merit and abilities, joined with integrity seldom to be met with anywhere, 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 Colden, 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 gov-erned, was 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 between the wealth of his mind, and the poverty of his outward appearance, might remind one of Æsop, or rather of the faithful, though illshaped herald of Ulysses:

"Eurybutes, in whose large mind alone,
Ulysses view'd the image of his own."

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, he 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 the popularity of governor, on which the other had not a

wish to encroach. 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.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

Mrs. Schuyler's arrangements and conduct after the Colonel's death.

THE 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, nor 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 endeavored to find consolation in returning to the regulations of her family, and the society of her friends, for both 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 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

*The colonel's brother Peter, so called.

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 had 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 sepulture 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 enclosed 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 watchfulness, 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 confidant in this secret suffering; a decent and pious woman, who, on the death of her husband, a sergeant 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 needlework to the children, that she still remained. This good woman 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 enclosure, and there indulged her unavailing sorrow. This she continued to do for some time, as she thought, unobserved; but being very tall, and having become large as she advanced in life, her figure, arrayed in her night-clothes, was very conspicuous, and was, on different occasions, observed by neighbors, who occasionally passed by at night; the consequence was, that it was rumored 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 reverend patroness. Every one else in the house, however, heard it; and a pensive air of awe and mystery overspread the whole family. Her confidant, 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 selfcommand, 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 confidant, to quiet the minds of her children and domestics, and reconcile them to solitude and moonlight.

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 the valor 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 persons, 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, of frank, easy manners, inferior to his late brother only in depth of reflection and comprehension of mind.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

Mohawk Indians.-The Superintendent.

By 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 began, 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 ; Deing more accommodating in their habits, and better accusomed to a severe climate, and to inconveniences of every kind. They were frequent guests at the Flats, were a pleas