.v-^ / -fsTS. ^ .♦^^♦. *^'.-..^<*. /•^-. ^ York, and found so many charms in the intelligent and comparatively polished society of which tl^y 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 hap- pened in 1721, two years after. This union was productive of all that felicity which might be expected to result from en- tire congeniality, not of sentiment only, but of original dispo- sitions, 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 respectable parent whom they equally loved and revered. CHAPTER XVH. The House and Rural Economy of the Flats. — Birds and Insects. I HAVE already sketched a general outline of that pleasant home to which the colonel was now about to bring his be- loved. 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 AND SCENERY IN AMERICA. S3 on a smaller scale, pretty much in the same manner. Be it known, however, that the house I had so much delight in re- collecting had no pretension to grandeur, and very little to el- egance. It was a large brick house of two, or rather three, stories, (for there were excellent attics,) besides a sunk story, finished with the exactest neatness. The lower floor had tv/o 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 furnish- ed with chairs and pictures like a summer parlor. Here the family usually sat in hot weather, when there were no cere- monious strangers. Valuable furniture (though perhaps not very well chosen or assorted) was the favorite 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 Teraphim, secretly worshipped, 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 circum- stances 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 round. 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. The grapes, 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 porticoes, 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 within the por- tico, where they nestled safely 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. 84 SKETCHES OF MANNERS I do not recollect sparrows there, except the wood-sparrow. These little birds were of various kinds peculiar to the coun- try ; but the one most frequent and familiar was a pretty little creature, of a bright cinnamon color, called a wren, though faintly 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 hos- pitable 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 abundantly 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, as their sheltering woods are cleared, all these recede before their masters, but not un- til his empire is fully established. Such 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 portico, which was often the scene of these meals, birds were constantly gliding over the table with a butterfly, grass- hopper, or cicada in their bills, to feed their young, who were chirping above. These familiar inmates brushed by without ceremony, while the chimney-swallow, the martin, and other hirundines_, in countless numbers, darted past in pursuit of this aerial population, and the fields resounded with the cease- less chirping of many insects unknown to our more temperate summers. These were now and then mingled with the ani- mated 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 rhoisture 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 AND SCENERY IN AMERICA. 85 objects, which, with us, are no small additions to the softened changes and endless charms of rural scenery, it must be con- fessed, are wanting there. No lark welcomes the sun that rises to gild the dark forest and gleaming lakes of America ; no mellow thrush nor deep-toned blackbird warbles through these awful solitudes, or softens the balmy hour of twilight with " The liquid language of the groves." 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 known to have its shortness re- gretted. No daisy hastens to meet the spring, or embellishes the meads in summer : here no purple heath exhales its wholesome odor, 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 blow, nor flower- ing 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 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 rigors 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-parlor, and increased the general warmth of the house. In summer the negroes inhabited shght outer kitchens, in which food was dressed for the family. Those who wrought in the fields often had their simple dinner cook- ed without, and ate it under the shade of a great tree. One 8 86 SKETCHES OF MANNERS room, I should have said, in the greater house only, was opened for the reception of company ; all the rest were bed- chambers for their accommodation ; the domestic friends of the family occupying neat little bedrooms 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 oilcloth painted in lozenges, to imitate blue and white marble. The best bedroom was hung with family por- traits, some of which were admirably executed ; and in the eating-room, which, by the by, was rarely used for that pur- pose, 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 blessing ; 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, under shades of elm and sycamore, ran the great road towards Saratoga, Stillwater, and the northern lakes ; a little simple avenue of morella cherry-trees, enclosed with a white rail, led to the road and river, not three hundred yards distant. Adjoining to this, on the south side, was an enclosure 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 abovesaid poles. This was not mere ornament either, but a most hospitable arrangement for the accommodation of the small familiar birds before described. 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 horsehair, and there lays her eggs in full security. It is very amusing to see the little creature carelessly go out and in at this aperture, though you should be standing immediately beside it. Not AND SCENERY IN AMERICA. 87 satisfied with providing these singular asylums for their feath- ered 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 pur- pose. 