I stayed with Miss Clara and her husband through that year. During that time there was an outbreak of yellow fever in the city, but fortunately it didn’t touch our house. And I remained with them most of the next.
Back in England, both Queen Mary and her husband, Dutch King William, had now died, and so the throne was given to Mary’s sister, Anne. And the government at this time thought so highly of the importance of America that they sent out a great gentleman that was cousin to the queen herself, and his name was Lord Cornbury. So Lord Cornbury came to live in New York.
None of this would have affected me if it hadn’t been for the Mistress. Nobody knew why—Jan said he reckoned she’d probably quarreled with somebody—but in October she sent a letter, saying she might be returning to New York, and Miss Clara called her brother round to her house to decide what they should do. I was in the parlor with them. “But you’d better not be here, Quash,” they both told me, “if she comes.”
“We are looking after Quash,” said Miss Clara.
“Of course we are,” said Jan. “And I think I have the answer. A place where his duties would be light, and he’d be well taken care of.” He nodded and gave me a smile. “For I have just been with the governor himself.”
“Lord Cornbury?” says Miss Clara.
“No less. It seems that His Lordship is looking for a personal manservant. I told him all about Quash, and he was most interested.” He turned to me. “If you work for him, Quash, you’ll be well treated. Not only that. Governors only stay a few years, then they return to England. If you please His Lordship, as I know you will, then at the end of his stay, he has agreed that he’ll give you your freedom.”
“But what if Lord Cornbury changes his mind and decides to sell Quash?” Miss Clara objected.
“I thought of that. I have Lord Cornbury’s word that if he were not satisfied, he would sell Quash back to us for the price he paid.”
“You’re sure Quash would be comfortable?” Miss Clara asked.
“Comfortable?” Mr. Master laughed. “He’d live better than we do.”
“Quash,” said Miss Clara, “if you’re not happy, you come straight back here to me.”
“Well,” said Jan, “Lord Cornbury hasn’t seen Quash yet. But if it goes well, Quash, I shall be grateful to you, for this will certainly put me in good standing with the governor.”
“I’ll do my best,” I said.
And so it was that in the space of only a year and a half, I passed from the ownership of that cruel planter into the household of the governor himself.
His Lordship belonged to the ancient family of Hyde, and was the son and heir of the Earl of Clarendon, the queen’s uncle. So he was one of the royal family. But there was nothing proud about him. He was always gracious, even to a slave like me. He was somewhat tall, of a good build, with dark hair and large brown eyes. He would have been swarthy if he had not been carefully shaved each day—and it was one of my duties to shave him. I had never lived in the house of an aristocrat, and so I was often observing him, both to study how I could please him, and to see what he would do next.
I soon learned why Jan was anxious to please Lord Cornbury. “I am a Tory,” His Lordship would say with a smile. “I favor the queen and her court. How could it be otherwise when I am her cousin?” He was partial to the greater families who were English in their manners and favored them with offices, contracts, and land. On this account, the many lesser Dutch in the city who still remembered poor Meinheer Leisler did not like Lord Cornbury. And I think he had no great liking for them. But fortunately I spoke English well enough, and after so many years close to the Boss, I knew how to make a master feel comfortable with me.
His Lordship and his wife had had five children, but only two were still living: Edward, who was a boy of twelve when I arrived, and a handsome, dark-haired girl of eight named Theodosia. Edward was mostly with his tutor, and Theodosia with her mother; my duties concerned His Lordship only. He was an easy master, for though he insisted upon good order, he always explained what he wanted, and he told me if he was pleased. He was always polite with the people who came to see him; yet I could tell that behind his good manners, he was ambitious.
“A governor should leave his mark,” I once heard him say.
In particular, he was anxious to build up the Anglican Church. The vestrymen of Trinity, who included some of the greatest merchants, were often with him, and he gave that church a big stretch of land running up the west side of the city. And he had Broadway paved with fine cobblestones all the way from Trinity to Bowling Green, in front of the fort. He also put Anglican clergymen into some of the churches of the Presbyterians and the Dutch—which those people did not like at all. But that didn’t trouble him. “Gentlemen,” he told them, “I am sorry, but it’s what the queen wants.” It was all part of his plan. I was in the room one day when he addressed the Trinity vestrymen. “New York is English in name,” he said, “and we look to you and to the Anglican clergy to make it so in fact.”
He wasn’t proud, but he liked to do things in style. The governor’s residence in the fort had some good rooms, but it wasn’t elegant. “This house really won’t do,” he would say. One day we took a boat across to Nut Island, which is only a short distance from the tip of Manhattan, and as he walked about among the chestnut trees there, he said to me, “This is a delightful place, Quash. Delightful.” And in no time at all, he had them building a beautiful house on a knoll out there. Soon they were calling it Governor’s Island after that.
Of course, it had to be paid for. But a tax for the city defenses had just brought in over a thousand pounds; so he used that. Some of the merchants that paid the taxes were angry, but he didn’t care. “No one is attacking us at present,” he said.
