.dt Memoirs of An American Lady, by a\Anonymous-A Project Gutenberg eBook
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<l>MEMOIRS</l>||OF||<xl>AN AMERICAN LADY.</xl>


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WITH SKETCHES OF


<l>MANNERS AND SCENERY</l>

IN AMERICA,

AS THEY EXISTED PREVIOUS TO THE REVOLUTION.


BY THE AUTHOR OF
“LETTERS FROM THE MOUNTAINS.”
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NEW-YORK:
PUBLISHED BY GEORGE DEARBORN
38 GOLD-STREET.
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1836.
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NOTICE.
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<sc>Among</sc> the scenes of peculiar interest the American
traveller is, as it were, under a patriotic obligation to
visit while abroad, may be mentioned the birth-place of
Columbus near Genoa, Cave Castle, the mansion of the
Washington family in the Wolds of Yorkshire, and the
abode at Edinburgh of the venerable authoress of
“Letters from the Mountains.” In acknowledgment
of what we all owe to her, and as a heartfelt tribute of
admiration, and affection for her talents, and virtues, the
present work being out of print, the opportunity of republishing
what so much identifies Mrs. Grant of Laghan
with our country, is gladly seized upon by one who
since one of those pilgrimages has long enjoyed the benign
influence of her society and correspondence. The
simple circumstances she relates of herself, and the gentle
spirit of the whole work render it unnecessary to
deprecate criticism; and the praise of Southey who
pronounced the “description of the breaking up of the
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ice in the Hudson,” as “quite Homeric,” must bespeak
for it a favourable perusal. As a picture, taken at the
dawning of the Revolution, of the clouds which then
passed along to have vanished otherwise forever, and as
one in a series of works shedding light upon that momentous
period of which the “Pioneers” is its natural
successor, its reappearance must be a welcome event in
the marshalling of American literature now in progress.
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H.
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<s>TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE</s>

<xl>SIR WILLIAM GRANT, K. N. T.</xl>

MASTER OF THE ROLLS.
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.ni
SIR,
.pi
<sc>It</sc> is very probable that the friends, by whose solicitations
I was induced to arrange in the following pages my
early recollections, studied more the amusement I should
derive from executing this task, than any pleasure they
could expect from its completion.

The principal object of this work is to record the few
incidents, and the many virtues which diversified and
distinguished the life of a most valued friend. Though
no manners could be more simple, no notions more primitive
than those which prevailed among her associates,
the stamp of originality with which they were marked,
and the peculiar circumstances in which they stood, both
with regard to my friend, and the infant society to which
they belonged, will, I flatter myself, give an interest with
reflecting minds, even to this desultory narrative; and
the miscellany of description, observation, and detail
which it involves.

If truth, both of feeling and narration, which are its
only merits, prove a sufficient counterbalance to carelessness,
laxity, and incoherence of style, its prominent
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faults, I may venture to invite you, when you unbend
from the useful and honourable labours to which your
valuable time is devoted, to trace this feeble delineation
of an excellent, though unembellished character; and
of the rapid pace with which an infant society has urged
on its progress from virtuous simplicity, to the dangerous
“knowledge of good and evil:” from tremulous imbecility
to self-sufficient independence.

To be faithful, a delineation must necessarily be
minute. Yet if this sketch, with all its imperfections,
be honoured by your indulgent perusal, such condescension
of time and talent must certainly be admired,
and may, perhaps, be imitated by others.
.ti +10
I am, sir, very respectfully,
.ti +15
Your faithful, humble servant,
.ti +20
THE AUTHOR.


<I>London, Oct. 1808.</I>

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CONTENTS.
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.ta r:8 h:40 r:5
 |<xs>CHAP.</xs>   | <xs>Page</xs>
 | Introduction   |  #2:ch00#

I. |  Province of New-York—Origin of the settlement at Albany—Singular\
possession held by the patron—Account of his tenants  |     #19:ch01#

II. |  Account of the Five Nations, or Mohawk Indians—Building of\
the Fort at Albany—John and Philip Schuyler    | #22:ch02#

III. |  Colonel Schuyler persuades four sachems to accompany him to\
England—Their reception and return    | #27:ch03#

IV. |  Return of Colonel Schuyler and the Sachems to the interior—Literary\
acquisitions—Distinguishes and instructs his favourite niece—Manners\
of the settlers    | #30:ch04#

V. |  State of religion among the settlers—Instruction of children devolved\
on females—to whom the charge of gardening, &c. was also\
committed—Sketch of the state of the society at New-York    | #34:ch05#

VI. |  Description of Albany—Manner of living there—Hermitage, &c.    | #37:ch06#

VII. |  Gentle treatment of slaves among the Albanians—Consequent\
attachment of domestics—Reflections on servitude    | #41:ch07#
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VIII. |  Education and early habits of the Albanians described    | #46:ch08#

IX. |  Description of the manner in which the Indian traders set out on\
their first adventure    | #52:ch09#

X. |  Marriages, amusements, rural excursions, &c. among the Albanians    | #62:ch10#

XI. |  Winter amusements of the Albanians, &c.    | #68:ch11#

XII. |  Lay-brothers—Catalina—Detached Indians    | #73:ch12#

XIII. |  Progress of knowledge—Indian manners    | #79:ch13#

XIV. |  Marriage of Miss Schuyler—Description of the Flats    | #87:ch14#

XV. |  Character of Philip Schuyler—His management of the Indians    | #92:ch15#

XVI. |  Account of the three brothers    | #96:ch16#

XVII. |  The house and rural economy of the Flats—Birds and insects    | #98:ch17#

XVIII. |  Description of Colonel Schuyler’s barn, the common, and its various\
uses    | #104:ch18#

XIX. |  Military preparations—Disinterested conduct, the surest road to\
popularity—Fidelity of the Mohawks    | #108:ch19#

XX. |  Account of a refractory warrior, and of the spirit which still pervaded\
the New-England provinces    | #112:ch20#
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XXI. |  Distinguishing characteristics of the New-York colonists, to what\
owing—Huguenots and Palatines, their character    | #115:ch21#

XXII. |  A child still-born—Adoption of children common in the province—Madame’s\
visit to New-York    | #118:ch22#

XXIII. |  Colonel Schuyler’s partiality to the military children successively\
adopted—Indian character falsely charged with idleness    | #122:ch23#

XXIV. |  Progress of civilization in Europe—Northern nations instructed in\
the arts of life by those they had subdued    | #126:ch24#

XXV. |  Means by which the independence of the Indians was first diminished    | #133:ch25#

XXVI. |  Peculiar attractions of the Indian mode of life—Account of a settler\
who resided some time among them    | #137:ch26#

XXVII. |  Indians only to be attached by being converted—The abortive expedition\
of Mons. Barre—Ironical sketch of an Indian    | #142:ch27#

XXVIII. |  Management of the Mohawks by the influence of the christian\
Indians    | #147:ch28#

XXIX. |  Madame’s adopted children—Anecdote of sister Susan    | #152:ch29#

XXX. |  Death of young Philip Schuyler—Account of his family, and of the\
society at the Flats    | #159:ch30#

XXXI. |  Family details    | #167:ch31#

XXXII. |  Resources of Madame—Provincial customs    | #172:ch32#
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XXXIII. |  Followers of the army—Inconveniences resulting from such    | #177:ch33#

XXXIV. |  Arrival of a new regiment—Domine Freylinghausen    | #182:ch34#

XXXV. |  Plays acted—Displeasure of the Domine    | #187:ch35#

XXXVI. |  Return of Madame—The Domine leaves his people—Fulfilment of\
his predictions    | #192:ch36#

XXXVII. |  Death of Colonel Schuyler    | #197:ch37#

XXXVIII. |  Mrs. Schuyler’s arrangements and conduct after the colonel’s death    | #201:ch38#

XXXIX. |  Mohawk Indians—The superintendent    | #205:ch39#

XL. |  General Abercrombie—Lord Howe    | #210:ch40#

XLI. |  Total defeat at Ticonderoga—General Lee—Humanity of madame    | #216:ch41#

XLII. |  The family of madame’s sister—The death of the latter    | #219:ch42#

XLIII. |  Further successes of the British arms—A missionary—Cortlandt\
Schuyler    | #223:ch43#

XLIV. |  Burning of the house at the Flats—Madame’s removal—Journey of\
the author    | #227:ch44#
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XLV. |  Continuation of the Journey—Arrival at Oswego—Regulations, studies,\
and amusements there    | #232:ch45#

XLVI. |  Benefit of select reading—Hunting excursions    | #241:ch46#

XLVII. |  Gardening and agriculture—Return of the author to Albany    | #244:ch47#

XLVIII. |  Madame’s family and society described    | #24:ch48#

XLIX. |  Sir Jeffery Amherst—Mutiny—Indian war    | #256:ch49#

L. |  Pondiac—Sir Robert D.    | #262:ch50#

LI. |  Death of Captain Dalziel—Sudden decease of an Indian chief—Madame—Her\
protégées    | #268:ch51#

LII. |  Madame’s popularity—Exchange of prisoners    | #275:ch52#

LIII. |  Return of the fifty-fifth regiment to Europe—Privates sent to Pensacola    | #278:ch53#

LIV. |  A new property—Visionary plans    | #282:ch54#

LV. |  Return to the Flats    | #292:ch55#

LVI. |  Melancholy presages—Turbulence of the people    | #295:ch56#
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LVII. |  Settlers of a new description—Madame’s chaplain    | #301:ch57#

LVIII. |  Mode of conveying timber in rafts down the river    | #309:ch58#

LIX. |  The Swamp—A discovery    | #312:ch59#

LX. |  Mrs. Schuyler’s view of continental politics    | #318:ch60#

LXI. |  Description of the breaking up of the ice on the Hudson river    | #321:ch61#

LXII. |  Departure from Albany—Origin of the state of Vermont    | #325:ch62#

LXIII. |  General reflections    | #331:ch63#

LXIV. |  Reflections continued    | #338:ch64#

LXV. |  Sketch of the settlement of Pennsylvania    | #344:ch65#

LXVI. |  Prospects brightening in British America—Desirable country on the\
interior lakes, &c.    | #351:ch66#
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INTRODUCTION.
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To ——
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.ni
DEAR SIR,
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<sc>Others</sc> as well as you have expressed a wish to see
a memoir of my earliest and most valued friend. To
gratify you and them I feel many inducements, and see
many objections. To comply with any wish of yours
is one strong inducement. To please myself with
the recollection of past happiness and departed worth,
is another; and to benefit those into whose hands this
imperfect sketch may fall, is a third. For the authentic
record of an exemplary life, though delivered in the
most unadorned manner, or even degraded by poverty of
style or uncouthness of narration, has an attraction for
the uncorrupted mind.

It is the rare lot of some exalted characters, by the
united power of virtues and of talents, to soar above their
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fellow-mortals, and leave a luminous track behind, on
which successive ages gaze with wonder and delight.
But the sweet influence of these benign stars that
now and then enlighten the page of history, is partial and
unfrequent.

Those to whom the most important parts on the stage
of life are allotted, if possessed of abilities undirected by
virtue, are too often

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“Wise to no purpose, artful to no end,”
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.ni
that is really good and desirable.
.pi
They, again, where virtue is not supported by wisdom,
are often, with the best intentions, made subservient to
the short-sighted craft of the artful and designing.
Hence, though we may be at times dazzled with the
blaze of heroic achievement, or contemplate with a purer
satisfaction those “awful fathers of mankind,” by whom
nations were civilized, equitable dominion established,
or liberty restored; yet, after all, the crimes and miseries
of mankind form such prominent features of the history
of every country, that humanity sickens at the retrospect,
and misanthropy finds an excuse amidst the laurels
of the hero, and the deep-laid schemes of the politician:

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“And yet this partial view of things
 Is surely not the best.”—<i>Burns.</i>
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Where shall we seek the antidote to this chilling gloom
left on the mind by the bustling intricate scenes, where
the best characters, goaded on by furious factions or dire
necessity, become involved in crimes that their souls
abhor?

It is the contemplation of the peaceful virtues in the
genial atmosphere of private life, that can best reconcile
us to our nature, and quiet the turbulent emotions excited
by

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“The madness of the crowd.”
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.ni
But vice, folly, and vanity are so noisy, so restless, so
ready to rush into public view, and so adapted to afford
food for malevolent curiosity, that the small still voice
of virtue, active in its own sphere, but unwilling to quit
it, is drowned in their tumult. This is a remedy, however,
.pi
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“Not obvious, not obtrusive.”
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If we would counteract the baleful influence of public
vice by the contemplation of private worth, we must
penetrate into its retreats, and not be deterred from attending
to its simple details by the want of that glare
and bustle with which a fictitious or artificial character
is generally surrounded.

But in this wide field of speculation one might wander
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out of sight of the original subject. Let me then
resume it, and return to my objections. Of these the
first and greatest is the dread of being inaccurate. Embellished
facts, a mixture of truth and fiction, or what we
sometimes meet with, a fictitious superstructure built on
a foundation of reality, would be detestable on the score
of bad taste, though no moral sense were concerned or
consulted. It is walking on a river half frozen that betrays
your footing every moment. By these repulsive
artifices no person of real discernment is for a moment
imposed upon. You do not know exactly which part
of the narrative is false; but you are sure it is not all
true, and therefore distrust what is genuine, where it
occurs. For this reason a fiction, happily told, takes a
greater hold of the mind than a narrative of facts, evidently
embellished and interwoven with inventions.

I do not mean to discredit my own veracity. I certainly
have no intention to relate any thing that is not
true. Yet in the dim distance of near forty years, unassisted
by written memorials, shall I not mistake dates,
misplace facts, and omit circumstances that form essential
links in the chain of narration? Thirty years since,
when I expressed a wish to do what I am now about to
attempt, how differently should I have executed it. A
warm heart, a vivid imagination, and a tenacious memory,
were then all filled with a theme which I could
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not touch without kindling into an enthusiasm, sacred at
once to virtue and to friendship. Venerated friend of
my youth, my guide and my instructress; are then the
dregs of an enfeebled mind, the worn affections of a
wounded heart, the imperfect efforts of a decaying memory,
all that remain to consecrate thy remembrance,
to make known thy worth, and to lay on thy tomb the
offering of gratitude?

My friend’s life, besides being mostly passed in unruffled
peace and prosperity, affords few of those vicissitudes
which astonish and amuse. It is from her relations,
to those with whom her active benevolence connected
her, that the chief interest of her story (if story
it may be called) arises. This includes that of many
persons, obscure indeed but for the light which her regard
and beneficence reflected upon them. Yet without
these subordinate persons in the drama, the action
of human life, especially such a life as hers, cannot be
carried on. They can neither appear with grace, nor
be omitted with propriety. Then, remote and retired
as her situation was, the variety of nations and characters,
of tongues and of complexions, with which her
public spirit and private benevolence connected her,
might appear wonderful to those unacquainted with the
country and the times in which she lived; without a
pretty distinct view of which my narrative would be unintelligible.
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I must be excused too for dwelling, at
times, on the recollection of a state of society so peculiar,
so utterly dissimilar to any other that I have heard
or read of, that it exhibits human nature in a new aspect,
and is so far an object of rational curiosity, as well as a
kind of phenomenon in the history of colonization. I
forewarn the reader not to look for lucid order in the
narration, or intimate connection between its parts. I
have no authorities to refer to, no coeval witnesses of
facts to consult. In regard to the companions of my
youth, (in which several particulars relative to my friend’s
ancestry must necessarily be included,) I sit like the
“Voice of Cona,” alone on the heath; and, like him
too, must muse in silence, till at intervals the “light
of my soul arises,” before I can call attention to “a
tale of other times.”
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<xl>MEMOIRS OF AN AMERICAN LADY.</xl>
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CHAP. I.
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Province of New-York—Origin of the Settlement at Albany—Singular
Possession held by the Patron—Account of his Tenants.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>It</sc> is well known that the province of New-York, anciently
called Manahattos by the Indians, was originally settled by a
Dutch colony, which came from Holland, I think, in the time
of Charles the Second. Finding the country to their liking,
they were followed by others more wealthy and better informed.
Some of the early emigrants also appear to have
been people respectable both from their family and character.
Of these the principal were the Cuylers, the Schuylers, the
Rensselaers, the Delanceys, the Cortlandts, the Tenbroeks, and
the Beekmans, who have all of them been since distinguished
in the late civil wars, either as persecuted loyalists or triumphant
patriots. I do not precisely recollect the motives
assigned for the voluntary exile of persons who were evidently
in circumstances that might admit of their living in comfort
at home, but am apt to think that the early settlers were
those who adhered to the interest of the Stadtholder’s family,
a party which, during the minority of King William, was
almost persecuted by the high republicans. Those who
came over at a later period probably belong to the party
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which opposed the Stadtholder, and which was then in its
turn depressed. These persons afterwards distinguished
themselves by an aversion, almost amounting to antipathy, to
the British army, and indeed to all the British colonists.
Their notions were mean and contracted; their manners blunt
and austere; and their habits sordid and parsimonious. As
the settlement began to extend they retired, and formed new
establishments, afterwards called Fishkill, Esopus, &c.

To the Schuylers, Cuylers, Delanceys, Cortlandts, and a
few others, this description did by no means apply. They
carried about them the tokens of former affluence and respectability,
such as family plate, portraits of their ancestors
executed in a superior style, and great numbers of original
paintings, some of which were much admired by acknowledged
judges. Of these the subjects were generally taken
from sacred history.

I do not recollect the exact time, but think it was during
the last years of Charles the Second, that a settlement we
then possessed at Surinam was exchanged for the extensive
(indeed at that time boundless) province of Manahattos,
which, in compliment to the then heir apparent, was called
New-York. Of the part of that country then explored, the
most fertile and beautiful was situated far inland, on the
banks of the Hudson River. This copious and majestic
stream is navigable one hundred and seventy miles from its
mouth for vessels of sixty or seventy tons burthen. Near
the head of it, as a kind of barrier against the natives, and a
central resort for traders, the foundation was laid of a town
called Oranienburgh, and afterwards by the British, Albany.

After the necessary precaution of erecting a small stockaded
fort for security, a church was built in the centre of the intended
town, which served in different respects as a kind of
landmark. A gentleman of the name of Rensselaer was
considered as in a manner lord paramount of this city. A
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pre-eminence which his successor still enjoys, both with
regard to the town and the lands adjacent. The original
proprietor having obtained from the high and mighty states a
grant of lands, which, beginning at the church, extended
twelve miles in every direction, forming a manor twenty-four
Dutch miles in length, the same in breadth, including lands
not only of the best quality of any in the province, but the
most happily situated both for the purposes of commerce and
agriculture. This great proprietor was looked up to as much
as republicans in a new country could be supposed to look
up to any one. He was called the Patroon, a designation
tantamount to lord of the manor. Yet, in the distribution of
these lands, the sturdy Belgian spirit of independence set
limits to the power and profits of this lord of the forests, as
he might then be called. None of these lands were either
sold or alienated. The more wealthy settlers, as the Schuylers,
Cuylers, &c. took very extensive leases of the fertile
plains along the river, with boundless liberty of woods and
pasturage, to the westward. The terms were, that the lease
should hold while water runs and grass grows, and the landlord
to receive the tenth sheaf of every kind of grain the
ground produces. Thus ever accommodating the rent to the
fertility of the soil, and changes of the seasons, you may
suppose the tenants did not greatly fear a landlord, who could
neither remove them, nor increase their rents. Thus, without
the pride of property, they had all the independence of
proprietors. They were like German princes, who, after
furnishing their contingent to the Emperor, might make war
on him when they chose. Besides the profits (yearly augmenting)
which the patroon drew from his ample possessions,
he held in his own hands an extensive and fruitful demesne.
Yet preserving in a great measure the simple and frugal
habits of his ancestors, his wealth was not an object of envy,
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nor a source of corruption to his fellow-citizens. To the
northward of these bounds, and at the southern extremity
also, the Schuylers and Cuylers held lands of their own.
But the only other great landholders I remember, holding
their land by those original tenures, were Philips and Cortlandt;
their lands lay also on the Hudson River, half way
down to New-York, and were denominated Philips’ and
Cortlandt’s manors. At the time of the first settling of the
country the Indians were numerous and powerful all along
the river; but they consisted of wandering families, who,
though they affixed some sort of local boundaries for distinguishing
the hunting grounds of each tribe, could not be said
to inhabit any place. The cool and crafty Dutch governors
being unable to cope with them in arms, purchased from them
the most valuable tracts for some petty consideration. They
affected great friendship for them; and while conscious of
their own weakness, were careful not to provoke hostilities;
and silently and insensibly established themselves to the
west.
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CHAP. II.
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Account of the Five Nations, or Mohawk Indians—Building of the
Fort at Albany—John and Philip Schuyler.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>On</sc> the Mohawk River, about forty miles distant from
Albany, there subsisted a confederacy of Indian tribes, of a
very different character from those mentioned in the preceding
chapter; too sagacious to be deceived, and too powerful
to be eradicated. These were the once renowned five
nations, whom any one, who remembers them while they
were a people, will hesitate to call savages. Were they
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savages who had fixed habitations; who cultivated rich fields;
who built castles, (for so they called their not incommodious
wooden houses, surrounded with palisadoes;) who planted
maize and beans, and showed considerable ingenuity in constructing
and adorning their canoes, arms, and clothing?
They who had wise though unwritten laws, and conducted
their wars, treaties, and alliances with deep and sound policy;
they whose eloquence was bold, nervous, and animated;
whose language was sonorous, musical, and expressive;
who possessed generous and elevated sentiments, heroic
fortitude, and unstained probity? Were these indeed
savages? The difference

.pm verse-start
“Of scent the headlong lioness between
 And hound sagacious, on the tainted green,”
.pm verse-end
.ni
is not greater than that of the Mohawks in point of civility
and capacity, from other American tribes, among whom, indeed,
existed a far greater diversity of character, language,
&c. than Europeans seem to be aware of. This little tribute
to the memory of a people who have been, while it
soothes the pensive recollections of the writer, is not so
foreign to the subject as it may at first appear. So much of
the peace and safety of this infant community depended on
the friendship and alliance of these generous tribes; and to
conciliate and retain their affections so much address was
necessary, that common characters were unequal to the task.
Minds liberal and upright, like those I am about to describe,
could alone excite that esteem, and preserve that confidence,
which were essential towards retaining the friendship of those
valuable allies.
.pi
From the time of the great rebellion, so many English
refugees frequented Holland, that the language and manners
of our country became familiar at the Hague, particularly
// 024.png
.pn +1
among the Stadtholder’s party. When the province of New-York
fell under the British dominion, it became necessary
that every body should learn our language, as all public
business was carried on in the English tongue, which they
did the more willingly, as, after the revolution, the accession
of the Stadholder to the English crown very much reconciled
them to our government. Still, however, the English was a
kind of court language; little spoken, and imperfectly understood
in the interior. Those who brought with them the
French and English languages soon acquired a sway over
their less enlightened fellow settlers. Of this number were
the Schuylers and Cuylers, two families among whom intellect
of the superior kind seemed an inheritance, and whose
intelligence and liberality of mind, fortified by well-grounded
principle, carried them far beyond the petty and narrow views
of the rest. Habituated at home to centre all wisdom and
all happiness in commercial advantages, they would have
been very ill calculated to lay the foundation of an infant
state in a country that afforded plenty and content, as the reward
of industry, but where the very nature of the territory,
as well as the state of society, precluded great pecuniary
acquisitions. Their object here was taming savage nature,
and making the boundless wild subservient to agricultural
purposes. Commercial pursuits were a distant prospect;
and before they became of consequence, rural habits had
greatly changed the character of these republicans. But the
commercial spirit, inherent in all true Batavians, only slept
to wake again, when the avidity of gain was called forth by
the temptation of bartering for any lucrative commodity.
The furs of the Indians gave this occasion, and were too soon
made the object of the avidity of petty traders. To the infant
settlement at Albany the consequences of this short-sighted
policy might have proved fatal, had not these patriotic leaders,
// 025.png
.pn +1
by their example and influence, checked for a while such
illiberal and dangerous practices. It is a fact singular and
worth attending to, from the lesson it exhibits, that in all our
distant colonies there is no other instance where a considerable
town and prosperous settlement has arisen and flourished,
in peace and safety, in the midst of nations disposed and
often provoked to hostility; at a distance from the protection
of ships, and from the only fortified city, which, always
weakly garrisoned, was little fitted to awe and protect the
whole province. Let it be remembered that the distance
from New-York to Albany is 170 miles; and that in the intermediate
space, at the period of which I speak, there was
not one town or fortified place. The shadow of a palisadoed
fort[#], which then existed at Albany, was occupied by a single
independent company, who did duty, but were dispersed
through the town, working at various trades: so scarce indeed
were artisans in this community, that a tradesman might
in those days ask any wages he chose.

.pm fn-start // A
It may be worth noting, that Captain Massey, who commanded this
non-effective company for many years, was the father of Mrs. Lennox, an
estimable character, well known for her literary productions, and for being
the friend and protégée of Dr. Johnson.
.pm fn-end

To return to this settlement, which evidently owed its
security to the wisdom of its leaders, who always acted on
the simple maxim that honesty is the best policy: several
miles north from Albany a considerable possession, called the
Flats, was inhabited by Colonel Philip Schuyler, one of the
most enlightened men in the province. This being a frontier,
he would have found it a very dangerous situation had he not
been a person of singular worth, fortitude, and wisdom.
Were I not afraid of tiring my reader with a detail of occurrences
which, taking place before the birth of my friend,
// 026.png
.pn +1
might seem irrelevant to the present purpose, I could relate
many instances almost incredible, of the power of mind displayed
by this gentleman in governing the uninstructed without
coercion or legal right. He possessed this species of
power in no common degree; his influence, with that of his
brother John Schuyler, was exerted to conciliate the wandering
tribes of Indians; and by fair traffic, for he too was a
trader, and by fair liberal dealing they attained their object.
They also strengthened the league already formed with the
five Mohawk nations, by procuring for them some assistance
against their enemies, the Onondagoes of the Lakes.

Queen Ann had by this time succeeded to the Stadholder.
The gigantic ambition of Lewis the Fourteenth actuated the
remotest parts of his extensive dominions; and the encroaching
spirit of this restless nation began to discover itself in
hostilities to the infant colony. A motive for which could
scarce be discovered, possessing, as they did, already, much
more territory then they were able to occupy, the limits of
which were undefined. But the province of New-York was
a frontier; and, as such, a kind of barrier to the southern
colonies. It began also to compete for a share of the fur
trade, then very considerable, before the beavers were driven
back from their original haunts. In short, the province daily
rose in importance; and being in a great measure protected
by the Mohawk tribes, the policy of courting their alliance,
and impressing their minds with an exalted idea of the power
and grandeur of the British empire, became obvious. I cannot
recollect the name of the governor at this time; but
whoever he was, he, as well as the succeeding ones, visited
the settlement at Albany, to observe its wise regulations, and
growing prosperity, and to learn maxims of sound policy
from those whose interests and happiness were daily promoted
by the practice of it.
// 027.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch03
CHAP. III.
.pm ch-hd-start
Colonel Schuyler persuades four Sachems to accompany him to
England—Their reception and return.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>It</sc> was thought advisable to bring over some of the heads
of tribes to England to attach them to that country; but to
persuade the chiefs of a free and happy people, who were
intelligent, sagacious, and aware of all probable dangers;
who were strangers to all maritime concerns, and had
never beheld the ocean; to persuade such independent and
high-minded warriors to forsake the safety and enjoyments of
their own country, to encounter the perils of a long voyage,
and trust themselves among entire strangers, and this merely
to bind closer an alliance with the sovereign of a distant
country, a female sovereign too; a mode of government
that must have appeared to them very incongruous. This
was no common undertaking, nor was it easy to induce these
chiefs to accede to the proposal. The principal motive for
urging it was to counteract the machinations of the French,
whose emissaries in these wild regions had even then begun
to style us, in effect, a nation of shopkeepers; and to impress
the tribes dwelling in their boundaries with vast ideas of the
power and splendour of their grand monarchy, while our
sovereign, they say, ruled over a petty island, and was himself
a trader. To counterwork those suggestions, it was thought
requisite to give the leaders of the nation (who then in fact
protected our people) an adequate idea of our power, and the
magnificence of our court. The chiefs at length consented on
this only condition, that their brother Philip, who never told a
lie, or spoke without thinking, should accompany them. However
this gentleman’s wisdom and integrity might qualify him
for this employment, it did not suit his placid temper, simple
// 028.png
.pn +1
manners, and habits of life, at once pastoral and patriarchal, to
travel over seas, and mingle in the bustle of a world, the customs
of which were become foreign to those primitive inhabitants
of new and remote regions, was to him no pleasant undertaking.
The adventure, however, succeeded beyond his
expectation; the chiefs were pleased with the attentions paid
them, and with the mild and gracious manners of their queen,
who at different times admitted them to her presence. With
the good Philip she had many conversations, and made him
some valuable presents, among which, I think, was her picture;
but this with many others was lost, in a manner which
will appear hereafter. Colonel Schuyler too was much delighted
with the courteous affability of this princess; she
offered to knight him, which he respectfully, but positively
refused; and being pressed to assign his reasons, he said he
had brothers and near relations in humble circumstances, who,
already his inferiors in property, would seem as it were depressed
by his elevation; and though it should have no such
effect on her mind, it might be the means of awakening pride
or vanity in the female part of his family. He returned,
however, in triumph, having completely succeeded in his
mission. The kings, as they were called in England, came
back in full health, deeply impressed with esteem and attachment
for a country which to them appeared the centre of arts,
intelligence, and wisdom; where they were treated with kindness
and respect; and neither made the objects of perpetual
exhibition, nor hurried about to be continually distracted with
a succession of splendid, and to them incomprehensible
sights, the quick shifting of which rather tends to harass
minds which have enough of native strength to reflect on
what they see, without knowledge sufficient to comprehend
it. It is to this childish and injudicious mode of treating
those uncivilized beings, this mode of rather extorting from
them a tribute to our vanity, than taking the necessary pains
// 029.png
.pn +1
to inform and improve them, that the ill success of all such
experiments since have been owing. Instead of endeavouring
to conciliate them by genuine kindness, and by gradually
and gently unfolding to them simple and useful truths, our
manner of treating them seems calculated to dazzle, oppress,
and degrade them with a display of our superior luxuries and
refinements; which, by the elevated and self-denying Mohawk,
would be regarded as unmanly and frivolous objects, and which
the voluptuous and low-minded Otaheitean would so far relish,
that the privation would seem intolerable, when he returned
to his hogs and his cocoas. Except such as have been previously
inoculated, (a precaution which voyagers have rarely
had the prudence or humanity to take,) there is scarcely an
instance of savages brought to Europe that have not died of
the small-pox; induced either by the infection to which they
are exposed from the indiscriminate crowds drawn about
them, or the alteration in their blood, which unusual diet,
liquors, close air, and heated rooms, must necessarily produce.

The presents made to these adventurous warriors were
judiciously adapted to their taste and customs. They consisted
of showy habits, of which all these people are very fond,
and arms made purposely in the form of those used in their
own country. It was the fortune of the writer of these memoirs,
more than thirty years after, to see that great warrior
and faithful ally of the British crown the redoubted King
Hendrick, then sovereign of the Five Nations, splendidly
arrayed in a suit of light blue, made in an antique mode, and
trimmed with broad silver lace; which was probably an heirloom
in the family, presented to his father by his good ally
and sister, the female king of England.

I cannot exactly say how long Mr. Schuyler and his companions
staid in England, but think they were nearly a year
absent. In those primeval days of the settlement, when our
// 030.png
.pn +1
present rapid modes of transmitting intelligence were unknown,
in a country so detached and inland as that at Albany, the
return of these interesting travellers was like the first lighting
of lamps in a city.
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch04
CHAP. IV.
.pm ch-hd-start
Return of Colonel Schuyler and the Sachems to the interior—Literary
Acquisitions—Distinguishes and instructs his favourite Niece—Manners
of the Settlers.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>This</sc> sagacious and intelligent patriot thus brought to the
foot of the British throne the high-spirited rulers of the boundless
wild, who, alike heedless of the power and splendour of
distant monarchs, were accustomed to say with Fingal,
“sufficient for me is the desert, with all deer and woods.”
It may easily be supposed that such a mind as Philip’s
was equally fitted to acquire and communicate intelligence.
He who had conversed with Addison, Marlborough, and
Godolphin, who had gratified the curiosity of Oxford and
Bolingbroke, of Arbuthnot and of Gay, with accounts of
nature in her pristine garb, and of her children in their primitive
simplicity; he who could do all this, no doubt received
ample returns of various information from those best qualified
to give it, and was besides a diligent observer. Here he
improved a taste for literature, native to him, for it had not
yet taken root in this uncultivated soil. He brought home
the Spectator and the tragedy of Cato, Windsor Forest,
Young’s poem on the Last Day, and in short all the works
then published of that constellation of wits which distinguished
the last female reign. Nay more, and better, he brought
// 031.png
.pn +1
Paradise Lost; which in after-times afforded such delight to
some branches of his family, that to them

.pm verse-start
“Paradise (indeed) seemed opened in the wild.”
.pm verse-end

But to return to our Sachems, from whom we have too
long digressed; when they arrived at Albany, they did not,
as might be expected, hasten home to communicate their discoveries,
or display their acquisitions. They summoned a
congress there, not only of the elders of their own nation,
but the chiefs of all those with whom they were in alliance.
This solemn meeting was held in the Dutch church. In the
present depressed and diminished state of these once powerful
tribes, so few traces of their wonted energy remain, that
it could scarce be credited, were I able to relate with what
bold and flowing eloquence they clothed their conceptions;
powerful reasoning, emphatic language, and graceful action,
added force to their arguments; while they persuaded their
adherents to renounce all connexion with the tribes under
the French influence; and form a lasting league, offensive
and defensive, with that great queen, whose mild majesty
had so deeply impressed them; and the mighty people
whose kindness had gratified, and whose power had astonished
them, whose populous cities swarmed with arts and commerce,
and in whose floating castles they had rode safely over the
ocean. I have seen a volume of the speeches of these Mohawks
preserved by Colonel Schuyler; they were literally
translated, so that the native idiom was preserved; which,
instead of appearing uncouth, seemed to add to their strength
and sublimity.

When Mr. Schuyler returned from England, about the
year 1709, his niece Catalina, the subject of this narrative,
was about seven years old; he had a daughter and sons, yet
this child was early distinguished above the rest for docility,
a great desire of knowledge, and an even and pleasing temper;
// 032.png
.pn +1
this her uncle early observed. It was at that time very
difficult to procure the means of instruction in those inland
districts; female education of consequence was conducted
on a very limited scale; girls learnt needle-work (in which
they were indeed both skilful and ingenious) from their
mothers and aunts; they were taught too at that period to
read, in Dutch, the Bible and a few Calvinistic tracts of the
devotional kind. But in the infancy of the settlement few
girls read English; when they did, they were thought accomplished;
they generally spoke it, however imperfectly, and
few were taught writing. This confined education precluded
elegance; yet, though there was no polish, there was no vulgarity.
The dregs of the people, who subside to the bottom
of the mass, are not only degraded by abject poverty, but so
utterly shut out from intercourse with the more enlightened,
and so rankling with envy at feeling themselves so, that a
sense of their condition gradually debases their minds; and
this degradation communicates to their manners, the vulgarity
of which we complain. This more particularly applies to the
lower class in towns; for mere simplicity, or even a rustic
bluntness, I would by no means call vulgarity. At the same
time these unembellished females had more comprehension
of mind, more variety of ideas, more in short of what may be
called original thinking, than could easily be imagined.
Their thoughts were not like those of other illiterate women,
occupied by the ordinary details of the day, and the gossiping
tattle of the neighbourhood. The life of new settlers, in
a situation like this, where the very foundations of society
were to be laid, was a life of exigencies. Every individual
took an interest in the general welfare, and contributed their
respective shares of intelligence and sagacity to aid plans
that embraced important objects relative to the common good.
Every day called forth some new expedient, in which the
<i>comfort</i> or <i>advantage</i> of the whole was implicated; for there
// 033.png
.pn +1
were no degrees but those assigned to worth and intellect.
This singular community seemed to have a common stock,
not only of sufferings and enjoyments, but of information and
ideas; some pre-eminence, in point of knowledge and abilities,
there certainly was, yet those who possessed it seemed
scarcely conscious of their superiority; the daily occasions
which called forth the exertions of mind, sharpened sagacity
and strengthened character; avarice and vanity were there
confined to very narrow limits; of money there was little;
and dress was, though in some instances valuable, very plain,
and not subject to the caprice of fashion. The wolves, the
bears, and the enraged or intoxicated savages, that always
hung threatening on their boundaries, made them more and
more endeared to each other. In this calm infancy of society,
the rigour of the law slept, because the fury of turbulent passions
had not awakened it. Fashion, that capricious tyrant
over adult communities, had not erected her standard; that
standard, to which the looks, the language, the very opinions
of her subjects must be adjusted. Yet no person appeared
uncouth, or ill bred, because there was no accomplished
standard of comparison. They viewed no superior with fear
or envy; and treated no inferior with contempt or cruelty;
servility and insolence were thus equally unknown; perhaps
they were less solicitous either to please or to shine than the
members of more polished societies; because, in the first
place, they had no motive either to dazzle or deceive; and
in the next, had they attempted it, they felt there was no assuming
a character with success, where their native one was
so well known. Their manners, if not elegant and polished,
were at least easy and independent; the constant efforts
necessary to extend their commercial and agricultural possessions,
prevented indolence; and industry was the certain path
to plenty. Surrounded on all sides by those whom the least
instance of fraud, insolence, or grasping meanness, would
// 034.png
.pn +1
have rendered irreconcilable enemies, they were at first
obliged to “assume a virtue if they had it not;” and every
circumstance that renders virtue habitual, may be accounted a
happy one. I may be told that the virtues I describe were
chiefly those of situation. I acknowledge it. It is no more
to be expected that this equality, simplicity, and moderation,
should continue in a more advanced state of society, than
that the sublime tranquillity and dewy freshness which add a
nameless charm to the face of nature, in the dawn of a summer
morning, should continue all day. Before increased
wealth and extended territory, these “wassel days” quickly
receded; yet it is pleasing to indulge the remembrance of a
spot, where peace and felicity, the result of moral excellence,
dwelt undisturbed, alas! hardly for a century.
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch05
CHAP. V.
.pm ch-hd-start
State of Religion among the Settlers—Instruction of Children devolved on
Females—to whom the Charge of Gardening, &c. was also committed—Sketch
of the State of the Society at New-York.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>I must</sc> finish this general outline, by saying something of
that religion which gave stability and effect to the virtues of
this infant society. Their religion, then, like their original
national character, had in it little of fervour or enthusiasm;
their manner of performing religious duties was regular and
decent, but calm, and to more ardent imaginations might appear
mechanical. None ever doubted of the great truths of
revelation, yet few seemed to dwell on the result with that lively
delight which devotion produces in minds of keener sensibility.
If their piety, however, was without enthusiasm, it was also
without bigotry; they wished others to think as they did,
// 035.png
.pn +1
without showing rancour or contempt towards those who did
not. In many individuals, whose lives seemed governed by
the principles of religion, the spirit of devotion seemed to be
quiescent in the heart, and to break forth in exigencies; yet
that monster in nature, an impious woman, was never heard
of among them.

Indeed it was on the females that the task of religious instruction
generally devolved; and in all cases where the heart
is interested, who ever teaches, at the same time learns.

Before I quit this subject, I must observe a singular coincidence;
not only the training of children, but of plants, such
as needed peculiar care or skill to rear them, was the female
province. Every one in town or country had a garden; but
all the more hardy plants grew in the field, in rows, amidst
the hills, as they were called, of Indian corn. These lofty
plants sheltered them from the sun, while the same hoeing
served for both; their cabbages, potatoes, and other esculent
roots, with variety of gourds, grew to a great size, and were
of an excellent quality. Kidney-beans, asparagus, celery,
great variety of salads and sweet herbs, cucumbers, &c.,
were only admitted into the garden, into which no foot of man
intruded, after it was dug in spring. Here were no trees,
those grew in the orchard in high perfection. Strawberries
and many high flavoured wild fruits of the shrub kind
abounded so much in the woods, that they did not think of
cultivating them in their gardens, which were extremely neat,
but small, and not by any means calculated for walking in.
I think I yet see what I have so often beheld both in town
and country, a respectable mistress of a family going out to
her garden, in an April morning, with her great calash, her
little painted basket of seeds, and her rake over her shoulder,
to her garden labours. These were by no means figurative,

.pm verse-start
“From morn till noon, from noon till dewy eve.”
.pm verse-end
// 036.png
.pn +1
.ni
A woman, in very easy circumstances, and abundantly gentle
in form and manners, would sow, and plant, and rake,
incessantly. These fair gardeners too were great florists;
their emulation and solicitude in this pleasing employment,
did indeed produce “flowers worthy of Paradise.” These,
though not set in “curious knots,” were arranged in beds,
the varieties of each kind by themselves; this, if not varied
and elegant, was at least rich and gay. To the Schuylers
this description did not apply; they had gardeners, and their
gardens were laid out in the European manner.
.pi
Perhaps I should reserve my description of the manner of
living in that country for that period, when by the exertions
of a few humane and enlightened individuals it assumed a
more regular and determinate form. Yet as the same outline
was preserved through all the stages of its progression, I
know not but that it may be best to sketch it entirely, before
I go further; that the few and simple facts which my narrative
affords may not be clogged by explanations relative to
the customs, or any other peculiarities which can only be understood
by a previous acquaintance with the nature of the
country, its political relations, and the manners of the people;
my recollection all this while has been merely confined to
Albany, and its precincts. At New-York there was always
a governor, a few troops, and a kind of little court kept; there
too was a mixed, and in some degree, polished society. To
this the accession of many families of French Huguenots,
rather above the middling rank, contributed not a little; those
conscientious exiles had more knowledge and piety than any
other class of the inhabitants; their religion seemed indeed
endeared to them, by what they had suffered for adhering to
it. Their number and wealth was such, as enabled them to
build not only a street, but a very respectable church in the
new city. In this place of worship service continued to be
celebrated in the French language within my recollection,
// 037.png
.pn +1
though the original congregation was by that time much
blended in the mass of general society. It was the custom
of the inhabitants of the upper settlement, who had any pretensions
to superior culture or polish, among which number
Mr. Schuyler stood foremost, to go once in a year to New-York,
where all the law-courts were held, and all the important
business of the province transacted; here too they sent
their children occasionally to reside with their relations, and
to learn the more polished manners and language of the
capital. The inhabitants of that city, on the other hand,
delighted in a summer excursion to Albany. The beautiful,
and in some places highly singular banks of the river, rendering
a voyage to its source both amusing and interesting,
while the primitive manners of the inhabitants diverted the
gay and idle, and pleased the thoughtful and speculative.

Let me now be indulged in drawing a picture of the abode
of my childhood just as, at this time, it presents itself to my
mind.
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch06
CHAP. VI.
.pm ch-hd-start
Description of Albany—Manner of living there—Hermitage, &c.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>The</sc> city of Albany was stretched along the banks of the
Hudson; one very wide and long street lay parallel to the
river, the intermediate space between it and the shore being
occupied by gardens. A small, but steep hill rose above the
centre of the town, on which stood a fort, intended (but very
ill adapted) for the defence of the place, and of the neighbouring
country. From the foot of this hill, another street was
built, sloping pretty rapidly down till it joined the one before
mentioned that ran along the river. This street was still
// 038.png
.pn +1
wider than the other; it was only paved on each side, the
middle being occupied by public edifices. These consisted
of a market-place, or guard-house, a town hall, and the
English and Dutch churches. The English church, belonging
to the Episcopal persuasion, and in the diocese of the
bishop of London, stood at the foot of the hill, at the upper
end of the street. The Dutch church was situated at the
bottom of the descent where the street terminated; two irregular
streets, not so broad, but equally long, ran parallel to
those, and a few even ones open between them. The town,
in proportion to its population, occupied a great space of
ground. This city, in short, was a kind of semi-rural establishment;
every house had its garden, well, and a little green
behind; before every door a tree was planted, rendered interesting
by being coeval with some beloved member of the
family; many of their trees were of a prodigious size and
extraordinary beauty, but without regularity, every one planting
the kind that best pleased him, or which he thought would
afford the most agreeable shade to the open portico at his
door, which was surrounded by seats, and ascended by a few
steps. It was in these that each domestic group was seated
in summer evenings to enjoy the balmy twilight, or serenely
clear moonlight. Each family had a cow, fed in a common
pasture at the end of the town. In the evening they returned
all together, of their own accord, with their tinkling bells
hung at their necks, along the wide and grassy street, to their
wonted sheltering trees, to be milked at their master’s
doors. Nothing could be more pleasing to a simple and
benevolent mind than to see thus, at one view, all the
inhabitants of a town, which contained not one very rich or
very poor, very knowing or very ignorant, very rude or very
polished individual; to see all these children of nature enjoying
in easy indolence, or social intercourse,

.pm verse-start
“The cool, the fragrant, and the <i>dusky</i> hour,”
.pm verse-end

// 039.png
.pn +1
.ni
clothed in the plainest habits, and with minds as undisguised
and artless. These primitive beings were dispersed in porches
grouped according to similarity of years and inclinations.
At one door young matrons, at another the elders of the people,
at a third the youths and maidens, gaily chatting or singing
together, while the children played round the trees, or
waited near the cows, for the chief ingredient of their frugal
supper, which they generally ate sitting on the steps in the
open air. This picture, so familiar to my imagination, has
led me away from my purpose, which was to describe the
rural economy, and modes of living in this patriarchal city.
At one end of the town, as I observed before, was a common
pasture where all the cattle belonging to the inhabitants grazed
together. A never-failing instinct guided each home to her
master’s door in the evening, where, being treated with a few
vegetables and a little salt, which is indispensably necessary
for cattle in this country, they patiently waited the night; and
after being milked in the morning, they went off in slow and
regular procession to their pasture. At the other end of the
town was a fertile plain along the river, three miles in length,
and near a mile broad. This was all divided into lots, where
every inhabitant raised Indian corn sufficient for the food of
two or three slaves, (the greatest number that each family
ever possessed,) and for his horses, pigs, and poultry: their
flour and other grain they purchased from farmers in the
vicinity. Above the town, a long stretch to the westward
was occupied first by sandy hills, on which grew bilberries of
uncommon size and flavour in prodigious quantities; beyond,
rise heights of a poor hungry soil, thinly covered with stunted
pines, or dwarf oak. Yet in this comparatively barren tract,
there were several wild and picturesque spots, where small
brooks, running in deep and rich bottoms, nourished on their
banks every vegetable beauty; there, some of the most industrious
early settlers had cleared the luxuriant wood from these
// 040.png
.pn +1
charming little glens, and built neat cottages for their slaves,
surrounded with little gardens and orchards, sheltered from
every blast, wildly picturesque, and richly productive. Those
small sequestered vales had an attraction that I know not
how to describe, and which probably resulted from the air of
deep repose that reigned there, and the strong contrast which
they exhibited to the surrounding sterility. One of these
was in my time inhabited by a hermit. He was a Frenchman,
and did not seem to inspire much veneration among the
Albanians. They imagined, or had heard, that he retired to
that solitude in remorse for some fatal duel in which he had
been engaged: and considered him as an idolator because
he had an image of the Virgin in this hut. I think he retired
to Canada at last; but I remember being ready to worship
him for the sanctity with which my imagination invested him,
and being cruelly disappointed because I was not permitted to
visit him. These cottages were in summer occupied by
some of the negroes who cultivated the grounds about them,
and served as a place of joyful liberty to the children of the
family on holidays, and a nursery for the young negroes,
whom it was the custom to rear very tenderly, and instruct
very carefully.
.pi
// 041.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch07
CHAP. VII.
.pm ch-hd-start
Gentle treatment of slaves among the Albanians—Consequent
attachment of domestics—Reflections on servitude.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
In the society I am describing, even the dark aspect of
slavery was softened into a smile. And I must, in justice to
the best possible masters, say, that a great deal of that tranquillity
and comfort, to call them by no higher names, which distinguish
this society from all others, was owing to the relation
between master and servant being better understood here
than in any other place. Let me not be detested as an
advocate for slavery, when I say that I think I have never
seen people so happy in servitude as the domestics of the
Albanians. One reason was, (for I do not now speak of the
virtues of their masters,) that each family had few of them,
and that there were no field negroes. They would remind
one of Abraham’s servants, who were all born in the house,
which was exactly their case. They were baptised too,
and shared the same religious instruction with the children of
the family; and, for the first years, there was little or no
difference with regard to food or clothing between their children
and those of their masters.

When a negro-woman’s child attained the age of three
years, the first New-Year’s day after, it was solemnly presented
to a son or daughter, or other young relative of the
family, who was of the same sex with the child so presented.
The child to whom the young negro was given, immediately
presented it with some piece of money and a pair of shoes;
and from that day the strongest attachment subsisted between
the domestic and the destined owner. I have no where met
with instances of friendship more tender and generous, than
that which here subsisted between the slaves and their masters
// 042.png
.pn +1
and mistresses. Extraordinary proofs of them have
been often given in the course of hunting or Indian trading,
when a young man and his slave have gone to the trackless
woods together, in the cases of fits of the ague, loss of a canoe,
and other casualties happening near hostile Indians. The
slave has been known, at the imminent risk of his life, to
carry his disabled master through trackless woods with labour
and fidelity scarce credible; and the master has been equally
tender on similar occasions of the humble friend who stuck
closer than a brother; who was baptised with the same baptism,
nurtured under the same roof, and often rocked in the
same cradle with himself. These gifts of domestics to the
younger members of the family were not irrevocable; yet
they were very rarely withdrawn. If the kitchen family did
not increase in proportion to that of the master, young children
were purchased from some family where they abounded,
to furnish those attached servants to the rising progeny.
They were never sold without consulting their mother, who,
if expert and sagacious, had a great deal to say in the family,
and would not allow her child to go into any family with
whose domestics she was not acquainted. These negro-women
piqued themselves on teaching their children to be excellent
servants, well knowing servitude to be their lot for life,
and that it could only be sweetened by making themselves
particularly useful, and excelling in their department. If they
did their work well, it is astonishing, when I recollect it, what
liberty of speech was allowed to those active and prudent
mothers. They would chide, reprove, and expostulate in a
manner that we would not endure from our hired servants;
and sometimes exert fully as much authority over the children
of the family as the parents, conscious that they were entirely
in their power. They did not crush freedom of speech and
opinion in those by whom they knew they were beloved, and
who watched with incessant care over their interest and comfort.
// 043.png
.pn +1
Affectionate and faithful as these home-bred servants
were in general, there were some instances (but very few)
of those who, through levity of mind, or a love of liquor or
finery, betrayed their trust, or habitually neglected their duty.
In these cases, after every means had been used to reform
them, no severe punishments were inflicted at home. But
the terrible sentence, which they dreaded worse than death,
was passed—they were sold to Jamaica. The necessity of
doing this was bewailed by the whole family as a most dreadful
calamity, and the culprit was carefully watched on his
way to New-York, lest he should evade the sentence by
self-destruction.

One must have lived among those placid and humane people
to be sensible that servitude—hopeless, endless servitude—could
exist with so little servility and fear on the
one side, and so little harshness or even sternness of
authority in the other. In Europe, the footing on which
service is placed in consequence of the corruptions of
society, hardens the heart, destroys confidence, and embitters
life. The deceit and venality of servants not
absolutely dishonest, puts it out of one’s power to love or
trust them. And if in hopes of having people attached to us,
who will neither betray our confidence, nor corrupt our
children, we are at pains to rear them from childhood, and
give them a religious and moral education; after all our
labour, others of their own class seduce them away to those
who can afford to pay higher for their services. This is not
the case in a few remote districts, where surrounding mountains
seeming to exclude the contagion of the world, some
traces of fidelity and affection among domestics still remain.
But it must be remarked that, in those very districts, it is
usual to treat inferiors with courtesy and kindness, and to
consider those domestics who marry out of the family as
holding a kind of relation to it, and still claiming protection.
// 044.png
.pn +1
In short, the corruption of that class of people is, doubtless,
to be attributed to the example of their superiors. But how
severely are those superiors punished? Why this general
indifference about home; why are the household gods, why
is the sacred hearth so wantonly abandoned? Alas! the
charm of home is destroyed, since our children, educated in
distant seminaries, are strangers in the paternal mansion;
and our servants, like mere machines, move on their mercenary
track, without feeling or exciting one kind or generous
sentiment. Home, thus despoiled of all its charms, is no
longer the scene of any enjoyments but such as wealth can
purchase. At the same time we feel there, a nameless, cold
privation, and conscious that money can coin the same
enjoyments with more variety elsewhere. We substitute
these futile and evanescent pleasures for that perennial spring
of calm satisfaction, “without o’erflowing full,” which is fed
by the exercise of the kindly affections, and soon indeed must
those stagnate where there are not proper objects to excite
them. I have been forced into this painful digression by unavoidable
comparisons. To return:—

Amidst all this mild and really tender indulgence to their
negroes, these colonists had not the smallest scruple of
conscience with regard to the right by which they held them
in subjection. Had that been the case, their singular
humanity would have been incompatible with continued injustice.
But the truth is, that of law, the generality of those
people knew little; and of philosophy, nothing at all. They
sought their code of morality in the Bible, and there, imagined
they found this hapless race condemned to perpetual slavery;
and thought nothing remained for them but to lighten the
chains of their fellow Christians, after having made them
such. This I neither “extenuate,” nor “set down in malice,”
but merely record the fact. At the same time, it is but justice
to record also a singular instance of moral delicacy, distinguishing
// 045.png
.pn +1
this settlement from every other in the like circumstances,
though, from their simple and kindly modes
of life, they were from infancy in habits of familiarity with
these humble friends, yet being early taught that nature had
placed between them a barrier, which was in a high degree
criminal and disgraceful to pass, they considered a mixture
of such distinct races with abhorrence, as a violation of her
laws. This greatly conduced to the preservation of family
happiness and concord. An ambiguous race, which the law
does not acknowledge; and who (if they have any moral
sense, must be as much ashamed of their parents as these
last are of them) are certainly a dangerous, because degraded
part of the community. How much more so must be those
unfortunate beings who stand in the predicament of the bat
in the fable, whom both birds and beasts disowned? I am
sorry to say that the progress of the British army, when it
arrived, might be traced by a spurious and ambiguous race of
this kind. But of a mulatto born before their arrival I only
remember a single instance; and from the regret and wonder
it occasioned, considered it as singular. Colonel Schuyler,
of whom I am to speak, had a relation so weak and
defective in capacity, that he never was entrusted with any
thing of his own, and lived an idle bachelor about the family.
In process of time a favourite negro-woman, to the great
offence and scandal of the family, bore a child to him, whose
colour gave testimony to the relation. The boy was carefully
educated; and when he grew up, a farm was allotted to
him well stocked and fertile, but “in depth of woods embraced,”
about two miles back from the family seat. A destitute
white woman, who had somehow wandered from
the older colonies, was induced to marry him; and all the
branches of the family thought it incumbent on them now
and then to pay a quiet visit to Chalk (for so, for some
unknown reason, they always called him). I have been in
// 046.png
.pn +1
Chalk’s house myself, and a most comfortable abode it was;
but considered him as a mysterious and anomalous being.

I have dwelt the longer on this singular instance of slavery,
existing devoid of its attendant horrors, because the fidelity
and affection resulting from a bond of union so early formed
between master and servant contributed so very much to the
safety of individuals, as well as the general comfort of
society, as will hereafter appear.
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch08
CHAP. VIII.
.pm ch-hd-start
Education and early habits of the Albanians described.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
The foundations both of friendship and still tender attachments,
were here laid very early, by an institution which I
always thought had been peculiar to Albany, till I found in
Dr. Moore’s View of Society on the Continent an account
of a similar custom subsisting in Geneva. The children of
the town were all divided into companies, as they called them,
from five or six years of age, till they became marriageable.
How those companies first originated, or what were their exact
regulations, I cannot say; though I, belonging to none, occasionally
mixed with several, yet always as a stranger,
though I spoke their current language fluently. Every company
contained as many boys as girls. But I do not know
that there was any limited number; only this I recollect, that
a boy and a girl of each company, who were older, cleverer,
or had some other pre-eminence above the rest, were called
heads of the company, and, as such, obeyed by the others.
Whether they were voted in, or attained their pre-eminence
by a tacit acknowledgment of their superiority, I knew not;
but however it was attained it was never disputed. The companies
// 047.png
.pn +1
of little children had also their heads. All the children
of the same age were not in one company; there were at
least three or four of equal ages, who had a strong rivalry
with each other; and children of different ages, in the same
family, belonged to different companies. Wherever there
is human nature there will be a degree of emulation, strife,
and a desire to lessen others, that we may exalt ourselves.
Dispassionate as my friends comparatively were,
and bred up in the highest attainable candour and innocence,
they regarded the company most in competition with their
own with a degree of jealous animosity. Each company, at
a certain time of the year, went in a body to the hills, to gather
a particular kind of berries. It was a sort of annual festival,
attended with religious punctuality. Every company had an
uniform for this purpose; that is to say, very pretty light
baskets made by the Indians, with lids and handles, which
hung over the arm, and were adorned with various colours.
One company would never allow the least degree of taste to
the other in this instance; and was sure to vent its whole
stock of spleen in decrying the rival baskets. Nor would they
ever admit that the rival company gathered near so much
fruit on these excursions as they did. The parents of these
children seemed very much to encourage this manner of marshalling
and dividing themselves. Every child was permitted
to entertain the whole company on its birth-day, and once
besides, during winter and spring. The master and mistress
of the family always were bound to go from home on these
occasions, while some old domestic was left to attend and
watch over them, with an ample provision of tea, chocolate,
preserved and dried fruits, nuts, and cakes of various kinds,
to which was added cider or a syllabub, for these young
friends met at four, and did not part till nine or ten, and
amused themselves with the utmost gaiety and freedom in
any way their fancy dictated. I speak from hearsay; for no
// 048.png
.pn +1
to these meetings: other children or young people visit occasionally,
and are civilly treated, but they admit of no
person that does not belong to the company is ever admitted
intimacies beyond their company. The consequence of
these exclusive and early intimacies was, that, grown up, it
was reckoned a sort of apostasy to marry out of one’s company,
and indeed, it did not often happen. The girls, from
the example of their mothers, rather than any compulsion,
became very early notable and industrious, being constantly
employed in knitting stockings, and making clothes for the
family and slaves: they even made all the boys’ clothes.
This was the more necessary, as all articles of clothing were
extremely dear. Though all the necessaries of life, and
some luxuries, abounded, money, as yet, was a scarce commodity.
This industry was the more to be admired, as
children were here indulged to a degree that, in our vitiated
state of society, would have rendered them good for nothing.
But there, where ambition, vanity, and the more turbulent
passions were scarce awakened; where pride, founded on
birth, or any external pre-eminence, was hardly known; and
where the affections flourished fair and vigorous, unchecked
by the thorns and thistles with which our minds are cursed
in a more advanced state of refinement; affection restrained
parents from keeping their children at a distance, and inflicting
harsh punishments. But then they did not treat them
like apes or parrots, by teaching them to talk with borrowed
words and ideas, and afterwards gratifying their own vanity
by exhibiting these premature wonders to company, or repeating
their sayings. They were tenderly cherished, and
early taught that they owed all their enjoyments to the divine
source of beneficence, to whom they were finally accountable
for their actions; for the rest they were very much left to
nature, and permitted to range about at full liberty in their
earliest years, covered in summer with some slight and
// 049.png
.pn +1
cheap garb, which merely kept the sun from them, and in
winter with some warm habit, in which convenience only was
consulted. Their dress of ceremony was never put on but
when their company were assembled. They were extremely
fond of their children; but, luckily for the latter, never
dreamed of being vain of their immature wit and parts, which
accounts, in some measure, for the great scarcity of coxcombs
among them. The children returned the fondness of
their parents with such tender affection, that they feared giving
them pain as much as ours do punishment, and very
rarely wounded their feelings by neglect or rude answers.
Yet the boys were often wilful and giddy at a certain age,
the girls being sooner tamed and domesticated.

These youths were apt, whenever they could carry a gun,
(which they did at a very early period,) to follow some
favourite negro to the woods, and, while he was employed in
felling trees, range the whole day in search of game, to the
neglect of all intellectual improvement, and contract a love of
savage liberty, which might, and in some instances did, degenerate
into licentious and idle habits. Indeed, there were
three stated periods in the year, when, for a few days, young
and old, masters and slaves, were abandoned to unruly enjoyment,
and neglected every serious occupation for pursuits of
this nature.

We, who occupy countries fully inhabited, can form no
idea of the multitude of birds and animals that nature provides
to consume her waste fertility, in those regions unexplored
by man. In the interior of the province, the winter is
much colder than might be supposed, from the latitude in
which it lies, which is only 42 deg. 36 min. and from the
keen north winds which blow constantly for four or five
months over vast frozen lakes and snowy tracts, in the direction
of Canada. The snow too lies very deep; but when
once they are visited by the south wind in March, its literally
// 050.png
.pn +1
warm approach dissolves the snow like magic, and one never
sees another wintry day till the season of cold returns.
These southern winds seem to flow in a rapid current, uninterrupted
by mountains or other obstacles, from the burning
sands of the Floridas, Georgia, and the Carolinas, and bring
with them a degree of warmth, that appears no more the
natural result of the situation, than the intense cold of winter
does in that season.

Along the sea banks, in all these southern provinces, are
low, sandy lands, that never were or will be inhabited, covered
with the berry-bearing myrtle, from which wax is extracted
fit for candles. Behind these banks are woods and unwholesome
swamps of great extent. The myrtle groves, formerly
mentioned, afford shelter and food to countless multitudes of
pigeons in winter, when their fruit is in season; while wild
geese and ducks, in numbers nearly as great, pass the winter
in the impenetrable swamps behind. Some time in the
month of April, a general emigration takes place to the northward,
first of the geese and ducks, and then of the pigeons;
they keep the direction of the sea-coast till they come to the
mouths of the great rivers, and then follow their course till
they reach the great lakes in the interior, where nature has
provided for them with the same liberality as in their winter
haunts. On the banks of these lakes, there are large tracts
of ground, covered with a plant taller and more luxuriant than
the wild carrot, but something resembling it, on the seeds of
which the pigeons feed all the summer, while they are breeding
and rearing their young. When they pass in spring,
which they always do in the same track, they go in great
numbers, and are very fat. Their progression northward and
southward, begins always about the vernal and autumnal
equinoxes-and it is this that renders the carnage so great
when they pass over inhabited districts. They begin to fly
in the dawn, and are never seen after nine or ten o’clock in
// 051.png
.pn +1
the morning, possibly feeding and resting in the woods all the
rest of the day. If the morning be dry and windy, all the
fowlers, (that is every body,) are disappointed, for then they
fly so high that no shot can reach them;  but in a cloudy
morning, the carnage is incredible;  and it is singular that
their removal falls out at the times of the year that the
weather, (even in this serene climate,) is generally cloudy.
This migration, as it passed by, occasioned, as I said before,
a total relaxation from all employments, and a kind of
drunken gaiety, though it was rather slaughter than sport;
and, for above a fortnight, pigeons in pies and soups, and
every way they could be dressed, were the food of the inhabitants.
These were immediately succeeded by wild geese
and ducks, which concluded the carnival for that season, to
be renewed in September. About six weeks after the passage
of these birds, sturgeon of a large size, and in great
quantities, made their appearance in the river. Now the
same ardour seemed to pervade all ages in pursuit of this new
object. Every family had a canoe—and on this occasion all
were launched; and these persevering fishers traced the
course of the sturgeon up the river, followed them by torchlight,
and often continued two nights upon the water, never
returning till they had loaded their canoes with this valuable
fish, and many other, very excellent in their kinds, that come
up the river at the same time. The sturgeon not only furnished
them  with good part of their food in the summer
months, but was pickled or dried for future use or exportation.
// 052.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch09
CHAP. IX.
.pm ch-hd-start
Description of the manner in which the Indian Traders set out on their\
first adventure.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>To</sc> return to the boys, as all young men were called here
till they married. Thus early trained to a love of sylvan
sports, their characters were unfolded by contingencies. In
this infant society, penal laws lay dormant, and every species
of coercion was unknown.

Morals, founded on Christianity, were fostered by the sweet
influence of the charities of life. The reverence which children
in particular, had for their parents, and the young in
general for the old, was the chief bond that held society together.
This veneration, being founded on esteem, certainly
could only have existed thus powerfully in an uncorrupted
community. It had, however, an auxiliary no less powerful.

Here, indeed, it might with truth be said,

.pm verse-start
“Love breath’d his infant sighs from anguish free.”
.pm verse-end

In consequence of the singular mode of associating together
little exclusive parties of children of both sexes, which
has been already mentioned, endearing intimacies, formed in
the age of playful innocence, were the precursors of more
tender attachments.

These were not wrought up to romantic enthusiasm, or
extravagant passion, by an inflamed imagination, or by the
fears of rivalry, or the artifices of coquetry, yet they had
power sufficient to soften the manners and elevate the character
of the lover.

