able to direct me to the Dutch inhabitants; he likewise added, that his wife was from Dutch descent, and continued to enlarge on their good merits at so much length, that we had reached the door of the tavern before my driver had arrived at the end of his eulogy.

It was on the following morning that I had the pleasure of introducing myself to my German host as his countryman. But for his hair strongly sprinkled with gray, you would not have thought of meeting, on his face, blooming with health and good nature, the marks which sixty-five winters might be expected to have left there. His active habits had probably preserved him from that embonpoint, which seems to belong to his office, and the readiness with which he attended to all your wants, seemed hardly to admit the thought, that it was habit only, and not necessity, which induced him to continue in his present situation.

"A countryman of mine," exclaimed he in tolerable German, I am heartily glad to see you;" then, interrupting himself, he communicated to his wife by the medium of the Dutch, the joyful tidings, that I was not merely descended from German ancestors, but that I had actually come from Germany, and turning again to me, he expressed his desire of being of service to me in a somewhat singular but characteristic manner.

"Certainly, (said he,) we must all die at some time or other, and whatever we have we must leave behind. I intended to work this morning on my farm, but I think it would be better if I were to introduce you to our domine, and afterwards take a round with you; I assure you we have some very fine country here."

It has been said that on account of the entire absence of ranks and orders in America, there is but little opportunity of seeking for distinction by associating with those who in quality are elevated above their neighbors; and it is therefore the quantity of them which is to make up for this defect; you must know everybody, if you desire to pass for a truly popular man. My host did not seem to form an exception to this general rule, for he prided himself of being acquainted with all the people whom he happened to meet. He would stop from time to time, and now address one in German, now in English, and now again in Dutch, listening to their ready replies with a certain affable and condescending inclination of the head, which plainly showed how conscious he felt of his own importance.

"My horse and wagon are engaged," said he, when we had been informed that the domine of Saugerties was not at home, "but our neighbor will, no doubt, accommodate me, and I will carry you to the next domine."

I readily consented, for I was desirous of becoming acquainted with intelligent and cultivated men, who for many years had resided in the immediate vicinity of the descendants of the Dutch. I was likewise well pleased with my companion, who I found had good reason to say, that "it would be difficult for me to find, in or about Saugerties, another individual, who could speak to me in such pure German, as he did." The dialect of the American Germans whom I met there occasionally, I could understand as little as that of the American Dutch; but I certainly did understand mine host of the Saugerties house, though not always without difficulty.

We started in our wagon, on one of those delightful mornings when the transparency and perfect purity of the atmosphere seems to invest every beautiful object with additional charms. With every breath you draw, the peace, contentment, and supreme satisfaction which reign in your breast are heightened without your being able to give any reason for it, and without even caring for a reason. Such, at least, was the feeling with which, during the whole of that little excursion along the banks of the Hudson, I beheld at my left that perfect line of beauty in which the Kaatskill mountains are gradually rising, the numerous and ever-changing tints which the golden rays of the sun paint on the verdant meadows and forests with which they are covered, and the diadem of silvery clouds which

encircled their head, while on my right the undulating banks of the Hudson, with its variety of trees, flowers and shrubbery, presented from time to time some beautiful villa, surrounded by ornamented gardens, or by a grove of shadowy elms. It was in the midst of one of these groves, and on an elevation which commanded an extensive view of the Hudson, that the country-seat of our domine was situated.

With the exception of the immediate vicinity of Saugerties, there is probably no other place in the state of New York, where there is yet preaching, once or twice every month, in a corrupt dialect of the Dutch language. However well their ministers may speak Dutch, they are compelled to accommodate themselves, in this respect, to their hearers, in order to be understood by them. There is of course no learned Professor Poddingcoft to be found among them, who might instruct the children of the Dutch through the medium of their own language. Many of them are therefore sent to English schools. In general, however, they do not avail themselves of the advantages which the laws of the state of New York in regard to education are calculated to afford them. My host, who had travelled extensively, remarked with great justice that the almost entire absence of the academies and higher schools with which he had met in New England, had given a very different character to

this portion of the United States. In short, though for many years there have been hardly any emigrations from Holland, the distinct character of these descendants of the Dutch is yet so great that you often imagine to meet with the originals of the graphic pictures which Washington Irving, no doubt, has drawn from life; with settlements where you would look in vain for a newspaper; with Dutch damsels, whose full forms and neat dresses are thrown into shade by the fumes of smoke which issue from their rosy lips, and with Dutch farmers, of whom you may well say "that they certainly will never do anything in a hurry.”

Similar causes have produced almost the same state of things on the opposite side of the Hudson, where the descendants of a colony of Germans are found, which originally were sent out by Queen Anne. They occupy the districts of Germantown and Clermont, and have lived there somewhat isolated, becouse the German emigrants of a later date, unlike Queen Anne's colony, emigrated from Germany of their own accord, and had therefore an opportunity of selecting such lands as suited them best, and where they might hold their lands as proprietors, and not as tenants, as is the case with the greater portion of the descendants of the Dutch and Germans along the Hudson.

Although this almost entire absence of emigration into this part of the country has had a favorable