f excellent works have been written about this country,
there are none extant which give any full and satisfactory account of the
early history of New York, or of its three first Dutch Governors. I have,
however, gained much valuable and curious matter from an elaborate
manuscript, written in exceeding pure and classic low Dutch, excepting a
few errors in orthography, which was found in the archives of the
Stuyvesant family. Many legends, letters, and other documents have I
likewise gleaned in my researches among the family chests and lumber
garrets of our respectable Dutch citizens; and I have gathered a host of
well-authenticated traditions from divers excellent old ladies of my
acquaintance, who requested that their names might not be mentioned. Nor
must I neglect to acknowledge how greatly I have been assisted by that
admirable and praiseworthy institution, the New York Historical Society,
to which I here publicly return my sincere acknowledgments.

In the conduct, of this inestimable work I have adopted no individual
model, but, on the contrary, have simply contented myself with combining
and concentrating the excellences of the most approved ancient historians.
Like Xenophon, I have maintained the utmost impartiality, and the
strictest adherence to truth throughout my history. I have enriched it,
after the manner of Sallust, with various characters of ancient worthies,
drawn at full length and faithfully colored. I have seasoned it with
profound political speculations like Thucydides, sweetened it with the
graces of sentiment like Tacitus, and infused into the whole the dignity,
the grandeur and magnificence of Livy.

I am aware that I shall incur the censure of numerous very learned and
judicious critics for indulging too frequently in the bold excursive
manner of my favorite Herodotus. And, to be candid, I have found it
impossible always to resist the allurements of those pleasing episodes,
which, like flowery banks and fragrant bowers, beset the dusty road of the
historian, and entice him to turn aside, and refresh himself from his
wayfaring. But I trust it will be found that I have always resumed my
staff, and addressed myself to my weary journey with renovated spirits, so
that both my readers and myself have been benefited by the relaxation.

Indeed, though it has been my constant wish and uniform endeavor to rival
Polybius himself, in observing the requisite unity of History, yet the
loose and unconnected m