following passage: "I leave to my eldest son John, my island called Gardiner's Island, and after his decease to his eldest son, and after his decease to the eldest son of the said eldest son, and in that manner to descend to the male line of my family to the end of time." His sons were

educated at Yale College.

MARY GARDINER JOHNSON.

John, the fifth lord, presided over the estate for the next thirteen years. His daughter Mary was educated in Boston, and excelled in music, dancing, painting, embroidery, and all the varied accomplishments of a fashionable lady of the period. She made her début in society in gay Boston, and her seeming infatuation for balls and parties was only equaled by her extravagance in dress. Some of her imported

* The exquisitely embroidered coat-of-arms of the Gardiners hanging over the mantel in the drawing-room of the manor house (see sketch of the drawing-room, page 11), was the work of this accomplished Miss Mary Gardiner.

costumes, still preserved-a hundred and thirty-five or more years oldare of the rarest elegance and richness. To the surprise of the family, she after all fell in love with the chaplain on the island, Rev. Mr. Blake, and persisted in marrying him, although her parents opposed the match. He died soon after, and she the second time married a minister-the Rev. Stephen Johnson, of Lyme, whose first wife had been Elizabeth Diodati. After the death of the fifth proprietor, his widow married Gen. Israel Putnam, of the Revolution, and died at headquarters in the Highlands.

David, the sixth lord, in 1766 married Jerusha, daughter of Rev. Dr. Samuel Buell, the witty and eccentric divine of Easthampton. After the wedding ceremony the minister was congratulated on the very honorable marriage of his daughter. "Yes," he replied, "I have always wished to give my daughter to the Lord."

Thus far the old feudal estate had flourished in its independence of colonial government, in no way disturbed by the political agitations of the times. But with the dawn of the Revolution it bowed to the divinity of a new liberty, and a fresh leaf was turned in its history. Easthampton, strongly supported by the Gardiners, voted unanimously for resistance to Ministerial oppression, and appealed to Congress for aid in withholding support from the British army. In the same document attention was called to the perilous position of Gardiner's Island, and its attractions for the enemy. Before effective action was taken in the matter, a fleet of thirteen sail anchored in Gardiner's Bay, and a party of British officers landed upon the Island to negotiate for the purchase of supplies for the half-famished troops at that moment imprisoned in Boston. David, the sixth proprietor, had recently died, and the property was in charge of the guardians of his children, Col. Abraham Gardiner, David Mulford, and Thomas Wickham. Col. Gardiner resolutely declined all overtures, sending private messengers in hot haste for soldiers to help him maintain his position. Wickham was absent, being a member of the Provincial Congress in session at New York City. There were then no electric wires to flash the news of impending disaster over the land, and no railroads to bring succor from afar in a night. While the heralds of distress were tramping on foot along the tiresome roads, or perhaps making a little quicker time on horseback, the British helped themselves to twelve hundred sheep, and a cargo of hogs, fowls, cheese, and hay, worth several thousand dollars, without payment, and departed. Henceforward, Gardiner's Island was a foraging field for the British, and in a certain sense desolated. Easthampton was presently occupied by a division of the British army. During a summer and a winter, Vice-admiral Arbuthnot,

with eleven ships of the line, remained in Gardiner's Bay. The drafts upon the resources of the Island were constant. The horses were taken for the use of the officers on shore, and the timber was greatly damaged. The best dwelling-house in Easthampton was that of Col. Abraham Gardiner, and the British officers were billeted upon him, much to his discomfort. Sir William Erskine, Lord Percy, afterward second Duke of Northumberland, Lord Cathcart, Governor Tryon, Major André, and occasionally Sir Henry Clinton, were among these guests. They made frequent trips to Gardiner's Island, which was for them a most enticing hunting-ground, and in stormy weather took possession of the manor-house, and diverted themselves with playing quoits in the dining-room. The oaken floors still bear the marks of this game, and it is thought the disks used were Spanish dollars-roughedged pieces of silver of irregular shapes. Rev. Dr. Buell, the father of the "Lady of the Manor," often accompanied these haughty Britons on their deer-hunts, and his pleasantry, politeness and humorous anecdotes, together with his fondness for the chase, rendered him a general favorite. He made no concealment of his Whig principles, and was called "an old rebel" by the younger officers, while at the same time the admiration and respect which he inspired enabled him by prompt intercession to mitigate the severity of many of the orders which bore heavily upon the people, and to prevent much wanton mischief.

