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diff --git a/13945-0.txt b/13945-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b3297fa --- /dev/null +++ b/13945-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12280 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUNNY MEMORIES OF FOREIGN +LANDS, VOLUME 1 *** + + + + +[Transcriber's note: Footnotes moved to the end of the text] + + + + +SUNNY MEMORIES + +OF + +FOREIGN LANDS. + +BY + +MRS. HARRIET BEECHER STOWE, + +AUTHOR OF "UNCLE TOM'S CABIN," ETC. + + ... "When thou haply seest + Some rare note-worthy object in thy travels, + Make me partaker of thy happiness." + + SHAKSPEARE. + +ILLUSTRATED FROM DESIGNS BY HAMMATT BILLINGS. + +IN TWO VOLUMES. +VOL. I. + +BOSTON: +PHILLIPS, SAMPSON, AND COMPANY. +NEW YORK: J.C. DERBY. +1854. + + +Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by PHILLIPS, +SAMPSON, AND COMPANY, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the +District of Massachusetts. + +STEREOTYPED AT THE BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY. WRIGHT AND HASTY, +PRINTERS, NO. 3 WATER ST. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +This book will be found to be truly what its name denotes, "Sunny +Memories." + +If the criticism be made that every thing is given _couleur de rose_, +the answer is, Why not? They are the impressions, as they arose, of a +most agreeable visit. How could they be otherwise? + +If there be characters and scenes that seem drawn with too bright a +pencil, the reader will consider that, after all, there are many worse +sins than a disposition to think and speak well of one's neighbors. To +admire and to love may now and then be tolerated, as a variety, as well +as to carp and criticize. America and England have heretofore abounded +towards each other in illiberal criticisms. There is not an unfavorable +aspect of things in the old world which has not become perfectly +familiar to us; and a little of the other side may have a useful +influence. + +The writer has been decided to issue these letters principally, however, +by the persevering and deliberate attempts, in certain quarters, to +misrepresent the circumstances which, are here given. So long as these +misrepresentations affected only those who were predetermined to believe +unfavorably, they were not regarded. But as they have had some +influence, in certain cases, upon really excellent and honest people, it +is desirable that the truth should be plainly told. + +The object of publishing these letters is, therefore, to give to those +who are true-hearted and honest the same agreeable picture of life and +manners which met the writer's own, eyes. She had in view a wide circle +of friends throughout her own country, between whose hearts and her own +there has been an acquaintance and sympathy of years, and who, loving +excellence, and feeling the reality of it in themselves, are sincerely +pleased to have their sphere of hopefulness and charity enlarged. For +such this is written; and if those who are not such begin to read, let +them treat the book as a letter not addressed to them, which, having +opened by mistake, they close and pass to the true owner. + +The English reader is requested to bear in mind that the book has not +been prepared in reference to an English but an American public, and to +make due allowance for that fact. It would have placed the writer far +more at ease had there been no prospect of publication in England. As +this, however, was unavoidable, in some form, the writer has chosen to +issue it there under her own sanction. + +There is one acknowledgment which the author feels happy to make, and +that is, to those publishers in England, Scotland, France, and Germany +who have shown a liberality beyond the requirements of legal obligation. +The author hopes that the day is not far distant when America will +reciprocate the liberality of other nations by granting to foreign +authors those rights which her own receive from them. + +The _Journal_ which appears in the continental tour is from the pen of +the Rev. C. Beecher. The _Letters_ were, for the most part, compiled +from what was written at the time and on the spot. Some few were +entirely written after the author's return. + +It is an affecting thought that several of the persons who appear in +these letters as among the living, have now passed to the great future. +The Earl of Warwick, Lord Cockburn, Judge Talfourd, and Dr. Wardlaw are +no more among the ways of men. Thus, while we read, while we write, the +shadowy procession is passing; the good are being gathered into life, +and heaven enriched by the garnered treasures of earth. + +H.B.S. + + + + +CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. + + +INTRODUCTORY. + +LETTER I. +The Voyage. + +LETTER II. +Liverpool.--The Dingle.--A Ragged School.--Flowers.--Speke +Hall.--Antislavery Meeting. + +LETTER III. +Lancashire.--Carlisle.--Gretna Green.--Glasgow. + +LETTER IV. +The Baillie.--The Cathedral.--Dr. Wardlaw.--A Tea Party--Bothwell +Castle.--Chivalry.--Scott and Burns. + +LETTER V. +Dumbarton Castle.--Duke of Argyle.--Linlithgow.--Edinburgh. + +LETTER VI. +Public Soirée.--Dr. Guthrie.--Craigmiller Castle.--Bass +Rock.--Bannockburn.--Stirling.--Glamis Castle.--Barclay of Ury.--The +Dee.--Aberdeen.--The Cathedral.--Brig o'Balgounie. + +LETTER VII. +Letter from a Scotch Bachelor.--Reformatory Schools of +Aberdeen.--Dundee.--Dr. Dick.--The Queen in Scotland. + +LETTER VIII. +Melrose.--Dry burgh.--Abbotsford. + +LETTER IX. +Douglas of Caver.--Temperance Soirée.--Calls.--Lord Gainsborough.--Sir +William Hamilton.--George Combe.--Visit to Hawthornden.--Roslin +Castle.--The Quakers.--Hervey's Studio.--Grass Market.--Grayfriars' +Churchyard. + +LETTER X. +Birmingham.--Stratford on Avon. + +LETTER XI. +Warwick.--Kenilworth. + +LETTER XII. +Birmingham.--Sybil Jones.--J.A. James. + +LETTER XIII. +London.--Lord Mayor's Dinner. + +LETTER XIV. +London.--Dinner with Earl of Carlisle. + +LETTER XV. +London.--Anniversary of Bible Society.--Dulwich Gallery.--Dinner with +Mr. E. Cropper.--Soirée at Rev. Mr. Binney's. + +LETTER XVI. +Reception at Stafford House. + +LETTER XVII. +The Sutherland Estate. + +LETTER XVIII. +Baptist Noel.--Borough School.--Rogers the Poet.--Stafford +House.--Ellesmere Collection of Paintings.--Lord John Russell. + + + + +INTRODUCTORY + + +The following letters were written by Mrs. Stowe for her own personal +friends, particularly the members of her own family, and mainly as the +transactions referred to in them occurred. During the tour in England +and Scotland, frequent allusions are made to public meetings held on her +account; but no report is made of the meetings, because that +information, was given fully in the newspapers sent to her friends with +the letters. Some knowledge of the general tone and spirit of the +meetings seems necessary, in order to put the readers of the letters in +as favorable a position to appreciate them as her friends were when they +were received. Such knowledge it is the object of this introductory +chapter to furnish. + +One or two of the addresses at each of several meetings I have given, +and generally without alteration, as they appeared in the public +journals at the time. Only a very few could be published without +occupying altogether too much space; and those selected are for the most +part the shortest, and chosen mainly on account of their brevity. This +is certainly a surer method of giving a true idea, of the spirit which +actually pervaded the meetings than could be accomplished by any +selection of mere extracts from the several speeches. In that case, +there might be supposed to exist a temptation to garble and make unfair +representations; but in the method pursued, such a suspicion is scarcely +possible. In relation to my own addresses, I have sometimes taken the +liberty to correct the reporters by my own recollections and notes. I +have also, in some cases, somewhat abridged them, (a liberty which I +have not, to any considerable extent, ventured to take with others,) +though without changing the sentiment, or even essentially the form, of +expression. What I have here related is substantially what I actually +said, and what I am willing to be held responsible for. Many and bitter, +during the tour, were the misrepresentations and misstatements of a +hostile press; to which I offer no other reply than the plain facts of +the following pages. These were the sentiments uttered, this was the +manner of their utterance; and I cheerfully submit them to the judgment +of a candid public. + +I went to Europe without the least anticipation of the kind of reception +which awaited us; it was all a surprise and an embarrassment to me. I +went with the strongest love of my country, and the highest veneration +for her institutions; I every where in Britain found the most cordial +sympathy with this love and veneration; and I returned with both greatly +increased. But slavery I do not recognize as an institution of my +country; it is an excrescence, a vile usurpation, hated of God, and +abhorred by man; I am under no obligation either to love or respect it. +He is the traitor to America, and American institutions, who reckons +slavery as one of them, and, as such, screens it from assault. Slavery +is a blight, a canker, a poison, in the very heart of our republic; and +unless the nation, as such, disengage itself from it, it will most +assuredly be our ruin. The patriot, the philanthropist, the Christian, +truly enlightened, sees no other alternative. The developments of the +present session of our national Congress are making this great truth +clearly perceptible even to the dullest apprehension. + +C.E. STOWE. + +ANDOVER, _May_ 30, 1854. + + + + +BREAKFAST IN LIVERPOOL--APRIL 11. + + +THE REV. DR. M'NEILE, who had been requested by the respected host to +express to Mrs. Stowe the hearty congratulations of the first meeting of +friends she had seen in England, thus addressed her: "Mrs. Stowe: I have +been requested by those kind friends under whose hospitable roof we are +assembled to give some expression to the sincere and cordial welcome +with which, we greet your arrival in this country. I find real +difficulty in making this attempt, not from want of matter, nor from +want of feeling, but because it is not in the power of any language I +can command, to give adequate expression to the affectionate enthusiasm +which pervades all ranks of our community, and which is truly +characteristic of the humanity and the Christianity of Great Britain. We +welcome Mrs. Stowe as the honored instrument of that noble impulse which +public opinion and public feeling throughout Christendom have received +against the demoralizing and degrading system of human slavery. That +system is still, unhappily, identified in the minds of many with the +supposed material interests of society, and even with the well being of +the slaves themselves; but the plausible arguments and ingenious +sophistries by which it has been defended shrink with shame from the +facts without exaggeration, the principles without compromise, the +exposures without indelicacy, and the irrepressible glow of hearty +feeling--O, how true to nature!