I know not if this be the proper place to observe how much
of the general order of society, and the happiness of a people,
// 053.png
.pn +1
depend on marriage being early and universal among them;
but of this more hereafter. The desire, (undiverted by any
other passion,) of obtaining the object of their affection, was to
them a stimulus to early and severe exertion. The enamoured
youth did not listlessly fold his arms, and sigh over
his hopeless or unfortunate passion. Of love not fed by hope,
they had not an idea. Their attachments originated at too
early an age, and in a circle too familiar, to give room for
those first-sight impressions of which we hear such wonders.
If the temper of the youth was rash and impetuous, and his
fair one gentle and complying, they frequently formed a rash
and precipitate union, without consulting their relations, when,
perhaps, the elder of the two was not above seventeen. This
was very quietly borne by the parties aggrieved. The relations
of both parties met, and with great calmness consulted
on what was to be done. The father of the youth or the
damsel, whichever it was who had most wealth or fewest
children, brought home the young couple; and the new married
man immediately set about a trading adventure, which
was renewed every season, till he had the means of providing
a home of his own. Meantime the increase of the younger
family did not seem an inconvenience, but rather a source of
delight to the old people; and an arrangement begun from
necessity, was often continued through choice for many years
after. Their tempers, unruffled by the endless jealousies and
competitions incident to our mode of life, were singularly
placid, and that love of offspring, where children were truly
an unmixed blessing, was a common sentiment which united
all the branches of the family, and predominated over every
other. The jarring and distrust—the petulance and egotism,
which, distinct from all weightier considerations, would not
fail to poison concord, were different families to dwell under
one roof here, were there scarcely known. It is but justice
to our acquired delicacy of sentiment to say, that the absence
// 054.png
.pn +1
of refinement contributed to this tranquillity. These primitive
people, if they did not gather the flowers of cultivated
elegance, were not wounded by the thorns of irritable delicacy.
They had neither artificial wants nor artificial miseries.
In short, they were neither too wise to be happy, nor too
witty to be at rest.

Thus it was in the case of unauthorized marriages. In the
more ordinary course of things, love, which makes labour
light, tamed these young hunters, and transformed them into
diligent and laborious traders, for the nature of their trade included
very severe labour. When one of the <i>boys</i> was deeply
smitten, his fowling-piece and fishing-rod were at once relinquished.
He demanded of his father forty or at most fifty
dollars, a negro boy, and a canoe; all of a sudden he
assumed the brow of care and solicitude, and began to smoke,
a precaution absolutely necessary to repel aguish damps and
troublesome insects. He arrayed himself in a habit very little
differing from that of the aborigines, into whose bounds he
was about to penetrate, and in short commenced Indian trader.
That strange, amphibious animal, who, united the acute
senses, strong instincts, and unconquerable patience and fortitude
of the savage, with the art, policy, and inventions of
the European, encountered, in the pursuit of gain, dangers
and difficulties equal to those described in the romantic legends
of chivalry.

The small bark canoe in which this hardy adventurer embarked
himself, his fortune, and his faithful <i>squire</i>, (who was
generally born in the same house, and predestined to his service,)
was launched amidst the tears and prayers of his female
relations, amongst whom was generally included his destined
bride, who well knew herself to be the motive of this perilous
adventure.

The canoe was entirely filled with coarse strouds and
blankets, guns, powder, beads, &c., suited to the various
// 055.png
.pn +1
wants and fancies of the natives; one pernicious article was
never wanting, and often made a great part of the cargo. This
was ardent spirits, for which the natives too early acquired a
relish, and the possession of which always proved dangerous
and sometimes fatal to the traders. The Mohawks bringing
their furs and other peltry, habitually to the stores of their
wonted friends and patrons, it was not in that easy and safe
direction that these trading adventures extended. The canoe
generally steered northward towards the Canadian frontier.
They passed by the flats and stonehook in the outset of their
journey; then commenced their toils and dangers at the
famous water-fall called the Cohoes, ten miles above Albany,
where three rivers, uniting their streams into one, dash over
a rocky shelf, and falling into a gulf below with great violence,
raise clouds of mist, bedecked with splendid rainbows.
This was the rubicon which they had to pass, before they
plunged into pathless woods, engulfing swamps and lakes,
the opposite shores of which the eye could not reach. At the
Cohoes, on account of the obstruction formed by the torrent,
they unloaded their canoe, and carried it above a mile further
upon their shoulders, returning again for the cargo, which
they were obliged to transport in the same manner. This
was but a prelude to labours and dangers, incredible to those
who dwell at ease. Further on, much longer carrying places
frequently recurred—where they had the vessel and cargo to
drag through thickets, impervious to the day, abounding
with snakes and wild beasts, which are always to be found on
the side of rivers.

Their provision of food was necessarily small, for fear of
overloading the slender and unstable conveyance already
crowded with goods. A little dried beef and Indian cornmeal
was their whole stock, though they formerly enjoyed
both plenty and variety. They were, in a great measure,
obliged to depend upon their own skill in hunting and fishing,
// 056.png
.pn +1
and the hospitality of the Indians. For hunting, indeed, they
had small leisure, their time being sedulously employed, in
consequence of the obstacles that retarded their progress. In
the slight and fragile canoes, they often had to cross great
lakes, on which the wind raised a terrible surge. Afraid of
going into the track of the French traders, who were always
dangerous rivals, and often declared enemies, they durst not
follow the direction of the river St. Lawrence; but, in search
of distant territories and unknown tribes, were wont to deviate
to the east and south-west, forcing their painful way towards
the source of “rivers unknown to song,” whose winding
course was often interrupted by shallows, and oftener still by
fallen trees of great magnitude, lying across, which it was
requisite to cut through with their hatchets, before they could
proceed. Small rivers, which wind through fertile valleys, in
this country, are peculiarly liable to this obstruction. The
chestnut and hickory grew to so large a size in this kind of
soil, that in time they became top-heavy, and are then the first
prey to the violence of the winds; and thus falling, form a
kind of accidental bridge over these rivers.

When the toils and dangers of the day were over, the still
greater terrors of the night commenced. In this, which might
literally be styled the howling wilderness, they were forced to
sleep in the open air, which was frequently loaded with the
humid evaporation of swamps, ponds, and redundant vegetation.
Here the axe must be again employed to procure the
materials of a large fire, even in the warmest weather. This
precaution was necessary, that the flies and mosquitoes might
be expelled by the smoke, and that the wolves and bears
might be deterred by the flame from encroaching on their
place of rest. But the light which afforded them protection
created fresh disturbance, as the American wolves howl to
the fires kindled to affright them—watching the whole night
on the surrounding hills to keep up a concert which truly
// 057.png
.pn +1
“rendered night hideous:” meantime the bull-frogs, terrible
though harmless, and smaller kinds, of various tones and
countless numbers, seemed all night calling to each other
from opposite swamps, forming the most dismal assemblage
of discordant sounds. Though serpents abounded very much
in the woods, few of them were noxious. The rattle-snake,
the only dangerous reptile, was not so frequently met with as
in the neighbouring provinces, and the remedy which nature
has bestowed as an antidote to his bite, was very generally
known. The beauties of rural and varied scenery seldom
compensated the traveller for the dangers of his journey. “In
the close prison of innumerous boughs,” and on ground thick
with underwood, there was little of landscape open to the eye.
The banks of streams and lakes no doubt afforded a rich variety
of trees and plants—the former of a most majestic size,
the latter of singular beauty and luxuriance; but otherwise
they only travelled through a grove of chestnuts or oak, to
arrive at another of maple or poplar, or a vast stretch of pines
and other evergreens. If, by chance, they arrived at a hill
crowned with cedars, which afforded some command of prospect,
still the gloomy and interminable forest, only varied with
different shades of green, met the eye whichever way it
turned, while the mind, repelled by solitude so vast, and
silence so profound, turned inward on itself. Nature here
wore a veil rich and grand, but impenetrable—at least this
was the impression it was likely to make on an European
mind; but a native American, familiar from childhood with
the productions and inhabitants of the woods, sought the nuts
and wild fruits with which they abounded—the nimble squirrel,
in all its varied forms, the architect beaver, the savage raccoon,
and the stately elk, where we should see nothing but
awful solitudes, untrod by human foot. It is inconceivable
how well these young travellers, taught by their Indian friends,
and the experimental knowledge of their fathers, understood
// 058.png
.pn +1
every soil and its productions. A boy of twelve years old
would astonish you with his accurate knowledge of plants,
their properties, and their relation to the soil and to each other.
“Here,” said he, “is a wood of red oak, when it is grubbed
up this will be loam and sand, and make good Indian corn
ground. This chestnut wood abounds with strawberries, and
is the very best soil for wheat. The poplar wood, yonder, is
not worth clearing—the soil is always wet and cold. There
is a hickory wood, where the soil is always rich and deep,
and does not run out; such and such plants that dye blue or
orange, grow under it.”

This is merely a slight epitome of the wide views of nature,
that are laid open to these people from their very infancy—the
acquisition of this kind of knowledge being one of their
first amusements; yet those who were capable of astonishing
you by the extent and variety of this local skill, in objects so
varied and so complicated, never heard of a petal, corolla, or
stigma in their lives, nor even of the strata of that soil, with
the productions and properties of which they were so intimately
acquainted.

Without compass or guide of any kind, the traders steered
through these pathless forests. In those gloomy days, when
the sun is not visible, or in winter, when the falling snows
obscured his beams, they made an incision in the bark on the
different sides of a tree; that on the north was invariably
thicker than the other, and covered with moss in much greater
quantity: and this never-failing indication of the polar influence,
was to those sagacious travellers a sufficient guide.
They had, indeed, several subordinate monitors. Knowing,
so well as they did, the quality of the soil, by the trees or
plants most prevalent, they could avoid a swamp, or approach
with certainty to a river or high ground, if such was their
wish, by means, that to us would seem incomprehensible.
Even the savages seldom visited these districts, except in the
// 059.png
.pn +1
dead of winter; they had towns, as they called their summer
dwellings, on the banks of the lakes and rivers in the interior,
where their great fishing places were. In the winter,
their grand hunting parties were in places more remote from
our boundaries, where the deer and other larger animals took
shelter from the neighbourhood of man. These single adventurers
sought the Indians in their spring haunts, as soon
as the rivers were open; there they had new dangers to apprehend.
It is well known that among the natives of America,
revenge was actually a virtue, and retaliation a positive
duty. While faith was kept with these people they never
became aggressors; but the Europeans, by the force of bad
example and strong liquors, seduced them from their wonted
probity. Yet, from the first, their notion of justice and revenge
was of that vague and general nature, that if they considered
themselves injured, or if one of their tribe had been
killed by an inhabitant of any one of our settlements, they
considered any individual of our nation as a proper subject
for retribution. This seldom happened among our allies;
never, indeed, but when the injury was obvious, and our
people very culpable. But the avidity of gain often led our
traders to deal with Indians, among whom the French possessed
a degree of influence, which produced a smothered
animosity to our nation. When, at length, after conquering
numberless obstacles, they arrived at the place of their destination,
these daring adventurers found occasion for no little
address, patience, and indeed courage, before they could
dispose of their cargo, and return safely with the profits.

The successful trader had now laid the foundation of his
fortune, and approved himself worthy of her for whose sake
he encountered all these dangers. It is utterly inconceivable,
how even a single season spent in this manner, ripened the
mind, and changed the whole appearance—nay, the very
character of the countenance of these demi-savages, for such
// 060.png
.pn +1
they seemed on returning from among their friends in the
forests. Lofty, sedate, and collected, they seem masters of
themselves, and independent of others; though sunburnt
and austere, one scarce knows them till they unbend. By
this Indian likeness, I do not think them by any means degraded.
One must have seen these people, (the Indians I
mean,) to have any idea what a noble animal man is while
unsophisticated. I have often been amused with the descriptions
that philosophers, in their closets, who never in their
lives saw man, but in his improved or degraded state, give of
uncivilized people; not recollecting that they are at the same
time uncorrupted. Voyagers, who have not their language,
and merely see them transiently, to wonder and be wondered
at, are equally strangers to the real character of man in a
social though unpolished state. It is no criterion to judge of
this state of society by the roaming savages, (truly such,)
who are met with on these inhospitable coasts, where nature
is niggardly of her gifts, and where the skies frown continually
on her hard-fated children. For some good reason, to
us unknown, it is requisite that human beings should be scattered
through all habitable space, “till gradual life goes out
beneath the pole;” and to beings so destined, what misery
would result from social tenderness and fine perceptions. Of
the class of social beings, (for such indeed they were,) of
whom I speak, let us judge from the traders, who know their
language and customs, and from the adopted prisoners, who
have spent years among them. How unequivocal, how consistent
is the testimony they bear to their humanity, friendship,
fortitude, fidelity, and generosity; but the indulgence of the
recollections thus suggested, has already led me too far
from my subject.

The joy that the return of these youths occasioned was
proportioned to the anxiety their perilous journey had produced.
In some instances, the union of the lovers immediately
// 061.png
.pn +1
took place before the next career of gainful hardships
commenced. But the more cautious went to New-York in
winter, disposed of their peltry, purchased a larger cargo, and
another slave and canoe. The next year they laid out the
profits of their former adventures in flour and provisions, the
staple of the province; this they disposed of at the Bermuda
Islands, where they generally purchased one of those light-sailing
cedar schooners, for building of which those islanders
are famous, and proceeding to the Leeward Islands, loaded
it with a cargo of rum, sugar, and molasses.

They were now ripened into men, and considered as active
and useful members of society, possessing a stake in the
common weal.

The young adventurer had generally finished this process
by the time he was one, or, at most, two and twenty. He
now married, or if married before, which pretty often was the
case, brought home his wife to a house of his own. Either
he kept his schooner, and, loading her with produce, sailed
up and down the river all summer, and all winter disposed of
the cargoes he obtained in exchange, to more distant settlers;
or he sold her, purchased European goods, and kept a store.
Otherwise he settled in the country, and became as diligent in
his agricultural pursuits as if he had never known any other.
// 062.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch10
CHAP. X.
.pm ch-hd-start
Marriages—Amusements—Rural excursions, &c. among the Albanians.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>It</sc> was in this manner that the young colonist made the
transition from boyhood to manhood; from the disengaged
and careless bachelor, to the provident and thoughtful father
of a family; and thus was spent that period of life, so critical
in polished society, to those whose condition exempts them
from manual labour. Love, undiminished by any rival passion,
and cherished by innocence and candour, was here fixed
by the power of early habit, and strengthened by similarity of
education, tastes, and attachments. Inconstancy, or even
indifference among married couples, was unheard of, even
where there happened to be a considerable disparity in point
of intellect. The extreme affection they bore their mutual
offspring, was a bond that forever endeared them to each
other. Marriage, in this colony, was always early, very often
happy, and very seldom, indeed, interested. When a man
had no son, there was nothing to be expected with a daughter
but a well-brought-up female slave, and the furniture of the
best bed-chamber. At the death of her father, she obtained
another division of his effects, such as he thought she needed
or deserved, for there was no rule in these cases.

Such was the manner in which those colonists began life;
nor must it be thought that those were mean or uninformed
persons. Patriots, magistrates, generals, those who were afterwards
wealthy, powerful, and distinguished, all—except a
few elder brothers, occupied by their possessions at home—set
out in the same manner; and, in after life, even in the
most prosperous circumstances, they delighted to recount the
“humble toils and destiny obscure,” of their early years.
// 063.png
.pn +1

The very idea of being ashamed of any thing that was
neither vicious nor indecent, never entered an Albanian head.
Early accustomed to this noble simplicity, this dignified candour,
I cannot express the contempt and disgust I felt at the
shame of honourable poverty. The extreme desire of concealing
our real condition, and appearing what we are not,
that peculiarly characterizes, I had almost said disgraces, the
northern part more particularly of this island. I have often
wondered how this vile sentiment, that undermines all true
greatness of mind, should prevail more here than in England,
where wealth, beyond a doubt, is more respected, at least
preponderates more over birth, and heart, and mind, and
many other valuable considerations. As a people, we certainly
are not sordid, why then should we descend to the
meanness of being ashamed of our condition, while we have
not done any thing to degrade ourselves? Why add a sting
to poverty, and a plume to vanity, by the poor transparent artifice
that conceals nothing, and only changes pity into scorn?

Before I quit the subject of Albanian manners, I must
describe their amusements, and some other peculiarities, in
their modes of life. When I say their amusements, I mean
those in which they differed from most other people. Such
as they had in common with others, require no description.
They were exceedingly social, and visited each other very
frequently, beside the regular assembling together in their
porches, every fine evening. Of the more substantial luxuries
of the table, they knew little, and of the formal and
ceremonious parts of good breeding, still less.

If you went to spend a day any where, you were received
in a manner, we should think, very cold. No one rose to
welcome you; no one wondered you had not come sooner,
or apologized for any deficiency in your entertainment.
Dinner, which was very early, was served exactly in the same
manner as if there were only the family. The house, indeed,
// 064.png
.pn +1
was so exquisitely neat and well regulated, that you could not
surprise them; and they saw each other so often and so
easily, that intimates made no difference. Of strangers they
were shy—not by any means from want of hospitality, but
from a consciousness that people who had little to value
themselves on but their knowledge of the modes and ceremonies
of polished life, disliked their sincerity, and despised
their simplicity. If you showed no insolent wonder, but
easily and quietly adopted their manners, you would receive
from them not only very great civility but much essential
kindness. Whoever has not common sense and common
gratitude enough to pay this tribute of accommodation to
those among whom he is destined for the time to live, must
of course be an insulated, discontented being—and come
home railing at the people whose social comforts he disdained
to partake. After sharing this plain and unceremonious dinner,
which might, by the by, chance to be a very good one,
but was invariably that which was meant for the family, tea
was served in at a very early hour; and here it was that the
distinction shown to strangers commenced. Tea here, was
a perfect regale, accompanied by various sorts of cakes unknown
to us, cold pastry, and great quantities of sweetmeats
and preserved fruits of various kinds, and plates of hickory
and other nuts, ready cracked. In all manner of confectionary
and pastry, these people excelled; and having fruit in
great abundance, which cost them nothing, and getting sugar
home at an easy rate, in return for their exports to the West-Indies,
the quantity of these articles used in families, otherwise
plain and frugal, was astonishing. Tea was never
unaccompanied with some of these petty articles; but for
strangers, a great display was made. If you staid supper,
you were sure of a most substantial though plain one. In
this meal they departed, out of compliment to the strangers,
from their usual simplicity. Having dined between twelve
// 065.png
.pn +1
and one, you were quite prepared for it. You had either
game or poultry roasted, and always shell-fish in the season;
you had also fruit in abundance. All this with much neatness
but no form. The seeming coldness with which you were
first received, wore off by degrees. They could not accommodate
their topics to you, and scarcely attempted it. But
the conversation of the old, though limited in regard to subjects,
was rational and easy, and had in it an air of originality
and truth, not without its attractions. That of the young was
natural and playful, yet full of localities, which lessened its
interest to a stranger, but which were extremely amusing
when you became one of the initiated.

Their amusements were marked by a simplicity, which, to
strangers, appeared rude and childish; (I mean those of the
younger class.) In spring, eight or ten of the young people
of one company, or related to each other, young men and
maidens, would set out together in a canoe, on a kind of rural
excursion, of which amusement was the object. Yet so fixed
were their habits of industry, that they never failed to carry
their work-baskets with them, not as a form, but as an ingredient.
necessarily mixed with their pleasures. They had no
attendants—and steered a devious course of four, five, or
perhaps more, miles, till they arrived at some of the beautiful
islands with which this fine river abounded, or at some sequestered
spot on its banks, where delicious wild fruits, or
particular conveniences for fishing, afforded some attraction.
There they generally arrived about nine or ten o’clock, having
set out in the cool and early hour of sunrise. Often they met
another party, going, perhaps, to a different place, and joined
them, or induced them to take their route. A basket, with
tea, sugar, and the other usual provisions for breakfast, with
the apparatus for cooking it—a little rum and fruit, for making
cool, weak punch, the usual beverage in the middle of the
day, and now and then some cold pastry, was the sole provision;
// 066.png
.pn +1
for the great affair was to depend on the sole exertions
of the boys, in procuring fish, wild ducks, &c., for their
dinner. They were all, like Indians, ready and dexterous
with the axe, gun, &c. Whenever they arrived at their destination,
they sought out a dry and beautiful spot opposite to
the river, and in an instant, with their axes, cleared so much
superfluous shade or shrubbery as left a semicircular opening,
above which they bent and twined the boughs, so as to form
a pleasant bower, while the girls gathered dried branches, to
which one of the youths soon set fire with gunpowder, and the
breakfast, a very regular and cheerful one, occupied an hour
or two; the young men then set out to fish, or perhaps to
shoot birds, and the maidens sat busily down to their work,
singing and conversing with all the ease and gaiety the bright
serenity of the atmosphere and beauty of the surrounding
scene were calculated to inspire. After the sultry hours had
been thus employed, the boys brought their tribute from the
river or the wood, and found a rural meal prepared by their
fair companions, among whom were generally their sisters
and the chosen of their hearts. After dinner they all set out
together to gather wild strawberries, or whatever other fruit
was in season, for it was accounted a reflection to come home
empty-handed. When wearied of this amusement, they either
drank tea in their bower, or returning, landed at some friend’s
on the way, to partake of that refreshment. Here, indeed,

.pm verse-start
“Youths’ free spirit, innocently gay,
 Enjoyed the most that innocence could give.”
.pm verse-end

Another of their summer amusements was going to the
bush, which was thus managed: a party of young people set
out in little open carriages, something in the form of a gig,
of which every family had one; every one carried something
with him, as, in these cases, there was no hunting to add
// 067.png
.pn +1
provision. One brought wine for negus, another tea and
coffee of a superior quality, a third a pigeon pie; in short,
every one brought something, no matter how trifling, for there
was no emulation about the extent of the contribution. In
this same bush, there were spots to which the poorer members
of the community retired, to work their way with patient
industry, through much privation and hardship, compared to
the plenty and comfort enjoyed by the rest. They perhaps
could only afford to have one negro-woman, whose children,
as they grew up, became to their master a source of plenty
and ease: but in the mean time, the good man wrought hard
himself, with a little occasional aid sent him by his friends.
He had plenty of the necessaries of life, but no luxuries.
His wife and daughters milked the cows and wrought at the
hay, and his house was on a smaller scale than the older
settlers had theirs, yet he had always one neatly-furnished
room. A very clean house, with a pleasant portico before
it—generally a fine stream beside his dwelling, and some Indian
wigwams near it. He was wood-surrounded, and
seemed absolutely to live in the bosom of nature, screened
from all the artificial ills of life; and those spots, cleared of
incumbrances, yet rich in native luxuriance, had a wild originality
about them, not easily described. The young parties,
or sometimes elder ones, who set out on this woodland excursion,
had no fixed destination; they went generally in the
forenoon, and when they were tired of going on the ordinary
road, turned into the <i>bush</i>, and wherever they saw an inhabited
spot, with the appearance of which they were pleased,
went in with all the ease of intimacy, and told them they were
come to spend the afternoon there. The good people, not in
the least surprised at this incursion, very calmly opened the
reserved apartments, or if it were very hot, received them in
the portico. The guests produced their stores, and they
boiled their tea-kettle, and provided cream, nuts, or any peculiar
// 068.png
.pn +1
dainty of the woods which they chanced to have; and
they always furnished bread and butter, which they had excellent
of their kinds. They were invited to partake of the
collation, which they did with great ease and frankness; then
dancing, or any other amusement that struck their fancy, succeeded.
They sauntered about the bounds in the evening, and
returned by moonlight. These good people felt not the least
embarrassed at the rustic plainness of every thing about them:
they considered themselves as on the way, after a little longer
exertion of patient industry, to have every thing that the others
had; and their guests thought it an agreeable variety, in this
abrupt manner, to visit their sequestered abodes.
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch11
CHAP. XI.
.pm ch-hd-start
Winter amusements of the Albanians, &c.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>In</sc> winter, the river, frozen to a great depth, formed the
principal road through the country, and was the scene of all
those amusements of skating, and sledge races, common to
the north of Europe. They used, in great parties, to visit
their friends at a distance, and having an excellent and hardy
breed of horses, flew from place to place, over the snow and
ice, in these sledges, with incredible rapidity, stopping a little
while at every house they came to, and always well received,
whether acquainted with the owners or not. The night never
impeded these travellers, for the atmosphere was so pure and
serene, and the snow so reflected the moon and star-light,
that the nights exceeded the days in beauty.

In town, all the boys were extravagantly fond of a diversion,
that to us would appear a very odd and childish one.
// 069.png
.pn +1
The great street of the town, in the midst of which, as has
been formerly mentioned, stood all the churches and public
buildings, sloped down from the hill on which the fort stood,
towards the river: between the buildings was an unpaved
carriage-road, the footpath, beside the houses, being the only
part of the street which was paved. In winter, this sloping
descent, continued for more than a quarter of a mile, acquiring
firmness from the frost, and became extremely slippery.
Then the amusement commenced. Every boy and youth in
town, from eight to eighteen, had a little, low sledge, made
with a rope like a bridle to the front, by which it could be
dragged after one by the hand. On this, one or two, at most,
could sit—and this sloping descent, being made as smooth as
a looking-glass, by sliders, sledges, &c., perhaps a hundred
at once set out in succession from the top of this street, each
seated in his little sledge, with the rope in his hand, which
drawn to the right or left, served to guide him. He pushed
it off with a little stick, as one would launch a boat; and then,
with the most astonishing velocity, precipitated by the weight
of the owner, the little machine glided past, and was at the
lower end of the street in an instant. What could be so peculiarly
delightful in this rapid and smooth descent, I could
never discover—though in a more retired place, and on a
smaller scale, I have tried the amusement: but to a young
Albanian, sleighing, as he called it, was one of the first joys
of life, though attended with the drawback of walking to the
top of the declivity, dragging his sledge every time he renewed
his flight, for such it might well be called. In the
management of this little machine, some dexterity was necessary:
an unskilful Phaeton was sure to fall. The conveyance
was so low, that a fall was attended with little danger, yet
with much disgrace, for an universal laugh from all sides,
assailed the fallen charioteer. This laugh was from a very
full chorus, for the constant and rapid succession of this procession,
// 070.png
.pn +1
where every one had a brother, lover, or kinsman,
brought all the young people in town to the porticos, where
they used to sit, wrapt in furs, till ten or eleven at night, engrossed
by this delectable spectacle. What magical attraction
it could possibly have, I never could find out; but I have
known an Albanian, after residing some years in Britain, and
becoming a polished, fine gentleman, join the sport, and slide
down with the rest. Perhaps, after all our laborious refinements
in amusement, being easily pleased is one of the great
secrets of happiness, as far as it is attainable in this “frail and
feverish being.”

Now there remains another amusement to be described,
which I mention with reluctance, and should scarce venture
to mention at all, had I not found a precedent for it among
the virtuous Spartans. Had Lycurgus himself, been the
founder of their community, the young men could scarce have
stolen with more alacrity and dexterity. I could never conjecture
how the custom could possibly originate among a set
of people of such perfect and plain integrity; but thus it was.
The young men now and then spent a convivial evening at a
tavern together, where, from the extreme cheapness of liquor,
their bills, (even when they committed an occasional excess,)
were very moderate. Either to lessen the expense of the
supper, or from the pure love of what they styled frolic,
(anglicè mischief,) they never failed to steal either a roasting
pig, or a fat turkey, for this festive occasion. The town was
the scene of these depredations, which never extended beyond
it. Swine and turkeys were reared in great numbers by all
the inhabitants. For those they brought to town in winter,
they had an appropriate place at the lower end of the garden,
in which they were locked up. It is observable that these
animals were the only things locked up about the house, for
this good reason, that nothing else ran the least risk of being
stolen. The dexterity of the theft consisted in climbing over
// 071.png
.pn +1
very high walls, watching to steal in when the negroes went
down to feed the horse or cow, or making a clandestine entrance
at some window or aperture; breaking open doors was
quite out of rule, and rarely ever resorted to. These exploits
were always performed in the darkest nights; if the owner
heard a noise in his stables, he usually ran down with a
cudgel, and laid it without mercy on any culprit he could
overtake. This was either dexterously avoided or patiently
borne. To plunder a man, and afterwards offer him any personal
injury, was accounted scandalous; but the turkies or
pigs were never recovered. In some instances, a whole band
of these young plunderers would traverse the town, and carry
off such a prey as would afford provision for many jovial
nights. Nothing was more common than to find one’s
brothers or nephews amongst these pillagers.

Marriage was followed by two dreadful privations: a married
man could not fly down the street in a little sledge, or
join a party of pig-stealers, without outraging decorum. If
any of their confederates married, as they frequently did, very
young, and were in circumstances to begin house-keeping,
they were sure of an early visit of this nature from their old
confederates. It was thought a great act of gallantry to overtake
and chastise the robbers. I recollect an instance of a
young married man, who had not long attained to that dignity,
whose turkies screaming violently one night, he ran down to
chastise the aggressors; he overtook them in the fact, but
finding they were his old associates, could not resist the force
of habit, joined the rest in another exploit of the same nature,
and then shared his own turkey at the tavern. There were
two inns in the town, the masters of which were “honourable
men,” yet these pigs and turkies were always received and
dressed, without questioning whence they came. In one instance,
a young party had, in this manner, provided a pig, and
ordered it to be roasted at the King’s Arms; another party
// 072.png
.pn +1
attacked the same place, whence this booty was taken, but
found it already rifled. This party was headed by an idle,
mischievous young man, who was the Ned Poins of his
fraternity: well guessing how the stolen roasted-pig was disposed
of, he ordered his friends to adjourn to the rival tavern,
and went himself to the King’s Arms. Inquiring in the
kitchen, (where a pig was roasting,) who supped there, he
soon arrived at certainty; then taking an opportunity when
there was no one in the kitchen but the cook-maid, he sent
for one of the jovial party, who were at cards up stairs.
During her absence, he cut the string by which the pig was
suspended, laid it in the dripping-pan, and through the quiet
and dark streets of that sober city, carried it safely to the
other tavern, where, after finishing the roasting, he and his
companions prepared to regale themselves. Meantime, the
pig was missed at the King’s Arms, and it was immediately
concluded, from the dexterity and address with which this
trick was performed, that no other but the Poins aforesaid,
could be the author of it. A new stratagem was now devised
to outwit this stealer of the stolen. An adventurous
youth of the despoiled party, laid down a parcel of shavings
opposite to the other tavern, and setting them in a blaze,
cried fire! a most alarming sound here, where such accidents
were too frequent. Every one rushed out of the house,
where supper had been just served. The dexterous purveyor,
who had occasioned all this disturbance, stole in, snatched
up the dish with the pig in it, stole out again by the back
door, and feasted his companions with the recovered spoils.

These were a few idle young men, the sons of avaricious
fathers, who grudging to advance the means of pushing them
forward, by the help of their own industry, to independence,
allowed them to remain so long unoccupied, that their time
was wasted, and habits of conviviality at length degenerated
into those of dissipation. These were not only pitied and
// 073.png
.pn +1
endured, but received with a great deal of kindness and indulgence,
that was wonderful. They were usually a kind of
wags, went about like privileged persons, at whose jests no
one took offence, and were in their discourse and style of
humour, so much like Shakspeare’s clowns, that on reading
that admirable author, I thought I recognized my old acquaintances.
Of these, however, I saw little, the society
admitted at my friends being very select.
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CHAP. XII.
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Lay-Brothers—Catalina—Detached Indians.
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Before I quit this attempt to delineate the number of
which this community was composed, I must mention a class
of aged persons, who, united by the same recollections, pursuits,
and topics, associated very much with each other, and
very little with a world which they seemed to have renounced.
They might be styled lay-brothers, and were usually widowers,
or persons who, in consequence of some early disappointment,
had remained unmarried. These were not devotees,
who had, as was formerly often the case in Catholic countries,
run from the extreme of licentiousness to that of bigotry.
They were generally persons who were never marked as
being irreligious or immoral—and just as little distinguished
for peculiar strictness or devotional fervour. These good
men lived in the house of some relation, where they had their
own apartments to themselves, and only occasionally mixed
with the family. The people of the town lived to a great
age; ninety was frequently attained, and I have seen different
individuals of both sexes, who had reached a hundred.
// 074.png
.pn +1
These ancients seemed to place all their delight in pious
books and devotional exercises, particularly in singing psalms,
which they would do in their own apartments for hours together.
They came out and in like ghosts, and were treated in
the same manner, for they never spoke unless when addressed,
and seemed very careless of the things of this world,
like people who had got above it. Yet they were much together,
and seemed to enjoy each other’s conversation. Retrospection
on the scenes of early life, anticipations of that
futurity, so closely veiled from our sight, and discussions
regarding different passages of holy writ, seemed their favourite
themes. They were mild and benevolent, but abstracted,
and unlike other people, their happiness, for happy I am convinced
they were, was of a nature peculiar to themselves, not
obvious to others. Others there were not deficient in their attention
to religious duties, who, living in the bosom of their families,
took an active and cheerful concern to the last, in all that
amused or interested them; and I never understood that the
lay-brothers, as I have chosen to call them, blamed them for
so doing. One of the first Christian virtues, charity, in the
most obvious and common sense of the word, had little scope.
Here a beggar was unheard of. People, such as I have
described in the <i>bush</i>, or going there, were no more considered
as objects of pity, than we consider an apprentice as
such, for having to serve his time before he sets up for himself.
In such cases, the wealthier, because older settlers, frequently
gave a heifer or colt each, to a new beginner, who set about
clearing land in their vicinity. Orphans were never neglected;
and from their early marriages, and the casualties their manner
of life subjected them to, these were not unfrequent. You
never entered a house without meeting children; maidens,
bachelors, and childless married people, all adopted orphans,
and all treated them as if they were their own.

Having given a sketch, that appears to my recollection,
// 075.png
.pn +1
(aided by subsequent conversations with my fellow-travellers,)
a faithful one of the country and its inhabitants, it is time to
return to the history of the mind of Miss Schuyler, for by no
other circumstances than prematurity of intellect, and superior
culture, were her earliest years distinguished. Her
father, dying early, left her very much to the tuition of his
brother. Her uncle’s frontier situation, made him a kind of
barrier to the settlement; while the powerful influence that
his knowledge of nature and of character, his sound judgment
and unstained integrity, had obtained over both parties, made
him the bond by which the aborigines were united with the
colonists. Thus, little leisure was left him for domestic enjoyments
or literary pursuits, for both of which his mind was
peculiarly adapted. Of the leisure time he could command,
however, he made the best use, and soon distinguished Catalina
as the one amongst his family to whom nature had been
most liberal; he was at the pains to cultivate her taste for
reading, which soon discovered itself, by procuring for her
the best authors in history, divinity, and belles lettres; in this
latter branch, her reading was not very extensive, but then
the few books of this kind that she possessed, were very well
chosen, and she was early and intimately familiar with them.
What I remember of her, assisted by comparisons since
made with others, has led me to think that extensive reading,
superficial and indiscriminate—such as the very easy access
to books among us encourages, is not at an early period of
life, favourable to solid thinking, true taste, or fixed principle.
Whatever she knew, she knew to the bottom; and the reflections
which were thus suggested to her strong, discerning
mind, were digested by means of easy and instructive conversation.
Colonel Schuyler had many relations in New-York—and
the governor and other ruling characters there,
carefully cultivated the acquaintance of a person, so well
qualified to instruct and inform them on certain points as he
// 076.png
.pn +1
was. Having considerable dealings in the fur trade, too, he
went every winter to the capital for a short time, to adjust his
commercial concerns, and often took his favourite niece along
with him, who, being of an uncommonly quick growth and tall
stature, soon attracted attention by her personal graces, as
well as by the charms of her conversation. I have been told,
and should conclude from a picture I have seen drawn when
she was fifteen, that she was in her youth very handsome.
Of this, few traces remained when I knew her; excessive
corpulence having then overloaded her majestic person, and
entirely changed the aspect of a countenance, once eminently
graceful. In no place did female excellence of any kind
more amply receive its due tribute of applause and admiration
than here, for various reasons; first, cultivation and
refinement were rare. Then, as it was not the common
routine that women should necessarily have such and such
accomplishments, pains were only taken on minds strong
enough to bear improvement, without becoming conceited or
pedantic; and lastly, as the spur of emulation was not invidiously
applied, those who acquired a superior degree of
knowledge, considered themselves as very fortunate in having
a new source of enjoyment opened to them. But never
having been made to understand that the chief motive of excelling
was to dazzle or outshine others, they no more thought
of despising their less fortunate companions, than of assuming
pre-eminence for discovering a wild plum-tree or bee-hive in
the woods, though, as in the former case, they would have
regarded such a discovery as a benefit and a pleasure; their
acquisitions, therefore, were never shaded by affectation.
The women were all natives of the country, and few had
more than a domestic education; but men, who possessed
the advantages of early culture and usage of the world, daily
arrived on the continent from different parts of Europe; so
that if we may be indulged in the inelegant liberty of talking
// 077.png
.pn +1
commercially of female elegance, the supply was not equal to
the demand. It may be easily supposed that Miss Schuyler
met with due attention; who, even at this early age, was respected
for the strength of her character, and the dignity and
composure of her manners. Her mother, whom she delighted
to recollect, was mild, pious, and amiable; her acknowledged
worth was chastened by the utmost diffidence. Yet, accustomed
to exercise a certain power over the minds of the natives,
she had great influence in restraining their irregularities
and swaying their opinions. From her knowledge of their
language, and habit of conversing with them, some detached
Indian families resided for a while in summer in the vicinity
of houses occupied by the more wealthy and benevolent inhabitants.
They generally built a slight wigwam under shelter
of the orchard fence, on the shadiest side; and never were
neighbours more harmless, peaceable, and obliging—I might
truly add industrious, for in one way or other they were constantly
occupied. The women and their children employed
themselves in many ingenious handicrafts, which, since the
introduction of European arts and manufactures, have greatly
declined. Baking trays, wooden dishes, ladles and spoons,
shovels and rakes, brooms of a peculiar manufacture, made
by splitting a birch block into slender but tough filaments;
baskets of all kinds and sizes, made of similar filaments,
enriched with the most beautiful colours, which they alone
knew how to extract from vegetable substances, and incorporate
with the wood. They made also of the birch-bark,
(which is here so strong and tenacious, that cradles and canoes
are made of it,) many receptacles for holding fruit and other
things, curiously adorned with embroidery—not inelegant,
done with the sinews of deer, and leggins and moomesans,
a very comfortable and highly ornamental substitute for shoes
and stockings, then universally used in winter among the men
of our own people. They had also a beautiful manufacture
// 078.png
.pn +1
of deer skin, softened to the consistence of the finest Chamois
leather, and embroidered with beads of wampum, formed like
bugles; these, with great art and industry, they formed out
of shells, which had the appearance of fine, white porcelain,
veined with purple. This embroidery showed both skill and
taste, and was among themselves highly valued. They had
belts, large embroidered garters, and many other ornaments,
formed, first of deer sinews, divided to the size of coarse
thread, and afterwards, when they obtained worsted thread
from us, of that material, formed in a manner which I could
never comprehend. It was neither knitted nor wrought in
the manner of net, nor yet woven—but the texture was
formed more like an officer’s sash than any thing I can compare
it to. While the women and children were thus
employed, the men sometimes assisted them in the more laborious
part of their business, but oftener occupied themselves
in fishing on the rivers, and drying or preserving, by
means of smoke, in sheds erected for the purpose, sturgeon
and large eels, which they caught in great quantities, and of
an extraordinary size, for winter provision.

Boys on the verge of manhood, and ambitious to be
admitted into the hunting parties of the ensuing winter, exercised
themselves in trying to improve their skill in archery,
by shooting birds, squirrels, and raccoons. These petty
huntings helped to support the little colony in the neighbourhood,
which, however, derived its principal subsistence from
an exchange of their manufactures with the neighbouring
family, for milk, bread, and other articles of food.

The summer residence of these ingenious artisans promoted
a great intimacy between the females of the vicinity
and the Indian women, whose sagacity and comprehension of
mind were beyond belief.

It is a singular circumstance, that though they saw the
negroes in every respectable family not only treated with
// 079.png
.pn +1
humanity, but cherished with parental kindness, they always
regarded them with contempt and dislike, as an inferior race,
and would have no communication with them. It was necessary
then that all conversations should be held, and all business
transacted with these females, by the mistress of the
family. In the infancy of the settlement, the Indian language
was familiar to the more intelligent inhabitants, who found it
very useful, and were, no doubt, pleased with its nervous and
emphatic idiom, and its lofty and sonorous cadence. It was,
indeed, a noble and copious language, when one considers
that it served as the vehicle of thought to a people, whose ideas
and sphere of action we should consider as so very confined.
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CHAP. XIII.
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Progress of knowledge—Indian manners.
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Conversing with those interesting and deeply-reflecting
natives, was, to thinking minds, no mean source of entertainment.
Communication soon grew easier, for the Indians had
a singular facility in acquiring other languages—the children,
I well remember, from experimental knowledge, for I delighted
to hover about the wigwam, and converse with those
of the Indians, and we very frequently mingled languages.
But to return: whatever comfort or advantage a good and
benevolent mind possesses, it is willing to extend to others.
The mother of my friend, and other matrons, who, like her,
experienced the consolations, the hopes, and the joys of
Christianity, wished those estimable natives to share in their
pure enjoyments.
// 080.png
.pn +1

Of all others, these mild and practical Christians were the
best fitted for making proselytes. Unlike professed missionaries,
whose zeal is not always seconded by judgment, they
did not begin by alarming the jealousy, with which all manner
of people watch over their hereditary prejudices. Engaged in
active life, they had daily opportunities of demonstrating the
truth of their religion, by its influence upon their conduct.
Equally unable and unwilling to enter into deep disquisitions
or polemical arguments, their calm and unstudied explanations
of the essential doctrines of Christianity, were the natural
results which arose out of their ordinary conversation. To
make this better understood, I must endeavour to explain
what I have observed in the unpolished society that occupies
the wild and remote districts of different countries. Their
conversation is not only more original, but, however odd the
expression may appear, more philosophical than that of persons
equally destitute of mental culture, in more populous
districts. They derive their subjects of reflection and conversation,
more from natural objects, which lead minds, possessing
a certain degree of intelligence, more forward to trace
effects to their causes. Nature, there, too, is seen arrayed
in virgin beauty and simple majesty. Its various aspects are
more grand and impressive; its voice is more distinctly
heard, and sinks deeper into the heart. These people, more
dependent on the simples of the fields and the wild fruits of
the woods, better acquainted with the forms and instincts of
the birds and beasts, their fellow denizens in the wilds, and
more observant of every constellation and every change in
the sky, from living so much in the open air, have a wider
range of ideas than we are aware of. With us, art every
where combats nature—opposes her plainest dictates, and too
often conquers her. The poor, are so confined to the spot
where their occupations lie—so engrossed by their struggles
for daily bread, and so surrounded by the works of man, that
// 081.png
.pn +1
those of their Creator are almost excluded from their view, at
least form a very small part of the subjects that engross their
thoughts. What knowledge they have is often merely the
husks and orts that fall from the table of their superiors,
which they swallow without chewing.

Many of those who are one degree above the lowest class,
see nature in poetry, novels, and other books, and never
think of looking for her any where else; like a person
amused by seeing the reflection of the starry heavens, or
shifting clouds in a calm lake, never lifting his eyes to those
objects, of which he sees the imperfect though resembling
pictures.

Those who live in the undisguised bosom of tranquil nature,
and whose chief employment it is, by disincumbering her of
waste luxuriance, to discover and improve her latent beauties,
need no borrowed enthusiasm to relish her sublime and graceful
features. The venerable simplicity of the sacred scriptures,
has something extremely attractive for a mind in this
state. The soul, which is the most familiar with its Creator,
in his works, will be always the most ready to recognise him
in his word. Conversations, which had for their subjects, the
nature and virtues of plants, the extent and boundaries of
woods and lakes, and the various operations of instinct in
animals, under those circumstances where they are solely directed
by it, and the distinct customs and manners of various
untutored nations, tended to expand the mind, and teach it to
aspire to more perfect intelligence. The untaught reasoners
of the woods, could not but observe that the Europeans knew
much that was concealed from them, and derived many benefits
and much power from that knowledge. Where they saw
active virtue keep pace with superior knowledge, it was natural
to conclude that persons thus beneficially enlightened, had
clearer and ampler views of that futurity, which, to them, only
dimly gleamed through formless darkness. They would
// 082.png
.pn +1
suppose, too, that those illuminated beings, had some means
of approaching nearer to that source of light and perfection,
from which wisdom is derived, than they themselves had
attained. Their minds being thus prepared by degrees, these
pious matrons, (probably assisted by those lay-brothers, of
whom I have spoken,) began to diffuse the knowledge of the
distinguished doctrines of Christianity among the elderly and
well-intentioned Indian women. These did not, by any
means, receive the truth without examination. The acuteness
of intellect, which discovered itself in their objections,
(of which I have heard many striking instances,) was astonishing;
yet the humble and successful instruments of enlightening
those sincere and candid people, did by no means take
to themselves any merit in making proselytes. When they
found their auditors disposed to listen diligently to the truth,
they sent them to the clergyman of the place, who instructed,
confirmed, and baptised them. I am sorry that I have not a
clear and distinct recollection of the exact manner, or the
numbers, &c. of these first converts, of whom I shall say
more hereafter; but I know that this was the usual process.
They were, however, both zealous and persevering, and
proved the means of bringing many others under the law of
love, to which it is reasonable to suppose the safety of this
unprotected frontier was greatly owing at that crisis, that of
the first attacks of the French. The Indian women, who,
from motives of attachment to particular families, or for the
purpose of carrying on the small traffic, already mentioned,
were wont to pass their summers near the settlers, were
of detached and wandering families, who preferred this mode
of living to the labour of tilling the ground, which entirely
devolved upon the women among the Five Nations. By
tilling the ground, I would not be understood to mean any
settled mode of agriculture, requiring cattle, inclosures, or
implements of husbandry. Grain made but a very subordinate
// 083.png
.pn +1
part of their subsistence, which was chiefly derived from
fishing and hunting. The little they had was maize; this,
with kidney-beans and tobacco, the only plants they cultivated,
was sown in some very pleasant fields along the Mohawk
river, by the women, who had no implements of tillage but the
hoe, and a kind of wooden spade. These fields laid round
their <i>castles</i>—and while the women were thus employed, the
men were catching and drying fish by the rivers or on the
lakes. The younger girls, were much busied during summer
and autumn, in gathering wild fruits, berries, and grapes,
which they had a peculiar mode of drying, to preserve them
for the winter. The great cranberry they gathered in abundance,
which, without being dried, would last the whole
winter, and was much used by the settlers. These dried fruits
were no luxury; a fastidious taste would entirely reject them.
Yet, besides furnishing another article of food, they had their
use, as was evident. Without some antiseptic, they who lived
the whole winter on animal food, without a single vegetable,
or any thing of the nature of bread, unless now and then a
little maize, which they had the art of boiling down to softness
in lye of wood-ashes, must have been liable to that great
scourge of northern nations, in their primitive state, the
<i>scurvy</i>, had not this simple desert been a preservative against
it. Rheumatisms, and sometimes agues affected them, but no
symptom of any cutaneous disease was ever seen on an Indian.

The stragglers, from the confines of the orchards, did not
fail to join their tribes in winter, and were zealous, and often
successful in spreading their new opinions. Indians supposed
that every country had its own mode of honouring the Great
Spirit, to whom all were equally acceptable. This had, on
one hand, the bad effect of making them satisfied with their
own vague and undefined notions; and on the other, the
good one of making them very tolerant of those of others. If
you do not insult their belief, (for mode of worship they have
// 084.png
.pn +1
scarce any,) they will hear you talk of yours with the greatest
patience and attention; their good breeding, in this respect,
was really superlative. No Indian ever interrupted any the
most idle talker; but when he concluded, he would deliberately,
methodically, and not ungracefully answer or comment
upon all he had said, in a manner which showed that not a
word had escaped him.

Lady Mary Montague ludicrously says, that the court of
Vienna was the paradise of old women; and that there is no
other place in the world where a woman past fifty excites the
least interest. Had her travels extended to the interior of
North America, she would have seen another instance of this
inversion of the common mode of thinking. Here a woman
never was of consequence, till she had a son old enough to
fight the battles of his country; from that date she held a superior
rank in society; was allowed to live at ease, and even
called to consultations on national affairs. In savage and
warlike countries, the reign of beauty is very short, and its
influence comparatively limited. The girls, in childhood,
had a very pleasing appearance; but excepting their fine hair,
eyes, and teeth, every external grace was soon banished by
perpetual drudgery, carrying burdens too heavy to be borne,
and other slavish employments, considered beneath the dignity
of the men. These walked before, erect and graceful,
decked with ornaments, which set off to advantage the symmetry
of their well-formed persons, while the poor women
followed, meanly attired, bending under the weight of the
children and utensils, which they carried every where with
them; and disfigured and degraded by ceaseless toils. They
were very early married—for a Mohawk had no other servant
but his wife; and whenever he commenced hunter, it was
requisite that he should have some one to carry his load, cook
his kettle, make his moccasins, and above all, produce the
young warriors, who were to succeed him in the honours of
// 085.png
.pn +1
the chase, and of the tomahawk. Wherever man is a mere
hunter, woman is a mere slave. It is domestic intercourse
that softens man, and elevates woman; and of that there can
be little, where the employments and amusements are not in
common. The ancient Caledonians honoured the fair—but
then, it is to be observed, they were fair huntresses, and
moved, in the light of their beauty, to the hill of roes; and
the culinary toils were entirely left to the rougher sex. When
the young warrior, above alluded to, made his appearance, it
softened the cares of his mother, who well knew that when
he grew up, every deficiency in tenderness to his wife, would
be made up in superabundant duty and affection to her. If
it were possible to carry filial veneration to excess, it was
done here, for all other charities were absorbed in it. I wonder
this system of depressing the sex in their early years, to
exalt them when all their juvenile attractions were flown, and
when mind alone can distinguish them, has not occurred to
our modern reformers. The Mohawks took good care not to
admit their women to share their prerogatives, till they approved
themselves good wives and mothers.

This digression, long as it is, has a very intimate connexion
with the character of my friend, who early adopted the views
of her family, in regard to those friendly Indians, which
greatly enlarged her mind, and ever after influenced her conduct.
She was, even in childhood, well acquainted with their
language, opinions, and customs; and, like every other
person possessed of a liberality or benevolence of mind,
whom chance had brought acquainted with them, was exceedingly
partial to those high-souled and generous natives. The
Mohawk language was early familiar to her; she spoke Dutch
and English with equal ease and purity, was no stranger to
the French tongue, and could, (I think,) read German: I
have heard her speak it. From the conversations which her
active curiosity led her to hold with native Africans, brought
// 086.png
.pn +1
into her father’s family, she was more intimately acquainted
with the customs, manners, and government of their native
country, than she could have been, by reading all that was
ever written on the subject. Books are, no doubt, the granaries
of knowledge; but a diligent, inquiring mind, in the
active morning of life, will find it strewed like manna, over
the face of the earth—and need not, in all cases, rest satisfied
with intelligence accumulated by others, and tinctured with
their passions and prejudices. Whoever reads Homer or
Shakspeare, may daily discover that they describe both nature
and art from their own observation. Consequently, you see
the images reflected from the mirror of their great minds,
differing from the descriptions of others, as the reflection of
an object in all its colours and proportions, from an unpolished
surface, does from a shadow on a wall, or from a
picture drawn from recollection. The enlarged mind of my
friend, and her simple, yet easy and dignified manners, made
her readily adapt herself to those with whom she conversed,
and every where command respect and kindness—and, on a
nearer acquaintance, affection followed; but she had too
much sedateness and independence to adopt those caressing
and insinuating manners, by which the vain and the artful so
soon find their way into shallow minds. Her character did
not captivate at once, but gradually unfolded itself, and you
had always something new to discover. Her style was grave
and masculine, without the least embellishment—and at the
same time so pure, that every thing she said might be printed
without correction, and so plain, that the most ignorant and
most inferior persons were never at a loss to comprehend it.
It possessed, too, a wonderful flexibility; it seemed to rise
and fall with the subject. I have not met with a style, which,
to noble and uniform simplicity, united such variety of expression.
Whoever drinks knowledge pure at its sources,
solely from a delight in filling the capacities of a large mind,
// 087.png
.pn +1
without the desire of dazzling or out-shining others; whoever
speaks for the sole purpose of conveying to other minds those
ideas from which he himself has received pleasure and advantage,
may possess this chaste and natural style; but it is not
to be acquired by art or study.
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CHAP. XIV.
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Marriage of Miss Schuyler—Description of the Flats.
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<sc>Miss Schuyler</sc> had the happiness to captivate her cousin
Philip, eldest son of her uncle, who was ten years older than
herself, and was in <i>all respects</i> to be accounted a suitable, and
in the worldly sense, an advantageous match for her. His
father was highly satisfied to have the two objects on whom
he had bestowed so much care and culture united, but did not
live to see this happy connexion take place. They were married
in the year 1719,[#] when she was in the eighteenth year
of her age. When the old colonel died, he left considerable
possessions to be divided among his children, and from the
quantity of plate, paintings, &c. which they shared, there is
reason to believe he must have brought some of his wealth
from Holland, as in those days, people had little means of
enriching themselves in new settlements. He had also considerable
possessions in a place near the town, now called
Fishkill, about twenty miles below Albany. His family residence,
// 088.png
.pn +1
however, was at the Flats, a fertile and beautiful plain
on the banks of the river. He possessed about two miles on
a stretch of that rich and level campaign. This possession
was bounded on the east by the river Hudson, whose high
banks overhung the stream and its pebbly strand, and were
both adorned and defended by elms, (larger than I have seen
in any other place,) decked with natural festoons of wild
grapes, which abound along the banks of this noble stream.
These lofty elms were left when the country was cleared, to
fortify the banks against the masses of thick ice, which make
war upon them in spring, when the melting snows burst this
glassy pavement, and raise the waters many feet above their
usual level. This precaution not only answers that purpose,
but gratifies the mind, by presenting to the eye a remnant of
the wild magnificence of nature, amidst the smiling scenes
produced by varied and successful cultivation. As you came
along by the north end of the town, where the <i>Patroon</i> had
his seat, you afterwards past by the enclosures of the citizens,
where, as formerly described, they planted their corn, and
arrived at the Flats, Colonel Schuyler’s possession. On the
right you saw the river in all its beauty, there above a mile
broad: on the opposite side, the view was bounded by steep
hills, covered with lofty pines, from which a water-fall descended,
which not only gave animation to the sylvan scene,
but was the best barometer imaginable—foretelling by its
varied and intelligible sounds, every approaching change, not
only of the weather, but of the wind. Opposite to the grounds
lay an island, above a mile in length, and about a quarter in
breadth, which also belonged to the Colonel: exquisitely
beautiful it was, and though the haunt I most delighted in, it
is not in my power to describe it. Imagine a little Egypt,
yearly overflowed, and of the most redundant fertility. This
charming spot was at first covered with wood, like the rest of
the country, except a long field in the middle, where the Indians
// 089.png
.pn +1
had probably cultivated maize: round this was a broad,
shelving border, where the grey and the weeping willows, the
bending osier, and numberless aquatic plants, not known in
this country, were allowed to flourish in the utmost luxuriance,
while within, some tall sycamores and wild fruit-trees, towered
above the rest. Thus was formed a broad belt, which,
in winter, proved an impenetrable barrier against the broken
ice, and in summer, was the haunt of numberless birds and
small animals, who dwelt in perfect safety, it being impossible
to penetrate it. Numberless were the productions of this
luxuriant spot: never was a richer field for a botanist; for
though the ice was kept off, the turbid waters of the spring
flood overflowed it annually, and not only deposited a rich
sediment, but left the seeds of various plants swept from the
shores it had passed by. The centre of the island, which was
much higher than the sides, produced with a slight degree of
culture, the most abundant crops of wheat, hay, and flax. At
the end of this island, which was exactly opposite to the family
mansion, a long sand-bank extended; on this was a very
valuable fishing place, of which a considerable profit might be
made. In summer, when the water was low, this narrow
stripe, (for such it was,) came in sight, and furnished an
amusing spectacle; for there the bald or white-headed eagle,
(a large picturesque bird, very frequent in this country,) the
osprey, the heron, and the curlew, used to stand in great numbers,
in a long row, like a military arrangement, for a whole
summer day, fishing for perch and a kind of fresh-water herring,
which abounded there. At the same season, a variety
of wild ducks, who bred on the shores of the island, (among
which was a small, white diver, of an elegant form,) led forth
their young to try their first excursion. What a scene have I
beheld on a calm, summer evening! There, indeed, were
“fringed banks” richly fringed, and wonderfully variegated;
where every imaginable shade of colour mingled, and where
// 090.png
.pn +1
life teemed prolific on every side. The river, a perfect mirror,
reflecting the pine-covered hills opposite—and the pliant
shades that bend without a wind, round this enchanting island,
while hundreds of the white divers, saw-bill ducks, with
scarlet heads, teal, and other aquatic birds, sported at once
on the calm waters. At the discharge of a gun from the
shore, these feathered beauties all disappeared at once, as if
by magic, and in an instant rose to view in different places.

.pm fn-start // A
Miss Schuyler was born in the year 1701.
.pm fn-end

How much they seemed to enjoy that life which was so
new to them! for they were the young broods first led forth
to sport upon the waters. While the fixed attitude and lofty
port of the large birds of prey, who were ranged upon the
sandy shelf, formed an inverted picture in the same clear
mirror, and were a pleasing contrast to the playful multitude
around. These they never attempted to disturb, well aware
of the facility of escape which their old retreats afforded them.
Such of my readers as have had patience to follow me to this
favourite isle, will be, ere now, as much bewildered, as I have
often been myself on its luxuriant shores. To return to the
southward, on the confines of what might then be called an interminable
wild, rose two gently sloping eminences, about half
a mile from the shore; from each of these a large brook descended,
bending through the plain, and having their course
marked by the shades of primeval trees and shrubs, left there
to shelter the cattle when the ground was cleared. On these
eminences, in the near neighbourhood, and in full view of the
mansion at the Flats, were two large and well-built dwellings,
inhabited by Colonel Schuyler’s two younger sons, Peter and
Jeremiah. To the eldest was allotted the place inhabited by
his father, which, from its lower situation and level surface,
was called the Flats. There was a custom prevalent among
the new settlers, something like that of gavelkind; they made
a pretty equal division of lands among their younger sons;
the eldest, by pre-eminence of birth, had a larger share, and
// 091.png
.pn +1
generally succeeded to the domain inhabited by his father,
with the slaves, cattle, and effects upon it.

This, in the present instance, was the lot of the eldest son
of that family whose possessions I have been describing. His
portion of land on the shore of the river, was scarcely equal
in value to those of his brothers, to whose possessions, the
brooks I have mentioned, formed a natural boundary, dividing
them from each other, and from his. To him was allotted the
costly furniture of the family, of which paintings, plate, and
china constituted the valuable part, every thing else being
merely plain and useful. They had also a large house in
Albany, which they occupied occasionally.

I have neglected to describe, in its right place, the termination
or back ground of the landscape I have such delight in
recollecting. There the solemn and interminable forest was
varied here and there by rising grounds, near streams where
birch and hickory, maple and poplar, cheered the eye with a
lighter green, through the prevailing shade of dusky pines.
On the border of the wood, where the trees had been thinned
for firing, was a broad shrubbery all along, which marked the
edges of the wood, above the possessions of the brothers, as
far as it extended.

This was formed of sumac, a shrub with leaves, continually
changing colour through all the varieties, from blending
green and yellow to orange tawney, and adorned with large
lilac-shaped clusters of bright scarlet grains, covered with
pungent dust of a sharp flavour, at once saline and acid. This
the Indians use as salt to their food, and for the dyeing of
different colours. The red glow, which was the general result
of this natural border, had a fine effect, thrown out from
the dusky shades which towered behind.

To the northward, a sandy tract, covered with low pines,
formed a boundary betwixt the Flats and Stonehook, which
lay further up the river.
// 092.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch15
CHAP. XV.
.pm ch-hd-start
Character of Philip Schuyler—His management of the Indians.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>Philip Schuyler</sc>, who, on the death of his father, succeeded
to the inheritance I have been describing, was a
person of a mild, benevolent character, and of an excellent
understanding, which had received more culture than was
usual in that country. But whether he had returned to Europe,
for the purpose of acquiring knowledge in the public
seminaries there, or had been instructed by any of the French
protestants, who were sometimes retained in the principal
families for such purposes, I do not exactly know; but am led
rather to suppose the latter, from the connexion which always
subsisted between that class of people and the Schuyler family.

When the intimacy between this gentleman and the subject
of these memoirs took place, she was a mere child; for the
colonel, as he was soon after called, was ten years older than
herself. This was singular there, where most men married
under twenty. But his early years were occupied by momentous
concerns; for, by this time, the public safety began to
be endangered by the insidious wiles of the French Canadians,
to whom our frontier settlers began to be formidable rivals in
the fur trade, which the former wished to engross. In process
of time, the Indians, criminally indulged with strong
liquors by the most avaricious and unprincipled of the traders,
began to have an insatiable desire for them, and the traders’
avidity for gain increased in the same proportion.

Occasional fraud on the one hand gave rise to occasional
violence on the other. Mutual confidence decayed, and hostility
betrayed itself, when intoxication laid open every thought.
Some of our traders were, as the colonies alleged, treacherously
// 093.png
.pn +1
killed, in violation of treaties solemnly concluded between
them and the offending tribes.

The mediation and protection of the Mohawk tribes, were,
as usual, appealed to. But these shrewd politicians saw evidently
the value of their protection to an unwarlike people,
who made no effort to defend themselves; and who, distant
from the source of authority, and contributing nothing to the
support of government, were in a great measure neglected.
They began also to observe, that their new friends were extending
their possessions on every side, and conscious of their
wealth and increasing numbers, did not so assiduously cultivate
the good will of their faithful allies as formerly. These nations,
savage as we may imagine them, were as well skilled in the
arts of negociation as the most polite Europeans. They
waged perpetual war with each other about their hunting
grounds—each tribe laying claim to some vast wild territory,
destined for that purpose, and divided from other districts by
boundaries which we should consider as merely ideal, but
which they perfectly understood. Yet these were not so distinctly
defined as to preclude all dispute—and a casual
encroachment on this imaginary deer park, was a sufficient
ground of hostility; and this, not for the value of the few
deer or bears which might be killed, but that they thought their
national honour violated by such an aggression. That system
of revenge, which subsisted with equal force among them all,
admitted of no sincere conciliation till the aggrieved party had
obtained at least an equal number of scalps and prisoners for
those that they had lost. This bloody reckoning was not
easily adjusted. After a short and hollow truce, the remaining
balance on either side afforded a pretext for new hostilities,
and time to solicit new alliances, for which last purpose much
art and much persuasive power of eloquence were employed.

But the grand mystery of Indian politics was the flattery,
the stratagem, and address employed in detaching other
// 094.png
.pn +1
tribes from the alliance of their enemies. There could not
be a stronger proof of the restless and turbulent nature of
ambition, than these artful negociations, the consequences of
perpetual hostility, where one would think there was so little
ground for quarrel; and that amongst a people, who, individually,
were by no means quarrelsome or covetous, and
seemed, in their private transactions with each other, impressed
with a deep sense of moral rectitude; who reasoned
soundly, reflected deeply, and acted in most cases consequentially.
Property there was none, to afford a pretext for war,
excepting a little possessed by the Mohawks, which they
knew so well how to defend, that their boundaries were never
violated—

.pm verse-start
“For their awe and their fear were upon all nations round about.”
.pm verse-end

Territory could not be the genuine subject of contention
in these thinly peopled forests, where the ocean and the pole
were the only limits of their otherwise boundless domain.
The consequence attached to the authority of chiefs, who, as
such, possessed no more property than others, and had not
the power to command a single vassal for their own personal
benefit, was not such as to be the object of those wars. Their
chief privilege was that of being first in every dangerous enterprise.
They were loved and honoured, but never, that I
have heard of, traduced, envied, or removed from their
painful pre-eminence.

The only way in which these wars can be accounted for, is,
first, from the general depravity of our nature, and from a
singularly deep feeling of injury, and a high sense of national
honour. They were not the hasty out-breakings of savage
fury, but were commenced in the most solemn and deliberate
manner, and not without a prelude of remonstrances from the
aggrieved party, and attempts to sooth and conciliate from
the other. This digression must not be considered as altogether
from the purpose. To return to the Indians, whose
// 095.png
.pn +1
history has its use in illustrating that of mankind: they now
became fully sensible of the importance they derived from the
increased wealth and undefended state of the settlement.
They discovered, too, that they held the balance between the
interior settlements of France and England, which, though
still distant from each other, were daily approximating.

The Mohawks, though always brave and always faithful,
felt a very allowable repugnance to expose the lives of their
warriors in defence of those who made no effort to defend
themselves; who were neither protected by the arms of their
sovereign, nor by their own courage. They came down to
hold a solemn congress, at which the heads of the Schuyler
and Cuyler families assisted; and where it was agreed that
hostilities should be delayed for the present—the hostile nations
pacified by concessions and presents, and means adopted
to put the settlement into a state of defence against future
aggressions.

