Stanza 25.—John Bristed, an English gentleman, then recently arrived in America. He was a graduate of Oxford University, a highly accomplished scholar, and the author of several ably-written works on various topics, published in New York, among them the one entitled “The Resources of Great Britain in Time of Peace,” alluded to in stanza 141. He married a daughter of John Jacob Astor.
Stanza 29.—Monsieur Guillé, an aeronaut, recently from France, whose balloon ascensions, then a rare and exciting exhibition, had proved a failure.
Stanza 32.—David Gelston, the collector of the customs.
Stanza 38, etc.—De Witt Clinton, then Governor of the State of New York; Martin Van Buren, then its Attorney-General, afterward President of the United States; and Daniel D. Tompkins, Vice-President of the United States. These prominent and popular statesmen require no introduction to the reader.
Stanza 39, etc.—The “National Advocate,” a daily newspaper, conducted by Mordecai M. Noah, a veteran editor, highly distinguished in the political strife of words, for wielding, alike powerfully and playfully, the pen of a “ready writer.” As the champion of a party (his party, for the time being), he was a faithful friend and a formidable antagonist. He was favorably known as the author of an interesting book of travels in Europe, etc., and of several dramas successful on the stage.
“Pell’s Polite Review.”—A political pamphlet, by Ferris Pell, and enterprising young lawyer and politician.
Stanza 47.—Christian Baehr, one of the fashionable tailors of the period, and a colonel in the militia.
Stanza 51.—S. & M. Allen and Waite & Co. (see stanza 55), dealers in lottery tickets.
“The Academy of Arts.”—A society of artists and amateurs, among whose presiding officers and patrons, Doctor Hosack, John G. Bogart (see stanza 49), and Colonel Trumbull, the celebrated painter, were honorably conspicuous. On the formation, soon after, of the present “National Academy of the Arts of Design,” it ceased to exist.
Stanza 52.—“Cullen’s Magnesian Shop.”—A soda-water, etc., establishment, on the corner of Broadway and Park Place, rivalled in its embellishments by the cottage of Mr. Gautier, at Hoboken, near the ferry.
“The Euterpian Society.”—An association of amateur musicians occasionally giving public concerts.
