romantic nook beside the purling Neperhan, happy was it for them that they could not foresee the political tragedies that were to begin a quarter of a century later and were destined to involve them in such unhappy consequences. But now, all was romance

and joy. Susannah, with her father's approval, had consented to be the bride of the handsome Virginian, and about the year 1750 they were married with the state becoming their position in the Colony and the wealth of the bride.*

Thus, in the quaint and stately style of his contemporaries of the old country, the Second Lord of the Manor lived, passing away in 1751 in the fifty-sixth year of his age, and remembered for "his Indulgence and Tenderness to his tenants, his more than parental affection for his Children, and his incessant liberality to the Indigent," which "surpassed the splendor of his Estate and procured him a more unfeigned regard than can be purchased with opulence or gained by Interest." The writer of the words quoted, in the New York Gazette of July 29, 1751, added: "There were, perhaps, few men that ever equaled him in those obliging and benevolent manners which, at the same time that they attracted the Love of his Inferiors, gained him all the respect and veneration due to his rank and station."

Chapter VII. The Third Lord of the Manor.

Upon the death of the Second Lord of the Manor, his son Frederick (born 1720; died 1785) became the third (and, as it proved, the last) Lord of the Manor. When he attained this dis

tinction he was thirty-one years of age. He was a graduate of King's College (the mother of Columbia University) and his tastes were literary. He mingled little in public life, but he was

* Robinson took his young wife to their new home on the banks of the Hudson nearly opposite West Point, where they lived until the outbreak of the Revolution. Then, overruled by the importunities of his friends and against his own judgment, he entered the service of the Crown.

a member of the Colonial Assembly and held a commission as Colonel of the Militia. He was generally known as Colonel Philipse. In religious belief he was an Episcopalian, and he was as generous as he was ardent in the affairs of his denomination. He and his family erected the old stone church of St. John's, which dates from 1752, maintained it at their own expense, gave about 250 acres of arable land for a glebe and built a rectory upon it.

As Lord of the Manor he usually presided in person in the Court Leet and Court Baron which were held in a building which stood on the site of the present Getty Square; and he dispensed justice in civil and criminal matters and even administered capital punishment, it is said.

Upon becoming Master of Philipsborough, he renovated the Manor Hall, and with the aid of his wife, who was fond of display, maintained the brilliant social traditions of the old mansion. On occasions of social festivities, Colonel Philipse appeared as the courtly and scholarly gentleman of the old school and appears to have been highly esteemed on account of the qualities of his mind and the generous disposition of his heart. The Rev. Timothy Dwight, S. T. D., president of Yale College, refers to the family of Philipse as "one of the most distinguished of those who came as colonists from the United Netherlands; " and adds: "Col. Philipse, the last branch resident in this country, I knew well. He was a worthy and respectable man, not often excelled in personal and domestic amiableness." And John Jay says of him: "This Frederick I knew. was a well tempered, amiable man; a kind, benevolent landlord. He had a taste for gardening, planting, etc., and employed much time and money in that way."

He

In 1756 the Lord of the Manor espoused the twenty-four-yearold widow of Anthony Rutgers, whose maiden name was Eliza

beth Williams, their marriage license being dated August 31, 1756. The new Lady of the Manor was "a handsome and pleasing woman," according to John Jay, and "an excellent woman," according to Dr. Dwight. Other chroniclers, however, give her

a vivacious and even dashing character, and credit her with being an imperious woman of fashion and very fond of display. She was also a fearless and skillful horsewoman; and the tenants of the Manor often stood agape in wonder at the sight of her Ladyship setting forth with four spirited jet black horses and driving her dashing quadriga along the roads of Westchester county at what appeared to be a reckless pace.

Lord and Lady Philipse seldom appeared in the same carriage together, and for a very excellent reason; for Colonel Philipse, in the course of time, attained such large dimensions that there was not room for both in the family chariot. If the colonel's temperament was at all nervous, perhaps the inconvenience of his size was not entirely without its compensations, for it probably saved him from many a nervous shock which he might have received had he gone driving with the adventurous Lady Elizabeth.

