State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1831-1836, 1836-03-08
From the New York Observer.
DIR. HUMPHREYS TOUR. No. d..
Cities and large to,cns of England.

chester, Birmingham, Coventry,
Worcester, Warwick, London,
Windsor, Oxford, Portsmouth,
Southampton, Nottingham, Shelf
field, York, Durham, New Castle,
and many others ofless note and i'm
portance. need not inform you,
Messrs. Editors, nor your readers,
that there is a striking difference
between all foreign cities, and those
of the United States. l give my
own impressions on this topic, as
we'll as every other, without con-
sulting any of the numerous guides
and views and itineraries, which lie
within my reach. Leaving one of
our ports, and finding yourself safely
landed in twenty days, on the other
side of the Atlantic, you feel that
you have indeed been transported
from the new world TO the old. You
look in vain in Liverpool, or Brim-
ingham, or London, for those clean,
airy, and painted dwellings, and
shops, and warehouses, which you
have been accustomed TO see and
admire in Baltimore, Philadelphia,
Newly ork, or Boston. Except in
outskirts of foreign cities, every
thing bears the marks of age, and
in some Of them, as Chester for ex-
ample, of deep decay under the was
ting hand of tiAe. The style Of bull
ding is rather heavy, solid and en-
during, than snowy. The private
dwellings, warehouses and factories
are higher and more uniform than
with us. The materials are stone or
brick. Three or four centuries ago,
the former greatly predominated;but
now bricks are chiefly used and so
much care is taken to guard against
the communication and spread of
fire, that single block is rarely
burnt; and you almost never hear
of any thing like those widespread
ing conhagrations, which SO often
ravage our cities. Though | spent
six weeks in London, | do not recol-
lect TO have heard a single alarm Of
fire, nor to have seen a fire engine
any where in the streets; and the
same remark holds true Of Paris and
other cities which | visited, both in
Great Britain and on the Continent,
and in some or other of which, Il spent
the greater part of the time of my
absence. Our cities look as if they
had been built within half q dozen
years, and fiery delugc might pass
over them to-morrow-theirS, as if
they had stood a thousand years,
and might stand as much longer.
When they build, especially if it be
public edifce, the difference be-
tween them and US, in point of des-
patch, is very remarkable. We can
put up, finish, and burn down two
or three, on the same spot before
they will get one fairly completed.
When you first visit some of the
large an d hourishing towns Of Eng.
land, you wonder why they do not
paint the bricks as we do, and show
more regard 10 ncatness and beauty.
Every thing about the exterior, looks
dingy and neglected. One reason,
probably is they think less of exter-
nal show and ornament than the
young and enterprsing branches of
their family on this side of the water.
But the more substantial reasons,
undoubtedly are, that the humidity
Of their climate, and the everlasting
smoke of their bituminous coal, rem
der the use Of the brush almost nu-
gatory.
When you return to New FORK,
and land at Whitehall, and walk up
Broadway, you are delighted to see
every thing so fresh and new and
clean, compared with what you have
been accustomed 10 in traversing
the streets of foreign cities; but
then, you are somewhat mortified
by the want of uniformity in the
buildings, which strikes you more
than ever, and to see how much
lower they appear than they did be-
fore you saw Edinburgh, Dublin,
Brussels, &c.
Hamlets, Farm-H Houses and Cottages.
The hamlets of England, differ
exceedingly from the small and thri-
wing villages Of our own country, in
almost every respect. In point of
noatness, beauty and life, they bear
no comparison TO ours. Instead OF
having sprung up in night, they