The principal object of this work is to record the few incidents, and the many virtues which diversified and distinguished the life of a most valued friend. Though no manners could be more simple, no notions more primitive than those which prevailed among her associates, the stamp of originality with which they were marked, and the peculiar circumstances in which they stood, both with regard to my friend, and the infant society to which they belonged, will, I flatter myself, give an interest with reflecting minds, even to this desultory narrative; and the miscellany of description, observation, and detail which it involves. If truth, both of feeling and narration, which are its only merits, prove a sufficient counterbalance to carelessness, laxity, and incoherence of style, its prominent faults, I may venture to invite you, when you unbend from the useful and honourable labours to which your valuable time is devoted, to trace this feeble delineation of an excellent, though unembellished character; and of the rapid pace with which an infant society has urged on its progress from virtuous simplicity, to the dangerous “knowledge of good and evil:” from tremulous imbecility to self-sufficient independence. To be faithful, a delineation must necessarily be minute. Yet if this sketch, with all its imperfections, be honoured by your indulgent perusal, such condescension of time and talent must certainly be admired, and may, perhaps, be imitated by others. I am, sir, very respectfully, Your faithful, humble servant, THE AUTHOR. London, Oct. 1808. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS. CHAP. Page Introduction 2 I. Province of New-York—Origin of the 19 settlement at Albany—Singular possession held by the patron—Account of his tenants II. Account of the Five Nations, or Mohawk 22 Indians—Building of the Fort at Albany—John and Philip Schuyler III. Colonel Schuyler persuades four sachems 27 to accompany him to England—Their reception and return IV. Return of Colonel Schuyler and the 30 Sachems to the interior—Literary acquisitions—Distinguishes and instructs his favourite niece—Manners of the settlers V. State of religion among the 34 settlers—Instruction of children devolved on females—to whom the charge of gardening, &c. was also committed—Sketch of the state of the society at New-York