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York should have seen fit to make the fathers of the republic the subjects of a 'coarse caricature,' in which the inventive ingenuity of the author is only equalled by the grossness of his conceptions. The effort was well suited to the English notions of the Dutch character, too common, perhaps, among ourselves, and thus easily acquired an ill-deserved popularity.

"English writers," says Mr. Verplanck, in his learned discourse before this Society, "have long been accustomed to describe the manners and customs of Holland with a broad and clumsy exaggeration. This is a little injudicious in them, because most of their wit, if wit it may be called, recoils back upon their own country, and strikingly resembles the flippant ridicule which their own more lively neighbours have lavished upon the hard drinking, the oaths, the gross amusements, the dingy coffee-houses, the boxing matches, the beer, and the coal-smoke of the proud and melancholy islanders. Their old maritime contests and commercial rivalry may serve to excuse this misrepresentation in Englishmen, but for us there is no apology."

The task of preparing and editing the present volume has devolved exclusively upon the subscriber; and if performed in a manner satisfactory to the public, and to those he has the honor to represent, he will be abundantly compensated for the trouble it has cost him. Much labour has been bestowed upon a careful revision of the various translations and in collating them with the original works; more perhaps, than will be apparent to the reader. But in such a variety of materials it is scarcely to be expected that mistakes should not sometimes occur, and he must crave the usual indulgence in such

cases.

GEO. FOLSOM,
Of the Publishing Committee.

New-York, June 1st., 1841.

CONTENTS.

I. Chancellor Kent's Anniversary Discourse,

PAGE.