As Wolfert waxed old and rich and corpulent he also set up a great
gingerbread-colored carriage, drawn by a pair of black Flanders
mares with tails that swept the ground; and to commemorate the
origin of his greatness he had for his crest a full-blown cabbage
painted on the panels, with the pithy motto, ALLES KOPF, that is to
say, ALL HEAD, meaning thereby that he had risen by sheer head
work.
To fill the measure of his greatness, in the fullness of time the
renowned Ramm Rapelye slept with his fathers, and Wolfert Webber
succeeded to the leather-bottomed armchair in the inn parlor at
Corlear's Hook; where he long reigned, greatly honored and
respected, insomuch that he was never known to tell a story without
its being believed, nor to utter a joke without its being laughed
at.
Introduction to "Wieland's Madness," from "Wieland, or The
Transformation."
From Virtue's blissful paths away
The double-tongued are sure to stray;
Good is a forth-right journey still.
And mazy paths but lead to ill.
"WIELAND" is the first American novel. It appeared in 1798; its
author was soon recognized as the earliest American novelist; and
he remained the greatest, until Fenimore Cooper brought forth his
Leather-stocking Tales, a quarter of a century later.
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