and the Van Dams, incontinent hard swearers, as their names betokened-they were terrible looking fellows, clad in broad-skirted gaberdines, of that curious coloured cloth called thunder and lightning; and bore as a standard three Devil's-darning-needles, volant, in a flame-coloured field.

Hard by was the tent of the men of battle from the marshy borders of the Wael-bogtig, and the country thereabouts-these were of a sour aspect, by reason that they lived on crabs, which abound in these parts: they were the first institutors of that honourable order of knighthood, called Fly market shirks; and if tradition speak true, did likewise introduce the far-famed step in dancing, called double trouble." They were commanded by the fearless Jacobus Varra Vanger, and had, moreover, a jolly band of Breukelen ferrymen, who performed a brave concerto on conchshells.

But I refrain from pursuing this minute description, which goes on to describe the warriors of Bloemendael, and Wee-hawk, and Hoboken, and sundry other places, well known in history and song-for now does the sound of martial music alarm the people of New Amsterdam, sounding afar from beyond the walls of the city. But this alarm was in a little time relieved, for lo, from the midst of a vast cloud of dust, they recognized the brimstone-coloured breeches, and splendid silver leg of Peter Stuyvesant, glaring in the sunbeams; and beheld him approaching at the head of a formidable army, which he had mustered along the banks of the Hudson. And here the excellent but anonymous writer of the Stuyvesant manuscript breaks out into a brave and glorious description of the forces, as they defiled through the principal gate of the city that stood by the head of Wall Street.

First of all came the Van Bummels, who inhabit the pleasant borders of the Bronx. These were short fat men, wearing exceeding large trunk breeches, and are renowned for feats of the trencher; they were the first inventors of suppawn or mush and, milk.-Close in their rear marched the Van Vlotens, of Kaats Kill, most horrible quaffers of new cider, and arrant braggarts in their liquor.-After them came the Van Peits of Groodt Esopus, dexterous horsemen, mounted upon goodly switch-tailed steeds of the Esopus breed: these were mighty hunters of minks and musk rats, whence came the word Peltry.-Then the Van Nests of Kinderhoeck, valiant robbers of birds' nests, as their name denotes: to these, if report may be believed, are we indebted for the invention' of slapjacks, or buckwheat cakes. -Then the Van Higginbottoms, of Wapping's Creek; these came armed with ferrules and birchen rods, being a race of schoolmasters, who first discovered the marvellous sympathy between the seat of honour and the seat of intellect, and that the shortest way to get knowledge into the head was to hammer it into the bottom.-Then the Van Grolls, of Anthony's Nose, who carried their liquor in fair round little pottles, by reason they could not bouse it out of their canteens, having such rare long noses.-Then the Gardeniers, of Hudson and thereabouts, distinguished by many triumphant feats, such as robbing watermelon patches, sinoking rabbits out of their holes, and the like, and by being great lovers of roasted pigs' tails: these were the ancestors of the renowned congressman of that name. Then the Van Hoesens, of Sing-Sing, great choristers and players upon the Jew's-harp: these marched two and two, singing the great song of St. Nicholas. Then the Couenhovens, of Sleepy Hol low: these gave birth to a jolly race of publicans, who first discovered the magic artifice of conjuring a quart of wine into a pint bottle.-Then the Van

Kortlands, who lived on the wild banks of the Croton, and were great killers of wild ducks, being much spoken of for their skill in shooting with the long bow. Then the Van Bunschotens, of Nyack and Kakiat, who were the first that did ever kick with the left foot: they were gallant bush-whackers, and hunters of racoons by moonlight.-Then the Van Winkles, of Haerlem, potent suckers of eggs, and noted for running of horses, and running up of scores at taverns: they were the first that ever winked with both eyes at once.-Lastly, came the KNICKERBOCKERS, of the great town of Schahtikoke, where the folk lay stones upon the houses in windy weather, lest they should be blown away. These derive their name, as some say, from Knicker, to shake, and Beker, a goblet, indicating thereby that they were sturdy tosspots of yore; but, in truth, it was derived from Knicker, to nod, and Boeken, books, plainly meaning that they were great nodders or dozers over books: from them did descend the writer of this history.

Such was the legion of sturdy bush-beaters that poured in at the grand gate of New Amsterdam. The Stuyvesant manuscript, indeed, speaks of many more, whose names I omit to mention, seeing that it behoves me to hasten to matters of greater moment. Nothing could surpass the joy and martial pride of the lion-hearted Peter, as he reviewed this mighty host of warriors; and he determined no longer to defer the gratification of his much wished-for revenge upon the scoundrel Swedes at Fort Casimir.

