MEMOIR. 



rity, and authority canle only with much obsesrvation and 

 many years. 



But, during these victorious incursions into the realms 

 of experietice, the younger partner had hic^self heen con- 

 quered. , Directly opposite the red cottage, upon the 

 other side of the river, at FishMll Landing, lay, under 

 blossoming locust trees, the estate and old family mansion 

 of John P. DelVint, Esq. The place had tte charms of a 

 " moated grange," and was quite the contrast of tlie ele- 

 gant care and incessant cultivation that marked the grounds 

 of the young man in Newburgh. But the fine old place, 

 indolentljr lying in luxuriant decay, was the seat of bound- 

 less hospitality and social festivity. ' ' The spacious piazzas, 

 and the gently sloping lawn, which made the foreground of 

 one of the niost exquisite glimpses ,of the Hudson, rang all 

 summer long withhappy laughter. Under those blossom- 

 ing locusttrees were walks that led to the shore, and the 

 moon hanging over Cro' Nest recalled to all loiterers along 

 the ba:nk the loveliest legends of the "river. In winter the' 

 revel shifted from the lawn tP the frozen river. One such 

 gay household is sufficient nucleus for endless enjoyment. 

 From t^e neighboring West Point, oplyten miles distant, 

 caine gallant youhg officers, boating in summer, and skat- 

 ing in winter, to serenade under the locusts,' or join the 

 dance upon the lawn. Whatever was yoiing and gay was 

 draVn into the merry maelstrom, and the dark-haired boy 

 from Kewburgh, now grown, somtehow, to be a gentleman 

 of quiet and pohfihed manners, found himself, even when in 

 the grasp of theicientffic coils of Pamientier, Eepton, Price, 

 Jjoudon, Lindley, and the rest,-^or busy with knife, clay, 

 and grafts, — dreaming of tlie grange beyond the river, and 

 of tfie Marianna he had found there. • 



Summer lay warm upon the hills and- river ; the land- 



