 | The works of Washington Irving |  |
DOLPH HEYLIGER.
All Kilborn be my witness, if I were not
Begot in bashfulness, brought up in shamefacedness;
Let 'un bring a dog but to my vace that can
Zay I have beat 'un, and without a vault;
Or bat a cat will swear upon a hook,
I have as much as zet a vire her tail,
And I'll give him or her a crown for 'mends."
Tale of a Tob.
In the early time of the province of
New York, while it groaned under the
tyranny of the English governor, Lord
Cornbury, who carried his cruelties towards
the Dutch inhabitants so far as to
allow no Dominie, or schoolmaster, to
officiate in their language, without his
special license; about this time, there lived
in the jolly, little old city of the Manhattoes,
a kind motherly dame, known by
the name of Dame Heyliger. She was
the widow of a Dutch sea-captain, who
died suddenly of a fever, in consequence
of working too hard, and eating too
heartily, at the time when all the inhabitants
turned out in a panic, to fortify the
place against the invasion of a small
French privateer.[15]
He left her with
very little money, and one infant son,
the only survivor of several children.
The good woman had need of much
management to make both ends meet,
and keep up a decent appearance. However,
as her husband had fallen a victim
to his zeal for the public safety, it was
universally agreed that "something ought
to be done for the widow;" and on the
hopes of this "som