for the protection of its frontier, that led to the early settlement
and rapid growth of this charming spot, which, having been entered by
the pioneers as far back as 1741, continued so to increase and prosper,
though on the edge of a wilderness unbroken, for many years, for
hundreds of miles on the north, that, at the opening of the American
revolution, it was the most populous and best built village in Vermont.

This place, at the period chosen for the beginning of our tale, had
been, for several years, the seat of justice for all the southern part
of this disputed territory, under the assumed jurisdiction of New
York, in which a majority of the inhabitants seemed to have tacitly
acquiesced. And the most prominent of its public buildings, as might
be expected, was the Court House, embracing the jail under the same
roof. This was a spacious square edifice conspicuously located, and of
very respectable architecture for the times. The village, also,
contained a meeting-house, school house, and the usual proportion of
stores and taverns. The whole place, indeed, had now nearly passed
into the second stage of existence, in American villages, when the
pioneer log-houses have given place to the more airy and elegant
framed buildings; and, compared with other towns, which, in this new
settlement, were then just emerging from the wilderness, it wore quite
an ancient appearance.

Among the most commodious and handsome of the many respectable
dwellings which had here been erected, was that of Crean Brush,
Esquire, colonial deputy secretary of New York, and also an active
member of the legislature of that colony for this part of her claimed
territory. This house, at the sessions of the courts, especially, was
the fashionable place of resort for what was termed the court party
gentry, and other distinguished persons from abroad. To the interior