projected from the centre of his countenance, like the beak of a parrot. He was the great progenitor of the tribe of the Beekmans, one of the most ancient and honourable families of the province, the members of which do grate. fully commemorate the origin of their dignity, not as your noble families in England would do, by having a glowing proboscis emblazoned in their escutcheon, but by one and all wearing a right goodly nose, stuck in the very middle of their faces. Thus was this perilous enterprise gloriously terminated, with the loss of only two men: Wolfert Van Horne, a tall spare man, who was knocked overboard by the boom of a sloop in a flaw of wind; and fat Brom Van Brummel, who was suddenly carried off by an indigestion: both, however, were immortalized, as having bravely fallen in the service of their country. True it is, Peter Stuyvesant had one of his limbs terribly fractured, being shattered to pieces in the act of storming the fortress; but as it was fortunately his wooden leg, the wound was promptly and effectually healed. And now nothing remains to this branch of my history, but to mention that this immaculate hero, and his victori, ous army, returned joyously to the Manhattoes, marching under the shade of their laurels, as did the followers of young Malcolm, under the moving forest of Dunsinane. Thus did they make a solemn and triumphant entry into New Amsterdam, bearing with them the conquered Risingh, and the remnant of his battered crew, who had refused allegiance. For it appears that the gigantic Swede had only fallen into a swoon, at the end of the battle, from whence he was speedily restored by a wholesome tweak of the nose, These captive beroes were lodged, according to the promise of the governor, at the public expense, in a fair and spacious castle; being the prison of state, of which Stoffel Brinkerhoff, the immortal conqueror of Oyster Bay, was appointed governor; and which has ever since remained in the possession of his descendants.* * This castle, though very much altered and modernized, is still in being, and stands at the corner of Pearl-street, facing Coentie's slip. It was a pleasant and goodly sight to witness the joy of the people of New Amsterdam, at beholding their warriors once more returned from this war in the wilderness. The old women thronged round Anthony Van Corlear, who gave the whole history of the camgaign with matchless accuracy; saving that he took the credit of fighting the whole battle himself, and especially of vanquishing the stout Risingh, which he considered himself as clearly entitled to, seeing that it was effected by his own stone pottle. The schoolmasters throughout the town gave holiday to their little urchins, who followed in droves after the drums, with paper caps on their heads, and sticks in their breeches, thus taking the first lesson in the art of war. As to the sturdy rabble, they thronged at the heels of Peter Stuyvesant wherever he went, waving their greasy hats in the air, and shouting "Hard-koppig Piet for ever!" It was, indeed, a day of roaring rout and jubilee. A huge dinner was prepared at the Stadthouse in honour of the conquerors, where were assembled in one glorious constellation, the great and the little luminaries of New-Amsterdam. There were the lordly schout and his obsequious deputy-the burgomasters with their officious schepens at their elbows---the subaltern officers at the elbows of the schepens; and so on, to the lowest grade of illustrious hangers-on of police; every tag having his rag at his side, to finish his pipe, drink off his heel-taps, and laugh at his flights of immortal dullness. In short, for a city feast is a city feast all the world over, and has been a city feast ever since the creation; the dinner went off much the same as do our great corporation junketings, and fourth of July banquets. Loads of fish, flesh, and fowl, were devoured, oceans of liquor drunk, thousands of pipes smoked, and many a dull joke honoured with much obstreperous fatsided laughter. 1 must not omit to mention, that to this far famed victory Peter Stuyvesant was indebted for another of his many titles; for so hugely delighted were the honest burghers with his achievements, that they unanimously Z 2 honoured him with the name of Pieter de Groodt, that is to say, Peter the Great, or, as it was translated by the people of New Amsterdam, Piet de Pig---an appellation which he maintained even unto the day of his death. END OF BOOK SIXTH. BOOK SEVENTH. CONTAINING THE THIRD PART OF THE REIGN OF PETER THE HEADSTRONG-HIS TROUBLES WITH THE BRITISH NATION; AND THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE DUTCH DYNASTY. CHAP. I. How Peter Stuyvesant relieved the Sovereign People from the burthen of taking care of the Nation· with sundry particulars of his conduct in time of Peace. THE history of the reign of Peter Stuyvesant furnishes a melancholy picture of the incessant cares and vexations inseparable from government; and may serve as a solemn warning to all who are ambitious of attaining the seat of power. Though crowned with victory, enriched by conquest, and returning in triumph to his metropolis, his exultation was checked by beholding the sad abuses that had taken place during the short interval of his absence. The populace, unfortunately for their own comfort, had taken a deep draught of the intoxicating cup of power, during the reign of William the Testy; and though, upon the accession of Peter Stuyvesant, they felt, with a certain instinctive perception, which mobs as well as cattle possess, that the reins of government had passed into stronger hands; yet could they not help fretting, and chafing, and champing upon the bit, in restive silence. It seems by some strange and inscrutable fatality, to be the destiny of most countries (and more especially of your enlightened republics), always to be governed by the most incompetent man in the nation; so that you will scarcely find an individual throughout the whole community, but who will detect to you innumerable errors in administration, and convince you in the end, that had he been at the head of affairs, matters would have gone on a thousand times more prosperously. Strange! that government, which seems to be so generally understood, should inva riably be so erroneously administered---strange, that the talent of legislation, so prodigally bestowed, should be denied to the only man in the nation to whose station it is requisite ! Thus it was in the present instance, not a man of all the herd of pseudo-politicians in New-Amsterdam, but was an oracle on topics of state, and could have directed public affairs incomparably better than Peter Stuyvesant. But so severe was the old governor in his disposition, that he would never suffer one of the multitude of able counsellors by whom he was surrounded, to intrude his advice, and save the country from destruction. Scarcely, therefore, had he departed on his expedition against the Swedes, than the old faction of William Kieft's reign began to thrust their heads above water, and to gather together in political meetings, to discuss, "the state of the nation." At these assemblages the busy burgomasters and their officious schepens made a very considerable figure. These worthy dignitaries were no longer the fat, well fed, tranquil magistrates, that presided in the peaceful days of Wouter Van Twiller. On the contrary, being elected by the people, they formed in a manner a sturdy bulwark between the mob and the administration. They were great candidates for popularity, and strenuous advocates for the rights of the rabble; resembling in disinterested zeal the wide-mouthed tribunes of aucient Rome, or those virtuous patriots of modern days, emphatically denominated "the friends of the people." Under the tuition of these profound politicians, it is astonishing how suddenly enlightened the swinish multitude became, in matters above their comprehensions. Cobblers, tinkers, and tailors, all at once felt themselves inspired, like those religious idiots in the glorious times of monkish illumination; and, without any previous study or experience, became instantly capable of directing all the movements of government. Nor must I neglect to mention a number of superannuated, wrong-headed old burghers, who had come over when boys, in the crew of the Goede Vrouw, and were held up as infallible oracles by the enlightened mob. To suppose that a man who had helped to discover a country did not know how it ought to be governed, was preposterous in the extreme. It would have been deemed as much a heresy as, at the present |