" Tall eight-day clocks in mahogany or ebony and gilt frames were found in all households of the better class. One that was stolen from the Van Cortlandt manor-house during the Revolution was cased in gilded ebony, and above its face was a painting of the Queen of Sheba on her way to lay her gifts at the feet of King Solomon. If these big time-pieces were not decorated with a figure-painting, a marine view or a landscape, they bore the sun and moon between the dial and the top of the frame.
"At the entertainments of the rich the tables fairly groaned under their weight of viands, fowl, fish, oysters and clams burdened them, while the choice wines tickled the palates of connoisseurs. Perhaps they favored none more than the renowned vintage of the south side of the island of Madeira. For a more potent drink they resorted to ' rack punch,' a concoction in which the strong arrack was the principal ingredient. Toasts were drunk at all dinners, the gentlemen proposing the ladies and the ladies the gentlemen.
" There was plenty of employment for sportsmen. Wild turkeys, pheasants, quail and other feathered game abounded, and Cooper tells us that as late as 1755 ' nothing was easier than to knock over a buck in the Highlands.' The negroes were uniformly good shots, and used pointers and setters when hunting.
" The kitchen fire-places were of huge size. A large back-log was rolled into the yawning cavity by the united power of stout men-servants, and on the massive iron andirons hickory and other wood was piled, while the whole fiery mass was kept in place by a heavy fore-