NEW YORK.                                 15
 

CHAPTER II.

Showing how Peter the Headstrong bestirred
himself among the rats and cobwebs on enter¬
ing into office. And the perilous mistake lie
was guilty of, in his dealings xvith the Jlm-
phyctions.

The very first movements of the great Peter,
on taking the reins of government, displayed
the magnanimity of his mind, though they oc¬
casioned not a little marvel and uneasiness
among the people of the Manhattoes. Finding
himself constantly interrupted by the opposition,
and annoyed by the advice of his privy council,
the members of which had acquired the unrea¬
sonable habit of thinking and speaking for them¬
selves during the preceding reign; he determin¬
ed at once to put a stop to such grievous
abominations. Scarcely, therefore, had he enter¬
ed upon his authority, than he turned out of
office all those meddlesome spirits that compo¬
sed the factious cabinet of William the Testy,
in place of whom he chose unto himself counsel¬
lors from those fat, somniferous, respectable
families, that had flourished and slumbered un¬
der the easy reign of Walter the Doubter.    All