brated. Most of the orations delivered on the 5th of March may be produced as examples. Still, it has never been true that this mode of writing was either general in this town or adopted by men of superior talents. The most respectable writers here have been distinguished for the chasteness and simplicity of their compositions. The papers published by the Legislature of this State on the embargo, and the measures connected with it, are inferior, in no kind of merit, to those of any public body in the world.

The people of this town are distinguished by their attachment to literature. Their pecuniary contributions to this object have exceeded those of any city in the American Union. Indeed, the liberality exhibited in most of the towns on this coast is unrivalled on this side the Atlantic. Accordingly, there are here many more men in proportion to the whole number liberally educated than in New York, and far more than in any other town in America. There is also a much more extensive diffusion of intelligence and information among all classes of people.

When the first proposal was made to establish a theatre in this town, a considerable number of the inhabitants eagerly engaged in forwarding the design. Accordingly, a theatre was built, and soon after that another. There is reason to believe that the stage is now regarded with very general indifference. One of the theatres has been already taken down, and the other, it is said, is far from being crowded.

An honorable specimen of the Bostonian character was lately exhibited. Two young gentlemen (natives) fought a duel. One of them was killed, the other fled. The inhabitants with one voice manifested an unequivocal wish to have the law executed upon the survivor. Even his own friends are said to have made no efforts in his favor. It is doubted whether the same opposition to this crime, and the same respect for the decisions of law, would be found in a similar case in any other town of equal distinction. It ought to be remarked that the survivor was intensely provoked, and had made numerous, unusual, and very patient exertions to prevent the unhappy catastrophe.

During one hundred and forty years, Boston was probably more distinguished for religion than any city of the same size in the world. An important change has, however, within a period of no great length, taken place in the religious opinions

of the Bostonians. Before this period, moderate Calvinism very generally prevailed. At the present time, Unitarianism appears to be the predominating system. It is believed that neither ministers nor people have had any reason to congratulate themselves on this change.

Boston enjoys a superiority to all the other great towns on this continent in an agreeable neighborhood. A numerous collection of pleasant towns and villages almost surround it, the residence not only of flourishing farmers and mechanics, but also of men respectable for their polish, learning, and worth. The surface of the country is everywhere finely varied, the soil generally fertile, the agriculture neat and productive, the gardening superior to what is found in most other places, the orchards, groves, and forests numerous and thrifty. The roads running in every direction on the western side of the meridian are most of them good, and some of them excellent. Several of them are lined, throughout their whole extent, with almost a continued village, formed of houses, neat, well built, and strongly indicative of prosperity. Villas pleasantly situated, commanding handsome views, exhibiting more lightness and elegance of architecture, and ornamented with more suitable appendages than I have elsewhere seen, adorn, at little distances, a considerable part of this region. A singular collection of pleasant rides is opened in this manner to the inhabitants, and of interesting objects, to which these rides conduct them. From the gratification furnished by this source a considerable abatement is made by several slaughter-houses standing on or near some of the roads, one of them near that which passes over the Neck. A traveller cannot easily conceive how a people within and without whose doors so much taste and elegance appear can be satisfied to pass daily by objects so deformed and offensive.

Of the same nature is the ride from Boston to Portland. No part of the United States furnishes a tour equally pleasing. Nowhere is there, within the same compass, such a number of towns equally interesting, large, wealthy, and beautiful, or equally inhabited by intelligent, polished, and respectable people.

To these advantages ought to be added another, of no small distinction; namely, the neighborhood of the University in Cambridge. The importance of this advantage is too obvious to need illustration.

The prospect of this town and its environs is taken completely from the lantern of the State House. Commencing your survey at Allerton Point in Nantasket, or Hull, nine miles eastward, and tracing onward to the south-east an irregular undulating country and a bewildered shore, you are presented with the peninsula called Dorchester Neck, rising with two beautiful heights. Continuing the progress further on, the towns of Dorchester, Milton, and Roxbury fill up the view to the south-western point. Thence the eye passes over Brookline, Brighton, Cambridge, and Menotomy to the west, Medford and Charlestown on the north, and thence over Malden, Chelsea, and Lynn on the north-east, to Nahant Point, the northern boundary of the harbor. Beyond the circuit which I have described, an extensive region is seen from this spot, gradually receding from the view, and blending by degrees into confusion.

The land side of this prospect is ornamented with beauties numerous, rich, and diversified. The hills from Malden through Charlestown to Dorchester Heights are formed by slopes and summits of the highest elegance. The towns are numerous and uncommonly cheerful. Villas in a multitude of fine situations and churches with their white spires enliven the rich verdure universally spread, and awaken in the mind a lively sense of prosperity.

