Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1858-02-27
8iograpgitd,
(From the New York Evening Post)
THE PRIVATE LIFE OF AARON
BURR

Mr.. Parton, the author Of this life of Burr
| is in some respects unusually qualified for his
| task. He has displayed great industry in
the collection of his materials great skill and
spirit in his narration, and, in spite OF his
manifest bias in favor Of the subject of his
memoir, a candor hardly TO be expected in
presenting the facts which initiate against
the theory he so warmly espouses.
Burr's early associations, his puritanical
training as the refractory son of pious parents,
his father being New Jersey Presbyterian
divine and his mother the daughter Of the
famous Calvnst theologian, Jonathan Ed
wards,) his military services in the Revolu-
tion his successful early career rs q lawyer
and politician bis rivalry with Hamilton,
ending with the fatal duel, from which is
magnificent flibusterng scheme of empire in
the southwest, his exile and his return to SO
many years of bootess toll, and finally his
death, a dishonored, yet still unconquerable
old man, in his native land, arc told with an
effective and graphic power, which makes the
book extremely readable, and proves the
authors understanding of the popular taste
1t appears that at the age OF twenty three,
while commanding the lines in Westchester
county, he fell in love with Mrs. Provost,
who, three years after became his first wife,
This lady who was widow of British Off
Ger, lived at Paramus, n. j., some fifteen
miles west of the Hudson, and romantic
story is related Of Burrs midnight visits to
her dwelliag, across wide river, blockaded
with the British gun boats and, the interview
being ended, OF his return before light to his
troops, who were as ignorant as the enemy of
his clandestine exploits. The most enviable
period Of his life is described in the account of
HIS FIRST MARRIAGE, AT TwENTY-sIx--MRs.
PROVOST.
That Colonel Burr the most rising young
man in the State of New York, handsome,
fascinating, we'll born and famous, whose
addresses few maidens in the country would
have been inclined to repulse, should have
chosen TO marry widow ten years older
than himself with two rollicking boys, Zone
Of them eleven years DID, with precarious
health and no great estate, was circum-
stance which seems to have been incompre-
hensihle to his friends at the time, as it has
since proved puzzle to the writers Of bio
graphical gossip. Upon the theory that
Burr WoS the artful devil he has been said to
be, all whose ends and aims were his own
advancement, no man can explain such o
marriage. Before the Revolution he had re-
fused point black to address young lady Of
necessarily urged upon his attention. During
the Revolution he was on terms Of intimacy
with all the great families OF the state-the
CIintons, the Lvipgstons. the Schuy.ers,
the Van Repsseaers and the rest-allance
with either Of whom gave young man Of
only average abilities immense advantages in
state which was to singular extent under
the domination of great families. But no
consideration of this kind could break the
spell which drew him with mysterious power
TO the cottage of remote and rural Paramus.
The lady was not beautiful. Besides being
past her prime, she was slightly dis6gured
by scar on her forehead 1t was the grace
full aud winning manners OF Mrs. Provost
that first captivated the mind Of Col. Burr.
She was indeed, in all respects, an estimable
dy-atlectionate, accomplished, we'll yersed
in literature, and as much given to practice
as averse to the profession Of piety. But it
was in her character as lady and woman of
that world that she proved SO irresistiby
pleasing to him on :heir first acquaintance
lie used in after years to say that in style
aud manners she was without q peer among
all the women he had ever known, and that
if his own manners we're in any respect supe-
rior TO those Of men in general, it was owing
10 the insensible influence of hers. The
reader may perhaps have observed that young
men Of spirit and intelligence. who have been
brought up in the severe, ungracious way of
the stricter Puritans. are sometimes too
keenly susceptible of the charm OF manner,
and are apt to attach to it an excessive
importance.
But more lasting charm Of this lady was
her cultivated mind. Burr was lover of
books, lover of pictures, lover of every
thing that distinguishes man from the Puri-
tan, and it was rare, indeed, in those days, to
| find lady in America who had the kind of
culture which sympathizes with such tastes.
In Europe, women were only beginning to
emerge from the gross ignorance which was
| thought to be their proper condition, and in
America, if they were not ignorant, few had
the knowledge interesting to o man like
Burr. Among his own female relatives,
there was penetrating aud brilliant intellect
enough but how perverted, how repressed.
Some of the most renowned ladies of the
time, with a thousand virtues, scarcely ever
looked into book. Mrs, Putnam was
mighty at the spinning wheel, Mrs. Wash
iDgton, las We lately learn from Mrs. Mirk-
lands pleasant pages,) was devotee Of the
knitting needle, aud the wife of another
famous general was not little proud OF her
patchwork quilts. Burr had met few ladies
in his earlier, life who, like Mrs. Provost,
were familiar with the most recent express
lie~ Eeropean intellect, who could talk
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