That he was a personage of importance goes without saying, for His
Majesty's forces had right of way in those days, in all things social
as well as governmental. He proceeded to entertain largely, as soon as
he had his home ready for it, and so it was that at that time Richmond
Hill established its deathless reputation for hospitality.
Mortier did not buy the property outright but got it on a very long
lease. Though his first name sounds Hebraic and his last Gallic, he
was, we may take it, a thoroughly British soul, for he called it
Richmond Hill to remind him of England. The people of New York used to
gossip excitedly over the small fortune he spent on those grounds, the
house was the most pretentious that the neighbourhood had boasted up
to that time. Of course the Warren place was much farther north, and
this particular locality was only just beginning to be fashionable.
[Illustration: WASHINGTON ARCH. "... Let us hope that we will always
keep Washington Square as it is today--our little and dear bit of
fine, concrete history, the one perfect page of our old, immortal New
York.
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