who still adhere to the former practice of using their sugar at tea
Ā» She died in Februar)', 1829; and in 1830, there died in New York, Anthony
Vanpelt, at the age of one hundred and thirty years.
Reflections and Notices. 359
and breakfast, separate from the beverage; they putting their
spoons into the sugar bowl, and eating it in small tastes, from time
to time from the spoon, laid by the side of their cup. The same
people are remarkable for the abundance of good things given at
any one of such repasts ; but it is a rule, not to place more than
one of the extras on the table at a time ; and as each one of these
is consumed, then comes the other, and then another, &c., to the
finish.
" Communipaw," is to be understood, as a corruption of the
commune of Mr. Pauw.
If one should attempt to compare the chief distinguishing char-
acteristics of New York and Philadelphia, it might be expressed
in brief thus : ā The former is all impulse, the other steadiness ā
one lives while it can and is dashing, while the other is a grave
economist who while it wastes nothing enjoys everything. One
is the city of the heart, the other is of the head. We could spend
a brief season with one in exhilaration and excitement, and a long
life of happiness and peace with the other.
New York is now no longer restricted to its Broadway. It has
now other streets of width and buildings of grandeur. Formerly
we were always thinking of its absence, when in its other
cramped and winding passages.
What a wonderful change of wealth and splendour, since it
was once a city where legal money was '^seawant, made of clam
shells and periwinkles !" Now the city of specie, and now " the
Great Emporium," of " the Empire State !"
Contemplating New York as she once was, and comparing
her as she now appears, it is impossible to avoid the spontaneous
emotions of surprise and wonder, to which we are stimulated at
every change of place and point of observance. Looking back
to the period of 1800, remembering things as they were, and seeing
men and things as now, we cannot but notice their contrast of
state and character. From a moderately sized city, she has be-
come great, overrunning and effacing all former metes and bounds.
Houses, such as once contented their former owners in size and
finish, now all supplanted by large and magnificent mansions.
Streets which were once narrow, crooked, and noiseless, are now
straightened, widened, and surcharged with clattering vehi-
cles. Public buildings which were formerly large and good
enough, are now superseded by stately edifices. The quiet social
habits of the former population, are overwhelmed by an excitable
bustling race. Grandeur and magnificence are seen every where,
crushing and overwhelming the vestiges of the past. With all
these changes, comes the increase of troubles and perplexities in
the city police and municipal government, superinduced by the
onerous increase of irregular inhabitants. Merchants and busi-
ness men hurry and drive faster, and are themselves driven far
faster than their temperate and moderate forefathers. Everything
360 Reflections and Notices.
seems to partake of high steam pressure and power. Excitement
and emotion seem stamped on many visages. Wall street seems
an active hive of anxious operators. Refinement and splendour
abound, while repose and comfort seem pressed aside. Too
many are bent on sudden aggrandisement, and expose themselves
to severe disquietudes and trials ā trials in which they too often
fail and quit the scene, to be filled by others, fully ambitious to
take their place. Foreigners crowd in, and fill up all vacancies,
bringing with them foreign habits, prepossessions, and morals.
This so much so, as to give progressively, new features to society.
Young men in the upper class, as they regard themselves, are
more prodigal and profuse in their expenses and habits, and their
corresponding young ladies are found their rivals in magnificence
of dress and street display. How greatly have all articles of
furniture and equipage altered ā what numerous artificial wants
are newly created ā how many indulgences and refinements,
which never entered the heads of their graver forefathers. We
complain not of these things, while they will them so ā we only
express them as facts exciting observation. To a mind duly
awakened to the subject, with an information commensurate
with the change as it is, there must be noticed all the varying
changes of the Kaleidoscope itself, and as such, we thus jot them
down. Like Paul Pry we peer about and see, and " mean no
offence" in their present grave mention.
