THE TOWN OF YONKERS. 635 



aged sixty-seven ; and Mary his widow died in 1825, at the age of ninety- 

 six. Their remains were deposited near Saviour-gate church, at York. 

 Their son was Captain Henry Gage Morris, R. N. 



Their children were as follows : Henry Gage, above mentioned, a cap- 

 tain in the royal navy; Amherst, who was named for his god-father 

 Lord Arnherst, who was also a captain in the royal navy and who died 

 unmarried in 1802; Johanna, who married Captain Thomas Cowper 

 Hincks of the British dragoons, and who died in 181 9; and another 

 daughter, whose name and fate have not been ascertained. 



To the memory of Captain Arnherst Morris there is a monument at 

 Baildon, England. Of Captain Henry Gage Morris, honorable mention is 

 made in the British Naval History. Of Mrs. Morris' early life there is a 

 most interesting incident. That Washington had some desire to become 

 her suitor, is a fact which rests on the highest authority. 



In Mr. Sparks' life of the illustrious commander-in-chief, there is the 

 following passage : — 



"While in New York in 1756, Washington was lodged and kindly 

 entertained at the house of Mr. Beverley Robinson, between whom and 

 himself an intimacy of friendship subsisted, which indeed continued 

 without change, till severed by their opposite fortunes twenty years after- 

 wards in the Revolution. It happened that Miss Mary Philips, a sister 

 of Mrs. Robinson, and a young lady of rare accomplishments, was an 

 inmate in the family. The charms of this lady made a deep impression 

 upon the heart of the Virginia Colonel. He went to Boston, returned, 

 and was again welcomed to the hospitality of Mr. Robinson. He lin- 

 gered there till duty called him away; but he was careful to entrust his 

 secret to a confidential friend, whose letters kept him informed of every 

 important event. In a few months intelligence came that a rival was in 

 the field; and that the consequences could not be answered for, if he 

 delayed to renew his visits to New York. Whether time, the bustle of 

 the camp, or the scenes of war had moderated his admiration, or whether 

 he despaired of success, is not known. He never saw that lady again till 

 she was married to that same rival, Captain Morris, his former associate 

 in arms, and one of Braddock's aids-de-camp. 



'Tn an English work, shown to me by Mrs. Morris' relatives in New 

 Brunswick, it is stated that she refused Washington. But this is very 

 doubtful; and the passage just cited, which is founded upon Washing- 

 ton's papers, seems to utterly disprove the assertion. Imagination dwells 

 upon the outlawry of a lady whose beauty and virtues won the admiration 

 of the great Whig Chief. Humanity is shocked that a woman was attaint- 

 ed of treason, for no crime but that of clinging to the fortunes of her 

 husband whom she had vowed on the altar of religion never to desert."* 



o "The American Loyalists,'' by Lorenzo Sabine. See also Historical view of the commis- 

 sion for Inquiry into the" losses and claims of the American Loyalists, by John Eardley Wilinot, 

 Esq., London, 1S15. 