--which characterize Mrs. Stowe's +immortal book. Yet I feel assured that the effect produced by Uncle +Tom's Cabin is not mainly or chiefly to be traced to the interest of the +narrative, however captivating, nor to the exposures of the slave +system, however withering: these would, indeed, be sufficient to produce +a good effect; but this book contains more and better than even these; +it contains what will never be lost sight of--the genuine application to +the several branches of the subject of the sacred word of God. By no +part of this wonderful work has my own mind been so permanently +impressed as by the thorough legitimacy of the application of +Scripture,--no wresting, no mere verbal adaptation, but in every +instance the passage cited is made to illustrate something in the +narrative, or in the development of character, in strictest accordance +with the design of the passage in its original sacred context. We +welcome Mrs. Stowe, then, as an honored fellow-laborer in the highest +and best of causes; and I am much mistaken if this tone of welcome be +not by far the most congenial to her own feelings. We unaffectedly +sympathize with much which she must feel, and, as a lady, more +peculiarly feel, in passing through that ordeal of gratulation which is +sure to attend her steps in every part of our country; and I am +persuaded that we cannot manifest our gratitude for her past services in +any way more acceptable to herself than by earnest prayer on her behalf +that she may be kept in the simplicity of Christ, enjoying in her daily +experience the tender consolations of the Divine Spirit, and in the +midst of the most flattering commendations saying and feeling, in the +instincts of a renewed heart, 'Not unto me, O Lord, not unto me, but +unto thy name be the praise, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake.'" + +PROFESSOR STOWE then rose, and said, "If we are silent, it is not +because we do not feel, but because we feel more than we can express. +When that book was written, we had no hope except in God. We had no +expectation of reward save in the prayers of the poor. The surprising +enthusiasm which has been excited by the book all over Christendom is an +indication that God has a work to be done in the cause of emancipation. +The present aspect of things in the United States is discouraging. Every +change in society, every financial revolution, every political and +ecclesiastical movement, seems to pass and leave the African race +without help. Our only resource is prayer. God surely cannot will that +the unhappy condition of this portion of his children should continue +forever. There are some indications of a movement in the southern mind. +A leading southern paper lately declared editorially that slavery is +either right or wrong: if it is wrong, it is to be abandoned: if it is +right, it must be defended. The _Southern Press_, a paper established to +defend the slavery interest at the seat of government, has proposed that +the worst features of the system, such as the separation of families, +should be abandoned. But it is evident that with that restriction the +system could not exist. For instance, a man wants to buy a cook; but she +has a husband and seven children. Now, is he to buy a man and seven +children, for whom he has no use, for the sake of having a cook? Nothing +on the present occasion has been so grateful to our feelings as the +reference made by Dr. M'Neile to the Christian character of the book. +Incredible as it may seem to those who are without prejudice, it is +nevertheless a fact that this book was condemned by some religious +newspapers in the United States as anti-Christian, and its author +associated with infidels and disorganizers; and had not it been for the +decided expression of the mind of English Christians, and of Christendom +itself, on this point, there is reason to fear that the proslavery power +of the United States would have succeeded in putting the book under +foot. Therefore it is peculiarly gratifying that so full an indorsement +has been given the work, in this respect, by eminent Christians of the +highest character in Europe; for, however some in the United States may +affect to despise what is said by the wise and good of this kingdom and +the Christian world, they do feel it, and feel it intensely." In answer +to an inquiry by Dr. M'Neile as to the mode in which southern Christians +defended the institution, Dr. Stowe remarked that "a great change had +taken place in that respect during the last thirty years. Formerly all +Christians united in condemning the system; but of late some have begun +to defend it on scriptural grounds. The Rev. Mr. Smylie, of Mississippi, +wrote a pamphlet in the defensive; and Professor Thornwell, of South +Carolina, has published the most candid and able statement of that +argument which has been given. Their main reliance is on the system of +Mosaic servitude, wholly unlike though it was to the American system of +slavery. As to what this American system of slavery is, the best +documents for enlightening the minds of British Christians are the +commercial newspapers of the slaveholding states. There you see slavery +as it is, and certainly without any exaggeration. Read the +advertisements for the sale of slaves and for the apprehension of +fugitives, the descriptions of the persons of slaves, of dogs for +hunting slaves, &c., and you see how the whole matter as viewed by the +southern mind. Say what they will about it, practically they generally +regard the separation of families no more than the separation of cattle, +and the slaves as so much property, and nothing else. Their own papers +show that the pictures of the internal slave trade given in Uncle Tom, +so far from being overdrawn, fall even below the truth. Go on, then, in +forming and expressing your views on this subject. In laboring for the +overthrow of American slavery you are pursuing a course of Christian +duty as legitimate as in laboring to suppress the suttees of India, the +cannibalism of the Fejee Islands, and other barbarities of heathenism, +of which human slavery is but a relic. These evils can be finally +removed by the benign influence of the love of Christ, and no other +power is competent to the work." + + +PUBLIC MEETING IN LIVERPOOL--APRIL 13. + +The Chairman, (A. HODGSON, Esq.,) in opening the proceedings, thus +addressed Mrs. Beecher Stowe: "The modesty of our English ladies, which, +like your own, shrinks instinctively from unnecessary publicity, has +devolved on me, as one of the trustees of the Liverpool Association, the +gratifying office of tendering to you, at then request, a slight +testimonial of their gratitude and respect. We had hoped almost to the +last moment that Mrs. Cropper would have represented, on this day, the +ladies with whom she has cooperated, and among whom she has taken a +distinguished lead in the great work which you had the honor and the +happiness to originate. But she has felt with you that the path most +grateful and most congenial to female exertion, even in its widest and +most elevated range, is still a retired and a shady path; and you have +taught us that the voice which most effectually kindles enthusiasm in +millions is the still small voice which comes forth from the sanctuary +of a woman's breast, and from the retirement of a woman's closet--the +simple but unequivocal expression of her unfaltering faith, and the +evidence of her generous and unshrinking self-devotion. In the same +spirit, and as deeply impressed with the retired character of female +exertion, the ladies who have so warmly greeted your arrival in this +country have still felt it entirely consistent with the most sensitive +delicacy to make a public response to your appeal, and to hail with +acclamation your thrilling protest against those outrages on our common +nature which circumstances have forced on your observation. They engage +in no political discussion, they embark in no public controversy; but +when an intrepid sister appeals to the instincts of women of every color +and of every clime against a system which sanctions the violation of the +fondest affections and the disruption of the tenderest ties; which +snatches the clinging wife from the agonized husband, and the child from +the breast of its fainting mother; which leaves the young and innocent +female a helpless and almost inevitable victim of a licentiousness +controlled by no law and checked by no public opinion,--it is surely as +feminine as it is Christian to sympathize with her in her perilous task, +and to rejoice that she has shed such a vivid light on enormities which +can exist only while unknown or unbelieved. We acknowledge with regret +and shame that that fatal system was introduced into America by Great +Britain; but having in our colonies returned from our devious paths, we +may without presumption, in the spirit of friendly suggestion, implore +our honored transatlantic friends to do the same. The ladies of Great +Britain have been admonished by their fair sisters in America, (and I am +sure they are bound to take the admonition in good part,) that there are +social evils in our own country demanding our special vigilance and +care. This is most true; but it is also true that the deepest sympathies +and most strenuous efforts are directed, in the first instance, to the +evils which exist among ourselves, and that the rays of benevolence +which flash across the Atlantic are often but the indication of the +intensity of the bright flame which is shedding light and heat on all in +its immediate vicinity. I believe this is the case with most of those +who have taken a prominent part in this great movement. I am sure it is +preeminently the case with respect to many of those by whom you are +surrounded; and I hardly know a more miserable fallacy, by which +sensible men allow themselves to be deluded, than that which assumes +that every emotion of sympathy which is kindled by objects abroad is +abstracted from our sympathies at home. All experience points to a +directly opposite conclusion; and surely the divine command, 'to go into +all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,' should put to +shame and silence the specious but transparent selfishness which would +contract the limits of human sympathy, and veil itself under the garb of +superior sagacity. But I must not detain you by any further +observations. Allow me, in the name of the associated ladies, to present +you with this small memorial of great regard, and to tender to you their +and my best wishes for your health and happiness while you are +sojourning among us, for the blessing of God on your children during +your absence, and for your safe return to your native country when your +mission shall be accomplished. I have just been requested to state the +following particulars: In December last, a few ladies met in this place +to consider the best plan of obtaining signatures in Liverpool to an +address to the women of America on the subject of negro slavery, in +substance coinciding with the one so nobly proposed and carried forward +by Lord Shaftesbury. At this meeting it was suggested that it would be a +sincere gratification to many if some testimonial could be presented to +Mrs. Stowe which would indicate the sense, almost universally +entertained, that she had been the instrument in the hands of God of +arousing the slumbering sympathies of this country in behalf of the +suffering slave. It was felt desirable to render the expression of such +a feeling as general as possible; and to effect this it was resolved +that a subscription should be set on foot, consisting of contributions +of one penny and upwards, with a view to raise a testimonial, to be +presented to Mrs. Stowe by the ladies of Liverpool, as an expression of +their grateful appreciation of her valuable services in the cause of the +negro, and as a token of admiration for the genius and of high esteem +for the philanthropy and Christian feeling which animate her great work, +Uncle Tom's Cabin. It ought, perhaps, to be added, that some friends, +not residents of Liverpool, have united in this tribute. As many of the +ladies connected with the effort to obtain signatures to the address may +not be aware of the whole number appended, they may be interested in +knowing that they amounted in all to twenty-one thousand nine hundred +and fifty-three. Of these, twenty thousand nine hundred and thirty-six +were obtained by ladies in Liverpool, from their friends either in this +neighborhood or at a distance; and one thousand and seventeen were sent +to the committee in London from other parts, by those who preferred our +form of address. The total number of signatures from all parts of the +kingdom to Lord Shaftesbury's address was upwards of five hundred +thousand." + +PROFESSOR STOWE then said, "On behalf of Mrs. Stowe I will read from her +pen the response to your generous offering: 'It is impossible for me to +express the feelings of my heart at the kind and generous manner in +which I have been received upon English shores. Just when I had begun to +realize that a whole wide ocean lay between me and all that is dearest +to me, I found most unexpectedly a home and friends waiting to receive +me here. I have had not an hour in which to know the heart of a +stranger. I have been made to feel at home since the first moment of +landing, and wherever I have looked I have seen only the faces of +friends. It is with deep feeling that I have found myself on ground that +has been consecrated and made holy by the prayers and efforts of those +who first commenced the struggle for that sacred cause which has proved +so successful in England, and which I have a solemn assurance will yet +be successful in my own country. It is a touching thought that here so +many have given all that they have, and are, in behalf of oppressed +humanity. It is touching to remember that one of the noblest men which +England has ever produced now lies stricken under the heavy hand of +disease, through a last labor of love in this cause. May God grant us +all to feel that nothing is too dear or precious to be given in a work +for which such men have lived, and labored, and suffered. No great good +is ever wrought out for the human race without the suffering of great +hearts. They who would serve their fellow-men are ever reminded that the +Captain of their salvation was made perfect through suffering. I +gratefully accept the offering confided to my care, and trust it may be +so employed that the blessing of many "who are ready to perish" will +return upon your heads. Let me ask those--those fathers and mothers in +Israel--who have lived and prayed many years for this cause, that as +they prayed for their own country in the hour of her struggle, so they +will pray now for ours. Love and prayer can hurt no one, can offend no +one, and prayer is a real power. If the hearts of all the real +Christians of England are poured out in prayer, it will be felt through +the heart of the whole American church. Let us all look upward, from our +own feebleness and darkness, to Him of whom it is said, "He shall not +fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth." To him, +the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, +both now and ever. Amen.'