Though but a looker-on in New York, like others of "no par-
ticular business," I nevertheless felt myself occasionally charged
with every body's concerns, and thought myself not unlike Knick-
erbocker himself ā a mysterious gentleman, "very inquisitve, con-
tinually poking about town and prying into every thing ;" seizing
when he could, facts "trembling on the lips of narrative old age,"
just as they were " dropping piece-meal into the tomb." ^Vitll
the best intentions to be civil and unintrusive, a qxddnunc must
sometimestraverse grulf natures, who having no feelings in sym-
pathy with the subjects of his inquiries, feel fretted by the kindest
questions. They are indeed, not unfrequent occurrences ; but
when happening, are more likely to aflbrd amusement to the
patient inquirer, than to jade or vex him. I could readily supply
a full chapter of anecdotes of such occasional adverse incidents,
but one may here suffice.
Passing along a certain street, and seeing the house which had
been once occupied as the primitive Methodist meeting-house
then a small store, I concluded to step in and inquire whether any
facts concerning its early days, had ever been spoken of in the
presence of the present occupants. I had taken for granted that
the inmates should be New Yorkers, but I was no sooner entered
than I perceived it was used by a debonair foreigner, who with
much vivacity and seeming politeness, was already on the qui
vive, and earnestly approaching from a back apartment. It struck
Federal Hall, Wall Street, New York, and Washington's Installation, p. 351.
French Protestant Church, [). 34 and 153, 354.
Reflections and Notices. 361
me instantly as an affair mal a propos on both sides. For I could
readily read in liis countenance, that he expected in me a guest
by whom to make liis profit. It was not perhaps to the credit of
the gentleman, that I should beforehand, conceive that lie would
revolt at any question about a " Methodist meeting-house," let
me put it in what form of gentleness I would ; but it was so. I
had no sooner in set words of intended brevity, told the objects of
my stepping in, than I perceived " the hectic of the moment"
flush his cheeks, and I began to think that if I could only preserve
my self-possession, I might see the veritable enactment of " Mon-
sieur Tonson" himself. His first replication was, " Oh saire ! what
have I to do wid de Metodiste meeting?" Excuse me sir, I re-
plied, that is what I cannot answer, because I came to ask you
what you might have ever heard of this house. ā " Why saire,
what have you to do wid dis house ?" Very much, said I, as
a matter of curiosity ; for here it was said was cradled a religious
people, now the strongest in numerical force in the United States!
"Ah saire, dat is noting to me .... I am no Metodiste!" Oh
sir, said I, of that I am fully satisfied. " Then saire, wat do you
want ?" I told you that at first, sir, when I introduced myself
and subject. " I have no interest in the subject," said he. So I
perceive, said I ; and I am only sorry I have engaged so much of
your time to so little of mutual profit.
Perceiving him so tempest tost, on so small a subject, all " to
waft a feather or to drown a fly !" I constrained him to hear me
a little longer, while I should tell him a little of the primitive his-
tory of the house, under the plausible kindness of enabling him to
give more direct answers to future inquirers, if ever again ques-
tioned concerning his very notable premises. His nervous impa-
tience, in the mean time, was apparent enough, but he had to
bear it, to please my humour ; for it was impossible to quarrel
with my gentleness and urbanity; and he, possibly, could not but
be half afraid that his troubler " was lunatic and sore-vexed," as
one too often affected from "the glimpses of the moon !" We
parted with mutual bows and civilities ; and both " preserved our
honours."
Had I time and incUnation for tales of other rebuffs, or for rela-
tions of the alarms I have sometimes generated, among possessors
of dubious titles to given premises, they might equally amuse
myself in their recital. Among such have been those, who as
early as the war of the revolution, had become quasi owners by
quietly stepping into the shoes of individuals gone abroad or killed
in the war, and then by the aid of similar surnames at a distance,
invented what titles they pleased. Others had procured what
they held, by payments in legal tenders of worthless continental
money, purchased for the purpose, at almost nothing. Such peo-
ple would sometimes say, it must needs be a A^ery idle and per-
nicious fancy, to be ilxns, peeking into the concerns of other people;
46 2 H
362 Reflections and Notices.
and they could not forbear to express the wish, that people could
learn " to mind their own business." To inquire too, into the
precedent history of sundry families and their early associations,
was to some a sore evil ; and " the sense of which, to them was a
most unmeaning enterprise" ā none of the Parvenues like olden
time researches. Others however, fallen into nobodies, showed
an amusing vanity, in attaching themselves to some exalted trunk,
from which they had dropt, by the misdoing of some parent scion
of reckless caste, never to be ingrafted therein again. Such could
be found to be most wiljing to use my services to exalt them, per-
chance, into some adventitious renown ā such thought " the in-
quiries very commendable indeed."
