Romances of early America

Preface

IT was once said of Americans, in terms of reproach, that they had no past. But they were only in the position of the lad who, when twitted about his youth, answered that he would outgrow the fault, "if given a little time." America is fast outgrowing this fault of extreme youth. The country already has a past of which it may be proud, and one that is full of picturesqueness. The more it is written about the more interesting it seems, and the greater is the wonder that the New World offers so much pleasant romance to the reader. The age in which we live may be prosaic, and marked by the worship of Mammon, yet the public never showed a livelier appreciation than it does now of the dead-and-gone heroes and heroines who lived and loved, lost or won, in the early days of our history. I trust, therefore, that a place in the bookcase may be found for these " Romances of Early America." The characters of whom they treat faded into shadows many years ago, but the theme of the volume — "the old, old story" — is ever new, and worth the telling.

In addition to such original researches as I have made, it

PREFACE has been my welcome duty to consult a variety of books bearing, either directly or incidentally, upon the subjects of the "Romances." This literature included Watson's chatty Annals, Brown's Beneath Old Roof Trees, Glenn's Colonial Mansions, Mrs. Van Rensselaer's Goede Vrouw of Mana-ha-ta, the Memorial History of New York, ^ Mrs. Banning's biography of Miss Vining, a Revolutionary Belle, Mrs. EUet's Women of the American Revolution, Alger's Life of Edwin Forrest, Elias Nason's Life of Sir Charles Henry Franhland, Paul Leicester Ford's The True George Washington, Jenkins's Historical Collections Relating to Gwynedd, the Pennsylvania Magaiine, edited by John W. Jordan, Maud Wilder Goodwin's Life of Dolly Madison, the American Historical Register, and Miss Wharton's Colonial Days and Dames.

In the preparation of the following pages 1 have passed many an agreeable hour. I have not written in vain if a small part of my own enjoyment is shared by the reader.

Edward Robins.

Philadelphia, June /, igo2.

Contents

PAGE

I. THE MESCHIANZA — AND LOVE-MAK- ING: A STORY OF OLD PHILA- DELPHIA - - - - - II

II. PEASANT AND PATRICIAN: IN COLO- NIAL BOSTON - - - - 35