--These are the words, my friends, which Mrs. +Stowe has written, and I cannot forbear to add a few words of my own. It +was our intention, as the invitation to visit Great Britain came from +Glasgow, to make our first landing there. But it was ordered by +Providence that we should land here; and surely there is no place in the +kingdom where a landing could be more appropriate, and where the +reception could have been more cordial. [Hear, hear!] It was wholly +unexpected by us, I can assure you. We know that there were friendly +hearts here, for we had received abundant testimonials to that effect +from letters which had come to us across the Atlantic--letters wholly +unexpected, and which filled our souls with surprise; but we had no +thought that there was such a feeling throughout England, and we +scarcely know how to conduct ourselves under it, for we are not +accustomed to this kind of receptions. In our own country, unhappily, we +are very much divided, and the preponderance of feeling expressed is in +the other direction, entirely in opposition, and not in favor. [Hear, +hear!] We knew that this city had been the scene of some of the +greatest, most disinterested, and most powerful efforts in behalf of +emancipation. The name of Clarkson was indissolubly associated with this +place, for here he came to make his investigations, and here he was in +danger of his life, and here he was protected by friends who stood by +him through the whole struggle. The names of Cropper, and of Stephen, +and of many others in this city, were very familiar to us--[Hear, +hear!]--and it was in connection with this city that we received what to +our feelings was a most effective testimonial, an unexpected letter from +Lord Denman, whom we have always venerated. When I was in England in +1836, there were no two persons whom I more desired to see than the Duke +of Wellington and Lord Denman; and soon I sought admission to the House +of Lords, where I had the pleasure both of seeing and hearing England's +great captain; and I found my way to the Court of Queen's Bench, where I +had the pleasure of seeing and hearing England's great judge. But how +unexpected was all this to us! When that book was written, in sorrow, +and in sadness, and obscurity, and with the heart almost broken in the +view of the sufferings which it described, and the still greater +sufferings which it dared not describe, there was no expectation of any +thing but the prayers of the sufferers and the blessing of God, who has +said that the seed which is buried in the earth shall spring up in his +own good time; and though it may be long buried, it will still at length +come forth and bear fruit. We never could believe that slavery in our +land would be a perpetual curse; but we felt, and felt deeply, that +there must be a terrible struggle before we could be delivered from it, +and that there must be suffering and martyrdom in this cause, as in +every other great cause; for a struggle of eighteen years had taught us +its strength. And, under God, we rely very much on the Christian public +of Great Britain; for every expression of feeling from the wise and good +of this land, with whatever petulance it may be met by some, goes to the +heart of the American people. [Hear, hear!] You must not judge of the +American people by the expressions which have come across the Atlantic +in reference to the subject. Nine tenths of the American people, I +think, are, in opinion at least, with you on this great subject; [Hear, +hear!] but there is a tremendous pressure brought to bear upon all who +are in favor of emancipation. The whole political power, the whole money +power, almost the whole ecclesiastical power is wielded in defence of +slavery, protecting it from all aggression; and it is as much as a man's +reputation is worth to utter a syllable boldly and openly on the other +side. Let me say to the ladies who have been active in getting up the +address on the subject of slavery, that you have been doing a great and +glorious work, and a work most appropriate for you to do; for in slavery +it is woman that suffers most intensely, and the suffering woman has a +claim upon the sympathy of her sisters in other lands. This address will +produce a powerful impression throughout the country. There are ladies +already of the highest character in the nation pondering how they shall +make a suitable response, and what they shall do in reference to it that +will be acceptable to the ladies of the United Kingdom, or will be +profitable to the slave; and in due season you will see that the hearts +of American women are alive to this matter, as well as the hearts of the +women of this country. [Hear, hear!] Such was the mighty influence +brought to bear upon every thing that threatened slavery, that had it +not been for the decided expression on this side of the Atlantic in +reference to the work which has exerted, under God, so much influence, +there is every reason to fear that it would have been crushed and put +under foot, as many other efforts for the overthrow of slavery have been +in the United States. But it is impossible; the unanimous voice of +Christendom prohibits it; and it shows that God has a work to +accomplish, and that he has just commenced it. There are social evils in +England. Undoubtedly there are; but the difference between the social +evils in England and this great evil of slavery in the United States is +just here: In England, the power of the government and the power of +Christian sympathy are exerted for the removal of those evils. Look at +the committees of inquiry in Parliament, look at the amount of +information collected with regard to the suffering poor in their +reports, and see how ready the government of Great Britain is to enter +into those inquiries, and to remove those evils. Look at the benevolent +institutions of the United Kingdom, and see how active all these are in +administering relief; and then see the condition of slavery in the +United States, where the whole power of the government is used in the +contrary direction, where every influence is brought to bear to prevent +any mitigation of the evil, and where every voice that is lifted to +plead for a mitigation is drowned in vituperation and abuse from those +who are determined that the evil shall not be mitigated. This is the +difference: England repents and reforms. America refuses to repent and +reform. It is said, 'Let each country take care of itself, and let the +ladies of England attend to their own business.' Now I have always found +that those who labor at home are those who labor abroad; [Hear, hear!] +and those who say, 'Let us do the work at home,' are those who do no +work of good either at home or abroad. [Hear, hear!] It was just so when +the great missionary effort came up in the United States. They said, 'We +have a great territory here. Let us send missionaries to our own +territories. Why should we send missionaries across the ocean?' But +those who sent missionaries across the ocean were those who sent +missionaries in the United States; and those who did not send +missionaries across the ocean were those who sent missionaries nowhere. +[Hear, hear!] They who say, 'Charity begins at home,' are generally +those who have no charity; and when I see a lady whose name is signed to +this address, I am sure to find a lady who is exercising her benevolence +at home. Let me thank you for all the interest you have manifested and +for all the kindness which we have received at your hands, which we +shall ever remember, both with gratitude to you and to God our Father." + +The REV. C.M. BIRRELL afterwards made a few remarks in proposing a vote +of thanks to the ladies who had contributed the testimonial which had +been presented to the distinguished writer of Uncle Tom's Cabin. He said +it was most delightful to hear of the great good which that remarkable +volume had done, and, he humbly believed, by God's special inspiration +and guidance, was doing, in the United States of America. It was not +confined to the United States of America. The volume was going forth +over the whole earth, and great good was resulting, directly and +indirectly, by God's providence, from it. He was told a few days ago, by +a gentleman fully conversant with the facts, that an edition of Uncle +Tom, circulated in Belgium, had created an earnest desire on the part of +the people to read the Bible, so frequently quoted in that beautiful +work, and that in consequence of it a great run had been made upon the +Bible Society's depositories in that kingdom. [Hear, hear!] The priests +of the church of Rome, true to their instinct, in endeavoring to +maintain the position which they could not otherwise hold, had published +another edition, from which, they had entirely excluded all reference to +the word of God. [Hear, hear!] He had been also told that at St. +Petersburg an edition of Uncle Tom had been translated into the Russian +tongue, and that it was being distributed, by command of the emperor, +throughout the whole of that vast empire. It was true that the +circulation of the work there did not spring from a special desire on +the part of the emperor to give liberty to the people of Russia, but +because he wished to create a third power in the empire, to act upon the +nobles; he wished to cause them to set free their serfs, in order that a +third power might be created in the empire to serve as a check upon +them. But whatever was the cause, let us thank God, the Author of all +gifts, for what is done. + +Sir GEORGE STEPHEN seconded the motion of thanks to the ladies, +observing that he had peculiar reasons for doing so. He supposed that he +was one of the oldest laborers in this cause. Thirty years ago he found +that the work of one lady was equal to that of fifty men; and now we had +the work of one lady which was equal to that of all the male sex. +[Applause.] + + +PUBLIC MEETING IN GLASGOW--APRIL 15. + +THE REV. DR. WARDLAW was introduced by the chairman, and spoke as +follows:-- + +"The members of the Glasgow Ladies' New Antislavery Association and the +citizens of Glasgow, now assembled, hail with no ordinary satisfaction, +and with becoming gratitude to a kindly protecting Providence, the safe +arrival amongst them of Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe. They feel obliged by +her accepting, with so much promptitude and cordiality, the invitation +addressed to her--an invitation intended to express the favor they bore +to her, and the honor in which they held her, as the eminently gifted +authoress of Uncle Tom's Cabin--a work of humble name, but of high +excellence and world-wide celebrity; a work the felicity of whose +conception is more than equalled by the admirable tact of its execution, +and the Christian benevolence of its design, by its exquisite adaptation +to its accomplishment; distinguished by the singular variety and +consistent discrimination of its characters; by the purity of its +religious and moral principles; by its racy humor, and its touching +pathos, and its effectively powerful appeals to the judgment, the +conscience, and the heart; a work, indeed, of whose sterling worth the +earnest test is to be found in the fact of its having so universally +touched and stirred the bosom of our common humanity, in all classes of +society, that its humble name has become 'a household word,' from the +palace to the cottage, and of the extent of its circulation having been +unprecedented in the history of the literature of this or of any other +age or country. They would, at the same time, include in their hearty +welcome the Rev. C.E. Stowe, Professor of Theological Literature in the +Andover Theological Seminary, Massachusetts, whose eminent +qualifications, as a classical scholar, a man of general literature, and +a theologian, have recently placed him in a highly honorable and +responsible position, and who, on the subject of slavery, holds the same +principles and breathes the same spirit of freedom with his accomplished +partner; and, along with them too, another member of the same singularly +talented family with herself. They delight to think of the amount of +good to the cause of emancipation and universal liberty which her Cabin +has already done, and to anticipate the still larger amount it is yet +destined to do, now that the Key to the Cabin has triumphantly shown it +to be no fiction; and in whatever further efforts she may be honored of +Heaven to make in the same noble cause, they desire, unitedly and +heartily, to cheer her on, and bid her 'God speed.' I cannot but feel +myself highly honored in having been requested to move this resolution. +In doing so, I have the happiness of introducing to a Glasgow audience a +lady from the transatlantic continent, the extraordinary production of +whose