efore
bringing his family from Burlington he kept bachelor's hall, and the
festive joys of the place were long memorable among all lovers of good
cheer. Shipman, the Leather-Stocking of the region, could at almost any
time furnish the table with a saddle of venison; the lake abounded with
the most delicious fish; while the cellar of the Manor House was stored
with the imprisoned sunshine of distant lands.

At Christmastide, in 1789, a house-party entertained by William Cooper
celebrated the season with high revelry. Among the guests was Colonel
Hendrik Frey, the boniface of Canajoharie, a famous fun-lover and
merrymaker. A large lumber sleigh was fitted out, with four horses, and
the whole party sallied forth for a morning drive upon the frozen lake.
On the western bank of the lake resided, quite alone, a Frenchman known
as Monsieur Ebbal, a former officer of the army of France, whose real
title was said to be L'Abbe de Raffcourt.[58] Perceiving the sleigh and
four nearing his house, this gentleman, with the courtesy of his nation,
went forth upon the ice to greet the party in a manner befitting the
pomp of its approach. Cooper cordially invited the Frenchman to join
him, promising him plenty of game, with copious libations of Madeira, by
way of inducement. Though a good table companion in general, no
persuasion could prevail on M. Ebbal to accept this sudden invitation,
until, provoked by his obstinacy, the party laid violent hands on him,
and brought him to the village by force.

The unwilling guest took his captivity in good part, and was soon as
buoyant and gay as any of his companions. He habitually wore a
long-skirted surtout, or overcoat, which at that time was almost the
mark of a Frenchman, and this he pertinaciously refused to lay aside,
even when he took his seat at table. On the contrary, he kept it
buttoned to the very throat, as if in defiance of his captors. The
Christmas joke, a plentiful board, and heavy potations, however, threw
the guest off his guard. Warmed with wine and the blazing fire of logs,
he incautiously unbuttoned; when his delighted companions discovered
that the accidents of the frontier, the establishment of a bachelor who
kept no servant, and certain irregularities in washing days, together
with the sudden abduction of his person, had induced the gallant
Frenchman to come abroad without his shirt. He was uncased on the spot,
amid the shouts of the merrymakers, and incontinently put int