The great fire of 1835, and the recent ambition for lofty build-
ings, have almost superseded the original character of Dutch
houses. The former pediment walls and deeply pitched roofs, are
now scarcely seen. Their entire difference from all other con-
structions in this western world, gave them a picturesque charm
to the visitor. There is however, still some prevalence of another
and later order of English architecture, which strikes one as more
dignified and agreeable in its forms and proportions, than those
tall, ambitious houses, carrying high heads upon small founda-
tions. I mean those respectable looking double-front houses,
of two storied elevation, formed of yellowish brick, and contrasted
finely with brown stone entablatures, porticoes, &c. Such a
one as is finely exemplified in Lorillard's house at Hudson's
Square, and in another, the residence of John J. Astor.
But the great JNIammoth Hotel of Mr. Astor's, is not to our
taste. It has the sombre granite heavy walls, and little unadorned
windows of a prison. It has not as much architectural taste of
form and character, as the real Provost, near by, once of prison
memory. There is in it a manifest stint of ornament, and it much
needs lightness of carpenter work, or contrasted Avhite marble, to
relieve and adorn its heavy, gloomy mass of walls. It possesses
no colonnades, like Lafayette Place, or airy ventilations to show
off its inmates, or adequate means to let them look out upon the
passing people. It has but one massy centre door ; and when one
sees the inmates going in, and that door closing upon them, one
instinctively inclines to sviy, far eivell, as though one should not
expect to see their escape in case of an internal fire.
An aged gentleman tells me he remembers when the site of this
granite hotel, was still a commons, or open field, on which the
negroes from Virginia, inveigled thence by Lord Dunmore, in the
revolution, were encamped. There they got the small-pox, died
in great numbers, and were buried in the negro ground, in the
rear of Chambers street.
The new University is an edifice far more to our taste. Phila-
delphians should feel themselves complimented by the general
style of the whole square where it is situate : the University
Reflections and Notices. 363
itself being wholly of white marble, and the houses of the whole
square being constructed after the manner of Philadelphia's best
houses, of fine red brick, and all the window sills, and tops, and
doorsteps, of fine white marble. The coup deceit, gives a sudden
impression of summer sunshine, and presents the idea of cheerful
and cleanly residences. The contrast of this place with other
squares of the city, is certainly very agreeable, even to those who,
like ourself, have been sufficiently pleased with the frequent use
of the grave and sober looking brown stone so often used in lieu
of marble.
There is another thought suggested by the viewing of this
University square, which is, that it might be a good measure in
Philadelphia, to make a "New York Place," to be filled with
houses after the New York manner, of brick and brown stone,
with their iron palisade embellishments; and still another to be
the " Boston Place," of sombre granite, &c.; so as to bring distant
cities to our occasional contemplation.
It cannot but be subject of observation, that a city, once so
wholly Dutch, should have so few remains of Orange Boven and
and the Fader landt. The very streets, themselves, being gene-
rally of English appellation ; ā The Hoere graft and Nassau streets,
being almost the sole names remembered of original name. Broad-
way, as a street was no doubt of English formation ā it being in
fact, at first, an extended Parade, once planted in the middle with
trees by the British military, and called their Mall. It was too
much out of town, and too highly elevated, on a ridge for Dutch
predilections and business. They loved the low land ; and above
all, the Hoere graft, and its canal, since known as Broad street.
Those little demi-curved and triangular streets, so clustered and
involved, at and about the region of Mill street, Beaver street,
and Hanover Square, &c., so like the diagram of a fortification
upon the map ; around and through which, Dutch boys in ten-
broBcks, and girls in linsey-woolsey, once hid and dodged, sported
and played, shall now be forever gone, and their memory oblite-
rated. Even now one desires to learn, if possible, what could
have originally induced a block of buildings of wedge form iu
the very centre of the little triangular Hanover Square, so indis-
pensable, to be demolished in after years, for the sake of conveni-
ence and room.