On all such occasions, when previously satisfied with regard
to the justice of the grounds of quarrel, the Mohawks promised
their hearty co-operation. This they were the readier
to do, as their young brother Philip, (for so they styled Colonel
Schuyler,) offered not only to head such troops as might be
raised for this purpose, but to engage his two brothers, who
were well acquainted with the whole frontier territory, to serve
on the same terms. This was a singular instance of public
spirit in a young patriot, who was an entire stranger to the
profession of arms, and whose sedate equanimity of character
was adverse to every species of rashness or enthusiasm.
Meantime, the provisions of the above-mentioned treaty could
not be carried into effect, till they were ratified by the assembly
at New-York, and approved by the governor. Of this
there was little doubt; the difficulty was to raise and pay the
troops. In the interim, while steps were taking to legalize
this project, in 1719, the marriage between Colonel Schuyler
and his cousin took place under the happiest auspices.
// 096.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch16
CHAP. XVI.
.pm ch-hd-start
Account of the three brothers.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>Colonel Schuyler</sc> and his two brothers, all possessed a
superior degree of intellect, and uncommon external advantages.
Peter, the only one remaining when I knew the
family, was still a comely and dignified looking old gentleman,
and I was told his brothers were at least equal to him
in this respect. His youngest brother, Jeremiah, who was
much beloved for a disposition, frank, cheerful, and generous
to excess, had previously married a lady from New-York,
with whom he obtained some fortune—a thing then singular
in that country. This lady, whom, in her declining years, I
knew very well, was the daughter of a wealthy and distinguished
family of French protestants. She was lively, sensible,
and well-informed.

Peter, the second, was married to a native of Albany. She
died early, but left behind two children, and the reputation of
much worth, and great attention to her conjugal and maternal
duties. All these relations lived with each other, and with
the new-married lady, in habits of the most cordial intimacy
and perfect confidence. They seemed, indeed, actuated by
one spirit—having in all things similar views and similar
principles. Looking up to the colonel as the head of the
family, whose worth and affluence reflected consequence
upon them all, they never dreamt of envying either his superior
manners, or his wife’s attainments, which they looked
upon as a benefit and ornament to the whole.

Soon after their marriage they visited New-York, which
they continued to do once a year, in the earlier period of their
marriage, on account of their connexion in that city, and the
// 097.png
.pn +1
pleasing and intelligent society that was always to be met
with there, both on account of its being the seat of government,
and the residence of the commander in chief on the
continent, who was then necessarily invested with considerable
power and privileges, and had, as well as the governor for
the time being, a petty court assembled round him. At a very
early period, a better style of manners, greater ease, frankness,
and polish prevailed at New-York, than in any of the
neighbouring provinces. There was, in particular, a Brigadier
General Hunter, of whom I have heard Mrs. Schuyler
talk a great deal, as coinciding with her uncle and husband
successively, in their plans, either of defence or improvement.
He, I think, was then governor—and was as acceptable to the
Schuylers for his colloquial talents and friendly disposition,
as estimable for his public spirit and application to business,
in which respects he was not equalled by any of his successors.
In his circle, the young couple were much distinguished.
There were, too, among those leading families, the Livingstons
and Rensselaers, friends connected with them both by
blood and attachment. There was, also, another distinguished
family, to whom they were allied, and with whom they lived
in cordial intimacy; these were the De Laneys, of French
descent, but by subsequent intermarriages, blended with the
Dutch inhabitants. Of these there were many then in New-York,
as will be hereafter explained; but as these conscientious
exiles were persons allied in religion to the primitive
settlers, and regular and industrious in their habits, they soon
mingled with and became a part of that society, which was
enlivened by their sprightly manners, and benefited by the
useful arts they brought along with them. In this mixed
society, which must have had attraction for young people of
superior, and in some degree, cultivated intellect, this well-matched
pair took great pleasure; and here, no doubt, was
improved that liberality of mind and manners, which so much
// 098.png
.pn +1
distinguished them from the less enlightened inhabitants of
their native city. They were so much caressed in New-York,
and found so many charms in the intelligent and comparatively
polished society, of which they made a part,
that they had at first some thoughts of residing there. These,
however, soon gave way to the persuasions of the old colonel,
with whom they principally resided till his death, which happened
in 1721, two years after. This union was productive
of all that felicity which might be expected to result from
entire congeniality, not of sentiment only, but of original dispositions,
attachments, and modes of living and thinking. He
had been accustomed to consider her as a child with tender
endearment. She had been used to look up to him from
infancy, as the model of manly excellence, and they drew
knowledge and virtue from the same fountain; in the mind of
that respected parent whom they equally loved and revered.
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch17
CHAP. XVII.
.pm ch-hd-start
The house and rural economy of the Flats—Birds and insects.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>I have</sc> already sketched a general outline of that pleasant
home to which the colonel was now about to bring his beloved.

Before I resume my narrative, I shall indulge myself in a
still more minute account of the premises, the mode of living,
&c., which will afford a more distinct idea of the country; all
the wealthy and informed people of the settlement living on
a smaller scale, pretty much in the same manner. Be it
known, however, that the house I had so much delight in
recollecting, had no pretension to grandeur, and very little to
elegance. It was a large brick house, of two, or rather three
// 099.png
.pn +1
stories, (for there were excellent attics,) besides a sunk story,
finished with the most exact neatness. The lower floor had
two spacious rooms, with large, light closets: on the first
there were three rooms, and in the upper one four. Through
the middle of the house was a very wide passage, with opposite
front and back doors, which in summer, admitted a stream
of air, peculiarly grateful to the languid senses. It was furnished
with chairs and pictures, like a summer parlour. Here
the family usually sat in hot weather, when there were no
ceremonious strangers.

Valuable furniture, (though, perhaps, not very well chosen
or assorted,) was the favourite luxury of these people; and in
all the houses I remember, except those of the brothers, who
were every way more liberal, the mirrors, the paintings,
the china, but above all, the state bed, were considered as
the family seraphim, secretly worshiped, and only exhibited
on very rare occasions. But in Colonel Schuyler’s family,
the rooms were merely shut up to keep the flies (which in
that country are an absolute nuisance) from spoiling the
furniture. Another motive was, that they might be pleasantly
cool when opened for company. This house had also two
appendages, common to all those belonging to persons in easy
circumstances there. One was a large portico at the door,
with a few steps leading up to it, and floored like a room; it
was open at the sides, and had seats all around. Above was
either a slight wooden roof, painted like an awning, or a
covering of lattice-work, over which a transplanted wild vine
spread its luxuriant leaves and numerous clusters. These,
though small, and rather too acid till sweetened by the frost,
had a beautiful appearance. What gave an air of liberty and
safety to these rustic porticos, which always produced in my
mind a sensation of pleasure that I know not how to define,
was the number of little birds domesticated there. For their
accommodation there was a small shelf built round, where
// 100.png
.pn +1
they nestled, sacred from the touch of slaves and children,
who were taught to regard them as the good genii of the
place, not to be disturbed with impunity.

I do not recollect sparrows there, except the wood sparrow.
These little birds were of various kinds, peculiar to the country;
but the one most frequent and familiar, was a pretty
little creature, of a bright cinnamon colour, called a wren,
though little resembling the one to which we give that name,
for it is more sprightly, and flies higher. Of these and other
small birds, hundreds gave and received protection around
this hospitable dwelling. The protection they received consisted
merely in the privilege of being let alone. That which
they bestowed was of more importance than any inhabitant of
Britain can imagine. In these new countries, where man has
scarce asserted his dominion, life swarms abundant on every
side; the insect population is numerous beyond belief, and
the birds that feed on them are in proportion to their abundance.
In process of time, when their sheltering woods are
cleared, all these recede before their master, but not before
his empire is fully established. These minute aerial foes
are more harassing than the terrible inhabitants of the forest,
and more difficult to expel. It is only by protecting, and in
some sort domesticating, these little winged allies, who attack
them in their own element, that the conqueror of the lion and
tamer of the elephant, can hope to sleep in peace, or eat his
meals unpolluted. While breakfasting or drinking tea in the
airy porticos, which was often the scene of these meals, birds
were constantly gliding over the table with a butterfly, grasshopper,
or cicada in their bills, to feed their young, who were
chirping above. These familiar inmates brushed by without
ceremony, while the chirping swallow, the martin, and other
hirundines in countless numbers, darted past in pursuit of this
aerial population, while the fields resounded with the ceaseless
chirping of many gay insects, unknown to our more
// 101.png
.pn +1
temperate summers. These were now and then mingled
with the animated and not unpleasing cry of the tree-frog, a
creature of that species, but of a light, slender form, almost
transparent, and of a lively green; it is dry to the touch, and
has not the dank moisture of its aquatic relations; in short, it
is a pretty, lively creature, with a singular and cheerful note.
This loud and not unpleasing insect-chorus, with the swarms
of gay butterflies, in constant motion, enliven scenes, to
which the prevalence of woods, rising “shade above shade,”
on every side, would otherwise give a still and solemn aspect.
Several objects, which, with us, are no small additions to the
softened changes and endless charms of rural scenery, it
must be confessed, are wanting there. No lark welcomes
the sun that rises to gild the dark forests and gleaming lakes
of America; no mellow thrush or deep-toned blackbird warbles
through these awful solitudes, or softens the balmy hour
of twilight with

.pm verse-start
“The liquid language of the groves.”
.pm verse-end

Twilight itself, the mild and shadowy hour, so soothing to
every feeling, every pensive mind; that soft transition from
day to night, so dear to peace, so due to meditation, is here
scarce known, at least only to have its shortness regretted.
No daisy hastens to meet the spring, or embellishes the meads
in summer. Here no purple heath exhales its wholesome
odour, or decks the arid waste with the chastened glow of its
waving bells. No bonny broom, such as enlivens the
narrow vales of Scotland with its gaudy bloom, nor flowering
furze, with its golden blossoms, defying the cold blasts of
early spring, animates their sandy wilds. There the white-blossomed
sloe does not forerun the orchard’s bloom, nor the
pale primrose shelter its modest head beneath the tangled
shrubs. Nature, bountiful yet not profuse, has assigned her
various gifts to various climes, in such a manner, that none
// 102.png
.pn +1
can claim a decided pre-eminence; and every country has
peculiar charms, which endear it to the natives beyond any
other. I have been tempted by lively recollections into a
digression, rather unwarrantable. To return:

At the back of the large house was a smaller and lower
one, so joined to it as to make the form of a cross. There
one or two lower and smaller rooms below, and the same
number above, afforded a refuge to the family during the
rigours of winter, when the spacious summer rooms would
have been intolerably cold, and the smoke of prodigious wood
fires would have sullied the elegantly clean furniture. Here,
too, was a sunk story, where the kitchen was immediately
below the eating parlour, and increased the general warmth of
the house. In summer, the negroes resided in slight outer
kitchens, where food was dressed for the family. Those who
wrought in the fields often had their simple dinner cooked
without, and ate it under the shade of a great tree. One
room, I should have said, in the greater house only, was
opened for the reception of company—all the rest were bedchambers
for their accommodation, while the domestic friends
of the family occupied neat little bed-rooms in the attics, or in
the winter-house. This house contained no drawing-room;
that was an unheard-of luxury. The winter rooms had
carpets—the lobby had oil-cloth, painted in lozenges, to
imitate blue and white marble. The best bed-room was hung
with family portraits, some of which were admirably executed;
and in the eating-room, which, by the by, was rarely used for
that purpose, were some fine scripture paintings:—that which
made the greatest impression on my imagination, and seemed
to be universally admired, was one of Esau, coming to
demand the anticipated blessings. The noble, manly figure
of the luckless hunter, and the anguish expressed in his
comely though strong-featured countenance, I shall never
forget. The house fronted the river, on the brink of which,
// 103.png
.pn +1
under shades of elm and sycamore, ran the great road towards
Saratoga, Stillwater, and the northern lakes; a little, simple
avenue of morello cherry trees, inclosed with a white rail, led
to the road and river, not three hundred yards distant. Adjoining
to this, on the south side, was an inclosure, subdivided
into three parts, of which the first was a small hay field,
opposite the south end of the house; the next, not so long, a
garden; and the third, by far the largest, an orchard. These
were surrounded by simple deal fences. Now let not the
genius that presides over pleasure-grounds, nor any of his
elegant votaries, revolt with disgust, while I mention the
unseemly ornaments which were exhibited on the stakes to
which the deals of these same fences were bound. Truly
they consisted of the skeleton heads of horses and cattle in
as great numbers as could be procured, stuck upon the aforesaid
poles. The jaws are fixed on the pole, and the skull
uppermost. The wren, on seeing a skull thus placed, never
fails to enter by the orifice, which is too small to admit the
hand of an infant, lines the pericranium with small twigs and
horse-hair, and there lays her eggs in full security. It is very
amusing to see the little creatures carelessly go out and in at
this aperture, though you should be standing immediately beside
it. Not satisfied with providing these singular asylums
for their feathered friends, the negroes never fail to make a
small, round hole in the crown of every old hat they can lay
their hands on, and nail it to the end of the kitchen, for the
same purpose. You often see in such a one, at once, thirty
or forty of these odd little domicils, with the inhabitants busily
going out and in.

Besides all these salutary provisions for the domestic comfort
of the birds, there was, in clearing the way for their first
establishment, a tree always left in the middle of the back
yard, for their sole emolument; this tree being purposely
pollarded at midsummer, when all the branches were full of
// 104.png
.pn +1
sap. Wherever there had been a branch, the decay of the
inside produced a hole, and every hole was the habitation of
a bird. These were of various kinds, some of which had a
pleasing note, but, on the whole, their songsters are far inferior
to ours. I rather dwell on these minutiæ, as they not
only mark the peculiarities of the country, but convey very
truly the image of a people, not too refined for happiness,
which, in the process of elegant luxury, is apt to die of disgust.
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch18
CHAP. XVIII.
.pm ch-hd-start
Description of Colonel Schuyler’s barn—the common, and its
various uses.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>Adjoining</sc> to the orchard, was the most spacious barn I
ever beheld, which I shall describe for the benefit of such of
my readers as have never seen a building constructed on a
plan so comprehensive. This barn, which, as will hereafter
appear, answered many beneficial purposes, besides those
usually allotted for such edifices, was of a vast size, at least
an hundred feet long, and sixty wide. The roof rose to a
very great height in the midst, and sloped down till it came
within ten feet of the ground, when the walls commenced,
which, like the whole of this vast fabric, were formed of wood.
It was raised three feet from the ground, by beams resting on
stone—and on these beams was laid, in the middle of the
building, a very massive oak floor. Before the door was a
large sill, sloping downwards, of the same materials. About
twelve feet in breadth, on each side of this capacious building,
were divided off for cattle; on one side ran a manger, at the
above-mentioned distance from the wall, the whole length of
// 105.png
.pn +1
the building, with a rack above it; on the others, were stalls
for the other cattle, running also the whole length of the
building. The cattle and horses stood with their hinder parts
to the wall, and their heads projecting towards the threshing
floor. There was a prodigious large box or open chest in one
side built up, for holding the corn after it was threshed; and
the roof, which was very lofty and spacious, was supported by
large cross beams; from one to the other of these was
stretched a great number of long poles, so as to form a sort
of open loft, on which the whole rich crop was laid up. The
floor of those parts of the barn, which answered the purposes
of a stable and cow-house, was made of thick slab deals, laid
loosely over the supporting beams; and the mode of cleaning
those places, was by turning the boards, and permitting the
dung and litter to fall into the receptacles left open below for
the purpose; from thence, in spring, they were often driven
down to the river—the soil, in its original state, not requiring
the aid of manure. In the front[#] of this vast edifice, there were
prodigious folding doors, and two others that opened behind.

.pm fn-start // A
By the front is meant the gable-end, which contains the entrance.
.pm fn-end

Certainly never did cheerful rural toils wear a more exhilarating
aspect than while the domestics were lodging the luxuriant
harvest in this capacious repository. When speaking of
the doors, I should have mentioned that they were made in
the gable ends; those in the back equally large, to correspond
with those in the front; while on each side of the great doors
were smaller ones, for the cattle and horses to enter. Whenever
the corn or hay was reaped or cut, and ready for carrying
home, which in that dry and warm climate, happened in a
very few days, a waggon, loaded with hay, for instance, was
driven into the midst of this great barn; loaded also with
numberless large grasshoppers, butterflies, and cicadas, who
came along with the hay. From the top of the waggon, this
// 106.png
.pn +1
was immediately forked up into the loft of the barn, in the
midst of which was an open space left for the purpose; and
then the unloaded waggon drove, in rustic state, out of the
great door at the other end. In the mean time, every member
of the family witnessed or assisted in this summary process,
by which the building and thatching of stacks was at once
saved; and the whole crop and cattle were thus compendiously
lodged under one roof.

The cheerfulness of this animated scene was much heightened
by the quick appearance and vanishing of the swallows,
who twittered among their high-built dwellings in the roof.
Here, as in every other instance, the safety of these domestic
friends was attended to, and an abode provided for them. In
the front of this barn were many holes, like those of a pigeon-house,
for the accommodation of the martin—that being the
species to which this kind of home seemed most congenial;
and, in the inside of the barn, I have counted above fourscore
at once. In the winter, when the earth was buried deep in
new-fallen snow, and no path fit for walking in was left, this
barn was like a great gallery, well suited for that purpose, and
furnished with pictures, not unpleasing to a simple and contented
mind. As you walked through this long area, looking
up, you beheld the abundance of the year treasured above
you; on one side, the comely heads of your snorting steeds
presented themselves, arranged in seemly order; on the
other, your kine displayed their meeker visages; while the
perspective, on either, was terminated by heifers and fillies,
no less interesting. In the midst, your servants exercised the
flail; and even, while they threshed out the straw, distributed
it to the expectants on both sides; while the “liberal handful”
was occasionally thrown to the many-coloured poultry on the
hill. Winter itself, never made this abode of life and plenty
cold or cheerless. Here you might walk and view all your
subjects, and their means of support, at one glance, except,
// 107.png
.pn +1
indeed, the sheep, for whom a large and commodious building
was erected very near the barn; the roof of which was furnished
with a loft, large enough to contain hay sufficient for
their winter’s food.

Colonel Schuyler’s barn was by far the largest I have ever
seen; but all of them, in that country, were constructed on
the same plan, furnished with the same accommodation, and
presented the same cheering aspect. The orchard, as I formerly
mentioned, was on the south side of the barn; on the
north, a little farther back towards the wood, which formed a
dark screen behind this smiling scene, there was an inclosure,
in which the remains of the deceased members of the family
were deposited. A field of pretty large extent, adjoining to
the house on that side, remained uncultivated and uninclosed;
over it were scattered a few large apple-trees, of a peculiar
kind, the fruit of which was never appropriated. This piece
of level and productive land, so near the family mansion, and
so adapted to various and useful purposes, was never made
use of, but left open as a public benefit.

From the known liberality of this munificent family, all
Indians or new settlers, on their journey, whether they came
by land or water, rested here. The military, in passing,
always formed a camp on this common, and here the Indian
wigwams were often planted; here all manner of garden-stuff,
fruit, and milk, were plentifully distributed to wanderers of all
descriptions. Every summer, for many years, there was an
encampment, either of regular or provincial troops, on this
common; and often, when the troops proceeded northward,
a little colony of helpless women and children, belonging to
them, was left, in a great measure, dependent on the compassion
of these worthy patriarchs; for such the brothers might
be justly called.
// 108.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch19
CHAP. XIX.
.pm ch-hd-start
Military preparations—Disinterested conduct, the surest road to popularity—Fidelity
of the Mohawks.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>The</sc> first year of the colonel’s marriage was chiefly spent
in New-York, and in visits to the friends of his bride, and
other relations. The following years they spent at home,
surrounded daily by his brothers and their families, and other
relatives, with whom they maintained the most affectionate
intercourse. The colonel, however, (as I have called him by
anticipation,) had, at this time, his mind engaged by public
duties of the most urgent nature. He was a member of the
colonial assembly; and, by a kind of hereditary right, was
obliged to support that character of patriotism, courage, and
public wisdom, which had so eminently distinguished his
father. The father of Mrs. Schuyler, too, had been long
mayor of Albany—at that time an office of great importance—as
including, within itself, the entire civil power, exercised
over the whole settlement, as well as the town, and having
attached to it a sort of patriarchal authority; for the people,
little acquainted with coercion, and by no means inclined to
submit to it, had, however, a profound reverence, as is generally
the case in the infancy of society, for the families of their
first leaders, whom they looked up to, merely as knowing
them to possess superior worth, talent, and enterprise. In a
society, as yet uncorrupted, the value of this rich inheritance
can only be diminished by degradation of character, in the
representative of a family thus self-ennobled, especially if he
be disinterested. This, though apparently a negative quality,
being the one of all others that, combined with the higher
powers of mind, most engages affection in private and esteem
// 109.png
.pn +1
in public life. This is a shield that blunts the shafts which
envy never fails to level at the prosperous, even in old establishments,
where, from the nature of things, a thousand
obstructions rise in the upward path of merit, and a thousand
temptations appear to mislead it from its direct road; and
where the rays of opinion are refracted by so many prejudices
of contending interests and factions. Still, if any charm can
be found to fix that fleeting phantom, popularity, this is it. It
would be very honourable to human nature, if this could be
attributed to the pure love of virtue; but alas! multitudes are
not made up of the wise or the virtuous. Yet the very selfishness
of our nature inclines us to love and trust those who are
not likely to desire any benefit from us in return for those
they confer. Other vices may be, if not social, in some
degree gregarious; but even the avaricious hate avarice in all
but themselves.

Thus inheriting unstained integrity, unbounded popularity,
a cool, determined spirit, and ample possessions, no man had
fairer pretensions to unlimited sway, in the sphere in which
he moved, than the colonel; but of this, no man could be
less desirous. He was too wise and too happy to solicit
authority, and yet too public-spirited, and too generous, to
decline it, when any good was to be done, or any evil resisted,
from which no private benefit resulted to himself.

Young as his wife was, and much as she valued the blessing
of their union, and the pleasure of his society, she showed
a spirit worthy of a Roman matron, in willingly risking all her
happiness, even in that early period of her marriage, by consenting
to his assuming a military command, and leading
forth the provincial troops against the common enemy, who
had now become more boldly dangerous than ever. Not
content with secretly stimulating the Indian tribes, who were
their allies, and enemies to the Mohawks, to acts of violence,
the French Canadians, in violation of existing treaties, began
// 110.png
.pn +1
to make incursions on the slightest pretexts. It was no
common warfare in which the colonel was about to engage:
but the duties of entering on vigorous measures, for the defence
of the country, became not only obvious but urgent.
No other person but he, had influence enough to produce any
cohesion among the people of that district, or any determination,
with their own arms, and at their own cost, to attack the
common enemy. As formerly observed, this had hitherto
been trusted to the five confederate Mohawk nations; who,
though still faithful to their old friends, had too much sagacity
and observation, and, indeed, too strong a native sense of moral
rectitude, to persuade their young warriors to go on venturing
their lives in defence of those, who, from their increased
power and numbers, were able to defend themselves with the
aid of their allies. Add to this, that their possessions were
on all sides daily extending; and that they, the Albanians,
were carrying their trade for furs, &c., into the deepest recesses
of the forests, and towards those great lakes which the
Canadians were accustomed to consider as the boundaries of
their dominions; and where they had Indians whom they
were at great pains to attach to themselves, and to inspire
against us and our allies.

Colonel Schuyler’s father had held the same rank in a provincial
corps formerly—but in his time, there was a profound
peace in the district he inhabited; though from his resolute
temper and knowledge of public business, and of the different
Indian languages, he was selected to head a regiment raised
in the Jerseys and the adjacent bounds, for the defence of the
back frontiers of Pennsylvania, New-England, &c. Colonel
Philip Schuyler was the first who raised a corps in the interior
of the province of New-York, which was not only done
by his personal influence, but occasioned him a considerable
expense, though the regiment was paid by the province; the
province also furnishing arms and military stores; their service
// 111.png
.pn +1
being, like that of all provincials, limited to the summer
half year.

The governor and chief commander came up to Albany, to
view and approve the preparations making for this interior
war, and to meet the congress of Indian sachems, who, on
that occasion, renewed their solemn league with their brother,
the great king. Colonel Schuyler, being then the person
they most looked up to and confided in, was their proxy on
this occasion, in ratifying an engagement, to which they ever
adhered with singular fidelity; and mutual presents brightened
the chain of amity, to use their own figurative language.

The common and the barn, at the Flats, were fully occupied,
and the hospitable mansion, as was usual on all public
occasions, overflowed. There the general, his aides-de-camp,
the sachems, and the principal officers of the colonel’s regiment,
were received; and those who could not find room
there, of the next class, were accommodated by Peter and
Jeremiah. On the common was an Indian encampment,
and the barn and orchard were full of the provincials. All
these last, brought, as usual, their own food; but were supplied
by this liberal family, with every production of the
garden, dairy, and orchard.

While the colonel’s judgment was exercised in the necessary
regulations for this untried warfare, Mrs. Schuyler, by
the calm fortitude she displayed in this trying exigence—by
the good sense and good breeding with which she accommodated
her numerous and various guests—and by those judicious
attentions to family concerns, which, producing order
and regularity through every department, without visible
bustle and anxiety, enable the mistress of a family to add
grace and ease to hospitality, showed herself worthy of her
distinguished lot.
// 112.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch20
CHAP. XX.
.pm ch-hd-start
Account of a refractory warrior, and of the spirit which still pervaded the
New-England provinces.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>While</sc> these preparations were going on, the general[#]
was making every effort of the neighbourhood to urge those
who had promised assistance, to come forward with their
allotted quotas.

.pm fn-start // A
Shirley.
.pm fn-end

On the other side of the river, not very far from the Flats,
lived a person whom I shall not name, though his conduct
was so peculiar and characteristic of the times, that his anti-heroism
is, on that sole account, worth mentioning. This
person lived in great security and abundance, in a place like
an earthly paradise, and scarcely knew what it was to have an
ungratified wish, having had considerable wealth left to him;
and from the simple and domestic habits of his life, had formed
no desires beyond it, unless, indeed, it were the desire of
being thought a brave man, which seemed his greatest ambition.
He was strong, robust, and an excellent marksman;
talked loud, looked fierce, and always expressed the utmost
scorn and detestation of cowardice. The colonel applied to
him, that his name, and the names of such adherents as he
could bring, might be set down in the list of those who were
to bring their quota, against a given time, for the general defence:
with the request he complied. When the rendezvous
came on, this talking warrior had changed his mind, and absolutely
refused to appear. The general sent for him, and
warmly expostulated on his breach of promise; the bad example,
and the disarrangement of plan which it occasioned.
// 113.png
.pn +1
The culprit spoke in a high tone, saying, very truly, that “the
general was possessed of no legal means of coercion; that
every one went or staid as they chose; and that his change
of opinion, on that subject, rendered him liable to no penalty
whatever.” Tired of this sophistry, the enraged general had
recourse to club law, and seizing a cudgel, belaboured this
recreant knight most manfully, while several Indian sachems,
and many of his own countrymen and friends, coolly stood by—for
the colonel’s noted common was the scene of this
assault. Our poor neighbour, (as he long after became,)
suffered this dreadful bastinado, unaided and unpitied; and
this example, and the consequent contempt under which he
laboured, (for he was ever after styled captain, and did not
refuse the title,) was said to have an excellent effect in preventing
such retrograde motions in subsequent campaigns.[#]
The provincial troops, aided by the faithful Mohawks, performed
their duty with great spirit and perseverance. They
were, indeed, very superior to the ignorant, obstinate, and
mean-souled beings, who, in after times, brought the very
name of provincial troops into discredit; and were actuated
by no single motive but that of avoiding the legal penalty then
// 114.png
.pn +1
affixed to disobedience, and enjoying the pay and provisions
allotted to them by the province, or the mother country, I
cannot exactly say which. Afterwards, when the refuse of
mankind were selected, like Falstaff’s soldiers, and raised
much in the same way, the New-York troops still maintained
their respectability. This superiority might, without reproaching
others, be in some measure accounted for from incidental
causes. The four New-England provinces were much earlier
settled—assumed sooner the forms of a civil community, and
lived within narrower bounds; they were more laborious;
their fanaticism, which they brought from England in its
utmost fervour, long continued its effervescence, where there
were no pleasures, or indeed, lucrative pursuits, to detach
their minds from it: and long after that genuine spirit of
piety, which, however narrowed and disfigured, was still sincere,
had, in a great measure, evaporated, enough of the
pride and rigour of bigotry remained, to make them detest
and despise the Indian tribes, as ignorant, heathen savages.
The tribes, indeed, who inhabited their district, had been so
weakened by unsuccessful warfare with the Mohawks, and
were so every way inferior to them, that after the first establishment
of the colony, and a few feeble attacks successfully
repulsed, they were no longer enemies to be dreaded, or
friends to be courted. This had an unhappy effect with
regard to those provinces; and to the different relations in
which they stood with respect to the Indians, some part of the
striking difference in the moral and military character of these
various establishments must be attributed.

.pm fn-start
Above thirty years after, when the writer of these pages lived with
her family at the Flats, the hero of this little tale used very frequently to
visit her father, a veteran officer, and being a great talker, war and politics
were his incessant topics. There was no campaign or expedition
proposed, but what he censured and decided on: proposing methods of
his own, by which they might have been much better conducted; in
short, Parolles, with his drum, was a mere type of our neighbour. Her
father long wondered how kindly he took to him, and how a person of so
much wealth and eloquence should dwell so obscurely, and shun all the
duties of public life; till at length we discovered that he still loved to
talk arrogantly of war and public affairs, and pitched upon him for a
listener, as the only person he could suppose ignorant of his disgrace.
Such is human nature! and so incurable is human vanity!
.pm fn-end

The people of New-England left the mother country, as
banished from it by what they considered oppression; came
over foaming with religious and political fury, and narrowly
missed having the most artful and able of demagogues, Cromwell
himself, for their leader and guide. They might be
compared to burning lava, discharged by the force of internal
// 115.png
.pn +1
combustion, from the bosom of the commonwealth, while inflamed
by contending elements. This lava, every one
acquainted with the convulsions of nature must know, takes
a long time to cool, and when at length it is cooled, turns to
a substance hard and barren, that long resists the kindly influence
of the elements, before its surface resumes the appearance
of beauty and fertility. Such were the almost literal
effects of political convulsions, aggravated by a fiery and
intolerant zeal for their own mode of worship, on these self-righteous
colonists.
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch21
CHAP. XXI.
.pm ch-hd-start
Distinguishing characteristics of the New-York colonists, to what owing—Huguenots
and Palatines, their character.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>But</sc> to return to the superior moral and military character
of the New-York populace; it was, in the first place, owing
to a well-regulated piety, less concerned about forms than
essentials; next, to an influx of other than the original
settlers, which tended to render the general system of opinion
more liberal and tolerant. The French protestants, driven
from their native land by intolerant bigotry, had lived at home,
excluded alike from public employments and fashionable society.
Deprived of so many resources that were open to their
fellow-subjects, and forced to seek comfort in piety and concord,
for many privations, self-command and frugality had
been, in a manner, forced upon them—consequently they
were not so vain or so volatile as to disgust their new associates;
// 116.png
.pn +1
while their cheerful tempers, accommodating manners,
and patience under adversity, were very prepossessing.

These additional inhabitants, being such as had suffered
real and extreme hardships for conscience-sake, from absolute
tyranny and the most cruel intolerance, rejoiced in the
free exercise of a pure and rational religion, and in the protection
of mild and equitable laws, as the first of human
blessings, which privation had so far taught them to value,
that they thought no exertion too great to preserve them. I
should have formerly mentioned, that, besides the French refugees
already spoken of, during the earliest period of the
establishment of the British sovereignty in this part of the continent,
a great number of the protestants, whom the fury of
war, and persecution on religious accounts, had driven from
the Palatinate, during the successful and desolating period of
the wars carried on against that unhappy country by Lewis
the Fourteenth, took refuge here. The subdued and contented
spirit, the simple and primitive manners, and frugal,
industrious habits of these genuine sufferers for conscience-sake,
made them an acquisition to any society which received
them, and a most suitable infusion among the inhabitants of
this province, who, devoted to the pursuits of agriculture and
the Indian trade, which encouraged a wild, romantic spirit of
adventure, little relished those mechanical employments, or
that petty yet necessary traffic in shops, &c., to which part
of every regulated society must needs devote their attention.
These civic toils were left to those patient and industrious
exiles; while the friendly intercourse with the original natives,
had strongly tinctured the first colonists with many of
their habits and modes of thinking. Like them, they delighted
in hunting; that image of war, which so generally, where it is
the prevalent amusement, forms the body to athletic force and
patient endurance, and the mind to daring intrepidity. It was
not alone the timorous deer or feeble hare that were the
// 117.png
.pn +1
objects of their pursuit; nor could they, in such an impenetrable
country, attempt to rival the fox in speed or subtlety.
When they kept their “few sheep in the wilderness,” the she-bear,
jealous of her young, and the wolf, furious for prey,
were to be encountered for their protection. From these
allies, too, many who lived much among them, had learnt that
fearless adherence to truth, which exalts the mind to the
noblest kind of resolution. The dangers they were exposed
to, of meeting wandering individuals, or parties of hostile Indians,
while traversing the woods in their sporting or commercial
adventures, and the necessity that sometimes occurred of
defending their families by their own personal prowess, from
the stolen irruptions of detached parties of those usually
called the French Indians, had also given their minds a warlike
bent; and as the boy was not uncommonly trusted at
nine or ten years of age, with a light fowling-piece, which he
soon learned to use with great dexterity, few countries could
produce such dexterous marksmen, or persons so well qualified
for conquering those natural obstacles of thick woods and
swamps, which would at once baffle the most determined
European. It was not only that they were strong of limb,
swift of foot, and excellent marksmen—the hatchet was as
familiar to them as the musket; and an amateur, who had
never cut wood but for his diversion, could hew down a tree
with a celerity that would astonish and abash a professed
wood-cutter in this country; in short, when means or arguments
could be used powerful enough to collect a people so uncontrolled
and so uncontrollable, and when headed by a
leader whom they loved and trusted, so much as they did
Colonel Schuyler, a well-armed body of New-York provincials
had nothing to dread but an ague or an ambuscade, to both
of which they were much exposed on the banks of the lakes,
and amidst the swampy forests, through which they had to
penetrate in pursuit of an enemy, of whom they might say
// 118.png
.pn +1
with the Grecian hero, that “they wanted but daylight to
conquer him.” This first essay in arms of those provincials,
under the auspices of their brave and generous leader, succeeded
beyond their hopes: this is all I can recollect of it.
Of its destination, I only know that it was directed against
some of those establishments which the French began to
make within the British boundaries. The expedition only
terminated with the season. The provincials brought home
Canadian prisoners, who were kept on their parole in the
houses of the three brothers, and became afterwards their
friends; and the Five Nations brought home Indian prisoners,
most of whom they adopted, and scalps enough to strike
awe into the adverse nations, who were for a year or two afterwards
pretty quiet.
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch22
CHAP. XXII.
.pm ch-hd-start
A child still-born—Adoption of children common in the province—Madame’s
visit to New-York.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>Mrs. Schuyler</sc> had contributed all in her power to forward
this expedition—but was probably hurt, either by the fatigue
of receiving so many friends, or the anxiety produced by
parting with them under such circumstances; for soon after
the colonel’s departure, she was delivered of a dead child,
which event was followed by an alarming illness—but she
wished the colonel to be kept ignorant of it, that he might
give his undivided attention to the duties in which he was engaged.
Providence, which doubtless had singled out this
// 119.png
.pn +1
benevolent pair to be the parents of many who had no natural
claim upon their affection, did not indulge them with any succeeding
prospects of a family of their own. This privation,
not a frequent one in this colony, did not chill the minds or
narrow the hearts of people, who, from this circumstance,
found themselves more at liberty to extend their beneficence,
and enlarge that circle which embraced the objects of their
love and care. This, indeed, was not singular, during that
reign of natural feeling which preceded the prevalence of artificial
modes in this primitive district. The love of offspring
is certainly one of the strongest desires that the uncorrupted
mind forms to itself in a state of comparative innocence.
Affecting indifference on this subject, is the surest proof of a
disposition either callous, or led by extreme vanity to pretend
insensibility to the best feelings of our nature.

To a tie so exquisitely tender, the pledge and bond of connubial
union; to that bud of promised felicity, which always
cheers with the fragrance of hope, the noon-day of toil or
care, and often supports with the rich cordial of filial love and
watchful duty, the evening of our decline, what mind can be
indifferent? No wonder the joys of paternity should be highly
relished, where they were so richly flavoured; where parents
knew not what it was to find a rebel or a rival in a child;
first, because they set the example of simplicity, of moderation,
and of seeking their highest joys in domestic life; next,
because they quietly expected and calmly welcomed the
evening of life; and did not, by an absurd desire of being
young too long, inspire their offspring with a premature ambition
to occupy their place. What sacrifices have I not seen
made to filial piety! How many respectable, (though not
young) maidens, who, without pretending a dislike to marriage,
have rejected men whom their hearts approved, because
they would not forsake, during her lifetime, a widowed mother,
whose sole comfort they were!
// 120.png
.pn +1

For such children, who that hopes to grow old, would not
wish? a consideration which the more polished manners of
Europe teach us to banish as far as possible from our minds.
We have learned to check this natural sentiment, by finding
other objects for those faculties of our minds, which nature
intended to bless and benefit creatures born to love us, and to
enlarge our affections by exciting them. If this stream,
which so naturally inclines to flow downwards, happened to
be checked in its course for want of the usual channel, these
adepts in the science of happiness, immediately formed a new
one, and liked their canal as well as a river, because it was of
their own making. To speak without a metaphor, whoever
wanted a child adopted one; love produced love, and the
grafted scion very often proved an ornament and defence to
the supporting stock; but then the scion was generally artless
and grateful. This is a part of the manners of my old friends,
which I always remember with delight; more particularly as
it was the invariable custom to select the child of a friend
who had a numerous family. The very animals are not
devoid of that mixture of affection and sagacity, which suggests
a mode of supplying this great desideratum. Next to
that prince of cats, the famous cat of Whittington, I would
place the cat recorded by Dr. White, in his curious natural
history, who, when deprived of her young, sought a parcel of
deserted leverets to suckle and to fondle. What an example!

The following year produced a suspension of hostilities
between the provinces and the Canadians. The colonel went
to New-York to attend his duty, being again chosen a member
of the Colonial Assembly. Mrs. Schuyler accompanied
him; and being improved both in mind and manners since
her marriage, which, by giving her a more important part to
act, had called forth her powers, she became the centre of a
circle, by no means inelegant or uninformed; for society was
there more various and more polished than in any other part
// 121.png
.pn +1
of the continent, both from the mixture of settlers, formerly
described, and from its being situated in a province most frequently
the seat of war, and consequently forming the headquarters
of the army, which, in point of the birth and education
of the candidates for promotion, was on a very different
footing from what it has been since. It was then a much
narrower range, and the selection more attended to. Unless
a man, by singular powers of talent, fought his way from the
inferior rank, there was hardly an instance of a person getting
even a subaltern’s commission, whose birth was not at least
genteel, and who had not interest and alliances. There were
not so many lucrative places under government. The wide
field of adventure, since opened in the east, was scarcely
known; a subaltern’s pay was more adequate to the maintenance
of a gentleman; and the noblest and most respected
families had no other way of providing for such younger
brothers, as were not bred to any learned profession, but by
throwing them into the army. As to morals, this did not, perhaps,
much mend the matter. These officers might, in some
instances be thoughtless, and even profligate, but they were
seldom ignorant or low bred; and that rare character, called
a finished gentleman, was not unfrequently to be found among
the higher ranks of them—who had added experience, reading,
and reflection, to their original stock of talents and
attainments.
// 122.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch23
CHAP. XXIII.
.pm ch-hd-start
Colonel Schuyler’s partiality to the military children successively adopted—Indian
character falsely charged with idleness.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>It</sc> so happened that a succession of officers, of the description
mentioned in the preceding chapter, were to be ordered
upon the service which I have been detailing; and
whether in New-York or at home, they always attached themselves
particularly to this family, who, to the attractions of
good breeding, and easy, intelligent conversation, added the
power, which they pre-eminently possessed, of smoothing the
way for their necessary intercourse with the independent and
self-righted settlers, and instructing them in many things
essential to promote the success of the pursuits in which they
were about to engage. It was one of aunt Schuyler’s many
singular merits, that, after acting for a time a distinguished
part in this comparatively refined society, where few were so
much admired and esteemed, she could return to the homely
good sense and primitive manners of her fellow-citizens at
Albany, free from fastidiousness and disgust. Few, indeed,
without study or design, ever better understood the art of
being happy, and making others so. Being gay is another
sort of thing; gaiety, as the word is understood in society, is
too often assumed, artificial, and produced by such an effort,
that, in the midst of laughter, “the heart is indeed sad.” Very
different are the smiles that occasionally illume the placid
countenance of cheerful tranquillity. They are the emanations
of a heart at rest; in the enjoyment of that sunshine of
the breast, which is set forever to the restless votaries of
mere amusement.

According to the laudable custom of the country, they took
// 123.png
.pn +1
home a child, whose mother had died in giving her birth, and
whose father was a relation of the colonel’s. This child’s
name was either Schuyler or Cuyler, I do not exactly remember
which; but I remember her many years after, as
Mrs. Vander Poolen—when, as a comely, contented-looking
matron, she used to pay her annual visit to her beloved benefactress
and send her ample presents of such rural dainties as
her abode afforded. I have often heard her warm in her
praises; saying, how useful, how modest, and how affectionate
she had been—and exulting in her comfortable settlement,
and the plain worth, which made her a blessing to her family.
From this time to her aunt’s death, above fifty years afterwards,
her house was never without one, but much oftener
two children, whom this exemplary pair educated with parental
care and kindness. And whenever one of their protégéss
married out of the house, which was generally at a very early
age, she carried with her a female slave, born and baptised in
the house, and brought up with a thorough knowledge of her
duty, and an habitual attachment to her mistress, besides the
usual present of the furniture of a chamber, and a piece of
plate, such as a teapot, tankard, or some such useful matter,
which was more or less valuable, as the protégés was more or
less beloved; for though aunt Schuyler had great satisfaction
from the characters and conduct of all her adopted, there
were, no doubt, degrees of merit among them, of which she was
better able to judge than if she had been their actual mother.

There was now an interval of peace, which gave these
philanthropists more leisure to do good in their own way.
They held a threefold band of kindness in their hands, by
which they led to the desirable purpose of mutual advantage
three very discordant elements, which were daily becoming
more difficult to mingle and to rule; and which yet were the
more dependent on each other for mutual comfort, from the
very causes which tended to disunite them.
// 124.png
.pn +1

In the first place, the Indians began to assume that unfavourable
and uncertain aspect, which it is the fate of man to
wear in the first steps of his progress from that state where
he is a being at once warlike and social, having few wants,
and being able, without constant labour or division of ranks,
to supply them; where there is no distinction, save that attained
by superior strength of mind and body, and where there
are no laws, but those dictated by good sense, aided by experience,
and enforced by affection, this state of life may be
truly called the reign of the affections: the love of kindred
and of country, ruling paramount, unrivalled by other passions,
all others being made subservient to these. Vanity, indeed,
was in some degree flattered, for people wore ornaments, and
were at no small pains to make them. Pride existed—but
was differently modified from what we see it; every man was
proud of the prowess and achievements of his tribe collectively;
of his personal virtues he was not proud, because we
excel but by comparison; and he rarely saw instances of the
opposite vices in his own nation, and looked on others with
unqualified contempt.

When any public benefit was to be obtained, or any public
danger to be averted, their mutual efforts were all bent to one
end; and no one knew what it was to withhold his utmost
aid, nor indeed could, in that stage of society, have any motive
for doing so. Hence, no mind being contracted by
selfish cares, the community were but as one large family,
who enjoyed or suffered together. We are accustomed to
talk, in parrot phrase, of indolent savages; and, to be sure,
in warm climates, and where the state of man is truly savage,
that is to say, unsocial, void of virtue, and void of comforts,
he is certainly an indolent being: but that individual, in a
cold climate, who has tasted the sweets of social life—who
knows the wants that arise from it—who provides for his
children in their helpless state—and where taste and ingenuity
// 125.png
.pn +1
are so much improved, that his person is not only clothed
with warm and seemly apparel, but decorated with numerous
and not inelegant ornaments, which from the scarcity and
simplicity of his tools, he has no ready or easy mode of producing.
When he has not only found out all these wants,
which he has no means of supplying but by his individual
strength, dexterity, and ingenuity, industry must be added,
ere they can be all regularly gratified. Very active and industrious,
in fact, the Indians were in their original state; and
when we take it into consideration, that beside all these occupations,
together with their long journeys, wars, and constant
huntings and fishing, their leisure was occupied not only
by athletic but studious games, at which they played for days
together with unheard-of eagerness and perseverance; it will
appear they had very little of that lounging time, for which we
are so apt to give them credit. Or if a chief, occasionally
after fatigue, of which we can form no adequate idea, lay
silent in the shade, those frisking Frenchmen, who have
given us most details concerning them, were too restless
themselves to subdue their skipping spirits to the recollection,
that a Mohawk had no study or arm-chair wherein to muse
and cogitate; and that his schemes of patriotism, his plans of
war, and his eloquent speeches, were all like the meditations of
Jacques, formed “under the greenwood tree.” Neither
could any man lounge on his sofa, while half a dozen others
were employed in shearing the sheep, preparing the wool,
weaving and making his coat, or in planting the flax for his
future linen, and flaying the ox for his future shoes; were he
to do all this himself, he would have little leisure for study or
repose. And all this and more the Indian did, under other
names and forms; so that idleness, with its gloomy followers,
ennui and suicide, were unknown among this truly active
people; yet that there is a higher state of society cannot be
// 126.png
.pn +1
denied; nor can it be denied that the intermediate state is a
painful and enfeebling one.

Man, in a state of nature, is taught by his more civilized
brethren a thousand new wants before he learns to supply
one. Thence barter takes place; which, in the first stage of
progression, is universally fatal to the liberty, the spirit, and
the comforts of an uncivilized people.

In the east, where the cradle of our infant nature was
appointed, the clime was genial, its productions abundant, and
its winters only sufficient to consume the surplus, and give a
welcome variety to the seasons. There man was either a
shepherd or a hunter, as his disposition led—and that,
perhaps, in the same family. The meek spirit of Jacob delighted
in tending his father’s flocks; while the more daring
and adventurous Esau traced the wilds of Mount Seir, in
pursuit both of the fiercer animals who waged war upon the
fold, and the more timorous, who administered to the luxury
of the table.

The progress of civilization was here gradual and gentle;
and the elegant arts seem to have gone hand in hand with
the useful ones. For we read of bracelets and ear-rings
sent as tokens of love, and images highly valued and coveted,
while even agriculture seemed in its infancy.
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch24
CHAP. XXIV.
.pm ch-hd-start
Progress of civilization in Europe—Northern nations instructed in the
arts of life by those they had subdued.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>Population</sc> extending to the milder regions of Europe,
brought civilization along with it, so that it is only among the
savages, (as we call our ancestors) of the north, that we can
// 127.png
.pn +1
trace the intermediate state I have spoken of. Amongst
them, one regular gradation seems to have taken place; they
were first hunters and then warriors. As they advanced in
their knowledge of the arts of life, and acquired a little property,
as much of pastoral pursuits as their rigorous climate
would allow, without the aid of regular agriculture, mingled
with their wandering habits. But, except in a few partial instances,
from hunters they became conquerors; the warlike
habits acquired from that mode of life, raising their minds
above patient industry, and teaching them to despise the softer
arts that embellish society. In fine, their usual process was
to pass to civilization through the medium of conquest. The
poet says,

.pm verse-start
“With noble scorn the first fam’d Cato viewed,
 Rome learning arts from Greece, which she subdued.”
.pm verse-end
.ni
The surly censor might have spared his scorn, for doubtless
science, and the arts of peace, were by far the most valuable
acquisitions resulting from their conquest of that polished and
ingenious people. But when the savage hunters of the north
became too numerous to subsist on their deer and fish, and
too warlike to dread the conflict with troops more regularly
armed, they rushed down, like a cataract, on their enfeebled
and voluptuous neighbours; destroyed the monuments of art,
and seemed, for a time, to change the very face of nature.
Yet dreadful as were the devastations of this flood, let forth
by divine vengeance to punish and to renovate, it had its use
in sweeping away the hoarded mass of corruption, with which
the dregs of mankind had polluted the earth. It was an awful
but a needful process, which, in some form or other, is always
renewed when human degeneracy has reached its ultimatum.
The destruction of these feeble beings, who, lost to every
manly and virtuous sentiment, crawl about the rich property
which they have not sense to use worthily, or spirit to defend
// 128.png
.pn +1
manfully, may be compared to the effort nature makes to rid
herself of the noxious brood of wasps and slugs, cherished by
successive mild winters. A dreadful frost comes; man
suffers and complains; his subject animals suffer more, and
all his works are for a time suspended: but this salutary infliction
purifies the air, meliorates the soil, and destroys millions
of lurking enemies, who would otherwise have consumed
the productions of the earth, and deformed the face of nature.
In these barbarous irruptions, the monuments of art, statues,
pictures, temples, and palaces, seem to be most lamented.
From age to age, the virtuosi of every country have re-echoed
to each other their feeble plaints over the lost works of art, as
if that had been the heaviest sorrow in the general wreck—and
as if the powers that produced them had ceased to exist.
It is over the defaced image of the divine author, and not
merely the mutilated resemblance of his creatures, that the
wise and virtuous should lament! We are told that in Rome
there are as many statues as men: had all these lamented
statues been preserved, would the world be much wiser or
happier? A sufficient number remain as models to future
statuaries, and memorials of departed art and genius. Wealth,
directed by taste and liberality, may be much better employed
in calling forth, by due encouragement, that genius which
doubtless exists among our contemporaries, than in paying
exorbitantly the vender of fragments.

.pm verse-start
“Mind, mind alone, bear witness, earth and Heav’n,
 The living fountain in itself contains
 Of beauteous and sublime.”
.pm verse-end

And what has ind achieved, that, in a favourable conjuncture,
it may not again aspire to? The lost arts are ever the
theme of classical lamentation; but the great and real evil
was the loss of the virtues which protected them; of courage,
fortitude, honour, and patriotism: in short, of the whole manly
// 129.png
.pn +1
character. This must be allowed, after the dreadful tempest
of subversion was over, to have been in some degree restored
in the days of chivalry: and it is equally certain that
the victors learnt from the vanquished many of the arts that
support life, and all those which embellish it. When their
manners were softened by the aid of a mild and charitable
religion, this blended people assumed that undefined power,
derived from superior valour and wisdom, which has so far
exalted Europe over all the regions of the earth. Thus,
where a bold and warlike people subdue a voluptuous and
effeminate one, the result is, in due time, an improvement of
national character. In similar climes and circumstances to
those of the primeval nations in the other hemisphere, the
case has been very different. There, too, the hunter, by the
same gradation, became a warrior; but first allured by the
friendship which sought his protection; then repelled by the
art that coveted and encroached on his territories; and lastly
by the avarice which taught him new wants, and then took an
undue advantage of them; they neither wished for our superfluities,
nor envied our mode of life; nor did our encroachments
much disturb them, as they receded into their trackless
coverts as we approached from the coast. But though they
scorned our refinements; and though our government, and
all the enlightened minds among us, dealt candidly and generously
with all such as were not set on by our enemies to
injure us, the blight of European vices, the mere consequence
of private greediness and fraud, proved fatal to our very
friends. As I formerly observed, the nature of the climate
did not admit of the warriors passing through the medium of
a shepherd’s life to the toils of agriculture. The climate,
though extremely warm in summer, was so severe in winter,
and that winter was so long, that it required no little labour to
secure the food for the animals which were to be maintained;
and no small expense, in that country, to procure the implements
// 130.png
.pn +1
necessary for the purposes of agriculture. In other
countries, when a poor man has not wherewithal to begin
farming, he serves another, and the reward of his toil enables
him to set up for himself. No such resource was open to the
Indians, had they even inclined to adopt our modes. No Indian
ever served another, or received assistance from any one
except his own family. It is inconceivable, too, what a different
kind of exertion of strength it requires to cultivate the
ground, and to endure the fatigues of the chace, long journeys,
&c. To all that induces us to labour they were indifferent.
When a governor of New-York was describing to an
Indian the advantages that some one would derive from such
and such possessions; “Why,” said he, with evident surprise,
“should any man desire to possess more than he uses?”
More appeared, to his untutored sense, an incumbrance.
.pi
I have already observed how much happier they considered
their manner of living than ours; yet their intercourse with us
daily diminished their independence, their happiness, and
even their numbers. In the New World, this fatality has
never failed to follow the introduction of European settlers;
who, instead of civilizing and improving, slowly consume and
waste—where they do not, like the Spaniards, absolutely
destroy and exterminate the natives. The very nature of
even our most friendly mode of dealing with them, was pernicious
to their moral welfare; which, though too late, they
well understood, and could as well explain. Untutored man,
in beginning to depart from that life of exigences, in which
the superior acuteness of his senses, his fleetness and dexterity
in the chace, are his chief dependence, loses so much of
all this before he can become accustomed to, or qualified for
our mode of procuring food by patient labour, that nothing
can be conceived more enfeebled and forlorn, than the state
of the few detached families remaining of vanished tribes,
who, having lost their energy, and even the wish to live in
// 131.png
.pn +1
their own manner, were slowly and reluctantly beginning to
adopt ours. It was like that suspension of life which takes
place in the chrysalis of insects, while in their progress
towards a new state of being. Alas! the indolence with which
we reproach them, was merely the consequence of their commercial
intercourse with us; and the fatal passion for strong
liquors which resulted from it. As the fabled enchanter, by
waving his magic wand, chains up at once the faculties of his
opponents, and renders strength and courage useless; the
most wretched and sordid trader, possessed of this master-key
to the appetites and passions of these hard-fated people, could
disarm those he dealt with of all their resources, and render
them dependent—nay, dependent on those they scorned and
hated. The process was simple: first, the power of sending,
by mimic thunder, an unseen death to a distant foe, which
filled the softer inhabitants of the southern regions with so
much terror, was here merely an object of desire and emulation;
and so eagerly did they adopt the use of fire-arms,
that they soon became less expert in using their own missile
weapons. They could still throw the tomahawk with such an
unerring aim, that, though it went circling through the air
towards its object, it never failed to reach it. But the arrows,
on which they had formerly so much depended, were now
considered merely as the weapons of boys, and only directed
against birds.

Thus was one strong link forged in the chain of dependence;
next, liquor became a necessary, and its fatal effects
who can detail? But to make it still clearer, I have mentioned
the passion for dress, in which all the pride and vanity
of this people was centered. In former days, this had the best
effect, in being a stimulus to industry. The provision requisite
for making a splendid appearance at the winter meetings,
for hunting and the national congress, occupied the leisure
hours of the whole summer. The beaver skins of the last
// 132.png
.pn +1
year’s hunting were to be accurately dressed, and sewed together,
to form that mantle which was so much valued, and
as necessary to their consequence as the pelisse of sables is
to that of an Eastern bashaw. A deer skin, or that of a bear
or beaver, had their stated price. The boldest and most expert
hunter, had most of these commodities to spare, and was
therefore most splendidly arrayed. If he had a rival, it was
in him whose dexterous ingenuity in fabricating the materials
of which his own dress was composed, enabled him to vie
with the hero of the chase.

Thus superior elegance in dress was not, as with us, the
distinction of the luxurious and effeminate, but the privilege
and reward of superior courage and industry; and became an
object worthy of competition. Thus employed, and thus
adorned, the sachem or his friends found little time to indulge
the stupid indolence we have been accustomed to impute
to them.

Another arduous task remains uncalculated. Before they
became dependent on us for the means of destruction, much
time was consumed in forming their weapons; in the construction
of which no less patience and ingenuity were exercised
than in that of their ornaments; and those, too, were
highly embellished, and made with great labour out of flints,
pebbles, and shells. But all this system of employment was
soon overturned by their late acquaintance with the insidious
arts of Europe, to the use of whose manufactures they were
insensibly drawn in, first by their passion for fire-arms, and
finally, by their fatal appetite for liquor. To make this more
clear, I shall insert a dialogue, such as, if not literally, at least
in substance, might pass betwixt an Indian warrior and
a trader.
// 133.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch25
CHAP. XXV.
.pm ch-hd-start
Means by which the independence of the Indians was first diminished.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<i>Indian</i>—<sc>Brother</sc>, I am come to trade with you; but I
forewarn you to be more moderate in your demands than
formerly.

<i>Trader</i>—Why, brother, are not my goods of equal value
with those you had last year?

<i>Indian</i>—Perhaps they may; but mine are more valuable
because more scarce. The Great Spirit, who has withheld
from you strength and ability to provide food and clothing for
yourselves, has given you cunning and art to make guns and
provided scaura;[#] and by speaking smooth words to simple
men, when they have swallowed madness, you have, by little
and little, purchased their hunting grounds, and made them
corn lands. Thus the beavers grow more scarce, and deer
fly farther back; yet after I have reserved skins for my
mantle, and the clothing of my wife, I will exchange the rest.

<i>Trader</i>—Be it so, brother: I came not to wrong you, or
take your furs against your will. It is true, the beavers are
few, and you go further for them. Come, brother, let us deal
fair first, and smoke friendly afterwards. Your last gun cost
fifty beaver skins, you shall have this for forty—and you shall give marten and raccoon skins in the same proportion for
powder and shot.

<i>Indian</i>—Well, brother, that is equal. Now for two silver
bracelets, with long, pendent ear-rings of the same, such as
// 134.png
.pn +1
you sold to Cardarani, in the sturgeon month,[#] last year.
How much will you demand?

.pm fn-start // A
Scaura is the Indian name for rum.
.pm fn-end

<i>Trader</i>—The skins of two deer for the bracelets, and those
of two fawns for the ear-rings.

<i>Indian</i>—That is a great deal; but wampum grows scarce,
and silver never rusts. Here are the skins.

<i>Trader</i>—Do you buy any more? Here are knives,
hatchets, and beads of all colours.

<i>Indian</i>—I will have a knife and a hatchet, but must not
take more: the rest of the skins will be little enough to clothe
the women and children, and buy wampum. Your beads are
of no value; no warrior who has slain a wolf will wear them.[#]

<i>Trader</i>—Here are many things good for you, which you
have not skins to buy; here is a looking-glass, and here is a
brass kettle, in which your woman may boil her maize, her
beans, and above all, her maple-sugar. Here are silver
brooches, and here are pistols for the youths.

<i>Indian</i>—The skins I can spare will not purchase them.

<i>Trader</i>—Your will determine, brother; but next year you
will want nothing but powder and shot, having already purchased
your gun and ornaments. If you will purchase from
me a blanket to wrap round you, a shirt and blue stroud for
under garments for yourself and your woman, and the same
for leggings, this will pass the time, and save you the great
labour of dressing the skins, making the thread, &c. for your
clothing, which will give you more fishing and shooting time
in the sturgeon and bear months.

.pm fn-start // A
The Indians appropriate a month to catch fish or animals, which is
at that time, the predominant object of pursuit: as the bear month, the
beaver month, &c.
.pm fn-end

.pm fn-start // B
Indians have a great contempt, comparatively, for the beads we
send them, which they consider as only fit for those plebeians who cannot
by their exertions, win any better. They estimate them, compared with
their own wampum, as we do pearls compared with paste.
.pm fn-end

// 135.png
.pn +1

<i>Indian</i>—But the custom of my fathers.

<i>Trader</i>—You will not break the custom of your fathers
by being thus clad for a single year. They did not refuse
those things which were offered to them.

<i>Indian</i>—For this year, brother, I will exchange my skins;
in the next, I shall provide apparel more befitting a warrior.
One pack alone I will reserve, to dress for a future occasion.
The summer must not find a warrior idle.

The terms being adjusted, and the bargain concluded, the
trader thus shows his gratitude for liberal dealing.

<i>Trader</i>—Corlaer has forbid bringing scaura to steal away
the wisdom of the warriors; but we white men are weak and
cold; we bring kegs for ourselves, lest death arise from the
swamps. We will not sell scaura, but you shall taste some of
ours in return for the venison with which you have feasted us.

<i>Indian</i>—Brother, we will drink moderately.

A bottle was then given to the warrior, by way of present,
which he was advised to keep long, but found it irresistible.
He soon returned with the reserved pack of skins, earnestly
urging the trader to give him beads, silver brooches, and
above all, scaura, to their full amount. This, with much
affected reluctance at parting with the private stock, was at
last yielded. The warriors now, after giving loose for a while
to frantic mirth, began the war-whoop, made the woods resound
with infuriated howlings; and having exhausted their
dear-bought draught, probably determined, in contempt of
that probity, which at all other times they rigidly observed, to
plunder the instruments of their pernicious gratification. He,
well aware of the consequences, took care to remove himself
and his goods to some other place, and a renewal of the
same scene ensued. Where, all this time, were the women,
whose gentle counsels might have prevented these excesses?
Alas! unrestrained by that delicacy which is certainly one of
the best fruits of refinement, they shared in them, and sunk
// 136.png
.pn +1
sooner under them. A long and deep sleep generally succeeded,
from which they awoke in a state of dejection and
chagrin, such as no Indian had ever experienced under any
other circumstances. They felt as Milton describes Adam
and Eve to have done after their transgression. Exhausted
and forlorn, and stung with the consciousness of error and
dependence, they had neither the means nor the desire of
exercising their wonted summer occupations with spirit.
Vacancy produced languor, and languor made them wish for
the potion which gave temporary cheerfulness.[#] They carried
their fish to the next fort or habitation to barter for rum. This
brought on days of frenzy, succeeded by torpor. When again
roused by want of exertion, they saw the season passing
without the usual provision, and by an effort of persevering
industry, tried to make up for past negligence; and then worn
out by exertion, sunk into supine indolence, till the approach
of winter called them to hunt the bear; and the arrival of that,
(their busy season,) urged on their distant excursions in pursuit
of deer. Then they resumed their wonted character, and
became what they used to be; but conscious that acquired
tastes and wants, which they had not themselves the power of
supplying, would throw them again on the traders for clothing,
&c. they were themselves out-straining every sinew to
procure enough of peltry to answer their purpose, and to gratify
their newly-acquired appetites. Thus the energy, both of
their characters and constitutions, was gradually undermined—and
their numbers as effectually diminished, as if they had
been wasted by war.

.pm fn-start // A
From Peter Schuyler, brother to the colonel, I have heard many
such details.
.pm fn-end

The small-pox was also so fatal to them, that whole tribes
on the upper lakes have been entirely extinguished by it.
// 137.png
.pn +1
Those people being in the habit of using all possible means
of closing the pores of the skin, by painting and anointing
themselves with bears’ grease, to defend them against the
extremity of cold, to which their manner of life exposed
them; and not being habitually subject to any cutaneous
disease, the small-pox rarely rises upon them; from which it
may be understood how little chance they had of recovering.
All this I heard aunt Schuyler relate, whose observations and
reflections I merely detail.

.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch26
CHAP. XXVI.
.pm ch-hd-start
Peculiar attractions of the Indian mode of life—Account of a settler who
resided some time among them.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>In</sc> this wild liberty, habits of probity, mutual confidence,
and constant variety, there was an undefinable charm, that
while they preserved their primitive manners, wrought in
every one who dwelt for any time amongst them.

I have often heard my friend speak of an old man, who,
being carried away in his infancy by some hostile tribe who
had slain his parents, was rescued very soon after by a tribe
of friendly Indians, who, from motives of humanity, resolved
to bring him up among themselves, that he might, in their
phrase, “learn to bend the bow, and speak truth.” When it
was discovered, some years after, that he was still living, his
relations reclaimed him, and the community wished him to
return and inherit his father’s lands, now become more considerable.
The Indians were unwilling to part with their
// 138.png
.pn +1
protégé, and he was still more reluctant to return. This was
considered as a bad precedent; the early settlers having
found it convenient in several things regarding hunting, food,
&c. to assimilate in some degree with the Indians; and the
young men, occasionally, at that early period, joined their
hunting and fishing parties. It was considered as a matter of
serious import to reclaim this young alien, lest others should
be lost to the community and to their religion, by following his
example. With difficulty they forced him home—where they
never could have detained him, had they not carefully and
gradually inculcated into his mind the truths of christianity.
To those instructions, even his Indian predilections taught him
to listen; for it was the religion of his fathers, and venerable
to him as such: still, however, his dislike of our manners was
never entirely conquered, nor was his attachment to his foster
fathers ever much diminished. He was possessed of a very
sound intellect, and used to declaim with the most vehement
eloquence, against our crafty and insidious encroachments on
our old friends. His abhorrence of the petty falsehoods to
which custom has too well reconciled us, and those little
artifices which we all occasionally practise, rose to a height
fully equal to that felt by Gulliver. Swift and this other misanthrope,
though they lived at the same time, could not have
had any intercourse, else one might have supposed the invectives
which he has put into the mouth of Gulliver, were borrowed
from this demi-savage; whose contempt and hatred of
selfishness, meanness, and duplicity, were expressed in language
worthy of the dean: insomuch, that years after I had
heard of this singular character, I thought, on reading Gulliver’s
asperities, after returning from Houyhnhnmland, that I
had met my old friend again. One really does meet with
characters that fiction would seem too bold in portraying.
This original had an aversion to liquor, which amounted to
abhorrence; being embittered by his regret at the mischiefs
// 139.png
.pn +1
resulting from it to his old friends, and rage at the traders for
administering the means of depravity. He could never bear
any seasoning to his food, and despised luxury in all its forms.

