jected a considerable way into the river. The wharfs were built of
wood; they jutted out, in every direction, and were well adapted for the
accommodation of shipping; the largest merchant vessels being able to
lie close alongside of them. Behind the wharfs, and parallel to the
river, runs a street called _Water-street_. This is the first street
which the stranger in America usually enters, after landing; and (says
Mr. Weld) it will not give him a very favourable opinion either of the
neatness or commodiousness of the public ways of Philadelphia. Such
stenches, at times, prevail in it, owing in part to the quantity of
filth and dirt that is suffered to remain on the pavement, and in part
to what is deposited in waste-houses, of which there are several in the
street, that it is really dreadful to pass through it. It was here, in
the year 1793, that the malignant yellow fever broke out, which made
such terrible ravages among the inhabitants; and, in the summer season,
in general, this street is extremely unhealthy.

Few of the _public buildings_ in Philadelphia pretend to great
architectural merit. The churches are neat, but plain. The Masonic Hall
is an unsightly combination of brick and marble, in the Gothic style.
The Philadelphia bank is in a similar style. The United States and
Pennsylvania banks are the finest edifices in the city: the first has a
handsome portico, with Corinthian columns of white marble, and the
latter is a miniature representation of the temple of Minerva at Athens,
and is the purest specimen of architecture in the states: the whole
building is of marble.

The _State House_ is a plain brick building, which was finished in 1735,
at the cost of L.6000. The most interesting recollections of America are
attached to this edifice. The Congress sat in it during the greatest
part of the war; and the Declaration of Independence was read, from its
steps, on the 4th of July, 1776. The Federal Convention also sat in it,
in 1787. It is now occupied by the supreme and district courts below,
and by Peale's Museum above. This museum, among other articles, contains
an immense fossil skeleton of the great Mastodon, or American Mammoth,
which, some years ago, was publicly exhibited in London.

The _University_ of Pennsylvania was instituted several years ago, by
some of the citizens of Philadelphia; among whom was Dr. Franklin, who
drew up the original plan. It is governed by a provost and vice-provost.
In 1811, th