ing residences of the same age as the Schuyler mansion are, the Corning house, on the corner of State and Chapel Streets, which was so long occupied by Philip S. Van Rensselaer, and the manor house of the last of the Patroons in North Broadway. There are a few rickety buildings about town of greater age, but they were never conspicuous, save the Pemberton house in North Pearl

Street, which shows the figures "1710," and was noted as the headquarters of the Indians who came to trade. One other building, and the veteran of all, still stands on the southeast corner of State and Pearl Streets. The western half of the building has been removed to widen the roadway in Pearl Street. The remaining portion has the iron letters "anno," the "Domini" having been upon the portion removed. When the building had well turned. the first century of its existence the owner removed the date of its building, "1667," because it made. out the edifice too antiquated to suit him. In the half of the building now remaining lived the father of General Schuyler; there the General himself was born; and here he spent the earlier part of his married life, before he bought the Schuyler mansion of the Bradstreet estate, of which he was the exec

utor.

The mansion was built by General Bradstreet about the time of his success at Fort Frontenac. It was not built by Mrs. Schuyler during the absence of her husband in Europe, as has been so often stated. Nor is it probable that the grounds extended to the river, a quarter of a mile distant, or that there was a subterranean passage thither, for a large portion of the tract thereabout was a common pasturage. The grounds were ample,

however, and the General's garden and orchard wer pride was taken in his pears, which bore his name and every horticulturist. The story runs that many an app put off with grafts of an inferior quality of fruit.

The busy Albany of the present day has crowded ab the four acres of land that immediately surround the The stranger may go by within a few rods and not disco

building behind the rows of huge horse-chestnut trees th A fringe of lilacs along the crest of the slope is hidden b boards, the gate of which has been nailed for many year be made at the rear. Once within the inclosure, the main part about 60 feet square, with the front entranc A hexagon, of later date than General Schuyler, forms a hall. The contour of the roof is of the "double-hip" pa small dormers and two square chimneys. Balustrades a the roof and across the dormers. A row of seven la

panes of glass, unusually generous for those days, pierces the front wall above. Antiquated steps, protected by equally antiquated railings of wrought iron, lead from the terrace up to the vestibule. The main hall is 30 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 12 feet high. Narrow windows on either side of the double doors, give such light as does not come through the hexagon. A paneled wainscoting of wood, painted white, conforms with the carved wooden cornices. The modern decorator has set off the white

to advantage by an intensely blue paper upon the wall. At the farther end of the main hall, and directly opposite the entrance, a smaller door, with glazed transom and leaden sashes, leads to the rear hall and the historic stairway. There are only two other doors in the main hall. The one on the north leads to what was evidently a sitting-room. The one on the south leads to the drawing-room, in which General Schuyler's second daughter, Elizabeth, married Alexander Hamilton, then the aid and military secretary of General Washington. In this room, also, ex-President Fillmore married Mrs. McIntosh, a subsequent owner of the property.

As the eye runs over the interior adornments of the room, rich in carved

wood and well lighted by four deeply cased windows to imagine the scene of Mrs. Hamilton's wedding and who were present. It is said to have been the only w that was really enjoyed by General Schuyler. His t cupied with public business and with his own private

little opportunity to look after his children. We are told daughters married without his consent, and away from h Angelica, married John B. Church, whom the General di he was a foreigner and a stranger. Church was known as his incognito did not conceal him from an English officer him in London and who told the story of his flight be

John Barker then assumed his real name, that of a respected and wealthy family, returned to England, and was afterward a member of Parliament. The third daughter, Margaret, married Stephen Van Rensselaer, the last of the Patroons, before he had reached his majority, and had come into the possession of his estate. The engagement was consented to with the understanding that they should wait, but their haste obliged them to live for a time in a small house in North Pearl Street, until the Patroon could claim the Manor house as his own. The romantic marriage of Cornelia with Washington Morton, and the marriage of Catharine-" My Kitty," as she was called by her father-with Samuel Malcolm, are both said to have been away from home and without the consent of the General, though for what reasons are not stated. At the baptism of Catharine, General and Mrs. Washington were two of the sponsors, but it is doubtful if they were present on that occasion, except by proxy.

In the rear of the drawing-room, and entered from the smaller hall at the west, is the private room of General Schuyler, which is connected with a retiring room. Accurate measurements have shown that a space of about four feet square close to one of the great chimneys cannot be accounted for in any other way than that it forms the access to a concealed way that led underground to the barrack, or fortified house, about fifteen rods distant. The recent caving in of this covered way has revealed its location and direction, but the secret passage in the house cannot be explored without materially damaging the building.

An emergency, which would have called for the use of the secret passage, if there had been time, occurred just before the close of the Revolution. General Schuyler had left the army as soon as the campaigns of the North were at an end, and he was charged with the duty of intercepting all communication between the British Generals Clinton in New York and Haldimand in Canada. The General had been warned of attempts that would be made to capture him, and he had several guards about the place. A band of Tories and Indians organized themselves under Waltermeyer, at the Whitehall farm, and burst in upon the General's premises while the guards were asleep. Their arms had been removed to the cellar by Mrs. Church through a mistake. General Schuyler retreated to an upper room and fired a pistol to alarm the garrison half a mile distant. The family were all gathered in the room with the General, when their babe, Catharine, was missed. Mrs. Schuyler attempted to go after her, but was detained by her husband. The daughter Margaret slipped by and felt her way through the darkness to the cradle, on the first floor. Although the enemy had entered the house, no one saw her till she had reached the stairs on