owner of the state of New York,' and he was given to speaking of himself in this impersonal way. Some years ago, in his efforts to keep all the land he had and to buy more, he became rather deeply in debt. As he used every cent that came in beyond his living to buy more land and to litigate against his creditors, this matter rapidly became serious. For many years he could have sold part of his possessions and been freed from debt and enormously rich; but he bought rather than sold, and spent fortunes in paying interest and contesting lawsuits. In 1882, when hops rose to the marvelous price of a dollar per pound, Clarke was said to have had three hundred thousand pounds, but, with his usual idiosyncrasy, he was a purchaser to the last, and what would have helped him out of his financial troubles became almost worthless. In 1885 his creditors began to close in on him, and soon forced him to an assignment, in spite of his most tireless efforts to save his beloved land. There was something pathetic in the sight of the already broken-down old gentleman, traveling from one creditor to another, arguing, threatening, and beseeching by turns in an almost superhuman effort to preserve the altar and shrine of his life from the hands of its desecrators.

George Clarke was educated at Flushing, Long Island. He was always scholarly in his address, courteous in his manner, and gentlemanly in his bearing. He was a charming talker and very agreeable to meet. Even in his business matters he would amuse his creditors by introducing some curt epigram, such as, 'Your necessity does not aid my inability, and my inability does not aid your necessity.' His marriage was clouded with romance, and few people of the present day know the actual facts. It seems at least to be true that his wife had little love for him before their marriage. She was Maria Gregory of New Jersey, and Dame Rumor reports her as very handsome and very much in love with somebody other than George Clarke. It is even said that she once started for the church with her own true love, but was intercepted by her parents and eventually persuaded or compelled to marry Clarke. Whatever may have been the truth of these stories, Mr. and Mrs. Clarke lived together for several years, had five children, and then separated. She is at present in England, where three of their daughters, Maud, Maria, and Blanche, are living with their husbands. One child died, and the fifth, George Hyde Clarke, is married and lives at the family homestead, Hyde Hall.

George Clarke's old faded overcoat and his ragged clothes were as well known in this country as the man himself. In outward dress he had a striking resemblance to the captain of a band of beggars; but those who attributed this to petty parsimony were very much mistaken, and probably

did not know that under his shabby clothes he wore the finest of silk underclothing, and that he was in the habit of paying five dollars each for the stitching of his shirts. The story about his son being fooled by his selling a nice suit of clothes the son had tricked him into buying is probably groundless, as Clarke did not wear old clothes because he was too stingy to buy new ones, but rather because he was fond of attracting comment by the rusty, ragged garments. He was extremely proud of his family, his possessions, and himself, and it doubtless tickled his pride to have a person point out the 'cove in old clothes' as the great and rich landlord, George Clarke. The paradox of a millionaire in rags probably gratified his extremely whimsical mind, just as it gratified him to waste his splendid brain power in foolish litigation, and his magnificent fortune on a monomania for land. The Hyde family (from which he descended) was affluent and prominent, tracing the name back to Walter de Hyde, who fought in the bloody battle of Hastings, in 1066 A. D., when King Harold was killed and William of Normandy became the conqueror of England and its king. The first George Clarke (who came to this country) was a protegé of Sir Robert Walpole, and probably through the influence of Lord Cornbury was appointed in 1703 secretary of the colony of New York. He continued as such until 1736. After that time, until 1743, he was lieutenant-governor and acting governor of New York. His son George became secretary of the colony in his father's place in 1738, and continued until 1777 as such. George Clarke the first died in England in 1759, the owner of a large acreage of land. He was reputed to be worth $500,000, or £100,000. At that time he had two sons, Edward and George, and owned 60,000 acres of fertile land (in this country), as follows: One-ninth interest in 40,000 of Nine Partners' patent, situated in Dutchess county; one-half of Corry patent of 25,000 acres, in Schoharie and Montgomery counties; one-half of Oothoudt's patent of 13,000 acres in Otsego county; one-third of four tracts in Otsego and Delaware counties; one-half of Cherry Valley patent of 7,000 acres; one-quarter of a patent in Greene county, near the present village of Catskill, besides lands in Washington county and Oriskany patent.

In his will he devised to his son, George Clarke second, the Oriskany patent and other lands. Major Edward Clarke, the other son, became possessor of the old Cheshire homestead (in England), but dying soon, it fell to his son, George Hyde Clarke. The second George Clarke never married, but died suddenly in England in 1777. He devised his lands to two sons of George Hyde Clarke, his nephew, son of his brother Edward. Their names were Edward Clarke and George Clarke. One of these (George Clarke) was the father of the deceased. In 1791 he

secured a conveyance of his brother's (Edward Clarke) interest in the Oriskany patent. He was twice married. His first wife was a daughter of Gen. Rochfort of the British army, by whom he had five children. One, Edward Hyde Clarke, died without issue; another, George Hyde Clarke, was lost at sea about 1821; still another, and a daughter, Elizabeth, died a few years ago in England; one of the sons, George Rochfort Clarke, still lives in England, although over eighty years of age. None of these were married. His second wife was Mrs. Annie Low Cary Cooper, relict of Richard Fenimore Cooper, son of Judge Cooper of Otsego county, and eldest brother of James Fenimore Cooper, the celebrated novelist. She was a daughter of Colonel Richard Cary, who was on General George Washington's staff. By her the father of George Clarke of our sketch had five children-George Clarke, who died in infancy; Georgianna Clarke, who died aged seven years; Arthur Clarke, who died an infant; Annie Clarke, who married Duncan C. Pell of New York, and now-a widow-resides at Newport, Rhode Island; and George Clarke, the deceased, who was the third child of this group. The father, George Clarke, died in Springfield, Otsego county, in 1835. His widow died in 1850 in the same township. All the vast landed estates of the family, at the death of his father in 1835, fell to the late George Clarke. He did not prosper in the same way as his ancestors. The constitutional provisions prohibiting the renting of agricultural lands more than twelve years, foolish purchases of life leases of his properties, and other difficulties placed him in great debt. Furthermore, he had a mania for buying real estate, and oftentimes when bonds and mortgages were given by him to cover the cost of purchase. The tenure of his tenants being short, they became interested in sacrificing the fences, buildings, and woodlands to their own uses and benefits. The result of all was a collapse in 1887, on April 14, when he made a general assignment to the Hon. George Barnard of Rome for the benefit of his creditors. The estate is still unsettled.

