On either side of the Cathedral are two large buildings, serving as appendages, or apparent wings to the Cathedral itself, and much improving its effect as a centre. These are, the City-hall, and the Courthouse, built by the same individual, Don André Almonaster. They are in the same style of architecture, an union of the Tuscan and the Doric; but not being disfigured by towers, and having bold cornices, good pediments, and crowning balustrades, they have a much better appearance than the Cathedral; and the three edifices together make an impressive if not an elegant pile.

The other religious edifices of the Catholics, comprehend the Ursuline Convent, founded in 1733, now more than a century old, and the most ancient edifice existing in the city; the Ursuline Chapel, built in 1787; and St. Antoine's, or the Mortuary Chapel, at which all the funeral services of the Catholics are now performed. A larger and more splendid building is intended to be erected, under the name of St. Patrick's Church, the design of which is to be an imitation of York Minster, on a scale of 164 feet by 93, and 190 feet for the height of its tower; the estimate of its cost being 100,000 dollars.

Of Protestant places of worship there are four. The Episcopal Church in Canal-street, with a chaste Ionic portico and pediment, and a singularly beautiful flat-domed roof; its cost being 48,000 dollars. The Presbyterian Church in Lafayette-square, of the Doric order, with a good portico, and light chaste steeple, built in 1834, and costing 55,000 dollars. The Methodist Episcopal Church in Poydras-street, of the Doric order, the details of its portico and entablature taken from the temple of Theseus

at Athens, and surmounted by a singular kind of obelisk, serving as its tower, or steeple, in which is combined the massiveness of the Egyptian with the lightness of the Greek architecture. The height of the obelisk is 170 feet, and the effect produced by it is striking and pleasing. This edifice was erected in 1836, and cost 50,000 dollars. The Congregational church, the oldest of the Protestant places of worship, founded in 1819, built of brick, without the least architectural beauty, though costing more than either of the others-70,000 dollars.

The State-house, in which the Legislature of Louisiana hold their sittings, is a plain but commodious building. It was built in 1815, and used as a Charity Hospital; but it was purchased by the State in 1834, and converted into a State-house; the Senate and House of Representatives having each their chamber here, and the rest of the building being devoted to public offices, while an open space with lawn and garden in front, makes it cool, airy, and agreeable. A very splendid design has been made for a new House of Legislature, but nothing has yet been definitively settled respecting its execution.

The new Charity Hospital, which has been erected to answer the purposes of the former, was begun in 1831, and completed in 1834, at a cost of 150,000 dollars. It is about 300 feet in length of front, by 76 in depth, including the centre and two wings, and is three stories in height. It has wards and apartments to accommodate 500 patients. The hall and lecture-room of the medical college, the dispensary, library, and museum, are all excellent in their kind; and the grounds around it are in the neatest order.

Herc, too, as at Baltimore, the Sisters of Charity devote themselves, with Christian zeal and piety, to gratuitous attendance on the sick.

The Franklin Infirmary, about two miles from the town, between New Orleans and Lake Pontchartrain, is a private hospital, founded in 1835 by Dr. C. A. Luzenberg, the most eminent physician of the city (under whose skilful treatment and kind care I was restored from a most dangerous illness). It is situated in the Champs Elysées, fronting the railroad from Pontchartrain to New Orleans; is a commodious building, 65 feet by 55, and two stories high, surrounded by gardens and shrubberies, and capable of accommodating, comfortably, 100 patients.

A new Mint of the United States has just been completed here, at a cost of 182,000 dollars, being 282 feet in length, 108 in depth, and three stories in height. It is of the Ionic order, is in good taste, and is furnished with all the necessary machinery for coining.

It will be seen, therefore, that New Orleans is well supplied with all the necessary public edifices for legislation, the administration of justice, protection, police, health, benevolence and religion, in a greater degree, indeed, than its recent organization as an American city would warrant us to expect; and yet it is but in its infancy, compared to what it must certainly one day become.

CHAP. XXII.

Hotels; St. Charles's, St. Louis, and the Veranda Merchants' Exchange-Municipality-hall-Banks, Markets, Public Baths -Cotton-presses, size, extent, and operations-Sugar refining, size, cost, and productions-Water-works, plan and operations -Theatres, the Orleans, St. Charles, and the Camp-Balls, Operas, Concerts, and Masquerades.

By far the most splendid and the most costly of the edifices in New Orleans, are not, however, the public buildings, strictly so called, that is, the buildings belonging to the municipality or the State, but the hotels, which are the property of companies and private individuals. Of these there are three that deserve especial notice, the St. Charles, the St. Louis, and the Veranda.

The St. Charles, which is also sometimes called the American Exchange Hotel, is not only the largest and handsomest hotel in the United States, but, as it seemed to me, the largest and handsomest hotel in the world. At least I remember nothing equal to it in any country that I have visited. The City of London Tavern, the Albion, the Freemasons' Hall, the London Coffee House, the Crown and Anchor, the Adelphi, Fenton's Hotel, the Thatched House, the Clarendon, and Long's Hotel, in London, are all inferior to it, in size, cost, and elegance. Neither Meurice's, nor the Hotel de Londres, nor the Hotel Rivoli, or Hotel Wagram in Paris, can compare with it; and even the Astor House at

New York, the Tremont at Boston, and the American Hotel at Buffalo, all fall short of the St. Charles at New Orleans.

This building was undertaken by an incorporated company, in 1835. It was designed and erected under the superintendence of Mr. J. Gallier, the architect. The ground on which it stands cost 100,000 dollars; the building 500,000 dollars; and the furniture 150,000 more, the whole expense being thus about £150,000 sterling. Its principal front, in St. Charles-street, is 235 feet; and its depth is 195 feet. Its height, from the pavement to the cornice, is 75 feet, and to the top of the lantern or tower that surmounts the dome, 185 feet. The number of its rooms is 350. The gentlemen's dining-room is 129 feet long, 50 wide, and 22 feet high, with two ranges of Corinthian columns, and space to dine comfortably 500 guests. The ladies' dining-room is 52 feet long by 36 wide. The ladies' drawing-room is 40 feet long by 32 wide; and the gentlemen's drawingroom is 38 feet square. The kitchen is 58 feet long by 29 wide. Such is the scale of the principal parts of this large establishment.

The façade presents a bold and imposing aspect; the centre having a projecting portico of 14 Corinthian columns, in two rows of 6 in the front and 4 on each side in recess, standing on a granite basement of 14 feet high, and forming a recess of 139 feet long and 15 deep, crowned with a pediment in the best taste. The edifice is surmounted by a chaste and beautiful dome, with ornamented gallery, supported by a circular colonnade, and the whole is