During this time, I would still see Miss Clara and the family now and then, but there was no further word about the Mistress—until one day in Wall Street I saw Jan. “She came back, Quash,” he told me. “She came back and discovered all the governor’s been doing for the Anglicans against the Dutch, and in three days she was gone to Schenectady again and says she’ll never return.” He was laughing. “God bless Lord Cornbury,” he says.
And I had reason to be grateful to His Lordship too. For one day, seeing me looking sad, he asked me what was the matter, and I told him I was wondering what became of my Hudson. And what did he do, but cause letters to be sent to every port in the world where the English traded, and every English naval vessel, to make inquiries for him. “It will take time, and I promise you nothing,” he said, “but we can try.” He was a kindly man.
I had been with him more than a year when he surprised me.
Lady Cornbury was a slim, elegant lady. She and I did not have occasion to speak much, but she was always polite with me. I knew she gave His Lordship some anxiety. I’d find him standing by a table piled with her unpaid bills, muttering: “How are these to be settled?” For His Lordship was not as rich as people supposed. But when he and Her Ladyship were alone, you could hear them laughing together.
One day His Lordship told me that he and Her Ladyship would be supping alone with two friends who were just arrived from London. That evening, after I had shaved him carefully and laid out his clothes, he told me: “I shan’t need you now, Quash. I want you to go down to open the door for the guests, and wait at table.” Accordingly I opened the door to the English gentleman and his wife, and took them into the main reception room where Her Ladyship was waiting, before His Lordship was yet down. After a while, Her Ladyship informed me that there was to be another, secret guest, a great personage, and that I was to open the door and announce her. And when she told me who I must announce, I almost fainted. But I did as she said, and opened the door, and sure enough the great personage was there, so I turned and announced loudly: “Her Majesty, the Queen.”
And before my eyes, in walked Queen Anne. Except, as she passed me, I realized it was His Lordship.
He was wearing a dress that belonged to Her
Ladyship. It was somewhat tight, but he carried it very well. And I must say he moved gracefully. He was wearing a woman’s wig. And after I had shaved him, he had so powdered, rouged, and painted his face that he really might have passed for a very handsome woman.
“By God, Corny!” cried the English gentleman. “You gave me a start. Your height gives you away, but you do look uncommonly like her. Astounding!”
“She is my cousin german, you know,” said His Lordship, very pleased with himself.
“Show us your leg,” demanded the English lady. And so His Lordship lifted his skirts and showed us his leg which, in silk stocking, looked very fine. And then he moved his leg about in a manner which almost made me blush. “Why, Corny,” she laughed, “you could have been a woman.”
“Sometimes,” said Her Ladyship quietly, “he is.”
Now His Lordship moved around the room, curtsied to his guests, and was applauded.
I served them supper, and they were all very merry, His Lordship taking off his wig, saying it was damnable hot, and telling stories about the people they all knew at the English court. And I was glad to see them happy, for I guessed that, although they had a great position in New York, the governor and his lady must miss the theater and the court and their friends in London.
It seemed that His Lordship was pleased with the evening. For a month later, he arranged another. I helped him prepare, and he struggled considerably with Her Ladyship’s dress, which was too tight for him. “We shall have to do something about this,” he said to me.
This time he had two gentlemen from the great Dutch families of the English party, a van Cortlandt and a Philipse. They were much astonished when the queen entered, and neither of them having seen that lady, for a minute or two they did not realize the jest. I don’t think they enjoyed His Lordship’s performance, though, being polite, they didn’t say so.
As before, this took place in the governor’s house in the fort; and after the guests were gone, His Lordship had a desire to take the air, and told me to come with him up on the battlement of the fort that looked over the harbor.
It was a fine night, with the stars sparkling in the sky over the water. There was one sentry up there. He glanced at us, supposing that it must be Her Ladyship; and then, realizing it was not, he stared harder, but he couldn’t make out who this tall lady was, in the dark.
“It must have been here,” His Lordship remarked to me, “that Stuyvesant stood when the English came to take the city.”
“I believe so, My Lord,” I said.
He stayed there a while, and then we walked back. As we passed the sentry, the governor said, “Goodnight.” And hearing a man’s voice, I saw that sentry almost jump out of his skin. He was certainly staring after us as we departed. And after we came down, I said to His Lordship that the sentry had been astonished hearing a man’s voice coming from a lady, and that I wondered if he would realize who it was. But His Lordship just laughed and said, “Did we give him a fright?” And then I understood that in his heart, being such an aristocrat, the governor didn’t think it mattered what the sentry thought. And I realized this was a weakness in him.
From these evenings I also understood two other things. The first, that it pleased His Lordship to remind people that the queen was his cousin and that he looked like her. The second, that, as Queen Anne or not, he liked to dress as a woman.
Anyway, I was in favor with the governor after this; and he had not forgotten that it was through the van Dyck family that I had come to him. For one day he summoned Jan to the fort. I was serving in the room when Jan came in. There were a number of government contracts to be given out at that time, and His Lordship calmly picked up one of them, and handed it to him.
“You served me well in selling me Quash,” he said. “Perhaps you could supply Her Majesty’s government these goods.”
As Jan read the contract, I saw his eyes open wide.
