... ... 3 363 Black Rock... Buffalo Two-thirds of the above are very small places, consisting only of a dozen or so of frame or log houses; the great majority of them, nevertheless, being doubtless the nucleus or embryos of extensive towns. The canal, about one-half of its route, is formed through the primeval forest. The concatenation of English, Scotch, American, Indian, Mexican, ancient, modern, classic, sacred, profane, Chinese, French, German, Sicilian, Dutch, Turkish, and original names in the above list, are amusing enough. Like Mosaic work, it attracts attention, as much by its variety as its use, and, for amusement's sake, may as well be analyzed by negatives as by affirmatives, as follows: At Black Rock I saw no spires, steamers, or smoke, from Liverpool; at Pendleton, no pole; at Palmyra, no dates, priors, or ruins; at Lyons, no silk; at Clyde, neither Glasgow nor Greenock; at Montezuma, no patient, patriotic emperor; at Holley, no curate, or christmas-boxt, or Foxt; at Port Byron, no Childe Harold, Don Juan, Ada, or Pedrillo; at Jordan, no miracle; at Canton, no crape; at Syracuse, neither Dromio nor Antipholis, massacres, masses, matins, or vespers; at Orville, no lord; at Canistota, no Indian chief; at Mohawk, no tomahawk; at Rome, no Romulus or Remus, Cæsar, Cataline, or consul, Leo, Boniface, young Napoleon, or ruination; at Utica, no Cato; at Frankfort, no fair, though plenty of females; at Amsterdam, no droll Dutch dolls; at Troy, no siege, Priam, Hector, or Andromache; at Schenectady, no blue ruin, otherwise Holland's gin; at Albany, no Duke of York. At Albany, where I slept, the state legislature was in session, but had adjourned before our arrival for dinner. An amusing satire was published on its proceedings at New York, in June, 1828, entitled, "A Guide to the Springs of Saratoga; by an amateur-Adieu, la boutique," in which he says: Albany is the capital of the State of New York, having been the seat of government for about half a century; formerly the Legislature met in New York, but in process of time it was discovered that the members being seduced into huge feedings, by the attraction of oysters, turtle, and calves' head soup, did incontinently fall asleep at their afternoon session, and enact divers mischievous laws, to the great detriment of the community; therefore, they resolved to remove to Albany; but alas! luxury and dissipation followed in their train, so that in process of time, they fell asleep oftener than ever, and passed other laws, which nothing but their being fast asleep, could excuse. In my opinion, it would tend greatly to the comfort of the community, and go far to prevent this practice of legislating with the eyes shut, if these bodies were to meet in council like the Indians, under trees, in the open air, and be obliged to legislate standing. This would prevent one man from talking all the rest to sleep-unless they slept like geese, standing on one leg-and thereby arrest the passing of many mischievous laws, for mending rivers, mending manners, mending charters, mending codes, making roads, making beasts of burthen of the people, and fools of themselves. Truly, saith the wise man, 'too much of a good thing is good for nothing,' and too much legislation is a sly, insidious oppression; the more mischievous as coming in the disguise of powers, exercised by the servants, instead of the masters, of the people. Commend me to king log rather than to king stork. Every legislative body, in my opinion, should have a majority of good, honest, sleepy, patriotic members, whose pleasure it is to do nothing a great portion of the time during the session: your active men are highly mischievous in a government, they must always be doing something, meddling with every body's concerns, and so busy keeping the wheels of government going, that they don't care how many people they run over; they are like millstones in motion, when they have no grist to grind, will set one another on fire. In my opinion, the most useful member that ever sat in Congress, was one, who never in his life made any motion, except for an adjournment, which he repeated every day just before dinner time. Truly, the energy and activity of a blockhead is awful." 30TH OCTOBER TO 7TH NOVEMBER. Stayed four days at the public end of the City Hotel, New York, and three days in going to and from, and staying one day in Long Island, at a village, with the Indian name Pachogue, (pronounced Patchhog.) On the 3rd November I went there. We left Brooklyn at nine, a. m., and at twelve arrived at Jamaica, twelve miles; proceeded thence through Islip to Babylon, twenty-eight miles further, which we reached at six, p. m. The coachman drove one team, of four horses, tacked to a wretched tub the whole forty miles, and we had, the greatest part of the way, twelve inside passengers, and an immense quantity of luggage. The road, of course, was good, dry, and level. The weeping willows, we passed in abundance, looked equally beautiful, pendulous, and pensive, the most graceful trees I ever saw, well worth a voyage from England to examine, superior in grace almost to ostrich feathers. |