Complete Works. Hamilton Alexander

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СКАЧАТЬ or modes of art

      "Weakly hold the human heart,

      "Hence my Eloisa said

      "Give me those that love has made."

      Now his fluttering wings outspread

      Three times he bless'd the bridal bed.

      While o'er it Faith her mantle threw

      And said small care would keep it new.

      Last Prudence came» in sober guise

      With Pilgrim's pace, and wisdom's eyes;

      Forth from his stole a tablet took

      Which you received with thankful look.

      Genius had deeply mark'd the ground.

      And Plutus finely edg'd it round.

      This done, he bade you long improve

      In all the sweets of mutual love.

      And now would friendship's voice prevail

      To point the moral of the tale.

      Know then, dear Ham a truth confest

      Soon beauty fades, and love's a guest.

      Love has not settled place on earth;

      A very wan'rer from his birth;

      And yet who happiness would prove.

      Like you must build his hopes on love.

      When love his choicest gifts has giv'n

      He flies to make another heav'n;

      But as he wheels his rapid flight

      Calm joys succeed and pure delight.

      Faith adds to all; for works we're told

      Is Love's alloy, and faith the gold.

      Now genius plays the lover's part;

      Now wakes to many a throb the heart;

      With ev'ry sun brings something new.

      And gaily varies every view;

      Whilst Prudence all his succour lends

      To mark the point where pleasure ends.

      For, borne beyond a certain goal.

      The sweetest joys disgust the soul.

      He too instructs us how to use,

      What's more a blessing than the muse (wealth):

      For well he knows, deprived of this

      That toil and care is human bliss.

      All these attendants Ham are thine,

      Be't yours to treat them as divine;

      To cherish what keeps love alive;

      What makes us young at sixty-five.

      What lends the eye its earliest fires;

      What rightly managed still inspires.

      To which Hamilton answered:

      I thank you Dear Mac for your poetry and your confidence. The piece is a good one—your best. It has wit, which you know is a rare thing. I see by perseverence all ladies may be won. The Muses begin to be civil to you, in spite of Apollo and my prognosis.

      You know I have often told you, you wrote prose well but had no genius for poetry. I retract. Adieu.

      A. Hamilton.

      Sep. 12, (1780)

      Hamilton certainly benefited by his marriage and by his connection with a powerful family with far-reaching influence, and one having so much to do with the early history of the country. As Oliver intimates, Hamilton was too proud and independent in regard to money matters to accept any aid from his father-in-law, and it does not appear that any financial assistance was ever offered him. Even after his death and when his poverty became known Mrs. Hamilton, who was sensitive to a degree, indignantly denied a story that she was in possession of six thousand dollars, given to her by her father some time before, and wrote to one of her brothers:

      "Let me assure you it is an untrudi. It has given me some pain that I should be held up to the public in so unfavorable a point of view as on the one hand to request you to make provision for me, by some arrangement, and on the other, (as it is said) to be so amply provided for by my father. What but ill intent toward me could have been the motive to have given such an idea to the world and to my sisters and brothers? But this world is a world of evil passions, and I thank my God He strengthens my mind to look on them as steps to an entire resignation to His will, which I pray may fast approach me, and in that fullness of grace which may be pleasing in His sight. Oh! my brother, may my sighing and sorrowing be seen by Him who tempers the wind to the shorn lamb—shorn, indeed, to the quick." She continues: "My friend here has taken the necessary steps towards bending the public mind from this ill impression and he is very much gratified by your correct, liberal and affectionate conduct to me."

      It is true that General Schuyler at all times sent to the young pair prodigal gifts and supplies from the Albany homestead, and when the Grange was built some years later, supplied Hamilton with most of the lumber. Like most patriots Schuyler was not really well-to-do, although he owned a great deal of land which, in those days, was not worth much, and some of it was rented by small farmers for trifling sums. His contributions to the cause of independence were very large, however, and at one time, at the request of Robert Morris, he sent to the destitute army a thousand barrels of flour, with little or no assurance that he would be repaid.

      Through the peculiar position of his property and the fact that it appeared to be open to the attacks of marauding forces, he suffered immense losses during the early part of the war. Not only did the cannon of Burgoyne wreck and set on fire his great house at Saratoga, but to prevent their crops from falling into the hands of the enemy his wife, Catherine Schuyler, applied the torch to the ripening grain. There was, however, not only enough left to shower hospitality upon the many distinguished strangers who were always welcome, but in material ways to add to the comfort of his many children.

      Hamilton's honeymoon was a short one, and during the early months of 1781 he was not only busy with military affairs, but prepared his second memorandum upon the establishment of a national bank, which was sent to Robert Morris. He was then but twenty-four. In May, with Washington and others, he again met Rochambeau at Hartford, and with de Ternay, the commandant of the French fleet, made arrangements for a joint campaign. De Grasse, in command of the squadron then in the West Indies, was to proceed toward the north, which he later did.

      Hamilton during the summer had gone South to crown his military career, taking part in the investment of York-town, and the attack which led to the surrender of Corn-wallis.

      His letters to his wife, at this СКАЧАТЬ