Preces meae non sunt dignae, Worthless are my prayers and sighing, At the close of the singing, the monks leave the stage, the knights disperse, and only the figures of the Liberal Arts are left, a final reminder of the limited extent of the learning of the Middle Ages from which the great universities of Europe derived their beginnings. From this life and thought of the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries sprang such universities as Oxford and Cambridge, Bologna and Padua, Prague and Heidelberg, Paris and Salamanca, Leyden and Utrecht, and from these in turn our own early colleges are descended. The prolog closes with the withdrawal of these figures. Children: Rhoda Minkler, Daniel Lipman, Edward Lipman From early times a considerable proportion of the citizens of New Brunswick have been of Dutch ancestry. There is no record of the arrival of any large number of Dutch settlers at any one time but there is reason to believe that some of them came here from Albany about 1730. It is upon such a supposition that the action of the episode is based. New Brunswick had been settled long before 1730, in fact Cornelius Longfield and John Inian had settled here in 1681. The earlier settlers all seem to have been English. In the scene represented a number of the inhabitants of the town (New Brunswick was granted a city charter December 19, 1730) are seen about their daily tasks. On the opposite side of the water, which in this scene corresponds to the Raritan River, a number of Dutch settlers appear. They call for the ferry which goes across to meet them. As they await its coming they are heard 5 Two Indian trails, converging and crossing the river at what was known as the Falls, are responsible for the first streets of New Brunswick. One ran north and south. It was the Minnisink Path, which became Burnet Street. The other ran east and west from the Kills to the Falls of the Delaware at Trenton. This became French Street, taking its name from Philip French, who owned the land on both sides of it. Some time after 1741 the name was changed to Albany Street by reason of purchases along it made by settlers from Albany, N. Y. The Indian ford was possible only at low tide and when there were no freshets. To facilitate the crossing of the river, John Inian, one of the first settlers of the region, established a ferry in 1686. From it the town derived its early name of "Inian's Ferry." Inian opened the roads, became the first sheriff of Somerset County, and was a member of Governor Hamilton's Council, 1695 to 1698. In facing the pageant stage the spectator should imagine that he is looking down Albany Street toward the river, the road along the back of the stage corresponding to Burnet Street. singing the twenty-seventh Psalm in its old Dutch set ting. PSALM XXVII Whom should I fear, since God to me With fierce Intent my Flesh to tear, My humble Heart on God depends, For there alone my Soul shall find The English go down to the shore to meet them and as they return to the stage, both English and Dutch are singing. The settlers are welcomed to New Brunswick and land is pointed out to them on which to build. They are then led off, as if to their homes, by the English villagers." • The chant of the Dutch settlers was taken from a service book published in New York in 1767, containing English translations of the Psalms set to music, as used in the Reformed Dutch church. Before this translation was made, about 1730, the time represented by the action, the Dutch language was still used, the same music being employed. The tune of St. Anne was written by a "Mr. Denby' and published in Barber's Psalm Tunes, in 1687. Note the general similarity between this and the Dutch Psalm tune. 7 There is a description of New Brunswick which includes a reference to the Dutch settlers in the diary of Prof. Peter Kalm, the Swedish botanist and traveler. He writes: "October 29, 1748 at noon we arrived at New Brunswick. The town extends north and south along the river. Such |