is bowels, inflamed by the capture of Fort Casimir,
and nothing could allay it but the conquest of all New Sweden. No sooner,
therefore, had he secured his conquest than he stumped resolutely on,
flushed with success, to gather fresh laurels at Fort Christina.[55]

This was the grand Swedish post, established on a small river (or, as it
is improperly termed, creek) of the same name; and here that crafty
governor Jan Risingh lay grimly drawn up, like a grey-bearded spider in
the citadel of his web.

But before we hurry into the direful scenes which must attend the meeting
of two such potent chieftains, it is advisable to pause for a moment, and
hold a kind of warlike council. Battles should not be rushed into
precipitately by the historian and his readers, any more than by the
general and his soldiers. The great commanders of antiquity never engaged
the enemy without previously preparing the minds of their followers by
animating harangues; spiriting them up to heroic deeds, assuring them of
the protection of the gods, and inspiring them with a confidence in the
prowess of their leaders. So the historian should awaken the attention and
enlist the passions of his readers; and having set them all on fire with
the importance of his subject, he should put himself at their head,
flourish his pen, and lead them on to the thickest of the fight.

An illustrious example of this rule may be seen in that mirror of
historians, the immortal Thucydides. Having arrived at the breaking out of
the Peloponnesian War, one of his commentators observes that "he sounds
that charge in all the disposition and spirit of Homer. He catalogues the
allies on both sides. He awakens our expectations, and fast engages our
attention. All mankind are concerned in the important point now going to
be decided. Endeavors are made to disclose futurity. Heaven itself is
interested in the dispute. The earth totters, and nature seems to labor
with the great event. This is his solemn, sublime manner of setting out.
Thus he magnifies a war between two, as Rapin styles them, petty states;
and thus artfully he supports a little subject by treating it in a great
and noble method."

In like manner, having conducted my readers into the very teeth of peril:
having followed the adventurous Peter and his band into foreign regions,
surrounded by foes, and stunned by the horrid din of arms, at this
important moment, while darkness and doubt hang o'er each coming chapter,