Connecticut, in 1819, produced a learned and eloquent treatise on the religion of the North American Indians, in the form of a discourse, before the New York Historical Society. William Smith, in his History of New York, has given the history of the Six Nations, but it is little more than a compendium of Colden's writings on the same subject.

The most elaborate and authentic modern work upon the origin of the American red man, and the antiquities of that race, is that recently given to the public by Alexander W. Bradford. His researches and inquiries embrace the wide region from the snow huts of the Esquimaux to the palace of the Incas. His conclusions are, that all the various nations and tribes inhabiting America at the time of its discovery were derived from one primitive civilized source, and that the emigration to this continent proceeded from southeastern Asia through the Indian Archipelago, and across the islands of the Pacific ocean. This theory, however, has yet to abide the test of inquiry.

George Catlin spent several years among the aboriginals of the far west, and his volumes are curious and interesting, regarded as a sketch of the living manners of the inhabitants of the forest. In the department of Indian philology, Albert Gallatin has given us an elaborate and invaluable essay upon the structure of the American languages, illustrating the tongues of fifty-three nations.

William L. Stone has had the felicity to appropriate to himself the department of Indian biography. His first work was "The Life of Joseph Brant, or Thayendanegea." The title, however, does not convey a just idea of the work, which is a complete history of the Iroquois confederacy during the life of the hero. Brant was the leader of the Indian auxiliaries of the British army during the Revolution. The work is rich in historical information, concerning the border scenes of that eventful struggle. The next work, by the same author, was "The Life and Times of Red Jacket, or Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, the Last Great Orator of the Iroquois confederacy. In this work the history of the Six Nations is resumed at the period of the death of Brant, and continued until the late dissolution of the league. The speeches of Red Jacket, preserved in this volume, will through time become more interesting as authentic exhibitions of the rhetorical art, as it existed in a barbarian community. The "Life of the Seneca

White Woman, Called by the Indians Deh-he-wa-mis," by James G. Seaver, is especially valuable for the light it throws upon the history of Sullivan's campaign in the Genesee country in 1779. The affecting story of Wyoming is known to every reader of Campbell's touching and most beautiful poem. But for an authentic narrative of the painful events which the poet celebrated, we are indebted to William L. Stone. William W. Campbell's "Annals of Tryon County" is a valuable contribution to the history of the state, and especially instructive concerning the trials and sufferings of our frontier population exposed to Indian barbarities during the war of the Revolution. Edwin James has given us a narrative, by John Tanner, a Virginian, who was captured by the Indians in his childhood, which abounds in information concerning the Indians in the interior of the continent, and especially their manners, sentiments, and customs. Tanner became entirely assimilated to the Indians, and this interesting book was written from his own lips, and may be deemed, therefore, a production of Indian autobiography. Washington Irving's "Memoir of Philip of Poconoket," a fierce yet magnanimous warrior, celebrated in the annals of Massachusetts, and who fell in a chivalrous effort to drive the intruding white man from the continent, is written with all the benevolent spirit and taste of its accomplished author. Henry R. Schoolcraft, a native of this state, but now a citizen of Michigan, has been a philosophic and enthusiastic student of the languages and unwritten literature of the red men. Besides many important contributions to our reviews, he has given us in his work, under the fanciful title of Algic Researches," a library of Indian romance, very precious, and such as no other than its author could have gathered and so tastefully arranged. Much assiduity has been manifested in collecting materials for the history of New York.

The "Description of the New Netherlands," by Adrian Vanderdonck, translated by Jeremiah Johnson, abounds in curious and interesting information concerning the early condition of the colony, and its relations with the Indians and with the other provinces.* The earliest English account of the colony which remains is "A Brief Description of New York, formerly called New Netherlands," by Daniel Denton, a small quarto printed in London in

*Notes on Antiquities and the Press were received from the Honorable Gabriel Furman. Notes on Female Biography and Indian History were received from William L. Stone, Esq.

1607. The author informs us that the book was written with the object of giving "some directions and advice to such as shall go there, an account of what commodities they shall take with them, and the profit and pleasure that may accrue to them thereby." There is a copy of this curious work in the state library.

It is perhaps not generally known that the name of the city of New York, which was assumed in 1664 was, in 1673, changed to New Orange. This fact appears from "A View of the City of New Orange, As it Was in the Year 1673, with Explanatory Notes, by Joseph W. Moulton." This pamphlet abounds in very curious and apparently very authentic information concerning the manners, customs, and habits of the period to which it relates. A pamphlet was published in New York, in 1799, entitled, "A Description of the Settlement of the Genesee Country in the State of New York," in a series of letters from a gentleman to his friend. It is valuable, as containing a history of the progress of the settlement of western New York previous to the commencement of the present century. Joseph W. Moulton, about twenty-five years since, associated with John Van Ness Yates, to produce a history of New York, and the excellence of the volume published has caused a very general regret that the purpose of the authors was relinquished.

