which I warrant me not a Swede in the fortress but felt himself literally distilling away, with pure affright and bad music.

Whether the formidable front of war thus suddenly presented, smote the garrison with sore dismay-or whether the concluding terms of the summons, which mentioned that he should surrender at discretion, were mistaken by Suen Scutz, who though a Swede, was a very considerate easy tempered man-as a compliment to his discretion, I will not take upon me to say; certain it is, he found it impossible to resist so courteous a demand. Accordingly, in the very nick of time, just as the cabin boy had gone after a coal of fire, to discharge the swivels, a chamade was beat on the rampart, by the only drum in the garrison, to the no sinall satisfaction of both parties; who, notwithstanding their great stomach for fighting, had full as good an inclination, to eat a quiet dinner, as to exchange black eyes and bloody noses.

Thus did this impregnable fortress, once more return to the domination of their high mightinesses; Scutz, and his garrison of twenty men, were allowed to march out with the honours of war, and the victorious Peter, who was as generous as brave, permitted them to keep possession of all their arms and ammunition-the same on inspection being found totally unfit for service, having long rusted in the magazine of the fortress, even before it was wrested by

the Swedes from the magnanimous, but windy Von Poffenburgh. But I must not omit to mention, that the governor was so well pleased with the services. of his faithful squire Van Corlear, in the reduction of this great fortress, that he made him on the spot, lord of a goodly domain in the vicinity of New Amsterdam-which goes by the name of Corlear's Hook, unto this very day.*

The unexampled liberality of the valiant Stuyvesant, towards the Swedes, who certainly had used his government very scurvily-occasioned great surprize in the city of New Amsterdam-nay, certain of those factious individuals, who had been enlightened by the political meetings, that prevailed during the days of William the Testy-but who had not dared to indulge their meddlesome habits, under the eye of their present ruler; now emboldened by his absence, dared even to give vent to their censures in the streets-Murmurs, equally loud with those uttered by that nation of genuine grumblers, the British, in consequence of the convention of Portugal; were heard in the very council chamber of New Amsterdam; and there is no knowing whether they would not have broken

* De Vriez, makes mention in one of his voyages of Corlears Hoek, and Corlears Plantagie, or Bouwery; and that too, at an earlier date than the one given by Mr. Knickerbocker-De Vriez, is no doubt a little incorrect in this particular. EDITOR.

out into downright speeches and invectives, had not the sturdy Peter, privately sent home his walking staff, to be laid as a mace, on the table of the council chamber, in the midst of, his councillors; who, like wise men took the hint, and forever after held their peace.

CHAP. VI.

In which is shewn the great advantage the Author has over his reader in time of battle-together with divers portentous movements—which betoken that something terrible is about to happen.

"STRIKE While the Iron is hot," was a favourite saying of Peter the Great, while an apprentice in a blacksmith's shop, at Amsterdam. It is one of those proverbial sayings, which speak a word to the ear, but a volume to the understanding-and contain a world of wisdom, condensed within a narrow compass--Thus every art and profession has thrown a gem of the kind, into the public stock, enriching society by some sage maxim and pithy apothegm drawn from its own experience; in which is conveyed, not only the arcana of that individual art or profession, but also the important secret of a prosperous and happy life. "Cut your coat according to your cloth," says the taylor--" Stick to your last," cries the cobler--" Make hay while the sun shines," says the farmer-" Prevention is better than cure," hints the physician--Surely a man has but to travel through the world, with open ears, and by the time he is grey, he will have all the wisdom of Solomon-and then he has nothing to

do but to grow young again, and turn it to the best advantage.

"Strike while the Iron is hot," was not more invariably the saying of Peter the great, than it was the practice of Peter the Headstrong. Like as a mighty alderman, when at a corporation feast the first spoonful of turtle soup salutes his palate, feels his impatient appetite but ten fold quickened, and redoubles his vigorous attacks upon the tureen, while his voracious eyes, projecting from his head, roll greedily round devouring every thing at table-so did the mettlesome Peter Stuyvesant, feel that intolerable hunger for martial glory, which raged within his very bowels, inflamed by the capture of Fort Casimer, and nothing could allay it, but the conquest of all New Sweden. No sooner therefore had he secured his conquest, than he stumped resolutely on, flushed with success, to gather fresh laurels at Fort Christina.*

This was the grand Swedish post, established on a small river (or as it is termed, creek,) of the same name, which empties into the Delaware; and here that crafty governor Jan Risingh, like another Charles the twelfth, commanded his subjects in

person.

*The formidable fortress and metropolis to which Mr. Knickerbocker alludes, is at present a flourishing little town called Christiana, about thirty seven miles from Philadelphia, on your route to Baltimore.-EDITOR.