en the more anxious to delineate fully the person and
habits of Wouter Van Twiller, from the consideration that he was
not only the first but also the best governor that ever presided
over this ancient and respectable province; and so tranquil and
benevolent was his reign, that I do not find throughout the whole
of it a single instance of any offender being brought to
punishment,--a most indubitable sign of a merciful governor, and a
case unparalleled, excepting in the reign of the illustrious King
Log, from whom, it is hinted, the renowned Van Twiller was a lineal
descendant.

"The very outset of the career of this excellent magistrate was
distinguished by an example of legal acumen that gave flattering
presage of a wise and equitable administration. The morning after
he had been installed in office, and at the moment that he was
making his breakfast from a prodigious earthen dish, filled with
milk and Indian pudding, he was interrupted by the appearance of
Wandle Schoonhoven, a very important old burgher of New Amsterdam,
who complained bitterly of one Barent Bleecker, inasmuch as he
refused to come to a settlement of accounts, seeing that there was
a heavy balance in favor of the said Wandle. Governor Van Twiller,
as I have already observed, was a man of few words; he was likewise
a mortal enemy to multiplying writings--or being disturbed at his
breakfast. Having listened attentively to the statement of Wandle
Schoonhoven, giving an occasional grunt, as he shoveled a spoonful
of Indian pudding into his mouth,--either as a sign that he
relished the dish, or comprehended the story,--he called unto him
his constable, and pulling out of his breeches-pocket a huge
jack-knife, dispatched it after the defendant as a summons,
accompanied by his tobacco-box as a warrant.

"This summary process was as effectual in those simple days as was
the seal-ring of the great Haroun Alraschid among the true
believers. The two parties being confronted before him, each
produced a book of accounts, written in a language and character
that would have puzzled any but a High-Dutch commentator, or a
learned decipherer of Egyptian obelisks. The sage Wouter took them
one after the other, and having poised them in his hands, and
attentively counted over the number of le