and the consequent diffusion of learning, every township throughout the country is furnished with men capable of conducting the affairs of their town with judgment and discretion: these men are the channels of political information to the lower class of people, if such a class may be said to exist in New-England, where every man thinks himself at least as good as his neighbour.

The people from their childhood, form habits of canvassing public affairs, and commence politicians. This naturally leads them to be very inquisitive. It is with knowledge as with riches, the more a man has, the more he desires to obtain. This desire after knowledge, in a greater or less degree, prevails throughout all classes of people in NewEngland; and, from their various modes of expressing it, some of which are blunt and familiar, bordering on impertinence, strangers have been induced to mention impertinent inquisitiveness, as a distingushing characteristic of NewEngland people. But this inquisitiveness is rarely troublesome, and generally pleasing. The common people in New-England are excelled by no common people in the world, in civility to strangers.

Before the late war, which introduced into New England a flood of corruptions and errors, together with many improvements, there was a general uniformity in the faith of the churches; the sabbath was observed with great strictness; no unnecessary travelling, no secular business, no visiting, no diversions, were permitted on that sacred day. The people considered it as consecrated to divine worship, and were generally punctual and serious in their attendance upon it. Their laws were strict in guarding the sabbath against every innovation. The supposed severity with which these laws were composed and executed, together with some other traits in their religious character, have acquired for the New-Englanders the name of a superstitious,

bigotted people. But all persons are called superstitious by those less conscientious, and less disposed to regard religion with reverence, than themselves. Since the war, a catholic, tolerant, spirit, occasioned by a more enlarged intercourse with mankind, has become general; and as mankind are wont to vibrate from one extreme to the other, New-England is now experiencing all the effects of a variety of discordant opinions concerning the faith of the gospel, of its ordinances, and discipline.

There is one distinguishing characteristic in the religious character of this people, which me must not omit to mention; and that is, the custom of annually celebrating fasts and thanksgivings. In the spring, the governors of the several New-England states issue their proclamations, appointing a day to be religiously observed in fasting, humiliation, and prayer, throughout their respective states; in which the predominating vices, that particularly call for humiliation, are enumerated. In autumn, after harvest, that gladsome era in the husbandman's life, the governors again issue their proclamations, appointing a day of public thanksgiving, enumerating the public blessings received in the course of the foregoing year.

This pious custom originated with their venerable ancestors, the first settlers of New-England; and has been handed down as sacred, through the successive generations of their posterity. A custom so rational, and so happily calculated to cherish, in the minds of the people, a sense of their de pendence on the Great Benefactor of the world, for all their blessings, it is hoped will ever be sacredly preserved. Other states in the union are adopting this wise practice.

The people of New-England generally obtain their estates by hard and persevering labour: of course they know their value, and are frugal. Yet in no country do the indigent and unfortunate fare better. Their laws oblige every town to provide a competent maintenance for their

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poor, and the necessitous stranger is protected and relieved by their humane institutions. It may in truth be said, that in no part of the world are the people happier, better furnished with the necessaries and conveniences of life, or more independent, than the farmers in New-England. As the great body of the people are hardy, independent, freeholders, their manners are, as they ought to be, congenial to their employment, plain, simple, and manly. Strangers are received and entertained among them with a great deal of artless sincerity, and friendly, plain, hospitality. Their children, those imitative creatures, to whose education particular attention is paid, early imbibe the manners and habits of those around them; and the stranger, with pleasure, notices the honest and decent respect that is paid him by them as he passes through the country.

As the people, by representation, make their own laws, and appoint their own officers, they cannot be oppressed; and, living under governments, which have few lucrative places, they have few motives to bribery, corrupt canvassings, or intrigue. Real abilities, and a moral character unblemished, have hitherto been the qualifications requisite, in the view of most people, for officers of public trust. The expression of a wish to be promoted, was, and is still, in some parts of New-England, the direct way to be disappointed.

The inhabitants are generally fond of the arts and sciences, and have cultivated them with great success. Their colleges have flourished. The illustrious characters they have produced, who have distinguished themselves in politics, law, divinity, the mathematics, and philosophy, natural and civil history, and in the fine arts, particularly in poetry and painting, evince the truth of these observations.

Many of the women in New-England are handsome. They generally have fair, fresh, and healthful countenances. mingled with much female softness and delicacy. Those

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who have had the advantages of a good education, and they are numerous, are genteel, easy, and agreeable in their manners, are sprightly and sensible in conversation. They are early taught to manage domestic concerns with neatness and economy. Ladies of the first distinction and fortune, make it a part of their daily business to superintend the affairs of the family. Employment at the needle, in cookery, and at the spinning-wheel, with them is honourable. Idleness, even in those of independent fortunes, is universally disreputable. The women in country towns, manufacture the greater part of the clothing of their families. The linen and woollen cloths are strong and decent. Their butter and cheese is not inferior to any in the world.

Gaming is practised by none but those who cannot, or rather will not, find a reputable employment. The gamester, the horse-jockey, and the knave, are equally despised, and their company is avoided by all who would sustain fair and irreproachable characters.

The athletic and healthy diversions of cricket, football, quoits, wrestling, jumping, hopping, foot races, and prison bass, are universally practised in the country, and some of them in the most populous places, and by people of almos: all ranks.

The people of New-England are Protestant christians, excepting a few Jews, who have a synagogue in Newport, and a few Roman Catholics, principally in Boston. The Protestants are divided into Congregationalists, which is the prevailing denomination, Episcopalians, Baptists, Friends or Quakers, Methodists, and Universalists, As in other parts of the United States, so in the part we are describing, there are numbers, who have their religion yet to choose. They have liberty of conscience, but no religion.

The clergy of New-England are a numerous body of men, and, in general, are respectable for their piety, morals,

and learning. The cause of general literature is much indebted to their labours. Probably nineteen twentieths of the publications in New-England, from its first settlement, have been from the pens of the clergy.

The number and pious exertions of missionary societies, some of them patronized by the government, do honour to the religious character of New-England. At the expense, and under the direction of these societies, a large number of missionaries are annually sent among the Indians and frontier settlers, who are destitute of religious instruction, and some to foreign countries. The business of our domestic mission, particularly, is to instruct from house to house, the inhabitants of waste places, to preach publicly, to administer ordinances, and distribute bibles and various other religious books. The good effects which have followed these exertions, in preserving and cherishing the early religious habits of the people, and guarding them against the poison of infidelity and vice, are great beyond calculation.

HISTORY OF NEW-YORK.

CHAP. XXVII.

Discovery by the Dutch; Patent; Submission to the English; Government resumed by the Dutch, who erect a fort on Connecticut river; Their extravagant claims; Surrender of the country to the English; Its seizure by the Dutch, who soon surrendered it permanently to the English; Indians.

As early as 1607, and 1608, Henry Hudson, an Englishman, an experienced, intrepid, and enterprizing seaman,