“His words are bonds, his oaths are oracles;
His love sincere, his thoughts immaculate;—”
Two Gentlemen of Verona.
The philosophy of Alderman Van Beverout was not easily disturbed. Still
there was a play of the nether muscles of the face, which might be
construed into self-complacency at his victory, while a certain
contraction of those which controlled the expression of the forehead
seemed to betray a full consciousness of the imminent risk he had run.
The left hand was thrust into a pocket, where it diligently fingered
the provision of Spanish coin without which the merchant never left his
abode; while the other struck the cane it held on the pavement, with
the force of a resolute and decided man. In this manner he proceeded in
his walk, for several minutes longer, shortly quitting the lower
streets, to enter one that ran along the ridge, which crowned the land,
in that quarter of the island. Here he soon stopped before the door of
a house which, in that provincial town, had altogether the air of a
patrician dwelling.
Two false gables, each of which was surmounted by an iron weathercock,
intersected the roof of this building, and the high and narrow stoop
was built of the red free-stone of the country. The material of the
edifice itself was, as usual, the small, hard brick of Holland, painted
a delicate cream-color.
A single blow of the massive glittering knocker brought a servant to
the door. The promptitude with which this summons was answered showed
that, notwithstanding the early hour, the Alderman was an expected
guest. The countenance of him who acted as porter betrayed no surprise
when he saw the person who applied for admission, and every movement of
the black denoted preparation and readiness for his reception.
Declining his invitation to enter, however, the Alderman placed his
back against the iron railing of the stoop, and opened a discourse with
the negro. The latter was aged, with a head that was grizzled, a nose
that was levelled nearly to the plane of his face, features that were
wrinkled and confused, and with a form which, though still solid, was
bending with its load of years.
“Brave cheer to thee, old Cupid!” commenced the burgher, in the hearty
and cordial manner with which the masters of that period were wont to
address their indulged slaves. “A clear conscience is a good night-cap,
and you look bright as the morning sun! I hope my friend the young
Patroon has slept sound as yourself, and that he has shown his face
already, to prove it.”
The negro answered with the slow clipping manner that characterized his
condition and years.
“He’m werry wakeful, Masser Al’erman. I t’ink he no sleep half he time,
lately. All he a’tiverty and wiwacerty gone, an’ he do no single t’ing
but smoke. A gentle’um who smoke alway, Masser Al’erman, get to be a
melercholy man, at last. I do t’ink ’ere be one young lady in York who
be he deat’, some time!”
“We’ll find the means to get the pipe out of his mouth,” said the
other, looking askance at the black, as if to express more than he
uttered. “Romance and pretty girls play the deuce with our philosophy,
in youth, as thou knowest by experience, old Cupid.”
“I no good for any t’ing, dat-a-way, now, not’ing,” calmly returned the
black. “I see a one time, when few color’ man in York hab more respect
among a fair sec’, but dat a great while gone by. Now, de modder of
your Euclid, Masser Al’erman, war’ a pretty woman, do’ she hab but poor
conduc’. Den a war’ young heself, and I use to visit at de Al’erman’s
fadder’s; afore a English come, and when ole Patroon war’ a young man.
Golly! I great affection for Euclid, do’ a young dog nebber come a near
me!”
“He’s a blackguard! My back is no sooner turned, than the rascal’s atop
of one of his master’s geldings.”
“He’m werry young, master My’nert: no one get a wis’om fore a gray
hair.”
He’s forty every minute, and the rogue gets impudence with his years.
Age is a reverend and respectable condition, when it brings gravity and
thought; but, if a young fool be tiresome, an old fool is contemptible.
I’ll warrant me, you never were so thoughtless, or so heartless, Cupid,
as to ride an overworked beast, at night!”
“Well, I get pretty ole, Masser Myn’ert an’ I forget all he do when a
young man. But here be ’e Patroon, who know how to tell ’e Al’erman
such t’ing better than a poor color’ slave.”
