The Poetical Writings of Fitz-Greene Halleck/Notes
NOTES.
NOTES.
MISCELLANEOUS POEMS.
(1) Page 13.—Marco Bozzaris, one of the best and bravest of the modern Greek chieftains. He fell in a night attack upon the Turkish camp at Laspi, the site of the ancient Platæa, August 20, 1823, and expired in the moment of victory.
(2) Page 18.—Alnwick Castle, Northumberlandshire, a seat of the Duke of Northumberland. Written in October, 1822, after visiting the “Home of the Percy’s high-born race.”
(3) Page 20.—From him who once his standard set.—One of the ancestors of the Percy family was an Emperor of Constantinople.
(4) Page 20.—Fought for King George at Lexington.—The late duke. He commanded a detachment of the British army, in the affair at Lexington and Concord, in 1775.
(5) Page 21.—From royal Berwick’s beach of sand.—Berwick was formerly a principality. Richard II. was styled “King of England, France, and Ireland, and Berwick-upon-Tweed.”
(6) Page 30.—Wyoming.—The allusion in the following stanzas can be understood by those only who have read Campbell’s beautiful poem, “Gertrude of Wyoming:” but who has not read it?
(7) Page 46.—“Red Jacket” appeared originally in 1828, soon after the publication of Mr. Cooper’s “Notions of the Americans.”
(8) Page 57.—Magdalen.—Written in 1823, for a love-stricken young officer on his way to Greece. The reader will have the kindness to presume that he died there.
(10) Page 89.—Walter Bowne, then, and for two years previous, a Senator at Albany, and member of the Council of Appointment. He was afterward Mayor of New York, where he died in August, 1846.
(11) Page 93.—During the second war with Great Britain, Mr. Halleck joined a New-York infantry company, “Swartwout’s gallant corps, the Iron Grays,” as he afterward wrote in “Fanny,” and excited their martial ardor by this spirited ode. Among the few survivors of this much-admired corps, are Gouverneur S. Bibby, Stephen Cambreleng, Dr. Edward Delafield, Hickson W. Field, James W. Gerard, and Charles W. Sandford.
(12) Page 96.—Contoit’s Garden, open to the public under the auspices of a Frenchman of that name, on the west side of Broadway, between Leonard and Franklin Streets.
(13) Page 96.—Madame Saint Martin, the proprietress of a milliner’s and perfumery shop on Broadway, next door to the Garden.
(14) Page 97.—The “Opera Francais,” a name given during the summer season, while occupied by a troupe of French actors from New Orleans, to the Chatham Garden Theatre of Mr. Palmo, situated on the west side of Chatham Street, between Duane and Pearl. The “Opera” was a place of fashionable resort, and patronized particularly by the distinguished personages named Mrs. President J. Q. Adams and Joseph Bonaparte, ex-King of Spain. The three “danseuses” mentioned were among the principal performers attached to the Opera.
(15) Page 97.—“Swamp Place,” a name given, either in jest or earnest, to a plot of ground in the neighborhood of Jacob and Ferry Streets, near which some medical Columbus of the time had found or fancied a mineral spring of imperishable merit. Unfortunately, it proved itself to be less than a “nine days’ wonder,” by vanishing, one morning, like a dream.
(16) Page 98.—The names of John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, De Witt Clinton, Andrew Jackson, and Daniel Webster, which occur on this page, belong to history.
(17) Page 98.—The “Annual Register,” edited by Joseph Blunt, a young lawyer of ability, then in progress; soon after discontinued.
FANNY.
Stanza 1.—“Fanny.”—Of this young lady and her worthy father, to whose exemplary and typical career the author was indebted for the theme of his story, we are not permitted to reveal more than that they wish to be known and remembered only in the words from Milton, on the title-page, among—
“Gay creatures of the element,
That in the colors of the rainbow live,
And play in the plighted clouds.”
Stanza 6, etc.—Doctors Mitchill, Hosack, and Francis, then (1819) eminent physicians in New York, highly distinguished, not only in their profession, and as authors of popular works connected with medicine and general knowledge, but as active and useful leaders in the social, literary, and scientific institutions of the city. Doctor Mitchill, moreover, had won the name of a philosopher by his frequent discoveries, more or less important, in geology and other conjectural sciences.
