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An account of the travels of Sir John Leng (1828-1906) through America in 1876. He spent a short period of time in Philadelphia. The following is his account of that city.

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was so hot that I never went near the city. I was glad, therefore, to take a day for seeing the city founded by William Penn. Almost as much surrounded by water as New York, Philadelphia spreads over an immense extent of ground, and in the business streets is exceedingly busy. Its Broadway is as narrow and as crowded as Fleet Street, which it considerably resembles. The centre of attraction to strangers, of course, is Independence Hall, where not only the Declaration of Independence, but also many other political and private documents of much historical interest, are preserved. The names of the merchants who signed the celebrated protest against the Tea Duties, as well as those of the statesmen who signed the Declaration, struck me as being much better written than one sees to ordinary memorials anywhere now-a-days. In this Hall are all kinds of trophies commemorative of the revolutionary epoch--special care being taken of everything illustrating the career of Washington. Unfortunately, the crowd in the building was so great that I could not bestow much time on the examination of any of the articles exhibited. I drove off, therefore, to see the other public buildings,

chief of which are those in course of erection for the City Hall and Public Offices, which seem as if they would be the finest of the kind in the world. They are of extraordinary extent, built of marble, and with the most massive red granite pillars I have anywhere seen. These pillars are brought from the Bay of Fundy, near St. John's, New Brunswick, where it seems there is an inexhaustable quarry now being worked under the superintendence of Scitchmen from Aberdeen. It is said that an order sent to Scotland for pillars of the size required could not be supplied. Next to New York, Philadelphia is the greatest city in America, and when these Public Buildings are complete it will have the finest civic edifice. Many of the other public buildings are very handsome. There are three churches nearly close together--a Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian, which bear testimony to the ability of different relligious denominations in America, out of their voluntary offerings, far to surpass in architectural beauty the majority of our State-endowed churches in the old country. The Masonic Temple in Philadelphia would also astonish the members of our Mason Lodges in Scotland from its costly magnificence and luxurious splendor. The

Banks, Club-Houses, Hospitals, Colleges, and Libraries in Philadelphia all betoken great wealth, and large, philanthropic, and intelligent classes of people. I roamed about Philadelphia very much interested in its fine modern buildings, its quiet, retired, old-fashioned streets, and its exceedingly crowded thoroughfares, until, quite fatigued, I gladly--according to the American phrase--went on board the train at West Philadelphia for New York, glad to arrive on a Saturday at my old quarters in the Windsor Hotel, and to find that rooms had been kept for me, although the applicants were so numerous that hundreds had to seek accomodation elsewhere. The passenger traffic to and from Philadelphia in the end of October was extraordinary, enormous trains passing each other on the railways every few minutes, and it is surprising that it was all managed with so few serious accidents.