One cannot but think too, of the present wealth and grandeur of
New York compared with its commencement, when it went on
contentedly for many years, sufliciently satisfactory to many, with
reed and straw roofs, wooden chimneys to many of the houses,
and with oaken staves for roofs to its churches. When too, it paid
its officers and ministers, and managed its commerce in peltry,
tobacco, (Sic, with seawant shells, temporn mutantur.
In making these passing reflections and notices upon desultory
subjects, we have been led to think a little upon ourself, and upon
364 Reflections and Notices.
the influences and causes, which have induced us to think and
write upon those things.
I i'eh with Walter Scott, that I " dwelt with fondness on the
rude figures of the olden time." I thought with Blackwood's
JNIagazine, "that anecdotes of men and things, will have a charm,
as long as man has curiosity."
I had been so led by circumstances, into the way of forming
these Annals, that when I read Sewell's history of ihe Quakers,
and noticed the reasons he assigned for that undertaking, I could
not but feel that I could use some of his expressions ā as for
myself, in regard to the present work, to wit : " I was induced,
(says he,) from the consideration, that the facts were so rare and
wonderful as not to be found in other histories : and having
made a beginning, I resolved to go on. I am not without thoughts
that I was prepared to be instrumental for such a work ; for
several things I had noted down, years before I had thoughts
to have composed such a history." Although, I have given
many things, I have not given all which I had so written
down. Add to this, that I have described several things well
known to me, which few besides myself possessed. Many of
them were noted down from the mouths of credible persons,
which at the time, I did not suppose I should ever publish.
Yet I took account of whatever seemed to me worthy to be
left upon record. From such materials, I have gleaned what
was most remarkable ; and from this as a fund / have en-
deavonred by variety of matter to quicken the appetite of
the reader, and have, also, intermixed the serious parts
sometimes, with the facetious. Now, though my original col-
lection was, as Ovid calls the chaos, "a rude undigested heap ;"
yet thence I have compiled the greatest part of my history."
Such have been his operations, in his case ; and such also have
been mine ! He also, like me, lived at a distance from the
things he has recorded.
M. IVIichelet, in his book the People, has words in his Preface,
which strongly express my owji position. He says, " I have
made this book out of viyself out of my life, and out of my
heart. I have derived it from observation, from my relations
of friendship and from, neighbourhood ; I have picked it up
upon the roads. Chance loves to favour those who follow out
one continuous idea. [So I often found it !] Above all, I have
found it in the recollections of my youth. I had but to inter-
rogate my memory .'"
The Hon. Daniel Webster, who has done me the honour to
commend my pursuits in these matters of the olden time, is herein
brought to bear incidentally upon their character and worth, by
what he has expressed in his late speech at the Plymouth celebra-
tion, saying, in his own pure and forcible English : ā " It is wise
thus to recur to the sentiments, and to the character of those from
Reflections and Notices. 3G5
whom we are descended. Men who are regardless of their ances-
tors, and of their posterity, are very apt to be regardless of them-
selves. The man who does not feel himself to be a link in the
great chain to transmit life and being, intellectual and moral exist-
ence, from his ancestors to his posterity, does not justly appreciate
the relations which belong to him. The contemplation of our
ancestors and of our descendants ought ever to be within the
grasp of our thoughts and affections. The past belongs to us by
affectionate retrospect ; while the future belongs to us, no less,
by affectionate anticipation for those who are to come after us.
And then only do we do ourselves justice, when we are ourselves
true to the blood we inherit, and true to those to whom we have
been the means of transmitting that blood."
"We demand (says a judicious writer,) entire individuality, ^s
a first requisite in style, as in manners. The thoughts and feel-
ings should be that of the writer himself alone." We wilUngly
cite such authority to support and buttress ourself in the present
work, for it must be obvious to many, that we imitate no one
either in style or subject. For the former we have no apology,
since it is only such as we have, that we can give ; and as to the
latter, it must be appreciated, by what it is worth to the reader.
