THE LATE STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER. 



coufidence and esteem, and his own heartfelt 

 participation at the common grief for the loss of 

 one, who was opulent without pride, and wise 

 without pretension. Of his very last moments, 

 the estimable and accomplished author of the 

 discourse, remarks : "He departed this life, on 

 Saturday, the twenty-sixth day of January last. 

 [1839.] It was at four o'clock in the afternoon, 

 of a day which had dawned upon him with as 

 fair a promise of closing on him, in life, as any 

 perhaps which he had seen for the last two 

 years, that, in a small cabinet of his ample man- 

 sion, which infirmities had made his chief asy- 

 lum and sanctuary, for many months, sitting in 

 his chair, with just warning enough of serious 

 change previously, to alarm the fears of anxious 

 and trembling hearts around him, the venerable 

 man bowed his head and died." Recent inci- 

 dental circumstances enable us to add, in proof 

 of his well-founded self-possession at the last 

 moment, that, on experiencing an extraordinaiy 

 euffocating sensation, premonitory of immediate 

 dissolution, he calmly obsei-ved — " My son. can 

 this be death ?" And ho^v truly might he, if 

 any man could, have added — " Oh, death ! 

 where is thy sting ? Oh, grave ! where is thy 

 victory?" 



The Pati-oon was bom in the City of New- 

 York, on the first day of November, 1764. His 

 father was Stephen Van Rensselaer, proprietor 

 of Rensselaerwyck, a manor of 48 miles by 24 

 in extent. His mother was Catherine, daughter 

 of Philip Livingston, of the family of that name, 

 to which belonged the Livingston Manor. Mr. 

 L. was one of the signers of the Declaration of 

 Independence. The Patroon's first school in- 

 structor was John Waters, when the profession 

 of Instractor was regarded, as it really is when 

 well sustained, one of the highest honor and 

 usefulness. He was next sent to school at Eliz- 

 abcthtown, N. J. ; but the troublous times of the 

 Revolution coming on, he wns driven thence to 

 Kingston, where he obtained the first elements 

 of a classical education, under Mr. John Addi- 

 son, a shrewd, well-educated Scotchman, who 

 afterward became a man of consideration in the 

 State. In 1779 he was placed in the family of 

 Doct. Samuel Smith, under the instniction of 

 him and his father-in-law, the celebrated Doct. 

 W itherspoon. President of Princeton College ; 

 but " Princeton was still too near the seat of 

 War ; and the next year it was thought advisa- 

 ble to move the collegian to the University at 

 Cambridge, then, as now, a distinguished and 

 leading .school of the higher kind in the United 

 States. There, in 178-2, in the nineteenth year 

 of his age, with respectable attainments in the 

 classical and other learning of the time, he took 

 his first degree in letters as a Bachelor of Arts." 

 A few days since, we were favored with a sight 

 of his Thesis, written on this occasion, and vet 

 (.51) 



preserved with filial reverence by his son and 

 successor, who occupies the old Manor House, 

 ^vhich he has tastefully enlarged without alter- 

 ing ; observing all its pious exercises of family 

 worship, and keeping up its ancient and elegant 

 hospitality, in the midst of a charming family 

 circle, with apparently nothing wanting to fill 

 up the measure of virtue and of happiness. A 

 well-stored library, shaded walks, and a garden 

 adorned with every flower, and redolent of 

 every sweet. What more can mortal man in 

 this life desire or de.serve ? 



Before he was twenty, General Van Rens- 

 selaer was man-ied to the third daughter of Gen. 

 Philip Schuyler, and thus became connected 

 "by relationship (and one, as it proved, of great 

 confidence and affection) with another of those 

 extraordinary men whose names so cro/.d and 

 illumine the pagesof our Revolutionaiy history." 



Though we shall therein extend this notice 

 beyond the limits ■we had prescribed, it being 

 our purpose only to embrace such incidents as 

 might serve to present an outline view of his 

 life, and that a^pccially as it teas devoted to the 

 promotion of Agriculture, we cannot forbear, in 

 the hope of^he good it may do, to copy what is 

 so well said by the more able and ample obitu- 

 arj' notice before us. 



" It was in the spring of 1787, when he was 

 short of twenty-three years of age, in the vigor 

 of manhood, just on the threshold of mature life, 

 which sparkled brightly before him — with large 

 possessions and wealth enough to lay the world 

 under contribution for whatever it can aftbrd to 

 pamper appetite and pa.ssion, and supply tlie 

 means of wanton and luxurious indulgence ; it 

 was then, and under such circumstances, that he 

 deliberately chose, by a formal profession of reli- 

 gious faith, and a personal vow of religious obedi- 

 ence according to the doctrines and discipline, of 

 the Christian Church, as adopted by the Dutch 

 Reformers, to pledge him.self to a life of tempe- 

 rance, simplicity, tiiith and purity. How well 

 he kept his vow is known to all who had occa- 

 sion to observe him ; and how eminently he wts 

 blcs.sed in keeping it, was seen in all thase 

 quarters where, 1 think, the Christian is wont 

 to look for the prominc of the life thrit now is — 

 in the calm and (piiet of a peaceful existence, 

 in domestic rohilioiis of the most tender, hamio- 

 nious and beautiful character, and in a resigned, 

 appropriate, and happy death." 



If we are led away from the line of obser- 

 vation ^vithin wliich wc had intended to confine 

 ourselves upon his character an a Farmer and 

 the friend of Farmers, something must be al- 

 lowed to our admiration of the man, and, may 

 we not add, to our feelings as a friend ? — To re- 

 turn within that line: — In 1802, Mr. Van Rens- 

 selaer married his second wife, Conielia, daugh- 

 ter of William Patterson, a di.stinguished citizen 

 of New-Jersey, by whom he had nine children, 

 ■who still " afford the mo.st satisfactory- proof, that 

 the example, instruction, and influence of Pa- 

 rents have been worthy of aU approbation." 



