mayor by the common council. Subsequently the election of mayor was vested in the people. From the period of its incorporation as a city, Brooklyn has grown apace. It is for the most part considerably elevated above tide water, and possesses superior advantages as a place of residence. It is open on all sides to the land and sea breezes, and its wide streets, generally at right angles to each other, afford a free circulation of air. The quiet clean streets, shaded with fine trees, and the comfortable habitations which abound, give it the appearance of a country town rather than a great city. That part of Brooklyn fronting on the East river, south of Fulton street, called the Heights, is 70 feet above the level of the sea, affording a fine view of New York, and the surrounding country.-A few words about the ferries, to which Brooklyn owes so much of her prosperity, may be interesting. Under the Dongan and Montgomerie charters New York city claims jurisdiction over the waters of the North and East rivers to low-water mark, on the Long island and New Jersey shores, as far as her territory extends; hence she owns all the ferry privileges on those rivers. It is difficult to discover when the first ferry was established, but it must have been very soon after the settlement of the town. At an early period a ferry was run from near the foot of Joralemon street to the Brede-graft, now Broad street, New York. In 1693, John Areson, the lessee of the ferry, found that £147 a year was too large a rent, and it was reduced to £140. The ferriage then was 8 stivers in wampum, or a silver twopence, for each person, or if more than one crossed at the same time, half of that amount was charged. A horse or beast was charged 18. if alone, or 9d. in company. Rip van Dam became lessee of the ferry in 1698 for 7 years, at £165 per annum. The old ferry was kept by Van Winkle and Buskett during the revolution, when 6d. was the ferriage. In the early part of 1813 the corporation of New York proposed to put steamboats on the ferry, in place of the old barges and horse boats, and applied to the legislature for power to raise the ferriage from 2 to 4 cents. The citizens of Brooklyn petitioned the legislature in opposition to the proposed change, setting forth that the corporation of New York derived an annual rental of $4,725 from the ferries, that the lessees had an income of $22,000 against $13,500 expenses, and that a number of wealthy people would engage to build steamboats, and run them for 2 cents a passenger. The law was passed, however, establishing 4 cents ferriage in steamboats, and 2 cents in barges or row boats. On May 10 following, the first steam ferry boat-the "Nassau"-was placed on the old ferry, and made 40 trips a day, occupying from 4 to 8 minutes each time in crossing. This was the only steam ferry boat on the East river for many years; the other boats were propelled by horses or by hand. Finally, in 1826, the common council of New York granted a South ferry, and established a steam ferry from

the foot of Jackson street, Brooklyn, to Walnut street, New York. In the following year a boat was run on Fulton ferry during the night, and a proposition was made to light Fulton street. The South ferry did not go into operation until May 6, 1836. About this time speculation in real estate raged fiercely, and the ferries were much improved to induce New Yorkers to reside in Brooklyn. In 1858 there are no less than 13 ferries, from the rent of which the corporation of New York derives a large income. The ferries of old Brooklyn are from Hamilton avenue, Atlantic (South ferry), Montague, Fulton, Main, and Bridge streets, to Whitehall slip, Wall, Fulton, Roosevelt, and Catharine streets, New York. The most frequented of these are the Fulton and South ferries. For several years the Fulton, South, and Hamilton ferries were run by the Union ferry company, and the others by different parties; but on Dec. 1, 1855, they were all united under the control of that company. Before this time the fare on the most frequented ferries had been one cent, with the privilege of semi-annual commutation; but soon after it was increased to 2 cents without commutation, at which it still continues on all the ferries. The annual rent paid by the Union ferry company is now $59,000. They own 21 large and commodious boats, averaging 400 tons each, which are kept running during the day at intervals of a few minutes. At night about half of that number are in use, except on the Catharine, Roosevelt, and Wall street ferries, which are stopped toward midnight. The ferries to Williamsburg are from Peck slip, New York, to South Seventh street, Williamsburg, James' slip to South Tenth street, Grand street to South Seventh street and Grand street, and Houston street to Grand street. There is also one from Tenth and Twenty-third streets to Greenpoint avenue. These ferries pay an aggregate rent of $18,850 a year to the corporation of New York. The general fare is 3 cents; but owing to a rivalry which has recently sprung up between the Peck slip and South Tenth street companies, the ferriage on these 2 routes is now only one cent. The ferries to Williamsburg and Greenpoint employ 14 boats, making trips every few minutes during the day, and on most of the ferries once an hour, or oftener, during the night. At certain seasons of the day the travel is so immense that some of the capacious boats take over nearly 1,000 persons, beside horses and vehicles, at once.The common schools are committed to the care of a board of education, composed of 45 members, appointed by the common council, to serve 3 years, the term of office of of them expiring each year. In the 19 wards of the city there are 33 school-houses, each containing 2 grammar departments, one for boys and the other for girls, and a primary department. These schools are in charge of a city superintendent, and 28 male and 312 female teachers. There are 3 separate schools for colored children, with 9 colored teachers. In 1857 the number of children taught in the day