pen, referred to in the resolution, had made her name familiar in +our country and through Europe, ere she appeared in person among us. My +judgment and my heart alike fully respond to every thing said in the +resolution respecting that inimitable work. We are accustomed to make a +distinction between works of nature and works of art, but in a sense +which, all will readily understand, this is preeminently both. As a work +of art, it bears upon it, throughout, the stamp of original and varied +genius. And yet, throughout, it equally bears the impress of nature--of +human nature--in its worst and its best, and all its intermediate +phases. The man who has read that little volume without laughing and +crying alternately--without the meltings of pity, the thrillings of +horror, and the kindlings of indignation--would supply a far better +argument for a distinct race than a negro. [Loud laughter and cheers.] +He must have a humanity peculiarly his own. And he who can read it +without the breathings of devotion must, if he calls himself a +Christian, have a Christianity as unique and questionable as his +humanity. [Cheering.] Never did work produce such a sensation. Among us +that sensation has happily been all of one kind. It has been the +stirring of universal sympathy and unbounded admiration. Not so in the +country of its own and of its gifted authoress's birth. There, the +ferment has been among the friends as well as the foes of slavery. Among +the former all is rage. Among the latter, while there are some--we trust +not a few--who take the same high and noble position with the talented +authoress, there are too many, we fear, who are frightened by this +uncompromising boldness, and who are drawn back rather than drawn +forward by it--who 'halt between two opinions,' and are the advocates of +medium principles and medium measures. By many among ourselves, the +excitement which has been stirred is contemplated with apprehension. +They regard it as unfavorable to emancipation, and likely to retard +rather than to advance its progress. I must confess myself of a somewhat +different mind. That the cause may be obstructed by it for a time, may +be true. But it will work well in the long run. Good will ultimately +come out of it. Stir is better than stagnancy. Irritation is better than +apathy. Whence does it arise? From two sources. The conscience and the +honor of the country have both been touched. Conscience winces under the +touch. The provocation shows it to be ill at ease. The wound is painful, +and it naturally awakens fretfulness and resentment. But by and by the +angry excitement will subside, and the salutary conviction will remain +and operate. The national honor, too, has been touched. Our friends +across the wave boast, and with good reason, of the free principles of +their constitution. They glory in their liberty. But they cannot fail to +feel the inconsistency of their position, and the exposure of it to the +world kindles on the cheek the blush of shame and the reddening fire of +displeasure. Now, the blush has aright source. It is the blush of +patriotism--it is for their country. But there is anger with the shame; +for few things are more galling than to feel that to be wrong which you +are unable to justify, and which, yet, you are not prepared to +relinquish. [Loud applause.] On the whole, I cannot but regard the +agitation which has been produced as an auspicious, rather than a +discouraging omen. It was when the waters of the pool were troubled that +their healing virtue was imparted. Let us then hope that the troubling +of the waters by this ministering angel of mercy may impregnate them +with a similar sanative influence, [the reverend doctor here pointed +towards Mrs. Stowe, while the audience burst out with enthusiastic +acclamations and waving of handkerchiefs,] and thus ultimately +contribute to the healing of the ghastly wounds of the chain and the +lash, and to the setting of the crushed and bowed down erect in the +soundness and dignity of their true manhood. [Loud cheering.] Sorry we +are that Mrs. Stowe should appear amongst us in a state of broken health +and physical exhaustion. No one who looks at the Cabin and at the Key, +and who knows aught of the effect of severe mental labor on the bodily +frame, will marvel at this. We fondly trust, and earnestly pray, that +her temporary sojourn among us may, by the divine blessing, recruit her +strength, and contribute to the prolongation of a life so promising of +benefit to suffering humanity, and to the glory of God. [Cheers.] +Meanwhile she enjoys the happy consciousness that she is suffering in a +good cause. A better there could not be. It is one which involves the +well being, corporeal and mental, physical and spiritual, temporal and +eternal, of degraded, plundered, oppressed, darkened, brutalized, +perishing millions. And, while we delight in furnishing her for a time +with a peaceful retreat from 'the wrath of men,' from the resentment of +those who, did they but rightly know their own interests, would have +smiled upon her, and blessed her. We trust she enjoys, and ever will +enjoy, quietness and assurance of an infinitely higher order--the divine +Master, whom she serves and seeks to honor; proving to her, in the terms +of his own promise, 'a refuge from the storm, and a covert from the +tempest.' [Enthusiastic cheering.] It may sound strangely, that, when +assembled for the very purpose of denouncing 'property in man,' we +should be putting in our claims for a share of property in woman. So, +however, it is. We claim Mrs. Stowe as ours--[renewed, cheers]--not ours +only, but still ours. She is British and European property as well as +American. She is the property of the whole world of literature and the +whole world of humanity. [Cheers.] Should our transatlantic friends +repudiate the property, they may transfer their share--[laughter and +cheers]--most gladly will we accept the transference." + +PROFESSOR STOWE, on rising to reply, was greeted with the most +enthusiastic applause. He said that he appeared in the name of Mrs. +Stowe, and in his own name, for the purpose of cordially thanking the +people of Glasgow for the reception that had been given to them. But he +could not find words to do it. Was it true that all this affectionate +interest was merited? [Cheers.] He could not imagine any book capable of +exciting such expressions of attachment; indeed he was inclined to +believe it had not been written at all--he "'spected it grew." +[Tremendous cheers.] Under the oppression of the fugitive slave law the +book had sprung from the soil ready made. He regretted exceedingly that +in consequence of the state of Mrs. Stowe's health, and in consequence +of the great pressure of engagements on himself, their stay in this +country would be necessarily short. But he hoped they would accept of +the expression of thanks they offered, and their apology for not being +in a condition to meet their kindness as they would desire. When they +were about to set out from Andover, a friend of theirs expressed his +astonishment that they should enter upon such a journey in the delicate +state of Mrs. Stowe's health. The Scotch people, he doubted not, would +be kind to them--_they would kill them with kindness_; and he feared it +would be so. It was from Glasgow the idea of the invitation they had +received had originated; and well might it originate in that city, for +when had been the time that Glasgow was not in earnest on the subject of +freedom? They had had hard struggles for liberty, and they had been +successful, and the people in the United States were now struggling for +the same privilege. But they labored under circumstances greatly +different from those in Great Britain. Scotland had ever been +distinguished for its love of freedom. [Great applause.] The religious +denominations in the United States--to a great extent, give few and +feeble expressions of disapprobation against the system of slavery. Two +denominations had never been silent--the Old Scotch Seceders, or +Covenanters, and the disciples of William Penn--not one of their number, +in the United States, owns a slave. Not one can own a slave without +being ejected from the society.[A] In fact, the general feeling was +against slavery; but to avoid trouble, the people hesitate to give +publicity to their feelings. Were this done, slavery would soon come to +an end. Great sacrifices are sometimes made by slaveholders to get rid +of slavery. He went once to preach in the State of Ohio. He found there +a little log house. Inside was a delicate woman, feeble and with white +hands. She seemed wholly unaccustomed to work. Her husband had the same +appearance of delicacy. They were very poor. How had they come into that +state? They belonged to a slave State, where they had formerly possessed +a little family of slaves. They had felt slavery to be wrong. They set +them free, and with the remainder of their little property tried to get +their living by farming; but like many similar cases, it had been one of +martyrdom. The Professor then proceeded to make some very practical +remarks on the character of the fugitive slave law, after which he said +that the prosperity of Great Britain in a great measure resulted from +the products of slave labor. American cotton was the chief support of +the system. We must, both in Britain and America, get free-grown cotton, +or slavery will not, at least for a long time to come, be abolished. +What he would impress on the minds of Christians was unity in this great +work. Let slaveholders be ever so much opposed to each other on other +topics, they were unanimous in their endeavors to support slavery. But +let the prayers of all Christians and the efforts of all Christians be +united; and the system of oppression would speedily be destroyed +forever. + + +PUBLIC MEETING IN EDINBURGH--APRIL 20. + +THE LORD PROVOST rose, and stated that a number of letters of apology +had been received from parties who had been invited to take part in the +meeting, but who had been unable to attend. Among these he might +mention Professor Blackie, the Rev. Mr. Gilfillan, of Dundee, Rev. J. +Begg, D.D., the Earl of Buchan, Dr. Candlish, and Sir W. Gibson Craig, +all of whom expressed their regret that they could not be present. One +of them, he observed, was from a gentleman who had long taken an +interest in the antislavery cause,--Lord Cockburn,[B]--and his note was +so warm, and sympathetic, and hearty on the subject about which they had +met, that he could not resist the temptation of reading it. It +proceeded, "I regret, that owing to my being obliged to be in Ayrshire, +it will not be in my power to join you in the expression of respect and +gratitude to Mrs. Stowe; she deserves all the honor that can be done +her; she has done more for humanity than was ever accomplished before by +a single book of fiction. [Cheers.] It did not require much to raise our +British feeling against slavery, but by showing us what substantially +are facts, and the necessary tendency of this evil in its most mitigated +form, she has greatly strengthened the ground on which this feeling +rests. Her work may have no immediate or present influence on the states +of her own country that are now unhappily under the curse, and may +indeed for a time aggravate its horrors; but it is a prodigious +accession to the constantly accumulating mass of views and evidence, +which by reason of its force must finally prevail." [Cheers.] The Lord +Provost proceeded to say, that they had now assembled chiefly to do +honor to their distinguished guest, Mrs. Stowe. [Applause.] They had +met, however, also to express their interest in the cause which it had +been the great effort of her life to promote--the abolition of slavery. +They took advantage of her presence, and the effect which was produced +on the public mind of this country, to reiterate their love for the +abolition cause, and their detestation of slavery. Before they were +aware that Mrs. Stowe was to grace the city of Edinburgh with her +presence, a committee had been organized to collect a penny +offering--the amount to be contributed in pence, and other small sums, +from the masses of this country--to be presented to her as some means of +mitigating, through her instrumentality, the horrors of slavery, as they +might come under her observation. It was intended at once as a mark of +their esteem for her, of their confidence in her, of their conviction +that she would do what was right in the cause, and, at the same time, as +an evidence of the detestation in which the system of slavery was held +in this free country. That penny offering now, he was happy to say, by +the spontaneous efforts of the inhabitants of this and other towns, +amounted to a considerable sum; to certain gentlemen in Edinburgh +forming the committee the whole credit of this organization was due, and +he believed one of their number, the Rev. Mr. Ballantyne, would present +the offering that evening, and tell them all about it. He would not, +therefore, forestall what he would have to say on the