bourhood of the situation proposed for St. John's Church. Indeed, it would be almost incredible to the persons of the present generation, to hear from those who are older, their recollections of the past in regard to this quarter of the city. It was a wild and marshy spot of no inconsiderable extent, surrounded with bushes and bulrushes, which in winter was a favourite place for skaters, and at certain seasons for gunners, and where in my boyhood I have seen snakes that were killed on its borders. Indeed, even so late as 1808, it was only so partially filled up and reclaimed by the elevation of the grounds for the course of streets, and the consequent multiplication of ponds in various directions, as to have been the occasion at night of many a sad disaster, and a frequent loss of human life. A curious anecdote was related to me by an old and respectable parishioner of Trinity Church,* with respect to the estimation in which this land was held. An uncle of his,† who was a trustee of one of the Lutheran churches in this city, and who was remarkably fond of antiquarian research, in looking over the former minutes of the Board, found an entry to the following effect. Some well-disposed individual had offered to the trustees of this church a present of a plot of ground, containing about six acres, near to the head of Canal-street and Broadway. They passed a resolution, however, that it was inexpedient to accept the gift, inasmuch as the land was not worth the,fencing in. * Mr. David Lydig. + Mr. David Grim. The building of St. John's Chapel was commenced in 1803, and it was completed in 1807. It is in many respects a beautiful edifice, but much more costly than would be generally supposed. Whether there was any mismanagement in the prosecution of the work, or whether the time in which it was built was unfavourable to economy, is at this day very difficult to determine. But the expense of it, without the organ, which was ordered at Philadelphia for $6000, just before the last war with England, and which being unfortunately captured by one of the British cruisers, cost $2000 more to redeem it, amounted to the enormous sum of $172,833 64-100. The church was consecrated by Bishop Moore, in 1807, on which occasion I was present, and the sermon was preached by that noble man and powerful writer, the Rev. Dr. Wilkins, the friend of Seabury and Chandler, who, long surviving them, connecting in a most interesting manner a new order of things with generations that were past. The Vestry of Trinity Church, forever anxious to discharge the high trust which in the providence of God had been committed to them, proposed a plan, on the 16th of August, 1802, for instituting a Society for the promotion of Religion and Learning, which after having been read and considered was agreed to, and the following trustees were appointed: The Rev. Drs. Beach and Bowden, the Rev. Messrs. Hobart, Jones, Harris and Pilmore; Dr. John Charlton, Peter Kemble, Robert Watts, John Onderdonk, Frederick De Peyster, Richard Harison, Jacob LeRoy, Francis |