USA > New York > New York City > Old New York : a journal relating to the history and antiquities of New York City, Vol. I > Part 19
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By His Excellency
Benjamin Fletcher, Captain General and Governour in Chief of The Province of New- York, and the Territories and Tracts of Land depending thereon in America, and Vice-Admiral of the same, His Majesties Lieutenant and Commander in Chief of the Militia, and of all the Forces by Sea and Land within His Majesties Colony of Connecticut, and of all the Forts and places of Strength within the same.
A PROCLAMATION
W Hereas I have received the Joyful News of the safe Arrival of Our Most Excellent Soveraigne Lord WILLIAM the Third, by the Grace of God, King of England. Scotland. France and Ireland, Defendor of the Faith, de., in His Kingdom of E NG L A N D in the Moneth of October last past, and of the Success of His Majesties Arms in Flanders. I have therefore thought fit, and by and with the Advice and Consent of His Majesties Council, for the Province of NEW-YORK, Do Appoint Thursday, the Sixteenth Instant, for the City and County of New- York, and the Three and Twentieth Instant for the City and County of ALBAN Y, and the rest of the Counties of the said Province, To be Observed and Celebrated Publick Days of Thanks-giving to Almighty God for the same And all Persons within this Province are Required on the said Respective Days, to forbear Servile Labour, and to Observe and Celebrate the same with fervent Demonstrations of Joy and Thankfulness.
Dated at His Majesties Fort in New-York the Ninth Day of January, in the Seventh Year of His Mujestics Reign, Annoq; Domini 1095, 6.
God Save the KING
BEN. FLETCHER.
F. Phillips, 1 T. Willet.
N. Bayard, Esqrs. J. Lawrence. 1 Exqrs.
G. Munreill. ) C. Heathcote.
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there was no press. required its Acts of Assembly to be printed, and the work of our sister province for many years supplied him with a portion of his income. Six years later he put on his imprint for the first volume of laws published there. " Printer to the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty for the Province of New Jersey." This was continued by his family after him. His grandson, William Bradford, printed the "Laws of New Jersey," edited by Leaming and Spicer, in the year 1752.
The most notable work issued by him, after his Laws, was the Book of Common Prayer. It has been seen that Bradford was not a bigot, for while he was in Philadelphia he proposed to publish the Bible, with a supplement for those who desired it, containing the Book of Common Prayer. There was not then enough means in that colony to bring out the book, even without the Common Prayer, but when he came to New York and be- came a member of Trinity Church the project grew again in his mind. On the 23d of August, 1704, we find in the records of Trinity, then only some eight years old, that it was ordered that that church wardens " do lend Mr. Bradford Thirty or Forty Pounds for six months. on security, without interest, for purchas- ing paper to print Common Prayer Books." For the return of this the Rev. Jolin Sharpe, chaplain of the troops and an assist-
ant minister, became security. It was, however, a number of years before the paper was bought and used ; he was not ready. A subscription paper must be circulated, and doubtless this took a long time. Perhaps other type was needed from England. At any rate, the book was not issued till 1710, and until within twenty years all the knowledge that was extant concerning this first edition of the Book of Common Prayer, the noble heritage of all Protestants who speak the English language, was this entry and another, also in the records of Trinity Church, saying :
"In consideration of the great loss he has sustained in printing the Common Prayer and New Version of the Psahus, Ordered that the Church Wardens deliver to Mr. Bradford his said Bond."
Until the publication of John William Wallace's Address upon Bradford in 1863. in which he stated these facts, not a single copy of this book was known to exist. It had completely disappeared. The oldest communicant in Trinity and the most learned Bradford
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bibliophile, for we have our Bradford cult in America as there is a Caxton cult in England, had never heard of it. No one could say how large the edition was. It might have been and probably was at least eight hundred copies. Some might have been destroyed by fire, theft, or water, but one or two hundred would probably have been in the hands of the worshippers here, in Philadelphia, in Burlington, and in Virginian villages. None had apparently sur- vived the severe usage, Sunday after Sunday, of turning the leaves back and forth during the service. Yet a printed book is hard to destroy. It may apparently have vanished, when it has only been relegated to the attic or buried beneath garments in a closet. The Bradford Prayer Book did exist, and two copies are now known to be extant, both being in the possession of the Pennsylvania Historical Society. They are of different editions, one having been brought out in 1710 and another in 1714. Both are small quartos. Its title runs thus :
The | Book | of | Common-Prayer, and Administration of the | Sacraments. | And Other | Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, | According to the Use of the | Church of England. | Together with the Psalter, | or | Psalms of David, | Pointed as they are to be Sung or Said in Churches. | Printed and Sold by William Brad- ford in New-York. 1710.