subject. They were +also to have the pleasure of presenting Mrs. Stowe with an address from +the committee in this city, which would be presented by another reverend +friend, who would be introduced at the proper time. As there would be a +number of speakers to follow during the evening, his own remarks must +be exceedingly short; but he could not resist the temptation of saying +how happy he felt at being once more in the midst of a great meeting in +the city of Edinburgh, for the purpose of expressing their detestation +of the system of slavery. They could appeal to their brethren in the +United States with clean hands, because they had got rid of the +abomination themselves; they could therefore say to them, through their +friends who were now present, on their return home, and through the +press, which would carry their sentiments even to the slave states--they +could say to them that they had washed their own hands of the evil at +the largest pecuniary sacrifice that was ever made by any nation for the +promotion of any good cause. [Loud applause.] Some parties said that +they should not speak harshly of the Americans, because they were full +of prejudice with regard to the system which they had seen growing up +around them. He said so too with all his heart; he joined in the +sentiment that they should not speak harshly, but they might fairly +express their opinion of the system with which their American friends +were surrounded, and in which he thought all who supported it were +guilty participators. [Hear, hear!] They could denounce the wickedness, +they could tell them that they thought it was their duty to put an end +to it speedily. The cause of the abolition of slavery in our own +colonies long hung without any visible progress, notwithstanding the +efforts of many distinguished men, who did all they could to mitigate +some of its more prominent evils; and yet, so long as they never struck +at the root, the progress which they made was almost insensible. They +knew how many men had spent their energies, and some of them their +lives, in attempting to forward the cause; but how little effect was +produced for the first half of the present century! The city of +Edinburgh had always, he was glad to say, taken a deep interest in the +cause; it was one of the very first to take up the ground of total and +entire abolition. [Cheers.] A predecessor of his own in the civic chair +was so kind as to preside at a meeting held in Edinburgh twenty-three +years ago, in which a very decided step was proposed to be taken in +advance, and a resolution was moved by the then Dean of Faculty, to the +effect that on the following first of January, 1831, all the children +born of slave parents in our colonies were from that date to be declared +free. That was thought a great and most important movement by the +promoters of the cause. There were, however, parties at that crowded +meeting who thought that even this was a mere expedient--that it was a +mere pruning of the branches, leaving the whole system intact. One of +these was the late Dr. Andrew Thomson--[cheers]--who had the courage to +propose that the meeting should at once declare for total and immediate +abolition, which proposal was seconded by another excellent citizen, Mr. +Dickie. Dr. Thomson replied to some of the arguments which had been put +forward, to the effect that the total abolition might possibly occasion +bloodshed; and he said that, even if that did follow, it was no fault of +his, and that he still stuck to the principle, which he considered right +under any circumstances. The chairman, thereupon, threatened to leave +the chair on account of the unnecessarily strong language used, and when +the sentiments were reiterated by Mr. Dickie, he actually bolted, and +left the meeting, which was thrown into great confusion. A few days +afterwards, however, another meeting was held--one of the largest and +most effective that had been ever held in Edinburgh--at which were +present Mr. John Shank More in the chair, the Rev. Dr. Thomson, Rev. Dr +Gordon, Dr. Ritchie, Mr. Muirhead, the Rev. Mr. Buchanan of North Leith, +Mr. J. Wigham, Jr., Dr. Greville, &c. The Lord Provost proceeded to read +extracts from the speeches made at the meeting, showing that the +sentiments of the inhabitants of Edinburgh, so far back as 1830, as +uttered by some of its most distinguished men,--not violent agitators, +but ministers of the gospel, promoters of peace and order, and every +good and every benevolent purpose,--were in favor of the immediate and +total abolition of slavery in our colonies. He referred especially to +the speech of Dr. Andrew Thomson on this occasion, from which he read +the following extract: "But if the argument is forced upon me to +accomplish this great object, that there must be violence, let it come, +for it will soon pass away--let it come and rage its little hour, since +it is to be succeeded by lasting freedom, and prosperity, and happiness. +Give me the hurricane rather than the pestilence. Give me the hurricane, +with its thunders, and its lightnings, and its tempests--give me the +hurricane, with its partial and temporary devastations, awful though +they be--give me the hurricane, which brings along with it purifying, +and healthful, and salutary effects--give me the hurricane rather than +the noisome pestilence, whose path is never crossed, whose silence is +never disturbed, whose progress is never arrested by one sweeping blast +from the heavens--which walks peacefully and sullenly through the length +and breadth of the land, breathing poison into every heart, and carrying +havoc into every home--enervating all that is strong, defacing all that +is beautiful, and casting its blight over the fairest and happiest +scenes of human life--and which from day to day, and from year to year, +with intolerant and interminable malignity, sends its thousands and tens +of thousands of hapless victims into the ever-yawning and +never-satisfied grave!"--[Loud and long applause.] The experience which +they had had, that all the dangers, all the bloodshed and violence which +were threatened, were merely imaginary, and that none of these evils had +come upon them although slavery had been totally abolished by us, +should, he thought, be an encouragement to their American friends to go +home and tell their countrymen that in this great city the views now put +forward were advocated long ago--that the persons who now held them said +the same years ago of the disturbances and the evils which would arise +from pressing the question of immediate and total abolition--that the +same kind of arguments and the same predictions of evil were uttered in +England--and although she had not the experience, although she had not +the opportunity of pointing to the past, and saying the evil had not +come in such a case, still, even then, they were willing to face the +evil, to stick to the righteous principle, and to say, come what would, +justice must be done to the slave, and slavery must be wholly and +immediately abolished. [Cheers.] He had said so much on the question of +slavery, because he was very sure it would be much more agreeable to +their modest and retiring and distinguished guest that one should speak +about any other thing than about herself. Uncle Tom's Cabin needed no +recommendation from him. [Loud cheers.] It was the most extraordinary +book, he thought, that had ever been published; no book had ever got +into the same circulation; none had ever produced a tithe of the +impression which it had produced within a given time. It was worth all +the proslavery press of America put together. The horrors of slavery +were not merely described, but they were actually pictured to the eye. +They were seen and understood fully; formerly they were mere dim +visions, about which there was great difference of opinion; some saw +them as in a mist, and others more clearly; but now every body saw and +understood slavery. Every body in this great city, if they had a voice +in the matter, would be prepared to say that they wished slavery to be +utterly extinguished. [Loud cheers.] + +PROFESSOR STOWE then rose, and was greeted with loud cheers. He begged +to read the following note from Mrs. Stowe, in acknowledgment of the +honor:-- + +"I accept these congratulations and honors, and this offering, which it +has pleased Scotland to bestow on me, not for any thing which I have +said or done, not as in any sense acknowledging that they are or can be +deserved, but with heartfelt, humble gratitude to God, as tokens of +mercy to a cause most sacred and most oppressed. In the name of a people +despised and rejected of men--in the name of men of sorrows acquainted +with grief, from whom the faces of all the great and powerful of the +earth have been hid--in the name of oppressed and suffering humanity, I +thank you. The offering given is the dearer to me, and the more hopeful, +that it is literally the penny offering, given by thousands on +thousands, a penny at a time. When, in travelling through your country, +aged men and women have met me with such fervent blessings, little +children gathered round me with such loving eyes--when honest hands, +hard with toil, have been stretched forth with such hearty welcome--when +I have seen how really it has come from the depths of the hearts of the +common people, and know, as I truly do, what prayers are going up with +it from the humblest homes of Scotland, I am encouraged. I believe it is +God who inspires this feeling, and I believe God never inspired it in +vain. I feel an assurance that the Lord hath looked down from heaven to +hear the groaning of the prisoner, and according to the greatness of his +power, to loose those that are appointed to die. In the human view, +nothing can be more hopeless than this cause; all the wealth, and all +the power, and all the worldly influence is against it. But here in +Scotland, need we tell the children of the Covenant, that the Lord on +high is mightier than all human power? Here, close by the spot where +your fathers signed that Covenant, in an hour when Scotland's cause was +equally poor and depressed--here, by the spot where holy martyrs sealed +it with their blood, it will neither seem extravagance nor enthusiasm to +say to the children of such parents, that for the support of this cause, +we look, not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are not +seen; to that God, who, in the face of all worldly power, gave liberty +to Scotland, in answer to your fathers' prayers. Our trust is in Jesus +Christ, and in the power of the Holy Ghost, and in the promise that he +shall reign till he hath put all things under his feet. There are those +faithless ones, who, standing at the grave of a buried humanity, tell us +that it is vain to hope for our brother, because he hath lain in the +grave three days already. We turn from them to the face of Him who has +said, 'Thy brother shall rise again.' There was a time when our great +High Priest, our Brother, yet our Lord, lay in the grave three days; and +the governors and powers of the earth made it as sure as they could, +seeding the stone and setting a watch. But a third day came, and an +earthquake, and an angel. So shall it be to the cause of the oppressed; +though now small and despised, we are watchers at the sepulchre, like +Mary and the trusting women; we can sit through the hours of darkness. +We are watching the sky for the golden streaks of dawning, and we +believe that the third day will surely come. For Christ our Lord, being +raised from the dead, dieth no more; and he has pledged his word that he +shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment on the +earth. He shall deliver the poor when He crieth, the needy, and him that +hath no helper. The night is far spent--the day is at hand. The +universal sighing of humanity in all countries, the whole creation +groaning and travailing in pain together--the earnest expectation of the +creature waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God--show that the +day is not distant when he will break every yoke, and let the oppressed +go free. And whatever we are able to do for this sacred cause, let us +cast it where the innumerable multitude of heaven cast their crowns, at +the feet of the Lamb, saying, 'Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to +receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and +glory, and blessings.'" + +The Rev. Professor then continued. "My Lord Provost, Ladies and +Gentlemen: This cause, to be successful, must be carried on in a +religious spirit, with a deep sense of our dependence on God, and with +that love for our fellow-men which the gospel requires. It is because I +think I have met this spirit since I reached the shores of Great +Britain, in those who have taken an interest in the cause, that I feel +encouraged to hope that the expression of your feeling will be effective +on the hearts of Christians on the other side of the Atlantic. There are +Christians there as sincere, as hearty, and as earnest, as any on the +face of the earth. They have looked at