THE TOWN OF CORTLANDT. 



I 9 I 



In the dining-room is the large table brought from Holland and taken 

 during the Revolution to Livingston Manor by Joanna Livingston, the 

 wife of Lieutenant-Governor Pierre Van Cortlandt. The mantel con- 

 tains a very handsome clock, manufactured in Paris to commemorate 

 Bonaparte's Egyptian campaign ornamented with sphinxes, emperial 

 eagle, &c, composed of French ormolu and white marble. The buffet 

 which surmounts the mantle contains some curious china and glass, 

 among which may be enumerated a porcelain figure of a monster, with 

 the body and legs of an elephant and a grim head, half brute and half 

 human, and some Japanse figures upon its back all indicative of the con- 

 nection of the first emigrant to America with the Dutch West India 

 Company. This very curious ornament for many years stood on the 

 parlor mantel piece at Castle Philipse near Tarrytown, then occupied by 

 the Beekman family — but in 1847 Cornelia Van Cortlandt, wife of Dr. 

 Gerard G. Beekman, and sister of General Pierre Van Cortlandt, re- 

 stored this heir-loom to the manor house ; some curious china brought 

 by Captain Dean from China for Gen. Pierre Van Cortlandt and late 

 James Caldwell of Albany, cornucopia for flowers, brought from Hol- 

 land; curious glass goblets, opaque thread in stems, pair of buckles 

 made of conch shells, &c, &c. In china closet, in parlor — old china 

 brought from the east in the early part of seventeenth century by the Van 

 Cortlandts, including a china stand for ashes of pipe with brass foot ; 

 very small and ancient tea-pots, china shaving-basin, the property of late 

 William Caldwell of Albany in use 153 years. Piece of china which 

 belonged to Lord Fairfax over 200 years old ; glass tumbler with colored 

 figures brought by theRomeyn's from Holland in 1654, and//&?;z thought 

 to be very old; box made of wood of the " Endeavour," the ship in 

 which Capt Cook sailed round the world ; she was brought to Newport, 

 R. I., condemned as unseaworthy; the keel was sold to a cabinetmaker, 

 and used for canes, boxes, &c. Medallion of Franklin, made of the red 

 clay of Passy. Beaumarchais caused them to be struck from a profile 

 sketched by Mile. Anna Vallayu, fur cap on head, very rare ; buttons 

 from Yager coat worn by Paulding when he captured Andre, and given 

 by him to General Pierre Van Cortlandt ; agate and silver casket, very 

 old, &c. 



The Library contains a valuable collection of books, autographs, &c. 

 Among the former may be enumerated a Dutch translation of the "Com- 

 mon Prayer Book," entitled, "Het Boek Dar Gemeene Gebederen," 

 Bedieninge du sacramenten Nevens Andrew Koskelyke Gewomteny 

 lytyheden gebruykelyk in de Kerke von Engeland, &c, printed in "Lon- 

 don by Jan. Hendrick Schuller, mdcciv (1704), Dedicated to Queene 