Facing the title page are the royal arms of Great Britain, and following it, prefatory to the body of the book, are twenty-three pages, containing " Rules for the more devout behaviour in the time of divine service in the Church of England; with some ex- planations of the Common Prayer." The volume contains the " New version of the Psalms of David, fitted to the tunes used in churches. by N. Tate and N. Brady." John William Wallace, who examined this volume very critically after it was first dis- covered, says that the Prayer Book part is in type of different sizes, some being small pica and some bourgeois, although the sub- jeets were continuons. The Psalms are in another small pica from the first : the paper is different, and there is a different paging. It was probably printed also as a separate volume. The rule-work in the book is probably made up of odds and ends, but the press- work is good.
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LOUDON'S DIARY.
The veteran printer, Samuel Loudon, began on the 15th of February, 1792, a new journal which he entitled " The Diary, or, Loudon's Register." Four different kinds of type are used in these few words. "The Diary" is in a light-faced German text ; "or " is in italic, " Loudon's " in Roman capitals and lower case, and " Register " in capitals of an italie light faced shaded. These four kinds of type are justified in with each other, "The Diary " being the largest, of about canon size, and the " or" is of about double small pica, or half the size. The paper is about 17 by 20, a folio, each page having three columns, set in brevier and long primer. The line below the heading reads: " [FIVE DOLLARS per Ann.] WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1792. [No. 1.]"
In his Salutatory the editor says : ·
"THE EDITOR gratefully acknowledges his obligations to the PUBLIC for their liberal encouragement since the appearance of his Proposals. From the present uninteresting state of public occurrences and the preparations necessary to set the springs of a new machine in motion he might have been inclined to solicit the indulgence of his friendly Patrons, in postponing the Publi- cation. But as the number of his Subscribers was such as to en- able him to fulfil his promise with respect to the time of com- mencement it was thought more conformable to that punctuality which should be observed in public engagements to step forward, " with all his imperfections on his head." He has had occasion to remark the difficulty of turning water into new channels. and is conscious that, however careful to furnish something, if not interesting, yet might probably amuse, the present appearance of his Paper could not in the rigor of justice entitle him to any great share of Public favor. In short, he sensibly feels how much he stands in need of that indulgence which the candid and generous seldom refuse to new and useful undertaking's when they bid fair to merit future applause. He would not infer from this that he has met with any other difficulties than those he had a right to expect, and in the further prosecution of the work he
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flatters himself it will appear that his hopes of giving general satisfaction have not been unreasonably sanguine."
The striking feature of this paper. viewed from the standpoint of to-day, is the fact that there is scareely any news about New York. We read about the arrest of the King of France in his own palace, the defeat of Lafayette for Mayor of Paris, what Congress would do in case both President and Vice-President were disabled, and rhymed jokes about Sam Jolison, but scarcely anything about New York, more important to the readers than any foreign country or any affair outside of its own bounds. What- ever is new is nearly always in the advertisements. In the first number is one from the theatre, as follows :
" Theatre. By the Old American Company. This Evening, the 15th February, will be performed, A Comedy, Called. The Fashionable Lover. End of the Play, Dancing on the Tight Rope, Tumbling by the Little Devil and Monsieur Placide. The Little Devil will jump the Tramplane, and make a Somerset through a Hogshead, both ends being stopped up. To conclude with an Historic Pantomime, with Dancing. called. The Old Soldier. In the course of the Pantomime, there will be a fight with Sabres between the Old Soldier and the Two Thieves. Vivat Respublica."