For all the growing evils I have been describing, there was
only one remedy, which the sagacity of my friend and her
other self soon discovered; and their humanity as well as
principle, led them to try all possible means of administering.
It was the pure light and genial influence of christianity alone,
that could cheer and ameliorate the state of these people,
now, from a concurrence of circumstances scarcely to be
avoided in the nature of things, deprived of the independence
habitual to their own way of life, without acquiring in its
room any of those comforts which sweeten ours. By gradually
and gently unfolding to them the views of a happy futurity,
and the means by which depraved humanity was restored
to a participation of that blessing; pride, revenge, and the
indulgence of every excess of passion or appetite being restrained
by the precepts of a religion ever powerful where it
is sincere; their spirits would be brought down from the
fierce pride which despises improvement, to adopt such of our
modes as would enable them to incorporate in time with our
society, and procure for themselves a comfortable subsistence,
in a country no longer adapted to supply the wants of the
houseless rangers of the forest.

The narrow policy of many looked coldly on this benevolent
project. Hunters supplied the means of commerce, and
warriors those of defence; and it was questionable whether a
Christian Indian would hunt or fight as well as formerly.
This, however, had no power with those in whom christianity
was any thing more than a name. There were already many
christian Indians; and it was very encouraging that not one,
once converted, had ever forsaken the strict profession of their
religion, or ever, in a single instance, abandoned themselves
to the excesses so pernicious to their unconverted brethren.
// 140.png
.pn +1
Never was the true spirit of christianity more exemplified
than in the lives of those comparatively few converts, who,
about this time, amounted to more than two hundred. But
the tender care and example of the Schuylers, co-operating
with the incessant labours of a judicious and truly apostolic
missionary, some years after, greatly augmented their numbers
in different parts of the continent; and to this day, the
memory of David Brainard, the faithful labourer alluded to, is
held in veneration in those districts that were blessed with his
ministry. He did not confine himself to one people or province,
but travelled from place to place, to disseminate the
gospel to new converts, and confirm and cherish the truths
already planted. The first foundation of that church had,
however, as I formerly mentioned, been laid long ago; and
the examples of piety, probity, and benevolence, set by the
worthies at the Flats, and a few more, were a very necessary
comment on the doctrines to which their assent was desired.

The great stumbling block which the missionaries had to
encounter with the Indians, (who, as far as their knowledge
went, argued with great acuteness and logical precision,) was
the small influence which our religion seemed to have over
many of its professors. “Why,” said they, “if the book of
truth, that shows the way to happiness, and bids all men do
justice, and love one another, is given both to Corlaer, and
Onnonthio,[#] does it not direct them in the same way? Why
does Onnonthio worship, and Corlaer neglect, the mother of
the blessed one? And why do the missionaries blame those
for worshipping things made with hands, while the priests tell
// 141.png
.pn +1
the praying nation[#] that Corlaer and his people have forsaken
the worship of his forefathers: besides, how can people, who
believe that God and good spirits view and take an interest in
all their actions, cheat and dissemble, drink and fight, quarrel
and backbite, if they believe the great fire burns for those
who do such things? If we believed what you say, we should
not exchange so much good for wickedness, to please an evil
spirit, who would rejoice at our destruction.”

.pm fn-start // A
Corlaer was the title given by them to the governor of New-York;
and was figuratively used for the governed, and Onnonthio for those of
Canada, in the same manner.
.pm fn-end

.pm fn-start // A
Praying nation, was a name given to a village of Indians near Montreal,
who professed the catholic faith.
.pm fn-end

To this reasoning it was not easy to oppose any thing that
could carry conviction to untutored people, who spoke from
observation and the evidence of the senses; to which could
only be opposed scripture texts, which avail not till they are
believed; and abstract reasoning, extremely difficult to bring
to the level of an unlearned understanding. Great labour and
perseverance wrought on the minds of a few, who felt conviction,
as far as it is to be ascribed to human agency, flowing
from the affectionate persuasion of those whom they visibly
beheld earnest for their eternal welfare: and when a few had
thus yielded,[#] the peace and purity of their lives, and the
sublime enjoyment they seemed to derive from the prospects
their faith opened into futurity, was an inducement to others
// 142.png
.pn +1
to follow the same path. This abstractedly from religious
considerations of endless futurity, is the true and only way to
civilization; and to the blending together the old and new
inhabitants of these regions. National pride, rooted prejudices,
ferocity, and vindictive hatred, all yield before a change
that new moulds the whole soul, and furnishes man with new
fears and hopes, and new motives for action.

.pm fn-start // B
Some of them made such a proficiency in practical religion, as ought
to shame many of us who boast the illuminating aids of our native christianity.
Not one of these Indians have been concerned in those barbarous
irruptions which deluged the frontiers of our south-western provinces
with the blood of so many innocents of every age and sex. At the
commencement of these ravages, they flew into the settlements, and put
themselves under the protection of government. The Indians no sooner
became christians, than they openly professed their loyalty to King
George; and therefore, to contribute to their conversion, was as truly
politic as nobly christian.
.pm fn-end

.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch27
CHAP. XXVII.
.pm ch-hd-start
Indians only to be attached by being converted—The abortive expedition
of Mons. Barre—Ironical sketch of an Indian.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>Upon</sc> the attachment the Indians had to our religion, was
grafted the strongest regard to our government, and the
greatest fidelity to the treaties made with us. I shall insert a
specimen of Indian eloquence, illustrative of this last; not
that I consider it by any means so rich, impressive, or sublime
as many others that I could quote, but as containing a
figure of speech rarely to be met with among savage people;
and supposed, by us, incompatible with the state of intellectual
advancement to which they have attained. I mean a
fine and well supported irony. About the year 1686, Mons.
Barre, the commander of the French forces in Canada, made
a kind of inroad, with a warlike design, into the precincts
claimed by our Mohawk allies; the march was tedious, the
French fell sick, and many of their Indians deserted them.
The wily commander, finding himself unequal to the meditated
attack, and that it would be unsafe to return through the
lakes and woods, while in hourly danger of meeting enemies
// 143.png
.pn +1
so justly provoked, sent to invite the sachems to a friendly
conference; and when they met, asserted in an artful speech
that he and his troops had come with the sole intention of
settling old grievances, and smoking the calumet of peace
with them. The Indians, not imposed on by such pretences,
listened patiently to his speech, and then made the answer
which the reader will find in the notes.[#] It is to be observed,
that whoever they considered as the ruling person for the
time being in Canada, they styled Onnonthio; while the
governor of New-York they always called Corlaer.

.pm fn-start // A
“Onnonthio, I honour you; and all the warriors who are with me likewise
honour you. Your interpreter has finished his speech, I begin mine.
My words make haste to reach your ears; hearken to them, Yonnondio.
You must have believed, when you left Quebec, that the sun had burnt
up all the forests which made our country so inaccessible to the French;
or that the lakes had so far overflowed their banks, that they had surrounded
our castles, and that it was impossible for us to get out of them.
Yes, Yonnondio, surely you have dreamt so: and the curiosity of seeing
so great a wonder has brought you so far. Now you are undeceived,
since I and the warriors here present, are come to assure you that the
Hurons, Onondagoes, and Mohawks are yet alive. I thank you, in their
name, for bringing back into their country the calumet, which your predecessor
received from their hands. It was happy for you that you left
underground that murdering hatchet, which has been so dyed with the
blood of the French. Hear, Onnondio, I do not sleep; I have my eyes
open: and the sun which enlightens me, discovers to me a great captain,
at the head of his soldiers, who speaks as if he were dreaming. He says
that he only came to the lake to smoke out the great calumet with the
Five Nations; but Connaratego says that he sees the contrary: that it
was to knock them on the head, if sickness had not weakened the arms
of the French. I see Onnonthio raving in a camp of sick men, whose
lives the Great Spirit has saved by inflicting this sickness upon them.
Hear, Onnonthio, our women had taken their clubs; our children and old
men had carried their bows and arrows into the heart of your camp, if
our warriors had not disarmed them, and kept them back, when your
messenger came to our castles. It is done, and I have said it. Hear,
Yonnondio, we plundered none of the French, but those who carried guns,
powder, and ball to the wolf and elk tribes, because those arms might
have cost us our lives. Herein we follow the example of the Jesuits,
who stave all the kegs of rum brought to the castles where they are, lest
the drunken Indians should knock them on the head. Our warriors have
not beavers enough to pay for all those arms that they have taken—and
our old men are not afraid of the war. This belt preserves my words.
We carried the English into our lakes, to trade with the wolf and elk
tribes, as the praying Indians brought the French to our castles, to carry
on a trade, which the English say is theirs. We are born free. We
neither depend upon Onnonthio nor Corlaer; we may go where we
please. If your allies be your slaves, use them as such; command them
to receive no other but your people. This belt preserves my words.
We knocked the Connecticut Indians and their confederates on the head,
because they had cut down the trees of peace, which were the limits of
our country. They have hunted beavers on our lands, contrary to the
customs of all Indians, for they have left none alive; they have killed
both male and female. They brought the Sathanas into our country to
take part with them, after they had formed ill designs against us; we
have done less than they merited.

“Hear, once more, the words of the Five Nations. They say that
when they buried the hatchet at Cardaragui, (in the presence of your
predecessor,) in the middle of the fort, [Detroit] they planted the tree of
peace in the same place, to be there carefully preserved; that instead of
an abode for soldiers, that fort might be a rendezvous for merchants;
that in place of arms and ammunition, only peltry and goods should
enter there.

“Hear, Yonnondio, take care for the future that so great a number of
soldiers as appear there do not choke the tree of peace, planted in so
small a fort. It will be a great loss, after having so easily taken root, if
you should stop its growth, and prevent its covering your country and
ours with its branches. I assure you, in the name of the Five Nations
that our warriors shall dance to the calumet of peace under its leaves, and
shall remain quiet on their mats; and that they shall never dig up the
hatchet till Corlaer or Onnonthio, either jointly or separately, attack the
country, which the Great Spirit hath given to our ancestors. This belt
preserves my words; and this other, the authority which the Five Nations
have given me.” Then Garangula, addressing himself to Mons.
de Maine, who understood his language, and interpreted, spoke thus:
“take courage, friend, you have spirits, speak, explain my words, omit
nothing. Tell all that your brethren and friends say to Onnonthio, your
governor, by the mouth of Garangula, who loves you, and desires you to
accept of this present of beaver, and take part with me in my feast, to
which I invite you. This present of beaver is sent to Yonnondio on the
part of the Five Nations.”

Mons. Barré returned to his fort much enraged at what he had heard.
Garangula feasted the French officers, and then went home; and Mons.
Barré set out on his way towards Montreal; and as soon as the general,
with the few soldiers who remained in health, had embarked, the militia
made their way to their own habitations without order or discipline.
Thus a chargeable and fatiguing expedition, meant to strike terror of the
French name into the stubborn hearts of the Five Nations, ended in a
scold between a French general and an old Indian.—<i>Colden’s History of
the Five Nations, p. 68.</i>
.pm fn-end
// 144.png
.pn +1

Twice in the year, the new converts came to Albany to
partake of the sacrament, before a place of worship was
erected for themselves. They always spent the night, or
oftener two nights, before their joining in this holy rite, at the
// 145.png
.pn +1
Flats, which was their general rendezvous from different
quarters. There they were cordially received by the three
brothers, who always met together at this time to have a conference
with them, on subjects the most important to their
present and future welfare. These devout Indians seemed
all impressed with the same feelings, and moved by the same
spirit. They were received with affectionate cordiality, and
accommodated in a manner quite conformable to their habits,
in the passage, porch, and offices; and so deeply impressed
were they with a sense of the awful duty that brought them
there, and the rights of friendship and hospitality, and at this
period, become so much acquainted with our customs, that
// 146.png
.pn +1
though two hundred communicants, followed by many of their
children, were used to assemble on those occasions, the
smallest instance of riot or impropriety was not known
amongst them. They brought little presents of game, or of
their curious handicrafts, and were liberally and kindly entertained
by their good brother Philip, as they familiarly called
him. In the evening they all went apart to secret prayer, and
in the morning, by dawn of day, they assembled before the
portico; and their entertainers, who rose early, to enjoy,
unobserved, a view of their social devotion, beheld them with
their mantles drawn over their heads, prostrate on the earth,
offering praises and fervent supplications to their Maker.
After some time spent in this manner, they arose, and seated
in a circle on the ground, with their heads veiled as formerly,
they sang a hymn, which it was delightful to hear, from the
strength, richness, and sweet accord of their uncommonly
fine voices; which every one that ever heard this sacred
chorus, however indifferent to the purport of it, praised as incomparable.
The voices of the female Indians are particularly
sweet and powerful. I have often heard my friend
dwell with singular pleasure on the recollection of those
scenes, and of the conversations she and the colonel used to
hold with the Indians, whom she described as possessed of
very superior powers of understanding; and in their religious
views and conversations, uniting the ardour of proselytes with
the firm decision and inflexible steadiness of their national
character. It was on the return of those new christians to
the Flats, after they had thus solemnly sealed their profession,
that these wise regulations for preserving peace and
good will between the settlers (now become confident and
careless from their numbers) and the Indians, jealous, with
reason, of their ancient rights, were concluded.
// 147.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch28
CHAP. XXVIII.
.pm ch-hd-start
Management of the Mohawks, by the influence of the Christian Indians.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>The</sc> influence these converts had obtained over the minds
of those most venerated for wisdom among their countrymen,
was the medium through which this patriot family, in some
degree, controlled the opinions of that community at large,
and kept them faithful to the British interests. Every two or
three years, there was a congress held, by deputies from
New-York, who generally spoke to the Indians by an interpreter;
went through the form of delivering presents from
their brother, the great king, redressing petty grievances,
smoking the calumet of peace, and delivering belts, the
pledges of amity. But these were mere public forms; the real
terms of this often renewed amity having been previously digested
by those who far better understood the relations subsisting
between the contracting parties, and the causes most
likely to interrupt their union. Colonel Schuyler, though
always ready to serve his country in exigencies, did not like
to take upon himself any permanent responsibility, as a superintendent
of Indian affairs, as it might have diminished that
private influence which arose from the general veneration for
his character, and from a conviction that the concern he took
was voluntary and impartial; neither did he choose to sacrifice
that domestic peace and leisure, which he so well knew
how to turn to the best account, being convinced that by his
example and influence as a private gentleman, he had it in his
power to do much good of a peculiar kind, which was incompatible
with the weight and bustle of public affairs, or with
that hospitality, which, as they managed it, was productive of
so many beneficial effects. I have already shown how, by
// 148.png
.pn +1
prudent address and kind conciliation this patriotic pair
soothed and attached the Indians to the British interest. As
the country grew more populous, and property more abundant
and more secure, the face of society in this inland region
began to change. They whose quiet and orderly demeanor,
devotion, and integrity, did not much require the enforcement
of laws, began now to think themselves above them. To a
deputed authority, the source of which lay beyond the Atlantic,
they paid little deference; and from their neighbours of
New Hampshire and Connecticut, who bordered on their
frontiers, and served with them in the colonial wars, they had
little to learn of loyalty or submission. These people they
held in great contempt, both as soldiers and statesmen; and
yet, from their frequent intercourse with those who talked of
law and politics in their peculiar, uncouth dialect incessantly,
they insensibly adopted many of their notions. There is a
certain point of stable happiness at which our imperfect nature
merely seems to arrive; for the very materials of which it is
formed contain the seeds of its destruction: this was the
case here. That peaceful and desirable equality of conditions,
from which so many comforts resulted, in process of
time occasioned an aversion to superiors, to whom they were
not accustomed, and an exaggerated jealousy of the power
which was exercised for their own safety and comfort. Their
manners unsophisticated, and their morals, in a great measure,
uncorrupted, led them to regard with unjustifiable scorn
and aversion, those strangers who brought with them the
manners of more polished, though less pure communities.
Proud of their haughty bluntness, which daily increased with
their wealth and security, they began to consider respectful
and polite behaviour as a degree of servility and duplicity;
while they revolted at the power exercised over themselves,
and very reluctantly made the exertions necessary for their
own protection. They showed every inclination to usurp the
// 149.png
.pn +1
territories of their Indian allies; and use, to the very utmost,
the power they had acquired over them, by supplying their
wants.

At the liberal table of aunt Schuyler, where there were always
intelligence, just notions, and good breeding to be met
with, both among the owners and their guests, many had their
prejudices softened down, their minds enlarged, and their
manners improved. There they met British officers of rank
and merit, and persons in authority; and learnt that the former
were not artificial coxcombs, nor the latter petty tyrants, as
they would otherwise be very apt to imagine. Here they
were accustomed to find authority respected, on the one hand,
and on the other, to see the natural rights of man vindicated,
and the utmost abhorrence expressed of all the sophistry by
which the credulous were misled by the crafty, to have a code
of morality for their treatment of heathens, different from that
which directed them in their dealing with christians. Here a
selection of the best and worthiest, of the different characters
and classes we have been describing, met—and were taught
not only to tolerate, but to esteem each other: and it required
the calm, temperate wisdom, and easy, versatile manners of
my friend to bring this about. It is when they are called to
act in a new scene, and among people different from any they
had known or imagined, that the folly of the wise, and the
weakness of the strong, become discernible.

Many officers justly esteemed, possessed of capacity,
learning, and much knowledge, both of the usages of the
world, and the art of war, from the want of certain habitudes,
which nothing but experience can teach, were disqualified for
the warfare of the woods; and from a secret contempt with
which they regarded the blunt simplicity and plain appearance
of the settlers, were not attentive to their advice on these
points. They were not aware how much they were to depend
on them for the means of carrying on their operations;
// 150.png
.pn +1
and by rude or negligent treatment so disgusted them, that
they withheld the horses, oxen, waggons, &c. which were to
be paid for, merely to show their independence; well knowing
the dreaded and detested military power, even if coercive
measures were resorted to, would have no chance for redress
in their courts; and even the civil authority were cautious of
doing any thing so unpopular as to decide in favour of the
military. Thus, till properly instructed, those bewildered
strangers were apt to do the thing of all others that annihilates
a feeble authority; threaten where they could not strike,
and forfeit respect where they could not enforce obedience.
A failure of this kind, clogged and enfeebled all their measures;
for without the hearty co-operation of the inhabitants
in furnishing pre-requisites, nothing could go on in a country
without roads, or public vehicles, for the conveyance of their
warlike stores. Another rock they were apt to run upon was,
a neglect of the Indians, whom they neither sufficiently feared
as enemies, nor valued as friends, till taught to do so by
maturer judgments. Of this, Braddock’s defeat was an instance;
he was brave, experienced, and versed in all military
science; his confidence in which, occasioned the destruction
of himself and his army. He considered those counsels, that
warned him how little, manœuvres or numbers would avail in
the close prison of innumerable boughs, as the result of feeble
caution; and marched his army to certain ruin, in the most
brave and scientific manner imaginable. Upon certain occasions,
there is no knowledge so valuable as that of our own
ignorance.

At the Flats, the self-righted boor learned civilization and
subordination: the high-bred and high-spirited field officer,
gentleness, accommodation, and respect for unpolished worth
and untaught valour. There, too, the shrewd and deeply-reflecting
Indian learnt to respect the British character, and to
confide in that of the settlers, by seeing the best specimens
// 151.png
.pn +1
of both acting candidly towards each other, and generously
to himself.

My friend was most particularly calculated to be the coadjutor
of her excellent consort, in thus subduing the spirits of
different classes of people, strongly disposed to entertain a
repulsive dislike of each other; and by leading them to the
chastened enjoyment of the same social pleasures, under the
auspices of those whose good will they were all equally convinced
of, she contrived to smooth down asperities, and assimilate
those various characters, in a manner that could not be
done by any other means.

Accustomed from childhood, both from the general state of
society, and the enlarged minds of her particular associates,
to take liberal views of every thing, and to look forward on all
occasions to consequences, she steadily followed her wise and
benevolent purposes, without being attracted by petty gratifications,
or repelled by petty disgusts. Neither influenced by
female vanity, nor female fastidiousness, she might very truly
say of popularity, as Falstaff says of Worcester’s rebellion,
“it lay in her way and she found it;” for no one ever took
less pains to obtain it; and if the weight of solid usefulness
and beneficence had not, as it never fails to do in the long
run, forced approbation, her mode of conducting herself,
though it might greatly endear her to her particular associates,
was not conciliating to common minds. The fact was, that
though her benevolence extended through the whole circle of
those to whom she was known, she had too many objects of
importance in view, to squander time upon imbecility and insignificance;
nor could she find leisure for the routine of
ordinary visits, or inclination for the insipidity of ordinary
chit chat.

If people of the description here alluded to, could forward
any plan advantageous to the public, or to any of those persons
in whom she was particularly interested, she would treat
// 152.png
.pn +1
them occasionally with much civility—for she had all the
power of superior intellect without the pride of it, but could
not submit to a perpetual sacrifice to forms and trifles. This,
in her, was not only justifiable but laudable; yet it is not
mentioned as an example, because a case can very rarely
occur, where the benefit resulting to others, from making one’s
own path, and forsaking the ordinary road, can be so essential:—few
ever can have a sphere of action so peculiar or so
important as hers; and very few, indeed, have so sound a
judgment to direct them in choosing, or so much fortitude to
support them in pursuing, a way of their own.

In ordinary matters, where neither religion nor morality is
concerned, it is much safer to trust to the common sense of
mankind in general, than to our own particular fancy. Singularity
of conduct or opinion is so often the result of vanity
or affectation, that whoever ventures upon it, ought to be a
person whose example is looked up to by others. A person
too great to follow, ought to be great enough to lead. But
though her conversation was reserved for those she preferred,
her advice, compassion, and good offices were always given
where most needed.
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch29
CHAP. XXIX.
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Madame’s adopted children—Anecdote of sister Susan.
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<sc>Years</sc> passed away in this manner, varied only by the extension
of that protection and education, which they gave to
a succession of nephews and nieces of the colonel or Mrs.
Schuyler. These they did not take from mere compassion,
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as all their relations were in easy circumstances; but influenced
by various considerations, such as, in some cases, the
death of the mother of the children, or perhaps the father; in
others, where their nieces or nephews married very early, and
lived in the houses of their respective parents, while their
young family increased before they had a settled home; or in
instances where, from the remote situations in which the parents
lived, they could not so easily educate them. Indeed,
the difficulty of getting a suitable education for children,
whose parents were ambitious for their improvement, was
great; and a family so well regulated as hers, and frequented
by such society, was in itself an academy, both for the best
morals and manners. When people have children born to
them, they must submit to the ordinary lot of humanity; and
if they have not the happiness of meeting with many good
qualities to cultivate and rejoice over, there is nothing left for
them but to exert themselves to the utmost, to reform and
ameliorate what will admit of improvement. They must carefully
weed and prop: if the soil produce a crop both feeble
and redundant, affection will blind them to many defects;
imperious duty will stimulate them, and hope, soothing, however
deceitful, will support them. But when people have the
privilege, as in this case, of choosing a child, they are fairly
entitled to select the most promising. This selection, I understood
always to have been left to aunt Schuyler, and it
appeared, by the event, to have been generally a happy one.
Fifteen, either nephews or nieces, or the children of such who
had been under her care, all lived to grow up and go out into
the world: all acted their parts so as to do credit to the instruction
they had received, and the example they looked up
to. Besides these, they had many whom they brought for two
or three years to their house to reside; either because the
family they came from was at the time crowded with younger
children, or because they were at a time of life, when a year
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or two spent in such society as was there assembled, might
not only form their manners, but give a bias to their future
character.

About the year 1730, they brought home a nephew of the
colonel’s whose father having a large family, and having, to
the best of my recollection, lost his wife, entirely gave over
the boy to the protection of this relation. This boy was his
uncle’s god-son, and called Philip, after him. He was a great
favourite in the family; for though apparently thoughtless and
giddy, he had a very good temper and quick parts, and was,
upon the whole, an ingenious, lively, and amusing child. He
was a very great favourite, and continued to be so, in some
measure, when he grew up.

There were other children, whose names and relation to
my friends I do not remember, in the house at the same time,
but none that staid so long, or were so much talked of as
this. There certainly never were people who received so
much company, made so respectable a figure in life, and
always kept so large a family about them, with so little tumult
or bustle, or indeed at so moderate an expense. What their
income was I cannot say; but am sure it could not have
been what we should think adequate to the good they did, and
the hospitality and beneficence which they practised; for the
rents of lands were then of so little value, that, though they
possessed a considerable estate in another part of the country,
only very moderate profits could result from it; but, indeed,
from the simplicity of dress, &c. it was easier; though, in that
respect, too, they preserved a kind of dignity, and went beyond
others in the materials, though not the form of their
apparel. Yet their principal expense was a most plentiful and
well ordered table, quite in the English style, which was a
kind of innovation: but so many strangers frequented the
houses of the three brothers, that it was necessary for them to
accommodate themselves to the habits of their guests.
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Peter being in his youth an extensive trader, had spent
much time in Canada, among the noblesse there, and had
served in the continental levies. He had a fine commanding
figure, and quite the air and address of a gentleman, and was,
when I knew him, an old man.

Intelligent and pleasing in a very high degree, Jeremiah
had too much familiar kindness to be looked up to like his
brother. Yet he also had a very good understanding, great
frankness and affability, and was described by all who knew
him, as the very soul of cordial friendship and warm benevolence.
He married a polished and well-educated person,
whose parents (French protestants) were people of the first
fashion in New-York, and had given with her a good fortune,
a thing very unusual in that country. They used, in the early
years of their marriage, to pay a visit every winter to their
connexions at New-York, who passed part of every summer
with them. This connexion, as well as that with the Flats,
gave an air of polish and a tincture of elegance to this family
beyond others; and there were few so gay and social. This
cheerfulness was supported by a large family, fourteen, I
think, of very promising children. These, however, inheriting
from their mother’s family a delicate constitution, died one
after another as they came to maturity: one only, a daughter,
lived to be married, but died after having had one son and a
daughter.

I saw the mother of this large family, after out-living her
own children, and a still greater number of brothers and sisters,
who had all settled in life, prosperous and flourishing,
when she married; I saw her a helpless, bed-ridden invalid,
without any remaining tie, but a sordid, grasping son-in-law,
and two grand-children, brought up at a distance from her.

With her, too, I was a great favourite, because I listened
with interest to her details of early happiness, and subsequent
woes and privations—all of which she described to me with
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great animation, and the most pathetic eloquence. How
much a patient listener, who has sympathy and interest to
bestow on a tale of woe, will hear! and how affecting are the
respect and compassion even of an artless child, to a heart
that has felt the bitterness of neglect, and known what it was
to pine in solitary sadness! Many a bleak day have I walked
a mile to visit this blasted tree, which the storm of calamity
had stripped of every leaf! and surely in the house of sorrow
the heart is made better.

From this chronicle of past times I derived much information
respecting our good aunt; such as she would not have
given me herself. The kindness of this generous sister-in-law
was, indeed, the only light that shone on the declining
days of sister Susan, as she was wont affectionately to call
her. What a sad narrative would the detail of this poor
woman’s sorrows afford! which, however, she did not relate
in a querulous manner, for her soul was subdued by affliction,
and she did not “mourn as those that had no hope.”
One instance of self-accusation I must record. She used to
describe the family she left as being no less happy, united,
and highly prosperous, than that into which she came: if,
indeed, she could be said to leave it, going, as she did, for
some months every year to her mother’s house, whose darling
she was, and who, being only fifteen years older than herself,
was more like an elder sister, united by fond affection.

She went to New-York to lie in, at her mother’s house, of
her four or five first children; her mother at the same time
having children as young as hers: and thus caressed at home
by a fond husband, and received with exultation by the tenderest
parents; young, gay, and fortunate, her removals were
only variations of felicity; but gratified in every wish, she
knew not what sorrow was, nor how to receive the unwelcome
stranger when it arrived. At length she went down to her
father’s as usual, to lie in of her fourth child, which died when
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it was eight days old. She then screamed with agony, and
told her mother, who tried by pious counsel to alleviate her
grief, that she was the most miserable of human beings; for
that no one was capable of loving their child so well as she
did hers, and could not think by what sin she had provoked
this affliction: finally, she clasped the dead infant to her bosom,
and was not, without the utmost difficulty, persuaded to
part with it; while her frantic grief outraged all decorum.
“After this,” said she, “I have seen my thirteen grown-up
children, and my dear and excellent husband, all carried out
of this house to the grave: I have lost the worthiest and most
affectionate parents, brothers, and sisters, such as few ever
had; and however my heart might be pierced with sorrow, it
was still more deeply pierced with a conviction of my own
past impiety and ingratitude; and under all this affliction, I
wept silently and alone—and my outcry or lamentation was
never heard by mortal.” What a lesson was this!

This once loved and much respected woman have I seen
sitting in her bed, where she had been long confined, neglected
by all those whom she had known in her better days,
excepting aunt Schuyler, who unwieldy and unfit for visiting
as she was, came out two or three times in the year to see her,
and constantly sent her kindly tokens of remembrance. Had
she been more careful to preserve her independence, and had
she accommodated herself more to the plain manners of the
people she lived among, she might, in her adversity, have met
with more attention; but too conscious of her attainments,
lively, regardless, and perhaps vain, and confident of being
surrounded and admired by a band of kinsfolk, she was at no
pains to conciliate others; she had, too, some expensive habits,
which, when the tide of prosperity ebbed, could meet
with little indulgence among a people who never entertained
an idea of living beyond their circumstances.

Thus, even among those unpolished people, one might learn
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how severely the insolence of prosperity can be avenged upon
us, even by those we have despised and slighted—and who,
perhaps, were very much our inferiors in every respect;
though both humanity and good sense should prevent our
mortifying them, by showing ourselves sensible of that circumstance.

This year was a fatal one to the families of the three brothers.
Jeremiah, impatient of the uneasiness caused by a
wen upon his neck, submitted to undergo an operation, which
being unskilfully performed, ended fatally, to the unspeakable
grief of his brothers and of aunt, who was particularly attached
to him, and often dwelt on the recollection of his singularly
compassionate disposition, the generous openness of his temper,
and peculiar warmth of his affections. He, indeed, was
“taken away from the evil to come;” for of his large family,
one after the other went off, in consequence of the weakness
of their lungs, which withstood none of the ordinary diseases
of small-pox, measles, &c. till in a few years there was not
one remaining.

These were melancholy inroads on the peace of her who
might truly be said to “watch and weep, and pray for all;”
for nothing could exceed our good aunt’s care and tenderness
for this feeble family, who seemed flowers which merely
bloomed to wither in their prime; for they were, as is often
the case with those who inherit such disorders, beautiful, with
quickness of comprehension, and abilities beyond their age.
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CHAP. XXX.
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Death of Philip Schuyler—Account of his family, and of the society at
the Flats.
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<sc>Another</sc> very heavy sorrow followed the death of Jeremiah;
Peter, being the eldest brother, his son, as I formerly
mentioned, was considered and educated as heir to the colonel.
It was Peter’s house that stood next to the colonel’s;
their dwellings being arranged according to their ages, the
youth was not in the least estranged from his own family
(who were half a mile off,) by his residence at his uncle’s,
and was peculiarly endeared to all the families, (who regarded
him as the future head of their house,) by his gentle manners
and excellent qualities. With all these personal advantages
which distinguished that comely race, and which give grace
and attraction to the unfolding blossoms of virtue, at an early
age he was sent to a kind of college, then established in New-Jersey—and
he was there instructed as far, as in that place,
he could be. He soon formed an attachment for a lady still
younger than himself, but so well brought up, and so respectably
connected, that his friends were greatly pleased with the
marriage, early as it was, and his father, with the highest satisfaction,
received the young couple into the house. There
they were the delight and ornament of the family, and lived
amongst them as a common blessing. The first year of their
marriage a daughter was born to them, whom they named
Cornelia; and the next, a son, whom they called Peter. The
following year, which was the same that deprived them of
their brother Jeremiah, proved fatal to a great many children
and young people, in consequence of an endemial disease
which every now and then used to appear in the country, and
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made great havoc. It was called the purple or spotted fever,
and was probably of the putrid kind: be that as it may, it
proved fatal to this interesting young couple. Peter, who had
lost his wife but a short time before, was entirely overwhelmed
by this stroke: a hardness of hearing, which had been gradually
increasing before, deprived him of the consolations he
might have derived from society. He encouraged his second
son to marry; shut himself up for the most part in his own
apartment; and became, in effect, one of those lay-brothers I
have formerly described. Yet, when time had blunted the
edge of this keen affliction, many years after, when he lived
at the Flats, he used to visit us; and though he did not hear
well, he conversed with great spirit, and was full of anecdote
and information. Meanwhile, madame did not sink under
this calamity, though she felt it as much as her husband, but
supported him, and exerted herself to extract consolation from
performing the duties of a mother to the infant who was now
become the representative of the family. Little Peter was
accordingly brought home, and succeeded to all that care and
affection of which his father had formerly been the object,
while Cornelia was taken home to Jersey, to the family of her
maternal grandfather, who was a distinguished person in that
district. There she was exceedingly well-educated, became
an elegant and very pleasing young woman, and was happily
and most respectably married before I left the country, as was
her brother very soon after. They are still living; and Peter,
adhering to what might be called eventually the safer side
during the war with the mother country, succeeded undisturbed
to his uncle’s inheritance.

All these new cares and sorrows did not in the least abate
the hospitality, the popularity, or the public spirit of these truly
great minds. Their dwelling, though in some measure become
a house of mourning, was still the rendezvous of the
wise and worthy, the refuge of the stranger, and an academy
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for deep and sound thinking, taste, intelligence, and moral
beauty. There the plans for the public good were digested
by the rulers of the province, who came, under the pretext of
a summer excursion for mere amusement. There the operations
of the army, and the treaties of peace or alliance with
various nations, were arranged; for there the legislators of
the state, and the leaders of the war, were received, and mixed
serious and important counsels with convivial cheerfulness,
and domestic ease and familiarity. It is not to be conceived
how essential a point of union, a barrier against license, and
a focus, in which the rays of intellect and intelligence were
concentrated, (such as in this family,) were to unite the jarring
elements of which the community was composed, and to suggest
to those who had power without experience, the means
of mingling in due proportions its various materials for the
public utility. Still, though the details of family happiness were
abridged, the spirit that produced it continued to exist, and
to find new objects of interest. A mind, elevated by the consciousness
of its own powers, and enlarged by the habitual
exercise of them, for the great purpose of promoting the good
of others, yields to the pressure of calamity, but sinks not
under it, particularly when habituated, like these exalted
characters, to look through the long vista of futurity, towards
the final accomplishment of the designs of providence. Like
a diligent gardener, who, when his promising young plants
are blasted in full strength and beauty, though he feels extremely
for their loss, does not sit down in idle chagrin, but
redoubles his efforts to train up their successors to the same
degree of excellence. Considering the large family she
(madame) always had about her, of which she was the guiding
star as well as the informing soul, and the innocent cheerfulness
which she encouraged and enjoyed; considering, too,
the number of interesting guests whom she received, and that
complete union of minds, which made her enter so intimately
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into all the colonel’s pursuits, it may be wondered how she
found time for solid and improved reading; because people
whose time is so much occupied in business and society, are
apt to relax with amusing trifles of the desultory kind, when
they have odd half hours to bestow on literary amusements.
But her strong and indefatigable mind never loosened its
grasp; ever intent on the useful and the noble, she found
little leisure for what are indeed the greatest objects of feeble
characters. After the middle of life she went little out; her
household, long since arranged by certain general rules, went
regularly on, because every domestic knew exactly the duties
of his or her place, and dreaded losing it, as the greatest possible
misfortune. She had always with her some young person,
who was unto her as a daughter—who was her friend
and companion, and bred up in such a manner as to qualify
her for being such; and one of whose duties it was to inspect
the state of the household, and “report progress” with regard
to the operations going on in the various departments; for
no one better understood or more justly estimated the duties
of housewifery. Thus, those young females who had the happiness
of being bred under her auspices, very soon became
qualified to assist her instead of encroaching much on her
time. The example and conversation of the family in which
they lived, was to them a perpetual school for useful knowledge,
and manners easy and dignified, though natural and
artless. They were not indeed embellished, but then they
were not deformed by affectation, pretensions, or defective
imitation of fashionable models of nature. They were not
indeed bred up “to dance, to dress, to roll the eye, or troll
the tongue;” yet they were not lectured into unnatural gravity
or frozen reserve. I have seen those of them who were
lovely, gay and animated, though in the words of an old familiar
lyric,
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“Without disguise or art, like flowers they grace the wild,
 Their sweets they did impart, whene’er they spoke or smil’d.”
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Two of those to whom this description particularly applies,
still live, and still retain not only evident traces of beauty, but
that unstudied grace and dignity which is the result of conscious
worth and honour, habituated to receive the tribute of
general respect. This is the privilege of minds which are
always in their own place, and neither stoop to solicit applause
from their inferiors, nor strive to rise to a fancied
equality with those whom nature or fortune have placed beyond
them.
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Aunt was a great manager of her time, and always contrived
to create leisure hours for reading; for that kind of
conversation, which is properly styled gossiping, she had the
utmost contempt. Light, superficial reading, such as merely
fills a blank in time, and glides over the mind without leaving
an impression, was little known there; for few books crossed
the Atlantic but such as were worth carrying so far for their
intrinsic value. She was too much accustomed to have her
mind occupied with objects of real weight and importance, to
give it up to frivolous pursuits of any kind. She began the
morning with reading the scriptures. They always breakfasted
early, and dined two hours later than the primitive inhabitants,
who always took that meal at twelve. This departure
from the ancient customs was necessary in this family,
to accommodate the great numbers of British as well as
strangers from New-York, who were daily entertained at her
liberal table. This arrangement gave her the advantage of a
longer forenoon to dispose of. After breakfast she gave orders
for the family details of the day, which, without a scrupulous
attention to those minutiæ which fell more properly
under the notice of her young friends, she always regulated
in the most judicious manner, so as to prevent all appearance
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of hurry and confusion. There was such a rivalry among
domestics, whose sole ambition was her favour, and who had
been so trained up from infancy, each to their several duties,
that excellence in each department was the result both of
habit and emulation; while her young protégés were early
taught the value and importance of good housewifery, and
were sedulous in their attention to little matters of decoration
and elegance, which her mind was too much engrossed to attend
to; so that her household affairs, ever well regulated,
went on in a mechanical kind of progress, that seemed to engage
little of her attention, though her vigilant and overruling
mind set every spring of action in motion. Having thus easily
and speedily arranged the details of the day, she retired
to read in her closet, where she generally remained till about
eleven, when, being unequal to distant walks, the colonel and
she, and some of her elder guests, passed some of the hotter
hours among those embowering shades of her garden, in which
she took great pleasure. Here was their lyceum; here questions
in religion and morality, too weighty for table-talk, were
leisurely and coolly discussed, and plans of policy and various
utility arranged. From this retreat they adjourned to the portico;
and while the colonel either retired to write, or went to
give directions to his servants, she sat in this little tribunal,
giving audience to new settlers, followers of the army left in
hapless dependence, and others who wanted assistance or advice,
or hoped she would intercede with the colonel for something
more peculiarly in his way, he having great influence
with the colonial government. At the usual hour, her dinner-party
assembled, which was generally a large one; and here
I must digress from the detail of the day to observe, that,
looking up as I always did to madame with admiring veneration,
and having always heard her mentioned with unqualified
applause, I look often back to think what defects or faults she
could possibly have to rank with the sons and daughters of
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imperfection, inhabiting this transitory scene of existence, well
knowing, from subsequent observation of life, that error is the
unavoidable portion of humanity. Yet of this truism, to which
every one will readily subscribe, I can recollect no proof in
my friend’s conduct, unless the luxury of her table might be
produced to confirm it. Yet this, after all, was but comparative
luxury. There was more choice and selection, and, perhaps,
more abundance at her table, than those of the other primitive
inhabitants; yet how simple were her repasts, compared
to those with which the luxury of the higher ranks in this country
offer to provoke the sated appetite. Her dinner-party generally
consisted of some of her intimate friends or near relations;
her adopted children, who were inmates for the time
being; and strangers sometimes invited, merely as friendless
travellers, on the score of hospitality, but often welcomed for
some time as stationary visitors, on account of worth or talents,
that gave value to their society; and lastly, military guests,
selected with some discrimination, on account of the young
friends, whom they wished not only to protect, but cultivate
by an improving association. Conversation here was always
rational, generally instructive, and often cheerful. The afternoon
frequently brought with it a new set of guests. Tea was
always drank early here; and, as I have formerly observed,
was attended with so many petty luxuries of pastry, confectionary,
&c. that it might well be accounted a meal by those
whose early and frugal dinners had so long gone by. In Albany
it was customary, after the heat of the day was past, for
the young people to go in parties of three or four, in open carriages,
to drink tea at an hour or two’s drive from town. The
receiving and entertaining this sort of company, generally was
the province of the younger part of the family; and of these
parties many came, in summer evenings, to the Flats, when
tea, which was very early, was over. The young people, and
those who were older, took their different walks, while madame
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sat in her portico, engaged in what might comparatively be
called light reading, essays, biography, poetry, &c. till the
younger party set out on their return home, and her domestic
friends rejoined her in her portico, where, in warm evenings,
a slight repast was sometimes brought; but they more frequently
shared the last and most truly social meal within.

Winter made little difference in her mode of occupying her
time. She then always retired to her closet to read at
stated periods.

In conversation she certainly took delight, and peculiarly
excelled, yet did not in the least engross it, or seem to dictate.
On the contrary, her thirst of knowledge was such, and she
possessed such a peculiar talent for discovering the point of
utility in all things, that from every one’s discourse she extracted
some information, on which the light of her mind was
thrown in such a direction as made it turn to account. Whenever
she laid down her book she took up her knitting, which
neither occupied her eyes nor attention, while it kept her fingers
engaged, thus setting an example of humble diligence to
her young protégés. In this employment she had a kind of
tender satisfaction, as little children, reared in the family, were
the only objects of her care in this respect. For those, she
constantly provided a supply of hosiery till they were seven
years old, and after that, transferred her attention to some
younger favourite. In her earlier days, when her beloved
husband could share the gaieties of society, I have been told
they both had a high relish for innocent mirth, and every species
of humorous pleasantry; but in my time there was a
chastened gravity in her discourse, which, however, did not
repulse innocent cheerfulness, though it dashed all manner of
levity, and that flippancy which great familiarity sometimes
encourages among young people who live much together.
Had madame, with the same good sense, the same high principle,
and general benevolence towards young people, lived
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in society, such as is to be met with in Britain, the principle
upon which she acted would have led her to have encouraged,
in such society, more gaiety and freedom of manners. As
the regulated forms of life in Britain set bounds to the ease
that accompanies good breeding and refinement, generally diffused,
supplies the place of native delicacy, where that is
wanting, a certain decent freedom is both safe and allowable.
But amid the simplicity of primitive manners, those bounds
are not so well defined. Under these circumstances, mirth is
a romp, and humour a buffoon; and both must be kept within
strict limits.
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CHAP. XXXI.
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Family details.
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<sc>The</sc> hospitalities of this family were so far beyond their
apparent income, that all strangers were astonished at them.
To account for this, it must be observed that, in the first
place, there was, perhaps, scarce an instance of a family possessing
such uncommonly well-trained, active, and diligent
slaves as those I describe. The set that were staid servants
when they married, had some of them died off by the time I
knew the family; but the principal roots from whence the
many branches, then flourishing, sprung, yet remained. These
were two women, who had come originally from Africa while
very young; they were most excellent servants, and the mothers
or grandmothers of the whole set, except of one white-woolled
negro-man, who, in my time, sat by the chimney and
made shoes for all the rest. The great pride and happiness
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of those sable matrons were, to bring up their children to dexterity,
diligence, and obedience. Diana being determined
that Maria’s children should not excel hers in any quality
which was a recommendation to favour; and Maria equally
resolved that her brood, in the race of excellence, should outstrip
Diana’s. Never was a more fervent competition. That
of Phillis and Brunetta, in the Spectator, was a trifle to it:
and it was extremely difficult to decide on their respective
merits; for though Maria’s son Prince cut down wood with
more dexterity and despatch than any one in the province, the
mighty Cæsar, son of Diana, cut down wheat, and threshed it,
better than he. His sister Betty, who, to her misfortune, was
a beauty of her kind, and possessed wit equal to her beauty,
was the best sempstress and laundress, by far, I have ever
known; and plain, unpretending Rachael, sister to Prince,
wife to Titus, alias Tyte, and head cook, dressed dinners
that might have pleased Apicius. I record my old humble
friends by their real names, because they allowedly stood at
the head of their own class, and distinction of every kind
should be respected. Besides, when the curtain drops, or,
indeed, long before it falls, it is, perhaps, more creditable to
have excelled in the lowest parts, than to have fallen miserably
short in the higher. Of the inferior personages, in this
dark drama I have been characterizing, it would be tedious to
tell: suffice it, that besides filling up all the lower departments
of the household, and cultivating to the highest advantage
a most extensive farm, there was a thorough-bred carpenter
and shoemaker, and an universal genius who made
canoes, nets, and paddles, shod horses, mended implements
of husbandry, managed the fishing, in itself no small department,
reared hemp and tobacco, and spun both; made cider,
and tended wild horses, (as they called them,) which was his
province to manage and to break. For every branch of the
domestic economy, there was a person allotted—educated for
// 169.png
.pn +1
the purpose; and this society was kept immaculate, in the
same way that the quakers preserve the rectitude of theirs,
and, indeed, in the only way that any community can be preserved
from corruption; when a member showed symptoms
of degeneracy, he was immediately expelled, or in other words
more suitable to this case, sold. Among the domestics, there
was such a rapid increase, in consequence of their marrying
very early, and living comfortably without care, that if they
had not been detached off with the young people brought up
in the house, they would have swarmed like an over-stocked
bee-hive.

The prevention of crime was so much attended to in this
well-regulated family, that there was very little punishment
necessary; none that I ever heard of, but such as Diana and
Maria inflicted on their progeny, with a view to prevent the
dreaded sentence of expulsion. Notwithstanding the petty rivalry
between the branches of the two original stocks, intermarriages
between the Montagues and Capulets of the
kitchen, which frequently took place, and the habit of living
together under the same mild, though regular government,
produced a general cordiality and affection among all the
members of the family, who were truly ruled by the law of
love; and even those who occasionally differed about trifles,
had an unconscious attachment to each other, which showed
itself on all emergencies. Treated themselves with care and
gentleness, they were careful and kind with regard to the only
inferiors and dependants they had, the domestic animals. The
superior personages in the family, had always some good
property to mention, or good saying to repeat of those
whom they cherished into attachment, and exalted into intelligence;
while they, in their turn, improved the sagacity of
their subject animals, by caressing and talking to them. Let
no one laugh at this; for whenever man is at ease and
unsophisticated, where his native humanity is not extinguished
// 170.png
.pn +1
by want or chilled by oppression, it overflows to inferior beings,
and improves their instincts to a degree incredible to
those who have not witnessed it. In all mountainous countries,
where man is more free, more genuine, and more divided
into little societies much detached from others, and much attached
to each other, this cordiality of sentiment, this overflow
of good will takes place. The poet says,

.pm verse-start
“Humble love, and not proud reason,
 Keeps the door of heaven.”
.pm verse-end
.ni
This question must be left for divines to determine; but sure
am I that humble love and not proud reason, keeps the door
of earthly happiness, as far as it is attainable. I am not going,
like the admirable Crichton, to make an oration in praise of
ignorance; but a very high degree of refinement certainly produces
a quickness of discernment, a niggard approbation, and
a fastidiousness of taste, that find a thousand repulsive and
disgusting qualities mingled with those that excite our admiration,
and would, (were we less critical,) produce affection.
Alas! that the tree should so literally impart the knowledge
of good and evil; much evil and little good. It is time to
return from this excursion to the point from which I set out.
.pi
The Princes and Cæsars of the Flats had as much to tell
of the sagacity and attachments of the animals, as their mistress
related of their own. Numberless anecdotes that delighted
me in the last century, I would recount, but fear I
should not find my audience of such easy belief as I was, nor
so convinced of the integrity of my informers. One circumstance
I must mention, because I well know it to be true.
The colonel had a horse which he rode occasionally, but
which oftener travelled with Mrs. Schuyler in an open carriage.
At particular times, when bringing home hay or corn,
they yoked Wolf, for so he was called, in a waggon; an indignity
to which, for a while, he unwillingly submitted. At
// 171.png
.pn +1
length, knowing resistance was vain, he had recourse to stratagem;
and whenever he saw Tyte marshalling his cavalry
for service, he swam over to the island, the umbrageous and
tangled border of which I formerly mentioned; there he fed
with fearless impunity till he saw the boat approach; whenever
that happened, he plunged into the thicket, and led his
followers such a chase, that they were glad to give up the
pursuit. When he saw from his retreat that the work was
over, and the fields bare, he very coolly returned. Being, by
this time, rather old, and a favourite, the colonel allowed him
to be indulged in his dislike to drudgery. The mind which is
at ease, neither stung by remorse, nor goaded by ambition or
other turbulent passions, nor worn with anxiety for the supply
of daily wants, nor sunk into languor by stupid idleness, forms
attachments and amusements, to which those exalted by culture
would not stoop, and those crushed by want and care
could not rise. Of this nature was the attachment to the tame
animals, which the domestics appropriated to themselves, and
to the little fanciful gardens where they raised herbs or plants
of difficult culture, to sell and give to their friends. Each
negro was indulged with his racoon, his great squirrel or muskrat,
or perhaps his beaver, which he tamed and attached to
himself, by daily feeding and caressing him in the farm-yard.
One was sure about all such houses to find these animals, in
whom their masters took the highest pleasure. All these
small features of human nature must not be despised for their
minuteness; to a good mind they afford consolation.

Science, directed by virtue, is a god-like enlargement of
the powers of human nature; and exalted rank is so necessary
a finish to the fabric of society, and so invariable a result
from its regular establishment, that, in respecting those
whom the divine wisdom has set above us, we perform a duty
such as we expect from our own inferiors, which helps to
support the general order of society. But so very few, in proportion
// 172.png
.pn +1
to the whole, can be enlightened by science, or exalted
by situation, that a good mind draws comfort from discovering
even the petty enjoyments permitted to those in the
state we consider most abject and depressed.
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch32
CHAP. XXXII.
.pm ch-hd-start
Resources of madame—Provincial customs.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>It</sc> may appear extraordinary, with so moderate an income
as could, in those days, be derived even from a considerable
estate in that country, how madame found means to support
that liberal hospitality which they constantly exercised. I
know the utmost they could derive from their lands, and it
was not much. Some money they had, but nothing adequate
to the dignity, simple as it was, of their style of living, and the
very large family they always drew round them. But with
regard to the plenty, one might almost call it luxury, of their
table, it was supplied from a variety of sources, that rendered it
less expensive than could be imagined. Indians, grateful for
the numerous benefits they were daily receiving from them,
were constantly bringing the smaller game, and in winter and
spring, loads of venison. Little money passed from one hand
to another in the country; but there was constantly, as there
always is in primitive abodes, before the age of calculation
begins, a kindly commerce of presents. The people of New-York
and Rhode-Island, several of whom were wont to pass
a part of the summer with the colonel’s family, were loaded
with all the productions of the farm and river. When they
// 173.png
.pn +1
went home, they again never failed, at the season, to send a
large supply of oysters and all other shell-fish, which at New-York
abounded; besides great quantities of tropical fruit,
which, from the short run between Jamaica and New-York,
were there almost as plenty and cheap as in their native soil.
Their farm yielded them abundantly all, that in general, a
musket can supply; and the young relatives who grew up
about the house, were rarely a day without bringing some
supply from the wood or the stream. The negroes, whose
business lay frequently in the woods, never willingly went
there, or any where else, without a gun, and rarely came back
empty-handed. Presents of wine, then a very usual thing to
send to friends to whom you wished to show a mark of gratitude,
came very often, possibly from the friends of the young
people who were reared and instructed in that house of benediction;
as there were no duties paid for the entrance of any
commodity then, wine, rum, and sugar, were cheaper than
can easily be imagined, and in cider they abounded.

The negroes of the three truly united brothers, not having
home employment in winter, after preparing fuel, used to cut
down trees, and carry them to an adjoining saw-mill, where,
in a very short time, they made great quantities of planks,
staves, &c., which is usually styled lumber, for the West-India
market. And when a ship-load of their flour, lumber, and
salted provisions was accumulated, some relative, for their
behoof, freighted a vessel, and went out to the West-Indies
with it. In this stygian schooner, the departure of which was
always looked forward to with unspeakable horror, all the
stubborn or otherwise unmanageable slaves were embarked,
to be sold by way of punishment. This produced such salutary
terror, that preparing the lading of this fatal vessel generally
operated a temporary reform at least. When its cargo
was discharged in the West-Indies, it took in a lading of wine,
rum, sugar, coffee, chocolate, and all other West-India
// 174.png
.pn +1
productions, paying for whatever fell short of the value—and
returning to Albany, sold the surplus to their friends, after reserving
to themselves a most liberal supply of all the articles
thus imported. Thus they had not only a profusion of all the
requisites for good house-keeping, but had it in their power
to do what was not unusual there in wealthy families, though
none carried it so far as these worthies.

In process of time, as people multiplied, when a man had
eight or ten children to settle in life, and these marrying early,
and all their families increasing fast, though they always were
considered as equals, and each kept a neat house and decent
outside, yet it might be that some of them were far less successful
than others in their various efforts to support their families;
but these deficiencies were supplied in a quiet and
delicate way, by presents of every thing a family required,
sent from all their connexions and acquaintances—which,
where there was a continual sending back and forward of sausages,
pigs, roasting-pieces, &c. from one house to another,
excited little attention; but when aunt’s West-India cargo
arrived, all the families of this description within her reach,
had an ample boon sent them of her new supply.

The same liberal spirit animated her sister, a very excellent
person, who was married to Cornelius Cuyler, then
mayor of Albany, who had been a most successful Indian trader
in his youth, and had acquired large possessions, and
carried on an extensive commercial intercourse with the
traders of that day, bringing from Europe quantities of those
goods that best suited them, and sending back their peltry in
exchange. He was not only wealthy, but hospitable, intelligent,
and liberal-minded, as appeared by his attachment to
the army, which was, in those days, the distinguishing feature
of those who in knowledge and candour were beyond others.
His wife had the same considerate and prudent generosity,
// 175.png
.pn +1
which ever directed the humanity of her sister; though having
a large family, she could not carry it to so great an extent.

If this maternal friend of their mutual relatives could be said
to have a preference among her own and her husband’s relations,
it was certainly to this family. The eldest son Philip,
who bore her husband’s name, was on that and other accounts,
a particular favourite, and was, I think, as much with them in
childhood, as his attention to his education, which was certainly
the best the province could afford, would permit.

Having become distinguished through all the northern provinces,
the common people, and the inferior class of the military,
had learned from the Canadians who frequented her
house, to call aunt, Madame Schuyler; but by one or other
of these appellations she was universally known; and a kindly
custom prevailed, for those who were received into any degree
of intimacy in her family, to address her as their aunt, though
not in the least related. This was done oftener to her than
others, because she excited more respect and affection, but
it had, in some degree, the sanction of custom. The Albanians
were sure to call each other aunt or cousin, as far as the
most strained construction would carry those relations. To
strangers they were indeed very shy at first, but extremely
kind; when they not only proved themselves estimable, but
by a condescension to their customs, and acquiring a smattering
of their language, ceased to be strangers, then they
were generally in the habit of calling each other cousin; and
thus in an hour of playful or tender intimacy I have known it
more than once begin: “I think you like me well enough,
and I am sure I like you very well; come, why should not
we be cousins? I am sure I should like very well to be your
cousin, for I have no cousins of my own where I can reach
them. Well, then you shall be my cousin for ever and ever.”
In this uncouth language, and in this artless manner, were
these leagues of amity commenced. Such an intimacy was
// 176.png
.pn +1
never formed unless the object of it were a kind of favourite
with the parents, who immediately commenced uncle and
aunt to the new cousin. This, however, was a high privilege,
only to be kept by fidelity and good conduct. If you exposed
your new cousin’s faults, or repeated her minutest secrets, or
by any other breach of constancy lost favour, it was as bad as
refusing a challenge; you were coldly received every where,
and could never regain your footing in society.

Aunt’s title, however, became current every where, and
was most completely confirmed in the year 1750, when she
gave with more than common solemnity, a kind of annual
feast, to which the colonel’s two brothers and his sisters, aunt’s
sister, Mrs. Cornelius Cuyler, and their families, with several
others related to them, assembled. This was not given on a
stated day, but at the time when most of these kindred could
be collected. This year I have often heard my good friend
commemorate, as that on which their family stock of happiness
felt the first diminution. The feast was made, and attended
by all the collateral branches, consisting of fifty-two,
who had a claim by marriage or descent, to call the colonel
and my friend uncle and aunt, besides their parents. Among
these were reckoned three or four grandchildren of their brothers.
At this grand gala, there could be no less than sixty
persons, but many of them were doomed to meet no more;
for the next year the small-pox, always peculiarly mortal here,
(where it was improperly treated in the old manner,) broke
out with great virulence, and raged like a plague; but none
of those relatives whom Mrs. Schuyler had domesticated suffered
by it; and the skill which she had acquired from the
communications of the military surgeons who were wont to
frequent her house, enabled her to administer advice and assistance,
which essentially benefited many of the patients in
whom she was particularly interested; though even her influence
could not prevail on people to have recourse to inoculation.
// 177.png
.pn +1
The patriarchal feast of the former year, and the humane
exertions of this, made the colonel and his consort
appear so much in the light of public benefactors, that all the
young regarded them with a kind of filial reverence, and the
addition of uncle and aunt was become confirmed and universal,
and was considered as an honourary distinction. The ravages
which the small-pox made this year among their Mohawk
friends, was a source of deep concern to these revered philanthropists;
but this was an evil not to be remedied by any ordinary
means. These people being accustomed from early
childhood to anoint themselves with bear’s grease, to repel the
innumerable tribes of noxious insects in summer, and to exclude
the extreme cold in winter, their pores are so completely shut
up that the small-pox does not rise upon them, nor have they
much chance of recovery from any acute disease; but, excepting
the fatal infection already mentioned, they are not subject
to any other but the rheumatism, unless in very rare
instances. The ravages of disease this year operated on their
population as a blow, which it never recovered; and they considered
the small-pox in a physical, and the use of strong
liquors in a moral sense, as two plagues which we had introduced
among them, for which our arts, our friendship, and
even our religion, were a very inadequate recompense.
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch33
CHAP. XXXIII.
.pm ch-hd-start
Followers of the army—Inconveniences resulting from such.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>To</sc> return to the legion of commissaries, &c. These employments
were at first given to very inferior people; it was
seen, however, that as the scale of military operations and
// 178.png
.pn +1
erections increased, these people were enriching themselves
both at the expense of the king and the inhabitants, whom
they frequently exasperated into insolence or resistance, and
then used that pretext to keep in their own hands the payments
to which these people were entitled. When their
waggons and slaves were pressed into the service, it was necessary
to employ such persons from the first. The colonel
and the mayor, and all whom they could influence, did all they
could to alleviate an evil that could not be prevented, and was
daily aggravating disaffection. They found, as the importance
of these offices increased, it would conduce more to the public
good, by larger salaries to induce people to accept them
who were gentlemen, and had that character to support; and
who, being acquainted with the people and their language,
knew best how to qualify and soften, and where to apply—so
as least to injure or irritate. Some young men belonging to
the country, were at length prevailed on to accept two or
three of these offices, which had the happiest effect in conciliating
and conquering the aversion that existed against the
<i>regulars</i>.

Among the first of the natives who engaged in those difficult
employments, was one of aunt’s adopted sons, formerly
mentioned; Philip Schuyler, of the pasture, as he was called,
to distinguish him from the other nephew, who, had he lived,
would have been the colonel’s heir. He appeared merely a
careless, good-humoured young man. Never was any one
so little what he seemed, with regard to ability, activity, and
ambition, art, enterprise, and perseverance, all of which he
possessed in an uncommon degree, though no man had less
the appearance of these qualities; easy, complying, and good-humoured,
the conversations, full of wisdom and sound policy,
of which he had been a seemingly inattentive witness at the
Flats, only slept in his recollection, to awake in full force,
when called forth by occasion.
// 179.png
.pn +1

A shrewd and able man, who was, I think, a brigadier in the
service, was appointed quarter-master-general, with the entire
superintendence of all the boats, buildings, &c. in New-York,
the Jerseys, and Canadian frontier. He had married, when
very young, a daughter of Colonel Renssalaer. Having at the
time no settled plan for the support of a young family, he felt
it incumbent on him to make some unusual exertion for them.
Colonel Schuyler and his consort, not only advised him to
accept an inferior employment in this business, but recommended
him to the Brigadier Bradstreet, who had the power
of disposing of such offices, which were daily growing in importance.
They well knew that he possessed qualities which
might not only render him an useful servant to the public, but
clear his way to fortune and distinction. His perfect command
of temper, acuteness, and dispatch in business, and in
the hour of social enjoyment, easily relapsing into all that
careless, frank hilarity and indolent good-humour, which
seems the peculiar privilege of the free and disencumbered
mind; active and companionable, made him a great acquisition
to any person under whom he might happen to be employed.
This the penetration of Bradstreet soon discovered;
and he became not only his secretary and deputy, but in a
short time after, his ambassador, as one might say; for before
Philip Schuyler was twenty-two, the general, as he was universally
styled, sent him to England, to negotiate some business
of importance with the board of trade and plantations. In
the mean while, some other young men, natives of the country,
accepted employments in the same department, by this
time greatly extended. Averse as the country people were
to the army, they began to relish the advantage derived from
the money which that body of protectors, so much feared and
detested, expended among them. This was more considerable
than might at first be imagined. Government allowed provisions
to the troops serving in America, without which they
// 180.png
.pn +1
could not indeed have proceeded through an uninhabited
country; where, even in such places as were inhabited, there
were no regular markets, no competition for supply; nothing
but exorbitant prices could tempt those people who were not
poor, and found a ready market for all their produce in the
West-Indies. Now, having a regular supply of such provisions
as are furnished to the fleet, they had no occasion to lay
out their money for such things; and rather purchased the
produce of the country, liquors, &c. for which the natives took
care to make them pay very high, an evil which the Schuyler’s
moderated as much as possible, though they could not
check it entirely. This provision system was a very great
though necessary evil, for it multiplied contractors, commissaries,
and store-keepers, without end. At a distance from
the source of authority, abuses increase, and redress becomes
more difficult, which is, of itself, a sufficient argument against
the extension of dominion. Many of these new comers were
ambiguous characters, originally from the old country, (as expatriated
Britons fondly call their native land,) but little known
in this, and not happy specimens of that they had left. These
satellites of delegated power had all the insolence of office,
and all that avidity of gain, which a sudden rise of circumstances
creates in low and unprincipled minds; and they,
from the nature of their employment, and the difficulty of
getting provisions transported from place to place, were very
frequently the medium of that intercourse carried on between
the military and the natives; and did not by any means contribute
to raise the British character in their estimation.

I dwell more minutely on all these great though necessary
evils, which invariably attend an army in its progress through
a country which is the theatre of actual war, that the reader
may be led to set a just value on the privileges of this highly
favoured region, which, sitting on many waters, sends forth
her thunders through the earth: and while the farthest extremes
// 181.png
.pn +1
of east and west bend to her dominion, has not for more
than half a century heard the sound of hostility within her
bounds. Many unknown persons, who were in some way attached
to the army, and resolved to live by it in some shape,
set up as traders; carried stores suited to military consumption
along with them, and finally established themselves as
merchants in Albany. Some of these proved worthy characters,
however; and intermarrying with the daughters of the
citizens, and adopting, in some degree, their sober manners,
became, in process of time, estimable members of society.
Others, and, indeed, the most part of them, rose like exhalations;
and obtaining credit by dint of address and assurance,
glittered for a time; affecting showy and expensive modes of
living, and aping the manners of their patrons. These, as
soon as peace diminished the military establishment, and put
an end to that ferment and fluctuation which the actual presence
of war never fails to excite, burst like bubbles on the
surface of the subsiding waves, and astonished the Albanians
with the novel spectacle of bankruptcy and imprisonment. All
this gradually wrought a change on the face of society; yet
such was the disgust which the imputed licentiousness, foppery,
and extravagance of the officers, and the pretensions,
unsupported by worth or knowledge of their apes and followers,
produced, that the young persons who first married those
ambiguous new comers, generally did so without the consent
of their parents, whose affection for their children, however,
soon reconciled them.
// 182.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch34
CHAP. XXXIV.
.pm ch-hd-start
Arrival of a new regiment—Domine Freylinghausen.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
A regiment came to town about this time, the superior
officers of which were younger, more gay, and less amenable
to good counsel than those who used to command the troops
which had formerly been placed on this station. They paid
their visits at the Flats, and were received—but not as usual,
cordially; neither their manners nor morals being calculated
for that meridian. Part of the royal Americans or independent
companies, had, at this time, possession of the fort; some
of these had families—and they were, in general, persons of
decent morals, and a moderate and judicious way of thinking,
who, though they did not court the society of the natives,
expressed no contempt for their manners or opinions. The
regiment I speak of, on the contrary, turned those plain
burghers into the highest ridicule, yet used every artifice to
get acquainted with them. They wished, in short, to act the
part of very fine gentlemen; and the gay and superficial in
those days, were but too apt to take for their model the fine
gentlemen of the detestable old comedies, which good taste
has now very properly exploded; and at which, in every stage
of society, the uncorrupted mind must have felt infinite disgust.
Yet forms arrayed in gold and scarlet, and rendered
more imposing by an air of command and authority, occasionally
softened down into gentleness and submission; and
by that noisy gaiety which youthful inexperience mistakes for
happiness, and that flippant petulance, which those who knew
not much of the language, and nothing at all of the world,
mistook for wit, were very ensnaring. Those dangerously
accomplished heroes made their appearance at a time when
// 183.png
.pn +1
the English language began to be more generally understood;
and when the pretensions of the merchants, commissaries, &c.
to the stations they occupied, were no longer dubious. Those
polished strangers now began to make a part of general
society. At this crisis it was found necessary to have recourse
to billets. The superior officers had generally been either
received at the Flats or accommodated in a large house which
the colonel had in town. The manner in which the hospitality
of that family was exercised; the selection which they made
of such as were fitted to associate with the young persons who
dwelt under their protection, always gave a kind of tone to
society, and held out a light to others.