schools was 39,295; in the evening schools, 8,789; and in the normal school, 312. The course of instruction in the grammar schools embraces spelling, reading, writing, definitions, grammar, composition, declamation, geography, history, arithmetic, vocal music, the use of the globes, drawing of maps, geometry, trigonometry, natural philosophy, astronomy, and algebra. The teachers are paid from $125 to $1,200 per annum. Male principals receive the latter salary; females in the same position are paid $500 a year. The expenditures for educational purposes in 1857 were: Salaries of teachers, $108,401 01; salaries of officers, janitors, additions to libraries, school lots and building new houses, repairing, furnishing, &c., $73,942 06; making a total of $182,343 07. In the libraries attached to the schools there are at present 32,818 volumes. The Roman Catholics have schools connected with most of their churches, and there are several industrial or ragged schools. In addition to the public schools, there are many first-class private seminaries; foremost among them are the collegiate and polytechnic institute for boys, and the Packer collegiate institute for girls; both of these are incorporated institutions, the former being on a joint stock basis, with a capital of $75,000; the latter was endowed by a lady named Packer, who gave $60,000 toward its foundation.The literary and charitable institutions are numerous. Among the former may be mentioned the Brooklyn Athenæum, at the corner of Clinton and Atlantic streets, which is open day and evening; the building is 90 by 80 feet, and cost $60,000; it has a fine reading room, with a library of 5,000 volumes, and maintains a course of lectures in the winter. A mercantile library association has recently been formed. The Brooklyn institute and youths' free library is an old and popular institution, which was liberally endowed by Augustus Graham, Esq., and sustains an annual course of lectures. Beside these, there are several other literary societies. The city library has a valuable collection of books. The lyceum, in Washington street, is a fine granite building, with a spacious lecture room. The odeon and Washington hall, in the eastern district, are also fine structures, with ample accommodations for concerts and public meetings. The United States naval lyceum, in the navy yard, founded in 1833, contains a large collection of curiosities and valuable geological and mineralogical cabinets. The city hospital, in Raymond street, near De Kalb avenue, opened 6 years ago, has accommodations for 170 patients. The Long island college hospital, inaugurated in June, 1858, occupies 14 lots on Henry and Amity streets, in a most salubrious situation, and is designed to furnish clinical instruction, after the plan of Guy's hospital. Another excellent charity, the Catholic orphan asylum, just opened, in Bedford near Myrtle avenue, will provide for 114 children; its cost was about $40,000. The Graham institution, for the relief of aged