Stanza 8, etc.—James K. Paulding, one of the best and most popular of early American authors. The quotation is from his poem, “The Backwoodsman,” then recently published. He afterward rose, or fell, from literature to politics, and became navy agent at New York, and Secretary of the Navy during President Van Buren’s administration.
Stanza 13.—The “Modern Solomon,” a nom de plume given to Mr. Lang by the pleasantry of the brethren of the press. The front door of his office was surmounted by the figure-head of his assumed prototype, Doctor Franklin, mentioned in stanza 49. The bust and statue therein named as specimens of the fine arts in America at the period were to be seen, the one in plaster at the Academy of Arts (stanza 51), the one in wax at Scudder’s Museum (stanza 68). Poor McDonald Clarke, the mad poet of New York, having been called in Lang’s paper a person with “zig-zag brains,” immediately responded in the following neat epigram:
“I can tell Johnny Lang, in the way of a laugh,
In reply to his rude and unmannerly scrawl,
That in my humble sense it is better by half
To have brains that are zig-zag than to have none at all.”
Stanza 16, etc.—Cadwallader D. Colden, then Mayor of the city, before whose door, in accordance with immemorial usage, two prominent lamps were placed, in token of his magisterial position, to remain during and after his mayoralty. His residence, and the office of Mr. Lang, the editor of the New-York Gazette (see stanzas 11 and 49), were in the neighborhood of Pearl Street and Hanover Square.
Stanza 25.—John Bristed, an English gentleman, then recently arrived in America. He was a graduate of Oxford University, a highly accomplished scholar, and the author of several ably-written works on various topics, published in New York, among them the one entitled “The Resources of Great Britain in Time of Peace,” alluded to in stanza 141. He married a daughter of John Jacob Astor.
Stanza 29.—Monsieur Guillé, an aeronaut, recently from France, whose balloon ascensions, then a rare and exciting exhibition, had proved a failure.
Stanza 32.—David Gelston, the collector of the customs.
Stanza 38, etc.—De Witt Clinton, then Governor of the State of New York; Martin Van Buren, then its Attorney-General, afterward President of the United States; and Daniel D. Tompkins, Vice-President of the United States. These prominent and popular statesmen require no introduction to the reader.
Stanza 39, etc.—The “National Advocate,” a daily newspaper, conducted by Mordecai M. Noah, a veteran editor, highly distinguished in the political strife of words, for wielding, alike powerfully and playfully, the pen of a “ready writer.” As the champion of a party (his party, for the time being), he was a faithful friend and a formidable antagonist. He was favorably known as the author of an interesting book of travels in Europe, etc., and of several dramas successful on the stage.
“Pell’s Polite Review.”—A political pamphlet, by Ferris Pell, and enterprising young lawyer and politician.
Stanza 47.—Christian Baehr, one of the fashionable tailors of the period, and a colonel in the militia.
Stanza 51.—S. & M. Allen and Waite & Co. (see stanza 55), dealers in lottery tickets.
“The Academy of Arts.”—A society of artists and amateurs, among whose presiding officers and patrons, Doctor Hosack, John G. Bogart (see stanza 49), and Colonel Trumbull, the celebrated painter, were honorably conspicuous. On the formation, soon after, of the present “National Academy of the Arts of Design,” it ceased to exist.
Stanza 52.—“Cullen’s Magnesian Shop.”—A soda-water, etc., establishment, on the corner of Broadway and Park Place, rivalled in its embellishments by the cottage of Mr. Gautier, at Hoboken, near the ferry.
“The Euterpian Society.”—An association of amateur musicians occasionally giving public concerts.
Stanza 53.—Doctor Wm. James McNeven.—One of the ablest and purest of the banished Irish patriots of ’98. His excellent personal character, without reference to political antecedents, insured him a warm reception in New York, and soon placed him among the most cherished of her adopted citizens. His monument stands in St. Paul’s Churchyard, New York, near that of his friend Thomas Addis Emmet.
Doctor Quackenbos, in spite of his name, a young physician in good repute.
“The Forum.”—A society of young and promising lawyers and others emulating the “Speculative Society” of Edinburgh. Their meetings for debate were public, and drew flattering and fashionable audiences.
Stanza 54.—Doctor John L. Graham.—The Nestor of the New-York bar. His legal merits had gained him the diploma of Doctor of Laws. He was among the last of the gentlemen of the “old school,” and remarkable for the courtesy and dignity of his manners.
Stanza 55.—Doctor George T. Horne.—An advertising physician of New-York City. The motto at the head of his advertisements was “Salus Populi Suprema Lex.”