this subject, and been troubled; +they have hardly known what to do, and their hearts have been +discouraged. They have almost turned away their eyes from it, because +they have scarcely dared encounter it, the difficulties appeared to them +so great. Wrong cannot always receive the support of Christians; wrong +must be done away with; and what must be--what God requires to be--that +certainly will be. Now, in this age, man is every where beginning to +regard the sufferings of his fellow-man as his own. There is an interest +felt in man, as man, which was not felt in preceding ages. The +facilities of communication are bringing all nations in contact, and +whatever wrong exists in any part of the world, is every where felt. +There are wrongs and sufferings every where; but those to which we are +accustomed, we look upon with most indifference, because being +accustomed to them, we do not feel their enormity. You feel the +enormity of slavery more than we do, because you are not immediately +interested, and regard it at a distance. We regard some of the wrongs +that exist in the old world with more sensibility than you can regard +them, because we are not accustomed to them, and you are. Therefore, in +the spirit of Christian love, it belongs to Christian men to speak to +each other with great fidelity. It has been said that you know little or +nothing about slavery. O, happy men, that you are ignorant of its +enormities. [Hear, hear!] But you do know something about it. You know +as much about it as you know of the widow-burning in India, or the +cannibalism in the Fejee Islands, or any of those crimes and sorrows of +paganism, that induced you to send forth your missionaries. You know it +is a great wrong, and a terrible obstacle to the progress of the gospel; +and that is enough for you to know to induce you to act. You have as +much knowledge as ever induced a Christian community in any part of the +world to exert an influence in any other part of the world. Slavery is a +relic of paganism, of barbarism; it must be removed by Christianity; and +if the light of Christianity shines on it clearly, it certainly will +remove it. There are thousands of hearts in the United States that +rejoice in your help. Whatever expressions of impatience and petulance +you may hear, be assured that these expressions are not the heart of the +great body of the people. [Cheers.] A large proportion of that country +is free from slavery. There is an area of freedom ten times larger than +Great Britain in territory.[C] [Cheers.] But all the power over the +slave is in the hands of the slaveholder. You had a power over the +slaveholder by your national legislature; our national legislature has +no power over the slaveholder. All the legislation that can in that +country be brought to bear for the slave, is legislation by the +slaveholders themselves. There is where the difficulty lies. It is +altogether by persuasion, Christian counsel, Christian sympathy, +Christian earnestness, that any good can be effected for the slave. The +conscience of the people is against the system--the conscience of the +people, even in the slaveholding states; and if we can but get at the +conscience without exciting prejudice, it will tend greatly towards the +desired effect. But this appeal to the conscience must be +unintermittent, constant. Your hands must not be weary, your prayers +must not be discontinued; but every day and every hour should we be +doing something towards the object. It is sometimes said, Americans who +resist slavery are traitors to their country. No; those who would +support freedom are the only true friends of their country. Our fathers +never intended slavery to be identified with the government of the +United States; but in the temptations of commerce the evil was +overlooked; and how changed for the worse has become the public +sentiment even within the last thirty or forty years! The enormous +increase in the consumption of cotton has raised enormously the market +value of slaves, and arrayed both avarice and political ambition in +defence of slavery. Instruct the conscience, and produce free cotton, +and this will be like Cromwell's exhortation to his soldiers, '_Trust +in God, and keep your powder dry_.'" [Continued cheers.] + +THE REV. DR. R. LEE then said: "I am quite sure that every individual +here responds cordially to those sentiments of respect and gratitude +towards our honored guest which have been so well expressed by the Lord +Provost and the other gentlemen who have addressed us. We think that +this lady has not only laid us under a great obligation by giving us one +of the most delightful books in the English language, but that she has +improved us as men and as Christians, that she has taught us the value +of our privileges, and made us more sensible than we were before of the +obligation which lies upon us to promote every good work. I have been +requested to say a few words on the degradation of American slavery; but +I feel, in the presence of the gentleman who last addressed you, and of +those who are still to address you, that it would be almost presumption +in me to enter on such a subject. It is impossible to speak or to think +of the subject of slavery without feeling that there is a double +degradation in the matter; for, in the first place, the slave is a man +made in the image of God--God's image cut in ebony, as old Thomas Fuller +quaintly but beautifully said; and what right have we to reduce him to +the image of a brute, and make property of him? We esteem drunkenness as +a sin. Why is it a sin? Because it reduces that which was made in the +image of God to the image of a brute. We say to the drunkard, 'You are +guilty of a sacrilege, because you reduce that which God made in his own +image "into the image of an irrational creature."' Slavery does the very +same. But there is not only a degradation committed as regards the +slave--there is a degradation also committed against himself by him who +makes him a slave, and who retains him in the position of a slave; for +is it not one of the most commonplace of truths that we cannot do a +wrong to a neighbor without doing a greater wrong to ourselves?--that we +cannot injure him without also injuring ourselves yet more? I observe +there is a certain class of writers in America who are fond of +representing the feeling of this country towards America as one of +jealousy, if not of hatred.. I think, my lord, that no American ever +travelled in this country without being conscious at once that this is a +total mistake--that this is a total misapprehension. I venture to say +that there is no nation on the face of the earth in which we feel half +so much interest, or towards which we feel the tenth part of the +affection, which we do towards our brethren in the United States of +America. And what is more than that--there is no nation towards which we +feel one half so much admiration, and for which we feel half so much +respect, as we do for the people of the United States of America. +[Cheers.] Why, sir, how can it be otherwise? How is it possible that it +should be the reverse? Are they not our bone and our flesh? and their +character, whatever it is, is it any thing more than our own, a little +exaggerated, perhaps? Their virtues and their vices, their faults and +their excellences, are just the virtues and the vices, the faults and +the excellences, of that old respectable freeholder, John Bull, from +whom they are descended. We are not much surprised that a nation which +are slaves themselves should make other men slaves. This cannot very +much surprise us: but we are both surprised and we are deeply grieved, +that a nation which has conceived so well the idea of freedom--a nation +which has preached the doctrines of freedom with such boldness and such +fulness--a nation which has so boldly and perfectly realized its idea of +freedom in every other respect--should in this only instance have sunk +so completely below its own idea, and forgetting the rights of one class +of their fellow-creatures, should have deprived them of freedom +altogether. I say that our grief and our disapprobation of this in the +case of our brethren in America arises very much from this, that in +other respects we admire them so much, we are sorry that so noble a +nation should allow a blot like this to remain upon its escutcheon. I am +not ignorant--nobody can be ignorant--of the great difficulties which +encompass the solution of this question in America. It is vain for us to +shut our eyes to it. There can be no doubt whatever that great +sacrifices will require to be made in order to get rid of this great +evil. But the Americans are a most ingenious people; they are full of +inventions of all sorts, from the invention of a machine for protecting +our feet from the water, to a machine for making ships go by means of +heated air; from the one to the other the whole field of discovery is +occupied by their inventive genius. There is not an article in common +use among us but bears some stamp of America. We rise in the morning, +and before we are dressed we have had half a dozen American articles in +our hands. And during the day, as we pass through the streets, articles +of American invention meet us every where. In short, the ingenuity of +the people is proclaimed all over the world. And there can be no doubt +that the moment this great, this ingenious people finds that slavery is +both an evil and a sin, their ingenuity will be successfully exerted in +discovering some invention for preventing its abolition from ruining +them altogether. [Cheers.] No doubt their ingenuity will be equal to the +occasion; and I may take the liberty of adding, that their ingenuity in +that case will find even a richer reward than it has done in those other +inventions which have done them so much honor, and been productive of so +much profit. I say, that sacrifices must be made; there can be no doubt +about that; but I would also observe, that the longer the evil is +permitted to continue, the greater and more tremendous will become the +sacrifice which will be needed to put an end to it; for all history +proves that a nation encumbered, with slavery is surrounded with danger. +[Applause.] Has the history of antiquity been written in vain? Does it +not teach us that not only domestic and social pollutions are the +inevitable results, but does it not teach us also that political +insecurity and political revolutions as certainly slumber beneath the +institution of slavery as fireworks at the basis of Mount Ætna? +[Cheers.] It cannot but be so. Men no more than steam can be compressed +without a tremendous revulsion; and let our brethren in America be sure +of this, that the longer the day of reckoning is put off by them, the +more tremendous at last that reckoning will Be." [Loud, applause.] + + * * * * * + +In regard to this meeting at Edinburgh, there was a ridiculous story +circulated and variously commented on in certain newspapers of the +United States, that _the American flag was there exhibited, insulted, +torn, and mutilated_. Certain religious papers took the lead in +propagating the slander, which, so for as I know or can learn, _had no +foundation_, unless it be that, in the arranging of the flag around its +staff, the stars might have been more distinctly visible than the +stripes. The walls were profusely adorned with drapery, and there were +numerous flags disposed in festoons. Truly a wonderful thing to make a +story of, and then parade it in the newspapers from Maine to Texas, +beginning in Philadelphia! + + +PUBLIC MEETING IN ABERDEEN--APRIL 21. + +ADDRESS OF THE CITIZENS. + +MRS H. BEECHER STOWE. + +MADAM: The citizens of Aberdeen have much pleasure in embracing the +opportunity now afforded them of expressing at once their esteem for +yourself personally, and their interest in the cause of which you have +been the distinguished advocate. + +While they would, not render a blind homage to mere genius, however +exalted, they consider genius such as yours, directed by Christian +principle, as that which, for the welfare of humanity, cannot be too +highly or too fervently honored. + +Without depreciating the labors of the various advocates of slave +emancipation who have appeared from time to time on both sides of the +Atlantic, they may conscientiously award to you the praise of having +brought about the present universal and enthusiastic sentiment in regard +to the slavery which exists in America. + +The galvanic battery may be arranged and charged, every plate, wire, and +fluid being in its appropriate place; but, until some hand shall bring +together the extremities of the conducting medium, in vain might we +expect to elicit the latent fire. + +Every heart may throb with the feeling of benevolence, and every mind +respond to the sentiment that man, in regard to man, should be free and +equal; but it is the province of genius such as yours to give unity to +the universal, and find utterance for the felt. + +When society has been prepared for some momentous movement or moral +reformation, so that the hidden