“Your Lordship is very kind,” he answered. “I am in your debt.”
“Then perhaps,” said His Lordship, “you’d like to do something for me.” And he waited.
“I should like very much,” said Jan warmly, “to give Your Lordship fifty pounds, if Your Lordship would do me the honor of accepting it.”
So His Lordship graciously said he would. And all this was very interesting to me, as explaining how the business of government is done.
I continued to study His Lordship carefully, as to how I might please him; and soon after this I had a lucky chance when, passing one of the tailors in Dock Street, I saw in a store a large silk petticoat which I estimated might fit His Lordship very well. Having always kept any money which came my way, I had no difficulty buying it; and that very evening when we were alone, I gave it to His Lordship. “It’s for the next time Your Lordship should be Her Majesty,” I said.
He was very delighted, and tried it on at once. “All I need,” he said, “is a dress as big.”
I had noticed that each time he had dressed as the queen, his children were out of the house. So I guessed that His Lordship still had some fears as to what people might think of his habit. I was careful therefore never to let him see any trace of mockery in my own manner toward him. A week after I gave him the petticoat, he wore it under a dress for supper alone with Her Ladyship, and as I was helping him dress beforehand, he asked me: “Do you find it strange I dress like this?”
“In Africa, My Lord,” I said, “where my people come from, in certain tribes, the great chiefs sometimes dress as women. But only they are allowed to do it. We count that a sign of special distinction.” I invented this, but His Lordship didn’t know it.
“Oh,” he said; and he looked very pleased.
Some months passed; and from time to time His Lordship would perform as the queen, or occasionally he would just choose to walk about in women’s clothes.
It was during this year that Her Ladyship started to be unwell. The doctors did not know what was wrong with her, so they bled her, and gave her herbal cures, and said that she must rest. The business of the household went on much the same. His Lordship would often attend to his son’s studies, or keep Theodosia company by reading to her in the evenings. But I did notice that, with Her Ladyship being unwell, His Lordship would sometimes be restless at night, and walk about in his room alone; and I know that when he did so, he would often be dressed as a woman.
I had for some time been wondering if there was a way I might put this situation to my use; and one day when I was in the market, who should I see but Violet, the mulatto woman from the East River that I used to go with. She looked a lot older now, but I recognized her, and she knew me. She had a little girl with her, of maybe nine years old, that was her granddaughter. “Would she be my granddaughter too?” I asked her quietly. And she laughed and said, “Maybe.” This little girl’s name was Rose.
Well, it seemed that this Rose was wonderfully quick with the needle, and Violet was looking for someone to give her regular work. And when I told her I belonged to the governor now, she was wondering if I couldn’t do something for her.
“Wait a while,” I said, “and I’ll see.”
I started my work the next day. Using a framework of thin sticks, like wickerwork, I began to make a rough model of the governor’s body. Fortunately, having always been good with my hands, the task was easy enough. Taking one of his shirts, I was able to adjust this to make it perfect. Then I bought lengths of silk and of lining. This cost me a good deal of my savings, but I was confident of getting a return. After this, I borrowed an old dress of Her Ladyship’s, which I knew she never used. Then I loaded all these items onto a cart and took them up to Violet’s.
“Her Ladyship wishes to give a dress to a friend out on Long Island,” I told her. “This is the shape of her body, but we are not sure of her height, so the dress must be left long, and we can hem it later.” Then I showed her the dress I’d borrowed, to use as a model for the design, and told her that if Rose could do it she’d be well paid. “She can do
it,” said Violet. So I told them I’d be back in two weeks.
And sure enough, when I returned, it was done. And I returned to His Lordship, and told him I had a dress which I thought would fit him better. When he saw the dress, he stared at the material and ran his hand over the silk, and said I had chosen very well. The fit was perfect. I hemmed it then and there myself, and His Lordship was delighted.
“It cost a bit, My Lord,” I told him, and named a figure that was less than any of the dressmakers in the town would have charged. He gave me the money on the spot. The next day, I paid Rose for her work—a small amount, but enough to please her. And then I waited.
As it happened, Her Ladyship seemed to get better at this time. His Lordship and she resumed their normal life. Several times he wore that dress at supper, and remained entirely satisfied. But after a while, as I had expected, he asked me if I couldn’t get him another. I said I reckoned I could. But the next day I came in with a long face.
“There’s a difficulty, Your Lordship,” I told him. I explained that the dressmaker where I’d got the dress was getting suspicious. Wasn’t I the governor’s slave, she had asked, and told me that if Her Ladyship wanted a dress, they would not give her credit. His Lordship groaned when I said that. “But they were wanting to know who the dress would be for,” I told him, “and I did not like the look in the dressmaker’s eye, so I said I would have to consult Her Ladyship,” I said.
Now although I had invented this tale, His Lordship knew that he was becoming more and more unpopular among the Dutch and the Presbyterians, and many others. He had enemies. So did Her Ladyship, on account of the unpaid bills. And there had also been a few rumors about His Lordship’s strange dressing, enough to make even a proud man like His Lordship cautious.
New York Page 14