
may look down upon the whole city, the country
around it, the harbour and bay sprinkled with
beautiful islands and the ocean beyond, forming a
panorama not surpassed by any view of its 'kind
in the world. The harbour is capacious, safe, and
impregnable to an enemy. The heights of Dor-
Chester, which command the city and harbour
and whose batteries drove the British from Bos-
ton in 1776, are now within the limits of the city.

A city government was first adopted in 1821,
the officers are a Mayor, eight Aldermen,'and a
Common Council of 48, all elected by a popu-
lar vote in December annually. WTth Chelsea,
on the opposite side of the harbour, Boston com-
poses the county of Suffolk, which has 6 Senators
in the State Legislature. The city alone sends one
Representative to Congress. The yearly expenses
are about 300,000 dollars, of which above 50,000
are appropriated to the support of common schools;

80,000 for improving the streets and 30,000 for
the poor.

Boston was founded in 1630. Its name in the
Indian language was Sha.umut; and it was called
by the settlers Tremont or Trimountain, from its