CHAPTEE   XXV.
 

(1796.)

Opinion of an Ei^lish Actor in 1797 of New Toik—The Fotter'a Field-
State Prison nt Greenwicli—Firat Superintendent cf
Public Works—Treadmill,

Aa we are now within four yeara of tho opening of tbo nineteenth
century. It will not bo Inopportuno to quote tho opinion of an English
actor, John Bernard, regarding Mew York in 1797. In "Retroapoctions of
America," published by Harper ft Bros. In ISSG, from manuscript notes In
the possession of Mrs. Bernard, said: "It resembled a large fair or a
cluster of Inna rather than an abiding city, all Ita inhabitants looking like
birds of passage, with the exception of the few aboriginal Dutch who had
not been swept away by tbe European Hood to their yellow brick dwellings
on the banks of tho Hudson. But these kept themaelvea distinct even
frem the other natives, regarding the entire body as a variety of Arabs who
had t>een expelled from Europe for their robberies. They maintained their
houaes like fortlflcatlons, their doors and windows were closed and barred,
their garden walls armed with gloss bottles In a bed of mortar, and they
sitting on their 'stoops' so dilated &b not to leave room for a cat to pass,
and rolling waves of smoke from their melancholy pipes to warn the
stranger off. Tbey were a marked contrast to the spare but muscular
proportions of the other residents, tbe eternal restlessness of the foreigners,
or the splashing, sprawling progress of the Yankees. The world seemed to
he standing atlll with the ono; the others seemed to he carrying all the
world bofore thom.

"The habits of the New York merchants reminded me of my friends
at Guernsey. Tbey breakfasted at eight or half past, and by nine were
in their counting houses, laying out tbo business of tbo day; at ton they
were on their wharves, with aprons round their waists, rolling hogsheads
of rum and moTosacs; at twelve at market, flying about as dirty and as
diligent oa porters; at two back again to tho rolling, heaving, hallooing
and scribbling. At four tbey went home to dreaa for dinner; at seven, to
the play; at eleven, lo supper."

In 179G "a potter's Held was bought for a burial place, and a kooper
appointed at six shillings a day." Thia ground was then at the Junction of
the Oreenwich and Albany roada, but in ISOO the city authorities, "deeming
it too near tho public thoroughfares," aelected what Is now the site of
Washington Square for a now potter's field, "on account of its retired
location." Strong protests were made by the property owners In the
vicinity to the changOi and they offered to present a piece of ground in

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