Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/419

Rh recent act of the legislature, all the county towns of the western part of the island, so that it now covers a larger area than any other city in the United States. From Hunter s Point to Bay Ridge it has a river frontage of nearly nine miles. The ground on which the city is built exhibits considerable inequalities of surface, and thus increases the picturesqueness of its appearance, while the practical disadvantages of such a site have been overcome by skilful engineering. The streets, with the exception of Fulton Street, the principal thoroughfare, are generally straight, have a width of from GO to 100 feet, and cross each other at right angles. Chief among the public buildings are the city-hall (an edifice of white marble dating from 1845-6), the county court house (erected in 1862), the county jail (1837), the peni tentiary, the state arsenal, and the city hospital. Besides the last-mentioned institution the benevolent establishments of Brooklyn include the Long Island College Hospital, St Mary s and St Peter s hospital, the female orphan asylum, the marine hospital, the Graham institution for the relief of aged women, and numerous other charities. The churches number between 200 and 300, many of them are beautiful buildings, but none claim special notice except the new Roman Catholic Cathedral, which is only rivalled by the corresponding building in New York. Of literary and artistic institutions the most remarkable are the Mercantile Library (dating from 1857), the Brooklyn Institute (founded by Augustus Graham), the Long Island Historical Society, the Art Association, the Academy of Design, the Academy of Music, and the Philharmonic Society. There are three theatres, and an opera house, which dates from 1862. The educational establishments comprise the Packer Collegiate Institute (founded in 1853) for female education, the Polytechnic Institute for boys (started in 1854), the Adelphi Academy for both sexes (founded in 1863), the Roman Catholic College of St John, upwards of fifty public grammar and primary schools, and numerous private institutions. Though Brooklyn in some measure serves as a suburb of residence to New York, and many of its inhabitants carry on their business in the larger city, its own industrial and commercial activity is very great. It has flour-mills, sugar-refineries, lager-beer breweries, distilleries, tobacco factories, and chemical works ; and manufactures steel, brass, and copper wares, engines, machinery, and printing-presses. The grain trade is of enormous extent, the warehouses being capable of holding about 1 2.000,000 bushels ; and sugar, coffee, oil, hides, and wool are also largely imported. Most of the river front age is lined with basins, wharves, and docks, the most im portant being the Atlantic dock (constructed about 1846) with an area of 40 acres, the Erie basin of 60 acres, the Brooklyn basin of 40 acres, the Wallabout basin, and the United States navy yard. This last occupies a total area of 144 acres, and has extensive wharfage, and a dry dock, built of granite, at a cost upwards of $2,113,000, The city is supplied with water by an elaborate system of reservoirs, of which the most distant is 19 miles away in the vicinity of Hetupstead. Its principal pleasure ground is Prospect Park, which embraces more than 600 acres, partly covered with forest trees. A lake of 50 acres is being excavated, and there is a large well 60 feet in diameter, which will furnish the necessary water to keep it fresh. Washington Park, on the site of ancient fortifica tions, is also a pleasant spot, and there are various other open grounds throughout the city. At the west end is situated the well known Greenwood cemetery, which con tains about 520 acres of finely-varied ground, a good part of which is still adorned with natural wood. Plan of Brooklyn. The traffic of the city is facilitated by tramway lines ; and its collection with New York, which has hitherto been dependent on steam-boat ferries, is to be rendered more convenient by a large bridge in course of construction. This bridge, which crosses the East River near its western extremity, is 85 feet wide, and has a river span of 1596 and a total length of 5989 feet. The total cost is estimated to exceed $13,000,000.

1em  BROOKS,, an English novelist, and dramatic and miscellaneous writer, was born in 1815. He was the son of an eminent London architect, and received his education at a public school in the city. Applying himself to the study of law, he passed the usual examina tion for admission ; but instead of pursuing further the professional path, he turned aside and began to feePhis way towards the broader field of literature. He wrote, sometimes alone, sometimes in conjunction with others, slight dramatic pieces of the burlesque kind, and became a newspaper reporter. In this capacity he was for many years engaged on the Morning Chronicle. For the same paper he afterwards undertook to write the parliament ary summary, and was appointed special commissioner to carry out investigations on the subject of labour and the poor. For this purpose he travelled in Southern Russia, Egypt, and Syria ; the results of his inquiries appearing first in the form of letters to the editor, and afterwards in a separate volume, under the title of The Russians of tlie South (1856). Brooks was for many years on the staff of the Illustrated London News, contributing the weekly article on the politics of the day, and the two series entitled &quot;Nothing in the Papers&quot; and &quot;By the Way,&quot; besides other occasional pieces. In 1854 he joined the staff of 