6§                                  HISTORY OF
 

CHAPTER VII.

Which records the rise and renown of a valiant
commander, showing that a man, like a blad¬
der, may be puffed up to greatness and impor¬
tance by mere wind.

When treating of these tempestuous times,
the unknown writer of the Stuyvesant manu¬
script, breaks out into a vehement apostrophe,
in praise of the good St. Nicholas; to whose
protecting care he entirely ascribes the strange
dissentions that broke out in the council of the
Amphyctions, and the direful witchcraft that
prevailed in the east country—whereby the hos¬
tile machinatiolis against the Nederlanders were
for a time frustrated, and his favourite city of
New-Amsterdam preserved from imminent peril
and deadly warfare. Darkness and lowering
superstition hung over the fair valleys of the
east; the pleasant banks of the Connecticut no
longer echoed with the sounds of rustic gaiety;
direful phantoms and protentous apparitions
were seen in the air—gliding spectrums haunted
every wild brook and dreary glen—strange
voices, made by viewless forms, were heard in