chancery, where it is not doubted but he will find protection and justice. I thought it ne cessary to make you this relation, that the honorable Society might be more sensible of the great prejudice Mr. Moulinars and his adherents do in general to the Church of England, and in particular to that of New Rochelle, and that there is no unlawful practice which they scruple to make use of for the detriment of it. After Mr. Bondet, my predecessor's, death, they engaged the dissenters to build a meetinghouse about two hundred yards distant from the church in which I officiate twice every Sunday; they incited them also to reclaim the one hundred acres of land which Mr. Bondet enjoyed, and which were given by the Lord Pelham to the use of the Church, in order to deprive me of it; and notwithstanding all the friendly presentations made from time to time to the said Mr. Moulinars, by some gentlemen of this country, and also by the late Lord Bishop of London, of which Master Aufere, one of the Society's members, may give a more full and exact account,-all this, I say, did not prevail with him, nor induce him to keep his own congregation, and not to intrude himself into those of others, and consequently not to trouble their union and peace. He also of late

ROMANTIC HISTORY.

103

eagerly consumed some of the dissenters of New Rochelle, who, to save expenses and inconveniences they would lay under in bringing their children to New York to be christened by him, or who by reason of having no aversion from the Church, do not think fit to defer their Baptism till he came among them, according to his desire, have required me to baptize them. I heartily wish the honorable Society would pity our assaulted Church, and take some effectual means for the removing of the cause and instrument of the unhappy divisions we are in; our endeavors here without their assistance having proved of but little and of none effect. For there is no irregular practice which, in their opinion, is not supported, and which they do not find justified and authorized by the benefit of toleration, and liberty of conscience granted to them; in such manner they abuse that great and inestimable privilege."

Mr. Stouppe (who had been greatly beloved by his people) was succeeded by the Rev. Michael Houdin, who was also a native of France, and had been bred a Franciscan friar. He was at one time the Superior of a convent of this order at Montreal, in Canada; but having become disgusted with some things in the Romish system, he retired to the city of New

York, and made a public renunciation of the errors of Popery, and joined the Church of England, on Easter-day, 1747.

Having officiated at Trenton, and other places in New Jersey, he went as a guide, in 1759, with General Wolfe, in his memorable expedition against Quebec. While he remained in Canada, an attempt was made by the vicargeneral to seduce him from his allegiance, by the offer of great preferment in the Romish. Church. Mr. Houdin remained steadfast, however, and in 1761 returned to New York, and was appointed missionary at New Rochelle. During his continuance there, Trinity Church received its first charter from King George the Third. He closed his earthly labors in October, 1766, his remains being placed by the side of his predecessors, Bondet and Stouppe, beneath the chancel of the old French church.

From the death of Mr. Houdin until the beginning of the Revolutionary War, the parish at New Rochelle was under the care of the Rev. Samuel Seabury.

* A full account of the difficulties about the Church glebe is given in Mr. Bolton's valuable History of the Church in Westchester County, page 465.

CHAPTER THIRTEENTH.

An omission which would be unpardonable-Devoted laymen-Colonel Heathcote-Curious cause of emigration-Becomes a prominent man in the province of New York-Various honorable offices which he held-Services rendered to the ChurchThe stately manor-house-Reverenced by the poor-Sudden death-Last will and testament-Some account of his descendants-Colonel Lewis Morris-His character and habitsInfluence in the political world-Devotion to the ChurchDutch Prayer-books-Timber for Trinity Church-Stopping short, for want of space to say more.

T would be unpardonable, while speaking of the early history of the Church in Westchester county, to say nothing of the devoted laymen who so faithfully supported the hands of God's ministering servants. Prominent among these was Colonel Caleb Heathcote, the great-grandfather of Bishop De Lancey, of Western New York.

The family of Heathcotes is an ancient one, and may be traced far back in the annals of English history. Colonel Heathcote (to whom the Church in Westchester owes a large debt of gratitude for her first foundation, and for many acts of liberality) was born at Chesterfield in 1663, and followed the business of a

shipping merchant. The cause of his removal to the New World was rather singular. He was engaged to a very beautiful lady, who afterwards made up her mind that she preferred Sir Gilbert Heathcote, an elder brother of her betrothed, and accordingly the engagement with the younger was broken off.

Caleb Heathcote, in his mortification and distress, left England at once, and came to New York in 1692. He was a man of rare abilities, and soon became a leading person in the colony.

He was judge of Westchester, and colonel of its militia all his life; a councillor of the province; for three years mayor of New York; and from 1715, until his death, receiver-general of the customs in North America.

Colonel Heathcote was also one of the founders of Trinity Church, New York, his name appearing on the list of its first vestrymen in 1697, an office which he continued to hold for nearly twenty years.

In 1704, he was elected a member of the Venerable Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and he never failed to do all in his power to advance the interests of the Church.

He built a stately brick manor-house in the