Madame’s sister, as I before observed, was married to the
respectable and intelligent magistrate, who administered justice
not only to the town, but to the whole neighbourhood. In
their house, also, such of the military were received, and kindly
entertained, as had the sanction of their sister’s approbation.
This judicious and equitable person, who, in the course of
trading in early life upon the lakes, had undergone many of
the hardships, and even dangers, which awaited the military in
that perilous path of duty, knew well what they had to encounter
in the defence of a surly and self-righted race, who
were little inclined to show them common indulgence, far less
gratitude. He judged equitably between both parties; and
while with the most patriotic steadiness he resisted every attempt
of the military to seize any thing with a high hand—he
set the example himself, and used every art of persuasion to
induce his countrymen to every concession that could conduce
to the ease and comfort of their protectors. So far, at
length, he succeeded; that when the regiment to which I allude,
arrived in town, and showed in general an amiable and
obliging disposition, they were quartered in different houses;
the superior officers being lodged willingly by the most respectable
of the inhabitants, such as not having large families,
// 184.png
.pn +1
had room to accommodate them. The colonel and madame
happened at the time of these arrangements, to be at New-York.

In the mean while society began to assume a new aspect;
of the satellites, which, on various pretexts, official and commercial,
had followed the army, several had families, and
those began to mingle more frequently with the inhabitants,
who were, as yet, too simple to detect the surreptitious tone
of lax morals and second-hand manners which prevailed
among many of those who had but very lately climbed up to
the stations they held, and in whose houses the European
modes and diversions were to be met with; these were not in
the best style, yet even in that style they began to be relished
by some young persons, with whom the power of novelty prevailed
over that of habit; and in a few rare instances, the influence
of the young drew the old into a faint consent to these
attempted innovations; but with many the resistance was not
to be overcome.

In this state of matters, one guardian genius watched over
the community with unremitting vigilance. From the original
settlement of the place there had been a succession of good,
quiet clergymen, who came from Holland to take the command
of this expatriated colony. These good men found an
easy charge among a people with whom the external duties of
religion were settled habits, which no one thought of dispensing
with; and where the primitive state of manners, and the
constant occupation of the mind in planting and defending a
territory where every thing was, as it were, to be new created,
was a preservation to the morals. Religion being never
branded with the reproach of imputed hypocrisy, or darkened
by the frown of austere bigotry, was venerated even by those
who were content to glide thoughtless down the stream of
time, without seriously considering whither it was conveying
them, till sorrow or sickness reminded them of the great
// 185.png
.pn +1
purpose for which they were indulged with the privilege of
existence.

The dominees, as these people called their ministers, contented
themselves with preaching in a sober and moderate
strain to the people; and living quietly in the retirement of their
families, were little heard of but in the pulpit; and they
seemed to consider a studious privacy as one of their chief
duties. Domine Freylinghausen, however, was not contented
with this quietude, which he seemed to consider as tending to
languish into indifference. Ardent in his disposition, eloquent
in his preaching, animated and zealous in his conversation,
and frank and popular in his manners, he thought it his duty
to awaken in every breast that slumbering spirit of devotion,
which he considered as lulled by security, or drooping in the
meridian of prosperity, like tender plants in the blaze of sunshine.
These he endeavoured to refresh by daily exhortation,
as well as by the exercise of his public duties. Though rigid
in some of his notions, his life was spotless, and his concern
for his people warm and affectionate. His endeavours to
amend and inspire them with happier desires and aims, were
considered as the labour of love, and rewarded by the warmest
affection, and the most profound veneration; and what to him
was of much more value, by a growing solicitude for the attainment
of that higher order of excellence, which it was his
delight to point out to them. But while he thus incessantly
“allured to brighter worlds, and led the way,” he might, perhaps,
insensibly have acquired a taste of dominion, which
might make him unwilling to part with any portion of that
most desirable species of power, which subjects to us, not
human actions only, but the will which directs them. A vulgar
ambition contents itself with power to command obedience,
but the more exalted and refined ambition aims at domination
over the mind. Hence the leaders of a sect, or even those
who have powers to awake the dying embers of pious fervour,
// 186.png
.pn +1
sway the hearts of their followers in a manner far more gratifying
to them than any enjoyment to be derived from temporal
power. That this desire should unconsciously gain ground
in a virtuous and ardent mind, is not wonderful, when one
considers how the best propensities of the human heart are
flattered, by supposing that we only sway the minds of others,
to incline them to the paths of peace and happiness, and derive
no other advantage from this tacit sovereignty, but that
of seeing those objects of affectionate solicitude grow wiser
and better.

To return to the apostolic and much beloved Freylinghausen.
The progress which this regiment made in the good
graces of his flock, and the gradual assimilation to English
manners of a very inferior standard, alarmed and grieved the
good man not a little; and the intelligence he received from
some of the elders of his church, who had the honour of lodging
the more dissipated subalterns, did not administer much
comfort to him. By this time the Anglomania was beginning
to spread. A sect arose among the young people, who seemed
resolved to assume a lighter style of dress and manners, and
to borrow their taste, in those respects, from their new friends.
This bade fair soon to undo all the good pastor’s labours.
The evil was daily growing—and what, alas! could Domine
Freylinghausen do but preach! This he did earnestly and
even angrily, but in vain. Many were exasperated, but none
reclaimed. The good domine, however, had those who
shared his sorrows and resentments; the elder and wiser
heads of families, and, indeed, a great majority of the primitive
inhabitants, were steadfast against innovation. The colonel
of the regiment, who was a man of fashion and family,
and possessed talents for both good and evil purposes, was
young and gay; and being lodged in the house of a very
wealthy citizen, who had before, in some degree, affected the
newer modes of living, so captivated him with his good breeding
// 187.png
.pn +1
and affability, that he was ready to humour any scheme of
diversion which the colonel and his associates proposed.
Under the auspices of this gallant commander, balls began to
be concerted, and a degree of flutter and frivolity to take
place, which was as far from elegance as it was from the
honest, artless cheerfulness of the meetings usual among
them. The good domine more and more alarmed, not content
with preaching, now began to prophecy; but like Cassandra,
or, to speak as justly, though less poetically, like his
whole fraternity, was doomed always to deliver true predictions
to those who never heeded them.
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch35
CHAP. XXXV.
.pm ch-hd-start
Plays acted—Displeasure of the Domine.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>Now</sc> the very ultimatum of degeneracy, in the opinion of
these simple good people, was approaching; for now the
officers, encouraged by the success of all their projects for
amusement, resolved to new fashion and enlighten those amiable
novices whom their former schemes had attracted within
the sphere of their influence; and, for this purpose, a private
theatre was fitted up, and preparations made for acting a play.
Except the Schuylers and their adopted family, there was not,
perhaps, one of the natives who understood what was meant
by a play. And by this time, the town, once so closely united
by intermarriages and numberless other ties, which could not
exist in any other state of society, were divided into two factions;
one consisting almost entirely of such of the younger
// 188.png
.pn +1
class, as, having a smattering of New-York education, and a
little more of dress and vivacity, or, perhaps, levity, than the
rest, were eager to mingle in the society, and adopt the manners
of those strangers. It is but just, however, to add, that
only a few of the more estimable were included in this number;
these, however they might have been captivated with
novelty and plausibility, were too much attached to their older
relations to give them pain, by an intimacy with people to
whom an impious neglect of duties the most sacred, was generally
imputed, and whose manner of treating their inferiors,
at that distance from the control of higher powers, was often
such as to justify the imputation of cruelty, which the severity
of military punishments had given rise to. The play, however,
was acted in a barn, and pretty well attended, notwithstanding
the good Domine’s earnest charges to the contrary. It was
the Beaux Stratagem; no favourable specimen of the delicacy
or morality of the British theatre; and as for the wit it contains,
very little of that was level to the comprehension of the
novices who were there first initiated into a knowledge of the
magic of the scene, yet they “laughed consumedly,” as Scrub
says, and actually did so, “because they were talking of him.”
They laughed at Scrub’s gestures and appearance: and they
laughed very heartily at seeing the gay young ensigns, whom
they had been used to dance with, flirting fans, displaying
great hoops, and with painted cheeks and coloured eyebrows,
sailing about in female habiliments. This was a jest palpable
and level to every understanding; and it was not only an excellent
good one, but lasted a long while; for every time they
looked at them when restored to their own habits, they laughed
anew at the recollection of their late masquerade. “It is
much,” says Falstaff, “that a lie with a grave face, and a jest
with a sad brow, will do with a fellow who never had the ache
in his shoulders.” One need only look back to the first rude
efforts at comic humour which delighted our fathers, to know
// 189.png
.pn +1
what gross and feeble jests amuse the mind, as yet a stranger
to refinement. The loud and artless mirth so easily excited
in a good-humoured child, the naivete of its odd questions and
ignorant wonder, which delight us while associated with innocence
and simplicity, would provoke the utmost disgust if we
met with them where we look for intelligence and decorous
observances. The simplicity of primitive manners, in what
regards the petty amusements and minute attentions to which
we have become accustomed, is exactly tantamount to that of
childhood; it is a thing which, in our state of society, we have
no idea of. Those who are, from their depressed situation,
ignorant of the forms of polished life, know, at least, that such
exist; and either awkwardly imitate them, or carefully avoid
committing themselves, by betraying their ignorance. Here,
while this simplicity, which, by the by, was no more vulgar
than that of Shakspeare’s Miranda, with its concomitant purity,
continued unbroken by foreign modes, it had all the charm of
undesigning childhood; but when half education and ill supported
pretensions took place of this sweet attraction, it assumed
a very different aspect; it was no longer simplicity but
vulgarity. There are things that every one feels and no one
can describe, and this is one of them.

But to return to our Mirandas and their theatrical heroes:
the fame of their exhibitions went abroad, and opinions were
formed of them no way favourable to the actors or to the audience.
In this region of reality, where rigid truth was always
undisguised, they had not learned to distinguish between fiction
and falsehood. It was said that the officers, familiar with
every vice and every disguise, had not only spent a whole night
in telling lies in a counterfeited place, the reality of which had
never existed, but that they were themselves a lie, and had
degraded manhood, and broke through an express prohibition
in Scripture, by assuming female habits; that they had not
only told lies, but cursed and swore the whole night; and
// 190.png
.pn +1
assumed the characters of knaves, fools, and robbers, which
every wise and good man held in detestation, and no one
would put on unless they felt themselves easy in them. Painting
their faces, of all other things, seemed most to violate the
Albanian ideas of decorum, and was looked upon as a most
flagrant abomination. Great and loud was the outcry produced
by it. Little skilled in sophistry, and strangers to all
the arts “that make the worst appear the better reason,” the
young auditors could only say, “that indeed it was very
amusing; made them laugh heartily, and did harm to nobody.”
So harmless, indeed, and agreeable did this entertainment
appear to the new converts to fashion, that the Recruiting Officer
was given out for another night, to the great annoyance of
Domine Freylinghausen, who invoked heaven and earth to
witness and avenge this contempt, not only of his authority,
but, as he expressed it, of the source from whence it was derived.
Such had been the sanctity of this good man’s life, and
the laborious diligence and awful earnestness with which he
inculcated the doctrines he taught, that they had produced a
correspondent effect, for the most part, on the lives of his
hearers, and led them to regard him as the next thing to an
evangelist. Accustomed to success in all his undertakings,
and to “honour, love, obedience, troops of friends,” and all
that gratitude and veneration can offer to its most distinguished
object, this rebellion against his authority, and contempt of
his opinion, once the standard by which every one’s judgment
was regulated, wounded him very deeply. The abhorrence
with which he inspired the parents of the transgressors, among
whom were many young men of spirit and intelligence, was
the occasion of some family disagreements, a thing formerly
scarcely known. Those young people, accustomed to regard
their parents with implicit reverence, were unwilling to impute
to them unqualified harshness, and therefore removed the
blame of a conduct so unusual to their spiritual guide; “and
// 191.png
.pn +1
while he thought, good easy man, full surely his greatness
was a ripening, nipt his root.” Early one Monday morning,
after the Domine had, on the preceding day, been peculiarly
eloquent on the subject of theatrical amusements, and pernicious
innovations, some unknown person left within his door
a club, a pair of old shoes, a crust of black bread, and a dollar.
The worthy pastor was puzzled to think what this could
mean, but had it too soon explained to him. It was an emblematic
message, to signify the desire entertained of his departure.
The stick was to push him away, the shoes to wear on
the road, and the bread and money a provision for his journey.
These symbols, appear, in former days, to have been more
commonly used, and better understood than at present; for
instance, we find that when Robert Bruce, afterwards king of
Scotland, was in a kind of honourable captivity in the court of
England; when his friend, the Earl of Glocester, discovered
that it was the intention of the king to imprison him in the
tower, lest he should escape to Scotland and assert his rights,
unwilling by word or writing to discover what had passed in
council, and at the same time desirous to save his friend, he
sent him a pair of gilt spurs and twelve crowns, and ordered
the servant to carry them to him as returning what he had formerly
borrowed from him. This mysterious gift and message
was immediately understood, and proved the means of restoring
Bruce, and, with him, the laws and liberty of his native
kingdom. Very different, however, was the effect produced
by this mal a-propos symbol of dislike. Too conscious, and
too fond of popularity, the pastor languished under a sense of
imaginary degradation, grew jealous, and thought every one
alienated from him, because a few giddy young people were
stimulated, by momentary resentments, to express disapprobation
in this vague and dubious manner. Thus, insensibly,
do vanity and self-opinion, mingle with our highest duties.
Had the Domine, satisfied with the testimony of a good conscience,
// 192.png
.pn +1
gone on in the exercise of his duty, and been above
allowing little personal resentments to mingle with his zeal for
what he thought right, he might have felt himself far above an
insult of this kind; but he found to his cost, that “a habitation
giddy and unsure hath he, that buildeth on the fickle
heart” of the unsteady, wavering multitude.
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch36
CHAP. XXXVI.
.pm ch-hd-start
Return of madame—The Domine leaves his people—Fulfilment of his
predictions.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>Madame</sc> now returned to town with the colonel, and finding
this general disorder and division of sentiments with regard
to the pastor, as well as to the adoption of new modes, endeavoured,
with her usual good sense, to moderate and to heal.
She was always of opinion that the increase of wealth should
be accompanied with a proportionate progress in refinement
and intelligence; but she had a particular dislike to peoples
forsaking a respectable plainness of dress and manners, for
mere imperfect imitation and inelegant finery. She knew too
well the progress of society to expect, that, as it grew wealthy
and numerous, it would retain its pristine purity; but then she
preferred a gradual abolition of old habits, that people, as they
receded from their original modes of thinking and living,
might rather become simply elegant than tawdrily fine; and
though she all along wished, in every possible way, to promote
the comfort of the brave men to whom the country owed so
much, she by no means thought an indiscriminate admission
// 193.png
.pn +1
of those strangers among the youth of the place, so unpractised
in the ways of the world, an advisable measure: she was
particularly displeased with the person in whose house the colonel
of the regiment lodged, for so entirely domesticating a
showy stranger, of whose real character he knew so little.—Liberal
and judicious in her views, she did not altogether approve
the austerity of the Domine’s opinions, nor the vehemence
of his language; and, as a Christian, she still less approved
his dejection and concern at the neglect or rudeness of
a few thoughtless young persons. In vain the colonel and
madame soothed and cheered him with counsel and with
kindness; night and day he mused on the imagined insult;
nor could the joint efforts of the most respectable inhabitants
prevent his heart from being corroded with the sense of imagined
unkindness. At length he took the resolution of leaving
those people so dear to him, to visit his friends in Holland,
promising to return in a short time, whenever his health was
restored, and his spirits more composed. A Dutch ship happened
about this time to touch at New-York, on board of
which the Domine embarked; but as the vessel belonging to
Holland was not expected to return, and he did not, as he had
promised, either write or return in an English ship, his congregation
remained for a great while unsupplied, while his silence
gave room for the most anxious and painful conjectures: these
were not soon removed, for the intercourse with Holland was
not frequent or direct. At length, however, the sad reality
was but too well ascertained. This victim of lost popularity
had appeared silent and melancholy to his ship-mates, and
walked constantly on deck. At length he suddenly disappeared,
leaving it doubtful whether he had fallen overboard
by accident, or was prompted by despair to plunge into eternity.
If this latter was the case, it must have been the consequence
of a temporary fit of insanity; for no man had led a
more spotless life, and no man was more beloved by all that
// 194.png
.pn +1
were intimately known to him. He was, indeed, before the
fatal affront, which made such an undue impression on him,
considered as a blessing to the place; and his memory was
so beloved, and his fate so regretted, that this, in addition to
some other occurrences falling out about the same time, entirely
turned the tide of opinion, and rendered the thinking as
well as the violent party, more averse to innovations than ever.
Had the Albanians been Catholics, they would probably have
canonized M. Freylinghausen, whom they considered as a
martyr to levity and innovation. He prophesied a great deal;
such prophecy as ardent and comprehensive minds have delivered,
without any other inspiration but that of the sound,
strong intellect, which augurs the future from a comparison
of the past, and a rational deduction of probable consequences.
The affection that was entertained for his memory induced
people to listen to the most romantic stories of his being
landed on an island, and become a hermit; taken up into a
ship when floating on the sea, into which he had accidentally
fallen, and carried to some remote country, from which he was
expected to return, fraught with experience and faith. I remember
some of my earliest reveries to have been occupied
by the mysterious disappearance of this hard-fated pastor.

In the mean while new events were unfolding more fully to
the Albanians the characters of their lately acquired friends.
Scandal of fifty years standing, must, by this time, have become
almost pointless. The house where the young colonel,
formerly mentioned, was billetted, and made his quarters good
by every art of seductive courtesy, was occupied by a person
wealthy, and somewhat vain and shallow, who had an only
daughter; I am not certain, but I think she was his only child.
She was young, lively, bold, conceited, and exceedingly well
looking. Artless and fearless of consequences, this thoughtless
creature saw every day a person who was no doubt as
much pleased with her as one could be with mere youth,
// 195.png
.pn +1
beauty, and kindness, animated by vivacity, and distinguished
from her companions by all the embellishments which wealth
could procure in that unfashioned quarter; his heart, however,
was safe, as will appear from the sequel. Madame foresaw
the consequences likely to result from an intimacy daily growing,
where there was little prudence on the one side, and as
little of that honour which should respect unsuspecting innocence
on the other. She warned the family, but in vain; they
considered marriage as the worst consequence that could
ensue; and this they could not easily have been reconciled to,
notwithstanding the family and fortune of the lover, had not his
address and attentions charmed them into a kind of tacit acquiescence;
for, as a Roman citizen, in the proud days of the
republic, would have refused his daughter to a king, an Albanian,
at one period, would rather have his daughter married to
the meanest of his fellow-citizens, than to a person of the
highest rank in the army, because they thought a young person,
by such a marriage, was not only forever alienated from her
family, but from those pure morals and plain manners, in which
they considered the greatest possible happiness to exist. To
return:

While these gaieties were going on, and the unhappy Domine
embarking on the voyage which terminated his career,
an order came for the colonel to march. This was the only
commander who had ever been in town, who had not spent
any time, or asked any counsel at the Flats. Meanwhile, his
Calista, (for such she was,) tore her hair in frantic agonies at
his departure; not that she in the least doubted of his returning
soon to give a public sanction to their union, but lest he
should prove a victim to the war then existing; and because,
being very impetuous, and unaccustomed to control, the object
of her wishes had been delayed to a future period. In a
short time, things began to assume a more serious aspect; and
her father came one day posting to the Flats, on his way to
// 196.png
.pn +1
the lakes, seeking counsel too late, and requesting the aid of
their influence to bring about a marriage, which should cover
the disgrace of his family. They had little hopes of his success,
yet he proceeded; and finding the colonel deaf to all
his arguments, he had recourse to entreaty, and finally offered
to divest himself of all but a mere subsistence, and give him
such a fortune as was never heard of in that country. This,
with an angel, as the fond father thought her, appeared irresistible;
but no! heir to a considerable fortune in his own
country, and, perhaps, inwardly despising a romp, whom
he had not considered from the first as estimable, he was not
to be soothed or bribed into compliance. The dejected father
returned disconsolate; and the astonishment and horror this
altogether novel occurrence occasioned in the town, was not
to be described. Of such a circumstance there was no existing
precedent; half the city were related to the fair culprit, for
penitent she could hardly be called. This unexpected refusal
threw the whole city into consternation. One would have
thought there had been an earthquake; and all the insulted
Domine’s predictions rose to remembrance, armed with avenging
terrors.

Many other things occurred to justify the Domine’s caution,
and the extreme reluctance which the elders of the land showed
to all such associations. All this madame greatly lamented,
yet could not acquit the parties concerned, whose duty it was,
either to keep their daughters from that society for which their
undisguised simplicity of heart unfitted them, or give them that
culture and usage of life, which enables a young person to
maintain a certain dignity, and to revolt at the first trespass on
decorum. Her own protégés were instances of this; who,
having their minds early stored with sentiments, such as would
enable them truly to estimate their own value, and judge of the
characters and pretensions of those who conversed with them;
all conducted themselves with the utmost propriety, though
// 197.png
.pn +1
daily mixing with strangers, and were solicited in marriage by
the first people in the province, who thought themselves happy
to select companions from such a school of intelligence and
politeness, where they found beauty of the first order informed
by mind, and graced by the most pleasing manners.
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch37
CHAP. XXXVII.
.pm ch-hd-start
Death of Colonel Schuyler.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>This</sc> year (1757) was marked by an event that not only
clouded the future life of madame, but occasioned the deepest
concern to the whole province. Colonel Schuyler was scarcely
sensible of the decline of life, except some attacks of the rheumatism,
to which the people of that country are peculiarly
subject. He enjoyed sound health and equal spirits, and had,
upon the whole, from the temperance of his habits, and the
singular equanimity of his mind, a more likely prospect of
prolonging his happy and useful life, than falls to the lot of
most people. He had, however, in very cold weather, gone
to town to visit a relation, then ill of a pleurisy; and having
sat awhile by the invalid, and conversed with him both on his
worldly and spiritual affairs, he returned very thoughtful. On
rising the next morning, he began the day, as had for many
years been his custom, with singing some verses of a psalm
in his closet. Madame observed that he was interrupted by
a most violent fit of sneezing; this returned again a little
while after, when he calmly told her that he felt the symptoms
of a pleuritic attack, which had begun in the same manner with
// 198.png
.pn +1
that of his friend; that the event might possibly prove fatal;
but that knowing, as she did, how long a period[#] of more than
common felicity had been granted to their mutual affection,
and with what tranquillity he was enabled to look forward to
that event which is common to all, and which would be earnestly
desired if withheld; he expected of her that, whatever
might happen, she would look back with gratitude, and forward
with hope; and, in the mean time, honour his memory,
and her own profession of faith, by continuing to live in the
manner they had hitherto done, that he might have the comfort
of thinking that his house might still be an asylum to the helpless
and the stranger, and a desirable place of meeting to his
most valued friends: this was spoken with an unaltered countenance,
and in a calm and even tone. Madame, however,
was alarmed: friends from all quarters poured in, with the
most anxious concern for the event. By this time there was
an hospital built at Albany for the troops, with a regular medical
establishment. No human aid was wanting, and the composure
of madame astonished every one. This, however, was
founded on hope; for she never could let herself imagine the
danger serious, being flattered both by the medical attendants,
and the singular fortitude of the patient. He, however, continued
to arrange all things for the change he expected. He
left his houses in town and country, his plate, and, in short, all
his effects, to his wife, at her sole disposal; his estates were
finally left to the orphan son of his nephew, then a child in the
family; but madame was to enjoy the rents during her life.

His negroes, for whom he had a great affection, were admitted
every day to visit him; and with all the ardour of
attachment peculiar to that kind-hearted race, implored heaven
day and night for his recovery. The day before his death, he
had them all called around his bed, and in their presence besought
// 199.png
.pn +1
of madame that she would upon no account sell any of
them. This request he would not have made could he have
foreseen the consequences. On the fifth day of his illness he
quietly breathed his last; having expressed, while he was able
to articulate, the most perfect confidence, in the mercy of the
God whom he had diligently served and entirely trusted; and
the most tender attachment to the friends he was about to leave.

.pm fn-start // A
Forty years.
.pm fn-end

It would be a vain attempt to describe the sorrow of a
family like his, who had all been accustomed from childhood
to look up to him as the first of mankind, and the medium
through which they received every earthly blessing; while the
serenity of his wisdom, the sweet and gentle cast of his heartfelt
piety, and the equable mildness of his temper, rendered him
incapable of embittering obligations; so that his generous humanity
and liberal hospitality, were adorned by all the graces
that courtesy could add to kindness. The public voice was
loud in its plaudits and lamentations. In the various characters
of a patriot, a hero, and a saint, he was dear to all the
friends of valour, humanity, and public spirit; while his fervent
loyalty and unvaried attachment to the king, and the laws
of that country by which his own was protected, endeared him
to all the servants of government; who knew they never
should meet with another equally able, or equally disposed to
smooth their way in the paths of duty assigned to them.

To government this loss would have been irreparable, had
not two singular and highly meritorious characters a little before
this time made their appearance, and by superiority of
merit and abilities, joined with integrity seldom to be met with
any where, in some degree supplied the loss to the public.
One of these was Sir William Johnson, the Indian superintendent,
formerly mentioned; the other was Cadwallader Colder,
for a very long period of years, lieutenant governor, (indeed,
virtually governor,) of New-York; who, in point of political
sagacity, and thorough knowledge of those he governed, was
// 200.png
.pn +1
fully capable to supply that place. This shrewd and able
ruler, whose origin, I believe, was not very easily traced, was
said to be a Scotchman, and had raised himself solely by his
merit to the station he held. In this he maintained himself by
indefatigable diligence, rigid justice, and the most perfect impartiality.
He neither sought to be feared nor loved, but merely
to be esteemed and trusted, and thus fixed his power on the
broad foundation of public utility. Successive governors, little
acquainted with the country, and equally strangers to business,
found it convenient to leave the management with him; who
confessedly understood it better than any one else, and who
had no friends but a few personal ones, and no enemies but a
few public ones, who envied his station. It was very extraordinary
to see a man rule so long and so steadily, where he was
merely and coldly esteemed; with so few of the advantages
that generally procure success in the world, without birth or
alliance; he had not even the recommendation of a pleasing
appearance or insinuating address. He was diminutive, and
somewhat more than high-shouldered. The contrast betwixt
the wealth of his mind and the poverty of his outward appearance,
might remind one of Æsop, or rather of the faithful
though ill-shaped herald of Ulysses:

.pm verse-start
“Eurybutes, in whose large mind alone,
 Ulysses viewed the image of his own.”
.pm verse-end

Thus it was with Colden. Among the number of governors
who succeeded each other in his time, if, by chance, one happened
to be a man of ability, he estimated his merit at its just
rate; and whatever original measure he might find it necessary
to take for the public good, left the common routine of
business in the hands of that tried integrity and experience in
which he found them; satisfied with the state and popularity
of governor, on which the other had not a wish to encroach.
// 201.png
.pn +1
Colden, however, enriched his own family, in a manner, on
the whole, not objectionable. He procured from the successive
governors various grants of land, which, though valuable
in quality, were not, from the remoteness of their situation, an
object of desire to settlers; and purchased grants from many
who had obtained the property of them, among which were
different governors and military commanders. He allowed
this mine of future wealth to lie quietly ripening to its value,
till the lands near it were, in process of time, settled, and it
became a desirable object to purchase or hold on lease.
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch38
CHAP. XXXVIII.
.pm ch-hd-start
Mrs. Schuyler’s arrangements and conduct after the colonel’s death.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>The</sc> mind of our good aunt, which had never before yielded
to calamity, seemed altogether subdued by the painful separation
from her husband. Never having left her consort’s bedside,
or known the refreshment of a quiet sleep, during his
illness, she sunk at first into a kind of torpor, which her
friends willingly mistook for the effects of resignation. This
was soon succeeded by the most acute sorrow, and a dangerous
illness, the consequence of her mental suffering. In
spring she slowly recovered, and endeavoured to find consolation
in returning to the regulation of her family, and the
society of her friends, for both of which she had been for some
months disqualified. Her nieces, the Miss Cuylers, were a
great comfort to her, from their affectionate attention, and the
pleasure she took in seeing them growing up to be all that her
// 202.png
.pn +1
maternal affection could wish. In the social grief of Pedrom[#]
who gave all his time to her during the early part of her
widowhood, she also found consolation; and whenever she
was able to receive them, her friends came from all quarters
to express their sympathy and their respect. The colonel’s
heir and her own eldest nephew made, with one of her nieces,
a part of her family; and the necessity of attending to such
affairs as formerly lay within the colonel’s province, served
further to occupy her mind; yet her thoughts continually recurred
to that loss, which she daily felt more and more. She
buried the colonel in a spot within a short distance of his own
house, in which he had formerly desired to repose, that his
remains might not quit a scene so dear to him; and that the
place rendered sacred by his ashes, might in future be a common
sepulchre to his family; that he might in death, as in life,
be surrounded by the objects of his affection and beneficence.
This consecrated spot, about the size of a small flower garden,
was inclosed for this purpose, and a tombstone, with a suitable
inscription, erected over the grave, where this excellent person’s
relict proposed her ashes should mingle with his. In the
mean time, though by continually speaking of her deceased
friend, she passed the day without much visible agitation, she
had fallen into a habit of vigilance—rarely sleeping till morning,
and suffering through the silent hours from a periodical
agony, for such it might be called, with which she was regularly
visited. She had a confidante in this secret suffering;
a decent and pious woman, who, on the death of her husband,
a serjeant in the army, had been received into this family as a
kind of upper domestic; and found herself so happy, and
made herself so useful in teaching, reading, and needle-work
to the children, that she still remained. This good woman
// 203.png
.pn +1
slept in aunt’s room; and when all the family were at rest,
she used to accompany her to a small distance from the tomb
which contained those remains so dear to her. Madame, in
the mean time, entered alone into the hallowed inclosure, and
there indulged her unavailing sorrow. This she continued
to do for some time, as she thought, unobserved; but being
very tall, and become large as she advanced in life, her
figure, arrayed in her night-clothes was very conspicuous, and
was, on different occasions, observed by neighbours, who occasionally
passed by at night; the consequence was, that it
was rumoured that an apparition was seen every night near
the colonel’s grave. This came to the ears of the people of
the house, some of whom had the curiosity to watch at a distance,
and saw the dreaded form appear, and, as they thought,
vanish. This they carefully concealed from their revered patroness.
Every one else in the house, however, heard it, and
a pensive air of awe and mystery overspread the whole family.
Her confidante, however, told her of it; and the consequence
of this improper indulgence of sorrow greatly increased the
dislike which madame had always expressed for mystery and
concealment. She was unwilling to let a family, to whom
she had always set such an example of self-command, know
of her indulging a weakness so unsuitable to her character and
time of life. At the same time, however, she was resolved
not to allow the belief of a supernatural appearance to fasten
on their minds: unwilling to mention the subject herself, she
was forced to submit to the humiliation of having it revealed
by her confidante, to quiet the minds of the children and domestics,
and reconcile them to solitude and moonlight.

.pm fn-start // A
The colonel’s brother Peter, so called.
.pm fn-end

Her mind was at this time roused from her own peculiar
sorrows, by an alarming event, which disturbed the public
tranquillity, and awakened the fears of the whole province, by
laying open the western frontier. This was the taking of Oswego
by the French, which fortress was the only barrier, except
// 204.png
.pn +1
the valour and conduct of Sir William Johnson and his
Mohawk friends, by which the town was protected on that side.
The poor people, who were driven by the terror of this event
from the settlements in that quarter, excited the sympathy of
liberal-minded persons; and the interest which she took in
their distresses, was one of the first things that roused the attention
of our good aunt to her wonted beneficent exertions.
General Bradstreet, who had a high respect for her understanding,
and consulted her on all emergencies, had a profound
reverence for the colonel’s memory, and continued his intimacy
in the family. The critical situation of things at this time
occasioned Lord Loudon to be sent out as commander of the
forces in America. Madame received this nobleman when
he visited Albany, and gave him most useful information.—He
was introduced to her by General Bradstreet, whose power
and consequence might be said to increase with the disasters
of the country; his department was a very lucrative one,
and enabled him, first, greatly to enrich himself, and, in process
of time, his friend Philip Schuyler, who, from his deputy,
became, in a manner, his coadjutor. Albany now swarmed
with engineers, planners, architects, and boat-builders. Various
military characters, since highly distinguished, whose
names I do not recollect, though once familiar to me, obtained
introductions to madame, who began once more to occupy
her mind with public matters, and to open her house to the
more respected and well known characters among the military.
Her brother-in-law, whom I have so often mentioned under
the affectionate appellation of Pedrom, by which he was known
in the family, being within less than half an hour’s walk, spent
much of his time with her, and received her company. This
he was well qualified to do, being a person of a comely dignified
appearance, and frank, easy manners, inferior only to
his late brother in depth of reflection, and comprehension of
mind.
// 205.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch39
CHAP. XXXIX.
.pm ch-hd-start
Mohawk Indians—The superintendent.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>By</sc> this time matters had gradually assumed a new aspect
on this great continent. The settlement at Albany was no
longer an insulated region, ruled and defended by the wisdom
and courage diffused through the general mass of the inhabitants;
but begun, in the ordinary course of things, to incorporate
with the general state. The Mohawk Indians were so
engaged by treaties to assist the army, in its now regular operations
to the westward, that they came less frequently to visit
Albany. A line of forts had, at a prodigious expense, been
erected, leading from Albany to Upper Canada, by the Mohawk
river, and the lakes of Ontario, Niagara, &c. Many
respectable engineers were engaged constructing these; some
of them I remember were Swedes, persons of a graceful appearance,
polished manners, and very correct conduct.—These
strangers conducted matters better than our own countrymen;
being more accommodating in their manners, and
better accustomed to a severe climate, and inconveniences of
every kind. They were frequent guests at the Flats, were a
pleasing accession to the society, and performed their duty to
the public with a degree of honour and fidelity that checked
abuses in others, and rescued the service they were engaged
in, from the reproach which it had incurred, in consequence
of those fungi of society which had at first intruded into it.

By the advice of the Schuylers, there was now on the Mohawk
river a superintendent of Indian affairs; the importance
of which began to be fully understood. He was regularly appointed,
and paid by government. This was the justly celebrated
Sir William Johnson, who held an office difficult both
// 206.png
.pn +1
to execute and define. He might indeed be called the tribune
of the five nations; whose claims he asserted, whose rights
he protected, and over whose minds he possessed a greater
sway than any other individual had ever attained. He was
indeed calculated to conciliate and retain the affections of
this brave people; possessing in common with them many of
those peculiarities of mind and manners, that distinguished
them from others. He was an uncommonly tall, well made
man: with a fine countenance; which, however, had rather
an expression of dignified sedateness, approaching to melancholy.
He appeared to be taciturn, never wasting words on
matters of no importance: but highly eloquent when the occasion
called forth his powers. He possessed intuitive sagacity,
and the most entire command of temper, and of countenance.
He did by no means lose sight of his own interest,
but on the contrary raised himself to power and wealth, in an
open and active manner; not disdaining any honourable
means of benefiting himself: but at the same time the bad
policy, as well as meanness of sacrificing respectability to
snatching at petty present advantages, were so obvious to
him, that he laid the foundation of his future prosperity on the
broad and deep basis of honourable dealing, accompanied by
the most vigilant attention to the objects he had in view; acting
so as, without the least departure from integrity on the
one hand, or inattention to his affairs on the other, to conduct
himself in such a manner, as gave an air of magnanimity to
his character, that made him the object of universal confidence.
He purchased from the Indians (having the grant
confirmed by his sovereign) a large and fertile tract of land
upon the Mohawk river; where having cleared and cultivated
the ground, he built two spacious and convenient places
of residence: known afterwards by the names of Johnson
castle, and Johnson hall. The first was on a fine eminence,
stockaded round, and slightly fortified; the last was built on
// 207.png
.pn +1
the side of the river, on a most fertile and delightful plain, surrounded
with an ample and well cultivated domain: and that
again encircled by European settlers; who had first come
there as architects, or workmen, and had been induced by Sir
William’s liberality, and the singular beauty of the district, to
continue. His trade with the five nations was very much for
their advantage; he supplying them on more equitable terms
than any trader, and not indulging the excesses in regard to
strong liquors, which others were too easily induced to do.—The
castle contained the store in which all goods were laid
up, which were meant for the Indian traffic, and all the peltry
received in exchange. The hall was his summer residence,
and the place round which his greatest improvements were
made. Here this singular man lived like a little sovereign;
kept an excellent table for strangers, and officers, whom the
course of their duty now frequently led into these wilds, and
by confiding entirely on the Indians, and treating them with
unvaried truth and justice, without ever yielding to solicitation
what he had once refused, he taught them to repose entire
confidence in him: he, in his turn, became attached to them,
wore in winter almost entirely their dress and ornaments, and
contracted a kind of alliance with them; for becoming a
widower in the prime of life, he connected himself with an
Indian maiden, daughter to a sachem, who possessed an uncommonly
agreeable person, and good understanding; and
whether ever formally married to him according to our usage,
or not, contrived to live with him in great union and affection
all his life. So perfect was his dependence on those people,
whom his fortitude and other manly virtues had attached to
him, that when they returned from their summer excursions,
and exchanged the last year’s furs for fire-arms, &c. they
used to pass a few days at the castle; when his family and
most of his domestics were down at the hall. There they
were all liberally entertained by their friend; and five hundred
// 208.png
.pn +1
of them have been known, for nights together, after
drinking pretty freely, to lie around him on the floor, while he
was the only white person in a house containing great quantities
of every thing that was to them valuable, or desirable.

While Sir William thus united in his mode of life the calm
urbanity of a liberal and extensive trader, with the splendid
hospitality, the numerous attendance, and the plain though dignified
manners of an ancient baron, the female part of his
family were educated in a manner so entirely dissimilar from
that of all other young people of their sex and station, that as
a matter of curiosity, it is worthy a recital. These two young
ladies inherited, in a great measure, the personal advantages
and strength of understanding for which their father was so
distinguished. Their mother dying when they were young,
bequeathed the care of them to a friend. This friend was the
widow of an officer who had fallen in battle. I am not sure
whether she was devout, and shunned the world for fear of its
pollutions, or romantic, and despised its selfish bustling spirit;
but so it was, that she seemed utterly to forget it, and devoted
herself to her fair pupils. To these she taught needle-work of
the most elegant and ingenious kinds, reading and writing.
Thus quietly passed their childhood; their monitress not taking
the smallest concern in family management, nor, indeed, the
least interest in any worldly thing but themselves; far less did
she inquire about the fashions or diversions which prevailed
in a world she had renounced, and from which she seemed to
wish her pupils to remain for ever estranged. Never was any
thing so uniform as their dress, their occupations, and the
general tenor of their lives. In the morning they rose early,
read their prayer-book, I believe, but certainly their bible, fed
their birds, tended their flowers, and breakfasted; then were
employed for some hours with unwearied perseverance, at fine
needle-work, for the ornamental parts of dress, which were the
fashion of the day, without knowing to what use they were to
// 209.png
.pn +1
be put, as they never wore them; and had not at the age of
sixteen ever seen a lady, excepting each other and their
governess; they then read, as long as they chose, the voluminous
romances of the last century, of which their friend had an
ample collection, or Rollin’s Ancient History, the only books
they had ever seen; after dinner, they regularly in summer
took a long walk; or an excursion in the sleigh, in winter,
with their friend, and then returned and resumed their wonted
occupations, with the sole variation of a stroll in the garden in
summer, and a game at chess or shuttle-cock in winter. Their
dress was full as simple and uniform as every thing else; they
wore wrappers of the finest chintz, and green silk petticoats—and
this the whole year round without variation. Their hair,
which was long and beautiful, was tied behind with a simple
ribbon; a large calash shaded each from the sun, and in winter
they had long scarlet mantles that covered them from head
to foot. Their father did not live with them, but visited them
every day in their apartment. This innocent and uniform life
they led, till the death of their monitress, which happened when
the eldest was not quite seventeen. On some future occasion
I shall satisfy the curiosity which this short but faithful account
of these amiable recluses has possibly excited.[#]

.pm fn-start // A
These ladies married officers, who, in succession, lived as aides-de-camp
with their father. Their manners soon grew easy; they readily
acquired the habits of society, and made excellent wives.
.pm fn-end

// 210.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch40
CHAP. XL.
.pm ch-hd-start
General Abercrombie—Lord Howe.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>I must</sc> now return to Albany, and to the projected expedition.

General Abercrombie, who commanded on the northern
lakes, was a brave and able man, though rather too much attached
to the military schools of those days. To accommodate
himself to the desultory and uncertain warfare of the
woods, where sagacity, ready presence of mind, joined with
the utmost caution, and a condescension of opinion to our Indian
allies, was of infinitely more consequence than rules and
tactics, which were mere shackles and incumbrances in this
contention, with difficulties and perplexities more harassing
than mere danger. Indeed, when an ambuscade or sudden
onset was followed by defeat here, (as in Braddock’s case,)
the result reminded one of the route of Absalom’s army; where,
we are told, the wood devoured more than the sword. The
general was a frequent guest with madame, when the nature
of his command would permit him to relax from the duties that
occupied him. He had his men encamped below Albany, in
that great field which I have formerly described, as the common
pasture for the town. Many of the officers were quartered
in the fort and town; but Lord Howe always lay in his
tent, with the regiment which he commanded; and which he
modelled in such a manner, that they were ever after considered
as an example to the whole American army, who gloried
in adopting all those rigid, yet salutary regulations, to
which this young hero readily submitted, to enforce his commands
by example.

Above the pedantry of holding up standards of military rules,
where it was impossible to practise them, and the narrow spirit
// 211.png
.pn +1
of preferring the modes of his own country, to those proved by
experience, to suit that in which he was to act, Lord Howe
laid aside all pride and prejudice, and gratefully accepted
counsel from those whom he knew to be best qualified to direct
him. Madame was delighted with the calm steadiness
with which he carried through the austere rules which he found
it necessary to lay down. In the first place, he forbade all
displays of gold and scarlet, in the rugged march they were
about to undertake, and set the example by wearing himself
an ammunition coat, that is to say, one of the surplus soldier’s
coats cut short. This was a necessary precaution, because
in the woods, the hostile Indians, who started from behind the
trees, usually caught at the long and heavy skirts then worn by
the soldiers; and for the same reason he ordered the muskets
to be shortened, that they might not, as on former occasions,
be snatched from behind by these agile foes. To prevent the
march of his regiment from being descried at a distance by
the glittering of their arms, the barrels of their guns were all
blackened; and to save them from the tearing of bushes, the
stings of insects, &c. he set them the example of wearing
leggins, a kind of buskin, made of strong woollen cloth, formerly
described as a part of the Indian dress. The greatest
privation to the young and vain yet remained. Hair well
dressed, and in great quantity, was then considered as the
greatest possible ornament, which those who had it took the
utmost care to display to advantage, and to wear in a bag or
queue, which ever they fancied. Lord Howe’s was fine and
very abundant; he, however, cropped it, and ordered every
one else to do the same. Every morning he rose very early,
and, after giving his orders, rode out to the Flats, breakfasted,
and spent some time in conversation with his friends there;
and when in Albany, received all manner of useful information
from the worthy magistrate, Cornelius Cuyler. Another
point which this young Lycurgus of the camp wished to establish,
// 212.png
.pn +1
was that of not carrying any thing that was not absolutely
necessary. An apparatus of tables, chairs and such
other luggage, he thought highly absurd, where people had to
force their way with unspeakable difficulty, to encounter an
enemy free from all such encumbrances. The French had
long learnt how little convenience could be studied on such
occasions as the present.

When his lordship got matters arranged to his satisfaction,
he invited his officers to dine with him in his tent. They
gladly assembled at the hour appointed, but were surprised to
see no chairs or tables; there were, however, bear-skins
spread like a carpet. His lordship welcomed them, and sat
down on a small log of wood; they followed his example, and
presently the servants set down a large dish of pork and
pease. His lordship, taking a sheath from his pocket, out of
which he produced a knife and fork, began to cut and divide
the meat. They sat in a kind of awkward suspense, which he
interrupted, by asking if it were possible that soldiers like
them, who had been so long destined for such a service,
should not be provided with portable implements of this kind?
and finally relieved them from their embarrassment, by distributing
to each a case the same as his own, which he had provided
for the purpose. The austere regulations, and constant
self-denial which he imposed upon the troops he commanded,
were patiently borne, because he was not only gentle in his
manners, but generous and humane in a very high degree, and
exceedingly attentive to the health and real necessities of the
soldiery. Among many instances of this, a quantity of powdered
ginger was given to every man; and the sergeants were
ordered to see, that when, in the course of marching, the soldiers
arrived hot and tired at the banks of any stream, they
should not be permitted to stoop to drink, as they generally
inclined to do, but obliged to lift water in their canteens, and mix
ginger with it. This became afterwards a general practice;
// 213.png
.pn +1
and in those aguish swamps, through which the troops were
forced to march, was the means of saving many lives. Aunt
Schuyler, as this amiable young officer familiarly styled his maternal
friend, had the utmost esteem for him; and the greatest
hope that he would, at some future period, redress all those
evils that had formerly impeded the service, and, perhaps,
plant the British standard on the walls of Quebec. But this
honour another young hero was destined to achieve; whose
virtues were to be illustrated by the splendour of victory, the
only light by which the multitude can see the merits of a
soldier.

The Schuylers regarded this expedition with a mixture of
doubt and dismay, knowing too well, from the sad retrospect
of former failures, how little valour and discipline availed
where regular troops had to encounter unseen foes, and with
difficulties arising from the nature of the ground, for which
military science afforded no remedy. Of General Abercrombie’s
worth and valour they had the highest opinion; but they
had no opinion of attacking an enemy so subtle and experienced
on their own ground, in entrenchments, and this they feared
he would have the temerity to attempt. In the meantime
preparations were making for the attempt. The troops were
marched in detachments past the Flats, and each detachment
quartered for a night on the common, or in the offices. One
of the first of these was commanded by Lee, of frantic celebrity,
who afterwards, in the American war, joined the opponents
of government, and was then a captain in the British
service. Captain Lee had neglected to bring the customary
warrants for impressing horses and oxen, and procuring a
supply of various necessaries, to be paid for by the agents of
government on showing the usual documents; he, however,
seized every thing he wanted where he could most readily find
it, as if he were in a conquered country; and not content
with this violence, poured forth a volley of execrations on
// 214.png
.pn +1
those who presumed to question his right of appropriating for
his troops every thing that could be serviceable to them: even
madame, accustomed to universal respect, and to be considered
as the friend and benefactress of the army, was not spared;
and the aids which she never failed to bestow on those
whom she saw about to expose their lives for the general defence,
were rudely demanded, or violently seized. Never did
the genuine christianity of this exalted character shine more
brightly than in this exigency; her countenance never altered,
and she used every argument to restrain the rage of her
domestics, and the clamour of her neighbours, who were treated
in the same manner. Lee marched on after having done
all the mischief in his power, and was the next day succeeded
by Lord Howe, who was indignant on hearing what had happened,
and astonished at the calmness with which madame
bore the treatment she had received. She soothed him by
telling him, that she knew too well the value of protection from
a danger so imminent, to grow captious with her deliverers on
account of a single instance of irregularity, and only regretted
that they should have deprived her of her wonted pleasure, in
freely bestowing whatever could advance the service, or refresh
the exhausted troops. They had a long and very serious conversation
that night. In the morning his lordship proposed
setting out very early; but when he rose was astonished to
find madame waiting, and breakfast ready: he smiled and said
he would not disappoint her, as it was hard to say when he
might again breakfast with a lady. Impressed with an unaccountable
degree of concern about the fate of the enterprise
in which he was embarked, she again repeated her counsels
and her cautions; and when he was about to depart, embraced
him with the affection of a mother, and shed many tears, a
weakness which she did not often give way to.

Meantime, the best prepared and disciplined body of forces
that had ever been assembled in America, were proceeding
// 215.png
.pn +1
on an enterprise, that, to the experience and sagacity of the
Schuylers, appeared a hopeless, or, at least a very desperate
one. A general gloom overspread the family; this, at all
times large, was now augmented by several of the relations
both of the colonel and madame, who had visited them at that
time, to be nearer the scene of action, and get the readiest and
most authentic intelligence; for the apprehended consequence
of a defeat was, the pouring in of the French troops into the
interior of the province; in which case Albany might be abandoned
to the enraged savages attending the French army.

In the afternoon a man was seen coming on horseback from
the north, galloping violently, without his hat. Pedrom, as he
was familiarly called, the colonel’s only surviving brother, was
with her, and ran instantly to inquire, well knowing he rode
express. The man galloped on, crying out that Lord Howe
was killed. The mind of our good aunt had been so engrossed
by her anxiety and fears for the event impending, and so
impressed by the merit and magnanimity of her favourite hero,
that her wonted firmness sunk under this stroke, and she
broke out into bitter lamentations. This had such an effect on
her friends and domestics, that shrieks and sobs of anguish
echoed through every part of the house. Even those who
were too young or too old to enter into the public calamity,
were affected by the violent grief of aunt, who, in general, had
too much self-command to let others witness her sorrows.—Lord
Howe was shot from behind a tree, probably by some
Indian; and the whole army were inconsolable for a loss they
too well knew to be irreparable. This stroke, however, they
soon found to be “portent and pain, a menace and a blow;”
but this dark prospect was cheered for a moment by a deceitful
gleam of hope, which only added to the bitterness of disappointment.
// 216.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch41
CHAP. XLI.
.pm ch-hd-start
Total Defeat at Ticonderoga—General Lee—Humanity of Madame.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>The</sc> next day they heard the particulars of the skirmish,
for it could scarcely be called a regular engagement, which had
proved fatal to the young warrior, whose loss was so deeply
felt. The army had crossed lake George in safety, on the
5th of July, and landed without opposition. They proceeded
in four columns to Ticonderoga, and displayed a spectacle
unprecedented in the New World. An army of sixteen thousand
men, regulars and provincials, with a train of artillery,
with all the necessary provisions for an active campaign or
regular siege, followed by a little fleet of bateaux, pontons, &c.
They set out wrong however, by not having Indian guides,
who are alone to be depended on in such a place. In a short
time the columns fell in upon each other, and occasioned
much confusion. While they marched on in this bewildered
manner, the advanced guard of the French, which had retired
before them, were equally bewildered, and falling in with them
in this confusion, a skirmish ensued, in which the French lost
above three hundred men, and we, though successful, lost
as much as it was possible to lose, in one; for here it was that
Lord Howe fell.

The fort is a situation of peculiarly natural strength; it lies
on a little peninsula, with lake George on one side, and a narrow
opening, communicating with lake Champlain, on the
other. It is surrounded by water on three sides; and in front
there is a swamp, very easily defended: and where it ceased
the French had made a breast-work above eight feet high;
not content with this, they had felled immense trees on the
spot, and laid them heaped on each other, with their branches
// 217.png
.pn +1
outward, before their works. In fine, there was no place on
earth where aggression was so difficult, and defence so easy,
as in these woods; especially when, as in this case, the party
to be attacked had great leisure to prepare their defence. On
this impenetrable front they had also a line of cannon mounted;
while the difficulty of bringing artillery through this
swampy ground, near enough to bear upon the place, was
very great. This garrison, almost impregnable from situation,
was defended by between four and five thousand men. An
engineer, sent to reconnoitre, was of opinion that it might be
attacked without waiting for the artillery. The fatal resolution
was taken without consulting those best qualified to judge.
An Indian or native American were here better skilled in the
nature of the ground, and probabilities of success. They
knew better, in short, what the spade, hatchet, or musket,
could or could not do, in such situations, than the most skilful
veteran from Europe, however replete with military science.
Indeed when system usurps the province of plain sound sense
in unknown exigencies, the result is seldom favourable; and
this truth was never more fatally demonstrated than in the
course of the American war, where an obstinate adherence to
regular tactics, which do not bend to time or place, occasioned,
from first to last, an incalculable waste of blood, of treasure,
and of personal courage. The resolution then was to
attack the enemy without loss of time, and even without waiting
for artillery. Alas! “what have not Britons dared?”

I cannot enter into the dreadful detail of what followed;
certainly never was infatuation equal to this. The forty-second
regiment was then in the height of deserved reputation;
in which there was not a private man that did not consider
himself as rather above the lower class of people, and peculiarly
bound to support the honour of the very singular corps
to which he belonged. This brave hard-fated regiment was
then commanded by a veteran of great experience and military
// 218.png
.pn +1
skill, Colonel Gordon Graham, who had the first point
of attack assigned to him; he was wounded at the first onset.
How many this regiment, in particular, lost of men and officers,
I cannot now exactly say; but there were very many.
What I distinctly remember, having often heard of it since, is,
that, of the survivors, every officer retired wounded off the
field. Of the fifty-fifth regiment, to which my father had
newly been attached, ten officers were killed, including all the
field officers. No human beings could show more determined
courage than this brave army did. Standing four hours
under a constant discharge of cannon and musketry from barricades,
on which it was impossible for them to make the least
impression, General Abercrombie saw the fruitless waste of
blood that was every hour increasing, and ordered a retreat,
which was very precipitate, so much so, that they crossed the
lake, and regained their camp on the other side, the same night.
Two thousand men were killed, wounded, or taken, on this
disastrous day. On the next, those most dangerously wounded
were sent forward in boats, and reached the Flats before
evening; they in a manner brought (at least confirmed) the
news of the defeat. Madame had her barn instantly fitted up
into a temporary hospital, and a room in her house allotted for
the surgeon who attended the patients: among these was Lee,
the same insolent and rapacious Lee, who had insulted this
general benefactress, and deprived her of one of her greatest
pleasures, that of giving a share of every thing she had to advance
the service. She treated him with compassion, without
adverting, by the least hint, to the past. She tore up her sheets
and table linen for bandages; and she and her nieces were
constantly employed in attending and cheering the wounded,
while all her domestics were busied in preparing food and
every thing necessary for those unhappy sufferers. Even Lee
felt and acknowledged the resistless force of such generous
humanity. He swore, in his vehement manner, that he was
// 219.png
.pn +1
sure there would be a place reserved for madame in heaven,
though no other woman should be there, and that he should
wish for nothing better than to share her final destiny. The
active, industrious beneficence she exercised at this time, not
only towards the wounded, but the wretched widows and orphans
who had remained here, and had lost their all in their
husbands and parents, was beyond praise. Could I clearly
recollect and arrange the anecdotes of this period, as I have
often heard them, they would of themselves fill a volume; suffice
it, that such was the veneration in which she was held in
the army after this period, that I recollect, among the earliest
impressions received in my mind, that of a profound reverence
for madame, as these people were wont to call her. Before
I ever saw her, I used to think of her as a most august personage,
of a majestic presence; sitting on an elevated seat,
and scattering bounty to wounded soldiers, and poor women
and children.
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch42
CHAP. XLII.
.pm ch-hd-start
The Family of Madame’s Sister—The Death of the latter.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>Aunt</sc> found consolation for all her sorrows in the family
of her favourite sister. The promise of uncommon merit,
which appeared in the rising branches of that singularly fine
family, was to her a peculiar gratification; for no mother
could love her own children more tenderly than she did them.
The two daughters, which were amongst the eldest, passed,
by turns, much of their time with her, and were, from their
// 220.png
.pn +1
beauty and their manners, the ornaments of her society;
while their good sense, ripened by being called early into action,
made these amiable and elegant young women more a
comfort and assistance than a care or charge to their aunt, at
a very early period. They had four brothers; three of whom
are still living, and have, through life, done honour by their
virtues, their manners, and their conduct, in the most trying
exigencies, to the memory and example of their excellent parents,
as well as to that collateral school of pure morality, and
sound and genuine policy, of which they shared the benefit.

The history of this family, in the after vicissitudes in which
the political changes in their country involved them, would
furnish a very interesting detail, were it allowable to offend
the delicacy of modest worth, or eligible to expose the depravity
and fury of enraged factions. Of the brothers I shall only
mention, that the third, in his childhood, showed uncommon
fire and vivacity; not seeming to retain the smallest portion
of that hereditary phlegm which could still be easily traced
through many of the settlers of this peculiar colony. He
could scarce be called an unlucky boy, for he never did harm
designedly; yet he was so volatile, eccentric, and original, in
the frolicksome excursions of his fancy, that many ludicrous
and some serious consequences resulted from them. He
showed, however, amidst all these gaieties, from a very early
age, a steady and determined predilection towards a military
life, which, in due time, was indulged, and has been since the
means of leading him onto rank and distinction in the British
service.[#] Of the eldest brother I shall have occasion to speak
hereafter; the second and youngest were zealous partisans
of government at the time of the revolution. Their loyalty
// 221.png
.pn +1
occasioned the loss of their fortunes and their homes; but their
worth and bravery procured them confidence and important
commands in that painful service which was carried on during
the American war, at the end of which they were partially rewarded
by grants of land in Upper Canada. Loyalty and
courage seems hereditary in this family. Many sons of those
expatriated brothers are now serving their country in different
parts of the empire, undeterred by the losses and sufferings of
their parents in the royal cause. It was a marked distinction
of character to be observed in the conduct of aunt’s protégéses,
that though she was equally attached to the children of her
husband’s relations and her own, these latter only adopted her
political sentiments, with a single exception, which shall be
mentioned in its place.

.pm fn-start // A
The capture of Tobago was achieved by General C—r, who has for
near forty years been engaged in the most active and hazardous departments
of the service.
.pm fn-end

The defeat at Ticonderoga bore very hard upon the mind
of madame; public spirit was always an active principle in
her strong and reflecting mind; and from the particular circumstances
in which she had always been involved, her patriotism
gained strength by exercise. The same ardent concern
for the public good, which could produce no other effect but
fruitless anxiety, would be as unavailing as unnecessary, in
our secure and tranquil state; but with her it was an exercised
and useful virtue. Her attachment to the British nation,
which was to the very last a ruling principle both of her actions
and opinions, contributed to embitter this blow to her and
her family. The taking of Frontinac on the western lakes,
and the reestablishment of our power in that important quarter,
were achieved by General Bradstreet, whom Abercrombie
dispatched at the head of three thousand provincials. This
was a cordial much wanted by all, and more particularly gratifying
to the family at the Flats, as the colonel’s nephew,
Philip Schuyler, though his was not exactly a warlike department,
had evinced much spirit, prudence, and resolution, during
that expedition; in which, without publicly arrogating
// 222.png
.pn +1
command, he, under Bradstreet (who was indeed a very able
man) directed most of the operations. In the mind of this extraordinary
person, qualities, suited to all occasions, lay dormant
and unsuspected, till called forth by the varying events
of his busy, though not bustling life; for he seemed to carry
on the plans, public and private, which he executed with superior
ability and success, by mere volition. No one ever
saw him appear hurried, embarrassed, or agitated. The success
of this expedition, and the rising distinction of her nephew
Philip, was some consolation to madame for the late disaster,
still friendly and hospitable, she was as kindly disposed
towards the British as ever, and as indefatigable in promoting
a good understanding between them and the natives; but the
army was now on a larger scale. It was in a manner regularly
organized, and more independent of such aid as individuals
could bestow; and the many children educated by her, or left
orphans to her care, became from their number, their marriages,
and various pursuits, objects of more earnest solicitude.

At this period Aunt Schuyler, now every where spoken of
by that affectionate designation, met with a severe affliction in
the death of a sister, whom she had always loved with more
than common tenderness, and whose family she considered
in a manner as her own. This was Mrs. Cuyler, the wife of
that able and upright magistrate, Cornelius Cuyler, of whose
family I have just been giving some account. Mrs. Cuyler,
with a character more gentle and retiring, possessed the good
sense and benevolence for which aunt was distinguished,
though her sphere of action being entirely within the limits of
her own family, she could not be so well known, or so much
celebrated. The colonel had always had a great attachment
to this valuable person; which still more endeared her to his
widow. She however always found new duties resulting
from her afflictions, so that she could not afford to sink under
them. She now was at pains to console her sister’s husband,
// 223.png
.pn +1
who really seemed borne down by this stroke; and the exertions
she made for the good of his singularly promising family,
kept her mind occupied.
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch43
CHAP. XLIII.
.pm ch-hd-start
Further Successes of the British Arms—A Missionary—Cortland
Schuyler.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>The</sc> conquest of Oswego, which was this year (1759) retaken
from the French by General Bradstreet, contributed to
revive the drooping spirits of the army and the patriots; and
it was quickly succeeded by the dear-bought conquest of Quebec.
Though madame had never seen General Wolfe, she
shared the general admiration of his heroism, and the general
sorrow for his loss, in a very high degree. She, too, was conscious
that the security and tranquillity purchased by the conquest
of Quebec, would, in a manner, loosen the bonds which
held the colonists attached to a government which they only
endured while they required its protection. This led to consequences
which she too clearly foresaw.

The mind of Mrs. Schuyler, which had been greatly agitated
by the sad events at Ticonderoga, now began, in consequence
of the late successes, to become more composed, and
to turn itself to objects of utility, as formerly. What she had
done, and made others do for the orphans and widows that had
become such in consequence of the attack on the lines, could
scarce be credited. No one would suppose a moderate fortune,
like hers, could possibly be equal to it. She had at this
time too much satisfaction in seeing the respective churches
(in all which she was deeply interested) filled with persons
// 224.png
.pn +1
who did honour to their profession. A young clergyman
named Westerloe, succeeded Domine Freylinghausen, after
an interval of three or four years, during which the charge was
irregularly filled. This young man had learning, talent, and
urbanity; he had all the sanctity of life and animated eloquence
of his predecessor, without his love of power, his bustling
turn, or his eagerness for popularity; he was, indeed, a
person of very singular merit, but studious and secluded, and
unwilling to mix with strangers. To madame, however, he
was open and companionable, and knew and valued the attractions
of her conversation. Dr. Ogilvie was the English
Episcopal minister, who, under the name of Indian missionary,
and with a salary allowed him as such, had the charge of
performing duty in a church erected for that purpose in town,
to strangers, and such of the military as chose to attend. The
Christian Indians, who were her particular charge, lived at too
great a distance to benefit by his labours. The province,
however, allowed a salary to a zealous preacher, who laboured
among them with apostolic fervour, and with the same disregard
to the things of this world. Dr. Ogilvie was highly
respected, and indeed much beloved by all who were capable
of appreciating his merit. His appearance was singularly
prepossessing: his address and manners entirely those of a
gentleman. His abilities were respectable, his doctrine was
pure and scriptural, and his life exemplary, both as a clergyman
and in his domestic circle, where he was peculiarly amiable;
add to all this a talent for conversation, extensive reading,
and a thorough knowledge of life. The Doctor was indeed a
man after madame’s own heart: and she never ceased regretting
his departure to New-York, where he was settled two years
after. For Stuart[#] she had the utmost veneration. Perfectly
// 225.png
.pn +1
calculated for his austere and uncourtly duties, he was
wholly devoted to them, and scarce cast a look back to that
world which he had forsaken. Yet he was, on various accounts,
highly valued by madame; for since the appointment
of the superintendent, and more particularly since the death
of the colonel, he became more important to her, as the link
which held her to the Mohawks, whom she now saw so much
more seldom, but always continued to love. The comprehension
of her mind was so great, and her desire for knowledge
so strong, that she found much entertainment in tracing
the unfoldings of the human mind in its native state, and the
gradual progress of intellect when enlightened by the gentle
influence of pure religion; and this good <i>father of the deserts</i>
gratified her more by the details he was enabled to give of the
progress of devotion and of mind among his beloved little flock,
than he could have done by all that learning or knowledge of
the world can bestow. Again the Flats began to be the resort
of the best society. She had also her nephews in succession;
one, a brother of that Philip so often mentioned,
since better known to the world by the appellation of General
Schuyler, had been long about the family. He was a youth
distinguished for the gracefulness of his person, and the symmetry
of his features. He was a perfect model of manly
beauty, though almost as dark as an Indian. Indeed, both in
looks and character, he greatly resembled the aborigines of
the country. He seemed perfectly unconscious of the extraordinary
personal advantages which he possessed; was brave,
honourable, and possessed a very good understanding, but
collected within himself; silent, yet eloquent when he chose
to interest himself, or was warmed by the occasion; and had
such stainless probity, that every one respected and trusted
him. Yet he was so very indifferent to the ordinary pleasures
and pursuits of life, and so entirely devoted to the sports of
the field, that when his aunt afterwards procured, him a commission
// 226.png
.pn +1
in a marching regiment, hoping thus to tame and
brighten him, he was known in Ireland by the name of the
handsome savage. This title did not belong to him in the
sense we most often use it; for his manners were not rude
or harsh in the least, though an air of cold austerity, which
shaded his fine countenance, with his delight in solitary
amusements, led the gay and social inhabitants of the country
in which he resided, to consider him as unwillingly rescued
from his native forests. This youth was named Cortland,
and will be more particularly mentioned hereafter. That
eccentric and frolicsome boy, whose humorous sallies and
playful flights were a continual source of amusement, was
also a frequent guest, but did not stay so long as his elder
brother, who certainly was, of all aunt’s adopted, the greatest
favourite, and became more endeared to her, from being less
successful in life than the rest of his family.

