The plan of the work is to a large extent novel -- the grouping of so many representative writei-s, to tell so interesting a storj' as that of the origin, career and significance of Westchester County, has no parallel in the history of any other county in the United States. To present the principal historical phases of the several towns, and the county's life and development, together with the traces of previous occupation and the natural history of the county, the various chapters were assigned to writers, most of them well known in their respective spheres, and some of them of national reputation, who, from study and association, were in a measure identified with their subjects. Their treatment of these topics is such that what they have written may be taken as the best comprehensive expression of existing knowledge, put together with that authority which comes from special study. In the diversity of authors there will, of course, be variety of opinions, and it hsis not been thought ill-judged, considering the different points of view assumed by the various writers, that the same events should be interpreted sometimes in varj'ing, and perhaps opposite, ways. The chapters may thus make good the poet's description, --

"Distinct as the billows, yet one as the sea," --

and may not be the Avorse for each offering a reflection, according to its turn to the light, without marring the unity of the general expanse. The Editor has endeavored to prevent any unnecessary repetitions, and to provide against serious omissions of what might naturally be expected in a history of its kind. In more than one instance he has been constrained by his deference to local authority upon strictly local subjects, and by yielding to the testimony of experts in matters which they alone are supposed to know thoroughly, to hold back his own judgment in regard to certain subjects, and permit the local writer and the expert to tell the whole story their own way.