Four Famous American Writers: Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, James Russell Lowell, Bayard Tayl | Page 6

Sherwin Cody
considered one of
the popular successes of the day. The real author of this book was, of
course, Washington Irving. When forty years later the book was to be
included in his collected works he wrote an "Apology," in which he
says, "When I find, after a lapse of nearly forty years, this haphazard
production of my youth still cherished among them (the New Yorkers);
when I find its very name become a 'household word,' and used to give
the home stamp to everything recommended for popular acceptance,
such as Knickerbocker societies, Knickerbocker insurance companies,
Knickerbocker steamboats, Knickerbocker omnibuses, Knickerbocker
bread, and Knickerbocker ice,--and when I find New Yorkers of Dutch
descent priding themselves upon being 'genuine Knickerbockers,' I
please myself with the persuasion that I have struck the right chord."

CHAPTER VII
A COMIC HISTORY OF NEW YORK
"Knickerbocker's History of New York" was undertaken by Irving and
his brother Peter as a parody on a book that had lately appeared,
entitled "A Picture of New York." The two young men, one of whom
had already proved himself something of an author, were so full of
humor and the spirit of mischief that they must amuse themselves and
their friends, and they thought this a good way of doing it. There was to
be an introduction giving the history of New York from the foundation
of the world, and the main body of the book was to consist of "notices
of the customs, manners, and institutions of the city; written in a
serio-comic vein, and treating local errors, follies, and abuses with
good-humored satire."
The introduction was not more than fairly begun when Peter Irving
started for Europe, leaving the completion of the work to the younger
brother. Washington decided to change the plan, and merely give a
humorous history of the Dutch settlement of New York.
Let us take a peep into this amusing history. First, here is the portrait of
"that worthy and irrecoverable discoverer (as he has justly been called),
Master Henry Hudson," who "set sail from Holland in a stout vessel
called the Half-Moon, being employed by the Dutch East India
Company to seek a northwest passage to China."
"Henry (or as the Dutch historians call him, Hendrick) Hudson was a
seafaring man of renown, who had learned to smoke tobacco under Sir
Walter Raleigh, and is said to have been the first to introduce it into
Holland, which gained him much popularity in that country, and caused
him to find great favor in the eyes of their High Mightinesses, the
Lords States General, and also of the honorable East India Company.
He was a short, square, brawny old gentleman, with a double chin, a
mastiff mouth, and a broad copper nose, which was supposed in those
days to have acquired its fiery hue from the constant neighborhood of
his tobacco pipe.

"He wore a commodore's cocked hat on one side of his head. He was
remarkable for always jerking up his breeches when he gave out his
orders, and his voice sounded not unlike the brattling of a tin
trumpet--owing to the number of hard northwesters which he had
swallowed in the course of his seafaring.
"Such was Hendrick Hudson, of whom we have heard so much and
know so little."
You must read in the history itself the amusing account of Ten
Breeches and Tough Breeches. One of the Dutch colonists bought of
the Indians for sixty guelders as much land as could be covered by a
man's breeches. When the time for measuring came Mr. Ten Breeches
was produced, and peeling off one pair of breeches after another, soon
produced enough material to surround the entire island of Manhattan,
which was thus bought for sixty guelders, or Dutch dollars.
In due time came the first Dutch governor, Wouter Van Twiller.
Governor Van Twiller was five feet six inches in height, and six feet
five inches in circumference, his figure "the very model of majesty and
lordly grandeur." On the very morning after he had entered upon his
office, he gave an example of his great legal knowledge and wise
judgment.
As the governor sat at breakfast an important old burgher came in to
complain that Barent Bleecker refused to settle accounts, which was
very annoying, as there was a heavy balance in the complainant's favor.
"Governor Van Twiller, as I have already observed, was a man of few
words; he was likewise a mortal enemy to multiplying writings--or
being disturbed at his breakfast. Having listened attentively to the
statement of Wandle Schoonhoven, giving an occasional grunt, as he
shoveled a spoonful of Indian pudding into his mouth,--either as a sign
that he relished the dish or comprehended the story,--he called unto him
his constable, and pulling out of his breeches pocket a huge jack-knife,
Continue reading on your phone by scaning this QR Code

 / 59
Tip: The current page has been bookmarked automatically. If you wish to continue reading later, just open the Dertz Homepage, and click on the 'continue reading' link at the bottom of the page.