and indigent females, has accommodations for 90 persons; it was founded in 1851. The city orphan asylum, dating its incorporation from 1835, provides a home for about 150 poor children. The marine hospital occupies a sightly eminence on the opposite side of Wallabout bay. Sick seamen in the United States service are treated here. There are 3 dispensaries in Brooklyn, one of them in the eastern district, where the poor are furnished with medicine and advice gratis. In addition to these may be noticed the Brooklyn eye and ear infirmary in Pineapple street, the church charity foundation, the Catholic benevolent society, the New England society, the association for improving the condition of the poor, and the children's aid society. Among the religious organizations should be named the Brooklyn city, female, and Williamsburg Bible societies, the Brooklyn tract society, Sabbath school union, and the young men's Christian associations. There are some 20 masonic lodges here, 25 odd fellows' lodges, and several associations of united Americans, sons of temperance, and other benefit societies.-Among the public buildings we will mention the city hall, at the junction of Fulton, Court, and Joralemon streets; it is of white marble in the Ionic style, with 6 columns, supporting the roof of the portico; its dimensions are 162 by 102 feet, and 75 feet in height, comprising 3 stories and a basement; it is surmounted by a dome, the top of which is 153 feet from the ground; its entire cost was about $200,000. Among the most beautiful buildings are the church of the Pilgrims, of gray stone, its tall tower and spire forming a landmark to mariners as they come up the bay; Grace church, the church of the Holy Trinity (Episcopal), the church of the Restoration, and the Unitarian church, all of brown stone and Gothic architecture.-Fronting Governor's island, and divided from it by Buttermilk channel (which is said to have been fordable for cattle during the revolution, but is now deep enough for the largest ships to sail through), stands the massive Atlantic dock, built by a company, incorporated in 1840, representing a capital of $1,000,000; the basin has an area of 40.86 acres; the pier line, on Buttermilk channel, is 3,000 feet long; the total wharfage is about 2 miles. A second basin of more than double the capacity of the Atlantic, called the Erie dock, designed to border on Gowanus bay, has been projected. The county jail, on the eastern side of the city, near Fort Greene, is a fine building of freestone, but not so secure as it should be. The navy yard, on the south shore of Wallabout bay, embraces 45 acres of land; a high brick wall surrounds the yard; within it are 2 immense ship houses, and the largest dry dock in the country, built of granite, massive and substantial in structure, at a cost of $1,000,000; the number of mechanics usually employed in the navy yard is about 1,600. The great thoroughfare of Brooklyn is Fulton street. There is a small park near the navy yard, called the city park;

and the site of Fort Greene is now in process of formation, and is to be called Washington park. Other parks are projected, but no decisive steps have as yet been taken, we believe, to ward commencing them. The famous Greenwood cemetery is on Gowanus heights, within the city limits; originally there were but 175 acres enclosed, but since its opening, in 1842, additions have been made, until it now contains 360 acres; between 60,000 and 70,000 interments have been made here. The Cypress Hills cemetery, to the eastward of the city limits, was opened in 1849, and has since been greatly beautified. In the same year the Evergreens cemetery, near Bushwick, was opened. There are other cemeteries of less note lying in and around the city, viz.: the Calvary (Catholic), on Laurel hill; Mount Olivet, near Maspeth; and the Lutheran, the Union, and the Friends' cemeteries. The consolidated city is divided into 19 wards, electing 19 aldermen, who, with the mayor, compose the city corporation. The act of consolidation allowed the firemen of the 2 districts to retain their distinct organizations. In the western district the department is composed of a chief and 6 assistant engineers, 5 fire commissioners, whose duty it is to try all charges against firemen, 20 engine, 6 hose, 4 hook and ladder, and 1 bucket companies, having 826 enrolled members; the district is divided into 7 fire districts. In the 6 fire districts of the eastern section, the department consists of a chief, 4 assistants, 5 commissioners, 13 engine, 5 hose, 3 hook and ladder, and 1 bucket companies, having 831 enrolled members. The departments are voluntary in their character; but great abuses having crept into the system, the common council recently adopted an ordinance for the enrolment of a paid department. The mayor, doubting their authority to take this step, vetoed the measure. The project of supplying the city with an abundance of pure water has long been mooted. In 1834 a committee examined the springs at the Wallabout, and reported that $100,000 would cover all the expenses of a reservoir, steam engine, and 11 miles of pipe, and expressed their conviction that the city could be supplied for $10,000 a year; but the plan was abandoned, and another is now in course of prosecution. From a chain of ponds and streams on Long island, the water is to be collected, and pumped up into a vast reservoir, whence it will be distributed through 120 miles of pipes, all over the city. The estimated cost is from $4,500,000 to $5,000,000. It is stated that 30 miles more of pipes will be needed to cover the city. (For details of this undertaking, see article AQUEDUCT.) Brooklyn is deficient in sewerage, but the water commis sioners are about to contract for the building of 18 miles of sewers. The system they have decided upon is that of tubular and pipe drains. It is estimated that the cost of a perfect sewer in every street will not exceed $50 for each house and lot of 25 feet front.-The police of VOL. III.-47

