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Irving, Washington 279!!

A HISTORY

OF

NEW YORK,

FROM THE

BEGINNING OF THE WORLD

TO THE

END OF THE DUTCH DYNASTY.

CONTAINING

AMONG MANY SURPRISING AND CURIOUS MATTERS, THE UNUTTER-
ABLE PONDERINGS OF WALTER THE DOUBTER, THE DISASTROUS
PROJECTS OF WILLIAM THE TESTY, AND THE CHIVALRIC
ACHIEVEMENTS OF PETER THE HEADSTRONG, THE THRÉE
DUTCH GOVERNORS OF NEW AMSTERDAM; BEING THE ONLY
AUTHENTIC HISTORY OF THE TIMES THAT EVER HATH BEEN
PUBLISHED.

THE THIRD EDITION.

BY DIEDRICH KNICKERBOCKER.

De waarheid die in duister lag,
Die komt met klaarheid aan den dag.

IN TWO VOLUMES.-VOL. I.

PHILADELPHIA:

PUBLISHED BY M. THOMAS.

J. MAXWELL, PRINTER,

EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA, to wit:

BE IT REMEMBERED, That on the fifth day of March, in the forty-third year of the independence of the United States of America, A.D 1819, Moses Thomas, of the said district, hath deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following, to wit:

A History of New York, from the beginning of the World to the end of the Dutch Dynasty. Containing among many surprising and curious matters, the Unutterable Ponderings of Walter the Doubter, the Disas trous Projects of William the Testy, and the Chivalric Achievements of Peter the Headstrong, the three Dutch Governors of New Amsterdam: being the only Authentic History of the Times that ever hath been pub. lished. The third edition. By Diedrich Knickerbocker, De waarheid die in duister lag, Die komt met klaarheid aan den dag.

In conformity to the act of the congress of the United States, intituled, "An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned." And also to the act, entitled, "An act supplementary to an act entitled "An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein inentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints."

D. CALDWELL, Clerk of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

ACCOUNT OF THE AUTHOR.

It was sometime, if I recollect right, in the early part of the autumn of 1808, that a stranger applied for lodgings at the Independent Columbian Hotel in Mulberry-street, of which I am landlord. He was a small, brisk looking old gentleman, dressed in a rusty black coat, a pair of olive velvet breeches, and a small cocked hat. He had a few gray hairs plaited and clubbed behind, and his beard seemed to be of some eight and forty hours growth. The only piece of finery which he bore about him, was a bright pair of square silver shoe buckles, and all his baggage was contained in a pair of saddle-bags, which he carried under his arm. His whole appearance was something out of the common run; and my wife, who is a very shrewd body, at once set him down for some eminent country schoolmaster.

As the Independent Columbian Hotel is a very small house, I was a little puzzled at first where to put him; but my wife, who seemed taken with his looks, would needs put him in her best cham

ber, which is genteelly set off with the profiles of the whole family, done in black, by those two great painters, Jarvis and Wood; and commands a very pleasant view of the new grounds on the Collect, together with the rear of the Poor-House and Bridewell, and the full front of the Hospital; so that it is the cheerfullest room in the whole house.

During the whole time that he stayed with us, we found him a very worthy good sort of an old gentleman, though a little queer in his ways. He would keep in his room for days together, and if any of the children cried, or made a noise about his door, he would bounce out in a great passion, with his hands full of papers, and say something about "deranging his ideas;" which made my wife believe sometimes that he was not altogether compos. Indeed there was more than one reason to make her think so, for his room was always coveredwith scraps of paper and old mouldy books, laying about at sixes and sevens, which he would never let any body touch; for he said he had laid them all away in their proper places, so that he might know where to find them; though for that matter, he was half his time worrying about the house in search of some book or writing which he had carefully put out of the way. I shall never forget what a pother he once made, because my wife cleaned out his room when his back was turned, and put every thing to rights; for he

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