But before I hasten to record those unmatchable events which will be found in the sequel of this faithful history, let me pause to notice the fate of Jacobus Von Poffenburgh, the discomfited commander-in-chief of the armies of the New Netherlands. Such is the inherent uncharitableness of human nature, that scarcely did the news become public of his deplorable discomfiture at Fort Casimir, than a thousand scurvy rumours were set afloat in New Amsterdam; wherein it was insinuated, that he had in reality a treacherous understanding with the Swedish commander; that he had long been in the practice of privately communicating with the Swedes; together with divers hints about "secret service money"-to all which deadly charges I do not give a jot more credit than I think they

deserve.

Certain it is, that the general vindicated his character by the most vehement oaths and protestations, and put every man out of the ranks of honour who dared to doubt his integrity. Moreover, on returning to New Amsterdam, he paraded up and down the streets with a crew of hard swearers at his heels,-sturdy bottle companions, whom he gorged and fattened, and who were ready to bolster him through all the courts of justice-heroes of his own kidney, fierce-whiskered, broad-shouldered, Colbrand-looking swaggerers, not one of whom but looked as though he could eat up an ox, and pick his teeth with the horns. These life-guard men quarrelled all his quarrels, were ready to fight all his battles, and scowled at every man that turned up his nose at the general, as though they would devour him alive. Their conversation was interspersed with oaths like minuteguns, and every bombastic rhodomontado was rounded off by a thundering execration, like a patriotic toast honoured with a discharge of artillery.

All these valorous vapourings had a considerable effect in convincing certain profound sages, many of whom began to think the general a hero of unutterable loftiness and magnanimity of soul, particularly as he was continually protesting on the

honour of a soldier,-a marvellously high-sounding asseveration. Nay, one of the members of the couneil went so far as to propose they should immortalise him by an imperishable statue of plaster of Paris.

But the vigilant Peter the Headstrong was not thus to be deceived. Sending privately for the commander-in-chief of all the armies, and having heard all his story, garnished with the customary pious oaths, protestations, and ejaculations,"Harkee, comrade," cried he, "though by your own account you are the most brave, upright, and honourable man in the whole province, yet do you lie under the misfortune of being damnably traduced and immeasurably despised. Now though it is certainly hard to punish a man for his misfortunes, and though it is very possible you are totally innocent of the crimes laid to your charge; yet as heaven, at present, doubtless for some wise purpose, sees fit to withhold all proofs of your innocence, far be it from me to counteract its sovereign will. Beside, I cannot consent to venture my armies with a commander whom they despise, or to trust the welfare of my people to a champion whom they distrust. Retire therefore, my friend, from the irksome toils and cares of public life, with this comforting reflection -that if you be guilty, you are but enjoying your just reward-and if innocent, that you are not the first great and good man, who has most wrongfully been slandered and maltreated in this wicked world -doubtless to be better treated in a better world, where there shall neither be error, calumny, nor persecution. In the meantime let me never see your face again, for I have a horrid antipathy to the countenances of unfortunate great men like yourself."

THIS institution, situated at Carlisle, the capital of Cumberland county in Pennsylvania, one hundred and twenty-eight miles from Philadelphia, was founded in the year 1783, by the efforts of an association in the state, of which the Hon. John Dickinson, the eminent political writer, and Dr. Benjamin Rush were the most prominent members. It received its name, in the language of the charter, "in memory of the great and important services rendered to his country by His Excellency John Dickinson, Esq., president of the Supreme Executive Council," and in commemoration of his very liberal donation to the institution. Dickinson was made first president of its board, and so continued till his death. Land was secured in the borough of Carlisle, and some funds collected.

The neighboring college of New Jersey having then acquired great success under the presidency of Witherspoon, it was thought that the fortunes of the new enterprise would be secured by procuring another eminent Scottish divine, of similar social and learned standing, for its head. This was Dr. Charles Nisbet, long established as a clergyman at Montrose, and an influential member in the General Assembly, where his powers of wit and argument were keenly appreciated. He was at the age of forty-seven when he was urged by Dr. Rush, who painted the prospects of a collegiate residence in a then remote part of the country in his most glowing and somewhat credulous strains, to come to America. Friends warned and advised, but the divine was touched by the prospect, and yielded to the invitation. He arrived at Philadelphia in June, 1785, and the

fourth of the following month, on the celebration of the National Independence, reached Carlisle. His first experience was that of the illness incident to a change of residence to a new country. He was dismayed by the attacks of fever and ague which he bore with his family, and not les by the unsettled state of the country and the want of discipline in the youth. His efforts with the Trustees for a proper system of educatiou were unheeded, so that within the year of his arrival he resigned his situation, with the intention of returning to Scotland. The necessity of remaining during the winter gave him opportunity for reflection, and he determined to sustain the position. In May, 1786, he was re-elected, and soon entered vigorously on the prosecution of his duties, performing the extraordinary labor of delivering four concurrent series of lectures on logic, the philosophy of the mind, and the Belles Lettres, to which he even added a fifth, which attracted great attention, a course on systematic theology. In the last he was an old-fashioned Calvinist in all, he brought the best fruits of the Scottish system of instruction to the American wilds. One of his pupils, the Rev. Dr. Brown, president of Jefferson College, Canonsburg, Pa., preserved reports of these lectures, which he characterizes as full, thorough, philosophical, and appositely illustrated by wit. In a letter contributed to Dr. Samuel Miller's admirable memoir of President Nisbet, he gives a specimen from one of his discourses on Logic, which fully sustains the last quality.*

Charles Nisbet.

