A REMARKABLE AND VALUABLE WORK. (The result of fifteen years' unremitting and conscientious literary labor.) "HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK." By MRS. MARTHA J. LAMB. It embraces more varied and authentic information, upon a greater number of important subjects, than any other historical work of the same size in the English language, and is as fresh and readable as any work of fiction. To the generation now coming upon the stage of affairs it is of priceless value, and its influence in creating and cultivating the public taste for historical reading has been already so marked as to be apparent even to the most casual observer. No family can afford to be without a copy. The New York Tribune said of it as it came from the press :-"The whole work is marked with the higner qualities of historical writing. The personal sketches which it presents of several of the prominent characters of the revolutionary period indicate minute research and exact discrimination. Mrs. Lamb gives abundant evidence not only of a profound, but of a singularly intelligent study of her authorities, and she has used her materials with the acuteness and discrimination which betray an equal degree of sound culture and good sense. Her acquaintance with the European politics of the day, which form the frame-work, or rather the foundation of her history, is turned to excellent account, giving a breadth and solidity to the narrative which is admirably lended with the prevailing grace and dignity of her style. Her frequent touches of personal and family history idd the charm of biographical description to the historical incidents. The city of New York forms the central point in contemporaneous history, and well deserves the elaborate and beautiful memorial thus wisely consecrated to its progress. Harper's Magazine pronounced it:-"A piece of historical painting which, for brightness of color, disinctness of outline, and general truthfulness in detail, deserves the highest commendation. There is scarcely a phase in New York life or an incident connected with its progress and history which Mrs. Lamb has failed to reproduce with attractive fullness. " Rev. Dr. R. S. STORRS wrote:-"I am impressed afresh, every time that I open it, with the remarkable combination which it presents of excellent and attractive qualities. The immense mass of materials which it contains, gathered with indefatigable labor and patience, has been wrought by the author into a graphic and fascinating narrative. She delightfully combines an easy grace of literary skill with diligence and perseverance in collecting information from all quarters and corners. While her volumes are replete with the results of careful investigation, they show as well the fine touch of the practiced hand of a cultivated woman-in the biographical sketches, and the dexterous tracing of family history, which are deftly interwoven with clear and large accounts of public affairs; in the swift glimpses at the changing manners of successive times, or at picturesque incidents of social life, which serve often to illuminate the large panorama of the general story.' Rev. Dr. W. R. DURYEE wrote:-"It is no volume compounded from previous histories, as too many Bo-called historical works are, but it is a complete digest of information gathered from original sources, such as colonial documents, family genealogies, personal letters, and home traditions. We wonder every time we look into these noble volumes at the research, patient and persevering, which is shown on every page. The manner in which the story is presented seems to us to be fully equal to the style which charms us in Macaulay and Froude, although there is not the slightest imitation of any master. Fact is linked to fact, family feeling changes into political history the city and the nation act and react on each other, and still the story flows on clear and interesting through the generations. The concise, yet complete presentation of the course of events in our Revolutionary War and in the war of 1812, is simply a masterpiece of condensation, a history within a history." Rev. Dr. GEORGE E. ELLIS, in a recent comprehensive and scholarly review of the work, published in four successive issues of the Boston Transcript, wrote:-"A reader cursorily glancing over Mrs. Lamb's pages and noting the running titles, might infer that she was writing the history of the country at large, in its public affairs and movements, rather than confining her attention to the city of New York. But the two themes, like the warp and the woof, are wrought inseparably together.. Out of all the wealth of matter and subject which she has so diligently gathered, Mrs. Lamb seizes felicitously upon the salient themes for narration or description, and covers her instructive and brilliant pages with the substance of history. Dividing the continuity of her narrative by paragraphs, now descriptive of the private, social or professional character of the most eminent citizens (of the several decades) and their relations to each other and to public affairs, and now taking note of the development and beautifying of the municipality itself, Mrs. Lamb steadily holds the thread which gathers all details into their place in our national annals. All through her pages we see evidence of patient, faithful and exhaustive research, of impartiality of spirit and judgment, of comprehensiveness of view, and of exceptional felicity in style. For this great historical work the splendid and prosperous city whose rise and growth she has so admirably chronicled c ́ves her a large debt of gratitude and appreciation." It contains 1,620 royal octavo pages, and 313 illustrations of the most unique and valuable character. It is bound in either two or four volumes. Sold by subscription. Ą. S. PARNES & CO., Publishers, 111 & 113 William St., N. Y. City; 34 & 36 Madison St., Chicago 9 American Economic Association. NEW MONOGRAPH. STATISTICS AND ECONOMICS. BY PROF. RICHMOND MAYO SMITH, OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE. A Treatise on Statistics as a Contribution to the Construction of a Social Science, discussing in particular the STATISTICS OF POPULATION, MARRIAGE, PROPOR- AND CAUSES OF CRIME, AND OTHER TOPICS OF INTEREST. PRICE, ONE DOLLAR. Volumes I. and II., bound, $5 each; unbound, $4 each. Both will be bound for $9. Volume III. is in course of issue. Life Membership, $25. Address Subscription, $4; Annual Membership, $3; RICHARD T. ELY, Secretary of American Economic Association, Baltimore, Md. ΙΟ VOL. XXI TH JANUARY, 1889 HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS THEIR SIGNIFICANCE AND PRESENT CONDITION CHAPTER I No. I HE tide of modern improvements now sweeping like a cyclone over the "west end" portion of Manhattan island, will soon have destroyed all traces of its precious landmarks. Every foot of the entire region bordering on the Hudson, from the southernmost boundary of Riverside park to Spuyten Duyvil, is historic ground. Like many other of New York's interesting possessions, it has been very little talked about, and many of its characteristics, legends, and stories are unknown. The beautiful river it overlooks is a perpetual reminder that it has had a romantic past. Yet the most vivid imagination can never create pictures that will not seem feeble in comparison with the simple truth. What would the venturesome sailors have thought, who steered the first European craft over these placid waters nearly three hundred years ago, could they have foreseen the broad streets and avenues rushing up and down, and the turrets and towers, the stone palaces, and the long blocks of elegant and costly dwellings springing up as it were in a night! Until a comparatively recent date this fruitful territory was only a rich farming district—a place for old fashioned country-seats, deer parks, cultivated gardens, orchards, rocky steeps, patches of forest, dusty roads, and all kinds of un-ornamental fences. The crowded metropolis ignored it, or considered it too far off, but overflowed into more accessible New Jersey, Brooklyn, and beyond, found a convenient outlet on the east side, ran up and captured the Harlem flats, jumped the Harlem river, and laid its plans indefinitely on the maps of the main land to the north. All the rest of the world passed it by also, and went west. Great and prosperous towns and cities were founded from one end of the continent to the other -even to the shores of the Pacific; and the two oceans were actually brought into proximity by lines of railway, before the business mind of the metropolis caught the idea that the corporation had within its own precincts the most magnificent site in the world for the building of homes and palaces, as yet unappropriated. Since then the swiftness of the changes has been magical. VOL. XXI.-No. 1.-1 |