ead,
and it was he who affirmed that the greatest sight he had ever beheld in
this country, was the illustrious Hamilton, with his pile of books under
his arms, proceeding to the court-room in the old City Hall, in order to
obtain a livelihood, by expounding the law, and vindicating the rights of
his clients.

Here too is the spot where, some short while after, the antics of the
Osage tribe of Indians were displayed for the admiration of the belles and
beaux of New-York, and on that occasion my old colleague, Dr. Mitchill,
gave translations into English of their songs and war-whoop sounds, for
the increased gratification of the literary public of that day, when
Indian literature stood not so high as in these times of Congressional
appropriation, and of Henry Schoolcraft, the faithful and patriotic
expositor of the red-man's excellences. I think I am safe in saying, also,
that near these grounds occurred the execution of Young, a play-actor,
convicted of murder--a remarkable event in New-York annals, owing to
peculiar circumstances which marked his imprisonment in our old jail, now
converted into the Hall of Records. There were, about the period to which
I now refer, other occurrences of singular influence in those days.

Crowther and Levi Weeks were both confined in this debased prison because
of high crimes, and many were incarcerated for debt. There was,
nevertheless, an atmosphere of some intellect immolated within its cells;
and for the first, and I believe the only time in this country, a
newspaper was issued for some months' duration from its walls, entitled
_The Prisoner of Hope_. The Wilberforce impulse of that crisis had much to
do with the movement; and no abolition paper of even later dates plead
more earnestly in behalf of enslaved humanity, by graphic illustrations
and literary talent, than did _The Prisoner of Hope_. At that day, many
newspapers had their specific motto, and that of _The Prisoner of Hope_
was in these words:

Soft, smiling Hope--thou anchor of the mind;
The only comfort that the wretched find;
All look to thee when sorrow wrings the heart,
To heal, by future prospect, present smart.

Naturalists tell us that this eligible site was once characterized by the
graceful foliage of the pride of the American forests, the lofty
plane-tree, the _platanus occidentalis_. It must further increase our
interest in the spot, to be assured that through its shades strolled our
Franklin, in com