This storm, if short, was at all events magnificently grand, and we subsequently found it had been terribly destructive also; boats on the Hudson had been capsized and driven ashore, houses had been unroofed, and forest trees split like penny canes.
The inn where we had taken shelter was fortunately not touched, nor were any of the trees which surrounded it.

Beautifully situated on a high bank, sloping down to the Hudson, full of fine old timber; it had belonged to some English noble--I forget his name--in the old colonial times; now, it was a favourite baiting-place for the frequenters of the Bloomingdale road, and dispensed the most undeniably good republican drinks, cobblers, cock-tails, slings, and hail-storms, with other more substantial and excellent things to match.

The storm being over, we unhitched the horses, and returned to town at a more sober pace; nor were we much troubled with dust during the drive home.
Lest the reader should get wearied with so long a stay at New York, I now propose to shift the scene for his amusement, and hope he will accompany me in my wanderings.

If, during the operation, he occasionally finds me tedious in any details uninteresting to him, I trust that a judicious skipping of a few leaves will bring us again into agreeable companionship.
FOOTNOTES: [Footnote F: The largest boom in the Navy is 72 feet long, and 16-1/2 inches in diameter; the largest mast is 127 feet 3 inches long, and 42 inches diameter; the largest yard is 111 feet long, and 26-1/2 inches diameter.] [Footnote G: Turbot is a good substitute for sea-bass.] [Footnote H: A small American biscuit made of best flour.] [Footnote I: _Vide_ sketch of Aqueduct.].