In 1829, there appeared a work entitled "The Natural, Statistical and Civil History of the State of New York," in three volumes, by James Macaulay. This work, although very comprehensive, was supposed to be inaccurate, and it has not obtained rank as a standard work. William Dunlap subsequently attempted to execute a history of the state, and he collected very valuable materials, but his talents and acquirements were not equal to so ambitious an undertaking. More recently Jabez D. Hammond has published two very interesting volumes, containing the political history of the state of New York, from the adoption of the constitution until 1840. The work is written with candor and with studied accuracy.

"A Sketch of the first settlement of the towns on Long Island," by Silas Wood, is a very valuable and authentic work. "The History of Long Island," by Benjamin F. Thompson, published in 1839, is rich in local incidents and illustrations of public characters. "Sketches of Rochester, with Notices of Western New York," by Henry O'Reilly, published in 1838, contain very

useful information concerning the settlement of the western countries. The publications of the New York Historical Society deserve a conspicuous place among the historical productions of the state. This society was formed in 1804, and received a charter from the legislature in 1809. Among its founders were De Witt Clinton, Daniel D. Tompkins, and Rufus King, Bishop Moore, the Reverend Dr. Hobart, afterward bishop, the Reverend Drs. Millers and Kunrey, Drs. Mitchill and Hosack, and other eminent citizens. The society subsequently received liberal aid from the state. They have collected a large and valuable library of historical works, in manuscript as well as printed volumes, and have already published six volumes of transactions. At the instance of the Historical Society, the legislature authorized the appointment of an agent to visit Europe, and select and transcribe documents in the archives of European states, which might tend to illustrate our colonial history. John Romeyn Brodhead, who was appointed to perform that duty, has, through the liberality of the governments of the Netherlands and of Great Britain, explored the archives of those countries, and collected a mass of valuable official papers, commencing with the discovery of the colony, and reaching to the close of the Revolution. The agent is now in Paris, and is improving the generous permission given him by the king of the French to explore the public offices in that city, for materials for perfecting that part of our history which relates to the wars between the English and French, many scenes of which occurred in the western and northern parts of this state. The legislature also, on the suggestion of the Historical Society, has, within the present year, completed the publication of the legislative history of the state, by giving to the press the journals and correspondences of the Revolutionary provincial congress, the council of safety, and committee of safety. But the attention of our historians has not been exclusively confined to our own state. Francis L. Hawks, under the title of "Contributions to the Ecclesiastical History of the United States," has written the history of the church in Virginia and Maryland. J. Fenimore Cooper's History of the Navy of the United States, is justly regarded as a national work. "Notices of the War of 1812," by John Armstrong, late secretary of war, were published in two volumes.

The life of Philip Schuyler is yet unwritten, if we except the

sketch contained in Chancellor Kent's historical discourse. We have also only a brief eulogistic notice of Chancellor Livingston. The fame of John Jay has been more fortunate, the life of that Christian statesman having been fully, impartially, and elegantly written by his son, William Jay, of Westchester county. We are indebted to that indefatigable national biographer, Jared Sparks, for ample volumes giving us the personal and political history of Gouverneur Morris. John C. Hamilton has produced two volumes, bringing down the life of Alexander Hamilton to the period when the federal constitution was formed. The work is executed in a manner worthy of the subject, and praise can go no higher. Theodore Sedgwick, junior, has given us a very interesting work in the life of Willian Livingston, a native and long a citizen of this state, afterward governor of New Jersey. Dr. David Hosack wrote an obituary memoir of De Witt Clinton: the work is rather a eulogy than a biography, but the appendix to the volume contains a vast mass of materials illustrating the history of the state during the career of Clinton. James Renwick has written the life of Clinton, in a popular form, and it has found a place in the school district library. To Samuel L. Knapp we are deeply indebted for a life of Thomas Eddy, who, as has been seen, was distinguished in promoting the canal policy, and who for his disinterested and efficient zeal in the cause of humanity, received from his contemporaries the name of the American Howard. He was the projector of the Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents in the city of New York, under whose government is the House of Refuge; an institution justly pronounced, by De Witt Clinton, the "best penitentiary ever devised by the wit, and established by the benevolence of man." The fame of Robert Fulton found worthy guardians in Cadwallader D. Colden and Professor Renwick. Maryland owes great obligations to Henry Wheaton, of New York, for a memoir which does ample justice to the eloquence, the patriotism, talent and professional learning of her son William Pinckney. It would be supererogatory to speak of the Life of Christopher Columbus, by Washington Irving.

Among the scanty materials for ecclesiastical history which we possess, we refer with pleasure to the Life of the Reverend John H. Livingston, by Alexander Gunn; the Life of the Reverend Samuel J. Mills, a devoted missionary of the Colonization Society,