the groomsmen were Mr. Heathcote (of the
family of the lords of the manor of Scarsdale), Captain Kennedy (of
Number One, Broadway), and Mr. Watts. No need to report here who were
"among those present." The wedding did not occur yesterday, and the
guests will not be offended at the omission of their names; but one of
them was Acting Governor De Lancey. Colonel Philipse--wearing the
ancestral gold chain and jewelled badge of the keepers of the deer
forests of Bohemia--gave the bride away, and with her went a good
portion of the earth's surface, and much money, jewelry, and plate.

After the wedding came the feast, and the guests--or most of
them--stayed so late they were not sorry for the brilliant moonlight
of the night that set in upon their feasting. And now the legend! In
the midst of the feast, there appeared at the door of the banquet-hall
a tall Indian, with a scarlet blanket close about him, and in solemn
tones quoth he, "Your possessions shall pass from you when the eagle
shall despoil the lion of his mane." Thereupon he disappeared, of
course, as suddenly as he had come, and the way in which historians
have treated this legend shows how little do historians apply to their
work the experiences of their daily lives,--such an experience, for
instance, as that of ignoring some begging Irishwoman's request for "a
few pennies in the Lord's name," and thereupon receiving a volley of
hair-raising curses and baleful predictions. 'Tis easy to believe in
the Indian and the prophecy of a passing of possessions, even though
it was fulfilled; but the time-clause involving the eagle and the lion
was doubtless added after the bird had despoiled the beast.

It was years and years afterward, and when and because the eagle had
decided to attempt the said despoiling, that there was a change of
times at Philipse Manor Hall. Meanwhile had young Frederick, and
Maria, and Elizabeth, and their brothers and sisters arrived on the
scene. What could one have expected of the ease-loving, beauty-loving,
book-loving, luxury-loving, garden-loving, and wide-girthed lord of
the manor--connected by descent, kinship, and marriage with royal
office-holding--but Toryism? In fact, nobody did expect else of him,
for though he tried in 1775 to conceal his sympathy with the cause of
the King, the powers in revolt inferred it, and took measures to
deter him from actively aiding the British forces. His removal to
Hartford, his return to the manor-house,