STATEHOUSE.-PANORAMIC VIEW.

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like a terminating pinnacle, to cap or crown the summit of the whole rising mass of buildings with which all the ascending slopes of the hill are covered.

The foundation of the Statehouse was laid in 1795, and it was first opened for the use of the Legislature in 1798; its whole cost being 134,000 dollars, or about 26,500 pounds sterling. It has a frontage of 173 feet, and a depth of 51 feet. The basement story is 20 feet high, and the principal story above this is 30 feet high. In the centre of the front, this is covered with an attic story 20 feet high, which is crowned with a pediment, supported by a Corinthian colonnade, forming a fine balcony or gallery in front, looking out upon the Common, the city, and the harbour beyond it. The whole is crowned by a well-proportioned dome, 52 feet in diameter and 32 feet in height, surmounted by a circular lantern 25 feet high, supporting a gilded pine cone. An easy ascent is provided to this lantern on the inside; and on the day after our arrival at Boston we ascended here to enjoy the panoramic view, which for extent, variety, and beauty we thought unsurpassed by any we had ever seen in any part of the world. The point of view is at an elevation of 270 feet above the level of the sea; and the numerous suburbs of Chelsea, Charlestown, Cambridge, East Boston and South Boston, with Dorchester, Roxbury, and Milton Hill, are all brought within view at once by a mere turning of the eye in the several directions in which they stand; while the colleges of Harvard University, the public buildings of the Navyyard, the unfinished monument of Bunker Hill, the long bridges connecting these suburbs with the city-one of these being 3846 feet in length and 40 feet in breadth, and costing 76,000 dollars— and the numerous islands, shipping, and small vessels in motion, scattered over the extensive and beautiful bay, all combine to make up a picture of surpassing interest and beauty.

The interior of the Statehouse has a large hall or lobby in the centre of the basement story, which is 50 feet square and 20 feet high, supported by Doric columns; and at the northern end of this is a noble statue of Washington, executed by Chantrey, in the best style of the art. In the principal story above this are contained the two legislative halls, that is, the Senate Chamber and the Hall of the Representatives. The Senate Chamber is 55 feet long, 33 feet wide, and 30 feet high, with two screens of Ionic columns supporting, with their entablature, a richly-decorated arched ceiling. The Hall of the Representatives is 55 feet square, the corners being formed into niches for fireplaces, with Doric columns on two of its sides, at a height of 12 feet from the floor, forming galleries; the whole supporting a bold and well-proportioned dome, the centre of which is 50 feet above the level of the floor.

The arrangement of the seats for the members is the same as in the Hall of Representatives at Washington; and, indeed, in all the legislative chambers of this country, as well as in the Chamber of

Deputies and Chamber of Peers at Paris; namely, in the semicircular and progressively-elevated form of the old Greek theatre, the speaker's chair occupying the centre of the radius, while the seats form the successive arcs of the semicircle; a form which, for elegance of appearance, comfort to the members, convenience of hearing and seeing, and every other requisite of a public assembly, is greatly superior to any other that has yet been devised. The seats for the members will accommodate 350 with separate desks, and a large space behind these will seat a great number of spectators, without inconvenience to the members; besides which there are two galleries, one for the general admission of the public, and one for members and their friends. A combination of elegance and comfort reigns throughout these chambers, as well as in the council-room, and all the public offices are under the same roof, which might serve as a model to other countries.

The oldest public building of Boston is that which is now called

the City Hall. On the spot where the present building stands was erected the first place for the transaction of public business, so long ago as 1658. This was built of wood, and was twice burned down. The last time that this happened was in 1747, when it was repaired in the following year, in nearly its present form. After the Revolution it was the place of meeting for the General Court till the completion of the new Statehouse already described. It was again thoroughly repaired in 1830, when it was called by the name of the City Hall; and it is now used for the three joint purposes of the Postoffice, the Merchants' Exchange, and the Public Newsroom, for all which it is admirably adapted, being in the very centre of business, in State-street, one of the finest streets of the city.

On the upper floor are the hall of the mayor and aldermen, and the common-council hall, in which the business of the city is transacted; and a great number of the public offices and departments

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are here brought under the same roof, to the great convenience of all parties. In the Postoffice no less than 2000 mailbags are made up in the course of every week.