The first Commencement of the College was held the following year, in 1787, with some success, but the difficulties of the position were too great, and the points of antagonism in the genebet's strongly, and doubtless, for the most part, ral condition of the country too many to Dr. Nisjustly entertained opinions, to permit him to enjoy, as such a scholar should, the peaceful honors of learning. He worked hard, was badly paid, and struggled ineffectually to bring the education

Memoir of Nisbet, p. 821. These lectures surely are worthy of being published.

of the times up to his standard. "You have come to the land of promise," said a friend to him; "Yes," he replied, "but it is not the land of performance.". We may suppose him bitterly sarcastic on the rash encouragements of his zealous inviter, Rush, with whose opinions, as time went on, and that philosopher lent an ear to rapid schemes of education without the classics, and French dreams of government, he found himself in increasing antagonism. Having once accepted the post he should have made the best of it, and not have railed ineffectually at the world, as his letters show him to have done; but there was great provocation for his wit in the temper of the times, and Carlisle, with its crude pupils and nonpaying parishioners, was a poor exchange for the solid society and support of the best people in Scotland, whom he had left behind. Honor should be done to his sacrifices and his services to American scholarship, and to what was sound in his conservative views of public affairs. He devoted himself for eighteen years to the service of the college, and died at his post at Carlisle, in 1804, having just completed his sixty-eighth year. He was a man of decided mark and ability, of humor equal to that of Witherspoon, though his inferior in soundness of judgment. Dr. Miller's account of his life does justice to his talents, and preserves many interesting memorials of his friends in Scotland.

Dr. Nisbet was a scholar of picked reading in the classics and modern European languages; and being possessed of an extraordinary memory as well as ready wit, used his copious stores to great advantage. He had that vein of humorous drollery and satire which Sidney Smith encouraged, and which his friend Witherspoon's published writings exhibit. His collection of books now rests with the Theological Seminary at Princeton, having been given to that institution by two of his grandchildren, the Right Rev. Bishop M'Coskry of Michigan and Henry C. Turnbull of Maryland.*

Dr. Miller's Memoir, p. 801.

Dr. Nisbet was a polyglott, and a collector of odds and ends in all languages. There is probably no such olla podrida in America as the "Nisbet Library" of the Princeton Seminary, consisting wholly of the Doctor's books. Some of these are of the 16th, and even 15th, and many of the 17th century; and a few of them, though in tatters, are among the rarest specimens of antiquarian bibliography, in the way of Elzevirs, first editions, and originals in astrology, and other outof-the-way subjects. They are in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, Italian, Spanish, German, and Dutch, and many of them show how sedulously their owner had conned them.

The associates of Dr. Nisbet in the work of education were James Ross, author of a Latin Grammar formerly known, professor of the Greek and Latin languages; Mr. Robert Johnston, professor of Mathematics, and the Rev. Robert Davidson, with a voluminous professorship of "history, chronology, rhetoric, and belles lettres."

On the death of Dr. Nisbet the last mentioned acted for more than five years as president, when the office having been offered to Dr. Samuel Miller of New York, and declined, the Rev. Jeremiah Atwater, D.D., of Middlebury College, Vt., was chosen. He delivered his inaugural address at the Commencement in 1809. New departments of study were introduced, and the college gained ground, but difficulties arising in its gcvernment in 1815, Dr. Atwater resigned the presi dency. After this, various efforts and expedients of management were resorted to for the repair of the exhausted finances, and the college was closed for six years.

In 1822 the Rev. John M. Mason of New York was created president, and held the office for two years, but with failing health his great reputation could not repair the fortunes of the college. The Rev. Dr. William Neill succeeded him, and in 1829 resigned. The Rev. Dr. Samuel B. How of New Jersey was the last occupant prior to the transfer of the college interest to the control of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1833. A new

organization was effected; funds were raised, and the Rev. John P. Durbin elected president. An efficient grainmar-school was at the same time set on foot. The course of study followed the general outline of the New England colleges. With Mr. Durbin were associated Professors Merritt; Caldwell, of mental philosophy; Robert Emory, of ancient languages; the Rev. John M'Clintock, of the exact sciences. At present the presidency is held by the Rev. Dr. Charles Collins.

The catalogue for 1854 exhibits one hundred and forty-eight students in the four classes.

JAMES T. AUSTIN.

