cal law with Blackstone's Commentaries (the first two volumes having already reached America) constantly within reach.

We must not leave the old building until we have paid our respects to the corporation. Whitehead Hicks appears to fill the exalted office of mayor acceptably. He is polished and agreeable in his manners, of gay, cheerful disposition, and extremely fond of society. He is a good lawyer, having been regularly bred to the profession, finishing his studies in the office of Judge William Smith, in same class as William Livingston and William Smith, Jr., and presides over the mayor's court with tact and discretion. The recorder is Simeon Johnson; the city treasurer, Isaac de Peyster; and among the aldermen are such solid men as Elias Desbrosses, Abraham P. Lott, Cornelius Roosevelt, Francis Filkin, John Abeel, and Peter T. Curtenius.

One feels much governed in such an atmosphere, but on the street again we forget the power behind us and study the people. If the race of lawyers which seems so noble and promising in this golden age would only agree to travel on the same line of opinion, what a peaceful world would result!

The population of the city is a practical fusion of many elements and nationalities; it is thought there are more languages spoken here than in any other place of its size in the world. Dr. Burnaby says: "The people resemble the Pennsylvanians; they are habitually frugal, industrious, and parsimonious. Being, however, of different nations, different languages, and different religions, it is almost impossible to give them any precise or determinate character. The women are handsome and agreeable but rather more reserved than the Philadelphia ladies. Their amusements are much the same as in Pennsylvania, viz.: balls and sleighing expeditions in the winter, and in the summer going in parties upon the water and fishing, or making excursions into the country. There are several houses pleasantly situated upon the East river near New York, where it is common to have turtle feasts. These happen once or twice a week; thirty or forty gentlemen and ladies meet and dine together, drink tea in the afternoon, and then return home in Italian chaises (a fashionable conveyance), a gentleman and lady in each chaise."

We are not so fortunate as Dr. Burnaby in being invited to one of these reunions, but we can drive into the country as well as he, and find much to interest us. A large part of the island is under cultivation in one way or another. There are many choice farms scattered over it. The contrast since a hundred years before is marvelous. Then it was a tangled wild; now a smiling landscape. Then the wolves howled at night, and

THE GREAT SMOOTH, SPARKLING LAKE OF FRESH WATER, AT ABOUT CENTRE STREET, IN 1768.

Indians dodged in and out among the bushes; now the farmer plows his fields and gathers his buckwheat in safety, and suburban homes are planted at intervals all the way from the Brick church at Beekman street to the Harlem river. Every prospect indicates prosperity. No one at this time, however, expects the city is to take an early leap into the country. They say it will never probably stretch its limits half a mile further north. It is very well as it is.

Our slow coach is on a simple country road immediately after passing the Brick church, and the first object of special notice is a great smooth, sparkling lake of fresh water, covering an area of more than two blocks of space and said to be sixty feet deep! The land about it on every side except the southwestern is low and swampy, variegated with wild grass and weeds, and singularly suggestive of malaria. A sluggish stream of water connects the lake with the Hudson river, and we learn that along the line of this ditch, as it is called, the Lutheran church was not long ago offered six acres of land as a gift, and after mature deliberation the trustees reported that it was "inexpedient to accept the land, since it was not worth fencing in."

As we proceed we quickly come to higher ground. On the line of this Bowery road small farm-houses and wayside inns are not infrequent. Near the line of the ditch or canal is a huge windmill, its yard extending through to the road on which we are traveling. To the right of us are several fine country-seats, that of Mr. Jones, called "Mount Pitt," of Henry Rutgers below it, and those of Mr. Byvant, Mr. Ackland, and Mr. Degrushe, all examples of an excellent character of domestic architecture. We reach the villa of De Lancey, and turn into an imposing drive-way to the west of it to visit the home of Col. Nicholas Bayard, which occupies a commanding eminence in that locality. The southern view from his porch embraces a picturesque valley with water flowing through it into both. rivers, corn-fields and mowing-lots further on, and beyond all the smoke and spires of the far-away city, while to the southwest is plainly visible the handsome country-seat of Leonard Lispenard; in the distance, on either side the great rivers and the shores and the heights beyond them complete as fair an outlook as can be found in the world.