The deceased was constantly in litigation. He did not himself know how much land he owned, so vast was the territory and so diversely situated. Certainly it was over fifty thousand acres. He was unwilling to sell, but ever ready to buy and increase the domain, which he finally lost."

MINOR TOPICS

AN INTERESTING HISTORIC CHARACTER

MRS. AMASA J. PARKER, 1814-1889

At the time of Mrs. Amasa J. Parker's birth this country was engaged in the second war with Great Britain. William Eustis, who married her aunt, Caroline Langdon, was secretary of war. Afterwards he served for eight years as United States minister to The Hague and Brussels. On his return to this country he was elected governor of Massachusetts and died while in office. Another uncle, Walter Langdon, married Dorothea Astor, daughter of John Jacob Astor, and that branch of the family has inherited wealth. Mrs. Parker's mother was Catharine Whipple Langdon, the youngest of the children of Woodbury Langdon, who after the Revolution served his state in many important directions. He was sent to the continental congress of 1779, was many years a judge of the supreme court, and in 1782 and from 1786 to 1790 was state senator and president of the state senate. He was one of the handsomest men of his day as well as notable for ability, position, and wealth. His brother, Governor John Langdon, was president of the senate of the United States just prior to Washington's inauguration in 1789. Mrs. Parker's father was Edmund Roberts, whose life was full of interest as the first American diplomatist in Asia, and in many ways romantic with adventure. When at home he was surrounded by a charming and clever set of men, who made Portsmouth well known for many a day, among whom were Rev. Dr. Burroughs, Dr. Buckminster, Daniel Webster, and Jeremiah Mason, in their early professional career, also army and navy officers, and the large and brilliant family connection of Mrs. Roberts, including not only the Langdons but the Sherburnes, Wentworths (Henry Sherburne, Mrs. Roberts's great-great-grandfather, married the sister of Sir John Wentworth), Whipples, Warners, and Sullivans. Governor James Sullivan of Massachusetts married Martha Langdon. Mr. Roberts was an extensive ship-owner, and in course of events was appointed the special diplomatic envoy of the United States to make treaties with Muscat, Siam, and Cochin-China. In 1835 he went again to the eastern courts, to exchange ratifications of the treaties that had been effected with Muscat and Siam, and to visit Japan for a like purpose. He died at Macoa, and a monument was erected over his grave by the Americans in China; his unfinished work was consummated many years later by Mathew Perry and Townsend Harris. Of his daughters who survived him, Catharine became the wife of Rev. Dr. A. P. Peabody of Harvard, and Harriet Langdon, the subject of this paper, was married in 1834 to Judge

Amasa J. Parker, then a resident of Delhi. In 1845 they removed to Albany, where Judge Parker was appointed circuit judge and vice-chancellor.

Mrs. Parker inherited the best traits of her notable ancestors and was highly cultivated by reading and study. Her manners were captivating, and the beauty and amiability of her character endeared her to hosts of admiring friends. During the last forty years of her life Mrs. Parker has been more prominent in social matters and in entertaining strangers than any other lady in Albany. One of the great features of her hospitality was her regular Sunday evening teas, at which she would entertain on each occasion about a dozen special guests. These teas were given by her on forty or forty-five Sundays each year, and it can thus be seen that during the later years of her life she acted as hostess to many thousand people. But not alone was she distinguished for her sweet hospitality: she possessed strong religious convictions and high ideals, and was a woman of singular force, with all the many graces and charms that are embodied in a strong, refined character. She was a lady, also, of extraordinary unselfishness and was always solicitous for the comfort and welfare of others. No doubt her remarkable mental and physical energy went far towards prolonging her life beyond the allotted years of the human family. Of her eight children four are now living— Mrs. John V. L. Pruyn, General Amasa Parker, Jr., who is in command of the third New York brigade which made such a fine showing in the metropolis, April 30, 1889, Mrs. Erastus Corning, and Mrs. Selden E. Marvin. Fifteen grandchildren also survive Mrs. Parker. Their golden wedding was celebrated by Judge and Mrs. Parker in 1884, at the summer home of Mrs. Pruyn, "The Cliffs," Newport.

WASHINGTON'S RULES OF CIVILITY AND DECENT BEHAVIOUR

Editor of Magazine of American History:

In the interest of accurate historical statements the following observations are made. Mr. Henry Cabot Lodge in his recent work on George Washington adopts without verification a statement which originally appeared in the New York Tribune in 1866, to the effect that the "Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour" found in manuscript among the early writings of Washington were printed in the thirteenth edition of W. Mather's Young Man's Companion.

This is a well-known English publication and has gone through many editions, and once found a considerable sale in the American colonies; and while I have not been able to find a copy of this particular edition of Mather's books, I have seen and examined earlier and also later editions, but none of them contain rules of civility or etiquette comparable to those attributed to Washington. I was