264                   THE   OLD  MERCHAJTTS
 

CHAPTER  XXVL

In one of the previous chapters when speaking of the
celebrated house No. 57 Wall street, occupied by Daniel
McCormick, I said :

" What talking times the.se old jokers (young ones)
used to have on stoop No. 67 Wall street. The house
stood below the present Merchant's Exchange, on the
south side, three doors this side of Pearl street until the
great fire. It was forty feet wide. It was built of
brick—plastered over to represent stone, and was paint¬
ed blue. Daniel McCormick bought the property about
1790, buUt that house, and moved Into it about 1792."

I was in error when I said he built that house. It
was an old house before the Revolution broke out, in
1776. In 1779, William Backhouse lived there, and
kept boarders of a high class. He charged rather high,
viz., eight dollars a week, and a dollar extra for wash¬
ing. John J. Glover boarded there, and so did dozens
of our first merchants. Wm. Backhouse himself was a
very successful merchant in after years. In 1790 he
was i partner with William Laight, and they did busi¬
ness at No. 200 Queen street. I think William Back¬
house died In 1792. About that time there was another
William Backhouse in this city. He was Captain Back¬
house, a celebrated sea captain in his day.