them of brick, and with very few exceptions principally of two stories in
height, it is scarcely necessary to speak, as there are few who have not
heard of, and formed some notion of Broadway; a street that all agree is
one day to be the pride of the western world.

In the other direction, I will admit that the view was not so remarkable,
the houses being principally of wood, and of a somewhat ignoble appearance.
Nevertheless the army was said to frequent those habitations quite as much
as they did any other in the place. After reaching the Common, or present
Park, where the great Boston road led off into the country, the view was
just the reverse of that which was seen in the opposite quarter. Here, all
was inland, and rural. It is true, the new Bridewell had been erected in
that quarter, and there was also a new gaol, both facing the common; and
the king's troops had barracks in their rear; but high, abrupt, conical
hills, with low marshy land, orchards and meadows, gave to all that portion
of the island a peculiarly novel and somewhat picturesque character. Many
of the hills in that quarter, and indeed all over the widest part of the
island, are now surmounted by country-houses, as some were then, including
Petersfield, the ancient abode of the Stuyvesants, or that farm which, by
being called after the old Dutch governor's retreat, has given the name
of Bowery, or Bouerie, to the road that led to it; as well as the
Bowery-house, as it was called, the country abode of the then Lieutenant
Governor, James de Lancey, Mount Bayard, a place belonging to that
respectable family; Mount Pitt, another that was the property of Mrs.
Jones, the wife of Mr. Justice Jones, a daughter of James de Lancey, and
various other mounts, houses, hills, and places, that are familiar to the
gentry and people of New York.

But, the reader can imagine for himself the effect produced by such a
street as Broadway, reaching very nearly half a mile in length, terminating