Meeting Sir William Erskine, who commanded the post, one Saturday, that officer remarked to the clergyman that he had ordered the men of the parish to appear on the morrow, with their teams at Southampton. "Ah, yes," said Dr. Buell, "I am aware of it, but I am commander-in-chief on Sunday, and have annulled your order." The precedence was pleasantly conceded and the order revoked. While Major André was quartered with Col. Gardiner, the son of the Col., Dr. Nathaniel Gardiner, a surgeon in the first New Hampshire Continental Infantry, came home on leave of absence. The family carefully suppressed the fact, but after his departure André quietly informed them that he had been aware of his presence in the house, and would have been much pleased to have made his acquaintance, only that his duty as a British officer would have compelled him to arrest the young surgeon as a spy. It was a curious coincidence that this same

young Dr. Gardiner should have been ordered to attend André on the last night of his life. When Major André left Easthampton he exchanged wine-glasses with Col. Gardiner, leaving two from his camp-chest, and these mementos are now guarded with jealous care by the descendants.

The old Gardiner mansion at Easthampton had a garret entered by a trap-door, which was used as a place of confinement for prisoners during

this memorable period. It also contained a secret panel where the valuables of the family were secreted during the war to prevent their being seized by the soldiery. Col. Gardiner was at one time under arrest for refusing to call out the militia of Easthampton to sustain Governor Tryon in his attempt to resuscitate the royal government of New York. Finding Col. Gardiner determined in his course, there was little effort made to subdue his spirit, but it became so hazardous for him to remain in Easthampton

that he quietly retired with his family to Stonington, Connecticut, until peace was proclaimed. Wickham was also at Stonington, where he commanded a sloop of eight guns, annoying the enemy in various ways. As trustees of Gardiner's Island they both did all in their power to obtain reparation for damages to the estate of the children and heirs of the late proprietor. It took a full quarter of a century to restore the property to the prosperity it enjoyed before the seven years war. But cultivation finally removed all traces of its Revolutionary chapter.

John Lyon Gardiner, the seventh proprietor, was educated at Princeton, and in 1803 was a bachelor of thirty-four, refined, scholarly, and dwelling in princely solitude on his water-bound manorial estate. Notwithstanding that the distinction of rank had perished under the democratic hammer, he was as much a live lord in the estimation of the people around him as had been his venerated ancestors. The even tenor of his bachelor career was changed by a freak of the elements. A party of gay young ladies and gentlemen from Lyme, on the Connecticut shore, while out on a sailing frolic, were suddenly becalmed on the Sound within sight of Gardiner's Island. As night approached a breeze sprung up, and so did a violent storm. They steered for the island landing, moored their craft, and hastened to the manor house for shelter. An old housekeeper graciously received them, and presently the handsome proprietor appeared, and finding his visitors were his Connecticut neighbors, extended cordial hospitalities. An elaborate supper was served, and music and dancing followed to the mutual delight of all concerned. The next morning the storm-bound guests, escorted to the landing with marked civility by their host, re-embarked for Lyme. But the island sovereign was never exactly the same man afterward. One of the fair belles thus blown to his castle had stolen his heart. Presently the mind of the little town at the mouth of the Connecticut was nearly unhinged by the grandeur of an arrival. A stylish barge manned by a princely force entered its harbor, and the elegant lord of the manor stepped forth and proceeded to " Blackhall," the seat of the Griswolds. John Griswold was the brother of Governor Roger Griswold, and their two houses stood side by side overlooking Long Island Sound. These brothers were sons of Governor Matthew and Ursula Wolcott Griswold, and grandsons of Governor Roger Wolcott. It was the family of John Griswold who entertained the courtly visitor that day, and on numerous subsequent occasions. Indeed, for a whole season the stately coming and going of the island personage, with his vast retinue, was the chief sensation of the town. Then came the wedding of the beautiful Sarah, daughter of John Griswold-on the 4th of March, 1803. Her mother was Sarah Diodati,