aves, fell straightway
into a very great doubt, and smoked for half an hour without saying
a word; at length, laying his finger beside his nose, and shutting
his eyes for a moment, with the air of a man who has just caught a
subtle idea by the tail, he slowly took his pipe from his mouth,
puffed forth a column of tobacco-smoke, and with marvelous gravity
and solemnity pronounced, that, having carefully counted over the
leaves and weighed the books, it was found, that one was just as
thick and as heavy as the other: therefore, it was the final
opinion of the court that the accounts were equally balanced:
therefore, Wandle should give Barent a receipt, and Barent should
give Wandle a receipt, and the constable should pay the costs.

"This decision, being straightway made known, diffused general joy
throughout New Amsterdam, for the people immediately perceived that
they had a very wise and equitable magistrate to rule over them.
But its happiest effect was, that not another lawsuit took place
throughout the whole of his administration; and the office of
constable fell into such decay, that there was not one of those
losel scouts known in the province for many years. I am the more
particular in dwelling on this transaction, not only because I deem
it one of the most sage and righteous judgments on record, and well
worthy the attention of modern magistrates, but because it was a
miraculous event in the history of the renowned Wouter--being the
only time he was ever known to come to a decision in the whole
course of his life."

This peaceful age ended with the accession of William the Testy, and the
advent of the enterprising Yankees. During the reigns of William Kieft
and Peter Stuyvesant, between the Yankees of the Connecticut and the
Swedes of the Delaware, the Dutch community knew no repose, and the
"History" is little more than a series of exhausting sieges and
desperate battles, which would have been as heroic as any in history if
they had been attended with loss of life. The forces that were gathered
by Peter Stuyvesant for the expedition to avenge upon the Swedes the
defeat at Fort Casimir, and their appearance on the march, give some
notion of the military prowess of the Dutch. Their appearance, when they
were encamped on the Bowling Green, recalls the Homeric age:--

"In the centre, then, w