52 Sketch if the Origin and ^Ersfent State of Philadelphia. [A.ug Ij 



■try made a treaty with the hantilefs ni- 

 tives, which was to lall, in the figurative 

 i\f\e of thofe nervous aborigines, who 

 have fince been I'o grofsly mi fre pre fen ted 

 by European theories, as lon^ as. the irees 

 ■JhoulJ grotxj, or the nvaUrs run ; a treaty 

 •that was faithtuUy obferved by both par- 

 ties (let the potentares of Europe blnfli !) 

 through a happy peiiod of eighty Aiccef- 

 five years ; and that has fmce betn con- 

 figned to hi'toric immortality by the pa- 

 triotic pencil of a defccndar.t of one of the 

 peaceful afliftants, now the firft painter of 

 the age. 



'The founder of PennfyluanJa was not 

 long in fixing uppnafituation that feemed 

 prepared by nature, periiaps by Provi- 

 dence, for the ludJen growth of his future 

 -capital. The fpot was then covered with 

 "timber, its fomdation wss a ftratum of 

 •potter's-clay, the harbour furnidiedLa bed 

 of fand, the near-eft hills contained quar- 

 ries of if^one, the vicinity yielded liir.e- 

 -ftone and maib e, and the penetration of 

 'intelligent oblervers difcovered mines of 

 •coal and iron upon the navigable branches 

 cf the Delawaie long before the new let- 

 ' tiement afforded hands to vvo;k them. 



It is an extenfive plain, five miles above 

 < the confluence of two navigable rivei 3, the 

 Delaw?.re and the Schuylkill j the former, 

 'though one hundred and twenty miles 

 ■from the fea, bcirg there a ir.ile in width, 

 ' and deep enough for vclTeis of twelve liun- 

 '■ dred tons ; the latter, half as wide as the 



• Thames at London, being alfo navigable 



• as high as the fite of the town. 



Some families of SwtJes and Fins had 

 '•obtained by fettlcment the right of. pof- 



feilion. They willingly fold, orexcliai g- 

 •ed,' their claim; and by tlie end of the 

 •year -i68a the groimd-plot of the future 



city was regulaily laid out. Ninelfreets, 

 'two miles in- length, run eail and wel^, 



from river t-o river ; and twenty-three, of 



a mile, interltft tusnvat rig'u-angles, frt^m 

 ' north to fouth. None, of thele are lefs 

 ' than fifty feet wide, and they diftdbuie 

 ' the plan into -.fquares, the -interior of 



which was defigned for yards and gar- 



• dens. Two main ■ftreety, of a hundred 

 feet wide, croi's each other in the centre, 



■ and form an.oren place. or public (quare, 

 - of which four mors were laid owt in the 

 •different quirters of the city j and a 

 ' range of houfts for the .pri;icipal inhabi- 

 tants was inten^Ied to open upon the wa. 



• ter, in the manner of the celebrUed Bomb 

 ' Q^ay at Rotrerdam ; for which puipole 



•the warehoufes, Sec, along the river weie 

 intended to have been kept from riling 



above the bank. But cupidity ^perhaps 

 convenience) has crowded the platforms 

 .between tlie ftreels with narrow alleys ; 

 the public Iquares, except only that in.the 

 centre, have been otherwife appropriated ; 

 ■and the bank of the river has been built 

 up with a row of houfes that now inter- 

 cepts from the city the intended view of 

 the port. 

 • Four-fcore houfes and cottages \yere 



-erefled within the year, one of vvhich is 

 row occupied as a tavern, tlie fign of the 



iBoatfwain and Call, at the corner of 



vFront and Dock-ftreets ; and another, that 



.was the city refidence of William Penn, is 

 yet (funding in Black- Hor.'e-alley, dirc6lly 

 back of Laetitia-court, lb named from one 



.of t;l)edaughter5 of the proprietary. Op- 

 pofite to the latter, in the middle of Mar- 

 ket- flreet, there flood for many years a 

 monument of primitive fimplicity, a 

 wooden jail, that was fcldom inhabited by 

 any body but the jaJor. 



The firft child born in the new city, by 

 name John Key, lived to his i!5th year j 



•_ one Edward Drinker, who was born in a 

 cave under the bank of the Delaware, 

 furvived till the Declaration of Imlepen- 



; dence. when the capital of the Unit;.d 

 States was eftimated to contain fix ihou- 

 fand houfes and forty thoufand people ; 

 and there is a widow lady yet living, 



. whofe mother arrived from England when 

 there were but thiee houfes in Philadel- 

 phia. 



The ftate-houfe, or town hall, a fub- 

 ftantial edifice of two hundred feet front, 



. including the wings, was eredfed within 

 half a centiity after the wo.ds were clear- 

 ed a-way from its file; the firft epifcopal 

 church was foni afterwards ornamented 



. with a fteeple thatmay vie in point of ele- 

 gance with any fpire in Europe ; and, 



■ vshile Pennfylvania was liill a dependent 

 colony, I'carcely diflinguilhed on the other 

 fide of the Atlantic among twelve adja- 

 cent provinces of the Britifh empire in 

 America, a new prifon was erefted, Aiffi- 

 cientiy capacious for the future introduc- 

 tion of the philanthropic reform that has 



. fmce converted our jails into manufaifo- 



; ries and our criminals into manufacturers. 

 During the revolutionary war, the capi- 

 tal of the flruggling colonies remained fta- 

 tionary, or rather retrograded, under the 

 occupation of the royal army, by whom, 

 however, ttie houfes were fii ft numbered, 

 and a floating-bridge was thrown acrofs 

 the Schuylkill. 



The wsftern improvetients then fcarcely 

 extended half a mile from the Delaware, 



and 



