was all in vain! The house was sacked and plundered, fire was set to each room, and in a few moments its blaze shed a baleful light over the Tappan Sea. The invaders then pounced upon the blooming Laney Van Tassel, the beauty of the Roost, and endeavoured to bear her off to the boat. But here was the real tug of war. The mother, the aunt, and the strapping negro wench, all flew to the rescue. The struggle continued down to the very water's edge, when a voice from the armed vessel at anchor ordered the spoilers to desist; they relinquished their prize, jumped into their boats, and pulled off, and the heroine of the Roost escaped with a mere rumpling of the feathers."

CHAPTER XIX.

LOSE by Sunnyside is one of those marvellous villages with which America abounds: it has sprung up like a mushroom, and bears the name of Irvington, in compliment to the late master of Sunnyside. A dozen years ago not a solitary house was there, excepting that of Mr. Dearman, the farmer who owned the land. Piermont, directly opposite, was then the sole eastern terminus of the great New York and Erie Railway, and here seemed to be an eligible place for a village, as the Hudson River Railway was then almost completed. Mr. Dearman had one surveyed upon his lands; streets were marked out, village lots were measured and defined; sales at enormous prices, which enriched the owner, were made, and now upon that farm, in pleasant cottages, surrounded by neat gardens, several hundred inhabitants are dwelling. One of the most picturesque of the station-houses upon the Hudson River Railway is there, and a ferry connects the village with Piermont. Morning and evening, when the trains depart for and arrive from New York, many handsome vehicles may be seen there. This all seems like the work of magic. Over this beautiful slope, where so few years ago the voyager upon the Hudson saw only woodlands and cultivated fields, is now a populous town. The owners are chiefly business men of New York, whose counting rooms and parlours are within less than an hour of each other.

Less than a mile below Irvington, and about half way between that village and Dobbs's Ferry, is the beautiful estate of Nevis, the home and property of the Honourable James A. Hamilton, eldest surviving son of the celebrated General Alexander Hamilton, one of the founders of the republic of the United States. It stands on the brow of the river slope,

* Nevis is the name of one of a group of the Antilles, where General Hamilton was born.

in the midst of a charming lawn, that extends from the highway to the Hudson, a distance of half a mile, and commands some of the finest and most extensive views of that portion of the river. The mansion is large, and its interior elegant. It presents many attractions to the lover of literature and art, aside from the delightful social atmosphere with which it is filled. There may be seen the library of General Hamilton, one of the choicest and most extensive in the country at the time of his death. There, too, may be seen a portrait of Washington, by Stuart,

painted for General Hamilton, in 1798, when, in expectation of a war with France, the United States organised a provisional government, and appointed him acting commanding general under the ex-president (Washington), who consented to be the chief.

On the river bank of the Nevis estate is a charming little cottage, completely embowered, where Mr. Irving was a frequent and delighted

* From this point the traveller southward first obtains a good view of the Palisades on the west side of the river.

visitor. It is the summer residence of Mr. Schuyler (a grandson of General Schuyler), Mr. Hamilton's son-in-law. Near it is a more pretentious residence belonging to Mr. Blatchford, another son-in-law of the proprietor of "Nevis." Within call of these pleasant retreats is the superb residence of Mr. Cottinet, a wealthy New York merchant, built in French style, of Caen stone. This, in point of complete elegance,

externally and internally, is doubtless superior to any other dwelling on the banks of the Hudson. The grounds about it are laid out with much taste, and exhibit many delightful landscape effects.

Dobbs's Ferry, a considerable village, twenty-two miles from New York, was a place of some note a century ago; but the town has been mostly built within the last fifteen years. The Indian name was Weec

ques-guck, signifying the place of the Bark Kettle. Its present name is from Dobbs, a Swede from the Delaware, one of the earliest settlers on Philipse's Manor. The village is seated pleasantly on the river front of the Greenburgh Hills, and is the place of summer residence for many New York families. Here active and important military operations occurred during the war for independence. There was no fighting here, but in the movement of armies it was an important point. Upon the high bank, a little south-east from the railway station, a redoubt was built by the

Americans at an early period of the war. From near that spot our little sketch was taken, which included the long pier at Piermont, the village of Nyack, and the range of hills just below Haverstraw, off which theVulture lay, and at the foot of which Arnold and André met. Several other redoubts were cast up in this vicinity; these commanded the ferry to Paramus, afterwards Sneden's Landing, and now Rockland.

Near Dobbs's Ferry the British rendezvoued, after the battle at White Plains, in October, 1776; and at Hastings, a mile below, a British force of six thousand men, under Lord Cornwallis, crossed the river to Paramus,