Stanza 60.—Samuel Wordsworth, etc.—Popular authors of the period, then and previously beginning and honorable literary career.
Stanzas 64 and 65.—“General Laight’s Brigade of State Militia.”—A “corps d’armée” quite distinct from the uniformed volunteer companies of the time, and one that Falstaff “would not march through Coventry with.” Its officers were the young aristocracy of the city, but its soldiers were men or boys, who, either from choice or necessity, declined paying a fine of twenty-five dollars for non-attendance on parade days—three times a year—the penalty imposed by the then existing militia law.
Stanza 66.—Monsieur Charles.—The travelling magician and conjurer of the time.
Ambrose Spencer.—Then Chief Justice of the State, a judge universally respected for integrity and ability in the discharge of his official duties, but accused by his political opponents of exercising in party politics a controlling power injurious to their interests.
Mead’s “Wall Street,” a drama whose characters were designed to be played by stock actors only.
Stanza 71.—Tammany Hall, corner of Nassau and Frankfort Streets.—Then the home of the “Saint Tammany Society,” whose members still claim to represent, par excellence, the Democratic part of the country in its pristine purity. Their once famous appellation of “Bucktails” (see stanza 83), was derived from their custom of wearing, when on duty, a deer’s tail in their hats as a badge of membership. Among their leading Sachems were William Mooney (stanza 78) and John Targee (see stanza 72, etc.). The latter gentleman, from his steadfast refusal to accept a money-making office in the gift of the society, an example of self-denial previously unrecorded in their annals, became a sort of mythical personage, like Shakespeare’s “Cuckoo in June,” “ne’er seen but wondered at.” The fact, however, enlarged upon in stanzas 73, etc., of his political and musical intimacy with Tom Moore, is one that, in the newspaper phrase, wants confirmation. The Tammany Hall of 1819 is now known as the Sun Building, the Society having erected a more spacious edifice in Fourteenth Street, formally opened of the Fourth of July, 1868. Here the Democratic Convention was held which nominated Horatio Seymour, of New York, for President, and Francis P. Plair, Jr., of Missouri, as their candidate for the Vice-Presidency of the United States.
Song, Page 124.—William B. Cozzens.—Then the proprietor of the “Tammany Hall Hotel”—more recently of the princely establishment at West Point known by his name, and now conducted by his son.
Stanza 81.—Sylvani’s Miller.—An active and influential party leader, for many years surrogate of the city, and a gentleman who was never seen without his inseparable companion—a cigar. As a smoker, he even excelled General Grant.
Stanza 84.—Judge Skinner and Mr. McIntyre.—Members of the State Senate. The one a political opponent of Governor Clinton, the other of ex-Governor Daniel D. Tompkins.
Stanza 86.—Henry Meigs and Peter H. Wendover.—Members of Congress from the city. The former one of the original founders of the “American Institute,” and for a long time its secretary. To the latter is owing the invention of the present legal arrangement of the stars and stiped in the United States flag.
Stanza 90.—Captain Riley’s book.—A somewhat Munchausen-like narrative of his shipwreck on the coast of Africa.
Stanza 91.—“Delaplaine’s Repository.”—A biographical work published in Philadelphia, valuable for its engraved portraits of the most distinguished men of the day.
Stanza 92.—Daniel D. Tompkins.—Then a resident of Staten Island.
Stanza 93.—“The Turtle Club.”—From New York, whose frequent open-air festivities, at Hoboken, were devoted to punch and politics.
Stanza 107.—Simon Thomas.—A man of color, the orthodox and omnipresent caterer for fashionable dinner and supper parties.
Stanza 114.—Thomas Whale.—An eminent dancing-master, and a fine specimen of the old-school gentleman. He always appeared in knee-breeches and silk stockings, and was a constant reader at the Society Library, of which venerable institution he was a member.
Stanza 116.—Edmund Simpson and James W. Wallack, managers of the city theatres, and actors highly esteemed, then and now.
Stanza 118.—The “Croakers”—see note, page 377.
“Woodworth’s Cabinet.”—A periodical conducted by the poet of the name.
The “New Salmagundi.”—A continuation, by James K. Paulding, of a work under a similar title, published in 1808, the joint production of himself and his friend Washington Irving.
Stanza 124.—Madame Bouquet and Monsieur Pardessus.—The fasionable milliner and ladies’ slipper-maker of the day.