JAMES TRECOTHIC AUSTIN was born in Boston, January, 1784. He was educated at the Latin School and Harvard College, and on the completion of his course at the latter institution in 1802, studied and commenced the practice of the law. In 1806, he married a daughter of Elbridge Gerry, then Vice-President of the United States. He edited for a time a literary periodical entitled The Emerald, but his chief attention was given to his profession, in which he rapidly rose to eminence. He became the Town Advocate in 1809, was for twenty years Advocate of Suffolk County, and Attorney General of Massachusetts from 1832 to 1843. He was also a member of the Massachusetts Legislature. In 1815 he delivered a Fourth of July oration at Lexington, which was published, and in 1828 a Life of Elbridge Gerry.* This work is one of the best presentations of the Revolutionary worthies. It is written in an agreeable style, and in addition to its narrative of the many important public transactions in which Mr. Gerry was a prominent participant, gives us pleasant glimpses of the domestic life of the Revolution, as in the following passages from a chapter on the "Private Life of the Members of the Provincial Congress."

Among the members of the provincial congress, suspicion of levity in matters of religion-and everything was then supposed to have some connexion with this subject-would have been fatal to an individual's influence. There were, however, many members in that assembly who had been accustomed to the elegancies and refinement of polished society. The king's government in Massachusetts had not indeed been able to borrow the splendour of a court, but it had in some degree copied its etiquette and politeness, and possibly its less defensible manners. Distinctions existed in society not precisely consistent with republican equality, and a style of address and deportment distinguished those who considered themselves in the upper circle, which was visible long after the revolution had swept away all other relics of the royal government. This early habit induced some of the patriots at Watertown to indulge in a little more regard to dress than suited the economy of the stricter puritans, in a love for better horses, in a social party at dinner, or evening, in an attendance on balls and dancing parties, and in a fondness for female society of respectability and reputation.

Most men have their besetting sins. It might

The Life of Elbridge Gerry. With Contemporary Letters, to the close of the American Revolution. Boston: Wells & Lilly, 1828. 8vo. pp. 520.

have been in vain that the necessity of reasonable relaxation was pleaded as an excuse for supposed frivolity. The examples of eminent men, their friends too, on the other side the Atlantic, would have been urged as an excuse equally ineffectual, when ample retaliation was taken by the offending members in finding some of the sternest of the irritated moralists drinking tea, and endeavouring to disguise this high crime and misdemeanour by having it made in a coffee pot! This indulgence of taste at the expense of patriotism, this worse than bacchanalian intemperance, prevented for a time any remarks on the "court imitations" of the backsliding brethren.

The members of the provincial congress lived in the families of the inhabitants of Watertown, and held their daily sessions in the meeting-house on the plain. The congress opened early, and adjourned for an hour to give the members time to dine at one o'clock. Two sessions were usually held every day, and committees were often engaged till midnight. The time, which could be caught from such fatiguing duty without neglecting it, might well be devoted

to rational diversion.

A gentleman, who paid any attention to his toilet, would have his hair combed out, powdered and tied in a long queue, a plaited white stock, a shirt ruffled at the bosom and over the hands, and fastened at the wrist with gold sleeve buttons, a peach bloom coat and white buttons, lined with white silk, and standing off at the skirts with buckram, a figured silk vest divided at the bottom, so that the pockets extended on the thighs, black silk small clothes with large gold or silver knee buckles, white cotton or silk stockings, large shoes with short quarters and buckles to match. This dress, sketched from the wardrobe of a member, was not peculiarly appropriate to occasions of ceremony, but assumed with more or less exactness by the fashionable gentlemen of the day.

The full bottomed wig, the red roquelot, and the gold-headed cane, which are seen in some of our ancient pictures, belonged to an carlier period, and were at that time the appropriate habiliments of persons distinguished for their age and wealth. It is not many years since some examples of this antiquated fashion were recognised in venerable men, who belonged to those interesting times, and seemed to connect a past generation with the present. They have now, it is believed, ceased from any connexion with society, if indeed any of them still have a being on the earth.

Mr. Austin has also published Addresses delivered before the Massachusetts Society for Suppressing Intemperance and the Massachusetts Mechanic Association, Remarks on Channing's Discourse on Slavery, a Review of his Letter to Jonathan Phillips, in which he takes strong ground against agitation of the subject, and a number of documents on the Municipal Affairs of Boston, and on professional subjects. He has also contributed to the Christian Examiner, and on political topics in the newspapers.*

SAMUEL L. KNAPP.

SAMUEL LORENZO KNAPP, a voluminous and useful miscellaneous writer, and the author of numerous original biographical essays in American literature, was born at Newburyport, Massachusetts, in 1784. He was prepared for college at the Phillips Academy at Exeter; was graduated at Dartmouth in

* Loring's Boston Orators, pp. 470-476.