Quieter than his wife in his tastes, he found agreeable occupation for his thoughts at home in the administration of his Manor, the indulgence of his literary talents, and the practice of his favorite art of landscape gardening. The latter was one of the fashionable occupations of a landed gentleman of the period, as was exemplified in the formal garden and estate at Mount Vernon, Va., by the man who once sought an alliance with Colonel Philipse's family; and in his devotion to the art Colonel Philipse greatly beautified the extensive grounds which surrounded the Manor House. The lawn which stretched from the east front to the Albany Post Road, 300 feet distant, was the object of especial attention, and was set off with boxwood bordered paths, beautiful shrubs and other lawn ornaments of the period becom

ing the environment of one of the most ancient, honorable and distinguished families of the Colony. Nor was this care for these external adornments bestowed in vain. Remote as the Manor House was at that time from Harlem village, nine miles away, and from the little old city of New York, which then occupied the southern three-quarters of a mile of Manhattan Island, yet it was a conspicuous object to passers-by on the historic thoroughfare from New York to Albany. Furthermore, it was the journey's end of many a distinguished traveller who came by invitation to experience the hospitality for which the Hall had ever been famous, or came of his own promptings to pay court to the lovely sister of the young Lord of the Manor, Mary Philipse. To the interesting courtship and marriage of this charming young woman let us turn our attention before taking up the less congenial task of recounting the downfall of this historic family.

Chapter VIII. Courtship and Marriage of Mary Philipse. Mary Philipse, sister of the Third Lord of the Manor, was esteemed one of the most beautiful and accomplished young women in the Colony of New York. She was born in the Manor Hall July 3, 1730, and when she attained young ladyhood she was the admired of the eligible young men, not only of her own Colony but of distant parts. Among her admirers at the age of twenty-six was one whose suit, had it been successful, might have changed either the destiny of the Philipse family for the better or that of the Colonies for the worse.* This admirer was no other than Colonel George Washington, who had already won distinction in the French and Indian War. The circumstances in

In

* Lorenzo Sabine, in his "Loyalists of the American Revolution" (1864), says that in a conversation with a grandnephew of Mrs. Roger Morris he remarked: "Her fate how different had she married Washington!" stantly the grandnephew replied: "You mistake, sir. My aunt Morris had immense influence over everybody; and had she become the wife of the leader of the Rebellion which cost our family millions, He would not have been a traitor. She would have prevented that, be assured, sir."

The

which the two were brought together were briefly these: opening of the year 1756 found Washington in command at Fort Cumberland, Md., with a difficulty on his hand. There was at Fort Cumberland one Captain Dagworthy, who claimed a royal commission and refused obedience to any provincial officer. Το settle the perplexing question of authority, Washington was despatched to Boston, Mass., to confer with General Shirley, commander-in-chief of His Majesty's forces in America. This involved a journey of 500 miles on horseback in the depth of winter a journey which, notwithstanding its hardships, had many pleasant incidents, for his bravery and miraculous escape at Braddock's defeat had already won him much renown and he was the object of no little popular curiosity. He was therefore entertained with cordial hospitality in the principal cities on his journey. So far as the writer has been able to ascertain, this was Washington's first journey to the Hudson Valley and the New England States, where he was destined twenty years later to display his genius in a way little dreamed of at that time. Hearing of Washington's prospective visit, Beverly Robinson, who had known him intimately as a schoolmate in Virginia, invited him to visit him, and the invitation was accepted. Washington was in New York from February 18 to 25, and again on his return from Boston in the middle of March.

The consequences of this visit were just what might have been expected. Washington was very susceptible to feminine charms.* At the age of fifteen he had fallen in love with Frances Alexander, and in the interval between fifteen and his present age of twenty-four he had experienced unrequited passions for Mary Carey, Lucy Grymes and Betsey Fauntleroy. Now, for the first time, he came under the influence of the charms of a New York

*

Washington's bill of traveling expenses on his trip to Boston contains several items for entertaining "ladies." In New York, among other things, he took them to see a show called "The Microcosm." Possibly Mary Philipse was one of them.