The Battle of Saratoga : epic, tragedy, or comedy of manners? -- Philip Schuyler's Hudson River visitors, 1776-83 -- Mme. de La Tour du Pin's two-year stay in Albany, 1794-96 -- Albany and the Erie Canal -- Conclusion: Albany, past and present : observations and images (with some musings thrown in) -- Appendix A: Thomas Jefferson and Angelica Schuyler Church in Paris -- Appendix B: The responses of two Americans to the French Revolution : Gouverneur Morris and Thomas Jefferson -- Appendix C: Talleyrand and the XYZ Affair -- Appendix D: David's depiction of Talleyrand in the coronation of Napoleon and Joséphine