est; and a committee consisting of the following persons, to wit: A. L. Bleecker, Hubert Van Wagenen, General Clarkson, Robert C. Livingston, and Theophylact Bache, was appointed accordingly.

"And this committee at the next meeting reported that there was a probability that a sufficient sum of money could be borrowed by the corporation upon interest, for the purpose of rebuilding Trinity Church.”

The plan of the Church adopted by the Vestry was one which had been proposed by Dr. Bard, and drawn by Mr. Robinson.

"Dr. Johnson was requested to prepare an inscription for a corner-stone, to be placed by the Bishop in the foundation of Trinity Church; and the commissioners appointed to build the same were desired to superintend and give directions respecting the ceremony, and to present as a compliment to the masons the sum of ten pounds."

In the next year the Church was completed, and the following inscription was placed over the eastern door beneath the porch:

D. O. M.

TRINITY CHURCH

WAS FIRST FOUNDED IN THE YEAR 1696,
ENLARGED AND BEAUTIFIED IN 1737,

AND ENTIRELY DESTROYED IN THE GREAT

Conflagration of the City, Sept. 21, 1776.

THIS BUILDING WAS

ERECTED ON THE SITE OF THE FORMER

CHURCH,

In the year 1788.

Right Rev. SAMUEL PROVOOST, D.D., Rector.

JAMES DUANE, Esq. and JOHN JAY, Esq., Churchwardens.

"It was resolved that the pews in Trinity Church should be sold on the first day of March next, precisely at the hour of eleven in the morning, and that the church be opened, or consecrated, on the 25th of the same month.

"That the clerk advertise the sale of the pews, and that Mr. Bleecker be the auctioneer. *

"That a single pew be given to Mr. John Leake, to descend after his death to his nephew Mr. Norton, and that he be informed thereof by the clerk, and requested to make his choice previous to the day of sale.

"That a pew be appropriated for the use of the President of the United States, with a canopy over it, and properly ornamented. And that another pew, opposite to the President's, be set apart for the Governor of the State and members of Congress.† The Bishop was requested to wait upon the President, and inform him that the corporation had agreed to offer him a pew in Trinity Church.

"It was likewise resolved, that the purchasers of pews in Trinity Church should hold them for themselves, their wives and descendants, as long as they should continue to be members of the church, and pay, or cause to be paid, to the collector appointed by the Vestry, within three months after it shall become due, such annual rent as might have been fixed by the Vestry before the day of sale, or be hereafter fixed by

*It appears by the minutes, that Mr. Bleecker was allowed £6 8s. for the sale of the pews.

† At a subsequent meeting, a pew was likewise assigned in each of the churches to the members of the Legislature,

them. That every purchaser should sign the conditions of sale, which, with the names of the purchasers, should be registered in the church books, and each purchaser should be entitled to a copy of such entry, if required. In case of non-payment of rents, or if the purchasers or their descendants should remove from the city, or cease to be members of the church, the pews should revert to the church, and not be transferable.

"It was also provided, that if any of the subscribers towards rebuilding Trinity Church should become purchasers of pews, they should respectively be entitled to an allowance of fifteen per cent. upon the money subscribed by them, to be considered as part of their purchase money."

At a meeting of the Vestry held on the 16th of January, 1786, it was resolved," that a good lot of ground should be granted to each of the Presbyterian congregations in this city, for the use of their respective senior pastors for the time being; that the Rector should acquaint the pastors with the intentions of this body, and that they should be requested to agree on the lots their corporations respectively would hold, that deeds might be prepared accordingly."

The Rector afterwards laid before the Board sundry resolutions of the First Presbyterian congregation in this city, expressive of their thanks for the gift to this corporation, and also an extract from the proceedings of the Scotch Presbyterian Church to the same effect.

About the same time, "the Lutheran congregation of this city having offered the use of a bell for Trinity