In 1692, having recovered somewhat from his grief, Philipse again ventured into matrimony with even more conspicuous success than before; and, with a partiality for widows which would have shocked Samuel Weller, took unto himself for better or worse the relict of John Derval, Catherine, daughter of the blueblooded Oloff Stephanus Van Cortlandt. She was young and pretty, had a sweet disposition and charming manner, and presided over the Hall with grace and charm. She it was who in 1699 built the Sleepy Hollow church, which is believed to be the oldest ecclesiastical edifice in the State, and is one of the antiquarian curiosities of the Hudson. While superintending the work she was accustomed to ride up from New York or from the Yonkers Manor Hall, mounted on a pillion behind her favorite brother Jacobus Van Cortlandt.* A stone slab on the church bears this inscription: "Erected by Frederick Philips and Catherine Van Cortlandt his wife, 1699." The records of the church bear testimony to the virtues of Lady Catherine in these words: "First and before all, the right honorable, Godfearing, very wise and prudent My Lady Catherine Philipse, widow of the late Lord Frederick Philipse of blessed memory, who promoted service here in the highest, praiseworthy manner.”

But before Mrs. Philipse built the Sleepy Hollow Church, an important event occurred which gave her the title of "Lady," her husband the title of "Lord," and changed their residence to a "Manor Hall." This was the granting of the Royal Charter on June 12, 1693, in the name of William and Mary, erecting Philipse's possessions" into a lordship or manor of Philipsborough in free and common soccage according to the tenure of our manor of East Greenwich within our county of Kent in our realm

* Jacobus Van Cortlandt married "Eva Philipse," adopted daughter of Frederick Philipse, and received as a wedding gift from his father-in-law 762 acres at Kingsbridge. Upon this land he built the Van Cortlandt house in Van Cortlandt Park, now owned by the City of New York and in the custody of the Colonial Dames.

of England, yielding, rendering and paying therefor, yearly and every year, on the feast day of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, at our fort at New York, unto us, our heirs and successors, the annual rent of £4 123. current money of our said Province."

This same Charter granted Philipse the right to erect a tollbridge across the Spuyten Duyvil creek and prescribed that it should be called King's Bridge - a name which has continued to this day. Thus we see the Manor House connected by historical events, not only with Castle Philipse and Sleepy Hollow Church on the north, and the Van Cortlandt mansion in Van Cortlandt Park on the south, but also with the first substantial link that connected Manhattan Island with the mainland.

As a consequence of this license to build the King's Bridge, every New Yorker who wanted to get off the island onto the continent or from the continent onto the island had to drop into his lordship's contribution box "three pence current money of New York for each man and horse that shall pass the said bridge in the day time, and three pence current money aforesaid for each head of neat cattle that shall pass the same; and twelve pence current money aforesaid for each score of hogs, calves and sheep that shall pass the same; and nine pence current money aforesaid for every boat, vessel or canoe that shall pass the said bridge and cause the same to be drawn up; and for each coach, cart or sledge or wagon that shall pass the same, the sum of nine pence current money aforesaid; and after sunset, each passenger that shall pass said bridge shall pay two pence current money aforesaid; each man and horse, six pence; each head of neat cattle, six pence; each score of hogs, calves and sheep, two shillings; for each boat, or vessel, or canoe, one shilling and six pence; for each coach, cart, waggon, or sledge, one shilling and six pence, current money aforesaid." In this way everybody who went to or from New York had to pay tribute to the Lord of

Philipse Manor.

Descendants of old New York families, who may possibly discern in the enlarged Manor Hall the embodiment of some of the money which they never inherited from their ancestors, may be pardoned if they take a peculiar interest in the preservation of this interesting structure.