“A fair rising and a lucky day to you, Patroon!” cried the Alderman,
saluting a large, slow-moving, gentlemanly-looking young man of
five-and-twenty, who advanced, with the gravity of one of twice that
number of years, from the interior of the house, towards its outer door
“The winds are bespoken, and here is as fine a day as ever shone out of
a clear sky, whether it came from the pure atmosphere of Holland, or of
old England itself. Colonies and patronage! If the people on the other
side of the ocean had more faith in mother Nature, and less opinion of
themselves, they would find it very tolerable breathing in the
plantations. But the conceited rogues are like the man who blew the
bellows, and fancied he made the music; and there is never a hobbling
imp of them all, but he believes he is straighter and sounder, than the
best in the colonies. Here is our bay, now, as smooth as if it were
shut in with twenty dykes, and the voyage will be as safe as if it were
made on a canal.”
“Dat werry well, if a do it,” grumbled Cupid, who busied himself
affectionately about the person of his master. “I think it alway better
to travel on ’e land, when a gentle’um own so much as Masser Oloff. Der
war’ ’e time a ferry-boat go down, wid crowd of people; and nobody
ebber come up again to say how he feel.”
“Here is some mistake!” interrupted the Alderman, throwing an uneasy
glance at his young friend. “I count four-and-fifty years, and remember
no such calamity.”
“He’m werry sing’lar how a young folk do forget! ’Ere war’ drown six
people in dat werry-boat. A two Yankee, a Canada Frenchman, and a poor
woman from a Jarseys. Ebbery body war’ werry sorry for a poor woman
from a Jarseys!”
“Thy tally is false, Master Cupid,” promptly rejoined the Alderman, who
was rather expert at figures. “Two Yankees, a Frenchman, and your
Jersey woman, make but four.”
“Well, den I s’pose ’ere war’ one Yankee; but I, know all war’ drown,
for ’e Gubbenor lose he fine coach-horses in dat werry-boat.”
“The old fellow is right, sure enough; for I remember the calamity of
the horses, as if it were but yesterday. But Death is monarch of the
earth, and none of us may hope to escape his scythe, when the appointed
hour shall come! Here are no nags to lose, to-day; and we may commence
our voyage, Patroon, with cheerful faces and light hearts. Shall we
proceed?”
Oloff Van Staats, or the Patroon of Kinderhook, as, by the courtesy of
the colony, he was commonly termed, did not want for personal firmness.
On the contrary, like most of those who were descended from the
Hollanders, he was rather distinguished for steadiness in danger, and
obstinacy in resistance. The little skirmish which had just taken
place, between his friend and his slave, had proceeded from the several
apprehensions; the one feeling a sort of parental interest in his
safety, and the other having particular reasons for wishing him to
persevere in his intention to embark, instead of any justifiable cause
in the character of the young proprietor himself. A sign to the boy who
bore a portmanteau, settled the controversy; and then Mr. Van Staats
intimated his readiness to move.
Cupid lingered on the stoop, until his master had turned a corner;
then, shaking his head with all the misgivings of an ignorant and
superstitious mind, he drove the young fry of blacks, who thronged the
door, into the house, closing all after him with singular and
scrupulous care. How far the presentiment of the black was warranted by
the event, will be seen in the course of the narrative.
The wide avenue, in which Oloff Van Staats dwelt, was but a few hundred
yards in length. It terminated, at one end, with the fortress; and at
the other, it was crossed by a high stockade, which bore the name of
the city walls; a defence that was provided against any sudden
irruption of the Indians, who then hunted, and even dwelt in some
numbers, in the lower counties of the colony.
It requires great familiarity with the growth of the town, to
recognize, in this description, the noble street that now runs for a
league through the centre of the island. From this avenue, which was
then, as it is still, called the Broadway, our adventurers descended
into a lower quarter of the town, holding free converse by the way.
