Dec. 3L 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



643 



N. B. inquires whether the translation of 

 Psalm cxxvii. 2. adopted by Mr. Trench has 

 the sanction of" any version but that of Luther. 

 I beg leave to inform him that the passage was 

 translated in the same manner by Coverdale : 

 " For look, to whom it pleaseth Him He giveth 

 it in sleep." De Wette also, in modern times, has 

 *' Giebt er seinen Geliebten im Schlafe." 



Vatablus, in his Annotations, approves of such 

 a rendering : " Dabit in somno dilectis suis." It 

 has also been suggested in the notes of several 

 modern critics. 



Not one of the ancient versions sanctions this 

 translation. 



The sense of the passage will be much the same 

 whichever of these translations be adopted. But 

 the common rendering appears to me to harmonise 

 best with the preceding portion of it. S. D. 



MAJOR ANDEB. 



(Vol. viii., pp. 174. 604.) 



The following extracts and cuttings from news- 

 papers, relative to the unfortunate Major Andre, 

 may interest your correspondent Serviens. I 

 believe I have some others, which I will send when 

 I can lay my hand upon them. I inclose a pencil 

 copy of the scarce print of a sketch from a pen- 

 and-ink drawing, made by Andre himself on 

 Oct. 1, 1780, of his crossing the river when he 

 was taken : 



" Fisit to the Grave of Andre. — We stopped at 

 Piermont, on the widest part of Tappan Bay, where 

 the Hudson extends itself to the width of three miles. 

 On the opposite side, in full view from the hotel, is 

 Tarrytown, where poor Andre was captured. Tradition 

 says that a very large white-wood tree, under which he 

 was taken, was struck by lightning on tlie very day 

 that news of Andre's death was received at Tarrytown. 

 As I sat gazing on the opposite woods, dark in the 

 shadows of moonlight, I thought upon how very slight 

 a circumstance often depends the fate of individuals 

 and the destiny of nations. In the autumn of 1780, 

 a farmer chanced to be making cider at a mill on the 

 east bank of the Hudson, near that part of Haver- 

 straw Bay called 'Mother's Lap.' Two young men, 

 carrying muskets, as usual in those troubled times, 

 stopped for a draught of sweet cider, and seated them- 

 selves on a log to wait for it. The farmer found them 

 looking very intently on some distant object, and in- 

 quired wliat they saw. 'Hush, hush !' they replied; 

 * the red coats are yonder, just within the Lap,' pointing 

 to an English gun-boat, with twenty-four men, lying 

 on their oars. Behind the shelter of a rock, they fired 

 into the boat, and killed two persons. The British 

 returned a random shot ; but ignorant of the number 

 of their opponents, and seeing that it was useless to 

 waste ammunition on a hidden foe, they returned 

 whence they came with all possible speed. This boat 

 had been sent to convey Major Andre to the British 



sloop-of-war Vulture, then lying at anchor off Teller's 

 Point. Shortly after Andre arrived, and finding the 

 boat gone, he, in attempting to pass through the in- 

 terior, was captured. Had not those men stopped to 

 drink sweet cider, it is probable that Andre would not 

 have been hung; the American revolution might have 

 terminated in quite a different fashion ; men now 

 deified as heroes might have been handed down to 

 posterity as traitors; our citizens might be proud of 

 claiming descent from Tories, and slavery have been 

 abolish L'd eight years ago, by virtue of our being British 

 Colonies. So much may depend on a draught of cider ! 

 But would England herself have abolished slavery had 

 it not been for the impulse given to free principles by 

 the American revolution? Probably not. It is not 

 easy to calculate the consequences involved even in 

 a draught of cider, for no fact stands alone ; each has 

 infinite relations. A very pleasant ride at sunset 

 brought us to Orange Town, to the lone field where 

 Major Andre was executed. It is planted with potatoes, 

 but the plough spares the spot on which was once his 

 gallows and his grave. A rude heap of stones, with 

 the remains of a dead fir tree in the midst, are all that 

 mark it ; but tree and stones are covered with names. 

 It is on an eminence commanding a view of the country 

 for miles. I gazed on tlie surrounding woods, and 

 remembered that on this selfsame spot, the beautiful 

 and accomplished young man walked back and forth, 

 a few minutes precedinghis execution, taking an earnest 

 farewell look of earth and sky. My heart was sad 

 within me. Our guide pointed to a house in full view, 

 at half a mile's distance, which he told us was at that 

 time the head-quarters of General Washington. I turned 

 my back suddenly upon it. The last place on earth 

 where 1 would wish to think of Washington is at the 

 grave of Andre. I know that military men not only 

 sanction but applaud the deed ; and, reasoning accord- 

 ing to the maxims of war, I am well aware how much 

 can be said in his defence. That Washington con- 

 sidered it a duty, the discharge of which was most 

 painful to him, I doubt not. But, thank God, the 

 instincts of my childhood are unvitiated by any such 

 maxims. From the first hour I read of the deed, until 

 the present day, I never did, and never could, look 

 upon it as otherwise than cool, deliberate murder. That 

 the theory and practice of war commends the transac- 

 tion, only serves to prove the infernal nature of war 



itself A few years ago, the Duke of York 



requested the British Consul to send the remains of 

 Major Andre to England. At that time two thriving 

 firs were found near the grave, and a peach-tree; which 

 a lady in the neighbourhood had planted there, in the 

 kindness of her heart. The farmers who came to wit- 

 ness the interesting ceremony generally evinced the 

 most respectful tenderness for the memory of the un- 

 fortunate dead, and many of the children wept. A few 

 idlers, educated by militia trainings and Fourth of July 

 declamation, began to murmur that the memory of 

 General Washington was insulted by any respect shown 

 to the remains of .Andre ; but the offer of a treat lured 

 them to the tavern, where they soon became too drunk 

 to guard tlie character of Washington. It was a beau- 

 tiful day, and these disturbing spirits being removed, 

 the impressive ceremony proceeded in solemn silence. 