.pm fn-start // A
A pious missionary in the Mohawk country.
.pm fn-end

In a council held between their relations and madame, it
was decided that both Cortlandt and Cornelius should try
their fortune in arms. Cortlandt was made an ensign in an
old regiment, and went over to Ireland. Cornelius, a year
after, got a commission in the fifty-fifth, then commanded by
that singularly worthy and benevolent character, Sir Adolphus
Oughton. The mayor was highly respected for his wisdom;
yet his purchasing a commission for so mere a boy, and laying
out for it a sum of money which appeared large in a country
where people contrived to do very well with wonderfully little
of that article, astonished all his countrymen. Conscious,
however, of his son’s military genius, and well knowing that
the vivacity that filled his grave kinsman with apprehension,
was merely a lambent flame of youthful gaiety, which would
blaze without scorching, he fearlessly launched him into a profession
in which he hoped to see him attain merited distinction;
while the excellent patroness of all these young people
had the satisfaction of seeing every one brought up under her
// 227.png
.pn +1
auspices, (and, by this time, they were not a few,) do honour
to her instructions, and fill up their different stations in a manner
the most creditable and prosperous; and she was often
surrounded by the children of those who had engaged her
earliest cares.
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch44
CHAP. XLIV.
.pm ch-hd-start
Burning of the house at the Flats—Madame’s removal—Journey
of the author.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>It</sc> was at this time, when she was in the very acme of her
reputation, and her name never mentioned without some
added epithet of respect or affection, that her house, so long
the receptacle of all that was good or intelligent, and the asylum
of all that was helpless and unfortunate, was entirely consumed
before her eyes.

In the summer of this year, as General Bradstreet was
riding by the Flats one day, and proposing to call on madame,
he saw her sitting in a great chair, under the little avenue of
cherry-trees that led from her house to the road. All the way
as he approached, he saw smoke, and at last flames, bursting
out from the top of her house. He was afraid to alarm her
suddenly; but when he told her, she heard it with the utmost
composure; pointed out the likeliest means to check the fire;
and ordered the neighbours to be summoned, and the most
valuable goods first removed, without ever attempting to go
over the house herself, when she knew she could be of no
service; but with the most admirable presence of mind, she
sat still with a placid countenance, regulating and ordering
// 228.png
.pn +1
every thing in the most judicious manner, and with as much
composure as if she had nothing to lose. When evening
came, of that once happy mansion not a single beam was left,
and the scorched brick walls were all that remained to mark
where it had stood.

Madame could not be said to be left without a dwelling,
having a house in Albany rather larger than the one thus destroyed.
But she was fondly attached to the spot which had
been the scene of so much felicity, and rendered more dear to
her by retaining within its bounds the remains of her beloved
partner. She removed to Pedrom’s house for the night. The
news of what had happened spread every where; and she had
the comfort of knowing, in consequence of this misfortune,
better than she could by any other means, how great a degree
of public esteem and private gratitude she had excited. The
next day people came from all quarters to condole, and ask
her directions where and how she would choose to have another
house built: and in a few days the ground was covered
with bricks, timber, and other materials, brought there by her
friends in voluntary kindness. It is to be observed, that the
people in the interior of New-York, were so exceedingly
skilful in the use, not only of the axe, but all ordinary tools
used in planing and joining timber, that, with the aid of a regular
carpenter or two to carry on the nicer parts of the work,
a man could build an ordinary house, if it were a wooden one,
with very little more than his own domestics. It can scarce
be credited that this house, begun in August, was ready for
aunt’s reception against winter, which here begins very early.
But General Bradstreet had sent some of the king’s workmen,
considering them as employed for the public service, while
carrying on this building. The most unpleasant circumstance
about this new dwelling was, the melancholy hiatus which appeared
in front, where the former large house had stood, and
where the deep and spacious cellars still yawned in gloomy
// 229.png
.pn +1
desolation. Madame, who no longer studied appearances, but
merely thought of a temporary accommodation for a life
which neither she nor any one expected to be a long one,
ordered a broad wooden bridge, like those we see over rivers.
This bridge was furnished with seats like a portico, and this,
with the high walls of the burnt house, which were a kind of
screen before the new one, gave the whole the appearance of
some ancient ruin.

Madame did not find the winter pass comfortably. That
road, now that matters were regularly settled, was no longer
the constant resort of her military friends. Her favourite
nieces were too engaging, and too much admired, to leave
room to expect they should remain with her. She found her
house comparatively cold and inconvenient, and the winter
long and comfortless. She could not now easily go the distance
to church. Pedrom, that affectionate and respected
brother, was now, by increasing deafness, disqualified from
being a companion; and sister Susan, infirm and cheerless,
was now, for the most part, confined to her chamber. Under
these circumstances, she was at length prevailed on to remove
to Albany. The Flats she gave in lease to Pedrom’s son
Stephen. The house and surrounding grounds were let to an
Irish gentleman, who came over to America to begin a new
course of life, after spending his fortune in fashionable dissipation.
On coming to America, he found that there was an
intermediate state of hardship and self-denial to be encountered,
before he could enter on that fancied Arcadia which he
thought was to be found in every wood. He settled his family
in this temporary dwelling, while he went to traverse the provinces
in search of some unforfeited Eden, where the rose had
no thorn, and the course of ceaseless labour had not begun to
operate. Madame found reason to be highly satisfied with
the change. She had mills which supplied her with bread;
her slaves cut and brought home fire-wood; she had a good
// 230.png
.pn +1
garden and fruit, and every other rural dainty came to her in
the greatest abundance. All her former protégés and friends,
in different quarters, delighted to send their tribute; and this
was merely an interchange of kindness.

Soon after this removal, her eldest niece, a remarkably fine
young woman, was married to Mr. C. of C. manor, which
was accounted one of the best matches, or rather the very best
in the province. She was distinguished by a figure of uncommon
grace and dignity, a noble and expressive countenance,
and a mind such as her appearance led one to expect. This
very respectable person is, I believe, still living, after witnessing,
among her dearest connections, scenes the most distressing,
and changes the most painful. She has ever conducted
herself, so as to do honour to the excellent examples of her
mother and aunt, and to be a pattern of steadfast truth and
generous friendship, in exigencies the most trying. Her
younger sister, equally admired, though possessing a different
style of beauty, more soft and debonair, with the fairest complexion,
and most cheerful simplicity of aspect, was the peculiar
favourite of her aunt, above all that ever she took charge
of; she, too, was soon after married to that highly esteemed
patriot, the late Isaac L., revered through the whole continent
for his sound good sense and genuine public spirit. He was,
indeed, “happily tempered, mild, and firm;” and was finally
the victim of steadfast loyalty.

It now remains to say how the writer of these pages became
so well acquainted with the subject of these memoirs.

My father was, at this time, a subaltern in the fifty-fifth regiment.
That body of men were then stationed at Oswego;
but during the busy and warlike period I have been describing,
my mother and I were boarded, in the country below Albany,
with the most worthy people imaginable, with whom we ever
after kept up a cordial friendship. My father, wishing to see
his family, was indulged with permission, and at the same
// 231.png
.pn +1
time ordered to take the command of an additional company,
who were to come up, and to purchase for the regiment all the
stores they should require for the winter, which proved a most
extensive commission. In the month of October he set out
on this journey, or voyage rather, in which it was settled that
my mother and I should accompany him. We were, I believe,
the first females, above the very lowest ranks, who had
ever penetrated so far into this remote wilderness. Certainly
never was joy greater than that which lulled my childish mind
on setting out on this journey. I had before seen little of my
father, and the most I knew of him was from the solicitude I
had heard expressed on his account, and the fear of his death
after every battle. I was, indeed, a little ashamed of having
a military father, brought up, as I had mostly been, in a Dutch
family, and speaking that language as fluently as my own; yet,
on the other hand, I had felt so awkward at seeing all my
companions have fathers to talk and complain to, while I had
none, that I thought, upon the whole, it was a very good thing
to have a father of any kind. The scarlet coat, which I had
been taught to consider as the symbol of wickedness, disgusted
me in some degree; but then, to my great comfort, I
found my father did not swear; and again, to my unspeakable
delight, that he prayed. A soldier pray! was it possible? and
should I really see my father in heaven! How transporting!
By a sudden revolution of opinion, I now thought my father
the most charming of all beings; and the overflowings of my
good will reached to the whole company, because they wore
the same colour, and seemed to respect and obey him. I
dearly loved idleness, too, and the more, because my mother,
who delighted in needle-work, confined me too much to it.
What joys were mine! to be idle for a fortnight, seeing new
woods, rivers, and animals, every day; even then the love of
nature was, in my young bosom, a passion productive of incessant
delight. I had, too, a primer, two hymns, and a
// 232.png
.pn +1
ballad, and these I read over and over with great diligence.
At intervals, my attention was agreeably engaged by the details
the soldiers gave my father of their manner of living and
fighting in the woods, &c. and with these the praises of
madame were often mingled. I thought of her continually;
every great thing I heard about her, even her size, had its
impression. She became the heroine of my childish imagination;
and I thought of her as something both awful and
admirable. We had the surgeon of the regiment, and another
officer with us; they talked, too, of madame, of Indians, of
battles, and of ancient history. Sitting from morning to night
musing in the boat, contemplating my father, who appeared to
me a hero and a saint, and thinking of aunt Schuyler, who
filled up my whole mind with the grandeur with which my
fancy had invested her; and then having my imagination continually
amused with the variety of noble wild scenes which
the beautiful banks of the Mohawk afforded, I am convinced
I thought more in that fortnight, that is to say, acquired more
ideas, and took more lasting impressions, than ever I did, in
the same space of time, in my life. This, however foreign it
may appear to my subject, I mention, as so far connecting
with it, that it accounts, in some measure, for that development
of thought which led me to take such ready and strong
impressions from aunt’s conversation, when afterwards I
knew her.
// 233.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch45
CHAP. XLV.
.pm ch-hd-start
Continuation of the Journey—Arrival at Oswego—Regulations, Studies,
and Amusements there.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>Never</sc>, certainly, was a journey so replete with felicity.
I luxuriated in idleness and novelty; knowledge was my delight,
and it was now pouring in on my mind from all sides.
What a change from sitting pinned down to my sampler by my
mother till the hour of play, and then running wild with children,
as young, and still simpler than myself. Much attended
to by all my fellow-travellers, I was absolutely intoxicated with
the charms of novelty, and the sense of my new-found importance.
The first day we came to Schenectady, a little town,
situated in a rich and beautiful spot, and partly supported by
the Indian trade. The next day we embarked, proceeded up
the river with six bateaux, and came early in the evening to
one of the most charming scenes imaginable, where fort Hendrick
was built; so called, in compliment to the principal
Sachem, or king of the Mohawks. The castle of this primitive
monarch stood at a little distance, on a rising ground,
surrounded by pallisades. He resided, at the time, in a house
which the public workmen, who had lately built this fort, had
been ordered to erect for him in the vicinity. We did not
fail to wait upon his majesty: who, not choosing to depart too
much from the customs of his ancestors, had not permitted
divisions of apartments, or modern furniture to profane his new
dwelling. It had the appearance of a good barn, and was
divided across by a mat hung in the middle. King Hendrick,
who had indeed a very princely figure, and a countenance that
would have not dishonoured royalty, was sitting on the floor
beside a large heap of wheat, surrounded with baskets of dried
// 234.png
.pn +1
berries of different kinds; beside him, his son, a very pretty
boy, somewhat older than myself, was caressing a foal, which
was unceremoniously introduced into the royal residence. A
laced hat, a fine saddle and pistols, gifts of his good brother
the great king, were hung round on the cross beams. He
was splendidly arrayed in a coat of pale blue, trimmed with
silver; all the rest of his dress was of the fashion of his own
nation, and highly embellished with beads and other ornaments.
All this suited my taste exceedingly, and was level to my comprehension.
I was prepared to admire King Hendrick by
hearing him described as a generous warrior, terrible to his
enemies, and kind to his friends; the character of all others
calculated to make the deepest impression on ignorant innocence,
in a country where infants learned the horrors of war
from its vicinity. Add to all this, that the monarch smiled,
clapped my head, and ordered me a little basket, very pretty,
and filled by the officious kindness of his son, with dried berries.
Never did princely gifts, or the smiles of royalty, produce
more ardent admiration and profound gratitude. I went
out of the royal presence overawed and delighted, and am
not sure but that I have liked kings all my life the better for
this happy specimen, to which I was so early introduced. Had
I seen royalty, properly such, invested with all the pomp of
European magnificence, I should possibly have been confused
and over-dazzled. But this was quite enough, and not
too much for me; and I went away, lost in a reverie, and
thought of nothing but kings, battles, and generals for days
after.

This journey, charming my romantic imagination by its very
delays and difficulties, was such a source of interest and novelty
to me, that above all things I dreaded its conclusion,
which I well knew would be succeeded by long tasks and
close confinement. Happily for me we soon entered upon
Wood-creek, the most desirable of all places for a traveller
// 235.png
.pn +1
who loves to linger, if such another traveller there be. This
is a small river, which winds irregularly through a deep and
narrow valley of the most lavish fertility. The depth and
richness of the soil here was evinced by the loftiness and the
nature of the trees, which were, hiccory, butter-nut, chestnut,
and sycamores of vast circumference as well as height. These
became so top heavy, and their roots were so often undermined
by this insidious stream, that in every tempestuous night,
some giants of the grove fell prostrate, and very frequently
across the stream, where they lay in all their pomp of foliage,
like a leafy bridge, unwithered, and formed an obstacle almost
invincible to all navigation. The Indian lifted his slight canoe,
and carried it past the tree; but our deep loaded bateaux could
not be so managed. Here my orthodoxy was shocked, and
my anti-military prejudices revived by the swearing of the soldiers;
but then again my veneration for my father was if possible
increased, by his lectures against swearing provoked by
their transgression. Nothing remained for our heroes but to
attack these sylvan giants axe in hand, and make way through
their divided bodies. The assault upon fallen greatness was
unanimous and unmerciful, but the resistance was tough, and
the process tedious; so much so, that we were three days proceeding
fourteen miles, having, at every two hours at least,
a new tree to cut through.

It was here, as far as I recollect the history of my own heart,
that the first idea of artifice ever entered my mind. It was,
like most female artifices, the offspring of vanity. These delays
were a new source of pleasure to me. It was October;
the trees we had to cut through were often loaded with nuts,
and while I ran lightly along the branches, to fill my royal
basket with their spoils, which I had great pleasure in distributing,
I met with multitudes of fellow plunderers in the squirrels
of various colours and sizes, which were numberless. This
made my excursions amusing; but when I found my disappearance
// 236.png
.pn +1
excited alarm, they assumed more interest. It was
so fine to sit quietly among the branches, and hear concern and
solicitude expressed about the child.

I will spare the reader the fatigue of accompanying our
little fleet through

.pm verse-start
“Antres vast and deserts wild;”
.pm verse-end
.ni
only observing, that the munificent solitude through which we
travelled was much relieved by the sight of Johnson hall,
beautifully situated in a plain by the river; while Johnson
castle, a few miles further up, made a most respectable appearance
on a commanding eminence at some distance.
.pi
We travelled from one fort to another; but in three or four
instances, to my great joy, they were so remote from each
other, that we found it necessary to encamp at night on the
bank of the river. This, in a land of profound solitude, where
wolves, foxes, and bears abounded, and were very much inclined
to consider and treat us as intruders, might seem dismal
to wiser folks. But I was so gratified by the bustle and agitation
produced by our measures of defence, and actuated by the
love which all children have for mischief that is not fatal, that
I enjoyed our night encampments exceedingly. We stopped
early wherever we saw the largest and most combustible kind
of trees. Cedars were great favourites, and the first work was
to fell and pile upon each other an incredible number, stretched
lengthwise, while every one who could was busied in gathering
withered branches of pine, &c. to fill up the interstices
of the pile, and make the green wood burn the faster. Then a
train of gunpowder was laid along to give fire to the whole
fabric at once, which blazed and crackled magnificently. Then
the tents were erected close in a row before this grand conflagration.
This was not merely meant to keep us warm, though
the nights did begin to grow cold, but to frighten wild beasts
and wandering Indians. In case any such Indians, belonging
// 237.png
.pn +1
to hostile tribes, should see this prodigious blaze, the size of
it was meant to give them an idea of a greater force than we
possessed.

In one place, where we were surrounded by hills, with
swamps lying between them, there seemed to be a general
congress of wolves, who answered each other from opposite
hills, in sounds the most terrific. Probably the terror which
all savage animals have at fire was exalted into fury, by seeing
so many enemies, whom they durst not attack. The bull frogs,
the harmless, the hideous inhabitants of the swamps, seemed
determined not to be outdone, and roared a tremendous bass to
this bravura accompaniment. This was almost too much for
my love of the terrible sublime; some women, who were our
fellow travellers, shrieked with terror; and finally, the horrors
of that night were ever after held in awful remembrance by
all who shared them.

The last night of this eventful pilgrimage, of which I fear
to tire my readers by a farther recital, was spent at fort Bruerton,
then commanded by Captain Mungo Campbell,[#] whose
warm and generous heart, whose enlightened and comprehensive
mind, whose social qualities and public virtues I should
delight tA commemorate did my limits permit; suffice it, that
he is endeared to my recollection by being the first person
who ever supposed me to have a mind capable of culture, and
I was ever after distinguished by his partial notice. Here we
were detained two days by a premature fall of snow. Very
much disposed to be happy any where, I was here particularly
so. Our last day’s journey, which brought us to lake Ontario
and fort Oswego, our destined abode, was a very hard one;
we had people going before, breaking the ice with paddles all
the way.

.pm fn-start // A
Colonel Mungo Campbell was killed leading on the attack of fort
St. Anne, at the battle of White Plains, anno 1777.
.pm fn-end

// 238.png
.pn +1

All that I had foreboded of long tasks, confinement, &c.
fell short of the reality. The very deep snow confined us all;
and at any rate the rampart or the parade would have been no
favourable scene of improvement for me. One great source
of entertainment I discovered here, was no other than the Old
Testament, which during my confinement I learned to read;
till then having done so very imperfectly. It was an unspeakable
treasure as a story book, before I learnt to make any
better use of it, and became, by frequent perusal, indelibly
imprinted on my memory. Wallace Wight, and Welwood’s
memoirs of the history of England, were my next acquisitions.
Enough of egotism, yet all these circumstances contributed to
form that taste for solid reading, which first attracted the attention
of my invaluable friend.

I cannot quit Ontario without giving a slight sketch of the
manner in which it was occupied and governed while I was
there and afterwards, were it but to give young soldiers a hint
how they may best use their time and resources, so as to shun
the indolence and ennui they are often liable to in such situations.
The 55th had by this time acquired several English
officers; but with regard to the men, it might be considered as
a Scotch regiment, and was indeed originally such, being
raised but a very few years before in the neighbourhood of
Stirling. There were small detachments in other forts; but
the greatest part were in this, commanded by Major (afterwards
Colonel) Duncan, of Lundie, elder brother of the late
Lord Duncan of Camperdown. He was an experienced officer,
possessed of considerable military science, learned,
humane, and judicious, yet obstinate, and somewhat of an humourist
withal. Wherever he went, a respectable library
went with him. Though not old, he was gouty and war-worn,
and therefore allowably carried about many comforts and conveniences
that others could not warrantably do. The fort was
a large place, built entirely of earth and great logs: I mean
// 239.png
.pn +1
the walls and ramparts, for the barracks were of wood, and
cold and comfortless. The cutting down the vast quantity of
wood used in this building had, however, cleared much of the
fertile ground by which the fort was surrounded. The lake
abounded with excellent fish and varieties of waterfowl, while
deer and every kind of game were numerous in the surrounding
woods. All these advantages, however, were now shut
up by the rigours of winter. The officers were all very young
men, brought from school or college to the army, and after
the dreadful specimen of war which they had met with on their
first outset, at the lines of Ticonderoga, they had gone through
all possible hardships. After a march up the St. Lawrence, and
then through Canada here, a march indeed, considering the
season and the new road, worthy the hero of Pultowa, they
were stationed in this new built garrison, far from every trace
of civilization. These young soldiers were, however, excellent
subjects for the forming hand of Major Duncan. As I
have said on a former occasion of others, if they were not improved,
they were not spoiled, and what little they knew was
good.

The major, by the manner in which he treated them, seemed
to consider them as his sons or pupils; only one might call
him an austere parent, or a rigid instructor. But this semblance
of severity was necessary to form his pupils to habitual
veneration. Partaking every day of their convivial enjoyments,
and showing every hour some proof of paternal care
and kindness; all this was necessary to keep them within due
limits. Out of regard to their own welfare he wanted no more
of their love than was consistent with salutary fear; and yet
made himself so necessary to them, that nothing could be so
terrible to them as, by any neglect or imprudence, to alienate
him. He messed with them, but lived in a house of his own.
This was a very singular building divided into two apartments;
one of which was a bed-room, in which many stores found
// 240.png
.pn +1
place, the other, a breakfasting parlour, and, at the same time, a
library. Here were globes, quadrants, mathematical instruments,
flutes, dumb-bells, and chess-boards; here, in short,
was a magazine of instruction and amusement for the colonel’s
pupils, that is, for all the garrison. (Cornelius Cuyler, who
had now joined the regiment, as youngest ensign, was included
in this number.) This Scythian dwelling, for such it
seemed, was made entirely of wood, and fixed upon wheels of
the same material, so that it could be removed from one part
of the parade to another, as it frequently was. So slight a
tenement, where the winters were intensely cold, was ill calculated
for a gouty patient; for this, however, he found a
remedy; the boards, which formed the walls of his apartment,
being covered with deer-skins, and a most ample bear-skin
spread on the floor by way of a carpet. When once the winter
set fully in, Oswego became a perfect Siberia; cut off
even from all intelligence of what was passing in the world.
But the major did not allow this interval to waste in sloth or
vacancy: he seemed rather to take advantage of the exclusion
of all exterior objects. His library was select and soldier
like. It consisted of numerous treatises on the military art,
ancient and modern history, biography, &c. besides the best
authors in various sciences, of which I only recollect geography
and the mathematics. All the young men were set to
read such books as suited their different inclinations and capacities.
The subalterns breakfasted with their commander
in rotation every day, three or four at a time; after breakfast
he kept them, perhaps two hours, examining them on the subject
of their different studies. Once a week he had a supper
party for such of the captains as were then in the fort; and
once a week they entertained him in the same manner. To
these parties such of the subalterns, as distinguished themselves
by diligence and proficiency, were invited. Whoever
was negligent, he made the subject of sarcasms so pointed at
// 241.png
.pn +1
one time, and at another so ludicrous, that there was no enduring
it. The dread of severe punishment could not operate
more forcibly. Yet he was so just, so impartial, so free from
fickleness and favouritism, and so attentive to their health,
their amusements, and their economy, that every individual
felt him necessary to his comfort, and looked up to him as his
“guide, philosopher, and friend.”
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch46
CHAP. XLVI.
.pm ch-hd-start
Benefit of select Reading—Hunting Excursion.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>Unspeakable</sc> benefit and improvement was derived from
the course of reading I have described, which, in the absence
of other subjects, furnished daily topics of discussion, thus impressing
it more forcibly on the mind.

The advantages of this course of social study, directed by a
mentor so respected, were such, that I have often heard it asserted
that these unformed youths derived more solid improvement
from it than from all their former education. Reading
is one thing; but they learned to think and to converse. The
result of these acquirements served to impress on my mind
what I formerly observed with regard to madame, that a promiscuous
multitude of books always within reach retards the
acquisition of useful knowledge. It is like having a great number
of acquaintances and few friends; one of the consequences
of the latter is to know much of exterior appearances, of
modes and manners, but little of nature and genuine character.
By running over numbers of books without selection, in a
// 242.png
.pn +1
desultory manner, people, in the same way, get a general superficial
idea of the varieties and nature of different styles, but
do not comprehend or retain the matter with the same accuracy
as those who have read a few books, by the best authors,
over and over with diligent attention. I speak now of those
one usually meets with; not of those commanding minds,
whose intuitive research seizes on every thing worth retaining,
and rejects the rest as naturally as one throws away the rind
when possessed of the kernel.

Our young students got through the winter pretty well; and
it is particularly to be observed that there was no such thing
as a quarrel heard of among them. Their time was spent in
a regular succession of useful pursuits, which prevented them
from risking the dangers that often occur in such places; for
in general, idleness and confinement to the same circle of
society, produce such a fermentation in the mind, and such
neglect of ceremonial observances, which are the barriers of
civility, that quarrels and duels more readily occur in such
situations than in any other. But when spring drew near, this
paternal commander found it extremely difficult to rein in the
impatience of the youths to plunge into the woods to hunt.
There were such risks to encounter, of unknown morasses,
wolves, and hostile Indians, that it was dangerous to indulge
them. At last, when the days began to lengthen, in the end
of February, a chosen party, on whose hardihood and endurance
the major could depend, were permitted to go on a
regular hunting excursion in the Indian fashion. This was
become desirable on different accounts, the garrison having
been, for some time before, entirely subsisting on salt provision.
Sheep and cows were out of the question, there not
being one of either within forty miles. A captain Hamilton,
who was a practised wood ranger, commanded this party, who
were clad almost like Indians, and armed in the same manner.
They were accompanied by a detachment of ten men; some
// 243.png
.pn +1
of whom, having been prisoners with the Indians, were
more particularly qualified to engage in this adventure.
They were allowed four or five days to stay, and provided
with a competent supply of bear-skins, blankets, &c. to make
their projected wigwams comfortable. The allotted time expired,
and we all began to quarrel with our salt provisions,
and to long for the promised venison. Another, and yet
another day passed, when our longing was entirely absorbed
in the apprehensions we began to entertain. Volunteers now
presented themselves to go in search of the lost hunters; but
those offers were, for good reasons, rejected; and every countenance
began to lengthen with fears we were unwilling to
express to each other. The major, conjecturing the hunters
might have been bewildered in those endless woods, ordered
the cannon to be fired at noon, and again at midnight, for their
direction. On the eighth day, when suspense was wound up to
the highest pitch, the party were seen approaching—and they
entered in triumph, loaded with sylvan spoils, among which
were many strange birds and beasts. I recollect, as the chief
objects of my admiration, a prodigious swan, a wild turkey,
and a young porcupine. Venison abounded, and the supply
was both plentiful and seasonable.

“Spring returned with its showers,” and converted our
Siberia, frozen and forlorn, and shut out from human intercourse,
into an uncultured Eden, rich in all the majestic
charms of sublime scenery, and primeval beauty and fertility.
It is in her central retreat, amidst the mighty waters of the
west, that nature seems in solitary grandeur, to have chosen
her most favoured habitation, remote from the ocean, whose
waves bear the restless sons of Europe on their voyages of
discovery, invasion, and intrusion. The coasts of America
are, indeed, comparatively poor, except merely on the banks
of great rivers, though the universal veil of evergreens conceals
much sterility from strangers. But it is in the depth of
// 244.png
.pn +1
those forests, and around those sea-like lakes, that nature has
been profusely kind, and discovers more charms the more her
shady veil is withdrawn from her noble features. If ever the
fond illusions of poets and philosophers—that Atalantis, that
new Arcadia, that safe and serene Utopia, where ideal quiet
and happiness have so often charmed in theory; if ever this
dream of social bliss, in some new planted region, is to be
realized, this unrivalled scene of grandeur and fertility bids
fairest to be the place of its abode. Here the climate is
serene and equal; the rigorous winters that brace the frame,
and call forth the powers of mind and body to prepare for its
approach, are succeeded by a spring so rapid, the exuberance
of vernal bloom bursts forth so suddenly after the disappearance
of those deep snows which cherish and fructify the earth,
that the change seems like a magical delusion.

The major saw every one enraptured, like people suddenly
let out of prison; and the whole garrison seemed ripe for
running wild through the woods, in pursuit of innumerable
birds of passage, which had come on the wings of the genial
south to resume their wonted abodes by the great lakes, where
they hatch among swamps and islands without number.
.sp 2
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.h2 id=ch47
CHAP. XLVII.
.pm ch-hd-start
Gardening and Agriculture—Return of the Author to Albany.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
The major rejoiced in their joy without having the least intention
of indulging them either in the gay idleness, or the wild
sports which the season inspired. He had been their mentor
all winter, and was now about to commence their agricola.
// 245.png
.pn +1

When giving an account of the garrison I should have mentioned
a company or two, I do not remember which, of engineers,
the officers of which, from their superior intelligence,
were a great acquisition to the society. To these friendly
coadjutors the major communicated his plans, which they
readily adopted. Among his concealed stores were Indian
corn, peas, and beans in abundance, and all kinds of garden
seeds. Before the season opened he had arranged with these
engineers the plan of a large garden, bowling green, and enclosed
field, for the use of these and all succeeding troops.
This was a bold attempt when one considers you might as well
look for a horse in Venice as in Oswego. No such animal
had ever penetrated so far. A single cow, belonging to the
suttler, was the only tame creature, dogs and cats excepted,
to be seen here. But there was a great stock of palisadoes,
which had been cut for the garrison, lying ready; and their
pioneers and workmen still remaining there, the new erection
being scarce complete. The new project was received with
“curses not loud but deep.” Were they to go all out to plod
and drudge for others, who would neither pay nor thank them;
for, the most, they argued they should stay only a year, and
reap very little indeed of the fruit of their labours.

The major’s plans, however, were deep laid; matters wore
a peaceable aspect; and there was no knowing how long they
might remain there. Except shooting in the woods, or fishing,
they were without business, pleasures, or varied society. He
feared the men would degenerate into savage wildness, and
their officers into that sordid indifference, which is, too often,
the consequence of being, at the early season of life, without
an aim or a pursuit. He wished to promote a common interest,
and habits social and domestic. He wished, too, that they
might make some advantage of this temporary banishment, to
lay by a little store to eke out their pittance when they returned
to more expensive places; in short, he wished to give them
// 246.png
.pn +1
habits of regular economy, which should be useful to them
ever after. He showed them his plans; gave each of them
a department in overseeing the execution of them; and, for
that purpose, each had so many men allotted to his command.
He made it obvious to them, that as the summer was merely
to be occupied in gardening and the chase, the parade of military
dress was both expensive and unnecessary. In the store
was a great surplus of soldiers’ coats. These had been sent
from Europe to supply the regiment, which had been greatly
diminished in number by the fatal lines, and succeeding hard
march. The major ordered the regimental tailor to fit these
as a kind of short undress frock to the officers, to whom correspondent
little round hats, very different from the regimental
ones, were allotted. Thus equipped, and animated by the
spirit of him who ruled their minds with unconscious yet unlimited
sway, these young Cincinnati set out, nothing loth, on
their horticultural enterprise. All difficulties soon vanished
before them; and, in a very few days, they became enthusiastic
in the pursuit of this new object. That large and fertile
portion of ground, which had been cleared of the timber with
which the garrison was built, was given in charge to a sagacious
old serjeant, who knew something of husbandry, and
who very soon had it enclosed in a palisade, dug up and planted
with beans, peas, and Indian corn, the food of future pigs
and poultry. To the officers more interesting tasks were allotted.
There was more than one gardener found in the
regiment; and here the engineers and pioneers were particularly
useful. The major who had predestined a favourite spot
for his ample garden, had it partially cleared, by cutting the
winter firing of the garrison from it. Where a mulberry, a
wild plum, or cherry tree was peculiarly well shaped or large,
he marked to remain, as well as some lofty planes and chesnuts;
and when the shrubs were grubbed up in spring, he left
many beautiful ones peculiar to the country. To see the
// 247.png
.pn +1
sudden creation of this garden, one would think the genius of
the place obeyed the wand of an enchanter; but it is not every
gardener who can employ some hundred men. A summer
house in a tree, a fish-pond, and a gravel-walk, were finished
before the end of May, besides having committed to the earth
great quantities of every vegetable production known in our
best gardens. These vegetables throve beyond belief or
example. The size of the cabbages, the cucumbers, and
melons, produced here, was incredible. They used, in the
following years, to send them down to astonish us at Albany.
On the continent they were not equalled, except in another
military garden, which emulation had produced at Niagara.
The major’s economical views were fully answered. Pigs
and poultry in abundance were procured, and supported by
their Indian corn crop; they even procured cows, and made
hay in the islands to feed them. The provisions allowed them
by the public afforded a sufficiency of flour, butter, and salt
meat, as also rice. The lake afforded quantities of excellent
fish, much of which the soldiers dried for winter consumption;
and fruit and vegetables they had in profusion from their gardens.
In short, they all lived in a kind of rough luxury, and
were enabled to save much of their pay. The example spread
to all the line of forts; such is the power of one active liberal
mind pursuing its object with undeviating steadiness.

We are now about to leave Ontario; but perhaps the reader
is not willing to take a final farewell of Colonel Duncan. The
Indian war then, which broke out after the peace of 1762,
occasioned the detention of the regiment in America till 1765;
and during all that time this paternal commander continued
with six companies of the regiment at Ontario, improving both
the soil and the inhabitants. He then returned with the regiment,
of which he was become lieutenant-colonel, to Ireland.
Soon after he retired from the army, and took up his residence
on the family estate of Lundie, having previously married the
// 248.png
.pn +1
woman of his heart, who had engaged his early affections, and
corresponded with him during his long absence. Here he
was as happy as a shattered invalid could be, highly respected
by the neighbourhood, and frequently visited by his old pupils,
who still regarded him with warm attachment. He died childless,
and was succeeded by the admiral, on whose merit it is
needless to expatiate; for who has forgotten the victor of
Camperdown?

A company of the 55th was this summer ordered to occupy
the fort at Albany. This was commanded by a sagacious
veteran called Winepress. My father did not exactly belong
to this company, but he wished to return to Albany, where he
was known and liked; and the colonel thought, from his
steadiness and experience, he would be particularly useful in
paying the detached parties, and purchasing for the regiment
such stores as they might have occasion for. We set out in
our bateaux; and I consoled myself for not only leaving Oswego,
but what was nearer my heart, a tame partridge, and six
pigeons, by the hopes of wandering through Woodcreek, and
sleeping in the woods. In both these particulars I was disappointed.
Our boats being lighter, made better way, and we
were received in new settlements a little distance from the
river. The most important occurrence to me, happened the
first day. On that evening we returned to fort Bruerton; I
found Capt. Campbell delighted with my reading, my memory,
and my profound admiration of the friendship betwixt
David and Jonathan. We staid most of the next day. I
was much captivated with the copperplates in an edition of
Paradise Lost, which, on that account, he had given me to
admire. When I was coming away, he said to me, “keep
that book, my dear child; I foretell that the time will come
when you will take pleasure in it.” Never did a present produce
such joy and gratitude. I thought I was dreaming, and
looked at it a hundred times, before I could believe any thing
// 249.png
.pn +1
so fine was really my own. I tried to read it; and almost
cried with vexation when I found I could not understand it.
At length I quitted it in despair; yet always said to myself I
shall be wiser next year.
.sp 2
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CHAP. XLVIII.
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Madame’s Family and Society described.
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<sc>The</sc> next year (1762) came, and found me at Albany; if
not wiser, more knowing. Again I was shut up in a fort, solemn
and solitary; I had no companion, and was never allowed
to go out, except with my mother, and that was very seldom,
indeed. All the fine forenoons I sat and sewed; and when
others went to play in the evening, I was very often sent up to
a large waste room, to get a long task by heart of something
very grave and repulsive. In this waste room, however, lay
an old tattered dictionary, Bailey’s I think, which proved a
treasure to me; the very few books we had, being all religious
or military. I had returned to my Milton, which I conned so
industriously, that I got it almost by heart, as far as I went;
yet took care to go no further than I understood. To make
out this point, when any one encouraged me by speaking
kindly to me, I was sure to ask the meaning of some word or
phrase; and when I found people were not at all willing or
able to gratify me, I at length had recourse to my waste room
and tattered dictionary, which I found a perpetual fountain of
knowledge. Consequently the waste room, formerly a gloomy
prison, which I thought of with horror, became now the scene
of all my enjoyments; and the moment I was dismissed from
// 250.png
.pn +1
my task, I flew to it with anticipated delight; for there were
my treasures, Milton and the ragged dictionary, which had
become the light of my eyes. I studied the dictionary with
indefatigable diligence; which I began now to consider as very
entertaining. I was extremely sorry for the fallen angels,
deeply interested in their speeches, and so well acquainted
with their names, that I could have called the roll of them
with all the ease imaginable. Time run on, I was eight years
old, and quite uneducated, except reading and plain-work;
when company came I was considered as in the way, and sent
up to my waste room; but here lay my whole pleasure, for I
had neither companions nor amusement. It was, however,
talked of, that I should go to a convent, at Trois Rivières], in
Canada, where several officers had sent their daughters to be
educated.

The fame of Aunt Schuyler every now and then reached
my ears, and sunk deep in my mind. To see her I thought
was a happiness too great for me; and I was continually
drawing pictures of her to myself. Meanwhile the 17th regiment
arrived; and a party of them took possession of the
fort. During this interim, peace had been proclaimed; and
the 55th regiment were under orders for Britain.

My father, not being satisfied with the single apartment allotted
to him by the new comers, removed to the town; where
a friend of his, a Scotch merchant, gave him a lodging in his
own house, next to that very Madame Schuyler who had been
so long my daily thoughts and nightly dreams. We had not
been long there when aunt heard that my father was a good,
plain, upright man, without pretensions, but very well principled.
She sent a married lady, the wife of her favourite
nephew, who resided with her at the time, to ask us to spend
the evening with her. I think I have not been on any occasion
more astonished, than when, with no little awe and agitation,
I came into the presence of madame. She was sitting; and
// 251.png
.pn +1
filled a great chair, from which she seldom moved. Her aspect
was composed, and her manner, such as was at first
more calculated to inspire respect, than conciliate affection.
Not having the smallest solicitude about what people thought
of her, and having her mind generally occupied with matters
of weighty concern, the first expression of her kindness seemed
rather a lofty courtesy, than attractive affability: but she
shone out by degrees; and she was sure eventually to please
every one worth pleasing, her conversation was so rich, so
varied, so informing; every thing she said bore such a stamp
of reality: her character had such a grasp in it. Her expressions,
not from art and study, but from the clear perceptions
of her sound and strong mind, were powerful, distinct, and
exactly adapted to the occasion. You saw her thoughts as
they occurred to her mind, without the usual bias rising from
either a fear to offend, or a wish to please. This was one of
the secrets in which lay the singular power of her conversation.
When ordinary people speak to you, your mind wanders in
search of the motives that prompt their discourse, or the views
and prejudices which bias it; when those who excite (and
perhaps solicit) admiration talk, you are secretly asking yourself
whether they mean to inform, or dazzle you. All this
interior canvass vanished before the evident truth and unstudied
ease of aunt’s discourse. On a nearer knowledge, too,
you found she was much more intent to serve, than please you,
and too much engrossed by her endeavours to do so, to stop
and look round for your gratitude, which she heeded just as
little as your admiration. In short, she informed, enlightened,
and served you, without levying on you any tribute whatever,
except the information you could give in return. I describe
her appearance as it then struck me; and, once for all, her
manners and conversation, as I thought of them when I was
older and knew better how to distinguish and appreciate.
Every thing about her was calculated to increase the impression
// 252.png
.pn +1
of respect and admiration; which, from the earliest dawn
of reflection, I had been taught to entertain for her. Her
house was the most spacious and best furnished I had ever
entered. The family pictures, and scripture paintings, were
to me particularly awful and impressive. I compared them
to the models which had before existed in my imagination, and
was delighted or mortified, as I found they did or did not resemble
them.

The family with which she was then surrounded, awakened
a more than common interest. Her favourite nephew, the
eldest son of her much beloved sister, had, by his father’s desire,
entered into partnership in a great commercial house in
New-York. Smitten with the uncommon beauty of a young
lady of seventeen, from Rhode-Island, he had married her
without waiting for the consent of his relations. Had he lived
in Albany, and connected himself with one of his fellow citizens,
bred up in frugal simplicity, this step might have been
easily got over. But an expensive and elegant style of living
begun already to take place in New-York; which was, from
the residence of the governor and commander in chief, become
the seat of a little court. The lady, whom Philip had married,
was of a family originally Scotch; and derived her descent at
no great distance from one of the noblest families in that country.[#]
Gay, witty, and very engaging, beloved and indulged,
beyond measure, by a fond husband, who was generous and
good natured to excess, this young beauty became “the glass
of fashion, and the mould of form.” And the house of this
amiable couple was the resort of all that was gay and elegant,
and the centre of attraction to strangers. The mayor, who
was a person singularly judicious, and most impartial in the
affection which he distributed amongst his large family, saw
// 253.png
.pn +1
clearly that the young people trusted too much to the wealth
he was known to possess, and had got into a very expensive
style of living; which, on examining their affairs, he did not
think likely to be long supported by the profits of the business
in which his son was engaged. The probable consequence
of a failure, he saw, would so far involve him as to injure his
own family: this he prevented. Peace was daily expected;
and the very existence of the business in which he was engaged,
depended on the army; which his house was wont to
furnish with every thing necessary. He clearly foresaw the
withdrawing of this army; and that the habits of open hospitality
and expensive living would remain, when the sources of
their present supplies were dried up. He insisted on his son
entirely quitting this line, and retiring to Albany. He loaded
a ship on his own account for the West-Indies, and sent the
young man as supercargo, to dispose of the lading. As house-keeping
was given up in New-York, and not yet resumed in
Albany, this young creature had only the option of returning
to the large family she had left, or going to her father-in-law’s.
Aunt Schuyler, ever generous and considerate, had every
allowance to make for the high spirit and fine feelings of this
inexperienced young creature; and invited her, with her little
daughter, to remain with her till her husband’s return. Nothing
could be more pleasing than to witness the maternal tenderness
and delicate confidence, which appeared in the behaviour
of madame to this new inmate; whose fine countenance
seemed animated with the liveliest gratitude, and the utmost
solicitude to please her revered benefactress. The child was
a creature not to be seen with indifference. The beauty and
understanding that appeared full blown in her mother, seemed
budding with the loveliest promise in the young Catalina; a
child, whom to this day, I cannot recollect without an emotion
of tenderness. She was then about three years old. Besides
these interesting strangers, there was a grand niece whom she
// 254.png
.pn +1
had brought up. Such was her family when I first knew it.
In the course of the evening, dreams began to be talked of;
and every one in turn gave their opinion with regard to that
wonderful mode, in which the mind acts independent of the
senses, asserting its immaterial nature in a manner the most
conclusive. I mused and listened, till at length the spirit of
quotation (which very early began to haunt me) moved me to
repeat, from Paradise Lost,

.pm fn-start // A
Earl of Crawford’s.
.pm fn-end

.pm verse-start
                    “When nature rests,
Oft in her absence mimic fancy wakes, to imitate her;
But misjoining shapes, wild work produces oft.”
.pm verse-end
.ni
I sat silent when my bolt was shot; but so did not madame.
Astonished to hear her favourite author quoted readily, by so
mere a child, she attached much more importance to the circumstance
than it deserved. So much, indeed, that long after
she used to repeat it to strangers in my presence, by way of
accounting for the great fancy she had taken to me. These
partial repetitions of hers fixed this lucky quotation indelibly
in my mind. Any person who has ever been in love, and has
unexpectedly heard that sweetest of all music, the praise of his
beloved, may judge of my sensations when madame began to
talk with enthusiasm of Milton. The bard of Paradise was
indeed “the dweller of my secret soul;” and it never was my
fortune before to meet with any one who understood or relished
him. I knew very well that the divine spirit was his Urania.
But I took his invocation quite literally, and had not the
smallest doubt of his being as much inspired as ever Isaiah
was. This was a very hopeful opening; yet I was much too
simple and humble to expect that I should excite the attention
of madame. My ambition aimed at nothing higher than
winning the heart of the sweet Catalina; and I thought if
heaven had given me such another little sister, and enabled
me to teach her, in due time, to relish Milton, I should have
nothing left to ask.
// 255.png
.pn +1
.pi
Time went on; we were neighbours, and became intimate
in the family. I was beloved by Catalina, caressed by her
charming mother, and frequently noticed by aunt, whom I very
much inclined to love, were it not that it seemed to me as if,
in so doing, I should aspire too high. Yet, in my visits to her,
where I had now a particular low chair in a corner assigned
me, I had great enjoyment of various kinds. First, I met
there with all those strangers or inhabitants who were particularly
respectable for their character or conversation. Then
I was witness to a thousand acts of beneficence that charmed
me, I could not well say why, not having learned to analyze
my feelings. Then I met with the Spectator and a few other
suitable books, which I read over and over with unwearied
diligence, not having the least idea of treating a book as a plaything,
to be thrown away when the charm of novelty was past.
I was by degrees getting into favour with aunt Schuyler, when
a new arrival for awhile suspended the growing intimacy. I
allude to the colonel of my father’s regiment, who had removed
from Crown Point to Albany.

The colonel was a married man, whose wife, like himself,
had passed her early days in a course of frivolous gaiety.
They were now approaching the decline of life, and finding
nothing pleasing in the retrospect nor flattering in prospect,
time hung on their hands. Where nothing round them was
congenial to their habits, they took a fancy to have me frequently
with them as matter of amusement. They had had children,
and when they died, their mutual affection died with
them. They had had a fortune, and when it was spent, all
their pleasures were exhausted. They were by this time drawing
out the vapid dregs of a tasteless existence, without energy
to make themselves feared, or those gentle and amiable qualities
which attract love; yet they were not stained with gross
vices, and were people of character, as the world goes.

What a new world was I entered into! from the quiet simplicity
// 256.png
.pn +1
of my home, where I heard nothing but truth, and saw
nothing but innocence; and from my good friend’s respectable
mansion, where knowledge reflected light upon virtue, and
where the hours were too few for their occupation; to be a
daily witness of the manner in which these listless ghosts of
departed fashion and gaiety drank up the bitter lees of misused
time, fortune, and capacity. Never was lesson more impressive;
and young as I was, I did not fail to mark the contrast,
and draw the obvious inference. From this hopeful school I
was set free the following summer (when I had entered on my
ninth year) by the colonel’s return to England. They were
indeed, kind to me; but the gratitude I could not but feel was
a sentiment independent of attachment, and early taught me
how difficult it is, nay, how painful, to disjoin esteem from
gratitude.
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch49
CHAP. XLIX.
.pm ch-hd-start
Sir Jeffery Amherst—Mutiny—Indian War.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>At</sc> this time (1765) peace had been for some time established
in Europe; but the ferment and agitation which even
the lees and sediments of war kept up in the northern colonies,
and the many regulations requisite to establish quiet and security
in the new acquired Canadian territory, required all the
care and prudence of the commander in chief, and no little
time. At this crisis, for such it proved, Sir Jeffery, afterwards
Lord Amherst, came up to Albany. A mutiny had broke out
among the troops on account of withholding the provisions
they used to receive in time of actual war; and this discontent
// 257.png
.pn +1
was much aggravated by their finding themselves treated with
a coldness, amounting to aversion, by the people of the country;
who now forgot past services, and showed in all transactions
a spirit of dislike bordering on hostility to their protectors,
on whom they no longer felt themselves dependent.

Sir Jeffery, however, was received like a prince at Albany,
respect for his private character conquering the anti-military
prejudices. The commander in chief was in those days a
great man on the continent, having, on account of the distance
from the seat of government, much discretionary power entrusted
to him. Never was it more safely lodged than in the
hands of this judicious veteran, whose comprehension of mind,
impartiality, steadiness, and close application to business, peculiarly
fitted him for his important station. At his table all
strangers were entertained with the utmost liberality; while
his own singular temperance, early hours, and strict morals,
were peculiarly calculated to render him popular among the
old inhabitants. Here I witnessed an impressive spectacle:
the guard-house was in the middle of the street, opposite to
madame’s; there was a guard extraordinary mounted in honour
of Sir Jeffery; at the hour of changing it all the soldiery in
the fort assembled there, and laid down their arms, refusing to
take them up again. I shall never forget the pale and agitated
countenances of the officers; they being too well assured
that it was a thing pre-concerted; which was actually the
case, for at Crown Point and Quebec the same thing was done
on the same day. Sir Jeffery came down, and made a calm
dispassionate speech to them, promising them a continuance
of their privileges till further orders from home, and offering
pardon to the whole, with the exception of a few ringleaders,
whose lives, however, were spared. This gentle dealing had
its due effect; but at Quebec the mutiny assumed a most
alarming aspect, and had more serious consequences, though
it was in the end quelled. All this time Sir Jeffery’s visits to
// 258.png
.pn +1
madame had been frequent, both out of respect to her character
and conversation, and to reap the benefit of her local
knowledge on an approaching emergency. This was a spirit
of disaffection, then only suspected, among the Indians on the
Upper Lakes, which soon after broke suddenly out into open
hostility. In consequence of her opinion he summoned Sir
W. Johnson to concert some conciliatory measures. But the
commencement of the war at this very crisis, detained him
longer to arrange with General Bradstreet and Sir William,
the operations of the ensuing campaign.

This war broke out very opportunely in some respects. It
afforded a pretext for granting those indulgences to the troops
which it would otherwise have been impolitic to give and unsafe
to withhold. It furnished occupation for an army too
large to lie idle so far from the source of authority; which
could not yet be safely withdrawn till matters were on a more
stable footing; and it made the inhabitants once more sensible
of their protection. Madame had predicted this event, knowing
better than any one how the affections of these tribes might
be lost or won. She well knew the probable consequences
of the negligence with which they were treated, since the subjection
of Canada made us consider them as no longer capable
of giving us trouble. Pontiac, chief of those nations who inhabited
the borders of the great lakes, possessed one of those
minds which break through all disadvantages to assert their
innate superiority.

The rise and conduct of this war, were I able to narrate
them distinctly, the reader would perhaps scarce have patience
to attend to; indistinct as they must appear retraced from my
broken recollections. Could I however do justice to the
bravery, the conduct, and magnanimity in some instances, and
the singular address and stratagem in others, which this extraordinary
person displayed in the course of it, the power of
untutored intellect would appear incredible to those who never
// 259.png
.pn +1
saw man but in an artificial or degraded state, exalted by
science, or debased by conscious ignorance and inferiority.
During the late war, Pondiac occupied a central situation,
bounded on each side by the French and English territories.
His uncommon sagacity taught him to make the most of his
local advantages, and of that knowledge of the European
character which resulted from this neighbourhood. He had
that sort of consequence which in the last century raised the
able and politic princes of the house of Savoy to the throne
they have since enjoyed. Pondiac held a petty balance between
two great contending powers. Even the privilege of
passing through his territories was purchased with presents,
promises, and flatteries. While the court which was paid to
this wily warrior, to secure his alliance, or at least his neutrality,
made him too sensible of his own consequence, as it gave him
a near view of our policy and modes of life. He often passed
some time, on various pretexts, by turns at Montreal and in
the English camp. The subjection of Canada proved fatal to
his power, and he could no longer play the skilful game between
both nations which had been so long carried on. The
general advantage of his tribe is always the uppermost thought
with an Indian. The liberal presents which he had received
from both parties, afforded him the means of confederating
with distant nations, of whose alliance he thought to profit in
his meditated hostilities.

There were at that time many tribes, then unknown to Europeans,
on the banks of lake Superior, to whom fire-arms
and other British goods were captivating novelties. When
the French insidiously built the fort at Detroit, and the still
more detached one at Michilimackinac, on bounds hitherto
undefined, they did it on the footing of having secure places of
trade, not to overawe the natives, but to protect themselves
from the English. They amply rewarded them for permission
to erect these fortresses, and purchased at any expense that
// 260.png
.pn +1
friendship from them without which it would have been impossible
to have maintained their ground in these remote regions.
All this liberality and flattery, though merely founded on self-interest,
had its effect; and the French, who are ever versatile
and accommodating, who wore the Huron dress, and spoke
the Huron language when they had any purpose to serve,
were without doubt the favoured nation. We, too apt to despise
all foreigners, and not over complaisant even when we
have a purpose to serve, came with a high hand to occupy
those forts which we considered as our right after the conquest
of Canada, but which had been always held by the more
crafty French as an indulgence. These troops without ceremony,
appropriated, and, following major Duncan’s example,
cultivated all the fertile lands around Detroit, as far as fancy
or convenience led them. The lands round Ontario were in
a different predicament, being regularly purchased by Sir
William Johnson. In consequence of the peace which had
taken place the year before, all the garrisons were considered
as in a state of perfect security.

Pondiac, in the meantime, conducted himself with the utmost
address, concealing the indignation which brooded in his
mind under the semblance of the greatest frankness and good
humour. Master of various languages, and most completely
master of his temper and countenance, he was at home every
where, and paid frequent friendly visits to Detroit, near which,
in the finest country imaginable, was his abode. He frequently
dined with the mess, and sent them fish and venison. Unlike
other Indians, his manner appeared frank and communicative,
which opened the minds of others and favoured his
deep designs. He was soon master, through their careless
conversation, of all he wished to know relative to the stores,
resources, and intentions of the troops. Madame, who well
knew the Indian character in general, and was no stranger to
the genius and abilities of Pondiac, could not be satisfied
// 261.png
.pn +1
with the manner in which he was neglected on the one hand,
nor his easy admission to the garrison on the other. She
always said they should either make him their friend, or know
him to be their foe.

In the meantime no one could be more busy than this
politic warrior. While the Indians were in strict alliance with
the French, they had their wigwams and their Indian corn
within sight of the fort, lived in a considerable kind of village
on the border of the lake, and had a daily intercourse of traffic
and civility with the troops. There was a large esplanade before
the garrison, where the Indians and soldiers sometimes
socially played at ball together. Pondiac had a double view
in his intended hostility. The Canadian priests, with the
wonted restless intriguing spirit of their nation, fomented the
discontents of the Indians. They persuaded them, and perhaps
flattered themselves, that if they (the Indians) would
seize the chain of forts, the Grand Monarchy would send a
fleet to re-conquer Canada, and guarantee all the forts he
should take to Pondiac. Upon this he did not altogether depend:
yet he thought if he could surprise Detroit, and seize a
vessel which was expected up from Oswego with ammunition
and stores, he might easily take the other small vessels, and
so command the lake. This would be shut up by ice for the
winter, and it would take no little time to build on its banks
another fleet, the only means by which an army could again
approach the place. I will not attempt to lead my reader
through all the intricacies of an Indian war (entirely such),
and therefore of all wars the most incomprehensible in its progress,
and most difficult in its terms. The result of two master-strokes
of stratagem, with which it opened, are such as are
curious enough, however, to find a place in this detail.
// 262.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch50
CHAP. L.
.pm ch-hd-start
Pondiac—Sir Robert D.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>All</sc> the distant tribes were to join on hearing Pondiac
was in possession of the fort. Many of those nearest, in the
meanwhile, were to lie in the neighbouring woods, armed and
ready to rush out on the discharge of a cannon, on that day
which was meant to be fatal to the garrison. Out of the intended
massacre, however, the artillery were to be spared that
they might work the guns. Near the fort lived a much admired
Indian beauty, who was known in the garrison by the
name, or title rather, of the Queen of Hearts. She not only
spoke French, but dressed not inelegantly in the European
manner, and being sprightly and captivating, was encouraged
by Pondiac to go into the garrison on various pretexts. The
advantage the Indian chief meant to derive from this stratagem
was, that she might be a kind of spy in the fort, and that by her
influence over the commander, the wonted caution with regard
to Indians might be relaxed, and the soldiers permitted
to go out unarmed and mingle in their diversions. This plan
in some degree succeeded. There was at length a day fixed,
on which a great match of foot-ball was to be decided between
two parties of Indians, and all the garrison were invited to be
spectators. It was to be played on the esplanade opposite the
fort. At a given signal the ball was to be driven over the
wall of the fort, which, as there was no likelihood of its ever
being attacked by cannon, was merely a palisade and earthen
breast-work. The Indians were to run hastily in, on pretence
of recovering the ball, and shut the gates against the soldiers,
whom Pondiac and his people were to tomahawk immediately.

Pondiac, jealous of the Queen of Hearts, gave orders, after
she was let into the secret of this stratagem, that she should
// 263.png
.pn +1
go no more into the fort. Whether she was offended with
this want of confidence; whether her humanity revolted at the
intended massacre, or whether she felt a particular attachment
prevailing over her fidelity to her countrymen, so it was; her
affection got the better of her patriotism. A soldier’s wife who
carried out to her the day before some article of dress she had
made for her, was the medium she made use of to convey a
hint of the intended treachery. The colonel was unwilling,
from the dark hint conveyed, to have recourse to any violent
measures; and was, indeed, doubtful of the fact. To kindle
the flames of war wantonly, surrounded as he was, by hostile
nations, who would carry their vengeance into the defenceless
new settlements, was a dreadful expedient. Without betraying
his informer, he resolved to convince himself. The men
were ordered to go out to see the ball played, but to keep under
shelter of the fort; and if they saw the ball driven in, immediately
to return and shut the gates. I cannot distinctly
remember the exact mode in which this manœuvre was managed,
but the consequence I know was, first, the repulsing of
the Indians from the gate, and then the commencing of open
hostilities on their side, while the garrison was for some time
in a state of blockade.

Meantime the Indians had concerted another stratagem, to
seize a vessel loaded with stores, which was daily expected
from Niagara. Commodore Grant, a younger brother of the
Glenmoriston family in Invernesshire, was, and I believe still
is, commander of the lakes; an office which has now greatly
risen in importance. At that time his own vessel and two or
three smaller were employed in that navigation. This little
squadron was very interesting on a double account. It carried
stores, troops, &c. which could not otherwise be transported,
there being no way of proceeding by land; and again, the
size of the vessels and a few swivels or small cannon they
carried enabled them to command even a fleet of canoes,
// 264.png
.pn +1
should the Indians be disposed to attack them. Of this there
was at the time not the least apprehension; and here I must
stop to give some account of the first victim to this unlooked
for attack.

Sir Robert D. was the representative of an ancient English
family, of which he was originally the sixth brother. At a
certain time of life, somewhere betwixt twenty-five and thirty,
each was, in turn, attacked with a hypochondriac disorder,
which finally proved fatal. Sir Robert, in turn, succeeded to
the estate and title, and to the dreadful apprehension of being
visited by the same calamity. This was the more to be regretted,
as he was a person of very good abilities, and an excellent
disposition. The time now approached when he was to
arrive at that period of life at which the fatal malady attacked
his brothers. He felt, or imagined he felt, some symptoms of
the approaching gloom. What should he do? Medicine had
not availed. Should he travel? Alas! his brothers had travelled,
but the blackest despair was their companion. Should he
try a sea voyage, one of them commanded a ship, and fate
overtook him in his own cabin. It occurred to him that, by
living among a people who were utter strangers to this most
dreadful of all visitations, and adopting their manner of life, he
might escape its influence. He came over to America, where
his younger brother served in a regiment then in Canada. He
felt his melancholy daily increasing, and resolved immediately
to put in execution his plan of entirely renouncing the European
modes of life, and incorporating himself in some Indian
tribe, hoping the novelty of the scene, and the hardships to
which it would necessarily subject him, might give an entire
new turn to his spirits. He communicated his intention to
Sir William Johnson, who entirely approved of it, and advised
him to go up to the great lake, among the Hurons, who were
an intelligent and sensible race, and inhabited a very fine country,
and among whom he would not be liable to meet his
// 265.png
.pn +1
countrymen, or be tempted back to the mode of life he wished
for a while entirely to forsake. This was no flight of caprice,
but a project undertaken in the most deliberate manner, and
with the most rational views. It completely succeeded. The
Hurons were not a little flattered to think that an European
of Sir Robert’s rank was going to live with them, and be their
brother. He did not fail to conciliate them with presents, and
still more by his ready adoption of their dress and manners.
The steadiness he showed in adhering to a plan where he had
not only severe hardships but numberless disgusts to encounter,
showed him possessed of invincible patience and fortitude;
while his letters to his friends, with whom he regularly corresponded,
evinced much good sense and just observation. For
two years he led this life, which habit made easy, and the enjoyment
of equal spirits agreeable. Convinced that he had
attained his desired end, and conquered the hereditary tendency
so much dreaded, he prepared to return to society, intending,
if his despondency should recur, to return once more to
his Indian habit, and rejoin his Huron friends. When the intention
was formed by Pondiac and his associates, of attacking
the commodore’s vessel, Sir Robert, who wished now to be
conveyed to some of the forts, discerned the British ship from
the opposite shore of the great lake, and being willing to avail
himself of that conveyance, embarked in a canoe with some of
his own Indian friends, to go on board the commodore. Meanwhile,
a very large canoe, containing as many of Pondiac’s
followers as it could possibly hold, drew near the king’s ship,
and made a pretext of coming in a friendly manner, while two
or three others, filled with warriors, hovered at a distance.—They
had fallen short of their usual policy; for they were
painted red, and had about them some of those symbols of
hostility, which are perfectly understood amongst each other.
Some friendly Indians, who happened to be by accident on
board the commodore’s vessel, discerned these, and warned
// 266.png
.pn +1
him of the approaching danger. On their drawing near the
vessel, they were ordered to keep off. Thinking they were
discovered, and that things could be no worse, they attempted
to spring on board, armed with their tomahawks and scalping-knives,
but were very soon repulsed. The other canoes, seeing
all was discovered, drew near to support their friends, but
were soon repulsed by a discharge of the six-pounder. At
this crisis, the canoe, containing Sir Robert, began to advance
in another direction. The Indians who accompanied him,
had not been apprised of the proposed attack; but being Hurons,
the commodore never doubted of their hostility. Sir
Robert sat in the end of the canoe, dressed in all the costume
of a Huron, and wrapt up in his blanket. He ordered his
companions to approach the ship immediately, not deterred by
their calling to them to keep off, intending, directly, to make
himself known; but in the confusion he was accidentally shot.

To describe the universal sorrow diffused over the province
in consequence of this fatal accident, would be impossible.
Nothing since the death of Lord Howe had excited such general
regret. The Indians carried the body to Detroit, and
delivered it up to the garrison for interment. He had kept a
journal during his residence on the lakes, which was never recovered,
and must certainly have contained (proceeding from
such a mind so circumstanced) much curious matter. Sir
Charles, his younger brother, then a captain in the 17th, succeeded
him, but had no visitation of the depression of mind
so fatal to his brothers.

Rumours, enlarged by distance, soon reached Albany of
this unlooked-for attack of the Indians. Indeed, before they
had any authentic details, they heard of it in the most alarming
manner from the terrified back settlers, who fled from their
incursions. Those who dwell in a land of security, where
only the distant rumour of war can reach them, would know
something of the value of safety could they be but one day
// 267.png
.pn +1
transported to a region where this plague is let loose; where
the timorous and the helpless are made to

.pm verse-start
“Die many times before their death,”
.pm verse-end
.ni
by restless rumour, cruel suspense, and anticipated misery.
Many of the regiments employed in the conquest of Canada
had returned home, or gone to the West-Indies. Had the Canadians
had spirit and cohesion to rise in a body and join the
Indians, ’tis hard to say what might have been the consequence.
Madame, whose cautions were neglected in the day
of prosperity, became now the public oracle, and was resorted
to and consulted by all. Formerly she blamed their false
security and neglect of that powerful chief, who, having been
accustomed to flattery and gifts from all sides, was all at once
made too sensible that it was from war he derived his importance.
Now she equally blamed the universal trepidation,
being confident in our resources, and well knowing what
useful allies the Mohawks, ever hostile to the Canadian Indians,
might prove.
.pi
Never was our good aunt more consulted and more respected.
Sir Jeffery Amherst planned at Albany an expedition to
be commanded by General Bradstreet, for which both New-York
and New-England raised corps of provincials.
// 268.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch51
CHAP. LI.
.pm ch-hd-start
Death of Captain Dalziel—Sudden Decease of an Indian Chief—Madame—Her
protégées.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>Meantime</sc> an express arrived with the afflicting news of
the loss of a captain and twenty men of the 55th regiment.
The name of this lamented officer was Dalziel, of the Carnwath
family. Colonel Beckwith had sent for a reinforcement.
This Major Duncan hesitated to send, till better informed as
to the mode of conveyance. Captain Dalziel volunteered
going. I cannot exactly say how they proceeded; but, after
having penetrated through the woods till they were in sight of
Detroit, they were discovered and attacked by a party of Indians,
and made their way with the utmost difficulty, after the
loss of their commander and the third part of their number.