Apparently the theatre was open only three nights in the week, for the next performance was on Friday, and the third on Monday. Friday was Madame Placide's night. She made her first appear- ance on the tight rope. The play was " The Chances, or the Two Constantias" and there was a heroic pantomime, called " La Belle Dorothee." This was in three acts. Monsieur Placide jumped over a garter six feet high. backward and forward, and displayed a flag in various attitudes. The bill concludes, as bills generally did at that day, with " Vivat Respublica." Not that actors eared anything more about the Republic than others, but it had become the habit to use this phrase among them. It died out abont 1810. On Monday was performed " He Would be a Soldier." together with a dancing ballet entitled the " Old School- master Grown Young." The Little Devil, whom we take to have been an Infant Phenomenon, danced with two eggs under his feet ; he jumped over ten men's heads, and turned a somerset over a shower of fire. Monsieur Placide was not behindhand. He
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threw a dollar from his foot, and caught it in a glass on his head, and also balanced a peacock's feather. It concluded with the " Alemande " by Monsieur and Madame Placide. Other plays performed during the season were the " Beau's Stratagem," " More Ways than One," "The Prisoner at Large, or the Humors of Killarney," " The Poor Soldier." "Selima and Azor," for Mr. Henry's night, with songs by Mrs. Henry; "The Recess, or the Masked Apparition," " All the World's a Stage," " King Henry Fourth," " The Padlock," "The Rivals," " Man and Wife," " The Provoked Husband," " Catherine and Petruchio," "The Busy Body." The advertisements then come to an end. Among the actors and actresses whose names are mentioned are Mrs. Rankin, Miss Tuke, Mr. Harper, Mr. Wools, Mr. Martin, and Mr. Hallam. The prices were for the pit six shillings, boxes eight shillings, and gallery four shillings. This is a dollar, seventy-five cents, and fifty cents, in modern notation, and is higher than our best theatres were in 1860. The doors were open at five o'clock, and the curtain rose at half-past six.
A correspondent inquired in this Magazine for information about the Stock Exchange. Did it exist before 1817? Probably not : but speculation was rife in the four or five years after the adoption of the Federal Constitution, and the dealers in New York City combined to make sales easy. "The Stock Exchange Office." says one advertisement, " is opened at No. 22, Wall Street, for the accommodation of the dealers in stock. and in which Publie Sales will be daily held at noon. as usual. in rotation, by 1. L. B. & Sons. J. Pintard. MeEvers & Barclay, Cortlandt & Ferrer-, Jay & Sutton." These are auctioneers' names chiefly, the first being Anthony L. Bleecker. John Pintard was the founder of the Historical Society. The stocks dealt in were " half shares." whatever they might be : 6 per cents. 3 per cents. New York Bank. Tannanial tontine serip, Friary. Bancker's certificates. North Carolina surplus, and registered debt. So far as appears by the Diary, this combination of auctioneers did not hold together very long. for the advertisement was soon discontinued. There was a good reason. Sales had been stopped. On March 28d a notice read : " A meeting was held at Corre's Hotel on Wednesday last (March 21) of the merchants and dealers in stocks, when they
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came to a resolution that after the 21st of April next they will not attend any sale of stocks at public auction, and also appointed a committee to provide a proper room for them to assemble in, and to report such regulations relative to the mode of transacting their business as in their opinion may be proper." Leonard Bleecker, on the 2d of May, declares that he intends to devote himself entirely to the purchase and sale of stock on commission. His place was at 45 Great Doek street. On the 3d of August he removed to 16 Wall street, five doors np from Queen street. It is evident that the numbering then was not the same as now.
Before the Revolution the piano seems to have been unknown in this country, although it had been used elsewhere, as variously stated, from forty to seventy years. John Jacob Astor is said to have been the first person in New York who kept this instrument for sale. Dodds and Claus. at the Musical Instrument Manufactory, 66 Queen street. were in 1792 manufacturers of what they termed the forte-piano. They say : " The Forte-Piano is become so exceedingly fashionable in Europe that few polite families are without it. This much esteemed instrument forms an agreeable accompaniment to the female voice, takes up but little room, may be moved with ease. and consequently kept in tune with little attention-so that it is on that account superior to the harpsichord. The improvements which Messrs. Dodds and Claus have made in the forte-piano has rendered it much more acceptable than those imported. The introduction of their new-invented hammers and dampers is acknowledged to be a great improvement. as also the means they have taken to prepare their wood to stand the effect of our climate, which imported instruments never do, but are sure to suffer not only from the agitation of the vessel, but the saline quality of the sea -. One great advantage to the purehaser is that Messrs. Dodds and Claus make it an invariable rule to repair any instrument that may prove defective in the workman- ship. if applied to within two years after delivery."