“That Cupid is a negro to keep the roof on a house, in its master’s
absence, Patroon,” observed the Alderman, soon after they had left the
stoop. “He looks like a padlock, and one might sleep, without a dream,
with such a guardian near his dwelling. I wish I had brought the honest
fellow the key of my stable!”
“I have heard my father say, that the keys of his own were always
better near his own pillow,” coolly returned the proprietor of a
hundred thousand acres.
“Ah, the curse of Cain! It is needless to look for the fur of a marten
on the back of a cat. But, Mr. Van Staats, while walking to your door
this morning, it was my fortune to meet the late governor, who is
permitted by his creditors to take the air, at an hour when he thinks
the eyes of the impertinent will be shut. I believe, Patroon, you were
so lucky as to get back your moneys, before the royal displeasure
visited the man?”
“I was so lucky as never to trust him.”
“That was better still, for it would have been a barren
investment—great jeopardy to principal, and no return. But we had
discourse of various interests, and, among others, something was
hazarded concerning your amatory pretensions to my niece.”
“Neither the wishes of Oloff Van Staats, nor the inclinations of la
belle Barbérie, are a subject for the Governor in Council,” said the
Patroon of Kinderhook, stiffly.
“Nor was it thus treated. The Viscount spoke me fair, and, had he not
pushed the matter beyond discretion, we might have come to happier
conclusions.”
“I am glad that there was some restraint in the discourse.”
“The man certainly exceeded reason, for he led the conference into
personalities that no prudent man could relish. Still he said it was
possible that the Coquette might yet be ordered for service among the
islands!”
It has been said, that Oloff Van Staats was a fair personable young man
of vast stature, and with much of the air of a gentleman of his
country; for, though a British subject, he was rather a Hollander in
feelings, habits, and opinions. He colored at the allusion to the
presence of his known rival, though his companion was at a loss to
discover whether pride or vexation was at the bottom of his emotion.
“If Captain Ludlow prefer a cruise in the Indies, to duty on this
coast, I hope he may obtain his wish,” was the cautious answer.
“Your liberal man enjoys a sounding name, and an empty coffer,”
observed the Alderman, drily. “To me it seems that a petition to the
admiral to send so meritorious an officer on service where he may
distinguish himself, should deserve his thanks. The freebooters are
playing the devil’s game with the sugar trade, and even the French are
getting troublesome, further south.”
“He has certainly the reputation of an active cruiser.”
“Blixum and philosophy! If you wish to succeed with Alida, Patroon, you
must put more briskness into the adventure. The girl has a cross of the
Frenchman in her temper, and none of your deliberations and
taciturnities will gain the day. This visit to the Lust in Rust is
Cupid’s own handywork, and I hope to see you both return to town as
amicable as the Stadtholder and the States General after a sharp
struggle for the year’s subsidy has been settled by a compromise.”
“The success of this suit is the affair nearest my——” The young man
paused as if surprised at his own communicativeness; and, taking
advantage of the haste in which his toilette had been made, he thrust a
hand into his vest, covering with its broad palm a portion of the human
frame which poets do not describe as the seat of the passions.
“If you mean stomach, sir, you will not have reason to be
disappointed,” retorted the Alderman, a little more severely than was
usual with one so callous. “The heiress of Myndert Van Beverout will
not be a penniless bride, and Monsieur Barbérie did not close the books
of life without taking good care of the balance-sheet—but yonder are
those devils of ferrymen quitting the wharf without us! Scamper ahead,
Brutus, and tell them to wait the legal minute. The rogues are never
exact; sometimes starting before I am ready, and sometimes keeping me
waiting in the sun, as if I were no better than a dried dun-fish.
Punctuality is the soul of business, and one of my habits does not like
to be ahead, nor behind his time.”
In this manner the worthy burgher, who would have been glad to regulate
the movements of others, on all occasions, a good deal by his own,
vented his complaints, while he and his companion hurried on to
overtake the slow-moving boat in which they were to embark. A brief
description of the scene will not be without interest, to a generation
that may be termed modern in reference to the time of which we write.
