Is it not probable that John Drake, -- Lieutenant of the militia company in East Chester, which went down to aid Leisler, took the gauge of this ambitious and arrogant man from dealings with him at the Fort, and hence easily fell into line with those who made common cause with the friends of law and order, rather to resist the aspirations of the new man, when his claims for consideration above others heretofore leaders were only his own presumption and self-importance ?

At the election of 1702, upon Lord Cornbury assuming the reins of government, Joseph Purdy and William Willett were chosen to the Assembly from Westchester County. The resolution of this body is recalled to mind, which declared that any bills passed when an alien is Speaker are not binding on the subject. This action, of course, vindicates the conduct of Drake and Willett, who would not countenance Governeur as Speaker. Mr. Willett, with the exception of two years, held a seat in the Assembly consecutively for the next thirty odd years. Mr. Edmund Ward, of East Chester, was his colleague from 1705 to 1712, Mr. John Hoit held the place for a year, and Mr. Josejih Budd, of Rye, from 1711? to 1722, when Mr. Adolph Philipse was elected and also became Speaker of the Assembly. In 1709, Joseph Purdy and John Drake, and in 1715, Josiah Hunt and Jonathan Odell were returned. In 172G, Frederick Philipse accepted the i)osition, which he held until his death, in 1751, and which his son, of the same name, held after him until the Revolution. From 178!) to 1748, Daniel Purdy, of Rye, and from 1743 to the Revolution, Judge John Thomas, of the same town, was the other member from the county. The courtesy of Mr. Willett and the election of Lewis Morris in 1738 will he spoken of hereafter.