Brooklyn are comprised within the metropolitan district of New York, Kings, Richmond, and Westchester counties; the force consists of a deputy superintendent, 6 captains, 3 acting captains, 30 sergeants and 200 patrolmen, occupying 6 stations and 3 substations. The 5th brigade of the 2d division New York state militia is mainly composed of the citizens of Brooklyn; Major-Gen. Duryea and BrigadierGen. Crooke are in command; it consists of the 13th, 14th, 70th and 72d regiments, and embraces some 40 companies, each of them having armories for drill and the storage of arms.-In 1835 the real and personal property of the city was valued at $26,390,151; in 1857 it was, according to the city comptroller's report, $98,976,025. The census of 1855 gives Brooklyn 1,652 acres of land under cultivation, and 1,196 acres unimproved. The cash value of the farms was $4,765,450; of stock, $554,157; 430 acres of market gardens gave a product worth $120,078. There were in that year 511 stone buildings, valued at $1,930,500; 8,039 of brick, worth $39,133,750; of wood, 13,562, worth $29,778,815; making the total number of buildings 22,573, of which no value was assigned to 270. The value of real estate, exclusive of farms, was $73,843,065, or, including farms and stock, $79,162,672. During the year 1857, the current expenses of the city were $2,619,123 20. There are 3 daily, 2 weekly, 1 semi-weekly, and 1 monthly periodicals; 9 banks of issue and discount, with about $2,500,000 capital; 3 savings banks, and 10 insurance companies, with nearly $1,000,000 capital. The city railroad company, with a capital of $1,000,000, own the 5 horse railroads which traverse the city from Fulton and Hamilton av. ferries in all directions. The Long island railroad (capital $3,000,000) has its terminus near the South ferry. The 3 gas companies, by which the city is lighted, have a capital of nearly $3,000,000.Brooklyn contains a large number of important manufactories. Their manufactured products are about in the following proportion yearly: Agricultural implements, $30,000; brass and copper founderies, $400,000; silver plating, $7,000; bronze castings, $25,000; copper smithing, $375,000; fish-hooks, $10,000; furnaces, $900,000; gold_and_silver refining, $224,000; iron pipe, $350,000; Francis's metallic life-boats, $80,000 (this is the only manufactory of the kind in America); safes, $200,000; silver ware, $60,000; tin and sheet-iron, $150,000; wire sieves, $25,000; cotton batting, $75,000; felting and wadding, $5,000; dressed flax, $600,000; fringes and tassels, $40,000; dressed furs, $120,000; paper, $20,000; rope and cordage, $2,500,000 (there are about 10 rope walks; affording employment to nearly 1,200 persons); twine and net, $12,000; lager beer, $750,000. There are some 15 breweries in the upper part of the eastern district, toward Bushwick. The locality in which they are situated is called "New Germany," or "Dutchtown." In this neighborhood on Sundays the people attend

church in the morning, and in the afternoon and evening take their wives and little ones to the numerous beer gardens, where, beside lager beer, gymnastic apparatus, music, and scenic recreations are provided. Drunkenness is not usual among them. There are nearly a dozen distillers and rectifiers, producing the value of $6,000,000 a year; one establishment alone uses, when in full operation, 3,000 bushels of grain per day. Immense quantities of spirits are shipped direct from Brooklyn to France. Other manufactures are: clocks, $100,000; pianos, $25,000; bronze powder, yearly product, $10,000; soap and candles, $250,000; camphene, $2,000,000; chemicals, $60,000; refined sugar and syrup, $4,000,000; confectionery, $20,000; drugs and medicines, $15,000; dyewood, $100,000; fish and whale oil, $200,000; gas, $462,000; glue, $150,000; ivory black and bone manure, $110,000; japanned cloth, $200,000; lampblack, $4,000; lard oil, $10,000; refined licorice, $50,000; malt, $100,000; oilcloth, $200,000; linseed and other oil, $300,000; paints and colors, $50,000; rosin oil, $250,000; kerosene, $200,000; saleratus, $50,000; starch, $30,000; vinegar, $12,000; white lead, $1,250,000, giving employment to 225 men; whiting, $60,000; lamps, lanterns, gas fixtures, &c., $125,000; stoves, $85,000; steam-engines, $75,000; ship's blocks, $70,000; ship building (in 1855), $945,000, employing 540 men (there are 7 or 8 ship-yards about Greenpoint, beside extensive marine railways, on which large ships are hauled up for repairs); steamboat finishing (same date), $150,000; tree-nails, $20,000; thermometers, $1,500; sashes and blinds, $120,000; coaches and wagons, $70,000; registers and ventilators, $100,000; pumps, $15,000; steam do., $100,000; flour and feed, $1,000,000; packing boxes, $25,000; casks and barrels, $130,000; planed boards, $500,000; shingles, $10,000; veneering, $16,000; glass, $800,000 (the first, and we believe the only plate glass manufactory in America, was started in Brooklyn in 1855); lime, $12,000; marble, $100,000; plaster, $4,000; porcelain, $100,000; cut stone, $250,000; leather, $50,000; morocco, $2,000,000; patent leather, $150,000; bedsteads, $8,000; cabinet ware, $250,000; paper hangings, $30,000; rugs and mats, $100,000; window shades, $50,000; gold pens, $100,000; hats and caps, $100,000; tobacco and cigars, $200,000.

