family, have ordered that the honorable Major Alexander Cosby, brother to his excellency, and lieutenant-governor of his majesty's garrison of Annapolis Royal, recently arrived, and Thomas Freeman, the governor's son-in-law, be presented with the freedom of the city in a gold box."

Cosby was the most generally disliked of any governor since Cornbury. During his brief administration the great Zenger trial occurred, of which the world has heard so much, and he was in perpetual conflicts with some of the best men in the province. From this troublous epoch arose two great parties, differing materially from those which had previously shaken New York, and which ever afterward divided the people of the province. Cosby died March 10, 1736, and the house in the fort was again vacant. George Clarke, one of the counselors, who had been secretary of the province, and in public life in the city since 1703, took charge of affairs, and was subsequently commissioned lieutenant-governor. He was from a prominent English family, and his wife was Ann Hyde, the cousin of Queen Anne. He removed his family to the house in the fort, and assumed all the powers and consequence of an executive chief. Mrs. Clarke was one of the most charming of women, and greatly beloved; it is said that her sweetness of temper was such that nothing could ruffle it or draw an unkind criticism from her lips. Her generosity to the poor gave her the title of "Lady Bountiful." She died in the spring of 1740, and the whole city was in tears. Clarke's seven years' administration was made memorable in history by the great negro plot of 1741. In March of that year his home in the fort was totally consumed by fire one morning, together with the little chapel, secretary's office, and several adjoining buildings. A new governor's house was accordingly built, which was ready to receive Admiral Sir George Clinton on his arrival in September, 1743. He landed at a new battery which had recently been constructed at the foot of Whitehall Street, and was ceremoniously conducted to the fort, the way being lined with soldiers in full dress, where he was treated to an elegant luncheon with many wines, and thence, as was customary on all such occasions, proceeded to the City Hall in Wall

Street, where his commission was published, and the oaths of office adminis

tered.

career.

Clinton's wife and several children accompanied him to New York, and the greater part of each year the fort was their home. As governor of a very refractory province, he had an uneasy and an unenviable He was constantly engaged in unprofitable quarrels, and was treated with less respect by the principal New York men and by the assembly than any English officer who had hitherto governed the colony. He entertained many visitors, among whom was Governor Shirley, of Massachusetts, into whose ear he poured his woes. Sir William Johnson was often his guest. He finally lost his health as well as his temper, and pleaded for permission to return to England. Sir Danvers Osborne, brother-in-law of the earl of Halifax, a gentleman whose birth, connections, education, and excellent character fitted him admirably for the place, was sent to New York to relieve Clinton in 1753, and at the same time a commission as lieutenantgovernor was forwarded to Chief Justice James De Lancey. As the latter was one of the most unbending of the opponents of Clinton's measures, and the people were uproarious with joy, the effect was most depressing to the new-comer. Sir Danvers landed on Sunday, October 7, and Clinton being at his country seat in Flushing, Joseph Murray, one of the counselors, whose wife was Governor Cosby's daughter, and a relative of the late Lady Osborne, entertained him at his own residence.

[The most imposing part of the gorgeous pageant was the Federal ship on wheels, with Hamilton's name emblazoned upon each side of it, its crew going through every nautical preparation and movement for storms, calms, and squalls, as it moved slowly through the streets of New York City. When opposite the Bowling Green a salute of thirteen guns was fired.]

On Monday Clinton came to town, and an elegant dinner was given to the two governors by the counselors. On Wednesday, at the council-chamber in the fort, Clinton administered the oath of office to Sir Danvers, and delivered (very reluctantly) the commission to De Lancey. A procession was then formed according to ancient usage, and the new governor was conducted to the City Hall to publish his

commission. The party was scarcely outside the fort when De Lancey was cheered enthusiastically, while Clinton was so grossly insulted by the rabble that, to his intense mortification, he was obliged to turn back for refuge in the fort. Sir Danvers walked in silence beside the counselors, closely observing the noisy shouts of gladness with which De Lancey was greeted on every side. After his return to the council-chamber he received the address of the city corporation; another dinner was given to the two governors in the afternoon, and in the evening the city was illuminated and brilliant fire-works displayed. Sir Danvers, however, was gloomy and silent. He told Clinton he expected like treatment to that which he had received; and he remarked to De Lancey, "I shall soon leave you the government." Before the week ended, the city was shocked by the announcement that the new governor had hanged himself. He had become convinced that he never could carry out his instructions from the king, particularly in relation to compelling a permanent revenue from New York. De Lancey henceforward governed the colony until the arrival of Sir Charles Hardy in 1754, who, like Clinton, as an unlettered admiral, was better suited to the naval service, and the lords of trade soon made him a rear-admiral, and he sailed away. De Lancey again took the oaths and continued in the supreme

command until his death in 1760. Dr. Cadwallader Colden, as senior counselor, succeeded him, and shortly received the appointment of lieutenant-governor, which post he filled fourteen years, much of the time wielding supreme command. The four Britons who followed as chiefs of the colony, prior to the outbreak of the Revolution, were Major-General Monckton in 1761, for a brief period; Sir Henry Moore in 1765, who died in the fort in 1769; the earl of Dunmore in 1770, occupying the executive chair nine months; and Sir William Tryon, Bart., in 1771.

Meanwhile, four native New-Yorkers as senior counselors had each administered the affairs of the colony under the crown-Abraham de Peyster in 1701, following the death of Lord Bellomont; Dr. Gerardus Beekman in 1709, following the death of Lord Lovelace; Peter Schuyler in 1719, following the resignation of Hunter; and Rip van Dam in 1731, following the death of Montgomery. These eminent characters, as well as the other counselors from time to time, were more or less associated with the old historic fort. Ever since Lord Bellomont's day New York had been growing affluent and aristocratic. The landed gentry had city homes for the winter, as a rule, and lived in what Englishmen called "gilded luxury." There were many importing merchants in New York owning their own ships, who accumulated vast wealth in commercial enterprises, and in their frequent trips to European countries were perfectly familiar with the style of living among the best people of the world. Children were sent abroad to be educated much more frequently than now. At social entertainments guests were nearly all of one class, the majority were related by blood or marriage, and the etiquette of foreign courts was observed with a nicety that can scarcely be comprehended in this democratic generation.

Opposite the fort, on the site of the present Field building, stood the well-known Kennedy house, No. 1 Broadway, of late years the Washington hotel. Captain Archibald Kennedy, for whom it was named, was the son of Hon. Archibald Kennedy, receiver-general, and counselor through many decades to a long line of governors residing in the fort. He left a handsome private fortune to his son, the young captain in the royal navy above mentioned, who married Catharine, the only daughter of the brave Colonel Peter Schuyler of New Jersey, who made such a brilliant record in the French and Indian war. The bride, whose mother was the daughter of John Walter, a man of great wealth, residing in Hanover square, inherited three distinct fortunes, that of her father, that of her grandfather Walter, and that of Richard Jones; but she did not live long to enjoy her riches. The site of the Kennedy house was originally the property of Arent Schuyler, brother of Peter Schuyler first mayor of Albany, and the father of Colonel Peter, of later renown. Eve, the daughter of Arent Schuyler, married Peter Bayard, to whom in his will Schuyler gave the lot of ground on lower Broadway; in June, 1745, according to the abstract of title, Mrs. Eve Bayard, then a widow, sold the lot to Archibald Kennedy, the witnesses to the sale being Philip Van Cortlandt and Colonel Peter Schuyler, her brother. The house was designed after the most approved English model. It had a broad, handsome front, with a carved doorway, broad