y first among equals.

"The only exception to this," writes Mr. Kip,

"which we can remember was the case of the Gardiners of
Maine. Their wide lands were confiscated for their loyalty.
But on account of some informality, after the Revolution,
they managed to recover their property and are still seated
at Gardiner."

For more than a century these distinguished families in New Netherland
retained their supremacy undisputed. They filled all the posts of
honor and emolument. The distinctions in society were plainly marked
by the dress. The costume of the gentleman was very rich. His coat of
glossy velvet was lined with gold lace. His flowing sleeves and
ruffled cuffs gave grace to all the movements of his arms and hands.
Immense wigs adorned his brow with almost the dignity of Olympian
Jove. A glittering rapier, with its embossed and jewelled scabbard,
hung by his side.

The common people in New Netherland, would no more think of assuming
the dress of a gentleman or lady, than with us, a merchant or mechanic
would think of decorating himself in the dress of a Major-General in
the United States army. There was an impassable gulf between the
peasantry and the aristocracy. The laborers on these large Dutch
estates were generally poor peasants, who had been brought over by the
landed proprietors, passage free. They were thus virtually for a
number of years, slaves of the _patroon_, serving him until, by their
labor, they had paid for their passage money. In the language of the
day they were called Redemptioners. Often the term of service of a
man, who had come over with his family, amounted to seven years.

"This system," writes Mr. Kip,

"was carried out to an extent of which most persons are
ignorant. On the Van Rensselaer manor, there were at one
time, several thousand tenants, and their gathering was like
that of the Scottish clans. When a member of the family died
they came down to Albany to do honor at the funeral, and
many were the hogsheads of good ale which were broached for
them. They looked up to the _Patroon_ with a reverence which
was still lingering in the writer's early day,
notwithstanding the inroads of democracy. And before the
Revolution this feeling was shared by the whole country.
When it was announced, in New York, a century ago, that the
Patroon was coming down from Albany by land, the day he was
expected t