Stanza 138.—Mr. R. P. Lawrence.—A coach-maker in John Street.
Stanza 140.—De Witt Clinton.—Governor of the State of New York.
Stanza 141.—“Eastburn’s Rooms,” in the building occupied by James Eastburn & Co., booksellers and publishers, on the corner of Broadway and Pine Street—a favorite resort of men of letters and leisure. Bishop Eastburn, of the Episcopal Church, and James W. Eastburn, the young poet, who died at twenty-two, are sons of the worthy bookseller, for whom Mr. Halleck entertained a great friendship, and to whose reading-room he was a constant visitor.
Stanza 144.—The “Lyceum of Natural History.”—An association of men of science, and patronized by the most highly cultivated of the city scholars, still existing.
Stanza 172.—The “Council of Appointment” at Albany.—Then an important department of the State government, abolished upon the revision of the Constitution in 1821, having become a notorious political machine.
Stanza 173.—Colonel Aaron Burr, then Vice-President of the United States, the theme of one of the most interesting episodes in American history.
THE RECORDER.
(1) Page 161.—Richard Riker.—The Recorder of the city at the date of the poem. A gentleman of great merit, who had previously filled, and continued to fill through life, offices of the highest trust. In the poem he is sportively made to appear, not in his excellent and estimable personal character, but as the “burden of a merry song”—the embodied representative of a party leader, and of party men in general, in their proverbial obnoxiousness. Like the scape-goat of antiquity, he is forced to bear the sins of others, not his own, and is “sent out into the wilderness of criticism,” with a heavy load of them upon his innocent shoulders. In the duel alluded to on page 162, which took place early in his political career, the result of a political difference of opinion between him and his antagonist, General Robert Swartwout, Mr. Riker was slightly wounded.
(2) Page 165.—A sculptor, rather mechanical than artistic, famous, for a time, for moulding the busts of notorious men into the immortality of plaster in lieu of marble.
(3) Page 165.—“Garden Flowers.”—An allusion to those of Mr. William Prince, near Flushing, Long Island.
(4) Page 169.—A favorite French air. In English, “Where can one be more happy than in the bosom of one’s family?”
(5) Page 169.—Nathaniel Pitcher, then Governor of the State, accused, in like manner, of being under the political control of Martin Van Buren, then on his way to the presidency of the United States.
(6) Page 169.—“Burgundy and Business.”—Mr. Riker was a director in the Tradesmen’s Bank, and “ex officio” a visitor to the Sing-Sing Prison, the Bellevue Hospital, etc., and was accused, by his party opponents, of making the civic and social meetings there, of himself and his colleagues, subservient to party purposes.
(7) Page 169.—The “Pewter Mug.”—The sign conspicuous over the door of a tavern in Frankfort Street, in the rear of Tammany Hall, the frequent resort of politicians in general, and of the Tammany-Hall party in particular.
(8) Page 170.—An allusion to Philip Hone, then the late Mayor of the city, recently, by the party rule of rotation, displaced from an office in which for several preceding years he had won, by his conduct as an upright magistrate, and a noble and generous man, “honor, love, obedience, troops of friends,” from the highest as well as from the humblest of his constituents.
(10) Page 172.—Stephen Allen, Benjamin Bailey, and John Targee, prominent members of the Tammany Society. Mr. Allen became in after-years Mayor of the city.
(11) Page 173.—Signorina Garcia, then attached to her father’s opera company, soon after to become the world-renowned and lamented cantatrice.
THE CROAKERS.
(1) Page 253.—A signature adopted by Halleck and Drake, from an amusing character in Goldsmith’s comedy of “The Good-natured Man,” and attached to a series of verses appearing from time to time in the New-York Evening Post, and in other periodicals, in and after the month of March, 1819. The letters H. and D. represent the names of Fitz-Greene Halleck and Joseph Rodman Drake, and indicate the respective authorship of the poems.
(2) Page 255.—Fitz and Lang, the names abbreviated of Fitz-Greene Halleck and Dr. William Langstaff, intimate friends of the writer, and in daily intercourse with him. The latter studied medicine with Drs. Bruce and Romayne, Drake and DeKay being fellow-pupils. Langstaff not being successful as a physician, his friend Henry Eckford aided him in establishing an apothecary and drug store at No. 360 Broadway, which business he carried on for many years. By the liberality of the same gentleman Langstaff accompanied Dr. and Mrs. Drake in their tour through Europe in 1818.