BROOKS, CHARLES T., an American author, born in Salem, Mass., June 20, 1813. He was graduated at Harvard college in 1832, and was settled as a Unitarian clergyman, in 1837, in Newport, R. I., where he has ever since remained. Mr. Brooks is an accomplished scholar, and particularly devoted to German literature. He has published a translation of Schiller's "William Tell;" a volume of miscellaneous poems from the German, in the series of Specimens of Foreign Standard Literature;" a translation of Schiller's "Homage

to the Arts," &c.; "German Lyrics;" "Songs of the Field and Flood," and during the last year, an admirable translation of Goethe's Faust.

BROOKS, ERASTUS, an American journalist, junior_editor and proprietor of the "New York Express," born in Portland, Me., Jan. 31, 1815. His father having perished at sea near the close of 1814, at 8 years of age he was sent to Boston to earn his own living, and was employed in a grocer's store, gaining the rudiments of education at an evening school. He began his connection with the press as a printer's errand-boy, and by degrees became printer, publisher, and proprietor of a paper which he called the "Yankee," published at Wiscasset, in Maine. He set the types of this journal, worked the paper with the aid of a roller-boy, and distributed himself the copies among the subscribers. He next began to compose leading articles, essays, and tales, as he set the types, without manuscript. Experience teaching him his want of knowledge, he began to prepare himself for college by studies and exercises in Greek and Latin, defraying the necessary expenses of his education by teaching school in addition to the labor of setting type. He entered and graduated at Brown university, Providence, R. I.; afterward conducted a grammar school at Haverhill, Mass., and became editor and part proprietor of the "Haverhill Gazette." This position he relinquished in 1836, and became the correspondent in Washington of the "New York Daily Advertiser," and of several New England papers. About the same time he acquired an interest in the "New York Express," which was just established by his brother James Brooks, and has continued from that time, with a short interval, one of its editors and proprietors. He remained, however, in Washington as its local editor for 16 successive sessions of congress. In 1843 he went to Europe, and travelled extensively there, writing home, as his brother had done, letters descriptive of scenes and incidents in the old world. He was elected to the senate of the state of New York in 1853, and advocated strongly the passage of the bill divesting the bishops of the Roman Catholic church in that state of the title to church property in real estate, and assimilating the tenure of such property to that of other religious corporations by vesting it in trustees for their use. He was involved, in consequence, in a controversy with Archbishop Hughes, of New York, which was prosecuted with great spirit on both sides, and attracted much attention. He was again elected to the senate in 1855. In the summer of 1856 he received the unanimous nomination of a convention of the American party for governor of the state of New York, and at the ensuing election led the presidential ticket with which he was associated about 7,000 votes. He married the youngest daughter of the late Chief Justice Cranch of Washington, and resides with his family in New York.