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 com- fort 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 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 had a pleasing note, but, on the whole, their songsters are far inferior to ours. I rather dwell on these minutiae, as they not only mark the pecu- liarities 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. CHAPTER XVIII. Description of Colonel Schuyler's Barn, the Common, and its various uses. Adjoining 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 ap- pear, answered many beneficial purposes besides those usually allotted for such edifices, was of a vast size, at least a hun- dred 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 88 SKETCHES OF MANNErvS large sill, sloping downwards, of the same materials. A breadth of about twelve feet on each side of this capacious building was divided off for cattle ; on one side ran a manger, at the above-mentioned distance from the wall, the whole length of the building, with a rack above it ; on the other 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 towards the thrashing floor. There was a prodigious large box or open chest in one side, built up for holding the corn after it was thrashed ; 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 ; thence in spring they were often driven down to the river, the soil, in its original state, not requiring the aid of ma- nure. In the front* of this vast edifice there were prodigious folding-doors, and two others that opened behind. Certainly never did cheerful rural toils wear a more exhil- arating aspect than while the domestics were lodging the luxuriant harvest in this capacious repository. When speak- ing 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 wagon loaded with hay, for instance, was driven into the midst of this great barn ; loaded also with numberless large grasshoppers, butterflies, and ci- cadas, who came along with the hay. From the top of the wagon, this 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 wagon drove, in rustic * By the front is meant the gable end, whie'i contains the entrance. AND SCENERY IN AMERICA. 89 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 tliatching 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 height- ened by the quick appearance and vanishing of the swallows, which twittered among their high-built dwellings in the roof. Here, as in every other instance, the safety of these domes- tic 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 be- ing the species to which this kind of home seems most con- genial ; 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 vis- ages, while the perspective, on either, was terminated by heifers and fillies no less interesting. In the midst your ser- vants exercised the flail ; and even while they thrashed out the straw, distributed it to the expectants on both sides ; while the " liberal handful" was occasionally thrown to the many-colored poultry on the sill. Winter itself never made this abode of life and plenty cold and cheerless. Here you might walk and view all your subjects, and their means of support, at one glance ; except, indeed, the sheep, for which a large and commodious building was erected very near the barn ; the roof containing a loft large enough to hold 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 for- merly mentioned, was on the south side of the barn ; on the north, a little farther back towards the wood, which formed^ 8* 90 SKETCHES OF MANNERS a dark screen behind this smiling prospect, there was an en- closure, 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 unenclosed ; over it were scattered a few large apple- trees of a peculiar kind, ttie fruit of which was never appro- priated. This piece of level and productive land, so near the family mansion, and so adapted to various and useful purposes, was never occupied, but left open as a public ben- efit. 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 wander- ers 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 pro- ceeded northward, a little colony of helpless women and children, belonging to them, was left in a great measure de- pendent on the compassion of these worthy patriarchs ; for such the brothers might be justly called. CHAPTER XIX. Military Preparations. — Disinterested conduct, the surest road to Popu- larity. — Fidelity of the Mohawks. The first year of the colonel's marriage was spent chiefly in New York, and in visits to the friends of his bride, and other relations. The following years they passed at home, surrounded daily by his brothers, with their families, and other relatives, with whom they maintained the most affec- tionate intercourse. The colonel, however, (as I have called him by anticipation,) had his mind engaged at this time, by public duties of the most urgent nature. He was a member •of the colonial assembly ; and, by a kind of hereditary right, AND SCENERY IN AMERICA. 91 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 a sort of patriarchal authorit)^ attached to it ; for these people, though little acquainted with coercion, and by no means in- clined to submit to it, had a profound reverence, as is gener- ally the case in the infancy of society, for the families of their first leaders ; whom they had looked up to merely as knowing them to possess superior worth, talent, and enter- prise. 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-enno- bled ; especially if he be disinterested ; this, though appa- rently a negative quality, being the one of all others which, combined with the higher powers of mind, most engages af- fection in private, and esteem 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 very 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 honorable 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 of the virtuous. Yet the very selfishness of our nature in- clines 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 author- ity ; and yet too public-spirited and too generous to decline 92 SKETCHES OF MANNERS 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 bless- ing of their union, and the pleasure of his society, she show- ed a spirit worthy of a Roman matron, in willingly risking all her happiness, even in that early period of her marriage, 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 to acts of violence the In- dian tribes, who were their allies, and enemies to the Mo- hawks, the French Canadians, in violation of existing treaties, began 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 de- fence of the country, became not only obvious but urgent. No other person but he had influence enough to produce any co- herence among the people of that district, or any determina- tion, 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 saga- city and observation, and indeed too strong a sense of native 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 these great lakes, which the Ca- nadians 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 pro- vincial 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 differ- ent 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. AND SCENERY IN AMERICA. 