(3) Page 255.—“Lady Morgan and Madame De Stael.”—The “France” of the one, and the “French Revolution” of the other, had been recently published.
(4) Page 256.—“Guardsmen,” the Governor’s Guard.—A company of young gentlemen, in scarlet and gold, commanded by James B. Murray, then an active and able young merchant; in after-life an alderman of the city, and among her most public-spirited magistrates.
(5) Page 256.—“Altorf.”—A drama founded on the tradition of William Tell, and unsuccessfully played at the Park Theatre. Its author, Miss Fanny Wright, a Scottish lady, was for a time a public lecturer on morals and religion, from a somewhat infidel point of view. Her chief theme was “just knowledge,” which she pronounced “joost nolidge.”
(6) Page 256.—“Spooner and Baldwin,” editors of newspapers, the one in Brooklyn, the other in New York. The former had quoted in his columns the three words alluded to from the chorus to a song, to the tune of “Yankee Doodle,” gracing a comic and comical opera, entitled the “Saw-mill”—the work of Mr. Micah Hawkins, a merry and musical genius from Long Island—performed once, and, I believe, but once, at the Chatham Garden Theatre.
(7) Page 256.—Chief-Justice Marshall, of the United States Supreme Court, whose recent decision had denied the validity of the New-York State Insolvent Laws.
(8) Page 257.—General Jackson, since President of the United States, on his first visit to New York. At the dinner with which he was welcomed (see the “Secret Mine”) by the Tammany Society, its Grand Sachem, Mr. Mooney, eloquently assured him that, at the announcement of his intended visit, the hearts of its members had “expanded to explosion.” In reply to which the General gave as a toast, “De Witt Clinton, the Governor of the great and patriotic State of New York.” As a large proportion of the guests were bitterly opposed to Mr. Clinton in politics, a compliment so flattering to him alike surprised and annoyed them. The gentlemen named in the verses were all prominent leaders in the two adverse parties, and designated, by their approval or non-approval of the toast, their party attachments.
(9) Page 257.—John Wesley Jarvis, the popular portrait-painter of the day, a favorite of his patrons and of many social circles for his genial drollery of song and story. Most of the portraits of our officers, civil and military, then winning honorable distinction, and now gracing our public halls and chambers, we owe to his admired and admirable pencil. Halleck’s portrait, painted by Jarvis for Dr. DeKay (now in the possession of Drake’s daughter, Mrs. Commodore DeKay), is by many esteemed the best likeness we have of the poet.
(10) Page 257.—Bartholomew Skaats, or “Barty Skaats,” as he was familiarly known—superintendent and curator of the City Hall, and for many years crier of the courts which were held in the old City Hall in Wall Street.
(11) Page 260.—“Aleck,” the name of Alexander Hamilton abbreviated, a member of the Legislature at the time, and especially opposed to Mr. Clinton; the eldest son of the illustrious soldier and statesman of the same name, whose death, a few years previous, in the duel with Colonel Burr, had put the hearts of his countrymen in mourning.
(13) Page 262.—Charles King.—The lately lost and lamented president of Columbia College; her model of an accomplished scholar and gentleman. In early life an aide to a military commander.
Robert Bayard.—A young officer in a similar military position. He was one of the firm of Le Roy, Bayard, and McEvers, prominent merchants of New York, and a brother-in-law of the late General Stephen Van Rensselaer. Mr. Bayard is still a resident of this city.
(14) Page 263.—“Samuel Swartwout” (see previous note).—He was for a time the proprietor of the meadows between Weehawken and Jersey City.
(15) Page 264.—“Mr. Potter.”—Then exhibiting his powers as a ventriloquist in Washington Hall, corner of Broadway and Chambers Street, where A. T. Stewart’s store now stands.
(16) Page 264.—Levi Robbins, Erastus Root, Peter Sharpe, Obadiah German, and Ezekiel Bacon, members of the New-York Legislature, and leading politicians.
(17) Page 265.—“Abraham B. Martling.”—The proprietor of the Tammany-Hall Hotel, and successor of Barty Skaats as the keeper of the City Hall.
(18) Page 265.—Sylvanus Miller, Surrogate.—See previous note to “Fanny,” on page 374.
(19) Page 266.—“Woodworth’s Chronicle.”—A periodical conducted by that popular poet for a brief period.
