Albany city, the capital of New York, is directly opposite Greenbush, with which there is constant communication by means of a ferry. The city is built upon a flat alluvial tract of land, along the margin of the river, from 15 to 100 rods wide, back of which it rises abruptly, attaining, within the space of half a mile, an elevation of 153 feet, and in one mile 220 feet above the river. Beyond this the surface is level. The older portions of the city are laid out very irregularly, and some of them are very narrow. The streets recently built are more spacious and regular. State street is from 150 to 170 feet wide, and has a steep ascent to the top of the hill. Many of the private, and more especially the public, buildings of Albany have fine situations, and overlook an extensive and a beautiful prospect. The Capitol, which stands at the head of State street, on the hill, is a large stone edifice, 115 feet long, and 90 feet broad, fronting east, on a fine square. It contains spacious and richly furnished apartments for the accommodation of the Senate and Assembly, and various rooms for other public purposes. From the observatory at the top, which is accessible to visitors, a fine view of the city and surrounding country is obtained. The City Hall is on the east side of the same square, facing west, and is constructed with marble, with a gilded dome. The Albany Academy, built of freestone, adjoining the square, has a park in front of it; and both squares are surrounded by an iron fence, and constitute a large and beautiful public ground, laid out with walks, and ornamented with trees. The Exchange, at the foot of State street, is a commodious building of granite, constructed a few years since. The Postoffice is in this building. It has also an extensive reading-room, supplied with papers and periodicals, both American and foreign, to which strangers are admitted without charge. The situation of Albany for trade and commerce can hardly be surpassed. Besides its natural advantages, railroads now centre here from each of the four cardinal points; and the Erie and Champlain Canals add immensely to her resources. TROY city is situated on the east bank of the river, at the head of tide water. It is a port of entry, and capital of Rensselaer county. It is celebrated for its beauty and healthiness; most of its streets are wide, laid out at right angles, and planted with trees. Mount Ida, directly in the rear of the south part of the city, and Mount Olympus in the north, are distinguished eminences, affording fine views of the country. The city is abundantly supplied with water, by iron pipes, from a basin in Lansingburg, 75 feet above the city. It has numerous hotels, some of which are admirably kept. WEST TROY, a suburb of Troy, on the opposite side of the river, is a manufacturing village, rapidly increasing in business and importance. A fine macadamized road extends from this place to Albany, a distance of six miles. Coaches run hourly over the road. Like her rival, Troy has her morning and evening line of steamboats to New York, which are in no degree behind the Albany boats in comfort, speed or elegance. The fare to New York is usually the same from both cities. Saratoga Springs are easily reached from either Albany or Troy. From Albany, by the Albany and Schenectady Railroad, sixteen miles; thence, by the Saratoga and Schenectady Railroad, twenty-one miles, - total, thirtyseven miles. From Troy there are two routes, viz., one by way of the Troy and Schenectady Railroad, twenty miles, and thence as by Albany route, forty-one miles; the other by the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad, terminating at Balston Spa, twenty-four miles, thence by Saratoga Railroad, seven miles, total, thirty-one miles. The route west from Albany is over the Certral railroad, to Schenectady 17 miles, Utica 95, Rome 109, Syracuse 148, Rochester 229. Here a choice of routes is offered; the Southern, to Buffalo 298, Dunkirk 339, Cleveland 481, Toledo 777, Chicago 836. The Northern, to Niagara Falls 305, Detroit 535, Chicago 813. From this Metropolis of the West, roads radiate in every direction to meet the wants of the traveller. The distance from New York to Chicago via the Erie railroad is 958 miles Any Book sent by mail, postage paid, on receipt of the advertised price. HURD & HOUGHTON, 459 Broome Street, New York, PUBLISH THE FOLLOWING BOOKS: The Story of Kennett, by BAYARD TAYLOR. One Vol. Crown Svo. Price $2.25. Over 6,000 Copies of this new Novel were ordered before publication. Whims and Oddities, IN PROSE, by THOMAS John Godfrey's Fortunes, RELATED BY Up the Rhine, by THOMAS Hoop, with two HIMSELF. A STORY OF AMERICAN LIFE. By Hannah Thurston, by BAYARD TAYLOR. 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Her verses have an easy flow, a bounding grace, a full rotundity of rhythm, and a hearty unreserve about them which makes them attractive to the vast multitude of readers, and gives to the convictions of their admirers TRAVEL GATHERED IN ENGLAND, FRANCE, AND "Altogether, this is the most entertaining book of travel and incident in the old world that has fallen to our notice this many a year."-Troy Whig. "It is a racy and readable work, going over ground very often trod, but which the author has invested with a newness that gives it a fresh charm."-Boston Gazette "He is a very pleasant traveling company-sympathetic, sensible, and hearty. We like him very well on the swindling River Rhine, about which so much absurdity has got into literature. As a traveler, Mr. Gilbert Haven has many merits, among which we may than what he went to see.-The Nation. name as chief the art of telling what he has seen, rather My Married Life at Hillside, by BARRY GRAY. 1 Vol. Crown Svo. Price $2. Matrimonial Infelicities, by BARRY GRAY. 1 Vol. Crown Svo. Price $2. that charm which only poetry can bestow."-Brooklyn Chastelard, Union. Mozart's Letters. Translated from the Collection of Ludwig Nohl, by LADY WALLACE. With a portrait and fac-simile. In 2 Vols. 16mo. Price $3.50. The letters cover the period froin 1769 to the time of Mozart's death. 1791. They are complete and unabridged. "They are replete with the familiar and confidential 10od in which the author wrote them to his most intiate friends. In them we can easily see how Mozart ived and labored, enjoyed and suffered, and he has deribed it all with a good degree of vivid and graphic reality.-Boston Post. Tales, Romances, and Extravaganzas, by THOMAS HOOD. With numerous Illustrations from Hood's own designs. 1 Vol. Crown Svo. Price $2.25. This volume includes "The School-Mistress Abroad," Mrs. Gardiner," "Mr. Chubb," "Mrs. Burrage," "Mrs. Peck's Pudding," and others of Hood's best papers. A TRAGEDY, by ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE, Author of "Atalanta in Calydon." 1 Vol. 16mo. Price $1.50. "The poem will live and be read with Schiller's Mary Queen of Scots, and by blending this and that picture some truer view may be gained of the probable character of that extraordinary woman."-N. II. Palladium. A powerful drama, and, in the delineation of Mary Queen of Scots, gives probably the truest and closest representation of that evil woman which can be found in history or literature."-Boston Transcript. Across the Continent: A SUMMER'S JOUR NEY TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, THE MORMONS, AND PACIFIC STATES, WITH SPEAKER COLFAX. With a Full Map of all the Western Territories and the Route Traveled. By SAMUEL BOWLES, Editor of the "Springfield (Mass.) Republican." In 1 Vol. Crown Svo, $2. No travelers were ever so cordially welcomed by citizens as were these,-the journey was a continued ovation.-and all the most intimate and authentic sources of information were freely opened to them. 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