Hastening back to the Bowery road, we soon come to the seat of Mr. Dykman, and the next place of consequence is the seat of Mr. Herrin;. on the right toward the East river, reached by a shady avenue, is the hiproofed mansion with a lofty portico of Nicholas William Stuyvesant. A little to the north of this is the seat of Gerardus Stuyvesant; and to the west of the Bowery road, close by, is the famous estate of Andrew Elliot,

the collector, whose daughter is the wife of James Jauncey, Jr. Elliot has fashioned his house after an old French château, and its geography is most bewildering. It is notable for its great number of apartments, its oddlooking turrets and queer gables, and it is painted in æsthetic yellow. This house stood on the site of Denning's dry goods store, between Ninth and Tenth streets, fronting the Bowery road, and when Broadway was cut through it clipped off its rear porch.

Near the bank of the East river is the seat of Petrus Stuyvesant, the approach to which from the Bowery road is a long, straight, shady drive. The next handsome place is that of Mr. Tiebout, just to the north of which is that of James Duane. Counselor John Watts has a fine large estate to the right a little further on, callled "Rose Hill;" near that is the seat of Mr. Ketteltas. Friend Robert Murray, at Inclenberg, will no doubt extend hospitalities to us; and we must not fail to visit the ancient and historic Kip house, and the elegant seat of the Beekmans.

We hoped to cross to the west side of the island and inspect its progress in settlement, but the cross-road is sandy and our horses are tired. From the Roger Morris place to the town, the seats of wealthy men and highly cultivated farms are scattered at intervals along the shore of the Hudson. Gen. John Maunsell, B.A., a British officer of note, has just built a house on his property adjoining that of Roger Morris, and John Watkins, whose wife is Mrs. Maunsell's sister, has bought a large estate near by, stretching across the entire heights, and built a very commodious dwellinghouse of stone. Of Bloomingdale' and thereabouts we have hitherto obtained glimpses that must suffice, for the sun is in the west and to-morrow is the Sabbath.

Among the noteworthy features of New York in 1768 are its legal holidays. No further legislation is necessary in that direction; nor do we hear of any strikes or eight-hour movements. It is interesting to note that the custom-house and public offices are closed by direction of the British authorities on New Year's Day, the Queen's birthday, anniversary of King Charles' martyrdom, Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, Lady Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday and Tuesday, Ascension Day, St. George's Day, King Charles' Restoration, the King's birthday, Whitsun Monday and Tuesday, Prince of Wales' birthday, King George 1st and 2d landed in Great Britain, Coronation Day, All Saints, Gunpowder Plot, Christmas Day, and three Christmas holidays following. Added to these are the provincial days-General Fast, Thanksgiving, General Election, and Commencement of the College-twenty-seven holidays in one year! We witness the proceedings of one of them on June 4, 1768-the celebration of the

king's birthday, who enters his thirty-first year. The newspaper says the day was opened with "great solemnity," and Governor Sir Henry Moore being in Albany, General Gage acted as master of ceremonies. He with the members of the council, the mayor, and the corporation assemble at Fort George, "where his majesty's and many other loyal healths are drunk, under the discharge of a royal salute from the fort, which is immediately answered by three volleys from the regular soldiers, drawn up in order on the Bowling Green, and there they are reviewed by the general, making a very handsome appearance. An elegant entertainment is given by General Gage to the gentlemen of the army and of this city. In the evening a number of lamps are disposed in such a manner over the gate of the fort as to represent the letters G. R., and before the door of General Gage, at his house in Broad street, is exhibited by lamps properly placed an elegant appearance of the royal arms.' The papers further chronicle a "general illumination throughout the whole city, and every demonstration of joy shown by all ranks."

The day, however, which does not appear in this list, but which is the most notable of all the New York holidays of the period, is the Sabbath day. The stillness of the morning is not easily painted into our picture. The city is absolutely quiet. Even the milkmen and the venders of drinking-water announce themselves in hushed voices at the kitchen doors. People breakfast at their pleasure, and appear at the table in their holiday clothes.

Among the very earliest laws of the Dutch who first settled New York were rigid regulations concerning the observance of the Sabbath. It was esteemed the duty of government to protect it. As a means of social, moral, and physical health, as a measure of industrial economy, if there had been no Sabbath, the ordination of one would have come directly within the scope of legislation. The English customs were none the less exacting, and when the two nations were represented together on this soil, their views on the subject were practically the same, and were sustained by the habits and feelings of the great mass of the population. Thus we have the spectacle of an almost unparalleled growth of houses of worship in comparison to the population, and these churches are not only here, but are well sustained.

Everybody goes to church. With a rapturous peal from the churchbells at the stated hour, the houses pour forth their occupants. The costly bound Bibles and prayer-books that are carried reveal their destination. The streets present a medley of dazzling colors-and catching views of glittering shoe-buckles, ruffled shirt-fronts, and red, blue, and