His affirmative answer, with proofs of its sincerity, was a sufficient passport. They pryed not into private opinion or belief ; and bigotry could not take root and flourish in a soil so inimical to its growth. The inhabitants were industrious, thi'ifty, simple in manners and living, hospitable, neighbourly, and honest ; and all enjoyed as full a share of human happiness as a mild despotism would allow, until the interloping "Yankees " from the Puritan settlements, and the conquering, overbearing English,

* The harbour of New York was discovered by Hudson in September, 1609. It is supposed to have been entered twenty-five years earlier, by Verrazani, a Florentine. Traders speedily came after the discovery was proclaimed, and established a trading-house at Albany. In 1*13, Captain Block buill a ship near the Bowling Green, to replace the one in which he sailed from Holland, and which was accidentally burnt. A Dutch West India Company was formed in 1621, with all the elementary powers of government. Their charter gave them territorial dominion, and the country, called New Netherland, was made a county of Holland. The seal bore the representation of a beaver rampant-- an animal very valuable for its fur, and then abundant. The seal of the city of New York (seen in the engraving) has the beaver in one of its quartermgs. New Amsterdam remained in tlie possession of the Dutch until 1664, when it was surrendered into the hands of the English, on demand being made, in the presence of