thoughts of the people want only an +interpreter, the thinking community an organ, and suffering humanity a +champion, distinguished is the honor belonging to the individual in whom +all these requisites are found combined. + +To you has been assigned by Providence the important task of educing the +latent emotions of humanity, and waking the music that slumbered in the +chords of the universal human heart, till it has pealed forth in one +deep far rolling and harmonious anthem, of which the heavenly burden is, +"Liberty to the captive, and the opening of the prison to them that are +bound!" + +The production of your accomplished pen, which has already called forth +such unqualified eulogy from almost every land where Anglo-Saxon +literature finds access, and created so sudden and fervent an excitement +on the momentous subject of American slavery, has nowhere been hailed +with a more cordial welcome, or produced more salutary effects, than in +the city of Aberdeen. + +Though long ago imbued, with antislavery principles and interested in +the progress of liberty in every part of the world, our community, like +many others, required such information, suggestions, and appeals as your +valuable work contains in one great department of slavery, in order that +their interest might be turned into a specific direction, and their +principles reduced, to combined practical effort. + +Already they have esteemed it a privilege to engage with some activity +in the promotion of the interests of the fugitive slave; and they shall +henceforth regard with a deeper interest than ever the movements of +their American brethren in this matter, until there exists among them no +slavery from which to flee. + +While they participate in your abhorrence of slavery in the American +states, they trust they need scarcely assure you that they participate +also in your love for the American people. + +It is in proportion as they love that nation, attached to them by so +many ties, that they lament the existence of a system which, so long as +it exists, must bring odium upon the national character, as it cannot +fail to enfeeble and impair their best social institutions. + +They believe it to be a maxim that man cannot hold his fellow-man in +slavery without being himself to some extent enslaved. And of this the +censorship of the press, together with the expurgatorial indices of +various religious societies in the Southern States of America, furnish +ample corroboration. + +It is hoped that your own nation may speedily be directed to recognize +you as its best friend, for having stood forth in the spirit of true +patriotism to advocate the claims of a large portion of your countrymen, +and to seek the removal of an evil which has done much to neutralize the +moral influence of your country's best (and otherwise free) +institutions. + +Accept, then, from the community of Aberdeen their congratulations on +the high literary fame which you have by a single effort so deservedly +acquired, and their grateful acknowledgments for your advocacy of a +cause in which the best interests of humanity are involved. + +Signed in name and by appointment of a public meeting of the citizens of +Aberdeen within the County Buildings, this 21st April, 1853, A.D. + +GEO. HESSAY, + +_Provost of Aberdeen_. + + +PUBLIC MEETING IN DUNDEE--APRIL 22. + + +MR. GILFILLAN, who was received with great applause, said he had been +intrusted by the Committee of the Ladies' Antislavery Association to +present the following address to Mrs. Stowe, which he would read to the +meeting:-- + +"MADAM: We, the ladies of the Dundee Antislavery Association, desire to +add our feeble voices to the acclamations of a world, conscious that +your fame and character need no testimony from us. We are less anxious +to honor you than to prove that our appreciation and respect are no less +sincere and no less profound than those of the millions in other places +and other lands, whom you have instructed, improved, delighted, and +thrilled. We beg permission to lay before you the expressions of a +gratitude and an enthusiasm in some measure commensurate with your +transcendent literary merit and moral worth. We congratulate you on the +success of the _chef-d'oeuvre_ of your genius, a success altogether +unparalleled, and in all probability never to be paralleled in the +history of literature. We congratulate you still more warmly on that +nobility and benevolence of nature which made you from childhood the +friend of the unhappy slave, and led you to accumulate unconsciously the +materials for the immortal tale of Uncle Tom's Cabin. We congratulate +you in having in that tale supported with matchless eloquence and pathos +the cause of the crushed, the forgotten, the injured, of those who had +no help of man at all, and who had even been blasphemously taught by +professed ministers of the gospel of mercy that Heaven too was opposed +to their liberation, and had blotted them out from the catalogue of man. +We recognize, too, with delight, the spirit of enlightened and +evangelical piety which breathes through your work, and serves to +confute the calumny that none but infidels are interested in the cause +of abolition--a calumny which cuts at Christianity with a yet sharper +edge than at abolition, but which you have proved to be a foul and +malignant falsehood. We congratulate you not only on the richness of the +laurels which you have won, but on the dignity, the meekness, and the +magnanimity with which these laurels have been worn. We hail in you our +most gifted sister in the great cause of liberty--we bid you warmly +welcome to our city, and we pray Almighty God, the God of the oppressed, +to pour his selectest blessings on your head, and to spare your +invaluable life, till yours, and ours, and others' efforts for the cause +of abolition are crowned with success, and till the shouts of a +universal jubilee shall proclaim that in all quarters of the globe the +African is free." + +The address was handed to Mrs. Stowe amid great applause. MR. GILFILLAN +continued: "In addition to the address which I have now read, I have +been requested to add a few remarks; and in making these I cannot but +congratulate Dundee on the fact that Mrs. Stowe has visited it, and that +she has had a reception worthy of her distinguished merits. [Applause.] +It is not Dundee alone that is present here to-night: it is +Forfarshire, Fifeshire, and I may also add, Perthshire:--that are here +to do honor to themselves in doing honor to our illustrious guest. +[Cheers.] There are assembled here representatives of the general +feeling that boils in the whole land--not from our streets alone, but +from our country valleys--from our glens and our mountains O! I wish +that Mrs. Stowe would but spare time to go herself and study that +enthusiasm amid its own mountain recesses, amid the uplands and the +friths, and the wild solitudes of our own unconquered and unconquerable +land. She would see scenery there worthy of that pencil which has +painted so powerfully the glories of the Mississippi; ay, and she would +find her name known and reverenced in every hamlet, and see copies of +Uncle Tom's Cabin in the shepherd's shieling, beside Bunyan's Pilgrim's +Progress, the Life of Sir William Wallace, Rob Roy, and the Gaelic +Bible. I saw copies of it carried by travellers last autumn among the +gloomy grandeurs of Glencoe, and, as Coleridge once said when he saw +Thomson's Seasons lying in a Welsh wayside inn, 'That is true fame,' I +thought this was fame truer still. [Applause.] It is too late in the day +to criticize Uncle Tom's Cabin, or to speculate on its unprecedented +history--a history which seems absolutely magical. Why, you are reminded +of Aladdin's lamp, and of the palace that was reared by genii in one +night. Mrs. Stowe's genius has done a greater wonder than this--it has +reared in a marvellously short time a structure which, unlike that +Arabian fabric, is a reality, and shall last forever. [Applause.] She +must not be allowed, to depreciate herself, and to call her glorious +book a mere 'bubble.' Such a bubble there never was before. I wish we +had ten thousand such bubbles. [Applause.] If it had been a bubble it +would have broken long ago. 'Man,' says Jeremy Taylor, 'is a bubble.' +Yea, but he is an immortal one. And such an immortal bubble is Uncle +Tom's Cabin; it can only with man expire; and yet a year ago not ten +individuals in this vast assembly had ever heard of its author's name. +[Applause.] At its artistic merits we may well marvel--to find in a +small volume the descriptive power of a Scott, the humor of a Dickens, +the keen, observing glance of a Thackeray, the pathos of a Richardson or +Mackenzie, combined with qualities of earnestness, simplicity, humanity, +and womanhood peculiar to the author herself. But there are three things +which, strike me as peculiarly remarkable about Uncle Tom's Cabin: it is +the work of an American--of a woman--and of an evangelical Christian. +[Cheers.] We have long been accustomed to despise American literature--I +mean as compared with our own. I have heard eminent _litterateurs_ say, +'Pshaw! the Americans have no national literature.' It was thought that +they lived entirely on plunder--the plunder of poor slaves, and of poor +British authors. [Loud cheers.] Their own works, when, they came among +us, were treated either with contempt or with patronizing wonder--yes, +the 'Sketch Book' was a very good book to be an American's. To parody +two lines of Pope, we + + Admired such wisdom in a Yankee shape, + And showed an Irving as they show an ape.' + +[Loud cheers.] And yet, strange to tell, not only of late have we been +almost deluged with editions of new and excellent American writers, but +the most popular book of the century has appeared on the west side of +the Atlantic. Let us hear no more of the poverty of American brains, or +the barrenness of American literature. Had it produced only Uncle Tom's +Cabin, it had evaded contempt just as certainly as Don Quixote, had +there been no other product of the Spanish mind, would have rendered it +forever illustrious. It is the work of a woman, too! None but a woman +could have written it. There are in the human mind springs at once +delicate and deep, which only the female genius can understand, or the +female finger touch. Who but a female could have created the gentle Eva, +painted the capricious and selfish Marie St. Clair, or turned loose a +Topsy upon the wondering world? [Loud and continued cheering.] And it is +to my mind exceedingly delightful, and it must be humiliating to our +opponents, to remember that the severest stroke to American slavery has +been given by a woman's hand. [Loud cheers.] It was the smooth stone +from the brook which, sent from the hand of a youthful David, overthrew +Goliath of Gath; but I am less reminded of this than of another incident +in Scripture history. When the robber and oppressor of Israel, +Abimelech, who had slain his brethren, was rushing against a tower, +whither his enemies had fled, we are told that 'a certain woman cast a +piece of a millstone upon Abimelech's head, and all to break his skull,' +and that he cried hastily to the young man, his armor-bearer, and said +unto him, 'Draw thy sword, and slay me, that men say not of me, A woman +slew him.' It is a parable of our present position. Mrs. Stowe has +thrown a piece of millstone, sharp and strong, at the skull of the giant +abomination of her country; he is reeling in his death pangs, and, in +the fury of his despair and shame, is crying, but crying in vain, 'Say +not, A woman slew me!' [Applause.] But the world shall say, 'A woman +slew him,' or, at least, 'gave him the first blow, and drove him to +despair and suicide.' [Cheers.] Lastly, it is the work of an evangelical +Christian; and the piety of the book has greatly contributed to its +power. It has forever wiped away the vile calumny, that all who love +their African brother hate their God and Savior. I look, indeed, on Mrs. +Stowe's volume, not only as a noble contribution to the cause of +emancipation, but to the general cause of Christianity. It is an olive +leaf in a dove's mouth, testifying that the waters of scepticism, which +have rolled more fearfully far in America than here,--and no wonder, if +the Christianity of America in general is a slaveholding, man-stealing, +soul-murdering Christianity--that they are abating, and that genuine +liberty and evangelical religion are soon to clasp hands, and to smile +in unison on the ransomed, regenerated, and truly 'United States.' [Loud +and reiterated applause.]" + + +ADDRESS OF THE STUDENTS OF GLASGOW UNIVERSITY--APRIL 25. + +This address is particularly gratifying on account of its recognition of +the use of intoxicating drinks as an evil analogous to slaveholding, and +to be eradicated by similar means. The two reforms are in all respects +similar movements, to be promoted in the same manner and with the same +spirit. + +MRS. HARRIET BEECHER STOWE. + +MADAM: The Committee of the Glasgow University Abstainers' Society, +representing nearly one