Social conditions have much changed since a hundred years ago. when, as S. G. Goodrich tells us, the children took off their hats to older people who passed by, and since slavery existed in nearly all the Northern States. Mr. London publishes an adver- tisement thus :
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" For Sale, a Hearty Negro Girl of 17 years old, with her male Child of 9 or 10 months old ; sold for no fault-only want of employ. Apply at No. 145. Queen-street."
Travel to Philadelphia was by two lines of stages. The Mail Diligence started at twenty minutes after eight in the morning. The stage admitted but seven passengers, and left Paules Hook on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday morn- ings, and four o'clock on every Friday afternoon. Passengers were charged four dollars, and for one hundred and fifty weight of baggage they were charged the same. The New Line Industry left Pauls Hook each day except Saturday at four o'clock in the afternoon, proceeding the same night as far as Elizabeth Town, where the passengers lodged at Mr. Witt's; started the next morn- ing at three o'clock. breakfasted at James' Drake's, in New Brunswick, and diued at Charles Bessonet's, in Bristol. Fourteen pounds of baggage were gratis.
The booksellers had the largest advertisements, as they had more articles for sale. Mr. Loudon himself sold Watts's Psalins, as well as the Scotch version ; Dilworth's and Webster's Spelling Books. the latter still being used in large mumbers: Webster's Grammar : Gordon's Geography, "a new work, quarto, being one of the best vet published ; the American Preacher ; a large assortment of second-hand books, being part of a consignment from England. consisting of more than a thousand volumes. in divinity, history, and miscellany on various subjects, amongst which are many valuable books, in good order ; " and also selling off his circulating library, containing upwards of 1,500 volumes. Ilngh Gaine, at the Bible in Hanover Square, had a large stock, among which may be mentioned a number of law books, Smith's Wealth of Nations. De Lorme on the Constitution of England ; Jones's new edition of Shakspear's Dramatic Works, with a copious index. Cooke's Voyages, Evelina, Miss Temple, Man of Feeling. Chinese Traveller. Charlotte's Letters to Werter, Blair's Lectures, Simpson's Euclid, and Ruddiman's Rudiments. He had a supply of stationery, including wafers, ponee, and pounce boxes, shining sand and blossom blotting paper, and a quantity of quack medi- eines. Those popular at that day were Turlington's Genuine Balsam, James's Fever Powders, Analeptic Pills, Jesuit's Drops.
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and Ryan's Incomparable Worm Destroying Sugar Plums. Berry & Rogers, also booksellers and stationers, in addition to their books, patent medicines, and stationery, described their stock as follows :
" Berry and Rogers, No. 35, Hanover-Square, directly opposite the Bank, have for sale a new and elegant assortment of plated buckles, men's fashionable round and cock'd hats, colored and white patent silk stockings, patent silk and cotton do., ladies' fine cotton hose, fans, sliders for ladies' hair, fancy waistcoats, gold and silver lace, gold and silver spangles, with thread for tambour work : feathers of different colours, ladies' beaver hats, jewellery, plated and japanned ware, knives and forks, mahogany knife- cases. penknives, scissors, cork-screws, razors, pocket and ass-skin books. flutes, guitars, fifes, with music for the same, cake black- ing, cloth and shoe brushes, backgammon tables, chess boards and men. billiard-balls, dice, battle-dores and shuttlecoeks, playing and message cards. Middleton's black lead pencils, spectacles, mathe- matical instruments, gloves, canes, sealing wax, best quality ; with spurs. boot-garters, wax tapers, Reeves' patent colors, glazier's diamonds, hair-ribbon. combs, gold and silver leaf, tooth brushes, guns, pistols, swords, patent shot. battle gun-powder, bird eages, perfinnery. surveying compasses, travelling do., chains for sur- veyors. umbrellas, bathing-caps, bandoes. curling and pinching tongs, with a variety of other articles."
