completed--all this I wish you to do immediately, as I am deprived
of the pleasure of visiting my flame until this is done, by that
confounded _bore_, delicacy--be so good as to inclose the letter in
one to me, at the same time don't forget to inclose a handsome sum
to square the yards here and bring me to Cooperstown.

I wish not to interrupt you in your attempt to clear the estate--my
expenditure shall be as small as possible.

_Your brother,_ James Cooper.

The de Lanceys were Huguenots and their loyalty to England during the
Revolution made several of them British officers. Although Cooper was
ever a staunch American, this incident, with several others in his
later life, seemed unfavorable to some few who were only too willing to
question his loyalty.

[Illustration: FRAUNCES TAVERN.]

[Illustration: GOV. JAMES DE LANCEY'S SEAL.]

[Illustration: HEATHCOTE ARMS.]

Miss de Lancey's great grandfather, Stephen, was the first of this
aristocratic Westchester-County family on American soil. He fled
from Normandy on the revocation of the edict of Nantes, and in
1686 came to New York. Here his son James became chief-justice and
lieutenant-governor, and married Ann, eldest daughter of the Hon. Caleb
Heathcote, lord of the manor of Scarsdale, Westchester, and whose manor
house was Heathcote Hill, which their fourth son, John Peter de Lancey,
Cooper's father-in-law, inherited from his mother. One of a number of
services the old-world Derbyshire Heathcote-Hill family rendered to its
country was giving to the Bank of England its first president. The de
Lancey name still clings to the new-world history in Fraunces Tavern,
built by Stephen de Lancey in 1700, for his home. Sixty-two years later
it became the tavern of Samuel Fraunces. In 1776 and 1783 it was the
headquarters of General Washington, and in its famous _Long Room_ "The
Father of his Country" made his farewell address, and bid adieu to his
generals. Number 130 Broadway was the de Lancey home of 1730, and here
was given the first inauguration ball of our nation. On this site was
built "Burn's Coffee House," which teemed with interesting events. The
City Hotel took its place in 1806. John Peter de Lancey married
Elizabeth, daughter of Col. Richard Floyd, and in 1789 came to
Heathcote Hill, Westchester County, which he rebuilt on the site of the
old manor house, burned down. In this home he lived out his days. Here
his son,