Major Duncan’s comprehensive mind took in every thing
that had any tendency to advance the general good, and
cement old alliances. He saw none of the Hurons, whose
territories lay far above Ontario, but those tribes whose course
of hunting or fishing led them to his boundaries, were always
kindly treated. He often made them presents of ammunition
or provision, and did every thing in his power to conciliate
them. Upon hearing of the outrage which the Hurons[#] had
been guilty of, the heads of the tribe, with whom the major
had cultivated the greatest intimacy, came to assure him of
their good wishes, and hearty co-operation. He invited them
to come with their tribe to celebrate the birth-day of their new
// 269.png
.pn +1
king (his present majesty) which occurred a few days after,
and there solemnly renew, with the usual ceremonies, the
league offensive and defensive made between their fathers and
the late king. They came accordingly in their best arms and
dresses, and assisted at a review, and at a kind of feast given
on the occasion, on the outside of the fort. The chief and his
brother, who were two fine noble looking men, were invited to
dine with the major and officers. When they arrived, and
were seated, the major called for a glass of wine to drink his
sovereign’s health; this was no sooner done, than the sachem’s
brother fell lifeless on the floor. They thought it was
a fainting fit, and made use of the usual applications to recover
him, which, to their extreme surprise, proved ineffectual.
His brother looked steadily on while all those means were
using; but when convinced of their inefficacy, sat down, drew
his mantle over his face, sobbed aloud, and burst into tears.
This was an additional wonder. Through the traces of Indian
recollection no person had been known to fall suddenly dead
without any visible cause, nor any warrior to shed tears. After
a pause of deep silence, which no one felt inclined to break,
the sachem rose with a collected and dignified air, and thus
addressed the witnesses of this affecting incident: “Generous
English, misjudge me not; though you have seen me for
once a child, in the day of battle you will see a man, who will
make the Hurons weep blood. I was never thus before. But
to me my brother was all. Had he died in battle, no look of
mine would change. His nation would honour him, but his
foes should lament him. I see sorrow in your countenances;
and I know you were not the cause of my brother’s death.
Why, indeed, should you take away a life that was devoted to
you? Generous English, ye mourn for my brother, and I will
fight your battles.” This assurance of his confidence was
very necessary to quiet the minds of his friends; and the concern
of the officers was much aggravated by the suspicious
// 270.png
.pn +1
circumstances attending his death so immediately after the
drinking of the wine they had given him. The major ordered
this lamented warrior to be interred with great ceremony. A
solemn procession, mournful music, the firing of cannon, and
all other military honours, evinced his sympathy for the living,
and his respect for the dead; and the result of this sad event,
in the end, rather tended to strengthen the attachment of those
Indians to the British cause.

.pm fn-start // A
The author, perhaps, uses the term Huron, where that of Algonquin
would have been more correct. She does not recollect the distinctive
terms exactly, but applies the epithet, in general, to the Indians who then
occupied the banks of the Huron Lake, and the adjacent country.
.pm fn-end

I have given this singular occurrence a place in these memoirs,
as it serves to illustrate the calm good sense and steady
confidence which made a part of the Indian character, and
added value to their friendship, when once it was fairly
attained.

The fifty-fifth, which had been under orders to return home,
felt a severe disappointment in being, for two years more,
confined to their sylvan fortresses. These, however, they
embellished, and rendered comfortable, with gardens and farm
grounds, that, to reside in them, could no longer be accounted
a penance. Yet, during the Indian war, they were, from motives
of necessary caution, confined to very narrow limits;
which, to those accustomed to pursue their sports with all that
wild liberty and wide excursion peculiar to savage hunters,
was a hardship of which we can have no idea. Restrained
from this unbounded license, fishing became their next favourite
pursuit, to which the lakes and rivers on which these forts
were built, afforded great facility. Tempted by the abundance
and excellence of the productions of these copious waters,
they were led to endanger their health by their assiduity in this
amusement. Agues, the disease of all new establishments,
became frequent among them, and were aggravated by the
home sickness. To this they were more peculiarly liable, as
the regiment, just newly raised before they embarked for
America, had quitted the bosom of their families, without passing
// 271.png
.pn +1
through the gradation of boarding-schools and academies,
as is usual in other countries.

What an unspeakable blessing to the inhabitants were the
parish schools of the north, and how much humble worth and
laborious diligence has been found among their teachers. In
those lowly seminaries, boys not only attained the rudiments of
learning, but the principles of loyalty and genuine religion,
with the abatement of a small tincture of idolatry, of which
their household gods were the only objects. Never, surely,
was a mode of education so calculated to cherish attachment
to those tutelar deities. Even the laird’s son had often a
mile or two to walk to his day school; a neighbouring tenant’s
son carried the basket which contained his simple dinner; and
still as they went along they were joined by other fellow travellers
in the paths of learning. How cordial were those intimacies,
formed in the early period of life, and of the day while
nature smiled around in dewy freshness! How gladdening to
the kind and artless heart were these early walks through the
wild varieties of a romantic country, and among the peaceful
cottages of simple peasants, from whence the incense of
praise, “in sounds by distance made more sweet,” rose on the
morning breeze![#] How cheering was the mid-day sport,
amid their native burns and braes, without the confinement of
a formal play-ground! How delightful the evening walk
homeward, animated by the consciousness of being about to
meet all that was dearest to the artless and affectionate mind!
Thus the constitution was improved with the understanding;
and they carried abroad into active life, the rigid fibre of the
// 272.png
.pn +1
robust and hardy frame, and the warm and fond affections of
the heart, uncorrupted and true to its first attachments. Never
sure were youth’s first glowing feelings more alive than in the
minds of those young soldiers. From school they were hurried
into the greatest fatigues and hardships, and the horrors
of the most sanguinary war; and from thence transported to
the depth of those central forests, where they formed to themselves
a little world, whose greatest charm was the cherished
recollection of the simple and endeared scenes of their childhood,
and of the beloved relations whom they had left behind,
and to whom they languished to return. They had not gone
through the ordeal of the world, and could not cheer their exile
by retracing its ways, its fashions, or its amusements. It is
this domestic education, that unbroken series of home joys
and tender remembrances, that render the natives of the north
so faithful to their filial and fraternal duties and so attached
to a bleak and rugged region, excelled in genial warmth of
climate and fertility of soil, in every country to which the spirit
of adventure leads them.

.pm fn-start // A
The Scottish peasants, when they return to breakfast from their
early labours, read a portion of scripture, sing some part of a psalm, and
pray. This practice is too general, either to diminish cheerfulness, or
convey the idea of superior sanctity; while the effect of vocal music,
rising at once from so many separate dwellings, is very impressive.
.pm fn-end

I was now restored to my niche at Aunt Schuyler’s and not
a little delighted with the importance which, in this eventful
crisis, seemed to attach to her opinions. The times were too
agitated to admit of her paying much attention to me; but I,
who took the deepest interest in what was going on, and
heard of nothing, abroad or at home, but Indians, and sieges,
and campaigns, was doubly awake to all the conversation I
heard at home.

The expedition proceeded under General Bradstreet, while
my father, recommended to his attention by madame, held
some temporary employment about mustering the troops. My
friend had now the satisfaction of seeing her plans succeed in
different instances.

Philip, since known by the title of General Schuyler, whom
I have repeatedly mentioned, had now, in pursuance of the
// 273.png
.pn +1
mode she pointed out to him, attained to wealth and power,
both of which were rapidly increasing. His brother Cortlandt,
(the handsome savage,) who had, by her advice, gone
into the army, had returned from Ireland, the commander of
a company, and married to a very pleasing and estimable
woman, whose perpetual vivacity and good humour threw a
ray of light over the habitual reserve of her husband, who was
amiable in domestic life, though cold and distant in his manner.
They settled near the general, and paid a degree of attention
to madame, that showed the filial tie remained in full
force.

The colonel, as he was then called, had built a house near
Albany, in the English taste, comparatively magnificent, where
his family resided, and where he carried on the business of
his department. Thirty miles or more above Albany, in the
direction of the Flats, and near the far-famed Saratoga, which
was to be the scene of his future triumph, he had another
establishment. It was here that the colonel’s political and
economical genius had full scope. He had always the command
of a great number of those workmen who were employed
in public buildings, &c. Those were always in constant
pay—it being necessary to engage them in that manner; and
were, from the change of seasons, the shutting of the ice, and
other circumstances, months unemployed. All these seasons,
when public business was interrupted, the workmen were employed
in constructing squares of buildings in the nature of
barracks, for the purpose of lodging artisans and labourers of
all kinds. Having previously obtained a large tract of very
fertile lands from the crown, on which he built a spacious and
convenient house; he constructed those barracks at a distance,
not only as a nursery for the arts which he meant to
encourage, but as the materials of a future colony, which he
meant to plant out around him. He had here a number of
negroes well acquainted with felling of trees and managing
// 274.png
.pn +1
saw-mills, of which he erected several. And while these were
employed in carrying on a very advantageous trade of deals
and lumber, which were floated down on rafts to New-York,
they were at the same time clearing the ground for the colony
the colonel was preparing to establish.

This new settlement was an asylum for every one who
wanted bread and a home: from the variety of employments
regularly distributed, every artisan and every labourer found
here lodging and occupation; some hundreds of people,
indeed, were employed at once. Those who were in winter
engaged at the saw-mills, were in summer equally busied at a
large and productive fishery. The artisans got lodging and
firing for two or three years, at first, besides being well paid
for every thing they did. Flax was raised and dressed, and
finally spun and made into linen there; and as artisans were
very scarce in the country, every one sent linen to weave, flax
to dress, &c. to the colonel’s colony. He paid them liberally;
and having always abundance of money in his hands, could
afford to be the loser at first, to be amply repaid in the end.
It is inconceivable what dexterity, address, and deep policy
were exhibited in the management of this new settlement; the
growth of which was rapid beyond belief. Every mechanic
ended in being a farmer, that is, a profitable tenant to the
owner of the soil; and new recruits of artisans from the north
of Ireland chiefly supplied their place, nourished with the
golden dews which this sagacious projector could so easily
command. The rapid increase and advantageous result of
this establishment were astonishing. It is impossible for my
imperfect recollection to do justice to the capacity displayed
in these regulations. But I have thus endeavoured to trace
to its original source that wealth and power which became, afterwards,
the means of supporting an aggression so formidable.
// 275.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch52
CHAP. LII.
.pm ch-hd-start
Madame’s popularity—Exchange of Prisoners.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>In</sc> the front of Madame’s house was a portico, towards the
street. To this she was supported, in fine evenings, when the
whole town were enjoying themselves on their respective seats
of one kind or other. To hers there were a few steps of
ascent, on which we used humbly to seat ourselves; while a
succession of the “elders of that city” paid their respects to
madame, and conversed with her by turns. Never was levee
better attended. “Aunt Schuyler is come out,” was a talismanic
sentence that produced pleasure in every countenance,
and set every one in motion who hoped to be well received;
for, as I have formerly observed, aunt knew the value of time
much too well to devote it to every one. We lived all this
time next door to her, and were often of these evening parties.

The Indian war was now drawing to a close, after occasioning
great disquiet, boundless expense, and some bloodshed.
Even when we had the advantage which our tactics and artillery
in some instances gave, it was a warfare of the most
precarious and perplexing kind. It was something like
hunting in a forest at best; could you but have supposed the
animals you pursued armed with missile weapons, and ever
ready to start out of some unlooked-for place. Our faithful
Indian confederates, as far as I can recollect, were more useful
to us on this occasion than all the dear-bought apparatus
which we collected for the purpose of destroying an enemy too
wise and too swift to permit us to come in sight of them; or,
if determined to attack us, sufficiently dexterous to make us
feel before we saw them. We said, however, that we conquered
Pondiac, at which, no doubt, he smiled; for the truth
// 276.png
.pn +1
of the matter was, the conduct of this war resembled a protracted
game of chess. He was as little able to take our forts
without cannon, as we were able without the feet, the eyes,
and the instinctive sagacity of Indians, to trace them to their
retreats. After delighting ourselves for a long while with the
manner in which we were to punish Pondiac’s presumption,
“could we but once catch him,” all ended in our making a
treaty, very honourable for him, and not very disadvantageous
to ourselves. We gave both presents and promises, and
Pondiac gave permission to the mothers of those children who
had been taken away from the frontier settlements, to receive
them back again, on condition of delivering up the Indian
prisoners.

The joyful day when the congress was held for concluding
peace I never shall forget. Another memorable day is engraven
in indelible characters upon my memory. Madame
being deeply interested in the projected exchange, brought
about a scheme for having it take place at Albany, which was
more central than any other place, and where her influence
among the Mohawks could be of use in getting intelligence
about the children, and sending messages to those who had
adopted them, and who, by this time, were very unwilling to
part with them. In the first place, because they were grown
very fond of them; and again, because they thought the children
would not be so happy in our manner of life, which appeared
to them both constrained and effeminate. This exchange
had a large retrospect. For ten years back there had
been every now and then, while these Indians were in the
French interest, ravages upon the frontiers of the different
provinces. In many instances, these children had been
snatched away while their parents were working in the fields,
or after they were killed. A certain day was appointed, on
which all who had lost their children, or sought those of their
relations were to come to Albany in search of them; where,
// 277.png
.pn +1
on that day, all Indians possessed of white children, were to
present them. Poor women, who had travelled some hundred
miles from the back settlements of Pennsylvania and
New-England, appeared here, with anxious looks and aching
hearts, not knowing whether their children were alive, or how
exactly to identify them if they should meet them. I observed
these apprehensive and tender mothers were, though poor
people, all dressed with peculiar neatness and attention, each
wishing the first impression her child should receive of her
might be a favourable one. On a gentle slope near the fort,
stood a row of temporary huts, built by retainers to the troops:
the green before these buildings was the scene of these pathetic
recognitions, which I did not fail to attend. The joy of
even the happy mothers was overpowering, and found vent in
tears; but not like the bitter tears of those who, after long
travel, found not what they sought. It was affecting to see
the deep and silent sorrow of the Indian women, and of the
children, who knew no other mother, and clung fondly to their
bosoms, from whence they were not torn without the most
piercing shrieks; while their own fond mothers were distressed
beyond measure at the shyness and aversion with which these
long-lost objects of their love received their caresses. I shall
never forget the grotesque figures and wild looks of these
young savages; nor the trembling haste with which their
mothers arrayed them in the new clothes they had brought for
them, as hoping that with the Indian dress, they would throw
off their habits and attachments. It was, in short, a scene
impossible to describe, but most affecting to behold. Never
was my good friend’s considerate liberality and useful sympathy
more fully exerted than on this occasion, which brought so
many poor travellers from their distant homes on this pilgrimage
to the shrine of nature. How many traders did she persuade
to take them gratis in their boats! How many did she
// 278.png
.pn +1
feed and lodge! and in what various ways did she serve or
make others serve them all. No one, indeed, knew how to
refuse a request of aunt Schuyler, who never made one for
herself.
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch53
CHAP. LIII.
.pm ch-hd-start
Return of the fifty-fifth regiment to Europe—Privates sent to Pensacola.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>The</sc> fifty-fifth now left their calm abodes amidst their lakes
and forests, with the joy of children breaking up from their
school; little aware that they were bidding adieu to quiet,
plenty, and freedom, and utter strangers to the world into
which they were about to plunge. They all came down to
Albany. Captain Mungo Campbell was charmed to find me
so familiar with his Milton; while I was equally charmed to
find him a favourite with aunt Schuyler, which was with me the
criterion of merit. Colonel Duncan, for such he was now,
marched proudly at the head of his pupils, whom he had carried
up raw youths, but brought back with all the manly and
soldierly openness of manner and character that could be
wished, and with minds greatly improved. Meanwhile, madame’s
counsels had so much influence on my father, that he
began seriously to think of settling in America. To part with
his beloved fifty-fifth was very trying; yet his prospects of
advantage in remaining among a people by whom he was
esteemed, and to whom he had really become attached, were
very flattering; for by the aid of aunt and the old inhabitants,
and friendly Indians, who were at her powerful bidding, he
could expect to get advantageously some lands which he, in
// 279.png
.pn +1
common with other officers who served in America, was entitled
to. He having a right to apply for the allotted quantity
wherever he found it vacant, that is, in odd unoccupied places,
between different patents, which it required much local knowledge
of the country to discover, had greatly the advantage of
strangers; because he could get information of those secluded
spots here and there, that were truly valuable; whereas
other officers belonging to regiments disbanded in the country,
either did not find it convenient to go to the expense of taking
out a patent, and surveying the lands, and so sold their rights
for a trifle to others; or else half a dozen went together, and
made a choice, generally an injudicious one, of some large
tract of ground, which would not have been so long unsolicited
had it been of real value. My father bought the rights of
two young officers who were in a hurry to go to Europe, and
had not, perhaps, wherewithal to go through the necessary
forms used to appropriate a particular spot, the expense of that
process being considerable. Accordingly, he became a consequential
landholder, and had half his pay to boot.

The fifty-fifth were now preparing to embark for that home
which they regarded with enthusiasm; this extended to the
lowest ranks, who were absolutely home-sick. They had,
too, from the highest to the lowest, been enabled, from their
unexpensive mode of living, to lay up some money. Never
was there a body of men more uncorrupted and more attached
to each other. Military men contract a love of variety in their
wandering manner of life, and always imagine they are to find
some enjoyment in the next quarters that they have not had in
this; so that the order for march is generally a joyful summons
to the younger officers at least. To these novices, who,
when they thought the world of variety, glory, and preferment
was open before them, were ordered up into the depth of unexplored
forests, to be kept stationary for years together,
without even the amusement of a battle, it was sufficiently
// 280.png
.pn +1
disappointing. Yet afterwards I have been told that, in all
the changes to which this hapless regiment was subjected,
they looked back on the years spent on the lakes as the happiest
of their lives.

My father parted with them with extreme regret, but he had
passed the rubicon—that is to say, taken out his patent, and
stay he must. He went, however, to New-York with them,
and here a very unexpected scene opened. Many of the soldiers
who had saved little sums, had deposited them in my
father’s hands, and, when he gave every one his own at New-York,
he had great pleasure in seeing their exultation, and the
purchases they were making. When, all of a sudden, a
thunderbolt burst among these poor fellows, in the shape of
an order to draft the greatest part of them to Pensacola, to
renew regiments who, placed on a bar of burning sand, with a
salt marsh before and a swamp behind, were lingering out a
wretched and precarious existence, daily cut short by disease
in some new instance. Words are very inadequate to give an
idea of the horror that pervaded this band of veterans. When
this order was most unexpectedly read at the head of the regiment,
it was worse to most of them than a sentence of immediate
death. They were going to a dismal and detested
quarter, and they were going to become part of a regiment of
no repute; whom they themselves had held in the utmost contempt
when they had formerly served together. The officers
were not a little affected by this cruel order; to part with brave
well-disciplined men, who, by their singular good conduct,
and by the habits of sharing with their officers in the chase,
and in their agricultural amusements, fishing parties, &c. had
acquired a kindly nearness to them, not usually subsisting between
those who command and they who must implicitly obey.
What ties were broken! what hopes were blasted by this fatal
order! These sad exiles embarked for Pensacola at the same
time that their comrades set out for Ireland. My father returned,
// 281.png
.pn +1
sunk in the deepest sadness, which was increased by
our place of abode; for we had removed to the forsaken fort,
where there was no creature but ourselves and three or four
soldiers, who chose to stay in the country, and for whom my
father had procured their discharge.

I was, in the mean time, more intimate than ever at aunt
Schuyler’s; attracted not only by her kindness, but my admiration
for Mrs. Cuyler, and attachment for her lovely little
girl. The husband of the former was now returned from his
West-India voyage, and they retired to a house of their own,
meaning to succeed to that business which the mayor, now
wealthy and infirm, was quitting. Cortlandt Schuyler, the
general’s brother, and his sprightly agreeable wife, were
now, as well as the couple formerly mentioned, frequent visitors
at aunt’s, and made a very pleasing addition to her familiar
circle. I began to be considered as almost a child of the
family, and madame took much pains in instructing me,
hoping that I would continue attached to her, and knowing
that my parents were much flattered by her kindness, and fully
conscious of the advantages I derived from it. With her aid,
my father’s plan of proceeding was fully digested. He was
to survey and locate his lands, (that was the phrase used for
such transactions,) and at leisure, (as the price of lands was
daily rising,) to let them out on lease. He was to reserve a
good farm for himself, but not to reside upon it till the lands
around it were cultivated, and so many settlers gone up as
would make the district, in a degree, civilized and populous;
a change which was like to take place very rapidly, as there
were daily emigrations to that neighbourhood, which was become
a favourite rallying point, on account of a flourishing and
singularly well-conducted settlement which I have already
mentioned, under the auspices of Colonel Schuyler in this
quarter.
// 282.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch54
CHAP. LIV.
.pm ch-hd-start
A new property—Visionary plans.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>My</sc> father went up in summer with a retinue of Indians and
disbanded soldiers, &c. headed by a land surveyor. In that
country, men of this description formed an important and distinct
profession. They were provided with an apparatus of
measuring-chains, tents, and provision. It was, upon the
whole, an expensive expedition; but this was the less to be
regretted, as the object proved fully adequate. Never was a
location more fertile or more valuable, nor the possessor of an
estate more elated with his acquisition. A beautiful stream
passed through the midst of the property; beyond its limits, on
one side, rose a lofty eminence, covered with tall cedar, which
being included in no patent, would be a common good, and
offered an inexhaustible supply of timber and firing, after the
lands should be entirely cleared. This sylvan scene appeared,
even in its wild state, to possess singular advantages; it
was dry lying land, without the least particle of swamp; great
part of it was covered with chesnuts, the sure indication of
good wheat land, and the rest with white oak, the never-failing
forerunner of good Indian corn and pasture. The ground, at
the time of the survey, was in a great measure covered with
strawberries, the sure sign of fertility; and better and better
still, there was, on a considerable stream which watered this
region of benediction, a beaver-dam, that was visibly of at
least fifty years standing. What particular addition our over-flowing
felicity was to derive from the neighbourhood of these
sagacious builders, may not be easily conjectured. It was
not their society, for they were much too wise to remain in
our vicinity, nor yet their example, which, though a very good
// 283.png
.pn +1
one, we were scarce wise enough to follow. Why then did
we so much rejoice over the dwelling of these old settlers?
Merely because their industry had saved us much trouble;
for in the course of their labours, they had cleared above thirty
acres of excellent hay land; work which we should take a
long time to execute, and not perform near so well; the truth
was, this industrious colony, by whose previous labour we
were thus to profit, were already extirpated, to my unspeakable
sorrow, who had been creating a beaver Utopia ever since
I heard of the circumstance. The protection I was to afford
them, the acquaintance I was to make with them, after conquering
the first shyness, and the delight I was to have in seeing
them work, after convincing them of their safety, occupied
my whole attention, and helped to console me for the drafting
of the fifty-fifth, which I had been ever since lamenting. How
buoyant is the fancy of childhood! I was mortified to the
utmost to hear there were no beavers remaining; yet the
charming, though simple description my father gave us of this
“vale of bliss,” which the beavers had partly cleared, and the
whole “township of Clarendon,” (so was the new laid out
territory called,) consoled me for all past disappointments. It
is to be observed, that the political and economical regulations
of the beavers, make their neighbourhood very desirable to
new settlers. They build houses and dams with unwearied
industry, as every one that has heard of them must needs
know; but their unconquerable attachment to a particular spot
is not so well known; the consequence is, that they work
more, and of course clear more land in some situations than
in others. When they happen to pitch upon a stream that
overflows often in spring, it is apt lo carry away the dam,
formed of large trees laid across the stream, which it has cost
them unspeakable pains to cut down and bring there. Whenever
these are destroyed, they cut down more trees and construct
another; and as they live all winter on the tender twigs
// 284.png
.pn +1
from the underwood and bark which they strip from poplar
and alder, they soon clear these also from the vicinity. In
the day-time they either mend their houses, lay up stores in
them, or fish, sitting upon their dams made for that purpose.
The night they employ in cutting down trees, which they
always do so as to make them fall towards the stream, or in
dragging them to the dam. Meanwhile they have always
sentinels placed near to give the alarm, in case of any intrusion.
It is hard to say when these indefatigable animals refresh
themselves with sleep. I have seen those that have
been taken young and made very tame, so that they followed
their owner about; even in these the instinct which prompts
their nocturnal labours was apparent. When all was quiet,
they began to work. Being discontented and restless, if confined,
it was usual to leave them in the yard. They seemed
in their civilized, or rather degraded state, to retain an idea
that it was necessary to convey materials for building to their
wonted habitation. The consequence was, that a single one
would carry such quantities of wood to the back door, that
you would find your way blocked up in the morning, to a
degree almost incredible.

Being very much inclined to be happy, and abundant in
resources, the simple felicity which was at some future period
to prevail among the amiable and innocent tenants we were to
have at Clarendon, filled my whole mind. Before this flattering
vision, all painful recollections, and even all the violent
love which I had persuaded myself to feel for my native
Britain, entirely vanished.

The only thing that disturbed me, was aunt Schuyler’s age,
and the thoughts of outliving her, which sometimes obtruded
among my day dreams of more than mortal happiness. I
thought all this could scarce admit of addition; yet a new
source of joy was opened, when I found that we were actually
going to live at the Flats. That spot, rendered sacred by
// 285.png
.pn +1
the residence of aunt, where I should trace her steps wherever
I moved, dwell under the shadow of her trees, and, in
short, find her in every thing I saw. We did not aspire to
serious farming, reserving that effort for our own estate, of
which we talked very magnificently, and indeed had some
reason, it being as valuable as so much land could be: and
from its situation in a part of the country which was hourly
acquiring fresh inhabitants, its value daily increased, which
consideration induced my father to refuse several offers for it;
resolved either to people it with Highland emigrants, or retain
it in his own hands till he should get his price.

Sir Henry Moore, the last British governor of New-York
that I remember, came up this summer to see Albany, and the
ornament of Albany—aunt Schuyler; he brought Lady Moore
and his daughter with him. They resided for some time at
General Schuyler’s, I call him so by anticipation; for sure
I am, had any gifted seer foretold then what was to happen,
he would have been ready to answer, “Is thy servant a
dog, that he should do this thing?” Sir Harry, like many
of his predecessors, was a mere show governor, and old
Cadwallader Colden, the lieutenant governor, continued to
do the business, and enjoy the power in its most essential
branches, such as giving patents for lands, &c. Sir Harry,
in the meantime, had never thought of business in his life:
he was honourable, as far as a man could be so, who always
spent more than he had; he was, however, gay, good
natured, and well bred, affable and courteous in a very high
degree, and if the business of a governor was merely to keep
the governed in good humour, no one was fitter for that office
than he, the more so, as he had sense enough to know two
things of great importance to be known: one was, that a person
of tried wisdom and good experience like Colden, was
fitter to transact the business of the province, than any dependent
of his own; the other, that he was totally unfit to manage
// 286.png
.pn +1
it himself. The government house was the scene of frequent
festivities and weekly concerts, Sir Henry being very musical,
and Lady Moore peculiarly fitted for doing the honours of a
drawing-room or entertainment. They were too fashionable,
and too much hurried to find time for particular friendships,
and too good natured and well bred to make invidious distinctions,
so that, without gaining very much either of esteem
or affection, they pleased every one in the circle around them;
and this general civility of theirs, in the storm which was about
to arise, had its use. In the beginning, before the tempest
broke loose in all its fury, it was like oil poured on agitated
waters, which produces a temporary calm immediately round
the ship. As yet the storm only muttered at a distance, but
madame was disturbed by anxious presages. In her case,

.pm verse-start
“Old experience actually did attain
 To something like prophetic strain.”
.pm verse-end

But it was not new to her to prophecy in vain. I, for my part,
was charmed with the manners of these exalted visitors of
aunt’s, and not a little proud of their attention to her, not knowing
that they showed pretty much the same attention to every
one.

While I was dancing on air with the thoughts of going to live
at the Flats, of the beauties of Clarendon, and many other
delights which I had created to myself, an event took place
that plunged us all in sorrow; it was the death of the lovely
child Catalina, who was the object of much fondness to us all,
for my parents, bating the allowance to be made for enthusiasm,
were as fond of her as I was. Madame had set her
heart very much on this engaging creature; she mustered up
all her fortitude to support the parents of her departed favourite,
but suffered much notwithstanding. Here began my
acquaintance with sorrow. We went, however, to the Flats
in autumn. Our family consisted of a negro girl, and a soldier,
// 287.png
.pn +1
who had followed my father’s fortunes from Scotland, and
stuck to him through every change. We did not mean to farm,
but had merely the garden, orchard, and enclosure for hay,
two cows, a horse for my father, and a colt, which, to my great
delight, was given me as a present. Many sources of comfort
and amusement were now cut off from madame; her
nephew and his lively and accomplished wife had left her; Dr.
Ogilvie was removed to New-York, and had a successor no
way calculated to supply his place. This year she had lost
her brother-in-law Cornelius Cuyler,[#] whose sound sense and
intelligence made his society of consequence to her, independent
of the great esteem and affection she had for him. The
army, among whom she always found persons of information
and good breeding, in whose conversation she could take
pleasure which might be truly called such, were gone. Nothing
// 288.png
.pn +1
could compensate, in her opinion, for the privation of that
enjoyment; she read, but then the people about her had so
little taste for reading, that she had not her wonted pleasure in
that, for want of some one with whom she could discuss the
topics suggested by her studies. It was in this poverty of
society, such as she was accustomed to enjoy, that she took
a fancy to converse much with me, to regret my want of education,
and to take a particular interest in my employments
and mental improvement. That I might more entirely profit
by her attention, she requested my parents to let me pass the
winter with her: this invitation they gladly complied with.

.pm fn-start // A
This estimable character had for the space of forty years (which included
very important and critical conjunctures) been chief magistrate of
Albany, and its district. A situation calculated to demand the utmost
integrity and impartiality, and to exercise all the powers of a mind acute,
vigilant, and comprehensive. The less he was amenable to the control
and direction of his superiors, the more liable was he to the animadversions
of his fellow citizens, had he in the least departed from that rectitude
which made him the object of their confidence and veneration. He administered
justice, not so much in conformity to written laws, as to that
rule of equity within his own breast, the application of which was directed
by sound sense, improved by experience. I do by no means insinuate,
that he either neglected or disobeyed those laws, by which in all doubtful
cases, he was certainly guided; but that the uncorrupted state of public
morals, and the entire confidence which his fellow citizens reposed in his
probity, rendered appeals to the law for the most part superfluous. I have
heard that the family of the Cuylers was originally a German one of high
rank. Whether this can or cannot be ascertained, is of little consequence.
The sterling worth of their immediate ancestor, and his long and faithful
services to the public, reflect more honour on his descendants than any
length of pedigree.
.pm fn-end

The winter at the Flats was sufficiently melancholy, and
rendered less agreeable by some unpleasant neighbours we
had. These were a family from New-England, who had been
preparing to occupy lands near those occupied by my father.
They had been the summer before recommended to aunt’s
generous humanity, as honest people, who merely wanted a
shelter in a room in her empty house, till they should build a
temporary hut on those new lands which they were about to
inhabit. When we came, the time permitted to them had long
elapsed, but my father, who was exceedingly humane, indulged
them with a fortnight more after our arrival, on the pretence
of the sickness of a child; and there they sat, and would not
remove for the winter, unless coercion had been used for that
purpose. We lived on the road side. There was at that time
a perpetual emigration going on from the provinces of New
England to our back settlements. Our acquaintance with the
family who kept possession beside us, and with many of even
the better sort, who came to bargain with my father about his
lands, gave us more insight than we wished into the prevalent
character of those people, whom we found conceited, litigious,
and selfish beyond measure. My father was told that the only
safe way to avoid being overreached by them in a bargain,
was to give them a kind of tacit permission to sit down on his
lands, and take his chance of settling with them when they
// 289.png
.pn +1
were brought into some degree of cultivation; for if one did
bargain with them, the custom was to have it three years free
for clearing, at the end of which, the rents or purchase money
was paid. By that time, any person who had expended much
labour on land, would rather pay a reasonable price or rent for
it, than be removed.

In the progress of his intercourse with these very vulgar,
insolent, and truly disagreeable people, my father began to
disrelish the thoughts of going up to live among them. They
flocked indeed so fast, to every unoccupied spot, that their
malignant and envious spirit, their hatred of subordination, and
their indifference to the mother country, began to spread like
a taint of infection.

These illiberal opinions, which produced manners equally
illiberal, were particularly wounding to disbanded officers, and
to the real patriots, who had consulted in former times the
happiness of the country, by giving their zealous co-operation
to the troops sent to protect it. These two classes of people
began now to be branded as the slaves of arbitrary power, and
all tendencies to elegance or refinement were despised as
leading to aristocracy. The consequence of all this was,
such an opposition of opinions, as led people of the former
description to seek each other’s society exclusively. Winter
was the only time that distant friends met there, and to avoid
the chagrin resulting from this distempered state of society,
veterans settled in the country were too apt to devote themselves
to shooting and fishing, taking refuge from languor in
these solitary amusements.

We had one brave and royal neighbour, however, who saw
us often, and was “every inch a gentleman;” this was Pedrom,
aunt’s brother-in-law, in whom lived the spirit of the Schuylers,
and who was our next neighbour and cordial friend. He
was now old, detached from the world, and too hard of hearing
// 290.png
.pn +1
to be an easy companion; yet he had much various information,
and was endeared to us by similarity of principle.

Matters were beginning to be in this state the first winter I
went to live with aunt. Her friends were much dispersed;
all conversation was tainted with politics, Cromwellian politics
too, which of all things, she disliked. Her nephew, Courtlandt
Schuyler, who had been a great Nimrod ever since he
could carry a gun, and who was a man of strict honour and
nice feelings, took such a melancholy view of things, and so
little relished that Stamp Act, which was the exclusive subject
of all conversation, that he devoted himself more and
more to the chase, and seemed entirely to renounce a society
which he had never greatly loved. As I shall not refer to him
again, I shall only mention here, that this estimable person
was taken away from the evil to come two years after, by a
premature death, being killed by a fall from his horse in hunting.
What sorrows were hid from his eyes by this timely
escape from scenes which would have been to him peculiarly
wounding!

If madame’s comforts in society were diminished, her
domestic satisfactions were not less so. By the time I came
to live with her, Mariamat and Dianamat were almost superannuated,
and had lost, in a great measure, the restraining
power they used to exercise over their respective offspring.
Their woolly heads were snow white, and they were become
so feeble, that they sat each in her great chair, at the opposite
side of the fire; their wonted jealousy was now embittered to
rancour, and their love of tobacco greater than ever. They
were arrived at that happy period of ease and indolence, which
left them at full liberty to smoke and scold the whole day
long; this they did with such unwearied perseverance, and
in a manner so ludicrous, that to us young people they were a
perpetual comedy.

Sorely now did aunt lament the promise she had kept so
// 291.png
.pn +1
faithfully, never to sell any of the Colonel’s negroes. There
was so little to do for fourteen persons, except the business
they created for each other, and it was so impossible to keep
them from too freely sharing the plenty of her liberal house,
that idleness and abundance literally began to corrupt them.

All these privations and uneasinesses will in some measure
account for such a person as madame taking such pleasure
in the society of an overgrown child. But then she was glad
to escape from dark prospects and cross politics, to the amusement
derived from the innocent cheerfulness natural to that
time of life. A passion for reading, and a very comprehensive
memory too, had furnished my mind with more variety of
knowledge, than fell to the lot of those, who, living in large
families, and sharing the amusements of childhood, were not,
like me, driven to that only resource. All this will help to
account for a degree of confidence and favour daily increasing,
which ended in my being admitted to sleep in a little bed beside
her, which never happened to any other. In the winter
nights, our conversation often encroached on the earlier hours
of morning. The future appeared to her dubious and cheerless,
which was one reason, I suppose, that her active mind
turned solely on retrospection. She saw that I listened with
delighted attention to the tales of other times, which no one
could recount so well. These, too, were doubly interesting,
as, like the sociable angel’s conversation with our first father,
they related to the origin and formation of all I saw around
me; they afforded food for reflection, to which I was very
early addicted, and hourly increased my veneration for her
whom I already considered as my polar star. The great love I
had for her first gave interest to her details; and again, the
nature of these details increased my esteem for the narrator.
Thus passed this winter of felicity, which so much enlarged
my stock of ideas, that in looking back upon it, I thought I had
lived three years in one.
// 292.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch55
CHAP. LV.
.pm ch-hd-start
Return to the Flats.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>Summer</sc> came, and with it visitors, as usual, to madame,
from New-York and other places; among whom, I remember,
were her nieces, Mrs. L. and Mrs. C. I went to the
Flats, and was, as usual, kept very close to my needle-work;
but though there was no variety to amuse me, summer slid by
very fast. My mind was continually occupied with aunt, and
all the passages of her life. My greatest pleasure was to read
over again the books I had read to her, and recollect her observations
upon them. I often got up and went out to the
door to look at places where particular things had happened.
She spent the winter’s nights in retrospections of her past life;
and I spent the summer days in retrospections of these winter
nights. But these were not my only pleasures. The banks
of the river and the opposite scenery delighted me; and,
adopting all aunt’s tastes and attachments, I made myself believe
I was very fond of Pedrom and Susannah Muet, as the
widow of Jeremiah was called. My attention to them excited
their kindness; and the borrowed sentiment, on my part, soon
became a real one. These old friends were very amusing.
But then I had numberless young friends, who shared my attention,
and were, in their own way, very amusing too. These
were the objects of my earliest cares in the morning, and my
needless solicitude all day. I had marked down in a list between
thirty and forty nests of various kinds of birds. It was
an extreme dry summer, and I saw the parent birds, whom I
diligently watched, often panting with heat, and, as I thought,
fatigued. After all I had heard and seen of aunt, I thought it
incumbent on me to be good and kind to some being that
// 293.png
.pn +1
needed my assistance. To my fellow-creatures, my power
did not extend; therefore I wisely resolved to adapt my mode
of beneficence to the sphere of action assigned to me, and
decided upon the judicious scheme of assisting all these birds
to feed their young. My confederate Marian, (our negro
girl,) entered heartily into this plan; and it was the business
of the morning, before tasks commenced, to slaughter innumerable
insects, and gather quantities of cherries and other
fruit for that purpose. Portions of this provision we laid beside
every nest, and then applauded ourselves for saving the
poor birds fatigue. This, from a pursuit, became a passion.
Every spare moment was devoted to it, and every hour made
new discoveries of the nature and habits of our winged friends,
which we considered as amply recompensing our labours.

The most eager student of natural philosophy could not be
more attentive to those objects, or more intent on making discoveries.
One sad discovery we made, that mortified us exceedingly.
The mocking-bird is very scarce and very shy
in this northern district. A pair came, however, to our inexpressible
delight, and built a nest in a very high tree in our
garden. Never was joy like ours. At the imminent risk of
our necks, we made shift to ascend to this lofty dwelling during
the absence of the owners: birds we found none; but
three eggs of a colour so equivocal, that, deciding the point
whether they were green or blue, furnished matter of debate
for the rest of the day. To see these treasures was delightful,
and to refrain from touching them impossible. One of the
young we resolved to appropriate, contrary to our general
humane procedure; and the next weighty affair to be discussed,
was the form and size of the cage, which was to contain
this embryo warbler. The parents, however, arrived. On
examining the premises, by some mysterious mode of their
own, they discovered that their secret had been explored, and
that profane hands had touched the objects of all their tenderness.
// 294.png
.pn +1
Their plaintive cries we too well understood. That
whole evening and all the next day they were busied in the
orchard; while their loud lamentations, constantly reiterated,
pierced us with remorse. We soon saw the garden next forsaken;
and a little further examination soon convinced us
that the violated eggs had been transported to another, where,
however, they were not hatched; the delicate instincts which
directed these creatures to form a new nest, and carry off their
eggs, on finding they had been handled, did not, at the same
time inform them that eggs carried away, and shaken by that
motion, during the process of incubation, cannot produce any
thing.

The great barn, which I formerly described, afforded scope
for our observations of this nature; and here we remarked
a phenomenon, that I am still at a loss to account for. In the
highest part of that spacious and lofty roof, multitudes of
swallows, of the martin species, made their nests. These
were constructed of mud or clay, as usual, and in the ordinary
course of things, lasted, with some repairs, from year to year.
This summer, however, being unusually hot and dry, the
nests, in great numbers, cracked and fell down on the floor,
with the young ones in them. We often found them in this
situation, but always found the birds in them alive and unhurt;
and saw the old ones come to feed them on the floor, which
they did with such eager confidence, that they often brushed
so near as to touch us. Now we could no other way account
for the nests always coming down with the birds unhurt in
them, but by supposing that the swallows watched the fracture
of the nests, and when they saw them about to fall, came
round the descending fabric, and kept it in a kind of equilibrium.
Of these birds we stood in such profound awe, that
we never profited by the accident which put them in our
power; we would not, indeed, for any consideration, have
touched them, especially after the sad adventure of the mocking-birds,
// 295.png
.pn +1
which hung very heavy upon our consciences.
Autumn came, and aunt came at the appointed day, the anniversary
of his death, to visit the tomb of her beloved consort.
This ceremony always took place at that time. She concluded
it with a visit to us, and an earnest request for my
returning with her, and remaining the winter.
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch56
CHAP. LVI.
.pm ch-hd-start
Melancholy presages—Turbulence of the people.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>The</sc> conversations between my father and aunt assumed a
melancholy cast. Their hopes of a golden age in that country,
(now that the flames of war were entirely quenched,) grew
weaker. The repeal of the stamp act, occasioned excessive
joy, but produced little gratitude. The youth of the town,
before that news arrived, had abandoned their wonted sports,
and began to amuse themselves with breaking the windows
and destroying the furniture of two or three different people,
who had, in succession, been suspected of being stamp-masters
in embryo. My father grew fonder than ever of fishing
and shooting, because birds and fish did not talk of tyranny or
taxes. Sometimes we were refreshed by a visit from some of
aunt’s nephews, the sons of the mayor. They always left us
in great good humour, for they spoke respectfully of our dear
king, and dearer country. But this sunshine was transient;
they were soon succeeded by Obadiah or Zephaniah, from
Hampshire or Connecticut, who came in without knocking;
sat down without invitation; and lighted their pipes without
// 296.png
.pn +1
ceremony; then talked of buying land; and finally, began a
discourse on politics, which would have done honour to Praise
God Barebones, or any of the members of his parliament.
What is very singular is, that though the plain spoken and
manly natives of our settlement had a general dislike to the
character of these litigious and loquacious pretenders, such
are the inconsistencies into which people are led by party,
that they insensibly adopted many of their notions. With
madame I was quite free from this plague. None of that
chosen race ever entered her door. She valued time too
much to devote it to a set of people whom she considered as
greatly wanting in sincerity. I speak now of the Hampshire
and Connecticut people. In towns and at sea-ports the old
leaven had given way to that liberality which was produced
by a better education, and an intercourse with strangers.
Much as aunt’s loyal and patriotic feelings were hurt by the
new mode of talking which prevailed, her benevolence was
not cooled, nor her mode of living changed.

I continued to grow in favour with aunt this winter, for the
best possible reasons; I was the only one of the family that
would sit still with her. The young people in the house were
by no means congenial with her; and each had a love affair
in hand, fast ripening into matrimony, that took up all their
thoughts. Mr. H. our chaplain, was plausible, but superficial,
vain, and ambitious. He, too, was busied in hatching a
project of another kind. On pretence of study, he soon retired
to his room after meals, dreading, no doubt, that aunt
might be in possession of Ithuriel’s spear, or to speak without
a figure, might either fathom his shallowness, or detect his
project. One of these discoveries he knew would sink him
in her opinion, and the other exclude him from her house. For
my part, I was always puzzling myself to consider why I did
not more love and reverence Mr. H. who I took it for granted
must needs be good, wise, and learned; for I thought a clergyman
// 297.png
.pn +1
was all but inspired. Thus thinking, I wondered why
I did not feel for Mr. H. what I felt for aunt in some degree;
but unfortunately, Mr. H. was a true bred native of Connecticut,
which, perhaps, helped more than any intuitive penetration
into character, to prevent any excess of veneration. Aunt
and I read Burnet’s memoirs and some biography this winter,
and talked at least over much geography and natural history.
Here, indeed, I was in some degree obliged to Mr. H. I mean
for a few lessons on the globe. He had, too, an edition of
Shakspeare. I have been trying, but in vain, to recollect what
aunt said of this. Not much, certainly; but she was much
pleased with the Essay on Man, &c. Yet I somehow understood
that Shakspeare was an admired author, and was not a
little mortified when I found myself unable to appreciate his
merits. I suppose my taste had been vitiated by bombast
tragedies I had read at Colonel E’s. I thought them grossly
familiar, and very inferior to Cato, whom aunt had taught me
to admire; in short, I was ignorant, and because I could read
Milton, did not know my own ignorance. I did not expect
to meet nature in a play, and therefore did not recognise her.
It is not to be conceived how I puzzled over Hamlet, or how
his assumed madness and abuse of Ophelia confounded me.
Othello’s jealousy, and the manner in which he expressed it,
were quite beyond my comprehension.

I mention these things as a warning to other young people
not to admire by rote, but to wait the unfolding of their own
taste, if they would derive real pleasure from the works of
genius. I rather imagine I was afraid aunt would think I devoted
too much time to what I then considered as a trifling
book. For I remember reading Hamlet the third or fourth
time, in a frosty night, by moonlight, in the back porch. This,
reiterated perusal was not in consequence of any great pleasure
it afforded me; but I was studiously labouring to discover
the excellence I thought it must needs contain, yet with
// 298.png
.pn +1
more diligence than success. Madame was at this time, I
imagine, foreseeing a storm, and trying to withdraw her mind
as much as possible from earthly objects.

Forty years before this period, a sister of the deceased colonel
had married a very worthy man by the name of Wendell.
He being a person of an active, enterprising disposition, and
possessing more portable wealth than usually fell to the share
of the natives there, was induced to join some great commercial
company near Boston, and settled there. He was highly
prosperous, and much beloved, and for a while cultivated a
constant commerce with the friends he left behind. When he
died, however, his wife, who was a meek, benevolent woman,
without distrust, and a stranger to business, was very ill
treated. Her sons, who had been married in the country,
died. Their connexions secured the family property for their
children. In the primitive days of New-York, a marriage
settlement was an unheard-of thing. Far from her native
home, having outlived her friends, helpless and uncomplaining,
this good woman, who had lived all her days in the midst of
deserved affluence and affection, was now stripped by chicanery
of all her rights, and sinking into poverty without a
friend or comforter. Aunt immediately upon hearing this, set
on foot a negotiation to get Mrs. Wendell’s affairs regulated,
so that she might have the means of living with comfort in a
country in which long residence had naturalized her; or that
failing, to bring her home to reside with herself. Perhaps in
the whole course of her life she had not experienced so much
of the depravity of human nature, as this inquiry unfolded to
her. The negotiation, however, cheered and busied her at a
time when she greatly needed some exertion of mind to check
the current of thought produced by the rapid and astonishing
change of manners and sentiments around her. But in our
province there were two classes of people who absolutely
seemed let loose by the demon of discord, for the destruction
// 299.png
.pn +1
of public peace and private confidence. One of these was
composed of lawyers, who multiplied so fast that one would
think they rose like mushrooms from the earth. For many
years one lawyer was sufficient for the whole settlement. But
the swarm of these, which had made so sudden and portentous
an appearance, had been encouraged to choose that profession,
because a wide field was open for future contention,
merely from the candour and simplicity of the last generation.

Not in the least distrusting each other, nor aware of the
sudden rise of the value of lands, these primitive colonists got
large grants from government, to encourage their efforts in
the early stages of cultivation; these lands being first purchased,
for some petty consideration, from the Indians, who
alone knew the land-marks of that illimitable forest.

The boundaries of such large grants, when afterwards confirmed
by government, were distinguished by the terms used
by the Indians, who pointed them out; and very extraordinary
marks they were. For instance, one that I recollect. “We
exchange with our brother Cornelius Rensselear, for so many
strouds, guns, &c. the lands beginning at the beaver creek,
going on northward, to the great fallen plane tree, where our
tribe slept last summer; then eastward, to the three great
cedars on the hillock; then westward, strait to the wild duck
swamp; and strait on from the swamp to the turn in the beaver
creek where the old dam was.”

Such are the boundaries, seriously described in this manner,
in one of the earliest patents. The only mode, then existing,
of fixing these vague limits was to mark large trees which grew
at the corners of the property, with the owner’s name deeply
cut, along with the date of the patent, &c. after blazing, that
is to say, cutting deeply into the tree, for a plain space to hold
this inscription.

In this primitive manner were all the estates in the province
bounded. Towards the sea this did very well, as the patents
// 300.png
.pn +1
in a manner, bounded each other; and every one took care
to prevent the encroachments of his neighbour. But in the
interior, people took great stretches of land here and there,
where there were not patented lands adjoining; there being
no continuity of fertile ground, except on the banks of streams.
The only security the public had against these trees being cut
down, or others at a greater distance marked in their stead,
was a law which made such attempts penal. This was a very
nugatory threat; it being impossible to prove such an offence.
Crimes of this nature, encroaching on the property of individuals,
I believe, rarely happened; but to enlarge one’s boundary,
by taking in a little of king George’s ground, to use a
provincial phrase, was considered as no great harm; and,
besides, many possessed extensive tracts of land unquestioned,
merely on the strength of Indian grants, unsanctioned by
government. One in particular, the proudest man I ever
knew, had a law-suit with the king, for more land than would
form a German principality. Now that the inundation of litigious
new settlers, from Massachusetts’ bounds, had awakened
the spirit of inquiry, to call it no worse, every day produced a
fresh law-suit, and all of the same nature, about ascertaining
boundaries. In one instance, where a gentleman was supposed
to be unfairly possessed of a vast tract of fine land, a
confederacy of British officers, I must confess, questioned his
right; applying before hand for a grant of such lands as they
could prove the possessor entitled to; and contributing among
them a sum of money to carry on this great law-suit, which
having been given against them in the province, they appealed
to the Board of Trade and Plantations at home. Here the
uncertainty of the law was very glorious indeed; and hence,
from the gainful prospect opening before them, swarms of petulant,
half-educated young men, started one knew not whence.
And as these great law-suits were matter of general concern,
// 301.png
.pn +1
no one knowing whose turn might be next, all conversation
begun to be infected with litigious cant; and every thing
seemed unstable and perplexed.
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch57
CHAP. LVII.
.pm ch-hd-start
Settlers of a new Description—Madame’s Chaplain.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>Another</sc> class of people contributed their share to destroy
the quiet and order of the country. While the great army,
that had now returned to Britain, had been stationed in America,
the money they spent there, had, in a great measure centered
in New-York, where many ephemeral adventurers begun
to flourish as merchants, who lived in a gay and even profuse
style, and affected the language and manners of the army on
which they depended. Elated with sudden prosperity, those
people attempted every thing that could increase their gains;
and, finally, at the commencement of the Spanish war, fitted
out several privateers, which, being sent to cruise near the
mouth of the Gulf of Florida, captured several valuable prizes.
Money so easily got was as lightly spent, and proved indeed
ruinous to those who shared it; they being thus led to indulge
in expensive habits, which continued after the means that supplied
them were exhausted. At the departure of the army trade
languished among these new people; their British creditors
grew clamorous: the primitive inhabitants looked cold upon
them; and nothing remained for them but that self banishment,
which, in that country, was the usual consequence of extravagance
and folly, a retreat to the woods. Yet, even in these
// 302.png
.pn +1
primeval shades, there was no repose for the vain and the
turbulent. It was truly amusing to see these cargoes of rusticated
fine ladies and gentlemen going to their new abodes,
all lassitude and chagrin; and very soon after, to hear of their
attempts at finery, consequence, and pre-eminence, in the late
invaded residence of bears and beavers. There, no pastoral
tranquillity, no sylvan delights awaited them. In this forced
retreat to the woods they failed not to carry with them those
household gods which they had worshipped in town; the pious
Eneas was not more careful of his Penates, nor more desirous
of establishing them in his new residence. These are the persons
of desperate circumstances, expensive habits, and ambitious
views; who, like the “tempest-loving raven,” delight in
changes, and anticipate, with guilty joy, the overturn of states
in which they have nothing to lose, and have hopes of rising
on the ruins of others. The lawyers, too, foresaw that the harvest
they were now reaping from the new mode of inquiry into
disputed titles, could not be of long duration. They did not
lay a regular plan for the subversion of the existing order of
things; but they infected the once plain and primitive conversation
of the people with law jargon which spread like a disease,
and was the more fatal to elegance, simplicity, and candour,
as there were no rival branches of science, the cultivation of
which might have divided people’s attention with this dry contentious
theme.

The spirit of litigation, which narrowed and heated every
mind, was a great nuisance to madame, who took care not to
be much troubled with it in conversation, because she discountenanced
it at her table, where, indeed, no petulant upstarts
were received. She was, however, persecuted with
daily references to her recollections with regard to the traditionary
opinions relative to boundaries, &c. While she sought
refuge in the peaceable precincts of the gospel, from the
tumultuous contests of the law which she always spoke of with
// 303.png
.pn +1
dislike, she was little aware that a deserter from her own camp
was about to join the enemy. Mr. H. our chaplain, became,
about this time, very reserved and absent; law and politics
were no favourite topics in our household, and these alone
seemed much to interest our divine. Many thought aunt was
imposed on by this young man, and took him to be what he
was not; but this was by no means the case. She neither
thought him a wit, a scholar, or a saint; but merely a young
man, who, to very good intentions and a blameless life, added
the advantages of a better education than fell to the lot of laymen
there; simplicity of manners, and some powers of conversation,
with a little dash of the coxcomb, rendered tolerable
by great good nature.

Vanity, however, was the rock on which our chaplain split:
he found himself, among the circle he frequented, the one-eyed
king in the kingdom of the blind; and thought it a pity
such talents should be lost in a profession where, in his view
of the subject, bread and peace were all that were to be expected.
The first intelligence I heard was, that Mr. H. on some pretence
or other, often went to the neighbouring town of Schenectady
now rising into consequence, and there openly renounced
his profession, and took out a license as a practising lawyer. It
is easy to conjecture how madame must have considered this
wanton renunciation of the service of the altar for a more
gainful pursuit, aggravated by simulation at least; for this
seeming open and artless character took all the benefit of her
hospitality, and continued to be her inmate the whole time that
he was secretly carrying on a plan he knew she would reprobate.
She, however, behaved with great dignity on the occasion;
supposing, no doubt, that the obligations she had
conferred upon him, deprived her of a right to reproach or
reflect upon him. She was never after heard to mention his
name; and when others did, always shifted the conversation.

All these revolutions in manners and opinions helped to
// 304.png
.pn +1
endear me to aunt, as a pupil of her own school; while my
tenacious memory enabled me to entertain her with the wealth
of others’ minds, rendered more amusing by the simplicity of
my childish comments. Had I been capable of flattery, or
rather, had I been so deficient in natural delicacy, as to say
what I really thought of this exalted character, the awe with
which I regarded her would have deterred me from such presumption;
but as I really loved and honoured her, as virtue
personified, and found my chief happiness in her society and
conversation, she could not but be aware of this silent adulation,
and she became indeed more and more desirous of having
me with her. To my father, however, I was now become, in
some degree, necessary, from causes somewhat similar. He,
too, was sick of the reigning conversation; and being nervous
and rather inclined to melancholy, begun to see things in the
darkest light, and made the most of a rheumatism, in itself
bad enough, to have a pretext for indulging the chagrin that
preyed upon his mind, and avoiding his Connecticut persecutors,
who attacked him every where but in bed. A fit of chagrin
was generally succeeded by a fit of home sickness, and
that by a paroxysm of devotion exalted to enthusiasm; during
which all worldly concerns were to give way to those of futurity.
Thus melancholy and thus devout I found my father;
whose pure and upright spirit was corroded with the tricks and
chicanery he was forced to observe in his new associates,
with whom his singular probity and simplicity of character
rendered him very unfit to contend. My mother, active,
cheerful, and constantly occupied with her domestic affairs,
sought pleasure no where, and found content every where.
I had begun to taste the luxury of intellectual pleasures with a
very keen relish. Winter, always severe, but this year armed
with tenfold vigour, checked my researches among birds and
plants, which constituted my summer delights; and poetry
was all that remained to me. While I was, “in some diviner
// 305.png
.pn +1
mood,” exulting in these scenes of inspiration, opened to me
by the “humanizing muse,” the terrible decree went forth,
that I was to read no more “idle books or plays.” This decree
was merely the result of a momentary fit of sickness and
dejection, and never meant to be seriously enforced. It produced,
however, the effect of making me read so much divinity
that I fancied myself got quite “beyond the flaming bounds of
space and time;” and thought I could never relish light reading
any more. In this solemn mood, my greatest relaxation
was a visit now and then to aunt’s sister-in-law, now entirely
bed-ridden, but still possessing great powers of conversation,
which were called forth by the flattering attention of a child to
one whom the world had forsaken. I loved, indeed, play,
strictly such, thoughtless, childish play, and next to that, calm
reflection and discussion. The world was too busy and too
artful for me. I found myself most at home with those who
had not entered, or those who had left it.

My father’s illness was much aggravated by the conflict
which begun to arise in his mind regarding his proposed removal
to his lands, which were already surrounded by a new
population, consisting of these fashionable emigrants from the
gay world at New-York, whom I have been describing, and a
set of fierce republicans, if any thing sneaking and drawling
may be so called, whom litigious contention had banished from
their native province, and who seemed let loose, like Samson’s
foxes, to carry mischief and conflagration wherever they went.
Among this motley crew there was no regular place of worship,
nor any likely prospect that there should, for their religions
had as many shades of difference as the leaves in
autumn; and every man of substance who arrived, was
preacher and magistrate to his own little colony. To hear
their people talk, one would think time had run back to the
days of the levellers. The settlers from New-York, however,
struggled hard for superiority, but they were not equal in chicane
// 306.png
.pn +1
to their adversaries, whose power lay in their cunning.
It was particularly hard for people who acknowledged no superior,
who had a thorough knowledge of law and scripture,
ready to wrest to every selfish purpose, it was particularly
hard, I say, for such all-sufficient personages to hold their
lands from such people as my father and others, of “king
George’s red coats,” as they elegantly styled them. But they
were fertile in expedients. From the original establishment
of these provinces, the Connecticut River had been accounted
the boundary, to the east, of the province of New-York, dividing
it from the adjoining one; this division was specified in
old patents, and confirmed by analogy. All at once, however,
our new tenants at will made a discovery, or rather had a
revelation, purporting, that there was a twenty mile line, as
they called it, which, in old times, had been carried thus far
beyond the Connecticut River, into the bounds of what had
ever been esteemed the province of New-York. It had become
extremely fashionable to question the limits of individual
property, but for so bold a stroke at a whole province, people
were not prepared. The consequence of establishing this
point was, that thus the grants made by the province of New-York,
of lands not their own, could not be valid; and thus the
property which had cost the owners so much to establish and
survey, reverted to the other province, and was no longer
theirs. This was so far beyond all imagination, that though
there appeared not the smallest likelihood of its succeeding,
as the plea must, in the end, be carried to Britain, people
stood aghast, and saw no safety in living among those who
were capable of making such daring strides over all established
usage, and ready, on all occasions, to confederate where
any advantage was in view, though ever engaged in litigious
contentions with each other in their original home. This astonishing
plea, during its dependence, afforded these dangerous
neighbours a pretext to continue their usurped possession,
// 307.png
.pn +1
till it should be decided to which province the lands really belonged.
They even carried their insolence so far, that when
a particular friend of my father’s, a worthy, upright man,
named Munro, who possessed a large tract of land adjoining
to his; when this good man, who had established a settlement,
saw-mills, &c. came to fix some tenants of his on his lands, a
body of these incendiaries came out, armed, to oppose them,
trusting to their superior numbers and the peaceable disposition
of our friend. Now, the fatal twenty mile line ran exactly
through the middle of my father’s property. Had not the revolution
followed so soon, there was no doubt of this claim
being rejected in Britain; but in the mean time it served as a
pretext for daily encroachment and insolent bravadoes. Much
of my father’s disorder was owing to the great conflict in his
mind. To give up every prospect of consequence and affluence,
and return to Britain, leaving his property afloat among
these ungovernable people, (to say no worse of them,) was
very hard. Yet to live among them, and by legal coercion,
force his due out of their hands, was no pleasing prospect.
His good angel, it would seem in the sequel, whispered to him
to return. Though, in human prudence, it appeared a fatal
measure to leave so valuable a property in such hands, he
thought, first, that he would stay two or three years; and then,
when others had vanquished his antagonists, and driven them
off the lands, which they, in the mean time, were busily clearing,
he should return with a host of friends and kinsmen, and
form a chosen society of his own. He, however, waited to
see what change for the better another twelvemonth might
produce. Madame, who was consulted on all his plans, did
not greatly relish this; he, at length, half promised to leave
me with her, till he should return from this expedition.

Returning for a short time to town in spring, I found aunt’s
house much enlivened by a very agreeable visitor; this was
Miss W. daughter to the Honourable Mr. W. of the council.
// 308.png
.pn +1
Her elder sister was afterwards Countess of Cassilis, and she
herself was not long afterwards married to the only native of
the continent, I believe, who ever succeeded to the title of
baronet. She possessed much beauty, understanding, and
vivacity. Her playful humour exhilarated the whole household.
I regarded her with admiration and delight; and her
fanciful excursions afforded great amusement to aunt, and
were like a gleam of sunshine amidst the gloom occasioned
by the spirit of contention which was let loose among all manner
of people.

The repeal of the stamp act having excited new hopes, my
father found all his expectations of comfort and prosperity renewed
by this temporary calm, and the proposed return to
Britain was deferred for another year. Aunt, to our great joy,
as we scarce hoped she would again make so distant a visit,
came out to the Flats with her fair visitor, who was about to
return to New-York. This lady, after going through many
of the hardships to which persecuted loyalists were afterwards
exposed, with her husband, who lost an immense property in
the service of Government, is now with her family settled in
upper Canada, where Sir J. J—n has obtained a large
grant of lands, as a partial retribution for his great losses and
faithful service.

Aunt again requested and again obtained permission for me
to pass some time with her; and golden dreams of felicity at
Clarendon again began to possess my imagination. I returned
however, soon to the Flats, where my presence became
more important, as my father became less eager in pursuit of
field sports.
// 309.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch58
CHAP. LVIII.
.pm ch-hd-start
Mode of conveying timber in rafts down the river.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>I brought</sc> out some volumes of Shakspeare with me, and
remembering the prohibition of reading plays promulgated the
former winter, was much at a loss how to proceed. I thought
rightly that it was owing to a temporary fit of spleen. But
then I knew my father was, like all military men, tenacious of
his authority, and would possibly continue it merely because
he had once said so. I recollected that he said he would have
no plays brought to the house; and that I read them unchecked
at madame’s, who was my model in all things. It so
happened that the river had been higher than usual that spring,
and in consequence, exhibited a succession of very amusing
scenes. The settlers, whose increase above towards Stillwater,
had been, for three years past, incredibly great, set up
saw-mills on every stream, for the purpose of turning to account
the fine timber which they cleared in great quantities off
the new lands. The planks they drew in sledges to the side
of the great river; and when the season arrived that swelled
the stream to its greatest height, a whole neighbourhood assembled,
and made their joint stock into a large raft, which
was floated down the river with a man or two on it, who with
long poles were always ready to steer it clear of those islands
or shallows which might impede its course. There is something
serenely majestic in the easy progress of those large
bodies on the full stream of this copious river. Sometimes
one sees a whole family transported on this simple conveyance;
the mother calmly spinning, the children sporting about
her, and the father fishing on one end, and watching its safety
at the same time. These rafts were taken down to Albany
// 310.png
.pn +1
and put on board vessels there for conveyance to New-York;
sometimes, however, it happened that, as they proceeded very
slowly, dry weather came on by the time they reached the
Flats, and it became impossible to carry them further; in that
case they were deposited in great triangular piles opposite our
door. One of these, which was larger than ordinary, I selected
for a reading closet. There I safely lodged my Shakspeare;
and there in my play hours I went to read it undisturbed, with
the advantage of fresh air, a cool shade, and a full view of
the road on one side, and a beautiful river on the other. While
I enjoyed undisturbed privacy, I had the prohibition full in my
mind, but thought I should keep to the spirit of it by only
reading the historical plays, comforting myself that they were
true. These I read over and over with pleasure ever new;
it was quite in my way, for I was familiarly acquainted with the
English history; now, indeed, I began to relish Shakspeare,
and to be astonished at my former blindness to his beauties.
The contention of the rival roses occupied all my thoughts,
and broke my rest. “Wind-changing Warwick” did not
change oftener than I; but at length my compassion for holy
Henry, and hatred to Richard, fixed me a Lancastrian. I
began to wonder how any body could exist without reading
Shakspeare, and at length resolved, at all risks, to make my
father a sharer in my new-found felicity. Of the nature of
taste I had not the least idea; so far otherwise, that I was
continually revolving benevolent plans to distribute some of
the poetry I most delighted in among the Bezaleels and Habakkuks
of the twenty mile line. I thought this would make
them happy as myself; and that when they once felt the
charm of “musical delight,” the harsh language of contention
would cease, and legal quibbling give way before the spirit of
harmony. How often did I repeat Thomson’s description
of the golden age, concluding,

.pm verse-start
“For music held the whole in perfect peace.”
.pm verse-end
// 311.png
.pn +1
.ni
At home, however, I was in some degree successful. My
father did begin to take some interest in the roses, and I was
happy, yet kept both my secret and my closet, and made more
and more advances in the study of these “wood notes wild.”
As you like it, and the Midsummer Night’s Dream enchanted
me; and I thought the comfort of my closet so great, that I
dreaded nothing so much as a flood, that should occasion its
being once more set in motion. I was one day deeply engaged
in compassionating Othello, sitting on a plank, added
on the outside of the pile, for strengthening it, when happening
to lift my eyes, I saw a long serpent on the same board,
at my elbow, in a threatening attitude, with its head lifted up.
Othello and I ran off together with all imaginable speed; and
as that particular kind of snake seldom approaches any person,
unless the abode of its young is invaded, I began to fear
I had been studying Shakspeare in a nest of serpents. Our
faithful servant examined the place at my request. Under the
very board on which I sat, when terrified by this unwished
associate, was found a nest with seven eggs. After being
most thankful for my escape, the next thing was to admire the
patience and good humour of the mother of this family, who
permitted such a being as myself so long to share her haunt
with impunity. Indeed, the rural pleasures of this country
were always liable to those drawbacks; and this place was
peculiarly infested with the familiar garter-snake, because the
ruins of the burnt house afforded shelter and safety to these
reptiles.
.pi
// 312.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch59
CHAP. LIX.
.pm ch-hd-start
The Swamp—A discovery.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>This</sc> adventure made me cautious of sitting out of doors,
yet I daily braved a danger of the same nature, in the woods
behind the house, which were my favourite haunts, and where
I frequently saw snakes, yet was never pursued or annoyed
by them. In this wood, half a mile from the house, was a
swamp, which afforded a scene so totally unlike any thing
else, that a description of it may amuse those who have never
seen nature in that primitive state.