(20) Page 266.—William Coleman.—The editor of the New-York Evening Post. He died during the summer of 1829.
(21) Page 267.—Mrs. John Barnes appeared for the last time in Philadelphia, July 25, 1851, as Lady Randolph, which character she sustained with almost undiminished excellence.
(22) Page 267.—Miss Catherine Leesugg, afterward Mrs. James H. Hackett and Mrs. Barnes. As ladies and actresses, well meriting the poet’s eulogiums, and highly estimated in public and private life.
(23) Page 267.—Olliff, etc.—Actors of merit in various departments of their profession.
(24) Page 268.—The national painting, “The Declaration of Independence,” by Colonel Trumbull.
(25) Page 269.—Jacob Sherred.—A wealthy painter and glazier.
(26) Page 270.—A public meeting concerning the enlargement of the Battery, over which Lewis Hartman, a politician of some note, and Charles King, presided. Thomas R. Mercein and Robert Bogardus were lawyers of distinction, James Lent was city Register, and Edward McGaraghan a magistrate.
(27) Page 272.—Nathaniel Prime.—A wealthy and worthy banker of the house of Prime, Ward & Sands, in Wall Street.
(28) Page 273.—Rufus King, then recently chosen United-States Senator from the State of New York, an eminent statesman and diplomatist.
(29) Page 273.—“Mr. Hamilton’s Letter.”—See previous note for that gentleman’s position.
(30) Page 276.—“The Surgeon-General.”—An office held by Doctor Mitchill.—See previous references to him.
(31) Page 277.—See previous note to “Fanny,” page 374.
(32) Page 278.—John Minshull.—An Englishman by birth, who was a butt of the critics of the day. His plays were performed at the Park Theatre, and afterward published.
| (33) Page 279.— | “So have I seen in gardens rich and rare Paulding’s “Backwoodsman,” Book II. |
(34) Page 282.—“Charley Macheath.”—In which character in the Beggars’ Opera the celebrated English singer, Mr. Charles Incledon, during his engagement some time previous at the Park Theatre, had been favorably received.
(35) Page 283.—William Niblo.—The proprietor of the then most popular hotel and restaurant in New York, on the corner of William and Pine Streets, and still a highly-respected resident of this city.
(37) Page 284.—Mr. Lang.—See previous notes. The words in italics are quotations from his paper, The New-York Gazette.
(38) Page 286.—“Feds,” etc.—The assumed or imputed titles of various party factions at war with each other.
(39) Page 288.—John Barnes, a comedian of much excellence, the great favorite of laughter-loving audiences, and the husband of the lady mentioned in notes 21 and 22.
(40) Page 290.—Tenth-Ward Electors.—Those composing a party in opposition for a short time to the regular nominees at Tammany Hall.
(41) Page 292.—The Surgeon-General, Doctor Samuel L. Mitchill.
(42) Page 303.—Mrs. Poppleton, the fashionable confectioner at No. 206 Broadway.
(43) Page 303.—Messrs. Christian, china and glass dealers in Maiden Lane.
(44) Page 304.—Nathaniel Leavenworth.—A young gentleman of fortune and fashion, recently returned from his travels abroad, then residing at 30 Greenwich Street, which, strange as it may now appear, was fifty years ago a fashionable place of residence.
(45) Page 306.—William Cobbett.—The career of this very powerful writer and political agitator, here and in England, is too prominent in the records of both countries to be other than slightly mentioned. At the time of the appearance of the verses, he was a resident of Hempstead, Long Island.
(46) Page 306.—George Barrington, the celebrated burglar and light-fingered gentleman. The line is said to have been written by him when a convict at Botany Bay.
(47) Page 309.—The Forum.—See previous note. Mr. Hallett and Mr. Dey were young lawyers. Mr. Dey afterward became a clergyman. The career of Napoleon, and Turkish social life, were among their subjects of debate.
(48) Page 311.—James L. Bell, the High Sheriff of the County.
(49) Page 311.—Robert Dawson, the keeper of a livery stable at No. 9 Dey Street.
(50) Page 311.—A. T. Goodrich & Co., booksellers at the corner of Broadway and Cedar Street, who kept a popular circulating library.
(51) Page 312.—Chester Jennings, the lessee of the City Hotel, on Broadway, between Cedar and Thames Streets.
