TOGETHER WITH A CONDENSED

HISTORY OF THE LAND,

FROM ITS FIRST DISCOVERY TO THE PRESENT TIME.

THE BIOGRAPHY

OF ABOUT TWO HUNDRED OF THE LEADING MEN:
A DESCRIPTION OF THE

PRINCIPAL CITIES AND TOWNS;

WITH

STATISTICAL TABLES,

RELATING TO THE RELIGION, COMMERCE, MANUFACTURES, AND VARIOUS OTHER TOPICS.

EDITED BY

GRENVILLE MELLEN.

WITH ENGRAVINGS

OF CURIOSITIES, SCENERY, ANIMALS, CITIES, TOWNS, PUBLIC BUILDINGS, &c.

NEW YORK:

GEORGE CLINTON SMITH AND CO.

1839.

V

COLLEGE

APR 8 1914

LIBRARY
Five?

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1659, by

GRENVILLE MELLEN.

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts

7180

49

STEREOTYPED BY SHEPARD, OLIVER, & CO
No. 3, Water Street, Boston.

Martinson & Co., Printers.

PREFACE.

In presenting this volume to the American public, the introductory remarks in which we shall indulge will be few and general, as the book is one of that kind that speaks with singular plainness for itself, and seems to us to require little upon the prefatory page in the way of explanation, either with reference to its character considered collectively, or in detail.

The chief object in preparing this work has been to furnish something which should be found to embrace those subjects which are of abiding interest and importance to all classes. It has been a wish to present such matters, as well as could be done in the compass allowed, as are of interest to all classes of readers, and an acquaintance with which is desirable for our own citizens especially.

Directed by these intentions, it is hoped that the efforts to bring a valuable and attractive volume before the public may have proved successful; and that, viewed with reference to the subjects of which it treats, this may be called, emphatically, a book for this country, exhibiting, at one view, a picture of the Republic in its physical, political, and social conditions, so drawn and colored as to present in pleasant relief its most striking and peculiar features.

Simplicity was a leading object in the preparation of the work. By such object it was natural to be guided, when it was remembered that the pages were designed for the general eye and for all classes. This quality was allowed to govern, in a great degree, both in the thought and style; and if, in any case, it may have been carried to a point beyond the fortunate one, it will be believed, we presume, that the fault, if it be such, is upon the better side.