It has been hinted that as the seventeenth century drew near its close, Philipse's foreign commerce was not confined within the most rigid limits of legitimate trade. The fact was that at that time privateering was pretty generally winked at by the authorities, and probably most of the leading merchants did not consider little side ventures of this sort a very grave dereliction. But the charges in regard to Philipse appear to be somewhat nebulous. In 1687 Gov. Dongan frankly assured the Lords of Trade that he did not believe that Philipse was engaged in any illicit trade. In 1698 a complaint was made to His Majesty's Commissioners of Trade and Plantations that Philipse sent out from New York, in charge of his son Adolphus, a ship or sloop named "Frederick," ostensibly for Virginia, but really to cruise at sea and meet a ship from Madagascar. Upon meeting the latter, it was alleged, the "Frederick" received great parcels of East India goods and sailed for Delaware Bay, where she lay privately, while the Madagascar vessel, now having nothing but negroes aboard, sailed for New York. Later, it was said, the Madagascar vessel sailed for Delaware Bay and received part of the East India goods, and, by Philipse's direction sailed for Hamburg. At the latter place some seizures were made and the crew sent to London. The charge of trading with pirates is based on the depositions of the latter.

The Lords of Plantations do not appear to have taken a very severe view of this charge, for in 1698 they passed no stronger strictures upon Philipse than to say that it did "not look well" for him to be employing men of such character.

Philipse's force and independence of character are illustrated

in the closing years of his life by the courage with which he criticised the King's representative. The dislike of the latter for him is reflected in a letter which the Earl of Bellomont wrote in 1699 from Boston to the Lords of Trade, saying that he did not intend to return to New York because he was "discouraged from going thither to be affronted and have the King's authority trampled on."

Apparently among those who trampled on the King's authority in Bellomont's estimation were Philipse, Livingston, and some others, for in the same letter he recommended that the large land grants to "our Palatines, Smith, Livingston, Phillips (father and son), and six or seven more" be broke" by act of Parliament, for he was jealous that he had not strength enough in the Assembly of New York to break them. "The members of assembly there are landed men," said he, "and when their own interest comes to be touched, 'tis more than probable they will flinch." He thought that an act of Parliament requiring that no man in the Province should hold more than 1,000 acres would mightily reduce" Phillips and the others mentioned.

No such act, however, was passed, and the First Lord of the Manor was in full possession of his great estate when he died in 1702. It is a curious contrast of fate that the First Lord of the Manor, who was contumacious of the King's authority, succeeded in keeping his estate, while the Third Lord of the Manor, as will be seen later, lost it because of his loyalty to the King.

Chapter V. The Manor System.

The Manor of Philipsborough was one of the four great English Manors on the Hudson river which succeeded the Patroonships of the Dutch Period. Named from south to north they were the Manors of Philipsborough, Van Cortlandt, Livingston and Van Rensselaer. As a representative of the Manor system, the Yonkers Manor Hall stands for a very interesting and, in its day,

a very useful and beneficent institution which has contributed more than most people realize to the social and political progress of the English-speaking race. It is true that the United States has entirely outgrown the manorial system and in England it has become almost obsolete, except so far as the customs developed and rights acquired under that system have become ingrafted in our common law; but the Manor Hall should be cherished, nevertheless, and the institution of which it reminds us should be held in grateful remembrance for the good that was in it. Not to do so, because the feudal idea which it recalls is inconsistent with modern American ideas, would be extremely narrow-minded; and would be on a par with pulling down the Jamestown church tower because it was built when the Protestant Episcopal Church in America was a State Church, and because the connection of Church and State is inconsistent with American ideas; or destroying the famous London Tower because it is a memento of medieval oppression which England has long outgrown; or pulling down the Coliseum because the old-time gladiatorial combats are repugnant to modern ideas; or overthrowing the obelisks and dynamiting the pyramids because one of the Pharaohs oppressed the Children of Israel. Such a course could be approved only by one who could see nothing interesting or sublime or instructive in those monuments of the past — nothing interesting in their antiquity, nothing sublime in their architecture, nothing instructive in their antiquity.

And yet what are they? They are milestones in human progress. They are objects by which we compare different stages of human growth and appreciate the advancement of civilization. They are souvenirs of the childhood, youth and young manhood of the race.

To appreciate what the manor system was in relation to other institutions of its own and former times, we must forget the tremendous advance made in democratic ideas throughout the