This swamp then, was in the midst of a pine wood, and was
surrounded on two sides by little hills, some of which were
covered with cedar, and others with the silver fir, very picturesque,
and finely varied with shrubs, and every gradation of
green. The swamp sunk into a hollow, like a large basin,
exactly circular; round half of it, was a border of maple, the
other half was edged with poplar. No creature ever entered
this place in summer; its extreme softness kept it sacred from
every human foot, for no one could go without the risk of being
swallowed up. Different aquatic plants grew with great luxuriance
in this quagmire, particularly bullrushes, and several
beautiful species of the Iris, and the alder and willow; much
of it, however, was open, and in different places the water
seemed to form stagnant pools; in many places large trees had
fallen of old, which were now covered with moss, and afforded
a home to numberless wild animals. In the midst of this aquatic
retreat, were two small islands of inconceivable beauty, that
rose high above the rest, like the oasis of the deserts, and were
dry and safe, though unapproachable. On one of these, I
remember, grew three apple trees, an occurrence not rare
// 313.png
.pn +1
here; for if a squirrel, for instance, happens to drop the seeds
of an apple in a spot at once sheltered and fertile, at a lucky
season they grow and bear, though with less vigour and beauty
than those which are cultivated. That beautiful fruit, the wild
plum, was also abundant on these little sanctuaries, as they
might be called, for, conscious of impunity, every creature that
flies the pursuit of man, gamboled in safety here, and would
allow one to gaze at them from the brink of this natural fortress.
One would think a congress of birds and animals had
assembled here; never was a spot more animated and cheerful.
There was nothing like it in the great forests; creatures
here, aware of their general enemy, man, had chosen it as their
last retreat. The black, the large silver grey, the little striped,
and nimble flying squirrel, were all at home here, and all visible
in a thousand fantastic attitudes. Pheasants and woodpeckers
in countless numbers, displayed their glowing plumage,
and the songsters of the forest, equally conscious of
their immunity, made the marsh resound with their blended
music, while the fox, here a small auburn coloured creature,
the martin, and racoons occasionally appeared and vanished
through the foliage. Often, on pretence of bringing home the
cows in the morning, (when in their own leisurely way they
were coming themselves,) I used to go, accompanied by my
faithful Marian, to admire this swamp, at once a menagerie
and aviary, and might truly say with Burns,

.pm verse-start
“My heart rejoic’d in nature’s joy.”
.pm verse-end
.ni
Not content, however, with the contemplation of animated
nature, I began to entertain a fancy, which almost grew into a
passion, for explaining

.pm verse-start
“Every herb that sips the dew.”
.pm verse-end
.pi
The ordinary plants of that country differ very much from
those most frequent here; and this thirst for herbalizing, for
// 314.png
.pn +1
I must dignify my humble researches with the name of botanical
ones,) was a pleasing occupation. I made some progress
in discovering the names and natures of these plants, I mean
their properties; but unfortunately they were only Indian or
Dutch names. This kind of knowledge, in that degree, is
easily acquired there, because every one possesses it in some
measure. Nothing surprised me so much, when I came to
Britain, as to see young people so incurious about nature.

The woods behind our dwelling had been thinned to procure
firing, and were more open and accessible than such
places generally are. Walking one fine summer’s evening,
with my usual attendant, a little further into the wood than
usual, but far from any known inhabitant, I heard peals of
laughter, not joyous only, but triumphant, issue from the bottom,
as it seemed, of a large pine. Silence succeeded, and
we looked at each other with a mixture of fear and wonder,
for it grew darkish. At last we made a whispered agreement
to glide nearer among the bushes, and explore the source of
all this merriment. Twilight, solemn every where, is awful
in these forests; our awe was presently increased by the appearance
of a light that glimmered and disappeared by turns.
Loud laughter was again reiterated, and at length a voice
cried, “How pretty he is!” while another answered in softer
accents, “See how the dear creature runs!” We crept on,
cheered by these sounds, and saw a handsome good natured
looking man, in a ragged provincial uniform, sitting on the
stump of a tree. Opposite, on the ground, sat a pretty little
brunette woman, neatly, though meanly clad, with sparkling
black eyes, and a countenance all vivacity and delight. A
very little, very fair boy, with his mother’s brilliant black eyes
contrasting his flaxen hair, and soft infantine complexion, went
with tottering steps, that showed this was his first essay, from
one to the other, and loud laughter gratulated his safe arrival
in the arms of either parent. We had now pretty clearly ascertained
// 315.png
.pn +1
the family, the next thing was to discover the house;
this point was more difficult to establish; at last, we found it
was barely a place to sleep in, partly excavated from the
ground, and partly covered with a slight roof of bark and
branches: never was poverty so complete or so cheerful. In
that country, every white person had inferiors, and therefore
being merely white, claimed a degree of respect, and being
very rich, or very fine, entitled you to very little more. Simplicity
would be a charming thing, if one could strain it from
grossness, but that, I believe, is no easy operation. We now
with much consideration and civility, presented ourselves; I
thought the cows would afford a happy opening for conversation.
“Don’t be afraid of noise, we are driving our three cows
home; have you any cows?” “Och no, my dare child, not
one, young miss,” said the soldier. “O, but then mamma
will give milk to the child, for we have plenty, and no child.”
“O dear, pretty miss, don’t mind that at all, at all.” “Come,”
said the mistress of the hovel, “we have got fine buttermilk
here from Stephen’s; come in and take a drink.” I civilly
declined this invitation, being wholly intent on the child, who
appeared to me like a smiling love, and at once seized on my
affection. Patrick Coonie, for such was the name of our new
neighbour, gave us his history in a very few words. He had
married Kate in Pennsylvania, who, young as she looked, had
three children, from ten to fourteen, or thereabouts; he had
some trade which had not thriven, he listed in the provincials,
spent what he had on his family, hired again, served another
campaign, came down pennyless, and here they had come for
a temporary shelter, to get work among their neighbours. The
excavation existed before, Patrick happily discovered it, and
added the ingenious roof which now covered it. I asked for
their other children—they were in some mean service. I was
all anxiety for Patrick, so was not he; the lilies of the field
// 316.png
.pn +1
did not look gayer, or more thoughtless of to-morrow, and
Kate seemed equally unconcerned.

Hastily were the cows driven home that night, and to prevent
reproaches for delay, I flew to communicate my discovery;
eager to say how ill off we often were for an occasional
hand to assist with our jobs, and how well we could spare a
certain neglected log-house on our premises, &c. This was
treated as very chimerical at first, but when Patrick’s family
had undergone a survey, and Kate’s accomplishments of
spinning, &c. were taken into consideration, to my unspeakable
joy, the family were accommodated as I wished, and their
several talents made known to our neighbours, who kept them
in constant business. Kate spun and sung like a lark; little
Paddy was mostly with us, for I taught every one in the house
to be fond of him.

I was at the utmost loss for something to cherish and caress,
when this most amusing creature, who inherited all the gaiety
and good temper of his parents, came in my way, as the first
of possible play-things. Patrick was, of all beings, the most
handy and obliging; he could do every thing, but then he
could drink too, and the extreme cheapness of liquor was a
great snare to poor creatures addicted to it. Patrick, however,
had long lucid intervals, and I had the joy of seeing them
comparatively happy. To this was added, that of seeing my
father recover his spirits, and renew his usual sports, and
moreover, I was permitted to return to aunt Schuyler’s. I did
not fail to entertain her with the history of my discovery, and
its consequences, and my tale was not told in vain. Aunt
weighed and balanced all things in her mind, and drew some
good out of every thing.

White servants, whom very few people had, were very expensive
here; but there was a mode of meliorating things.
Poor people, who came adventurers from other countries, and
found a settlement a slower process than they were aware of,
// 317.png
.pn +1
had got into a mode of apprenticing their children. No risk
attended this in Albany; custom is all-powerful; and lenity
to servants was so much the custom, that to ill-use a defenceless
creature in your power was reckoned infamous, and was,
indeed, unheard of. Aunt recommended the young Coonies,
who were fine, well looking children, for apprentices to some
of the best families in town, where they were well bred and
well treated, and we all contributed decent clothing for them
to go home in. I deeply felt this obligation, and little thought
how soon I was to be deprived of all the happiness I owed to
the friendship of my dear benefactress. This accession occupied
and pleased me exceedingly; my attachment to the
little boy grew hourly, and I indulged it to a degree I certainly
would not have done, if I had not set him down for one of the
future inhabitants of Clarendon; that region of fancied felicity,
where I was building log-houses in the air perpetually, and
filling them with an imaginary population, innocent and intelligent
beyond all comparison. These visions, however, were
soon destined to give way to sad realities. The greatest immediate
tribulation I was liable to, was Patrick’s coming home,
now and then, gay beyond his wonted gaiety; which grieved
me both on Kate’s account and that of little Paddy. But in
the fertile plains of Clarendon, remedies were to be found for
every passing evil; and I had not the least doubt of having
influence enough to prevent the admission of spirituous
liquors into that “region of calm delights.” Such were the
dreams from which I was awakened, (on returning from a long
visit to aunt,) by my father’s avowing his fixed intention to return
home.

A very worthy Argyleshire friend of his, in the mean time,
came and paid him a visit of a month, which month was occupied
in the most endearing recollections of Lochawside, and
the hills of Morven. When I returned, I heard of nothing but
the alpine scenes of Scotland, of which I had not the smallest
// 318.png
.pn +1
recollection, but which I loved with borrowed enthusiasm; so
well, that they at times balanced with Clarendon. My next
source of comfort was, that I was to return to the land of
light and freedom, and mingle, as I flattered myself I should,
with such as those whom I had admired in their immortal
works. Determined to be happy, with the sanguine eagerness
of youth, the very opposite materials served for constructing
another ideal fabric.
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch60
CHAP. LX.
.pm ch-hd-start
Mrs. Schuyler’s View of Continental Politics.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>Aunt</sc> was extremely sorry when the final determination
was announced. She had now her good sister-in-law, Mrs.
Wendell, with her, and seemed much to enjoy the society of
that meek pious woman, who was as happy as any thing earthly
could make her. As to public affairs their aspect did not
please her; and therefore she endeavoured, as far as possible,
to withdraw her attention from them. She was too well acquainted
with the complicated nature of human affairs, to give
a rash judgment on the political disputes then in agitation.
She saw indeed reason for apprehension whatever way she
turned. She knew the prejudices and self-opinion fast spreading
through the country too well, to expect quiet submission,
and could see nothing on all hands but a choice of evils.
Were the provinces to set up for themselves, she thought they
had not cohesion nor subordination enough among them to
form, or to submit to any salutary plan of government. On
// 319.png
.pn +1
the other hand she saw no good effect likely to result from a
reluctant dependence on a distant people, whom they already
began to hate, though hitherto nursed and protected by them.
She clearly foresaw that no mode of taxation could be invented
to which they would easily submit; and that the defence
of the continent from enemies, and keeping the necessary
military force to protect the weak and awe the turbulent, would
be a perpetual drain of men and money to Great Britain, still
increasing with the increased population. In short, she held
all the specious plans that were talked over very cheap;
while her affection for Britain made her shudder at the most
distant idea of a separation; yet not as supposing such a step
very hurtful to this country, which would be thus freed of a
very costly incumbrance. But the dread of future anarchy,
the horrors of civil war, and the dereliction of principle which
generally results from tumultuary conflicts, were the spectres
with which she was haunted.

Having now once for all given (to the best of my recollection)
a faithful sketch of aunt’s opinions on this intricate subject,
I shall not recur to them, nor by any means attempt to
enter into any detail of the dark days that were approaching.
First, because I feel unspeakable pain in looking back upon
occurrences that I know too well, though I was not there to
witness: in which the friends of my early youth were greatly
involved, and had much indeed to endure, on both sides.
Next, because there is little satisfaction in narrating transactions
where there is no room to praise either side. That waste
of personal courage and British blood and treasure, which
were squandered to no purpose on one side in that ill-conducted
war, and the insolence and cruelty which tarnished
the triumph of the other, form no pleasing subject of retrospection;
while the unsuccessful and often unrewarded
loyalty of the sufferers for government, cannot be recollected
without the most wounding regret. The years of
// 320.png
.pn +1
madame, after I parted with her, were involved in a cloud
raised by the conflicts of contending arms, which I vainly
endeavoured to penetrate. My account of her must therefore,
in a great measure, terminate with this sad year. My
father taking in spring decided measures for leaving America,
entrusted his lands to the care of his friend John Munro, Esq.
then residing near Clarendon, and chief magistrate of that
newly peopled district; a very worthy friend and countryman
of his own, who was then in high triumph on account of a
fancied conquest over the supporters of the twenty mile line;
and thought, when that point was fully established, there would
be no further obstruction to their realizing their property to
great advantage, or colonizing it from Scotland, if such should
be their wish. Aunt leaned hard to the latter expedient, but
my father could not think of leaving me behind to await the
chance of his return; and I had been talked into a wish for
revisiting the land of my nativity.

I left my domestic favourites with great pain, but took care
to introduce them to aunt, and implored her, with all the pathos
I was mistress of, to take an interest in them when I was
gone; which she very good naturedly promised to do. Another
very kind thing she did. Once a year she spent a day
or two at General Schuyler’s. I call him by his latter acquired
title, to distinguish him from the number of his namesakes I
have had occasion to mention. She now so timed her visit
(though in dreadful weather) that I might accompany her, and
take my last farewell of my young companions there: yet I
could not bring myself to think it a final one. The terrible
words <i>no more</i>, never passed my lips. I had too buoyant a spirit
to encounter a voluntary heartache by looking on the dark side
of any thing, and always figured myself returning, and joyfully
received by the friends with whom I was parting.
// 321.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch61
CHAP. LXI.
.pm ch-hd-start
Description of the Breaking up of the Ice on Hudson’s river.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>Soon</sc> after this I witnessed, for the last time, the sublime
spectacle of the ice breaking up on the river; an object that
fills and elevates the mind with ideas of power, and grandeur,
and, indeed, magnificence; before which all the triumphs of
human art sink into insignificance. This noble object of animated
greatness, for such it seemed, I witnessed; its approach
being announced, like a loud and long peal of thunder, the
whole population of Albany were down at the river side in a
moment; and if it happened, as was often the case, in the
morning, there could not be a more grotesque assemblage.
No one who had a night-cap on waited to put it off; as for
waiting for one’s cloak, or gloves, it was a thing out of the
question; you caught the thing next you, that could wrap
round you, and run. In the way you saw every door left
open, and pails, baskets, &c. without number, set down in the
street. It was a perfect saturnalia. People never dreamt of
being obeyed by their slaves, till the ice was past. The houses
were left quite empty: the meanest slave, the youngest child,
all were to be found on the shore. Such as could walk, ran;
and they that could not, were carried by those whose duty
would have been to stay and attend them. When arrived at
the show place, unlike the audience collected to witness any
spectacle of human invention, the multitude, with their eyes
all bent one way, stood immoveable, and silent as death, till
the tumult ceased, and the mighty commotion was passed by;
then every one tried to give vent to the vast conceptions with
which his mind had been distended. Every child, and every
negro, was sure to say, ‘Is not this like the day of judgment?’
and what they said every one else thought. Now to describe
// 322.png
.pn +1
this is impossible; but I mean to account in some degree
for it. The ice, which had been all winter very thick, instead
of diminishing, as might be expected in spring, still increased,
as the sunshine came, and the days lengthened. Much snow
fell in February; which, melted by the heat of the sun, was
stagnant, for a day, on the surface of the ice; and then by the
night frosts, which were still severe, was added, as a new
accession to the thickness of it, above the former surface.
This was so often repeated, that in some years the ice gained
two feet in thickness, after the heat of the sun became such,
as one would have expected should have entirely dissolved it.
So conscious were the natives of the safety this accumulation
of ice afforded, that the sledges continued to drive on the ice,
when the trees were budding and every thing looked like spring;
nay, when there was so much melted on the surface that the
horses were knee deep in water, while travelling on it; and
portentous cracks, on every side, announced the approaching
rupture. This could scarce have been produced by the mere
influence of the sun, till midsummer. It was the swelling of
the waters under the ice, increased by rivulets, enlarged by
melted snows, that produced this catastrophe; for such the
awful concussion made it appear. The prelude to the general
bursting of this mighty mass was a fracture lengthwise, in
the middle of the stream, produced by the effort of the imprisoned
waters, now increased too much to be contained within
their wonted bounds. Conceive a solid mass, from six to
eight feet thick, bursting for many miles in one continued rupture,
produced by a force inconceivably great, and, in a
manner, inexpressibly sudden. Thunder is no adequate
image of this awful explosion, which roused all the sleepers,
within reach of the sound, as completely as the final convulsion
of nature, and the solemn peal of the awakening trumpet
might be supposed to do. The stream in summer was confined
by a pebbly strand, overhung with high and steep banks,
// 323.png
.pn +1
crowned with lofty trees, which were considered as a sacred
barrier against the encroachments of this annual visitation.
Never dryads dwelt in more security than those of the vine-clad
elms, that extended their ample branches over this mighty
stream. Their tangled nets laid bare by the impetuous torrents,
formed caverns ever fresh and fragrant; where the most delicate
plants flourished, unvisited by scorching suns or nipping
blasts; and nothing could be more singular than the variety
of plants and birds that were sheltered in these intricate and
safe recesses. But when the bursting of the crystal surface
set loose the many waters that had rushed down, swollen with
the annual tribute of dissolving snow, the islands and low lands
were all flooded in an instant; and the lofty banks, from
which you were wont to overlook the stream, were now entirely
filled by an impetuous torrent, bearing down, with incredible
and tumultuous rage, immense shoals of ice; which, breaking
every instant by the concussion of others, jammed together in
some places, in others erecting themselves in gigantic heights
for an instant in the air, and seeming to combat with their
fellow-giants crowding on in all directions, and falling together
with an inconceivable crash, formed a terrible moving picture,
animated and various beyond conception; for it was not only
the cerulean ice, whose broken edges combatting with the
stream, refracted light into a thousand rainbows, that charmed
your attention; lofty pines, large pieces of the bank torn off by
the ice with all their early green and tender foliage, were
driven on like travelling islands, amid the battle of breakers,
for such it seemed. I am absurdly attempting to paint a scene,
under which the powers of language sink. Suffice it, that
this year its solemnity was increased by an unusual quantity
of snow, which the last hard winter had accumulated, and the
dissolution of which now threatened an inundation.

Solemn, indeed, it was to me, as the memento of my approaching
journey, which was to take place whenever the ice
// 324.png
.pn +1
broke, which is here a kind of epoch. The parting with all
that I loved at the Flats was such an affliction, as it is even
yet a renewal of sorrows to recollect. I loved the very barn
and the swamp I have described so much that I could not see
them for the last time without a pang. As for the island and
the bank of the river, I know not how I should have parted
with them, if I had thought the parting final. The good kind
neighbours, and my faithful and most affectionate Marian, to
whom of all others, this separation was most wounding,
grieved me not a little. I was always sanguine in the extreme,
and would hope against hope; but Marian, who was
older, and had more common sense, knew too well how little
likelihood there was of my ever returning. Often with streaming
eyes and bursting sobs, she begged to know if the soul of
a person dying in America could find its way over the vast
ocean to join that of those who rose to the abodes of future
bliss from Europe; her hope of a reunion being now entirely
referred to that in a better world. There was no truth I
found it so difficult to impress upon her mind as the possibility
of spirits being instantaneously transported from one distant
place to another; a doctrine which seemed to her very
comfortable. Her agony at the final parting I do not like to
think of. When I used to obtain permission to pass a little
time in town, I was transported with the thoughts of the enjoyments
that awaited me in the society of my patroness, and
the young friends I most loved.
// 325.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch62
CHAP. LXII.
.pm ch-hd-start
Departure from Albany—Origin of the state of Vermont.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>After</sc> quitting the Flats we were to stay some days at
madame’s, till we should make a circular visit, and take leave.
Having lulled my disappointment with regard to Clarendon,
and filled all my dreams with images of Clydesdale and
Tweedale, and every other vale or dale that were the haunts
of the pastoral muse in Scotland, I grew pretty well reconciled
to my approaching journey, thinking I should meet piety and
literature in every cottage, and poetry and music in every recess,
among the sublime scenery of my native mountains. At
any rate, I was sure I should hear the larks sing, and see the
early primrose deck the woods, and daisies enamel the meadows;
on all which privileges I had been taught to set the due
value; yet I wondered very much how it was that I could enjoy
nothing with such gay visions opening before me: my
heart, I supposed, was honester than my imagination, for it
refused to take pleasure in any thing, which was a state of
mind so new to me that I could not understand it. Every
where I was caressed, and none of these caresses gave me
pleasure; at length the sad day came that I was to take the
last farewell of my first best friend, who had often in vain
urged my parents to leave me till they should decide whether
to stay or return. About this they did not hesitate; nor,
though they had, could I have divested myself of the desire
now waked in my mind, of seeing once more my native land,
which I merely loved upon trust, not having the faintest recollection
of it.

Madame embraced me tenderly with many tears, at parting;
and I felt a kind of prelusive anguish, as if I had anticipated
// 326.png
.pn +1
the sorrows that awaited: I do not mean now the
painful vicissitudes of after life, but merely the cruel disappointment
that I felt in finding the scenery and its inhabitants
so different from the Elysian vales and Arcadian swains that
I had imagined.

When we came away, by an odd coincidence, aunt’s
nephew Peter was just about to be married to a very fine
young creature, whom his relations did not, for some reason
that I do not remember, think suitable; while, at the very
same time, her niece, Miss W. had captivated the son of a
rich but avaricious man, who would not consent to his marrying
her, unless aunt gave a fortune with her; which being an
unusual demand, she did not choose to comply with. I was
the proud and happy confidant of both these lovers; and before
we left New-York we heard that each had married without
waiting for the withheld consent. And thus for once
madame was left without a protégée, but still she had her
sister W., and soon acquired a new set of children, the orphan
sons of her nephew, Cortlandt Schuyler, who continued under
her care for the remainder of her life.

My voyage down the river, which was, by contrary winds,
protracted to a whole week, would have been very pleasant,
could any thing have pleased me. I was at least soothed by
the extreme beauty of many scenes on the banks of this fine
stream, which I was fated never more to behold.

Nothing could exceed the soft grateful verdure that met the
eye on every side as we approached New-York. It was in
the beginning of May; the great orchards which rose on every
slope were all in bloom, and the woods of poplar beyond
them, had their sprouting foliage tinged with a lighter shade
of the freshest green. Staten Island rose gradual from the
sea, in which it seemed to float, and was so covered with innumerable
fruit-trees in full blossom, that it looked like some
enchanted forest. I shall not attempt to describe a place so
// 327.png
.pn +1
well known as New-York, but merely content myself with
saying that I was charmed with the air of easy gaiety and
social kindness that seemed to prevail every where among the
people, and the cheerful animated appearance of the place
altogether. Here I fed the painful longings of my mind,
which already began to turn impatiently towards madame, by
conversing with young people whom I had met at her house
on their summer excursions. These were most desirous to
please and amuse me; and, though I knew little of good
breeding, I had good nature enough to try to seem pleased,
but, in fact, I enjoyed nothing, though I saw there was
much to enjoy, had my mind been tuned as usual to social
delight. Fatigued with the kindness of others, and my own
simulation, I tried to forget my sorrows in sleep; but night,
that was wont to bring peace and silence in her train, had no
such companions here. The spirit of discord had broken
loose. The fermentation was begun that was not yet ended.
And at midnight, bands of intoxicated electors, who were then
choosing a member for the assembly, came thundering to the
doors, demanding a vote for their favoured candidate. An
hour after, another party equally vociferous, and not more
sober, alarmed us, by insisting on our giving our votes for
their favourite competitor. This was mere play; but before
we embarked, there was a kind of prelusive skirmish, that
strongly marked the spirit of the times. These new patriots
had taken it in their heads that Lieutenant Governor Colden
sent home intelligence of their proceedings, or in some other
way betrayed them, as they thought, to government. In one
of these fits of excess and fury, which are so often the result of
popular elections, they went to his house, drew out his coach,
and set fire to it. This was the night before we embarked,
after a week’s stay in New-York.

My little story being no longer blended with the memoirs of
my benefactress, I shall not trouble the reader with the account
// 328.png
.pn +1
of our melancholy and perilous voyage. Here, too,
with regret, I must close the account of what I knew of aunt
Schuyler; I heard very little of her till the breaking out of that
disastrous war which every one, whatever side they may have
taken at the time, must look back on with disgust and horror.

To tell her history during the years that her life was prolonged
to witness scenes abhorrent to her feelings and her
principles, would be a painful task indeed; though I were
better informed than I am, or wish to be, of the transactions
of those perturbed times. Of her private history I only know,
that, on the accidental death formerly mentioned, of her
nephew, Captain Cortlandt Schuyler, she took home his two
eldest sons, and kept them with her till her own death, which
happened in 1778 or 1779. I know, too, that like the Roman
Atticus, she kept free from the violence and bigotry of party,
and like him too, kindly and liberally assisted those of each
side, who, as the tide of success ran different ways, were considered
as unfortunate. On this subject I do not choose to
enlarge, but shall merely observe, that all the colonel’s relations
were on the republican side, while every one of her own
nephews adhered to the royal cause, to their very great loss
and detriment; though some of them have now found a home
in Upper Canada, where, if they are alienated from their
native province, they have at least the consolation of meeting
many other deserving people, whom the fury of party had
driven there for refuge.[#]

.pm fn-start // A
Since writing the above, the author of this narrative has heard many
particulars of the latter years of her good friend, by which it appears,
that to the last her loyalty and public spirit burned with a clear and steady
flame. She was by that time too venerable as well as respectable, to be
insulted for her principles; and her opinions were always delivered in a
manner firm and calm, like her own mind, which was too well regulated
to admit the rancour of party, and too dignified to stoop to disguise of
any kind. She died full of years, and honoured by all who could or
could not appreciate her worth; for not to esteem aunt Schuyler, was to
forfeit all pretensions to estimation.
.pm fn-end
// 329.png
.pn +1

Though unwilling to obtrude upon my reader any further
particulars irrelevant to the main story I have endeavoured to
detail, he may, perhaps, be desirous to know how the township
of Clarendon was at length disposed of. My father’s
friend, Captain Munro, was engaged for himself and his
military friends, in a litigation, or I should rather say, the provinces
of New-York and Connecticut continued to dispute the
right to the boundary within the twenty mile line, till a dispute
still more serious gave spirit to the new settlers from
Connecticut to rise in arms, and expel the unfortunate loyalists
from that district, which was bounded on one side by the
Green Mountain, since distinguished, like Rome in its infancy,
as a place of refuge to all the lawless and uncontrollable
spirits who had banished themselves from general society.

It was a great mortification to speculative romance and
vanity, for me to consider that the very spot which I had been
used fondly to contemplate as the future abode of peace, innocence,
and all the social virtues, that this very spot should be
singled out from all others as a refuge for the vagabonds and
banditti of the continent. They were, however, distinguished
by a kind of desperate bravery and unconquerable obstinacy.
They, at one time, set the States and the mother country
equally at defiance, and set up for an independence of their
own; on this occasion they were so troublesome, and the
others so tame, that the last mentioned were fain to purchase
their nominal submission by a most disgraceful concession.
There was a kind of provision made for all the British subjects
who possessed property in the alienated provinces, provided
that they had not borne arms against the Americans; these
were permitted to sell their lands, though not for their full
// 330.png
.pn +1
value, but at a limited price. My father came precisely under
this description; but the Green Mountain boys, as the
irregular inhabitants of the disputed boundaries were then
called, conscious that all the lands they had forcibly usurped
were liable to this kind of claim, set up the standard of independence.
They, indeed, positively refused to confederate
with the rest, or consent to the proposed peace, unless the
robbery they had committed should be sanctioned by a law,
giving them a full right to retain, unquestioned, this violent
acquisition.

It is doubtful, of three parties, who were most to blame on
this occasion. The depredators, who, in defiance of even
natural equity, seized and erected this little petulant state.
The mean concession of the other provinces, who, after permitting
this one to set their authority at defiance, soothed
them into submission by a gift of what was not theirs to bestow;
or the tame acquiescence of the then ministry, in an
arrangement which deprived faithful subjects, who were at the
same time war-worn veterans, of the reward assigned them
for their services.

Proud of the resemblance which their origin bore to that
of ancient Rome, they latinized the common appellation of
their territory, and made wholesome laws for its regulation.
Thus begun the petty state of Vermont, and thus ends the
<i>history of an heiress</i>.
// 331.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch63
CHAP. LXIII.
.pm ch-hd-start
General reflections.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>I hope</sc> my readers will share the satisfaction I feel, in contemplating,
at this distance, the growing prosperity of Albany,
which is, I am told, greatly increased in size and consequence,
far superior, indeed, to any inland town on the continent,
and so important from its centrical situation, that it has
been proposed as the seat of congress, which, should the party
attached to Britain ever gain the ascendency over the southern
states, would, very probably, be the case. The morality,
simple manners, and consistent opinions of the inhabitants,
still bearing evident traces of that integrity and simplicity
which once distinguished them. The reflections which must
result from the knowledge of these circumstances are so obvious,
that it is needless to point them out.

A reader that has patience to proceed thus far, in a narration
too careless and desultory for the grave, and too heavy
and perplexed for the gay; too minute for the busy, and too
serious for the idle: such a reader must have been led on by
an interest in the virtues of the leading characters, and will be
sufficiently awake to their remaining defects.

Very different, however, must be the reflections that arise
from a more general view of the present state of our ancient
colonies.

.pm verse-start
“O for that warning voice, which he who saw
 Th’ Apocalypse, heard cry, that a voice, like
 The deep and dreadful organ-pipe of heaven,”
.pm verse-end
.ni
would speak terror to those whose delight is in change and
agitation; to those who wantonly light up the torch of discord,
which many waters will not extinguish. Even when peace
// 332.png
.pn +1
succeeds to the breathless fury of such a contest, it comes
too late to restore the virtues, the hopes, the affections that
have perished in it. The gangrene of the land is not healed,
and the prophets vainly cry, “peace! peace!” where there is
no peace.
.pi
However upright the intentions may be of the first leaders
of popular insurrections, it may be truly said of them, in the
end, instruments of cruelty are in their habitations; nay, must
be, for when they have proceeded a certain length, conciliation
or lenity would be cruelty to their followers, who are
gone too far to return to the place from which they set out.
Rectitude, hitherto upheld by laws, by custom, and by fear,
now walks alone, in unaccustomed paths, and like a tottering
infant, falls at the first assault, or first obstacle it meets; but
falls to rise no more. Let any one who has mixed much with
mankind, say what would be the consequence if restraint were
withdrawn, and impunity offered to all those whose probity is
not fixed on the basis of real piety, or supported by singular
fortitude, and that sound sense which, discerning remote consequences,
preserves integrity as armour of proof against the
worst that can happen.

True it is, that amidst these convulsions of the moral
world, exigencies bring out some characters that sweep across
the gloom like meteors in a tempestuous night, which would
not have been distinguished in the sunshine of prosperity. It
is in the swell of the turbulent ocean that the mightiest living
handiworks of the author of nature are to be met with. Great
minds, no doubt, are called out by exigencies, and put forth all
their powers. Though Hercules slew the Hydra, and cleansed
the Augæan stable, all but poets and heroes must have regretted
that any such monsters existed. Seriously, beside the
rancour, the treachery, and the dereliction of every generous
sentiment and upright motive, which are the rank production
of the blood-manured field of civil discord, after the froth and
// 333.png
.pn +1
feculence of its cauldron have boiled over, still the deleterious
dregs remain. Truth is the first victim to fear and policy;
when matters arrive at that crisis, every one finds a separate
interest; mutual confidence, which cannot outlive sincerity,
dies next, and all the kindred virtues drop in succession. It
becomes a man’s interest that his brothers and his father
should join the opposite party, that some may be applauded
for steadiness or enriched by confiscations. To such temptations
the mind, fermenting with party hatred, yields with
less resistance than could be imagined by those who have
never witnessed such scenes of horror, darkened by duplicity.
After so deep a plunge in depravity, how difficult, how near
to impossible is a return to the paths of rectitude! This is
but a single instance of the manner in which moral feeling is
undermined in both parties. But as our nature, destined to
suffer and to mourn, and to have the heart made better by
affliction, finds adversity a less dangerous trial than prosperity,
especially where it is great and sudden, in all civil conflicts,
the triumphant party may, with moral truth, be said to be the
greatest sufferers. Intoxicated as they often are with power
and affluence, purchased with the blood and tears of their
friends and countrymen, the hard task remains to them of
chaining up and reducing to submission the many-headed
monster, whom they have been forced to let loose and gorge
with the spoils of the vanquished. Then, too, comes on the
difficulty of dividing power where no one has a right, and
every one a claim: of ruling those whom they have taught to
despise authority; and of reviving that sentiment of patriotism,
and that love of glory, which faction and self-interest have
extinguished.

When the white and red roses were the symbols of faction
in England, and when the contest between Baliol and Bruce
made way for invasion and tyranny in Scotland, the destruction
of armies and of cities, public executions, plunder and
// 334.png
.pn +1
confiscations, were the least evils that they occasioned. The
annihilation of public virtue and private confidence; the exasperation
of hereditary hatred; the corrupting the milk of
human kindness, and breaking asunder every sacred tie by
which man and man are held together: all these dreadful results
of civil discord are the means of visiting the sins of civil
war on the third and fourth generation of those who have
kindled it. Yet the extinction of charity and kindness in dissensions
like these, is not to be compared to that which is the
consequence of an entire subversion of the accustomed form
of government. Attachment to a monarch or line of royalty,
aims only at a single object, and is at worst loyalty and fidelity
misplaced: yet war once begun on such a motive, loosens
the bands of society, and opens to the ambitious and the rapacious
the way to power and plunder. Still, however, the
laws, the customs, and the frame of government stand where
they did. When the contest is decided, and the successful
competitor established, if the monarch possesses ability, and
courts popularity, he, or at any rate, his immediate successor,
may rule happily, and reconcile those who were the enemies,
not of his place, but of his person. The mighty image of
sovereign power may change its “head of gold” for one of
silver; but still it stands firm on its basis, supported by all
those whom it protects: but when thrown from its pedestal by
an entire subversion of government, the wreck is far more
fatal and the traces indelible. Those who on each side support
the heirs claiming a disputed crown, mean equally to be
faithful and loyal to their rightful sovereign; and are thus,
though in opposition to each other, actuated by the same sentiment.
But when the spirit of extermination walks forth over
prostrate thrones and altars, ages cannot efface the traces of
its progress. A contest for sovereignty is a whirlwind, that
rages fiercely while it continues, and deforms the face of external
nature. New houses, however, replace those it has
// 335.png
.pn +1
demolished; trees grow up in the place of those destroyed;
the landscape laughs, the birds sing, and every thing returns
to its accustomed course. But a total subversion of a long
established government is like an earthquake, that not only
overturns the works of man, but changes the wonted course
and operation of the very elements; makes a gulf in the
midst of a fertile plain, casts a mountain into a lake, and in
line, produces such devastation as it is not in the power of man
to remedy. Indeed, it is too obvious that, even in our own
country, that fire which produced the destruction of the monarchy,
still glows among the ashes of extinguished factions;
but that portion of the community who carried with them
across the Atlantic, the repugnance to submission, which grew
out of an indefinite love of liberty, might be compared to the
Persian Magi. Like them, when forced to fly from their native
country, they carried with them a portion of the hallowed
fire, which continued to be the object of their secret worship.
Those who look upon the revolution, of which this spirit was
the prime mover, as tending to advance the general happiness,
no doubt consider these opinions as a rich inheritance, productive
of the best effects. Many wise and worthy persons
have thought and still continue to think so. There is as yet no
room for decision, the experiment not being completed. Their
mode of government, anomalous, and hitherto inefficient, has
not yet acquired the firmness of cohesion, or the decisive tone
of authority.

The birth of this great empire is a phenomenon in the history
of mankind. There is nothing like it in reality or fable,
but the birth of Minerva, who proceeded full armed and full
grown out of the head of the thunderer. Population, arts,
sciences, and laws, extension of territory, and establishment
of power, have been gradual and progressive in other countries,
where the current of dominion went on increasing as it
flowed, by conquests or other acquisitions, which it swallowed
// 336.png
.pn +1
like rivulets in its course; but here it burst forth like a torrent,
spreading itself at once into an expanse, vast as their
own Superior lake, before the eyes of the passing generation
which witnessed its birth. Yet it is wonderful how little talent
or intellectual pre-eminence of any kind has appeared in
this new-born world, which seems already old in worldly
craft, and whose children are indeed “wiser in their generation
than the children of light.” Self-interest, eagerly grasping
at pecuniary advantages, seems to be the ruling principle
of this great continent.

Love of country, that amiable and noble sentiment, which
by turns exalts and softens the human mind, nourishes enthusiasm,
and inspires alike the hero and sage, to defend and
adorn the sacred land of their nativity, is a principle which
hardly exists there. An American loves his country, or prefers
it rather, because its rivers are wide and deep, and
abound in fish; because he has the forests to retire to, if the
god of gainful commerce should prove unpropitious on the
shore. He loves it because if his negro is disrespectful or
disobedient, he can sell him and buy another; while if he
himself is disobedient to the laws of his country, or disrespectful
to the magistracy appointed to enforce them, that
shadow of authority, without power to do good, or prevent
evil, must possess its soul in patience.

We love our country because we honour our ancestors;
because it is endeared to us not only by early habit, but by
attachments to the spots hallowed by their piety, their heroism,
their genius, or their public spirit. We honour it as the scene
of noble deeds, the nurse of sages, bards, and heroes. The
very aspect and features of this blest asylum of liberty, science,
and religion, warm our hearts, and animate our imaginations.
Enthusiasm kindles at the thoughts of what we have been, and
what we are. It is the last retreat, the citadel, in which all
that is worth living for is concentrated. Among the other
// 337.png
.pn +1
ties which were broken, by the detachment of America from
us, that fine ligament, which binds us to the tombs of our ancestors,
(and seems to convey to us the spirit and the affections
we derive from them) was dissolved: and with it perished all
generous emulation. Fame,

.pm verse-start
“That spur which the clear mind doth raise
 To live laborious nights and painful days,”
.pm verse-end
.ni
has no votaries among the students of Poor Richard’s almanack,
the great <i>Pharos</i> of the states. The land of their
ancestors, party hostility has taught them to regard with scorn
and hatred. That in which they live calls up no images of
past glory or excellence. Neither hopeful nor desirous of that
after-existence, which has been most coveted by those who
do things worth recording, they not only live, but thrive; and
that is quite enough. A man no longer says of himself with
exultation, “I belong to the land where Milton sung the song
of seraphims, and Newton traced the paths of light; where
Alfred established his throne in wisdom, and where the palms
and laurels of renown shade the tombs of the mighty and the
excellent.” Thus dissevered from recollections so dear, and
so ennobling, what ties are substituted in their places? Can
he regard with tender and reverential feelings, a land that has
not only been deprived of its best ornaments, but become a
receptacle for the outcasts of society from every nation in
Europe? Is there a person whose dubious or turbulent character
has made him unwelcome or suspected in society, he
goes to America, where he knows no one, and is of no one
known; and where he can with safety assume any character.
All that tremble with the consciousness of undetected crimes,
or smart from the consequence of unchecked follies; fraudulent
bankrupts, unsuccessful adventurers, restless projectors,
or seditious agitators, this great Limbus Patrum has room for
// 338.png
.pn +1
them all; and too it they fly in the day of their calamity. With
such a heterogeneous mixture a transplanted Briton of the
original stock, a true old American, may live in charity, but
never can assimilate. Who can, with the cordiality due to
that sacred appellation, “my country,” apply it to that land of
Hivites and Girgashites, where one cannot travel ten miles, in
a stretch, without meeting detachments of different nations,
torn from their native soil and first affections, and living aliens
in a strange land, where no one seems to form part of an attached
connected whole.
.pi
To those enlarged minds, who have got far beyond the
petty consideration of country and kindred, to embrace the
whole human race, a land, whose population is like Joseph’s
coat, of many colours, must be a peculiarly suitable abode.
For in the endless variety of the patchwork, of which society
is composed, a liberal philosophic mind might meet with the
specimens of all those tongues and nations which he comprehends
in the wide circle of his enlarged philanthropy.
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch64
CHAP. LXIV.
.pm ch-hd-start
Reflections continued.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>That</sc> some of the leaders of the hostile party in America
acted upon liberal and patriotic views, cannot be doubted.
There were many, indeed, of whom the public good was the
leading principle; and to these the cause was a noble one:
yet even these little foresaw the result. Had they known what
a cold selfish character, what a dereliction of religious principle,
what furious factions, and wild unsettled notions of government,
// 339.png
.pn +1
were to be the consequence of this utter alienation from
the parent state, they would have shrunk back from the prospect.
Those fine minds who, nurtured in the love of science
and of elegance, looked back to the land of their forefathers
for models of excellence, and drank inspiration from the production
of the British muse, could not but feel this rupture as
“a wrench from all we love, from all we are.” They, too,
might wish, when time had ripened their growing empire, to
assert that independence which, when mature in strength and
knowledge, we claim even of the parents we love and honour.
But to snatch it, with a rude and bloody grasp, outraged the
feelings of those gentler children of the common parent.
Mildness of manners, refinement of mind, and all the softer
virtues that spring up in the cultivated paths of social life,
nurtured by generous affections, were undoubtedly to be found
on the side of the unhappy royalists; whatever superiority in
vigour and intrepidity might be claimed by their persecutors.
Certainly, however necessary the ruling powers might find it
to carry their system of exile into execution, it has occasioned
to the country an irreparable privation.

When the edict of Nantz gave the scattering blow to the
protestants of France, they carried with them their arts, their
frugal regular habits, and that portable mine of wealth which is
the portion of patient industry. The chasm produced in
France, by the departure of so much humble virtue, and so
many useful arts, has never been filled.

What the loss of the Huguenots was to commerce and
manufactures in France, that of the loyalists was to religion,
literature, and amenity, in America. The silken threads were
drawn out of the mixed web of society, which has ever since
been comparatively coarse and homely. The dawning light
of elegant science was quenched in universal dullness. No
ray has broke through the general gloom except the phosphoric
lightnings of her cold-blooded philosophers, the deistical Franklin,
// 340.png
.pn +1
the legitimate father of the American ‘age of calculation.’
So well have “the children of his soul” profited by the frugal
lessons of this apostle of Plutus, that we see a new empire
blest in its infancy with all the saving virtues which are the
usual portion of cautious and feeble age; and we behold it
with the same complacent surprise which fills our minds at
the sight of a young miser.

Forgive me, shade of the accomplished Hamilton[#], while
all that is lovely in virtue, all that is honourable in valour, and
all that is admirable in talent, conspire to lament the early
setting of that western star; and to deck the tomb of worth
and genius with wreaths of immortal bloom.

.pm verse-start
“Thee Columbia long shall weep;
 Ne’er again thy likeness see?”
.pm verse-end
.ni
fain would I add,

.pm verse-start
“Long her strains in sorrows steep,
 Strains of immortality.”—<i>Gray.</i>
.pm verse-end

but alas!

.pm verse-start
“They have no poet, and they die.”—<i>Pope.</i>
.pm verse-end
.pi
His character was a bright exception; yet, after all, an
exception that only confirms the rule. What must be the state
of that country where worth, talent, and the disinterested exercise
of every faculty of a vigorous and exalted mind, were in
vain devoted to the public good; where, indeed, they only
marked out their possessor for a victim to the shrine of faction?
Alas! that a compliance with the laws of false honour, (the
only blemish of a stainless life,) should be so dearly expiated!

.pm fn-start // A
General Hamilton, killed in a duel, into which he was forced by
Aaron Burr, Vice-President of Congress, at New-York, in 1806.
.pm fn-end

// 341.png
.pn +1
Yet the deep sense expressed by all parties of this general
loss, seems to promise a happier day at some future period,
when this chaos of jarring elements shall be reduced by some
pervading and governing mind into a settled form.

But much must be done, and suffered, before this change
can take place. There never can be much improvement till
there are union and subordination; till those strong local attachments
are formed, which are the basis of patriotism, and
the bonds of social attachment. But, while such a wide field
is open to the spirit of adventure; and, while the facility of
removal encourages that restless and ungovernable spirit,
there is little hope of any material change. There is in America
a double principle of fermentation, which continues to
impede the growth of the arts and sciences, and of those gentler
virtues of social life, which were blasted by the breath of
popular fury. On the sea-side there was a perpetual importation
of lawless and restless persons, who have no other path
to the notoriety they covet, but that which leads through party
violence; and of the want of that local attachment, I have been
speaking of, there can be no stronger proof, than the passion
for emigration so frequent in America.

Among those who are neither beloved in the vicinity of
their place of abode, nor kept stationary by any gainful pursuit,
it is incredible how light a matter will afford a pretext for a
removal.

Here is one great motive, for good conduct and decorous
manners, obliterated. The good opinion of his neighbours
is of little consequence to him, who can scarce be said to
have any. If a man keeps free of those crimes which a regard
for the public safety compels the magistrate to punish, he finds
shelter in every forest from the scorn and dislike incurred by
petty trespasses on society. There all who are unwilling to
submit to the restraints of law and religion, may live unchallenged,
at a distance from the public exercise of either. There
// 342.png
.pn +1
all whom want has made desperate, whether it be the want of
abilities, of character, or the means to live, are sure to take
shelter. This habit of removing furnishes, however, a palliation
for some evils, for the facility with which they change
residence, becomes the means of ridding the community of
members too turbulent or too indolent to be quiet or useful.
It is a kind of voluntary exile, where those whom government
want power and efficiency to banish, very obligingly banish
themselves; thus preventing the explosion which might be
occasioned by their continuing mingled in the general mass.

It is owing to this salutary discharge of peccant humours
that matters go on so quietly as they do, under a government
which is neither feared nor loved, by the community it rules.
These removals are incredibly frequent; for the same family,
flying as it were before the face of legal authority and civilization,
are often known to remove farther and farther back into
the woods, every fifth or sixth year, as the population begins
to draw nearer. By this secession from society, a partial
reformation is in some cases effected. A person incapable of
regular industry and compliance with its established customs,
will certainly do least harm, when forced to depend on his
personal exertions. When a man places himself in the situation
of Robinson Crusoe, with the difference of a wife and
children for that solitary hero’s cats and parrots, he must of
necessity make exertions like his, or perish. He becomes not
a regular husbandman, but a hunter, with whom agriculture is
but a secondary consideration. His Indian corn, and potatoes,
which constitute the main part of his crop, are, in due
time, hoed by his wife and daughters; while the axe and the
gun are the only implements he willingly handles.

Fraud and avarice are the vices of society, and do not thrive
in the shade of the forest. The hunter, like the sailor, has
little thought of coveting or amassing. He does not forge, nor
cheat, nor steal; as such an unprincipled person must have
// 343.png
.pn +1
done in the world, where, instead of wild beasts, he must have
preyed upon his fellows; and he does not drink much, because
liquor is not attainable. But he becomes coarse, savage,
and totally negligent of all the forms and decencies of life.
He grows wild and unsocial. To him a neighbour is an encroacher.
He has learnt to do without one; and he knows
not how to yield to him in any point of mutual accommodation.
He cares neither to give nor take assistance, and
finds all the society he wants in his own family. Selfish from
the overindulged love of ease and liberty, he sees in a new
comer merely an abridgment of his range, and an interloper
in that sport on which he would much rather depend for subsistence
than on the habits of regular industry. What can
more flatter an imagination warm with native benevolence,
and animated by romantic enthusiasm, than the image of insulated
self-dependant families, growing up in those primeval
retreats, remote from the corruptions of the world, and dwelling
amidst the prodigality of nature. Nothing, however, can
be more anti-Arcadian. There no crook is seen, no pipe is
heard, no lamb bleats, for the best possible reason, because
there are no sheep. No pastoral strains awake the sleeping
echoes, doomed to sleep on till the bull-frog, the wolf, and the
Quackawarry[#] begin their nightly concert. Seriously, it is
not a place that can, in any instance, constitute happiness.
When listless indolence or lawless turbulence fly to shades
the most tranquil, or scenes the most beautiful, they degrade
nature instead of improving or enjoying her charms. Active
diligence, a sense of our duty to the source of all good, and
kindly affections towards our fellow-creatures, with a degree
of self-command and mental improvement, can alone produce
the gentle manners that insure rural peace, or enable us, with
intelligence and gratitude, to “rejoice in nature’s joys.”

.pm fn-start // A
Quackawarry is the Indian name of a bird, which flies about in the
night, making a noise similar to the sound of its name.
.pm fn-end

// 344.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch65
CHAP. LXV.
.pm ch-hd-start
Sketch of the Settlement of Pennsylvania.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>Fain</sc> would I turn from this gloomy and uncertain prospect,
so disappointing to philanthropy, and so subversive of all
the flattering hopes and sanguine predictions of the poets and
philosophers, who were wont to look forward to a new
Atalantis,

.pm verse-start
“Famed for arts and laws derived from Jove,”
.pm verse-end
.ni
in this western world. But I cannot quit the fond retrospect
of what once was in one favoured spot, without indulging a
distant hope of what may emerge from this dark disordered
state.
.pi
The melancholy Cowley, the ingenious bishop of Cloyne,
and many others, alike eminent for virtue and for genius,
looked forward to this region of liberty as a soil, where peace,
science, and religion could have room to take root and flourish
unmolested. In those primeval solitudes, enriched by
the choicest bounties of nature, they might (as these benevolent
speculators thought) extend their shelter to tribes no
longer savage, rejoicing in the light of evangelic truth, and
exalting science. Little did these amiable projectors know
how much is to be done before the human mind, debased by
habitual vice, and cramped by artificial manners in the old
world, can wash out its stains and resume its simplicity in a
new; nor did they know through how many gradual stages of
culture the untutored intellect of savage tribes must pass before
they become capable of comprehending those truths
which to us habit has rendered obvious, or which at any rate
we have talked of so familiarly, that we think we comprehend
them. These projectors of felicity were not so ignorant of
// 345.png
.pn +1
human nature, as to expect change of place could produce an
instantaneous change of character; but they hoped to realize
an Utopia, where justice should be administered on the purest
principles; from which venality should be banished, and
where mankind should, through the paths of truth and uprightness,
arrive at the highest attainable happiness in a state not
meant for perfection. They “talked the style of gods,”
making very little account of “chance and sufferance.” Their
speculations of the result remind me of what is recorded in
some ancient writer, of a project for building a magnificent
temple to Diana in some one of the Grecian states. A reward
was offered to him who should erect, at the public cost,
with most taste and ingenuity, a structure which should do
honour both to the goddess and her worshippers. Several
candidates appeared. The first that spoke was a self-satisfied
young man, who, in a long florid harangue, described the
pillars, the porticoes, and the proportions of this intended
building, seeming all the while more intent on the display of
his elocution, than on the subject of his discourse. When he
had finished, a plain elderly man came from behind him, and
leaning forwards, said in a deep hollow voice, “All that he
has said, I will do.”

William Penn was the man, born to give “a local habitation
and a name,” to all that had hitherto only floated in the
day-dreams of poets and philosophers.

To qualify him for the legislator of a new-born sect, with all
the innocence and all the helplessness of infancy, many circumstances
concurred, that could scarce ever be supposed to
happen at once to the same person. Born to fortune and distinction,
with a mind powerful and cultivated, he knew, experimentally,
all the advantages to be derived from wealth or
knowledge, and could not be said ignorantly to despise them.
He had, in his early days, walked far enough into the paths of
folly and dissipation, to know human character in all its varieties,
// 346.png
.pn +1
and to say experimentally, all is vanity. With a vigorous
mind, an ardent imagination, and a heart glowing with the
warmest benevolence, he appears to have been driven, by a
repulsive abhorrence of the abuse of knowledge, of pleasure,
and pre-eminence, which he had witnessed, into the opposite
extreme; into a sect, the very first principles of which, clip
the wings of fancy, extinguish ambition, and bring every
struggle for superiority, the result of uncommon powers of
mind, down to the dead level of tame equality; a sect that reminds
one of the exclusion of poets from Plato’s fancied
republic, by stripping off all the many-coloured garbs with
which learning and imagination have invested the forms of
ideal excellence, and reducing them to a few simple realities,
arrayed as soberly as their votaries.

This sect, which brings mankind to a resemblance of
Thomson’s Laplanders,

.pm verse-start
“Who little pleasure know, and feel no pain,”
.pm verse-end
.ni
might be supposed the last to captivate, nay, to absorb, such
a mind as I have been describing. Yet so it was: even in
the midst of all this cold humility, dominion was to be found.
That rule, which of all others, is most gratifying to a mind
conscious of its own power, and directing it to the purposes of
benevolence, the voluntary subjection of mind, the homage
which a sect pays to its leader, is justly accounted the most
gratifying species of power; and to this lurking ambition,
every thing is rendered subservient by those who have once
known this native and inherent superiority. This man, who
had wasted his inheritance, alienated his relations, and
estranged his friends; who had forsaken the religion of his
ancestors, and in a great measure, the customs of his country;
whom some charged with folly, and others with madness, was,
nevertheless, destined to plan with consummate wisdom, and
execute with indefatigable activity and immovable firmness, a
// 347.png
.pn +1
scheme of government, such as has been the wish, at least, of
every enlarged and benevolent mind, (from Plato downwards,)
which has indulged speculations of the kind. The glory of
realizing, in some degree, all these fair visions, was, however,
reserved for William Penn alone.
.pi
Imagination delights to dwell on the tranquil abodes of
plenty, content, and equanimity, that so quickly rose like an
exhalation in the domains of this pacific legislator. That he
should expect to protect the quiet abodes of his peaceful and
industrious followers, merely with a fence of olive, (as one
may call his gentle institutions,) is wonderful; and the more
so, when we consider him to have lived in the world, and
known too well, by his own experience, of what discordant
elements it is composed. A mind so powerful and comprehensive
as his, could not but know, that the wealth which
quiet and blameless industry insensibly accumulates, proves
merely a lure to attract the armed spoiler to the defenceless
dwellings of those, who do not think it a duty to protect
themselves.

.pm verse-start
“But when divine ambition swell’d his mind,
 Ambition truly great, of virtuous deeds,”
.pm verse-end
.ni
he could no otherwise execute his plan of utility, than by the
agency of a people who were bound together by a principle, at
once adhesive and exclusive, and who were too calm and self-subdued,
too benignant and just, to create enemies to themselves
among their neighbours. There could be no motive
but the thirst of rapine, for disturbing a community so inoffensive;
and the founder, no doubt, flattered himself that the
parent country would not fail to extend to them that protection,
which their useful lives and helpless state both needed
and deserved.
.pi
Never, surely, were institutions better calculated for nursing
// 348.png
.pn +1
the infancy of a sylvan colony, from which the noisy pleasures,
and more bustling varieties of life were necessarily excluded.
The serene and dispassionate state, to which it
seems was the chief aim of this sect to bring the human mind,
is precisely what is requisite to reconcile it to the privations
that must be encountered, during the early stages of the progression
of society, which necessarily excluded from the pleasures
of refinement, should be guarded from its pains.

Where nations, in the course of time, become civilized, the
process is so gradual from one race to another, that no violent
effort is required to break through settled habits, and acquire
new tastes and inclinations, fitted to what might be almost
styled a new mode of existence. But when colonies are first
settled in a country so entirely primitive as that to which William
Penn led his followers, there is a kind of retrograde
movement of the mind, requisite to reconcile people to the
new duties and new views that open to them, and to make the
total privation of wonted objects, modes, and amusements,
tolerable.

Perfect simplicity of taste and manners, and entire indifference
to much of what the world calls pleasure, were necessary
to make life tolerable to the first settlers in a trackless
wilderness. These habits of thinking and living, so difficult
to acquire, and so painful when forced upon the mind by inevitable
necessity, the quakers brought with them, and left,
without regret, a world from which they were already excluded
by that austere simplicity which peculiarly fitted them for
their new situation. A kindred simplicity, and a similar ignorance
of artificial refinements and high seasoned pleasures,
produced the same effect in qualifying the first settlers at
Albany to support the privations, and endure the inconveniences
of their novitiate in the forests of the new world. But
to return to William Penn: the fair fabric he had erected,
// 349.png
.pn +1
though it speedily fulfilled the utmost promise of hope, contained
within itself the principle of dissolution, and from the
very nature of the beings which composed it, must have decayed,
though the revolutionary shock had not so soon shaken
its foundations. Sobriety and prudence lead naturally to
wealth, and wealth to authority, which soon strikes at the root
of the short lived principle of equality. A single instance may
occur here and there, but who can ever suppose nature running
so contrary to her bias, that all the opulent members of a
community should acquire or inherit wealth for the mere purpose
of giving it away? Where there are no elegant arts to be
encouraged, no elegant pleasures to be procured, where ingenuity
is not to be rewarded, or talent admired or exercised;
what is wealth but a cumbrous load, sinking the owner deeper
and deeper into grossness and dulness, having no incitement
to exercise the only faculties permitted him to use, and few
objects to relieve in a community from which vice and poverty
are equally excluded by their industry, and their wholesome
rule of expulsion. We all know that there is not in society a
more useless and disgusting character than what is formed by
the possession of great wealth, without elegance or refinement;
without, indeed, that liberality which can only result from a
certain degree of cultivation. What then would a community
be, entirely formed of such persons, or supposing such a community
to exist, how long would they adhere to the simple
manners of their founder, with such a source of corruption
mingled with their very existence? Detachment from pleasure
and from vanity, frugal and simple habits, and an habitual
close adherence to some particular trade or employment, are
circumstances that have a sure tendency to enrich the individuals
who practise them. This, in the end, is “to give humility
a coach and six,” that is, to destroy the very principle
of adhesion which binds and continues the sect.
// 350.png
.pn +1

Highly estimable as a sect, these people were respectable
and amiable in their collective capacity as a colony. But then
it was an institution so constructed, that, without a miracle, its
virtues must have expired with its minority. I do not here
speak of the necessity of its being governed and protected by
those of different opinions, but merely of wealth stagnating
without its proper application. Of this humane community it
is but just to say, that they were the only Europeans in the
new world who always treated the Indians with probity like
their own, and with kindness calculated to do honour to the
faith they professed. I speak of them now in their collective
capacity. They, too, are the only people that, in a temperate,
judicious, (and, I trust, successful) manner, have endeavoured
and still endeavour to convert the Indians to Christianity; for
them, too, was reserved the honourable distinction of being
the only body who sacrificed interest to humanity, by voluntarily
giving freedom to those slaves whom they held in easy
bondage. That a government so constituted could not, in
the nature of things, long exist, is to be regretted; that it produced
so much good to others, and so much comfort and
prosperity to its subjects while it did exist, is an honourable
testimony of the worth and wisdom of its benevolent founder.
// 351.png
.pn +1
.sp 2
.hr 10%
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch66
CHAP. LXVI.
.pm ch-hd-start
Prospects brightening in British America—Desirable country on the interior
lakes, &c.
.pm ch-hd-end
.sp 2
<sc>However</sc> discouraging the prospect of society on this
great continent may at present appear, there is every reason
to hope that time, and the ordinary course of events, may bring
about a desirable change; but in the present state of things,
no government seems less calculated to promote the happiness
of its subjects, or to ensure permanence to itself, than
that feeble and unstable system which is only calculated for a
community comprising more virtue and more union than such
a heterogeneous mixture can be supposed to have attained.
States, like individuals, purchase wisdom by suffering, and
they have probably much to endure before they assume a
fixed and determinate form.

Without partiality it may be safely averred, that notwithstanding
the severity of the climate, and other unfavourable
circumstances, the provinces of British America are the abode
of more present safety and happiness, and contain situations
more favourable to future establishments, than any within the
limits of the United States.

To state all the grounds upon which this opinion is founded,
might lead me into discussions, narratives, and description,
which might swell into a volume, more interesting than the
preceding one. But being at present neither able nor inclined
to do justice to the subject, I shall only briefly observe first,
with regard to the government, it is one to which the governed
are fondly attached, and which like religion, becomes endeared
to its votaries, by the sufferings they have endured for their
adherence to it. It is consonant to their earliest prejudices,
// 352.png
.pn +1
and sanctioned by hereditary attachment. The climate is,
indeed, severe, but it is steady and regular; the skies in the
interior are clear, the air is pure. The summer, with all the
heat of warm climates to cherish the productions of the earth,
is not subject to the drought that in such climates scorches
and destroys them. Abundant woods afford shelter and fuel,
to mitigate the severity of winter; and streams rapid and copious,
flow in all directions to refresh the plants and cool the
air, during their short but ardent summer.

The country, barren at the sea side, does not afford an inducement
for those extensive settlements which have a tendency
to become merely commercial from their situation. It
becomes more fertile as it recedes further from the sea; thus
holding out an inducement to pursue nature into her favourite
retreats, where on the banks of mighty waters, calculated to
promote all the purposes of social traffic among the inhabitants,
the richest soil, the happiest climate, and the most
complete detachment from the world, promise a safe asylum
to those who carry the arts and the literature of Europe, hereafter
to grace and enlighten scenes where agriculture has
already made rapid advances.

In the dawning light which already begins to rise in these
remote abodes, much may be discovered of what promises a
brighter day. Excepting the remnant of the old Canadians,
who are a very inoffensive people, patient and cheerful, attached
to monarchy, and much assimilated to our modes of
thinking and living, these provinces are peopled, for the most
part, with inhabitants possessed of true British hearts and principles.
Veterans who have shed their blood, and spent their
best days in the service of the parent country, and royalists
who have fled here for a refuge, after devoting their property
to the support of their honour and loyalty; who adhere together,
and form a society graced by that knowledge and those
// 353.png
.pn +1
manners which rendered them respectable in their original
state, with all the experience gained from adversity; and that
elevation of sentiment which results from the consciousness
of having suffered in a good cause. Here, too, are clusters
of emigrants who have fled, unacquainted with the refinements,
and uncontaminated by the old world, to seek for that bread
and peace, which the progress of luxury and the change of
manners denied them at home. Here they come in kindly
confederation, resolved to cherish in those kindred groups,
which have left with social sorrow their native mountains, the
customs and traditions, the language and the love of their ancestors,
and to find comfort in that religion which has ever
been their support and their shield, for all that they have left
behind.[#]

.pm fn-start // A
It is needless to enlarge on a subject, to which Lord Selkirk has
done such ample justice, who wanted nothing but a little experience and
a little aid, to make the best practical comments on his own judicious,
observations.
.pm fn-end

It is by tribes of individuals intimately connected with each
other by some common tie, that a country is most advantageously
settled, to which the obvious superiority in point of
principle and union that distinguishes British America from
the United States, is chiefly owing. Our provinces afford no
room for wild speculations, either of the commercial or political
kind; regular, moderate trade, promising little beyond a
comfortable subsistence, and agriculture, requiring much industry
and settled habits, are the only paths open to adventurers;
and the chief inducement to emigration is the possibility
of an attached society of friends and kindred, finding room to
dwell together, and meeting, in the depth of these fertile wilds,
with similar associations. Hence, solitary and desperate adventurers,
the vain, the turbulent, and the ambitious, shun these
// 354.png
.pn +1
regulated abodes of quiet industry, for scenes more adapted to
their genius.

I shall now conclude my recollections, which circumstances
have often rendered very painful; but will not take upon me
to enlarge on those hopes that stretch a dubious wing into
temporal futurity, in search of a brighter day, and a better
order of things. Content if I have preserved some records of
a valuable life; thrown some glimmering light upon the progress
of society in that peculiar state, which it was my fate to
witness and to share, and afforded some hours of harmless
amusement to those lovers of nature and of truth, who can
patiently trace their progress through a tale devoid alike of
regular arrangement, surprising variety, and artificial embellishment.
.sp 4
.nf c
THE END.
.nf-
.sp 4
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.it Transcriber’s Notes:
.ul indent=1
.it There were two CHAP. XXIX. The second was changed to CHAP. XXXI.
.it Missing or obscured punctuation was silently corrected.
.it Typographical errors were silently corrected.
.it Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only when a\
predominant form was found in this book.
.if t
.it Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).
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