the Dutch church was organised there in 1640, it w^ the only one on the northern part of the river that had a regular ministry, and until after 1700 there was no settled domine north of Esopus except the pastors at Albany and Schenectady. The early ministers at Albany were Domines Mega- polensis, Schaats, Dellius, Lydius, Van Driessen, Van Schie, Frelinghuysen, Westerloo, and Johnson. Mega- polensis, "the pious and well learned," was the first Digitized by Microsoft® An Old Dutch Town 527 domine located in Albany. He arrived in 1642, and the church that was erected for his use stood back of the fort on what is still called Church Street. The use of this building was discontinued in 1656, when the congregation moved to another edifice, occupying the intersection of State Street and Broadway. This house was occupied till 1806, when it was torn down, its bells, furniture, and some of the materials being used in a new edifice. Early in the eighteenth century the Dutch church owned all of the city west of Broadway and south of Beaver Street. It was then and for long afterwards known as the Pasture; indeed, the name is not un- heard to-day, even as the leather district in Manhattan is still called the Swamp. The streets that intersect the Pasture bear the names of the old Dutch domines, Westerloo, Lydius, etc. When one stands upon some eminence — as the tower of the Capitol — and looks out over the city at its num- erous churches and imposing cathedrals, he wonders whether Domine Megapolensis would be able to dis- cover amid all those labyrinths of brick and stone the place where he expounded in Low Dutch the principles of Calvinism to a congregation of hardy pioneers. The houses of the olden time, a few of which have been spared for the instruction of the present genera- tion, were part dwelling, part store; for the founders of our proudest families were never ashamed of the- means by which they won their wealth, and it was Digitized by Microsoft® 528 The Hudson River customary for a merchant to couple under one roof his residence and place of business. The lofts were then commonly storehouses, and furs formed the largest and most valuable portion of their contents. Let us see who, these men of strong character and abundant common-sense were in the old days, when honest men were not afraid or ashamed to be "in trade." A list of the freeholders of Albany for the year 1701 includes the names of Philip and David Schuyler, Wessel Ten Broeck, Albert Rijckman, Gerrit Teunise, Johannes Glen, Harmensen, Robert Livingston, Henry Van Dyke, Van Ness, Van Sh^k, Van Epps, Van Allen, Van Voorst, Philipse, and about two hundred and fifty others. It should be a matter for congratulation that back of the proudest aristocracy of New York we find "the nobil- ity of labour, the long pedigree of toil." Mrs. Grant, the " American Lady," whose memoirs are classic, says: " The very idea of being ashamed of anything that was neither vicious nor indecent never entered the head of an Albanian." Theirs must have been an almost ideally peaceable life, neither too laborious nor given up to repose, but preserving always the happy medium. They culti- vated their gardens — paas bhomtjes and cabbages, no doubt, cheek by jowl, like the parlour and the counting- house. The wilderness around Pearl and Jonkers and Handlers Streets blossomed with May roses and tulips, and the vernal procession swept up to the gates of win- ter, like an army with banners; though at the very Digitized by Microsoft® An Old Dutch Town 529 doors of the settlers the wolf, actual as well as meta- phorical, was ready to howl when the snow began to fly, and the deer came from the forest to browse impar- tially upon tulips and cabbages, and any intermission in the daily fight against the encroaching wilderness meant a backsliding into original cussedness. One fact should be recorded to the everlasting credit of the Albanians of a century and a half ago. They had a court-house, it is true, — a room upon the second floor of a house within the fort, — but Vander Donck, the first and at that time the only lawyer of the place, was not permitted to practice, as there was no one to oppose him. The Schepen heard and decided, without haste or delay, upon the few cases that were brought before him, ruling by a code as simple and effectual as that of Solomon. From the pages of Dolph Heyliger we may borrow a vivid picture of the Albany of that day: On their arrival at Albany, the sight of Dolph's companion seemed to cause universal satisfaction. Many were