I. Origin of the Settlement of Albany The Five Nations - John and Philip Schuyler Colonel Schuyler and Five Sachems visit England 51 58 -- 64 - - V. State of Religion among the Settlers Sketch of the State of Society at New York. VI. Description of Albany-Manner of Living there VII. Gentle Treatment of Slaves among the Albanians VIII. Education and Early Habits of the Albanians IX. First Adventures of the Indian Traders. XII. Lay-Brothers- Miss Schuyler-Detached Indians XIII. Progress of Knowledge - Indian Manners. . . 146 155 PAGE 165 174 XVIII. Description of Colonel Schuyler's Barn XIX. Military Preparations - Fidelity of the Mohawks 180 XX. A Refractory Warrior - The Spirit pervading XXII. Adoption of Children Common in the Province XXIII. Colonel Schuyler's Military Partiality - Indian Character falsely charged with Idleness XXIV. Progress of Civilization in Europe. XXV. Independence of the Indians how first diminished - 264 271 XXXI. Hospitality - Achievements by the Negroes XXXII. Resources of Madame - Provincial Customs LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Portrait of Mrs. Grant of Laggan from a miniature painted in 1825 by K. Macleay, R. S. A. Engraved on steel by H. Robinson Frontispiece FACING PAGE 18 Loch Laggan, Inverness-shire, the early home of Mrs. . 231 years. Portrait of Colonel Peter Schuyler. From a painting made Portrait of King Hendrick, chief of the Five Nations 25 45 52 59 602 68 99 Map of the Flats on the banks of the Hudson, above Albany 149 FACING PAGE St. Peters Episcopal Church in State Street, Albany, erected 164 201 238 260 281 M PREFACE RS. GRANT'S "Memoirs of an American Lady" has long been out of print, having become so scarce that the volume was almost unobtainable, and then only at an exorbitant price. By many it is believed that so charming a picture of Colonial life in New York nearly a century and a half ago, should not be permitted to pass away. It is not a romance nor a tale partly founded on reality, but it is an authentic record of facts, a record which was much admired by Francis Jeffrey, Washington Irving, Sir Walter Scott, Robert Southey, William M. Thackeray,1 and other great heirs of fame, one of whom praised the description of the breaking up of the ice in the Upper Hudson "as quite Homeric." George Bancroft said, "Your kinswoman, Mrs. Grant's, invaluable volume, should be in the library of every American lady." 1 A presentation copy of the original edition of "The American Lady," received by the author of "Henry Esmond," from a member of Mrs. Grant's family, and now included in Major William H. Lambert's unequalled collection of Thackerayana, was among the "Great Thacker's" most highly prized literary treasures. The writer is the fortunate possessor of almost all her publications, being copies received from Mrs. Grant by his father, containing complimentary inscriptions. |