grand-niece whom she 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, "When nature rests, Oft in her absence mimic fancy wakes, I sat silent when my bolt was shot; but so did not Madame. Astonished to hear her favorite 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 too 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. Time went on; we were neighbors, 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 favor with Aunt Schuyler, when a new arrival for awhile suspended the growing intimacy. I allude to the lieutenant-colonel of my father's regiment, who had removed from Crown-Point to AÍbany. The colonel was a married man, whose wife, like himself, had passed her early days in a course of frivolous gayety. They were now approaching the decline of life, and finding nothing pleasing in the retrospect nor flattering in the 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 had I entered into ! From the quiet simplicity 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 gayety 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. CHAPTER XLIX. Sir Jeffrey Amherst.-Mutiny.-Indian War. AT this time (1764) 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 Jeffrey, 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 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 Jeffrey, however, was received like a prince at Albany, respect for his private character conquering the anti-military prejudice. 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 intrusted 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 honor of Sir Jeffrey; 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 preconcerted; which was actually the case, for at Crown-Point and Quebec the same thing was done on the same day. Sir Jeffrey 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 Jeffrey's visits to Madame had been frequent, both out of respect to her character and conversation, and from a view 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 was well aware of 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 Pondiac, chief of one of those nations who inhabited the borders of the great lakes, possessed a mind of that class 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 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 neighborhood. 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, 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 firearms and other British goods were captivating novelties. When the French insidiously built the fort of Detroit, and |