his house, but was also a thorough republican, enlisted heart and soul in the cause of American liberty. No man in the country staked more for conscience sake than he, for he willingly relinquished the power and pomp that had been the vital atmosphere of his house for generations, to accept the doctrine of the equality of man. During the War of 181 2 the last patroon received at the hands of Governor Tompkins, his pohtical Digitized by Microsoft® 524 The Hudson River adversary, a commission to command a large body of militia. He stipulated that his assistant in command should be Solomon Van Rensselaer, the son of his uncle Kilian, and at that time Adjutant-General of the State. This Solomon had proved himself upon several occasions to be a brave and dashing soldier ; but the most enter- taining of all the stories told of his adventures is the one that describes his marriage to his cousin, Harriet Van Rensselaer. For some reason, long forgotten, the prospective bridegroom had failed to win the favour of his aunt, the young lady's mother, who emphatically refused her consent to the marriage. She was not one whose will was lightly disregarded in her household. Mis- tress Harriet, we may well believe, was in despair and would, no doubt, have wept her pretty, eyes out if she had not received secret comfort and encouragement from her father, who was proud of his handsome and valiant nephew, and promised to assist the lovers in spite of maternal opposition. Having formed this insurrectionary resolve, but doubting, evidently, his ability to cope openly with a power to which he was no stranger, Van Rensselaer set about accomplishing his purpose without unnecessary publicity. One autumn day, while Madame his wife was enjoying her after-dinner nap in the library, he gathered the young people and their witnesses in an adjoining room and smuggled in the minister to marry them. The deep and regular respirations from the Digitized by Microsoft® An Old Dutch Town 525 library were an immediate assurance of safety, so with- out delay or noise the vows were made and the cus- tomary blessing pronounced. But just as the knot was firmly tied and the arch-conspirator was gleefully shak- ing hands with the domine, while the bride, half fright- ened, was clinging to the bridegroom and receiving the VAN RENSSELAER MANOR-HOUSE, 1 765 congratulations of the witnesses, the sounds from the library suddenly ceased. Madame Van Rensselaer was waking. It is not difficult to be brave before or after a crisis. The thing that is really hard is to display moral heroism at the very moment of surprise or dan- ger. If Van Rensselaer had had time to consider this he would, no doubt, have stayed and faced the situa- tion, but as it was, no one paused to consider. Out of a back window they fled, the bride and the bridegroom, the witnesses and the domine — even Van Rensselaer Digitized by Microsoft® 526 The Hudson River phre himself. In a panic they escaped, Hke boys from an orchard when they hear the gardener coming, and never halted till they were out of sight from that side of the house; then the domine tried to look dignified again, the witnesses smoothed down their ruffled plum- age, the uncle slapped his nephew and new-made son- in-law on the back and swore that never had there been such a wedding in Albany before, while the bride did not know whether to laugh or cry. The generations of the Van Rensselaers have lured us on, to the- neglect of the little city that was incor- porated in 1686, after the claims laid by the patroon had been finally settled by formal sale of his feudal rights to Governor Dongan. Philip Schuyler, the head of another ancient family, was the first mayor of the future capital of New York. Under the Dongan char- ter the limits of the city were included in an area of one mile upon the river and three and a half miles westward. It was not only the centre of social life and the metropolis of trade, but also the home of religious authority. When the Dutch church was organised there in 1640, it w^ the only one on the northern part of the river that had a regular ministry, and until after 1700 there was no settled domine north of Esopus except the pastors at Albany and Schenectady. The early ministers at Albany were Domines Mega- polensis, Schaats, Dellius, Lydius, Van Driessen, Van Schie, Frelinghuysen, Westerloo, and Johnson. Mega- polensis, "the pious and well learned," was the first Digitized by Microsoft® An Old Dutch Town 527 domine located in Albany. He arrived in 1642, and the church that was erected for his use stood