Baltimore, though vigorous in action, was as yet but mean in appearance. In the rooms of the Maryland Historical Society hangs a sketch of the town, drawn in 1752, by John Moale, the son of him that would have none of towns or town lots. Rude in perspective as this youthful effort is, it is treasured as one of the oldest and most interesting of the city’s heirlooms. Twenty-five houses--four of them built of brick--and two hundred inhabitants were then to be found in Baltimore. Upon the hill we see perched the first of four St. Paul’s churches successively erected upon the same lot, though not all upon the same site. At anchor in the harbor are the brig _Philip and Charles_ and the sloop _The Baltimore_. The merchant navy of Baltimore was still small: the large vessels of foreign trade still waited at Whetstone Point to receive their freight, transported in large lighters from the plantation landings on both branches of the river. More flattering than this early artistic attempt is Governor Sharpe’s description of Baltimore, two years later, as having “the appearance of the most increasing town in the Province,” though “hardly as yet rivalling Annapolis in number of Buildings or inhabitants: its situation as to Pleasantness, Air and Prospect is inferior to Annapolis, but if one considers it with respect to Trade, the extensive country beyond it leaves us room for comparison: were a few Gentlemen of fortune to settle there and encourage the Trade, it might soon become a flourishing place, but while few besides the Germans (who are in general masters of small fortunes) build and inhabit there, I apprehend it Cannot make any considerable Figure.” The requisite “gentlemen of fortune” were not long lacking. One soon appeared in the person of Dr. John Stevenson, who, in 1754, came from Ireland, accompanied by his brother, Dr. Henry Stevenson, a man also noteworthy among the founders of Baltimore. Dr. John Stevenson turned his attention to commerce, and began the systematic development of Baltimore’s foreign trade. He contracted for large quantities of wheat, which he shipped to Scotland with such profitable results that general attention was attracted to the development of a more extended commerce. [Illustration: MOALE’S SKETCH OF BALTIMORE IN 1752. FROM THE ORIGINAL IN THE POSSESSION OF THE MARYLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY.] “Soon after, the appointment of Mr. Eden to the government of Maryland, Sir William Draper arrived in that Province on a tour throughout the continent. He contemplated the origin of Baltimore and its rapid progress with astonishment, and when introduced by the Governor to the worthy founder, he elegantly accosted him by the appellation of the American Romulus.”