93 Colonel Philip Schuyler was the first who raised a corps in the interior of the province of New York ; this was not only done by his personal influence, but occasioned him a con- siderable expense, though the regiment was paid by the province, which also furnished arras and military stores ; their service 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 «ver adhered with singular fidelity ; and mutual presents bright- ened the chain of amity, to use their own figurative language. The common and the barn, at the Flats, were fully occu- pied, and the hospitable mansion, as was usual on all public occasions, overflowed. There the general, his aid-de-camps, the sachems, and the principal oflficers of the colonel's regi- ment, were received ; and those of the next class, who could not find room there, were accommodated by Peter and Jere- miah. 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 exigency, 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, produ- cing 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. 94 SKETCHES OP MANNERS CHAPTER XX. Account of a refractory Warrior, and of the spirit which still pervaded the New England provinces. While these preparations were going on, the general* was making every effort of the neighborhood to urge those who had promised assistance, to come forward with their allotted quotas. 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 having had considerable wealth left to him, scarcely knew an ungratified wish ; 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, by a given time, for the general defence : with the request he complied. When the rendezvous came on, this talking war- rior 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 : 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 stayed, as he 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, belabored this recreant knight most manful- ly ; while several Indian sachems, and many of his own coun- * Sliirley. AND SCENERY IN AMERICA. 95 • ^ trymen and friends, coolly stood by ; for tlie colonel's noted common was the scene of his assault. Our poor neighbor (as he long after became) suffered this dreadful bastinado, unaided and unpitied ; and this example, and the consequent contempt under which he labored, (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 dis- credit ; and were actuated by no single motive but that of avoiding the legal penalty then afhxed to disobedience, and enjoying the pay and provisions allotted to them by the pro- vince, or the mother country, 1 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, sooner assumed the forms of a civil community, and lived within narrower bounds ; they were more laborious ; their fanati- cism, which they brought from England in its utmost fervor, long continued its effervescence, where there were no plea- sures, nor 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 *.Above thirty years after, when the writer of these pages Hved 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 poli- tics were his incessant topics. There was no campaign nor 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 neighbor. Mrs. Schuyler's father long wondered how he took to him so kindly, 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 lis- tener, as the only person he could suppose ignorant of his disgrace. Such is human nature ! and so incurable is human vanity ! I 96 SKETCHES OP MANNERS « great measure evaporated ; enough of the pride and rigor 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 an un- successful warfare with the Mohawks, and were every way so inferior to them, that after the first estabUshment of the colony, and a few feeble attacks successfully repulsed, they were no longer enemies to be dreaded, or friends to be court- ed. This had an unhappy effect with regard to those pro- vinces ; and to the different relations in which they stood with respect to the Indians, some part of the striking differ- ence in the moral and military character of these various es- tablishments must be attributed. 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, Crom- well himself, for their leader and guide. They might be compared to lava, discharged by the fury of internal combus- tion, 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 almost literally the effects of polit- ical convulsions, aggravated by a fiery and intolerant zeal for their own mode of worship, on these self-righteous colonists. These preliminary remarks on the diversity of character in these neighboring provinces lead the way, in the mean time, to a discrimination, the effects of which have becgme interesting to the whole world. AND SCENERY IN AMERICA. 97 CHAPTER XXI. Distinguishing characteristics of the New York colonists, to what owing. — Huguenots and Palatines, their character. But 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 es- sentials : 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, ex- cluded 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 nor so volatile as to disgust their new associates ; while their cheerful tempers, accommodating manners, and patience un- der 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 establish- ment 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 Pala- tinate, (during the successful and desolating period of the wars carried on against that unhappy country by Louis the Fourteenth,) had found refuge here. The subdued and con- tented 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 leaven among the inhabitants of this 9 98 SKETCHES OF MANNERS province ; who, devoted to the pursuits of agriculture and the Indian trade, which encouraged a wild romantic spirit of ad- venture, little relished those mechanical employments, or that petty yet necessary traffic in shops, ^ Cranberry Twp., PA 1 6066 ^ (412)779-2111 ^, HECKMAN 1^ BINDERY INC. |§ .^ AUG 88 N. MANCHESTER, INDIANA 46962