army, he was commanding all the forces upon the Hudson River, which were opposing the attempts of Sir Henry Clinton to reach the northern part of the State and relieve Burgoyne, hemmed in by Gates at Saratoga.  He was the ideal war governor—­unbuckling his sword in the court room, that he might take the oath of office, and returning, immediately after the simple form of his inauguration, to his command upon the Hudson River.

* * *

  A paradise of beauty in the light
  Poured by the sinking sun, the mountain glows
  In the soft summer evening.

  Alfred B. Street.

* * *

“The court house, standing opposite to us, and rebuilt upon its old foundations, and occupying, substantially, the same superficies of ground with its predecessors, recalls the dramatic scene where, surrounded by the council of safety, and in a square formed by two companies of soldiers, he was proclaimed Governor by Egbert Dumond, the sheriff of the county, reading his proclamation from the top of a barrel, and closing it with the words ‘God save the people,’ for the first time taking the place of ‘God save the King.’  The only building in any way connected with the civil foundation of this great State is still standing, and presents the same appearance that it did at the time of its erection, prior to the year 1690.  It was subsequently occupied by General Armstrong, who, while residing here for the better education of his children, in Kingston Academy, was appointed minister to France.  Aaron Burr, then in attendance upon court, spent an evening with General Armstrong, at his house, and, having observed the merit of sundry sketches, made inquiry with regard to, and interested himself in the fate of John Vanderlyn, who afterwards painted the Landing of Columbus in the Capitol, and Marius upon the Ruins of Carthage—­which attracted the attention of the elder Napoleon, and established Vanderlyn’s fame.  There are more than forty blue limestone houses of the general type found in Holland, still standing to-day, which were built before the revolutionary period, and many of them before the year 1700.”

* * *

  Are there no scenes to touch the poet’s soul,
    No deeds of arms to wake the lordly stream,
  Shall Hudson’s billows unregarded roll?

  Joseph Rodman Drake.

* * *

  River, oh river! upon thy tide
  Gaily the freighted vessels glide. 
  Would that thou thus couldst bear away
  The thoughts that burthen my weary day.

  Charles Fenno Hoffman.

* * *