Complete Works. Hamilton Alexander

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СКАЧАТЬ 5th.

      P. S. I promised you a particular account of Andre. I am writing one of the whole affair of which I will send you a copy.

      Indeed, my dear Betsey, you do not write me often enough. I ought at least to hear from you by every post, and your last letter is as old as the middle of September. I have written you twice since my return from Hartford. You will laugh at me for consulting you about such a trifle, but I want to know whether you would prefer my receiving the nuptial benediction in my uniform or in a different habit. It will be just as you please, so consult your whim and what you think most consistent with propriety. . . . Tell my Peggy I will shortly open a correspondence with her. I am composing a piece, of which, from the opinion I have of her qualifications, I shall endeavor to prevail upon her to act the principal character. The tide is "The way to get him, for the benefit of all single ladies who desire to be married." You will ask her if she has any objections to taking part in the piece and tell her that if I am not much mistaken in her, I am sure she will have none. For your own part, your business is now to study the way to keep him, which is said to be much the most difficult task of the two, though in your case I thoroughly believe it will be an easy one and that to succeed effectually you will only have to wish it sincerely. May I only be as successful in pleasing you, and may you as happy as I shall ever wish to make you.

       MAJOR ANDRÉ

       Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Schuyler

      Tappan, Oct, 2d, 1780.

      Poor Andre suffers today. Everything that is amiable in virtue, in fortitude, in delicate sentiment, and accomplished manners, pleads for him; but hard-hearted policy calls for a sacrifice. He must die.—I send you my account of Arnold's affair; and to justify myself to your sentiments, I must inform you, that I urged a compliance with Andre's request to be shot; and I do not think it would have had an ill-effect; but some people are only sensible to motives of policy, and sometimes, from a narrow disposition, mistake it.

      When Andre's tale comes to be told, and present resentment is over; the refusing him the privilege of choosing the manner of his death will be branded with too much obstinacy.

      It was proposed to me to suggest to him the idea of an exchange for Arnold; but I knew I should have forfeited his esteem by doing it, and therefore declined it. As a man of honour he could not but reject it; and I would not for the world have proposed to him a thing which must have placed me on the unamiable light of supposing him capable of meanness, or of not feeling myself the impropriety of the measure. I confess to you, I had the weakness to value the esteem of a dying man, because I reverenced his merit.

      A. Hamilton.

      There is some doubt about the date of the marriage, the general opinion being that it occurred in December, 1780.

      No better place could have been chosen for this happy event than the grand old house of General Schuyler, built in 1765, which has been so well pictured by Chastellux and which has been the scene of so many interesting episodes, among them the famous attempt to kidnap its owner by Waltermeyer—and the dramatic escape of his daughter Margaret from the savages, to which reference has already been made. It was during the Revolution and before, visited by many distinguished people, among them Benjamin Franklin, Charles Carroll, de Noailles, General St. Clair, Baron Riedesel, and even Burgoyne, who enthusiastically described the generous hospitality of Its owner.

      But little remains of its former elegance for, like many old places, it has suffered through the ravages of time, or been encroached upon by a growing duty, or has been so altered as to lose its characteristic charm of former days. There is little to carry one back to the joyous happenings that took place within its walls during the American Revolution; it is at present occupied by Sisters of Charity, orphans, and the poor children of the neighborhood.

      The house, which is now occupied as a Catholic school, and surrounded by a squalid tenement settlement, retains much of its original attractiveness. ... It is built of yellow brick. On each side of the hexagonal vestibule are three windows; above these are seven windows, measuring the unusual breadth of the house.

      Within is a spacious hall sixty feet long, to which the windows on each side of the door give light. It is a noble room, wainscotted in white. Doors lead on one side into the sitting-room, on the other into the drawing-room, splendidly lighted, with deep window-seats and broad mantels handsomely carved. . . .

      The main hall is divided from the back hall, which is divided by a fine old colonial door, with fan and side lights enriched by delicate tracery, and making an attractive feature of the larger hall. The back hall receives the staircase, not more remarkable for its historic incidents than for the beautiful sweep of its lines, and the fine carving of its splendid balustrade.

       GENERAL PHILIP SCHUYLER'S HOMESTEAD AT ALBANY

      Behind the sitting-room is the dining-room, the scene of forty years of generous hospitality. On the other side the drawing-room leads into a private hall and a room, . . . that was used as a nursery. Behind this was the library. Here there is the story of a bricked-up enclosure which formerly led to a subterranean passage in connection with the river, to be used in case of surprise. The staircase leads to the upper hall. . . . This was used as a ballroom, and on either side are the chambers, in which cluster so many historic reminiscences.

      McHenry, then a member of Washington's staff, went to Albany for Hamilton's wedding and wrote these verses, which he subsequently sent to his friend, Otho Williams, on the morning after:

      'Tis told, my friend, in poets lore.

      The muse has an exhaustless store

      From which she draws with wond'rous skill

      Of choicest fancies what she will.

      With these she decks the heroes' hearse.

      Or forms with these immortal verse.

      Last night I sought her dear retreat

      And laid me at the fair one's feet.

      She knew my errand, sway'd her wand.

      Then pointed to a rising stand.

      From whence the fairy world was seen

      And you embosomed with your Queen.

      (As thus ye lay the happiest pair

      A rosy scent enriched die air

      While to a music softly sounding

      Breathing, panting, slow, rebounding)

      Love arose with pow'rful spell.

      Hence, he cried, to dismal dell

      Imps who haunt the gloomy breast

      Ever jealous—never blest;

      This is ground for holy feet

      Here the sports and pleasure meet.

      Then in whispers caught the ear

      What the gifted only hear.

      "Chains СКАЧАТЬ