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 connection 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 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 Shakespeare 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 colors and proportions from any polished 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 everything 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 a 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, without the desire of dazzling or outshining 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.

VOL. I. IO

Chapter XIV

MARRIAGE OF MISS SCHUYLER- DESCRIPTION

M'

OF THE FLATS

ISS S. had the happiness to captivate her cousin Philip,1 eldest son of her uncle, who was ten years older than herself, and was in all respects to be accounted a suitable, and in the worldly sense, an advantageous match for her. His father was highly satisfied to have the two

1 This Col. Philip was the eldest son of Col. Peter Schuyler and his wife, Maria Van Rensselaer, baptized January 15, 1696, and but five years older than his cousin whom he married. His mother was the daughter of Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, and a granddaughter of the first patroon of Rensselaerwyck. He died February 16, 1758, and his monument is the oldest and most conspicuous one in the family burial ground at the Flats, resting horizontally upon pillars, and bearing the following inscription.

In Memory of

COLNL. PHILIP SCHUYLER,
A Gentleman who was Improved
in Several publick employments
in which he Acted with integrity,
he was singularly hospitable,
a Sincere friend, kind Master,
a most tender Husband;

he Liv'd Respected and died greatly Lamented.
Feb. 16th, 1758, Aged 62 years.

Madame Schuyler was buried by his side, but the metal tablet on the monument marking her grave is gone. It is to be replaced by a new tablet.

objects on whom he had bestowed so much care and culture united, but did not live to see this happy connection take place. They were married in the year 1719, when she was in the eighteenth year of her age.1 When the old colonel died, he left considerable possessions to be divided among his children, and from the quantity of plate, paintings, etc., which they shared, there is reason 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, 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 champain. 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 ever 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

1 They were married December 29, 1720, and Col. Peter Schuyler died February 19, 1724.

2 Miss Schuyler's father had a large and valuable tract of land on the Fishkill at Saratoga, fifty miles above Albany, and the father of Philip Schuyler had a large landed property at Kinderhook and in its neighborhood, below Albany.

Query, Catskill? Fishkill is 100 miles from Albany.