The appearance of a large, populous, wealthy city is everywhere much the same,-a scene of crowds and confusion, but a scene ever engaging and animating. No city was ever seen from any point with more advantage than Boston from this. All its buildings, public and private, are in complete view, and are contrasted by the Common, a spacious field of the sprightliest verdure, pastured by a great multitude of cows, and lying directly beneath the eye.

The waterside of the prospect is not inferior to that of the land. The three basins of Dorchester, Charles River, and Mystic are uncommonly beautiful, and are crossed by seven extensive bridges. The harbor is a magnificent piece of water, containing a number of fine islands, and ornamented by the numerous points successively stretching out from its serpentine shores. On its surface a vast collection of shipping, and smaller vessels, is continually seen, either lying at anchor or moving through its waters in every direction. In a clear autumnal day a sense of sprightliness, activity, and gayety is excited here in the highest degree, and is increased by the prospect

of ships advancing toward the town through the entrance of the harbor, where it opens interminably into the ocean.

The commerce of Boston is principally supported by the State of Massachusetts. New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore engross to a great extent the supplies of the American Union. Even those of this State are shared by Salem, Newburyport, and Portland, and of the western parts by New York. Boston has always contained a large number of inhabitants distinguished by their respectability of character. It will not be expected that but very few should be particularly mentioned, unless in a biographical dictionary.

Governor Winthrop may be justly considered as the father of this colony, and has merited the respectful and perpetual remembrance of its inhabitants. This gentleman devoted his property, his talents, and his life to its interests. He was able, upright, and pious. Too zealous at times against opinions which he thought erroneous and against practices of no great importance, he was, still, a man of superior worth, benevolence, and liberality.

Governor Shirley came from England to Boston in 1733, where he practised law until 1741. From this time he continued to hold the chief seat of magistracy until the year 1757. He was afterward governor of one of the Bahama Islands, whence he returned to Massachusetts, and died at Roxbury in 1771. He was one of the best and ablest governors of the colony, and will be long remembered as the author of the expedition to Cape Breton and the abolition of the paper currency in Massachusetts Bay.

Governor Bowdoin was in early life distinguished for his talents and his virtues. He was a sound scholar at the University, where he took his first degree in 1745. His attachment to learning and science continued through life, and he not only excelled in them himself, but was a generous benefactor to others of the same character. The University of Edinburgh gave him the degree of Doctor of Laws, and the Royal Societies of London and Dublin elected him one of their members. When the American Academy of Arts and Sciences was, in a great measure by his influence, established at Boston in 1780, he was chosen its first president, and continued in the office until he died. In 1753, at the age of twenty-six, he was chosen one of the Representatives of Boston; and in 1756 he became a member of the legislative council. At this board,

either as a member or president, he continued twenty-three years. He was also president of the convention which formed the Constitution of Massachusetts, and contributed not a little to the wisdom discernible in many of its provisions.

In the year 1785 he was elected Governor of the State. In this office his wisdom, firmness, and moderation reflected the highest honor upon his character, and crushed in its infancy and without a single execution an insurrection against the government, stimulated by an unwise taxation and secretly cherished by every discontented and mischievous citizen. This measure preserved the State, perhaps the Union, and merited for the author of it a statue.

Still more honorable to this highly respectable man was his Christianity. More than thirty years of his life he was a professor of religion, and exemplarily adorned his profession. Bishop Butler's Analogy originally established in his mind the truth of divine revelation. On the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles he erected a fair edifice of personal religion, which he beautified to the end of his days. In all the duties enjoined by the gospel, both of piety and charity, he abounded throughout his life, and at his death left the world urging upon his family the religion which he had professed, and rejoicing in the hope of spending his future existence with them in a happier world. His name will descend to posterity as the odor of sweet incense.

The Hon. John Lowell, late judge of the District Court for Massachusetts, deserves a distinguished place in the biography of this country for his learning, good sense, elegance of mind, and religious worth.

The Hon. Thomas Russell, son of the gentleman whom I have mentioned in the account of Charlestown, was one of the most respectable and successful merchants whom America has produced, and for his private and domestic virtues and honorable public life was held in high estimation, not only in this town, but throughout the country.

A numerous train of eminent clergymen have been ministers of Boston, at the head of whom are the venerable names of Cotton and Wilson, the former distinguished for his learning, genius, and eloquence, the latter for his mildness, gentleness, benevolence and piety. Few men have been more respected on this side of the Atlantic than Mr. Cotton, none, perhaps, more beloved than Mr. Wilson. To commence an account of the character of these respectable men would involve an obligation to proceed, and to proceed would be to write a volume.