The subject matter, is our forte.
2r2
366 Conclusion.
CONCLUSION.
In contemplating my work as now finished, I cannot but be
sensible of the peculiar employment in which I have been en-
gaged. I have been as one rescuing from the ebbing tide of time,
the floating and perishing images of the past. They were to be
seized now, or lost for ever. Utilitarians may little regard
them ; but the intellectual will respect them for their pictorial
report to generations to come. I feel and know my position. It
is like that felt and expressed by Col. Trumbull, when speakino-
of the images which he had preserved as a painter ; ā he saying,
" I have executed a work ā the result of a willing observance of
things, for which no one Ywes possessinp^ the same materials ; ā
such as has never been done before ; ā and in which it is not easy
that I should find a rival."
It is indeed a wonder to myself, that I have so steadily felt the
impulse to " note and observe ;" and it maybe equally surprising
to some that it should have been so strongly felt, so diligently
pursued by one, to " the place not native born," and himself at
some distance from the places and facts described. He would
have been glad to have been able to record his acknowledgments
of assistance from New Yorkers themselves ; but although some
have been stimulated to aid by their written contributions, nothing
has been done. The idle world of leisurely gentlemen, have been
too busy, or too careless, to give time or attention to needful
infjuiries. The author, therefore, "stands alo7ie in his glory."
Had he had more time to give to needful personal explorations,
among the archives and official records, &c., he would have been
glad to have set himself down to the general reading of the muni-
cipal and colonial MSS. Dutch and English records at New
York and Albany, ā to have there seen and extracted, as he could,
any facts of manners, men, and things of the olden time, different
from the present. ā Such as could surprise, amuse, or benefit the
present generation.
He would have liked to have investigated the records of the
courts in the colonial times, for names of hidividuals, and facts of
action, in Dutch and English proceedings. Such must be fruitful
in the mention of their doings then. The presentments of grand
juries, and the actions on their recommendations, must have in-
cidentally explained a former state of things in society, morals,
&c., with suggestions for improvements, changes, &c., and the
required treatment to Indian neighbours about them.
Co7iclusion. 367
Such aids I know how to appreciate, from the actual benefits
derived from similar investigations, made successfully for the
Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, whereby I was enabled
to unearth many of the hidden treasures of a buried age. The
same I would fain have done for New York, had they been acces-
sible to me.
With more of time, to have spent among the still living, of the
ancients, I might have increased the store of their contributions,
especially in such facts as these, to wit : ā I might have enlarged
the records of 7iotable persons and characters, therein showing
men and women remarkable for any thing, ā whether as divines,
physicians, militaires, poets, painters, inventors, mariners, artizans,
eccentric individuals, aged persons, adroit or pernicious ones, rare
criminals, benefactors, improvers, &c. ; or among the females,
women remarkable for beauty, wit, fortitude, misfortune, talents,
dress, accomplishments, &c.
New York, during its long duress in the possession of the British
army, must have been full of incident. Such as the conduct of
the British officers and soldiery ; notices of their deportment in
families and in the social circle, among the inhabitants, or among
themselves. We want something like a minute picture of things
as they were. We want to know what alliances were formed,
and who proved recreant to virtue and to duty, in either sex. We
want to hear more of known facts to prisoners, notices of their
arrivals, numbers, appearances, and disposals ; notices of their
suff'erings, exposures, sayings, repinings, and deaths. Something
of those, who were induced by hardships and hopes of relief to
join the enemy, and to embody themselves by enlisting in Royal
corps. Something, and even much, of those Americans who,
from the first, heartily united to the Royal cause, constituted a
a body of Marine Refugees, and who, in barges, pirated along
our coasts, committing outrages upon the inhabitants. Who of
these were most conspicuous for hardihood, barbarity and excess.
How often did they depart and return, and what were the signs
and accompaniments of their return. Something, too, of the de-
partures and armaments of national vessels, or of arrivals of their
prizes. Something more of the localities, and military displays,
and exercises of distributed portions of the army in and about the
city ; also, notices of British proceedings in punishments to their