always kept full by a long weir running across the river; for the Schuylkill, though broad and rapid, is but shallow. The wheels, which are turned by the water let out from the basin, front the river. Their axes are fastened by a neat and simple contrivance to the pistons of the forcing pumps, the pipes leading from which are attached to the face of the cliff, and discharge themselves at the top into a very large and capacious reservoir. Phila delphia is the only city in the United States that is thus supplied with water, for the inhabitants of all the other cities rely upon wells and pumps, The building at the waterworks is very handsome and substantial.

The ornamental garden of Mr. Pratt is in this neighbourhood. Here I expected to see something very magnificent, having heard it much spoken of, but I was extremely disappointed; for the situa tion, which is indeed very beautiful, is far better worth seeing than the disposition and cultivation of the ground. Ornamental gardening is an art at present totally unknown, or at least unpractised, in the United States.

While at Philadelphia I dined out several times; but our parties consisted entirely of men, the only lady at table being the mistress of the house. This is always the custom, the ladies being seldom or never asked out to dinner. I observed besides, that it was very unusual for any one to go after dinner into the drawing-room, to which the lady of

the house had retired; for after sitting a moderate time, the party commonly broke up and dispersed. The ordinary dinner hour is three o'clock; but when there is a large party, it is occasionally put off till four. The Americans call our fashionable dinners " suppers," a name but too frequently deserved.

CHAPTER III.

BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON.

I WAS extremely unwilling to leave Philadel phia, which I liked better and better every day; but my object was to travel, and not to remain long stationary in any place, however agreeable. Accordingly I set off in the steam-boat for Baltimore.

The Delaware below Philadelphia is very wide, but the general marshiness of the banks renders the prospect much less beautiful than above the city. Thirty-three miles from Philadelphia, we stopped at Newcastle, which, though a small town, is a very important one, there being no other on the Delaware so near the tide-waters of Chesapeak Bay. It is somewhere near this place, that the canal intended to unite the bay and the river is just about to be commenced.

From Newcastle the stages which meet the steam-boat, convey travellers eighteen miles further to Frenchtown, a mere straggling village situated on Elk river, a large arm of the Chesapeak Bay. The road to this place is through a tolerably rich, but very uninteresting country. I remarked that some of the farmers had improved the appearance of their fields by adopting the English

mode of surrounding them with hedges, instead of using the zigzag rail-fence, which I have already mentioned. Leaving the stages, I again embarked on board the steam-boat, and descended the magnificent bay of the Chesapeak to Baltimore, a distance of fifty-one miles.

This city, founded by Lord Baltimore in the year 1634, remained for a length of time an inconsiderable place, but contains at present a popu lation of 62,738 souls, and is the fourth commercial city in the United States. It derives all its commerce, which is very considerable, particularly as regards the coasting trade, from its situation on a point of land which runs out into the Patapsco river, an arm of the Chesapeak Bay. At this port are built those long sharp schooners, celebrated under the name of the Baltimore Clippers. These vessels, which were once considered to sail faster than any in the world, are now surpassed by the New York pilot boats.

One of the first things in Baltimore that attracts the attention of the stranger, is the greatly increased number of blacks that he meets in the streets; for Maryland, in which the city is built, is a slave State.

There are many remarkable public buildings in Baltimore, the handsomest of which is the new Unitarian church. The inside of this building is very highly finished, and is a model of simplicity and elegance. The exterior is also very good, The church is a rotunda, with a portico in front.

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and, though considerably smaller, is built something on the plan of the Pantheon at Rome. I do not, for my own part, admire the custom prevalent in America, and which is making its way into England, of building churches in imitation of Grecian or Roman temples. I certainly consider, though perhaps with bad taste, that the old gothic style is much better adapted to the celebration of the sombre mysteries of our holy religion. It has been urged by many, that gothic architecture is too expensive; but this would not be the case, if, instead of the florid gothic of Henry the Seventh's time, we adopted the more natural and simple style of the previous centuries. But whatever style of architecture is preferred, it must, I think, be granted, that windows and chimneys agree very ill with colonnades and porticoes; and I am sure that any one looking at the Unitarian church of Baltimore would confess, that the chimneys or pipes of the stoves greatly disfigure its classical appearance.

Immediately opposite is the Catholic cathedral, which, though much larger, is not so handsome a building, as its tout ensemble is heavy and clumsy. These two churches are only separated by a broad street, and, as if in defiance of each other, there are inscriptions over the principal entrance of each. If I were not a strenuous supporter of the doctrine of the Trinity, I should be disposed to prefer the simple inscription of the Unitarians, "TO MONË ŒEN,” to the longer one of the Catholics,

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