A very important matter was affecting New York at this time. Col. William Duer had failed. dragging down with him others. and wa- lodged in the common jail. Duer was a man of extraor- dinary energy, and had in his life been at the head of many successful enterprises. After the Congress of the Confederation had passed its act for the government of the Northwest Territory, portions of Ohio had been granted to various land companies at low rates, but as the difficulties of getting there were great settle- ment did not go on as fast as the projectors had hoped. Duer and some friends of his received from one of these companies a concession of a large part of the original grant and organized another company, known as the Scioto. They determined to lay their plans before the French, and hoped to sell and realize fast enongh to make their own payments and have a handsome profit
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left over. It was never clearly known who the proprietors of the company were, but Duer was the manager here and Joel Barlow, the poet, was at the other end of the line, in France. The latter proved himself a capable man of affairs, for he returned shortly after with a competence. He had issued circulars in French stating that candle wax dropped from the trees in Ohio; that there were no ferocious wild beasts; that the soil was of prodigious fertility, and that frost was almost unknown. Credu- lous individuals came here. Col. Duer moved them on, in some instances, but in other cases conld not be seen. The ground, when they reached there, proved to be of the ordinary fertility ; there were no neighbors; the country was completely wild, and Indians picked off any persons who strayed from the main settlements. In short, never was there a more melancholy settle- ment than that of the French at Gallipolis. There was nothing to eat ; supplies could not be purchased, and harvests could not be marketed. Most of the individuals returned home, as soon as they could. This was what was referred to in one of the communica- tions in London's Diary, where Duer is described as having swindled the people of two continents. Recent apologists have endeavored to explain away the charges against Barlow, but it is probable history will always hold him aud Duer as being more responsible for the wretchedness of the dwellers in the city of Gallipolis " than any other persons. There was a financial revulsion in this city in 1792. occasioned by speculation, and Duer failed for three millions of dollars. Much of his distresses le attributed to his desire of shielding the emigrants, for whom le asserted he had risked all that he had. From the jail he sent forth the following letter :
To the holders of engagements under the signature of the subscriber : It is with regret that the subscriber finds himself dis- appointed in bringing forward to his ereditors on this day such specific propositions for the ultimate redemption of his debts as he had once reason to expect.
At a meeting of a number of gentlemen (all of whom styled themselves his friends, and amongst whom some were really so) it was thought advisable to postpone the publication of the plan
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he had in view till it was supported by them in such a manner as they conceived most likely to ensure snecess. But (the eauses of such change it is not necessary to detail) the maliee of open enemies and the insidious insinuations of pretended friends have chilled the first glow of benevolenee, and left to the subscriber the guardianship of his own fame and that of the interest of all his creditors. A sacred trust ! which the subseriber pledges hin- self to discharge with fidelity and honor.
In this view it is proposed by him as follows :
1st. That he will within nine months, computed from the pres. ent date (or sooner, if possible) make a settlement of all his con- cerns, point out the sources and amount of his losses, and consti- tute an adequate fund for the ultimate redemption of the prin- cipal and legal interest of all his debts.
2d. That this fund shall be so formed as not to place it within his own reach. to divert it from the objects of its destination.
3d. That he will make prompt arrangements for the reimburse- ment in the first instance of all advances inade by distressed wid- ows or orphans, mechanics and tradesmen, to whom any consider- able delay would act as ruin.
4th. That till the above objects are effected the walls of a prison shall seeure that confidence which he feels might have been justly placed in his honor.
5th. That. trusting to him and a conscience void of intended injury for justification. he at present leaves to his enemies the eruel triumph of sporting over his afflictions, and to a generous people who may still be mindful of his publie and private ser- vices, the protection of a virtuous wife and innocent family.
WILLIAM DUER.
Col. Duer's troubles did not seem to mollify all of his ereditors, if indeed it did any of them. One wrote to Mr. Loudon as fol- lows :
It would occasion many a melancholy reflection to an honest man, should he take a view of the City of New York, and com- pare its present situation with what it was ten months ago. Then every nerve was strained in the different employments in which
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men were accustomed to get forward in the world -- and without vanity we may say that no place increased more rapidly in wealth and improvement. But how strangely a few designing men have altered the channel of business! and, as if by enchantment, have driven or led men into visionary schemes of riches, by flattery and false promises, to their own ruin, the ruin of the city, and perhaps with injury to every quarter of the empire.
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