ened
the buckle that did the office of suspenders, he squinted along the guns,
with a certain air that served to assure the spectators he had at least no
dread of the recoil.

Alderman Van Beverout was a personage far too important, not to be known
by most of those who frequented the goodly town of which he was a civic
officer. His presence, therefore, among the men, not a few of whom were
natives of the colony, had a salutary effect; some yielding to the
sympathy which is natural to a hearty and encouraging example, while it is
possible there were a few that argued less of the danger, in consequence
of the indifference of a man who, being so rich, had so many motives to
take good care of his person. Be this as it might, the burgher was
received by a cheer which drew a short but pithy address from him, in
which he exhorted his companions in arms to do their duty, in a manner
which should teach the Frenchmen the wisdom of leaving that coast in
future free from annoyance; while he wisely abstained from all the
commonplace allusions to king and country,--a subject to which he felt his
inability to do proper justice.

"Let every man remember that cause for courage, which may be most
agreeable to his own habits and opinions," concluded this imitator of the
Hannibals and Scipios of old; "for that is the surest and the briefest
method of bringing his mind into an obstinate state. In my own case, there
is no want of motive; and I dare say each one of you may find some
sufficient reason for entering heart and hand into this battle. Protests
and credit! what would become of the affairs of the best house in the
colonies, were its principal to be led a captive to Brest or l'Orient? It
might derange the business of the whole city. I'll not offend your
patriotism with such a supposition, but at once believe that your minds
are resolved, like my own, to resist to the last; for this is an interest
which is general, as all questions of a commercial nature become, through
their influence on the happiness and prosperity of society."

Having terminated his address in so apposite and public-spirited a manner,
the worthy burgher hemmed loudly, and resumed his accustomed silence,
perfectly assured of his own applause. If the matter of Myndert's
discourse wears too much the air of an unvided attention to his own
interests, the reader will not forget it is by this concentration of
individuality that most of the mercantile prosperity of the wo