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on the church of St. Nicholas; and all the old women, having no longer the presence of Peter Stuyvesant to hearten them, gathered their children home, and barricadoed the doors and windows every evening at sun-down.

In the mean while the armada of the sturdy Peter proceeded prosperously on its voyage, and after encountering about as many storms and water-spouts and whales, and other horrors and phenomena, as generally befall adventurous landsmen, in perilous voyages of the kind; and after undergoing a severe scouring from that deplorable and unpitied malady called sea-sickness; the whole squadron arrived safely in the Delaware.

Without so much as dropping anchor and giving his wearied ships time to breathe after labouring so long in the ocean, the intrepid Peter pursued his course up the Delaware, and made a sudden appearance before Fort Casimir. Having summoned the astonished garrison by a terrific blast from the trumpet of the long-winded Van Corlear, he demanded, in a tone of thunder, an instant surrender of the fort. To this demand, Suen Scutz, the wind-dried commandant, replied in a shrill, whiffling voice, which, by reason of his extreme spareness, sounded like the wind whistling through a broken bellows-" that he had no very strong reasons for refusing, except that the demand was particularly disagreeable, as he had been ordered to maintain his post to the last extremity." He requested time therefore to consult with Governor Risingh, and proposed a truce for that purpose.

The choleric Peter, indignant at having his rightful fort so treacherously taken from him, and thus pertinaciously withheld, refused the proffered armistice, and swore by the pipe of St. Nicholas, which like the sacred fire was never extinguished, that unless the fort were surrendered in ten minutes, he would incontinently storm the works, make all the garrison run the gauntlet, and split their scoundrel of a commander, like a pickled shad. To give

this menace the greater effect, he drew forth his trusty sword, and shook it at them with such a fierce and vigorous motion, that doubtless, if it had not been exceeding rusty, it would have lightened terror into the eyes and hearts of the enemy. He then ordered his men to bring a broadside to bear upon the fort, consisting of two swivels, three muskets, a long duck fowling-piece, and two brace of horse-pistols.

In the mean time the sturdy Van Corlear marshalled all his forces, and commenced his warlike operations. Distending his cheeks like a very Boreas, he kept up a most horrific twanging of his trumpet-the lusty choristers of Sing-Sing broke forth into a hideous song of battlethe warriors of Breukelen and the Wael-bogtig blew a potent and astounding blast on their conch-shells: all together forming as outrageous a concerto, as though five thousand French orchestras were displaying their skill in a modern overture.

Whether the formidable front of war, thus suddenly presented, smote the garrison with sore dismay, or whether the concluding terms of the summons, which men→ tioned that he should surrender "at discretion," were mistaken by Suen Scutz, who though a Swede, was a very considerate, easy-tempered man, as a compliment to his discretion, I will not take upon me to say; certain it is, he found it impossible to resist so courteous a demand. Accordingly, in the very nick of time, just as the cabin-boy had gone after a coal of fire, to discharge the swivel, a chamade was beat on the rampart by the only drum in the garrison, to the no small satisfaction of both parties; who, notwithstanding their great stomach for fighting, had full as good an inclination to eat a quiet dinner, as to exchange black eyes and bloody noses.

Thus did this impregnable fortress once more return to the domination of their high mightinesses; Scutz and his garrison of twenty men were allowed to march out with

the honours of war; and the victorious Peter, who was as generous as brave, permitted them to keep possession of all their arms and ammunition, the same on inspection being found totally unfit for service, having long rusted in the magazine of the fortress, even before it was wrested by the Swedes from the magnanimous, but windy Von Poffenburgh. But I must not omit to mention, that the governor was so well pleased with the services of his faithful squire, Van Corlear, in the reduction of this great fortress, that he made him on the spot lord of a goodly domain in the vicinity of New-Amsterdam, which goes by the name of Corlear's Hook unto this very day. *

The unexampled liberality of the valiant Stuyvesant towards the Swedes, occasioned great surprise in the city of New-Amsterdam; nay, certain of those factious individuals, who had been enlightened by the political meetings that prevailed during the days of William the Testy, but who had not dared to indulge their meddlesome habits under the eye of their present ruler, now emboldened by his absence, dared even to give vent to their censures in the streets-murmurs were heard in the very council chamber of New-Amsterdam; and there is no knowing whether they would not have broken out into downright speeches and invectives, had not Peter Stuyvesant privately sent home his walking-staff, to be laid as a mace on the table of the council chamber, in the midst of his counsellors; who, like wise men, took the hint, and forever after held their peace.

* De Vriez makes mention, in one of his voyages, of Corlear's Hoeck, and Corlear's Plantagie, or Bouwery,

CHAPTER VI.

Showing the great advantage that the author has over his reader in time of battle-together with divers portentous movements; which betoken that something terrible is about to happen.

LIKE as a mighty alderman, when at a corporation feast the first spoonful of turtle soup salutes his palate, feels his impatient appetite but tenfold quickened, and redoubles his vigorous attacks upon the tureen, while his voracious eyes, projecting from his head, roll greedily round, devouring every thing at table-so did the mettlesome Peter Stuyvesant feel that intolerable hunger for martial glory, which raged within his very bowels, inflamed by the capture of Fort Casimer, and nothing could allay it but the conquest of all New Sweden. No sooner therefore had he secured his conquest, than he stumped resolutely on, flushed with success, to gather fresh laurels at Fort Christina. *

This was the grand Swedish post, established on a small river (or as it is more improperly termed, creek) of the same name; and here that crafty governor, Jan Risingh, lay grimly drawn up, like a gray-bearded spider in the citadel of his web.

But before we hurry into the direful scenes that must attend the meeting of two such powerful chieftains, it is advisable that we pause for a moment, and hold a kind of warlike council. Battles should not be rushed into precipitately by the historian and his readers, any more than by the general and his soldiers. The great commanders of antiquity never engaged the enemy, without previously prepar

*This is at present a flourishing town called Christiana, or Chris. teen, about thirty-seven miles from Philadelphia, on the post-road to Baltimore.

ing the minds of their followers by animating harangues; spiriting them up to heroic feelings, assuring them of the protection of the gods, and inspiring them with a confidence in the prowess of their leaders. So the historian should awaken the attention and enlist the passions of his readers, and having set them all on fire with the importance of his subject, he should put himself at their head, flourish his pen, and lead them on to the thickest of the fight.

An illustrious example of this rule may be seen in that mirror of historians, the immortal Thucydides. Having arrived at the breaking out of the Peloponnesian war, one of his commentators observes, that "he sounds the charge in all the disposition and spirit of Homer. He catalogues the allies on both sides. He awakens our expectations, and fast engages our attention. All mankind are concerned in the important point now going to be decided. Endeavours are made to disclose futurity. Heaven itself is interested in the dispute. The earth totters, and nature seems to labour with the great event. This is his solemn, sublime manner of setting out. Thus he magnifies a war between two, as Rapin calls them, petty states; and thus artfully he supports a little subject by treating it in a great and noble method." *

In like manner, having conducted my readers into the very teeth of peril-having followed the adventurous Peter and his band into foreign regions-surrounded by foes, and stunned by the horrid din of arms-at this important moment, while darkness and doubt hang o'er each coming chapter, I hold it meet to harangue them, and prepare them for the events that are to follow.

And here I would premise one great advantage which, as the historian, I possess over my reader; and this it is -that though I cannot save the life of my favourite hero,

Smith's Thucyd. Vol. I. p. lxx.

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