nately happens to be a painter, and has disfigured it with some wretched specimens of his art, most of which are pretended portraits of worthies, born only to be forgotten. The most interesting object is an almost perfect skeleton of the mammoth, which was found in a marle pit on the banks of the Hudson. While looking at its tremendous size, even with the skeleton before me, I could hardly help feeling in some degree incredulous, that such a huge carnivorous monster should have ever existed. And why, indeed, since it once existed, has it now ceased to exist ?-Perhaps we ought to imagine that Noah found it too large and troublesome to put in the ark, and therefore left the poor animal to perish.

Upon inquiring what occasioned the crowd which I observed around the public offices on each side of the Museum, I was informed that an election was going on for two members of Congress." How astonishing," said I to myself, " that where such numbers vote, every thing should be thus quietly and peaceably conducted!" The supporters of the candidates enter into the different offices, give their votes, and come out again, with scarcely more noise, than if they had been going in and out of church. In this State, as would seem just to any one unskilled in the mysteries of government, every one who pays taxes, has a vote in the election of the Representatives who impose those taxes. This is the secret of the

surprising good order. The voters are far too numerous to admit of the possibility of bribery; and as the elections occur every two years, they are such matters of course that no one thinks much about them.

Chesnut-street contains more handsome private houses than any other street in the city, and is shaded by rows of fine trees growing at the edge of the pavement. It is here, in the evenings during hot weather, that the beauty and fashion of the city make their promenade. The ladies dress remarkably well, but rather too gaudily to please the eye of an Englishman. This fault is very prevalent among the American ladies, who have nevertheless a great taste in dress, and are more easily enabled to gratify it than those of any other part of the globe.

The commerce of the United States is so extensive, and so devoid of all restrictions, that they lay the whole world under contribution. Shawls and muslins from India, cottons from England, lace, shoes, gloves, and silk from France, and bonnets from Italy, are all obtained with equal ease. The Philadelphians are however said to dress somewhat less fine, than the ladies of the other cities of the Union, probably owing to a slight tinge of the Quaker manners, which still influence the whole of the inhabitants, although only a small part of them belong to that sect at present,

I recollect that, frequently at Philadelphia, when desirous of ascertaining whether the beauty of some finely dressed female was equal to her attire, I have perceived under a huge Leghorn bonnet and lace cap, the black face and great white eyes of a negress. Sometimes I could hardly help laughing, so ludicrous was this contrast. The black women are, indeed, so fond of dress, and so eager to imitate the fashions of the whites, that I have seen several with their wool parted in front, drawn into a knot on the top of their heads, and ornamented with a large tortoiseshell comb. Moreover some of the negresses assume the dress of Quakers, in which they appear still more ridiculous, if possible, than in the ordinary dress of the white ladies.

Philadelphia was at one time a city of Quakers; but as it increased in wealth and importance, this sect, which is at enmity with all the vanities of this wicked world, became less powerful. Philadelphia may still, however, be considered as the head-quarters of this sect; and hence, all the inhabitants, even in the better class of society, are, comparatively speaking, rather reserved and formal. Many of the Quakers themselves are gradually leaving off the dress of their forefathers, although they still adhere to their tenets.

Wherever the Quakers exist, they are always the foremost in works of benevolence. They

never, indeed, make any parade of their good actions, but

"Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.”

Moreover they are the only people in the United States who really and sincerely strive to abolish slavery, and who at present exert themselves to their utmost to alleviate its horrors. We may indeed affirm, that all other religious sects, in consequence of the theological hatred which subsists between them, generally undervalue each other; but I believe they all grant the Quakers the first place in acts of charity, and have never pretended to impeach the purity-not to say the perfection— of their morals.

Philadelphia, for so large a town, is very ill provided with Hotels, or (to use the American word) Taverns. The only good one in the whole city is that at which I put up, the Mansionhouse, kept by a Mr. Renshaw. At this, as at all taverns in the United States, the stranger is boarded at so much per week or day. Indeed the tavern-keepers will not receive you on any other terms; and you cannot have your meals by yourself, nor at your own hours. This custom of

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boarding," as it is termed, I disliked very much, as it deprived me of many a meal when I was desirous of going to see sights. If a traveller stay at an hotel only one day, and from having friends in the place neither dines nor sups, he is charged nevertheless with a whole day's board. The

terms of boarding are, however, very moderate; at the Mansion-house only ten dollars per week. The table is always spread with the greatest profusion and variety, even at breakfast, tea, and supper; all which meals indeed, were it not for the absence of wine and soup, might be called so many dinners.

There, Dick, what a breakfast!-Oh, not like your ghost Of a breakfast in England-your curs'd tea and toast!

but a variety that would astonish even those accustomed to the morning repast of a Scotchman. At this important meal, besides tea, coffee, eggs, cold ham, beef, and such like ordinary accompaniments, we always had hot fish, sausages, beefsteaks, broiled fowls, fried and stewed oysters, preserved fruits, &c. &c. &c. The same variety of dishes was repeated at supper.

But in spite of this good living, I did not like the custom of being obliged to take every meal in public. Lieut. Hall, in his travels in the United States, has humourously remarked, "that privacy, in either eating, sleeping, conversation, or government, seems quite unknown and unknowable' to the Americans; to whom it appears, whether political or domestic, a most unnatural, as well as unreasonable desire, which only Englishmen are plagued with."

The public room in the Mansion-house was one of the handsomest and best furnished I have ever