ears that Colden lived in New York he wrote
diligently, and published his _History of the Five Nations_, an
exhaustive work telling of the powerful Indian tribes, of their forms
of government, and their wars. This was one of the earliest books of
importance, and he was planning a second part of this same history
when, in the year 1732, Cosby came to be Governor. In after years
Colden told how his studies and his writings were interrupted by the
coming of the new and lively Governor.

[Illustration:

Numb. 425

THE

New-York Gazette,

From _December_ 10, to Monday, _December_ 17, 1733.]

And now it seemed as though there were to be dissensions in the city.
There was trouble with the Governor; trouble with Peter Zenger, who
wished to print what the king's representatives did not want printed;
trouble about who should be Chief Justice. But when these were
straightened out there began a season of festivity, and during one
entire winter there were entertainments at which the culture, the
refinement, and the wit of the province gathered. These were days of
splendor, when women wore gay brocades and arranged their hair in a
variety of bewildering, towering, and fantastic shapes; when wide
skirts were in the heyday of their fashion; when tight-lacing was in
vogue; when men wore enormous wigs, and attired themselves in many
colors, adorning themselves with buttons of silver--large, and
decorated with the initials of the wearer.

In the height of this brilliant season there came from England, to
visit the Governor's family, Lord Augustus Fitzroy, son of that Duke
of Grafton who was Chamberlain to King George II. He was received with
all the ceremony due to his rank. The Mayor, the Recorder, and some
other city officials met, and presented to him the freedom of the city
in a box of burnished gold. Soon Lord Augustus had made himself so
vastly agreeable to one of the daughters of Governor Cosby that there
was talk of a marriage. But everybody agreed that this could not be,
for the match was beneath him, according to the ideas of English
society. Still, the young man was determined, the young woman was
inclined, and the Governor's wife was a strategist. So one mild
summer's night the young nobleman, resplendent in gay clothes, with a
couple of his friends, assisted Dominie Campbell over the fort wall,
where they found the young woman waiting, and there in the silence and
the darkness the marriage occurred. There was some s