New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1848-08-24
NEw-YoRK IN SLICES.
SItcr XvuI..BRoADw WAY.

gpifc OF
"A S,on il, srchitecturay had been guided by half
rain of true taste or even common sense, the effect
would have been perfectly glorious As it is have
the chaotic elements of noble avenue the centempla
ton of which gives us more pain than pleasure We
admire variety az well a. another and especially in
city architecture should monotony and tameness be
avoided But the laws of diversity strict and
imperative as the requirements OF good morals or
good dinner and the moment the eye is offended with
unmeanng ncongruity or unsymmetrical abruptness
that Instant We have left the realm OF taste and crossed
the boundary Of chaos In music there are nearly AZ
many discords as concords but the proper distribu
ton Of the discOrds according 70 the immuiabe laws
Of proportion is all that distinguishes harmony from
the tuning of the instruments. Take any block in
Broadway and imagine the cost Of It's construction u
dicousy laid out under the supervision of true art
ist and YOU will at once conceive the present mean
and insQnifcant superfce of expensive materials ex
banded into spacious and continuous front palaal in
lis aspect and ennoblng in its design Garry out THIS
process from the Bowling Green TO Grace Church, ana
you will see an Of palaces and temples two
miles and half in length and displaying every variety
Of architectural beauty-now the pure and intellectual
Grecisn in lie various exquisite forms now the mas
sve Gothic, the picturesque Roman, or the solemn
Egvptian-each square outyieing its neighoor, and
every step conducting you to new beauties Such
would be the result Of an association OF capital ana IN
teligence Of a far. seeing and comprehensive know-
edge Of the true end and aim OF material forms ana
their influence upon character and pubic TASTE ana
morals You may smile at our attribution oil moral
agency 10 granite bricks and marbe-and yet such Is
our religion The constant and unobtrusiye presence
Of forms of real beauty whether in music painting
sculpture or architecture in the daily beauty OF
good deeds and expansive affections, exerts chasten
ing and eleysting influence upon all mankind Who
shall deny this mnistraton of the Beautiful, or set
limit 10 its benehcent effects
To the man of taste Broadway it is appears like
an interminabe collection of richly stored bazaars,
hastily erected to meet the emergencies Of trade ana
traffic and only intended for temporary use Many Of
them il is true gorgeous with plate glass and guided
embellishments squandered with prodigaty but with
out taste and catching the eye for an instant by the
glare of false and frivolous ambition. few really
fine structures also here and there, meet the eye-ou
they appear like exhslatons from an incredible extent
of rubbish long, low row OF unmeaning outlines ana
angles that geometry would blush to own Here brick
school-house there clap-bOsrd barn now peniten
iary and then a poUnd-now stumbling over rotten
cellar-door, aud walking through an obtrusive
plseglass window stuffed with gaudy cashmeres and
mlldeWe0
Broadway. While, if you venture to raise your eyes
above the level Of your nose, an inermnaole line OF
crooked well posts armed with glass bottles and held
together by wire clothes lines meets your gaze You
search in vain for even some faint acknowledgment Of
the line of proportion and continuation, and inyolun
tarlv wish for darkness to conceal the Jagged and
finished upper story OF magnificent Broadway. How
easy il would have been have had the entire street
o1;G ain al
monous degrees and stabbed with classic porticoes
and rich balconies
But notwithstanding these glsring defects OF taste
Broadway is times CO. avery noble street altogether
the most snowy the crowded and the richest fash
onabe thoroughfare the Continent and surpassed by
not more than three or four in Europe Washingtonst
of Boston Chesnust of Philadelphia, and Chartres'st
Of NewO Orleans although each attractive in it, way
would not altogether fair match for broadway
either in costlness appearance and as Tor business
YOU could pour all three OF them into broadway al any
hour of the day without perceptby swelling It's current
Taking II altogether notwithstanding its want OF arch
tecturs harmony, Broadway well deserves Its reputa
ton as the of fashion and republican erstocracy
The shops are numerous, more extensive and
filled with more expensive and rsrer assortmens Of
goods than those of any other street in America and
this superiority is uhquestonabe that all other cities
involunary accept the from the dealers In Broad
WAY In fact for the world of fashionable shopperesses
who expend money purely from extravaganza to be
out of Broadway is to be in and babarous state
OF existence.
The great commercial feature OF Broadway is its i'm
mense and unrivsed fancy dry goods establishments
Beside the palace Of my Lord Stewart, with its eN-
quse marble front and brick ends, there are at
least dozen dry-goods establishments in Broadway
each OF which requires princely income from its sup
port These immense stores always full, at shop
ping hours with the saunteriDg Queens, Ouch
esses and Countesses Of Republican New-iork half
buried amid heaps OF exquisite and costly fabrics and
endeayoring by the help OF fnery which they do not
want to stimust their jaded and sstated tastes and
ambitions or to vile away the dresry hours between
one scene and another OF fashionable dissipation Not
outstanding the gorgeousness Of their employment II
is sad enough to look at these crowds OF Vanys vota
ries and to reflect how utterly frivolous and useless
are all the objects of their yesto think what an utter
and appalling of life and OF all that should EN-
beish and consecrate it-of youth and beauty latent
intelect-is scattered about these smothered and
grooming counters We visit one Of these es
adjustments without feeling almost uncontrolla-
BILE desire 10 hang up the nambypamby clerks by the
heels and send their home to cooking their
dinners or dsrning their husbands hose.
Broadway, in its outward aspect varies much at
different portions of the day fashionable lady. In
the early morning it is quite hushed and solitary, and
that air of Undesirable and hopeless desolson
which encountered the stage of theatre after the
performance is and the audience have taken their
departure. You look around with feeling of almost
uneasiness II does not possible that this is the
noisy rafting busting, flashing, joyous Broadway to
which your steps accustomed. 1t is rather some
Palmyra avenue, solemn and deserted. 10 which you
have been Aaddnized. Soon however the sidewalks
begin 70 nj with the clerks and early workers trudgng
down town 10 begin their dsy--the awakened swine
raop furiousy downward to have the first cut of the
new garbage which despite the City Fathers is
have been deposited in the guitersthe omnibuses be-
gin 10 side up conveniently TO the curbstone, solicit
ing your powerful patronage" and belsted bill
sucker tipsy from want Of sleep, tries TO rub Of his
paste pot against your legs in passing In an hour or
two the great thoroughfsre will be alive and the whole
City will go surging and laundering through ita hu
man river in freshet roaring and foamng toward the
sea.
To Broadway in us glory, however, you must wait
I'll O'Clock, Pm. Then, if you take your stand in
A.. r. ~. 4.