Faneuil Hall, so called from its original proprietor, who built it in 1742, and made it a free gift to the city, is the most popular of all the public buildings in Boston, and is called "The Cradle of Liberty," from its being the place in which the patriots of America met to rouse the people to resistance against the tyranny of their British oppressors. All the great public meetings of the citizens on political subjects are continued to be held here; and "Old

Faneuil Hall," as it is called, is an object of universal veneration. The edifice is of imposing size in its exterior, but not remarkable for architectural beauty.

Its interior, however, furnishes all the requisite accommodation which the attendants on public meetings require. The great hall is 76 feet square and 28 feet high, with a gallery running round three of its sides supported by Doric columns. Raised seats under and in the galleries accommodate the spectators with comfort, while the central floor will contain a very large number of auditors. On the western wall are suspended two excellent pictures: one a full-length portrait of General Washington, by Stuart; another of Peter Faneuil, the donor of the building; and between these is a marble bust of the third president of the United States, John Adams. Above this great hall is another room, 78 feet by 30, used for the military exercise of the city troops, with surrounding apartments for their arms and accoutrements; and the basement story, formerly used as a market, is divided into stores or shops, which produce to the city a rental of about £1000 sterling a year.

The new Courthouse, which is 176 feet by 54 feet, and 57 feet high, is a fine building, and well adapted to the purposes of the legal tribunals held here; and the county courthouse and jails are also handsome edifices of stone. The present Custom-house is, however, inferior in size and accommodation to the scale required for so commercial a city as Boston, though the new edifice, now in course of erection, will be better adapted to the wants and the taste of the times.

Perhaps no city in the world is better furnished than Boston with public buildings adapted to literary meetings and the delivery of public lectures. The first in order and in importance of all these is the Odeon, which was originally built as a theatre; it was then converted into a music hall under its present name, and it is now used as a place of worship by a Presbyterian congregation on the Sabbath, and as a lecture-room during the week. The house retains all its original subdivisions of boxes, pit, and galleries, while the orchestra has been added to the pit, and the stage thrown open to receive a fine organ in the centre, with rising platforms ascending all around it for musical performers. The seats in every part of the house are covered with crimson moreen; all the gilding and theatrical decorations are removed, and the panels are neatly painted; so that nothing can be more simply elegant or more thoroughly comfortable than the interior for both speaker and auditors.

In this building I delivered two courses of lectures of eight each; one course on Egypt, and the other on Palestine, which were attended three times a week by about 1000 auditors. In the same building Mr. Everett, the governor of the state, delivered an opening lecture before the Mercantile Library Association; and Mr. John Quincy Adams, the late president of the United States, Mr. Caleb Cushing, one of their representatives, Mr. Daniel Webster, the celebrated senator, and the Rev. Dr. Channing, the equally celebrated divine, all have lectures to the Lyceum, the Franklin,

and other public societies formed here for the diffusion of useful knowledge, in which the most distinguished men of the country take a deep personal interest, and to which, therefore, they cheerfully give much of their personal attention; another feature of the New-England character which is worthy of imitation or adoption in other lands.

The Masonic Temple is another of the public buildings much used for musical, literary, and scientific purposes. It has the most convenient and agreeable situation in the city for public meetings, facing the Common, in Tremont-street, and is, consequently, in constant use. It was built originally for a masonic lodge, and dedicated as such in 1832. But the odium and unpopularity into which masonry has fallen by the abduction and murder of Morgan, who professed to reveal its secrets, has occasioned lodges to be almost everywhere closed altogether, or, if held at all, to be held in great secrecy. Its style of architecture is Gothic, and its subdivisions include a chapel capable of seating 600 persons, a lecture theatre capable of seating 1000 persons, a hall capable of seating 400 persons, with a great number of smaller rooms, used as schoolrooms, committee-rooms, &c., while the Masonic Hall and its smaller apartments for the regalia and the lodges are on the attic story, and are now rarely used.

Besides these principal edifices adapted to public meetings, there are the following: Boylston Hall, Concert Hall, Congress Hall, Corinthian Hall, Pantheon Hall, Washington Hall, Amory Hall, Lyceum Hall, and Chauncey Hall, of varying capacities for accommodating from 200 to 600 persons each.

There are two remarkable buildings in different quarters of the