Hamilton, before mentioned as a lawyer of note, in Philadelphia; and who likewise had held several eminent public offices, in the government, with reputation.

Governor Hamilton continued till his resignation in October, 1754; when he was succeeded, in the government, by Robert Hunter Morris of New Jersey, son of Lewis Morris who had been Governor of that province. Robert Proud, The History of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, 1798), II, 220-231 passim.

32. "New-York City" (1760)

BY REVEREND ANDREW BURNABY

Burnaby travelled throughout the colonies, and his well-written book is one of the best sources of our knowledge of colonial society. - Bibliography: Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, V, 252-258.— For previous accounts of New York, see Contemporaries, I, ch. xxiii.

HIS city is situated upon the point of a small island, lying open to the bay on one side, and on the others included between the North and East rivers, and commands a fine prospect of water, the Jerseys, Long Island, Staten Island, and several others, which lie scattered in the bay. It contains between 2 and 3000 houses, and 16 or 17,000 inhabitants, is tolerably well built, and has several good houses. The streets are paved, and very clean, but in general they are narrow; there are two or three, indeed, which are spacious and airy, particularly the Broad Way. The houses in this street have most of them a row of trees before them; which form an agreeable shade, and produce a pretty effect. The whole length of the town is something more than a mile; the breadth of it about half an one. The situation is, I believe, esteemed healthy; but it is subject to one great inconvenience, which is the want of fresh water; so that the inhabitants are obliged to have it brought from springs at some distance out of town. There are several public buildings, though but few that deserve attention. The college, when finished, will be exceedingly handsome: it is to be built on three sides of a quadrangle, fronting Hudson's or North river, and will be the most beautifully situated of any college, I believe, in the world. At present only one wing is finished, which is of stone, and consists of twenty-four sets of apartments; each having a large sitting room, with a study, and bed chamber. They are obliged to make use of some of

these apartments for a master's lodge, library, chapel, hall, &c. but as soon as the whole shall be completed, there will be proper apartments for each of these offices. The name of it is King's College.

There are two churches in New York, the old, or Trinity Church, and the new one, or St. George's Chapel; both of them large buildings, the former in the Gothic taste, with a spire, the other upon the model of some of the new churches in London. Besides these, there are several other places of religious worship; namely, two Low Dutch Calvinist churches, one High Dutch ditto, one French ditto, one German Lutheran church, one presbyterian meeting-house, one quakers ditto, one anabaptists do, one Moravian ditto, and a Jews synagogue. There is also a very handsome charity-school for sixty poor boys and girls, a good work-house, barracks for a regiment of soldiers, and one of the finest prisons I have ever seen. The court or stadt-house makes no great figure, but it is to be repaired and beautified. There is a quadrangular fort, capable of mounting sixty cannon, though at present there are, I believe, only thirty-two. Within this is the governor's palace, and underneath it a battery capable of mounting ninety-four guns, and barracks for a company or two of soldiers. Upon one of the islands in the bay is an hospital for sick and wounded seamen; and, upon another, a pest-house. These are the most noted public buildings in and about the city. . . .

Arts and sciences have made no greater progress here than in the other colonies; but as a subscription library has been lately opened, and every one seems zealous to promote learning, it may be hoped that they will hereafter advance faster than they have done hitherto. The college is established upon the same plan as that in the Jerseys, except that this at New York professes the principles of the church of England. At present the state of it is far from being flourishing, or so good as might be wished. Its fund does not exceed 10,000l. currency, and there is a great scarcity of professors. A commencement was held, nevertheless, this summer, and seven gentlemen took degrees. There are in it at this time about twenty-five students. The president, Dr. Johnson, is a very worthy and learned man, but rather too far advanced in life to have the direction of so young an institution. The late Dr. Bristow left to this college a fine library, of which they are in daily expectation.

The inhabitants of New York, in their character, very much resemble the Pensylvanians: more than half of them are Dutch, and almost all traders they are, therefore, habitually frugal, industrious, and parsimonious. Being however of different nations, different languages, and different

religions, it is almost impossible to give them any precise or determinate character. The women are handsome and agreeable; though rather more reserved than the Philadelphian ladies. Their amusements are much the same as in Pensylvania; viz. balls, and sleighing expeditions in the winter; and, in the summer, going in parties upon the water, and fishing; or making excursions into the country. There are several houses pleasantly situated upon East river, near New York, where it is common to have turtle-feasts: these happen once or twice in a week. Thirty or forty gentlemen and ladies meet and dine together, drink tea in the afternoon, fish and amuse themselves till evening, and then return home in Italian chaises, (the fashionable carriage in this and most parts of America, Virginia excepted, where they make use only of coaches, and these commonly drawn by six horses), a gentleman and lady in each chaise. In the way there is a bridge, about three miles distant from New York, which you always pass over as you return, called the KissingBridge, where it is a part of the etiquette to salute the lady who has put herself under your protection.

