"I would

effects of this system, and his answer was, sooner be hung twice over, sir." If ever the good citizens of Philadelphia may expect a visit from the shade of the venerable founder of their city, I should imagine it will be to express his abhorrence at an institution worthy only of the best days of the Spanish Inquisition.

It is said that Philadelphia possesses more real and ready capital, and that the merchants' speculations are more confined to the latter, than is the case in any other city in the States. The manufactures are extensive, especially the warping-mills, of which there are upwards of one hundred in the immediate vicinity; and, since wood fuel has become more scarce, a great trade has been carried on, up the Schuylkill and Lehigh rivers, with the coal mines, 100 miles distant. Though the coal in summer is seldom under seven dollars, and in winter upwards of eleven dollars, per ton; yet it has almost superseded the use of wood, and the demand even exceeds the supply. It is of a hard quality, nearly as brilliant as glass, will bear turning, and emits very little smoke: but that which is termed "anthracite" will not blaze or burn easily, unless English coal is mixed with it; and this is imported in vessels from Liverpool as ballast. Mines have been opened only a few years since at Mount Carbon and Lehigh, and are daily becoming more lucrative and extensive.

Like all American towns, Philadelphia teems with "knowledge for the people;" there being eight daily, one twice-a-week, and thirteen weekly newspapers; seven monthly, and four quarterly publications. Of the latter, the American Review is well edited.

Altogether, I have seen but few cities with which it will

not bear a comparison; and, in my poor opinion, it is superior to all on the continent of North America. I could not spare time for more than a ten days' residence there; and, though during that time I did my best to satisfy my curiosity, I regretted to leave it without having seen all I wished.

At six A. M., on the 13th of June, I embarked in one of the "Citizens' Union Line" steamers, and proceeded down the Delaware at the spanking rate of fifteen knots an hour. A few minutes after I had been on board, seeing a negro ringing a hand-bell up and down the decks, and having my eyes and ears open for every thing new, I walked towards him with the expectation of acquiring some valuable information; when, with the Stentorian voice of a town-crier, he sung out, "Gentlemen who wish to take breakfast, please walk to the Captain's office, and take tickets-also, pay their fare." There were from 150 to 170 passengers on board; so I in vain strove to penetrate the dense mass collected round the small sentrybox office, and therefore commenced inspecting the various

barbers' shops, washing-rooms, dressing-rooms, and barrooms, with which the upper-deck was covered. In the forepart of the vessel, a man had opened a small shop for the sale of indelible marking-ink, with types arranged for stamping, which appeared to be in great request; while in the stern were a knot of politicians discussing the merits of the tariff bill, and poring for the last news from Congress over the morning papers, which they had purchased from some of the little urchins who crowd the piers and vessels previous to starting. I had, however, scarcely studied the various groups, or come to any fixed determination who and what the principal orators were, judging only from a physiognomical view of them, when I again heard the black crier and his bell, with a shriller and more decisive tone, screaming out, "Gentlemen a'int paid their fare will please walk to the Captain's office!" where I found nearly as great a throng as before; but, being more persevering in my efforts to pierce a crowd which reminded me of the stock-selling scene, I at last obtained three scrips (or tickets),-one for breakfast, to be returned when called for at table; the second to be given on going ashore; and a third, I think, for the railway waggons, or the steam-boat in the Chesapeake.

The American river steamers are noble vessels, and, the engines working upon deck, such ample accommodation is afforded, that between two and three hundred passengers can sit down to breakfast in the cabin, which extends from stem to stern, excepting a small portion panelled off in the after part, which is held sacred to the ladies alone, "No admittance for gentlemen" being painted in legible characters over the door. The accustomed shrine of Bacchus, to which the gentlemen pay their repeated and enthusiastic devotions, is exposed to

the gaze of all admirers at the forepart of their cabin. No man of course would be so unconscionable as to expect any thing approaching to comfort at the table of a steam-boat; so I should advise him to get rid of his meals as speedily as possible, just as he would of any unpleasant duty which must be performed; and then let him breathe the fresh air again upon deck, where, if the beauties of nature have no charm for him, he can pull out his watch and count what number of revolutions the paddles perform in a minute, or work the calculation of how many knots the vessel cuts through the water per hour. For my own part, I always preferred being on deck on a cold day, though a shower of rain might accompany it, to stewing below with 150 passengers; and used often to imagine what a hurry and scuffle there would be in the cabin, if the vessel "collapsed its flue" (as the Americans would say), or, in plain old English, burst its boiler.

Touching at the various towns on the river's bank, to land passengers, delayed us for a few minutes; but we arrived at Newcastle, thirty-five miles from Philadelphia, in two hours and a half. Stepping at that place from the vessel on to the railway, we entered the several horsecars, according to the numbered tickets we had received on board the steamer, without any trouble about the baggage, which had been placed in small cars previously to our leaving the vessel, and now followed us on common railway waggons. The road was but a temporarily built one, being constructed of slabs of wood with a flat iron rod nailed upon them, to withstand the friction of the carriage wheels, the foundation being formed of logs of trees laid horizontally, and scarcely substantial enough for the locomotive engines which were to be introduced upon it in the course of the summer. The country through