A deep narrow creek penetrated the island, at this point, for the
distance of a quarter of a mile. Each of its banks had a row of
buildings, as the houses line a canal in the cities of Holland. As the
natural course of the inlet was necessarily respected, the street had
taken a curvature not unlike that of a new moon. The houses were
ultra-Dutch, being low, angular, fastidiously neat, and all erected
with their gables to the street. Each had its ugly and inconvenient
entrance, termed a stoop, its vane or weathercock, its dormer-windows,
and its graduated battlement-walls. Near the apex of one of the latter,
a little iron crane projected into the street. A small boat, of the
same metal, swung from its end,—a sign that the building to which it
was appended was the ferry-house.
An inherent love of artificial and confined navigation had probably
induced the burghers to select this spot, as the place whence so many
craft departed from the town: since, it is certain, that the two rivers
could have furnished divers points more favorable for such an object,
inasmuch as they possess the advantage of wide and unobstructed
channels.
Fifty blacks were already in the street, dipping their brooms into the
creek, and flourishing water over the side-walks, and on the fronts of
the low edifices. This light but daily duty was relieved by clamorous
collisions of wit, and by shouts of merriment, in which the whole
street would join, as with one joyous and reckless movement of the
spirit.
The language of this light-hearted and noisy race was Dutch, already
corrupted by English idioms, and occasionally by English words;—a
system of change that has probably given rise to an opinion, among some
of the descendants of the earlier colonists, that the latter tongue is
merely a patois of the former. This opinion, which so much resembles
that certain well-read English scholars entertain of the plagiarisms of
the continental writers, when they first begin to dip into their works,
is not strictly true; since the language of England has probably
bestowed as much on the dialect of which we speak, as it has ever
received from the purer sources of the school of Holland. Here and
there, a grave burgher, still in his night-cap, might be seen with a
head thrust out of an upper window, listening to these barbarisms of
speech, and taking note of all the merry jibes, that flew from mouth to
mouth with an indomitable gravity, that no levity of those beneath
could undermine.
As the movement of the ferry-boat was necessarily slow, the Alderman
and his companion were enabled to step into it, before the fasts were
thrown aboard. The periagua, as the craft was called, partook of a
European and an American character. It possessed the length,
narrowness, and clean bow, of the canoe, from which its name was
derived, with the flat bottom and lee-boards of a boat constructed for
the shallow waters of the Low Countries. Twenty years ago, vessels of
this description abounded in our rivers, and even now, their two long
and unsupported masts and high narrow-headed sails, are daily seen
bending like reeds to the breeze, and dancing lightly over the billows
of the bay. There is a variety of the class, of a size and pretension
altogether superior to that just mentioned, which deserves a place
among the most picturesque and striking boats that float. He who has
had occasion to navigate the southern shore of the Sound must have
often seen the vessel to which we allude. It is distinguished by its
great length, and masts which, naked of cordage, rise from the hull
like two tall and faultless trees. When the eye runs over the daring
height of canvas, the noble confidence of the rig, and sees the
comparatively vast machine handled with ease and grace by the dexterity
of two fearless and expert mariners, it excites some such admiration as
that which springs from the view of a severe temple of antiquity. The
nakedness and simplicity of the construction, coupled with the boldness
and rapidity of its movements, impart to the craft an air of grandeur,
that its ordinary uses would not give reason to expect.
Though, in some respects, of singularly aquatic habits, the original
colonists of New-York were far less adventurous, as mariners, than
their present descendants. A passage across the bay did not often occur
in the tranquil lives of the burghers; and it is still within the
memory of man, that a voyage between the two principal towns of the
State was an event to excite the solicitude of friends, and the anxiety
of the traveller. The perils of the Tappaan Zee, as one of the wider
reaches of the Hudson is still termed, was often dealt with by the good
wives of the colony, in their relations of marvels; and she who had
oftenest encountered them unharmed, was deemed a sort of marine amazon.