The present state of this province is flourishing: it has an extensive trade to many parts of the world, particularly to the West Indies; and has acquired great riches by the commerce which it has carried on, under flags of truce, to Cape-François, and Monte-Christo. The troops, by having made it the place of their general rendezvous, have also enriched it very much. However, it is burthened with taxes, and the present public debt amounts to more than 300,000l. currency. The taxes are laid upon estates real and personal; and there are duties upon Negroes, and other importations. The provincial troops are about 2600 men. The difference of exchange between currency and bills, is from 70 to 80 per cent. Before I left New York, I took a ride upon Long Island, the richest spot, in the opinion of the New-Yorkers, of all America; and where they generally have their villas, or country houses. It is undeniably beautiful, and some parts of it are remarkably fertile, but not equal, I think, to the Jerseys. The length of it is something more than 100 miles, and the breadth 25. About 15 or 16 miles from the west end of it, there opens a large plain between 20 and 30 miles long, and 4 or 5 broad. There is not a tree growing upon it, and it is asserted that there never were any. Strangers are always carried to see this place, as a great curiosity, and the only one of the kind in North America.

Andrew Burnaby, Travels through the Middle Settlements in North-America, in the Years 1759 and 1760 (London, 1775), 61-67 passim.

CHAPTER V-SOUTHERN COLONIES

33. Andros's and Nicholson's Administrations
(1690-1705)

BY ROBERT BEVERLY (1705)

Beverly was a Virginian of wealth and high social position. His history of Virginia is of great value, though not impartial. He had a private grudge against Nicholson. Bibliography: Tyler, American Literature, II, 264-267; Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, V, 278-284; Channing and Hart, Guide, § 99. — For previous history of Virginia, see Contemporaries, I, ch. x.

§. 132. ANNO 1690. Francis Nicholson, Esq; being appointed

Lieutenant-Governor under the Lord Effingham, arrived there. This Gentleman discoursed freely of Country Improvements, instituted public Exercises, and gave Prizes to all those, that should excel in the Exercises of Riding, Running, Shooting, Wrestling, and Cudgeling. When the Design of a College was communicated to him, he promised it all imaginable Encouragement.

$. [1]34. Anno 1691, an Assembly being called

The Assembly was so fond of Governor Nicholson at that Time, that they presented him with the Sum of three hundred Pounds, as a Testimony of their good Disposition towards him. But he having an Instruction to receive no Present from the Country, they drew up an Address to their Majesties, praying that he might have leave to accept it, which was granted, and he gave one half thereof to the College.

§. 137. Their Majesties were well pleased with that pious Design of the Plantation, and granted a Charter, according to the Desire of Mr. Blair, their Agent.

It was a great Satisfaction to the Archbishops and Bishops to see such a Nursery of Religion founded in that new World; especially for that it was begun in an Episcopal Way, and carried on wholly by zealous Conformists to the Church of England.

§. 138. In this first Assembly, Lieutenant-Governor Nicholson pass'd Acts for Encouragement of the Linen Manufacture, and to promote the

Leather Trade, by Tanning, Currying, and Shoe-making. He also in that Session pass'd a Law for Cohabitation, and Improvement of Trade. Before the next Assembly he tack'd about, and was quite the Reverse of what he was in the first as to Cohabitation. Instead of encouraging Ports and Towns, he spread abroad his dislike of them; and went among the People, finding Fault with those Things, which he and the Assembly had unanimously agreed upon the preceding Session. Such a violent Change there was in him, that it proceeded from some other Cause, than barely the Inconstancy of his Temper. He had receiv'd Directions from those English Merchants, who well knew that Cohabitation would lessen their consign'd Trade.

§. 139. In February, 1692, Sir Edmund Andros arrived Governor. He began his Government with an Assembly, which overthrew the good Design of Ports and Towns: But the Ground-work of this Proceeding, was laid before Sir Edmund's Arrival. However, this Assembly proceeded no farther, than to suspend the Law, till their Majesties Pleasure should be known. But it seems the Merchants in London were dissatisfied, and made public Complaints against it, which their Majesties were pleased to hear; and afterwards refer'd the Law back to the Assembly again, to consider, if it were suitable to the Circumstances of the Country, and to regulate it accordingly. But the Assembly did not then proceed any farther in it; the People themselves being infected by the Merchants Letters.

§. 140. At this Session Mr. Neal's Project for a Post-Office, and his Patent of Post-Master-General in those Parts of America, were presented. The Assembly made an Act to promote that Design; but by reason of the inconvenient Distance of their Habitations, and want of Towns, this Project fell to nothing.

§. 142. Sir Edmund Andros was a great Encourager of Manufactures. In his Time Fulling-Mills were set up by Act of Assembly. He also gave particular Marks of his Favour towards the propagating of Cotton, which since his Time has been much neglected. He was likewise a great Lover of Method, and Dispatch in all Sorts of Business, which made him find. Fault with the Management of the Secretaries Office. And, indeed, with very good Reason; for from the Time of Bacon's Rebellion, till then, there never was any Office in the World more negligently kept. Several Patents of Land were enter'd Blank upon Record; many original Patents, Records, and Deeds of Land, with other Matters of great Consequence, were thrown loose about the Office, and suffer'd to be dirtied, torn, and