The distant view of New York, almost free from smoke, is singularly
bright and lively; in some respects it refreshes a recollection of the
sea-bound cities of the Mediterranean. The lower parts of the interior,
next to the warehouses, resemble Liverpool; but the boast of the city is
Broadway, a street that, for extent and beauty, the Trongate of Glasgow,
which it somewhat resembles in general effect, alone excels. The style
of the Trongate is, if the expression may be used, of a more massy and
magnificent character, but there is a lightness in that of Broadway
which most people will prefer. Those who compare the latter with
Oxford-street, in London, do it injustice; for, although the shops in
Oxford-street display a richer show of merchandize, the buildings are
neither of equal consequence nor magnitude. Regent-street in London, is
of course always excepted from comparisons of this kind.
The portico of the Bowery Theatre is immeasurably the finest _morçeau_
of architecture in the city. It resembles that of Covent-Garden, but
seems to be nobler and greater; and yet I am not sure if, in point of
dimensions, it is larger, or so large as that of Covent-Garden. The only
objection to it--and my objection is stronger against the London
theatre--is the unfitness. In both cases, the style and order are of the
gravest Templar character, more appropriate to the tribunals of criminal
justice, than to the haunts of Cytherea and the Muses.--_New Monthly
Mag._
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