BROOKS, JAMES, an American journalist,

senior editor of the "New York Express," born at Portland, Me., Nov. 10, 1810. He was left an orphan at an early age, by the death of his father, in 1814, to struggle with poverty. He entered a store at Lewiston when only 11 years old. At 16 he rose to the dignity of a school teacher, became a member of Waterville college, Me., at 18, and graduated before he was 21 at the head of his class. He was next at the head of the Latin school in Portland, then travelled through the southern states of the Union, and among the Creek and Cherokee Indians, and wrote letters to various journals, descriptive of their condition. Afterward he became the correspondent at Washington of several papers in different parts of the United States, and the originator of the system of regular Washington correspondences. Becoming in 1835 member of the legislature of Maine, from Portland, he introduced the first proposition for a survey for a railroad from Portland to Montreal and Quebec. The same year he visited Europe, travelling on foot over a great part of the continent and the British isles, and giving an account of his adventures and the places he visited in a series of interesting letters to the "Portland Advertiser." On his return in 1836 he established the "New York Express," a journal of which a morning and evening edition are issued daily. It is a noticeable fact in journalism that this paper, which has attained an extensive circulation, was established without capital by a young man who was at first a stranger and without personal friends in New York. In 1847 he was elected to the assembly of the state of New York, and in the following year chosen a member of congress from New York city, in which post he was continued by successive reëlections until 1853. In this new field he took an active part in debate in the business of the house, particularly in matters relating to trade and commerce, and was influential in establishing the recognition of the trade to and from California as falling within the American coasting trade. He used his privilege of nominating a cadet from his district for the West Point military academy in favor of the best scholar in the New York free academy, notwithstanding numerous applications from those in a higher position in society, and procured an appropriation for a burial-place for sailors on Long island, where the place of interment is minutely recorded, enabling the spot to be found after the lapse of years. Mr. Brooks took part in favor of the passage of the measures known as the "compromise" in 1850, and since his retirement from congress has been, through his journal, a prominent advocate of the policy, and identified with the fortunes, of the American party.

BROOKS, JAMES GORDON, an American poet, born at Claverack, N. Y., Sept. 3, 1801, died in Albany Feb. 20, 1841; graduated at Union college in 1819; studied law, and removed in 1823 to New York, where he became editor

of the "Minerva," a literary journal, and afterward of the "Literary Gazette," the "Athenæum," and the "Morning Courier," continuing in all these papers the publication of his verses. In 1828 he married Mary Elizabeth Aikin, of Poughkeepsie, a young lady of poetical talent, who had written under the signature of Norma, and the next year appeared the "Rivals of Este, and other Poems, by James G. and Mary E. Brooks." The year after, they removed to Winchester, Va., and in 1838 to Rochester, N. Y., and afterward to Albany.MARY E. BROOKS, his wife, in addition to her literary abilities, was a skilful designer. The original drawings of the plates in the "Natural History of the State of New York," by her brother-in-law, Mr. James Hall, were made by her from nature.

BROOKS, JOHN, LL. D., an American officer and statesman, and governor of Massachusetts, born at Medford in 1752, died March 1, 1825. While pursuing the study of medicine he displayed a love for military exercises, and having settled as a medical practitioner at Reading undertook the drilling of a company of minute men, with whom, on the news of the expedition to Lexington, he marched in time to see the retreat of the British. Promoted soon after to the rank of major in the continental service, he assisted in throwing up the fortifications on Breed's hill, and was especially serviceable to the army as a tactician. He was made lieutenantcolonel in 1777, and in the battle of Saratoga stormed the intrenchments of the German troops. He was a faithful adherent of the commander-in-chief during the conspiracy at Newburg. Washington requesting him to keep his officers within quarters, that they might not attend the insurgent meeting, his reply was: “Sir, I have anticipated your wishes, and my orders are given." Washington took him by the hand, and said, "Col. Brooks, this is just what I expected from you." After the peace he resumed the practice of the medical profession in Medford, and was for many years majorgeneral of the militia of his county. In the war of 1812 he was adjutant-general of Massachusetts, and in 1816 he was elected governor of that state, almost without opposition, an office to which he was reelected annually till 1823, when he declined being again a candidate. Beside official papers, he left a eulogy on Washington, and an address before the society of the Cincinnati.

BROOKS, MARIA, an American poetess, known also by the name of MARIA DEL ОcorDENTE, which she first received from Mr. Southey, born at Medford, Mass., about 1795, died at Matanzas, Nov. 11, 1845. Her family were Welsh, her maiden name being Gowen, and she doubtless received the basis of her education from her father, who was an educated man, and possessed of considerable property, which, however, he lost, and died shortly after. Maria attracted the regard of Mr. Brooks, a Boston merchant, who completed her education