But duels were common enough in those days; we feel still the thrill of indignation roused by the shooting of Alexander Hamilton by Burr.
The old University of New York--where Professor Morse conducted his great experiments in telegraphy, where Samuel Colt in his tower workroom perfected his revolver, where the Historical Society of New York was first established and where many of our most distinguished citizens received their education--was never a financial success.

For a time they tried to make it pay by taking tenants--young students, and bachelors who wished seclusion for writing or research.

Then, in the course of time, it was moved away to the banks of the Hudson.

On the site now stands a modern structure, where, to be sure, a few of the old University departments are still conducted, but which is chiefly celebrated as being the first all-bachelor apartment house erected in town.

It is appropriately called the "Benedick," after a certain young man who scoffed at matrimony,--and incidentally got married! And a few of the families stay beneath the roofs their forefathers built, watching, as they watched, the same quiet trees and lawns and paths of the most charming square in all New York: De Forest, Rhinelander, Delano, Stewart, De Rham, Gould, Wynkoop, Tailer, Guinness, Claflin, Booth, Darlington, Gregory, Hoyt, Schell, Shattuck, Weekes,--these, and others are still the names of the residents of Washington Square North.