First Sentence

"AT the close of the Revolution which separated the colonies from the mother country, the legislature of New York set apart nearly two million acres of land, in the heart of the State, as bounty to be divided among her soldiers who had taken part in the war; and this "Military Tract," having been duly divided into townships, an ill-inspired official, in lack of names for so many for so many divisions, sprinkled over the whole region the contents of his classical dictionary."