MORE COLONIAL HOMESTEADS.
More Colonial Homesteads and their Stories. By Marion Harland. (G. P. Putnam's Sons. 12s. 6d.)—There is a great deal of very pleasant reading in this book. Miss Harland knows how to make us feel that the people she writes about are real and interesting. They are not the dull abstractions that too often people the byways of history. The chapters on Johnson Hall are particularly good. The Irishman, Sir William Johnson, who built it in the middle of the eighteenth century, had a fasci- nating personality. On one side. he was a polished gentleman, and on the other a !savage. " There was never any blending or confusion of boundary lines between the two personalities in the single body. European and Mohawk, .aristocrat and savage, —each was sharply drawn and definite. Neither infringed upon the other's rights, and the unities of the queer double-action life. drama were never violated." He did much to keep the peace between the Indians and the settlers, and a Mohawk sachem said of him after his death : "Sir William.Johnsort never deceived us." In the account of Morven, the Stockton homestead in New Jersey, there are some extracts from letters of Richard Stockton written to his wife from England, where he went on business in 1766. He tells her "of a charming collection of bulbous roots' he is getting together to send her as soon as the American spring opens." Again, " Suppose, in the next place, I inform you that I design a ride to Twickenham the latter end of next month, principally to view Mr. Pope's garden and grotto, and that I shall take with me a gentleman who draws well to lay down an exact plan of the whole." George Washington was also a correspondent of Mre, Stockton's, and writes amusingly to thank her for a " Pastoral," in which he is the principal character. The story of the CarrollE of Doughoregan Manor in Maryland is full of romantic love affairs, illustrated by contemporary letters which make them live again for us. The chapters on the Langdon and Wentwortb Houses are more concerned with politics, though amusing domestic touches are not wanting. The book is well illustrated with photographs of the places, and of the family portraits and heirlooms.
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