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Social lines were very strongly
marked, the intensely aristocratic
make-up of the town being in
striking contrast to the democratic
equality typical of a young American
city of the same size nowadays. The
manorial lords stood first in rank
and influence, and in the respect
universally accorded them. They
lived at ease in the roomy mansions
on their great tenant-farmed
estates; and they also usually owned
fine houses in either New York or
Albany, and sometimes in both. Their
houses were really extremely
comfortable, and were built with a
certain stately simplicity of style
which contrasted very favorably with
the mean or pretentious architecture
of most New York buildings dating
back to the early or middle portions
of the present century. They were
filled with many rooms, wherein a
host of kinsmen, friends, and
retainers might dwell; and they had
great halls, broad verandas, heavy
mahogany railed staircases, and huge
open fireplaces, which in winter
were crammed with roaring logs. The
furniture was handsome, but stiff
and heavy; the books were few; and
there were masses of silver plate on
the sideboards of the large
dining-rooms. The gentry carried
swords, and dressed in the
artificial, picturesque fashion of
the English upper classes; whereas
the commonalty went about their work
in smocks or leather aprons. Near
Trinity Church was the "mall," or
promenade for the fashionable set of
the little colonial town. By an
unwritten law none but the members
of the ruling class used it; and no
fine afternoons it was filled with a
gaily dressed throng of young men
and pretty girls, the latter
attended by their negro waiting
maids. Prominent in the crowd, were
the scarlet coats of the officers
from the English regiments,
constantly quartered in New York
because of the recurring French
wars. The owners of these coats
moved with an air of easy
metropolitan superiority, a certain
insolently patronizing
condescension, which always awakened
both the admiration and the jealous
anger of the provincial aristocrats.
1 The
leading colonial families stood on
the same social plane with the
English country gentlemen of wealth,
and were often connected by marriage
with the English nobility; but they
could never forget and were never
permitted by their English friends
to forget that after all they were
nothing but provincials, and that
provincials could not stand quite on
an equality with the old world
people.
The New York gentry, both of town
and country, were fond of
horse-racing, and kept many
well-bred horses. They drove out in
chariots or huge clumsy coaches with
their coats of arms blazoned on the
panels, the ship of the
Livingston's, the lance of the De
Lanceys, the burning castle of the
Morrises, and the other armorial
bearings of the families of note
being known to all men throughout
the province. On a journey the
gentry either went by water in their
own sloops or else in these coaches,
with liveried postilions and
outriders; and when one of the
manorial lords came to town, his
approach always caused much
excitement, the negroes, children,
and white work-people gathering to
gaze at the lumbering, handsomely
painted coach, drawn by four huge
Flemish horses, the owner sitting
inside with powdered wig and cocked
hat, scarlet or somber velvet coat,
and silver hilted sword. In the town
itself sedan chairs were in common
use.
There was a little theater
where performances were given, now
by a company of professional actors,
and again by the officers of the
garrison regiments; and to these
performances as well as to the balls
and other merrymakings the ladies
sometimes went in chariots or sedan
chairs and sometimes on their own
daintily shod feet. The people of
note usually sent their negro
servants, each dressed in the livery
of his master, in advance to secure
good seats. There was much dancing
and frolicking, besides formal
dinners and picnics; sailing
parties, and in winter skating
parties and long sleigh rides were
favorite amusements; all classes
took part eagerly in the shooting
matches. The dinners were rather
heavy entertainments, with much
solemn toast-drinking; and they
often ended with boisterous
conviviality,-for most of the men
drank hard, and prided themselves on
their wine cellars. Christmas and
New Year's day were great festivals,
the latter being observed in Dutch
fashion,-the gentlemen calling at
all the houses of their
acquaintance, where they feasted and
drank wine. Another Dutch festival
of universal observance was
Pinkster, held in the springide. It
grew to be especially the negroes'
day, all of the blacks of the city
and neighboring country gathering to
celebrate it. There was a great
fair, with merrymaking and games of
all kinds on the Common, where the
City Hall park now is; while the
whites also assembled to look on,
and sometimes to take part in the
fun. Most of the house servants were
negro slaves. |