(52) Page 314.—For nearly half a century, Cato Alexander kept a house of entertainment on the old post-road, about four miles from the City Hall. It was the fashionable out-of-town resort for the young men of the day.
(53) Page 314.—The Baron Von Hoffman.—An adventurer styling himself a Dutch nobleman of high distinction, and by the fashionable circles courted and caressed accordingly, until detected as an impostor. “A fish can as veil live out of water as I can live out of de ladies,” was a favorite remark of the bogus baron, who came very near winning the hand of a noted New-York belle and heiress. Among his attempts at notoriety was that of shooting at himself with the wad of a pistol. He soon after disappeared from New York, and when last heard from was at Morrison’s Hotel, Dublin, quietly luxuriating in the blaze of his fame.
(54) Page 314.—Two lamps, or gaslights, are always placed before the door of the house occupied by a Mayor of New-York City.
(55) Page 316.—“Mr. German.”—From a speech of his when a member of the Legislature.
(56) Page 317.—John McLean.—A judge of the county court in the town of “Junius,” recently appointed by Governor Clinton.
(57) Page 319.—“Lines to Mr. Simpson.”—A twofold knowledge, that of the then acted plays, and of the personal peculiarities of the political gentlemen named, is requisite for the understanding and enjoying of these verses. For many of the names, and for the existing Council of Appointment, see previous notes. Among them, Peter R. Livingston was distinguished for persuasive and genial oratory, Charles Christian and James Warner were police justices, Pierre C. Van Wyck was City Recorder, and Hugh Maxwell City Attorney. Barent Gardenier was a member of Congress. He was renowned for a time as an eloquent speaker, and is noticed for all time in that matchless specimen of the pleasantry of genius, the “Knickerbocker” of Washington Irving.
The “Steamboat Bill.”—The members who had voted a tax on passengers on board the North- River boats.
(58) Page 319.—John Joseph Holland, the scene-painter of the theatre.
(59) Page 323.—Christian Baehr, a fashionable Wall-Street tailor.
(60) Page 323.—Stephen Bates, etc., were members of the Legislature; Tunis Wortman, etc., city judges and lawyers of party eminence.
(61) Page 328.—This amusing burlesque address, first published in the New-York Evening Post, was included in a small volume containing the Rejected Addresses, together with the prize address, written by Charles Sprague, and spoken by Edmund Simpson, on the reopening of the Park Theatre, September 1st, 1821.
(62) Page 329.—Messrs. John K. Beekman and John Jacob Astor were joint proprietors of the Park Theatre. The former, from his love of theatricals, was familiarly known as “Theatre Jack.”
(63) Page 329.—Isaac Jennings, was a well-known dealer in old clothes, and George Saunders was a fashionable wig-maker.
(64) Page 330.—The President, James Monroe, had a short time previously made a tour through the Middle and Eastern States.
(65) Page 330.—Henry Meigs, when a member of Congress, had advocated the admission of Missouri into the Union, on Southern terms.
(66) Page 331.—William Reynolds, the proprietor of a celebrated English ale-house in Thames Street, in the rear of the City Hotel. He pronounced Mr. Halleck the only gentleman that ever came into his house, “because he never interferes with my fire.”
(67) Page 333.—Mr. Byrne, a dancer from Paris, was performing at the Park Theatre.
(68) Page 333.—Mr. Turner and Mr. Magenis were public lecturers in the rooms of the City Hotel.
(69) Page 334.—James W. Wallack and Mrs. Bartley were great favorites with the theatre-goers of that day. The melologue referred to in the poem was written for Mrs. B. by Thomes Moore.
(70) Page 335.—Doctor Horne and Doctor Gideon de Angelis, well-known advertising physicians. The latter’s Four-herb Pills were announced as a panacea for all the diseases that flesh is heir to.
(71) Page 338.—Captain Ogden Creighton, an officer in the British service, and a brother of the late Rev. Dr. Creighton, of Tarrytown.
(72) Page 342.—John R. Livingston.—A wealthy gentleman, who dispensed liberal hospitalities both at his city residence and at his country-seat on the Hudson. Among the notabilities whom he entertained at the latter place was the Prince of Saxe–Weimar, who visited the United States in 1825–’26. Mr. Livingston was a brother of the Chancellor, and at one time a member of the New-York Assembly.
(73) Page 342.—Thomas A. Cooper.—The celebrated actor, and for a time manager of the Park Theatre. His daughter married a son of President Tyler, who gave him an appointment in the New-York Custom-House, which he held for several years.
(75) Page 342.—The Right Rev. John Henry Hobart, D. D., who, in 1811, was elected Bishop of the Diocese of New-York, and was consecrated in Trinity Church—where a full-length effigy of him is to be seen—by Bishops White, Provost, and Jarvis. His episcopate lasted twenty-nine years.
(76) Page 342.—Philip Brasher.—A New-York alderman, a member of the Legislature for eight years, and a noted bon-vivant.
(77) Page 342.—James Buchanan.—For many years British Consul at New York, and bitterly opposed to Queen Caroline, wife of George the Fourth, by whom he was appointed to his office through the influence of his friend Lord Castlereagh. He died in 1851, at Montreal.
(78) Page 343.—Henry Cruger, a native of New York, was educated in England, where he became a successful merchant, and was, in 1774, elected to the British Parliament as the colleague of Edmund Burke. He returned to his native land on a visit in 1783, and seven years later became a permanent resident of this city. Upon the first senatorial election after his return, he was chosen to the State Senate. He died at his residence in Greenwich Street—then a fashionable locality—in 1827, in his eighty-eighth year.
(79) Page 343.—Morgan Lewis held many honorable positions, among which were those of Chief-Justice of the State, Governor, and the command of the forces destined for the defence of New York, with the rank of Major-General. In 1835 he was elected President of the New-York Historical Society. He lived to the same age as Lord Brougham, of whom he was a great admirer.
(80) Page 343.—Montgomery Livingstone, a son of the gentleman whose entertainment is described by the poet.
(81) Page 343.—Captain J. R. Nicholson, a gallant officer, who served under Decatur; like Halleck, a bachelor, and, like his poet-friend, always an admirer of, and admired by, the ladies.
(82) Page 349.—James E. DeKay was educated a physician, but devoted himself from his early years to natural history, and, in the State Survey of New York, the Department of Zoology was assigned to him. It was through Dr. DeKay that Halleck and Drake became acquainted in the summer of 1815. He died August 8th, 1851, at his residence, Oyster Bay, Long Island.
(83) Page 349.—Mrs. Joseph Rodman Drake, wife of the poet, and daughter of Henry Eckford, the celebrated ship-builder, of New York.
(84) Page 349.—Miss Eliza McCall, a young lady of many accomplishments, and a charming singer, who was much admired by Halleck and Drake. Both the poets wrote songs for her. The beautiful lines by the former, “The world is bright before thee,” were written for Miss McCall, and Drake’s “Yes, Heaven protect thee,” and “Though fate upon this faded flower,” were also inscribed to the same young lady.
(85) Page 352.—Doctor David Hosack.—See previous notes.
(86) Page 352.—The college was originally a stable, on the walls of which a wag of a student inscribed these lines:
“Once a stable for horses,
Now a college for asses.”
(87) Page 352.—William Hamersley, Professor of Clinical Medicine, whose almost universal remedy for the cure of pulmonary consumption and heart disease was digitalis. Hence his sobriquet.
(88) Page 352.—Dr. Macnevan.—See note to “Fanny,” page 373.
(89) Page 352.—Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill.—See previous notes.
(90) Page 354.—Baron Von Hoffman. The New-York Evening Post, of June 12, 1823, says: “Baron Von Hoffman of Sirony, who used to serenade our ladies with the Tyrolese air so merrily, under their windows in Broadway, a year or two ago, and one day took French leave of them all, now shows away as one of the ‘nobility and persons of distinction in Dublin.’”—Vide also note to the Croakers, No. 53.
(91) Page 354.—James Burnham kept a famous hostelry on the Bloomingdale road, still extant. Few New Yorkers of the past fifty years are unacquainted with “Burnham’s,” which was for many years as well known and popular as Cato’s, already referred to in another note.
(92) Page 355.—Carlo, the Baron’s colored groom.
(93) Page 357.—The North Dutch Church.—The only fane at the State capital that could then boast of two spires.
(94) Page 359.—The “Court of Death,” which the Common Council of New York pronounced an effort of uncommon genius, deserving the patronage of an enlightened public.
(96) Page 362.—Clarkson Crolius, Speaker of the State Assembly at Albany, and for many years Grand Sachem of the Tammany Society.
(97) Page 363.—Colonel Charles G. Haines and the others mentioned were zealous and devoted partisans of De Witt Clinton.