hundred students, embrace the opportunity which +you have so kindly afforded them, of expressing their high esteem for +you, and their appreciation of your noble efforts in behalf of the +oppressed. They cordially join in the welcome with which you have been +so justly received on these shores, and earnestly hope and pray that +your visit may be beneficial to your own health, and tend greatly to the +furtherance of Christian philanthropy. + +The committee have had their previous convictions confirmed, and their +hearts deeply affected, by your vivid and faithful delineations of +slavery; and they desire to join with thousands on both sides of the +Atlantic, who offer fervent thanksgiving to God for having endowed you +with those rare gifts, which have qualified you for producing the +noblest testimony against slavery, next to the Bible, which the world +has ever received. + +While giving all the praise to God, from whom cometh every good and +perfect gift, they may be excused for mentioning three characteristics +of your writings regarding slavery, which awakened their admiration--a +sensibility befitting the anguish of suffering millions; the graphic +power which presents to view the complex and hideous system, stripped of +all its deceitful disguises; and the moral courage that was required to +encounter the monster, and drag it forth to the gaze and the execration +of mankind. + +The committee feel humbled in being called to confess and deplore, as +existing among ourselves, another species of slavery, not less ruinous +in its tendency, and not less criminal in the sight of God--we mean the +slavery by strong drink. We feel too much ashamed of the sad preëminence +which these nations have acquired in regard to this vice to take any +offence at the reproaches cast upon us from across the Atlantic. Such +smiting shall not break our head. We are anxious to profit by it. Yet +when it is used as an argument to justify slavery, or to silence our +respectful but earnest remonstrances, we take exception to the +parallelism on which these arguments are made to rest. We do not justify +our slavery. We do not try to defend it from the Scriptures. We do not +make laws to uphold it. The unhappy victims of our slavery have all +forged and riveted their own fetters. We implore them to forbear; but, +alas! in many cases without success. We invite them to be free, and +offer our best assistance to undo their bonds. When a fugitive slave +knocks at our door, escaping from a cruel master, we try to accost him +in the spirit or in the words of a well-known philanthropist, "Come in, +brother, and get warm, and get thy breakfast." And when distinguished +American philanthropists, who have done so much to undo the heavy +burdens in their own land, come over to assist us, we hail their advent +with rejoicing, and welcome them as benefactors. We are well aware that +a corresponding feeling would be manifested in the United States by a +portion, doubtless a large portion, of the population; but certainly not +by those who justify or palliate their own oppression by a reference to +our lamentable intemperance. + +We rejoice, madam, to know that as abstainers we can claim an important +place, pot only in your sympathies, but in your literary labors. We +offer our hearty thanks for the valuable contributions you have already +furnished in that momentous cause, and for the efforts of that +distinguished family with which you are connected. + +We bear our testimony to the mighty impulse imparted to the public mind +by the extensive circulation of those memorable sermons which your +honored father gave to Europe, as well as to America, more than +twenty-five years ago. It will be pleasing to him to know that the force +of his arguments is felt in British universities to the present time, +and that not only students in augmenting numbers, but learned +professors, acknowledge their cogency and yield to their power. + +Permit us to add that a movement has already begun, in an influential +quarter in England, for the avowed purpose of combining the patriotism +and Christianity of these nations in a strenuous agitation for the +suppression, by the legislature, of the traffic in alcoholic drinks. + +In conclusion, the committee have only further to express their cordial +thanks for your kindness in receiving their address, and their desire +and prayer that you may be long spared to glorify God, by promoting the +highest interests of man; that if it so please him, you may live to see +the glorious fruit of your labors here cm earth, and that hereafter you +may meet the blessed salutation, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one +of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." + +NORMAN S. KERR, _Secretary_. + +STEWART BATES, _President_. + +GLASGOW, 25th April, 1853. + + +LOUD MAYOR'S DINNER AT THE MANSION HOUSE, LONDON--MAY 2. + +MR. JUSTICE TALFOURD,[D] having spoken of the literature of England and +America, alluded to two distinguished authors then present. The one was +a lady, who had shed a lustre on the literature of America, and whose +works were deeply engraven on every English heart. He spoke +particularly of the consecration of so much genius to so noble a +cause--the cause of humanity; and expressed the confident hope that the +great American people would see and remedy the wrongs so vividly +depicted. The learned judge, having paid an eloquent tribute to the +works of Mr. Charles Dickens, concluded by proposing "Mr. Charles +Dickens and the literature of the Anglo-Saxons." + +Mr. CHARLES DICKENS returned thanks. In referring to Mrs. H.B. Stowe, he +observed that, in returning thanks, he could not forget he was in the +presence of a stranger who was the authoress of a noble book, with a +noble purpose. But he had no right to call her a stranger, for she would +find a welcome in every English home. + + +STAFFORD HOUSE RECEPTION--MAY 7. + +The DUKE OF SUTHERLAND having introduced Mrs. Stowe to the assembly, the +following short address was read and presented to her by the EARL OF +SHAFTESBURY:-- + +"Madam: I am deputed by the Duchess of Sutherland, and the ladies of the +two committees appointed to conduct 'The Address from the Women of +England, to the Women of America on the Subject of Slavery,' to express +the high gratification they feel in your presence amongst them this day. + +"The address, which has received considerably more than half a million +of the signatures of the women of Great Britain and Ireland, they have +already transmitted to the United States, consigning it to the care of +those whom you have nominated as fit and zealous persons to undertake +the charge in your absence. + +"The earnest desire of these committees, and, indeed, we may say of the +whole kingdom, is to cultivate the most friendly and affectionate +relations between the two countries; and we cannot but believe that we +are fostering such a feeling when we avow our deep admiration of an +American lady who, blessed by the possession of vast genius and +intellectual powers, enjoys the still higher blessing, that she devotes +them to the glory of God and the temporal and eternal interests of the +human race." + +The following is a copy of the address to which Lord Shaftesbury makes +reference:-- + +"_The affectionate and Christian Address of many thousands of Women of +Great Britain and Ireland to their Sisters, the Women of the United +States of America_. + +"A common origin, a common faith, and, we sincerely believe, a common +cause, urge us at the present moment to address you on the subject of +that system of negro slavery which still prevails so extensively, and +even under kindly-disposed masters, with such frightful results, in many +of the vast regions of the western world. + +"We will not dwell on the ordinary topics--on the progress of +civilization; on the advance of freedom every where; on the rights and +requirements of the nineteenth century; but we appeal to you very +seriously to reflect, and to ask counsel of God, how far such a state +of things is in accordance with his holy word, the inalienable rights of +immortal souls, and the pure and merciful spirit of the Christian +religion. + +"We do not shut our eyes to the difficulties, nay, the dangers, that +might beset the immediate abolition of that long-established system; we +see and admit the necessity of preparation for so great an event; but in +speaking of indispensable preliminaries, we cannot be silent on those +laws of your country which, in direct contravention of God's own law, +instituted in the time of man's innocency, deny, in effect, to the slave +the sanctity of marriage, with all its joys, rights, and obligations; +which separate, at the will of the master, the wife from the husband, +and the children from the parents. Nor can we be silent on that awful +system which, either by statute or by custom, interdicts to any race of +men, or any portion of the human family, education in the truths of the +gospel, and the ordinances of Christianity. + +"A remedy applied to these two evils alone would commence the +amelioration of their sad condition. We appeal to you, then, as sisters, +as wives, and as mothers, to raise your voices to your fellow-citizens, +and your prayers to God, for the removal of this affliction from the +Christian world. We do not say these things in a spirit of +self-complacency, as though our nation were free from the guilt it +perceives in others. We acknowledge with grief and shame our heavy share +in this great sin. We acknowledge that our forefathers introduced, nay, +compelled the adoption of slavery in those mighty colonies. We humbly +confess it before Almighty God; and it is because we so deeply feel, and +so unfeignedly avow, our own complicity, that we now venture to implore +your aid to wipe away our common crime, and our common dishonor." + + +CONGREGATIONAL UNION--MAY 13. + +The REV. JOHN ANGELL JAMES said, "I will only for one moment revert to +the resolution.[E] It does equal honor to the head, and the heart, and +the pen of the man who drew it. Beautiful in language, Christian in +spirit, noble and generous in design, it is just such a resolution as I +shall be glad to see emanate from the Congregational body, and find its +way across the Atlantic to America. Sir, we speak most powerfully, when, +though we speak firmly, we speak in kindness; and there is nothing in +that resolution that can, by possibility, offend the most fastidious +taste of any individual present, or any individual in the world, who +takes the same views of the evil of slavery, in itself, as we do. [Hear, +hear!] I shall not trespass long upon the attention of this audience, +for we are all impatient to hear Professor Stowe speak in his own name, +and in the name of that distinguished lady whom it is his honor and his +happiness to call his wife. [Loud cheers.] His station and his +acquirements, his usefulness in America, his connection with our body, +his representation of the Pilgrim Fathers who bore the light of +Christianity to his own country, all make him welcome here. [Cheers.] +But he will not be surprised if it is not on his own account merely that +we give him welcome, but also on account of that distinguished woman to +whom so marked an allusion has already been made. To her, I am sure, we +shall tender no praise, except the praise that comes to her from a +higher source than ours; from One who has, by the testimony of her own +conscience, echoing the voice from above, said to her, 'Well done, good +and faithful servant.' Long, sir, may it be before the completion of the +sentence; before the welcome shall be given to her, when she shall hear +him say, 'Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.' [Loud cheers.] But, +though we praise her not, or praise with chastened language, we would +say, Madam, we do thank you from the bottom of our hearts, [Hear, hear! +and immense cheering,] for rising up to vindicate our outraged humanity; +for rising up to expound the principles of our still nobler +Christianity. For my own part, it is not merely as an exposition of the +evils of slavery that makes me hail that wondrous volume to our country +and to the world; but it is the living exposition of the principles of +the gospel that it contains, and which will expound those principles to +many an individual who would not hear them from our lips, nor read them +from our pens. I maintain, that Uncle Tom is one of the most beautiful +imbodiments of the Christian religion that was ever presented in this +world. [Loud cheers.] And it is that which makes me take such delight in +it. I rejoice that she killed him. [Laughter and cheers.] He must die +under the slave lash--he must die, the martyr of slavery, and receive +the crown of martyrdom from both worlds for his testimony to the truth. +[Turning to Mrs. Stowe, Mr. James continued:] May the Lord God reward +you for what you have done; we cannot, madam--we cannot do it. [Cheers.] +We rejoice in the perfect assurance, in the full confidence, that the +arrow which is to pierce the system of slavery to the heart has been +shot, and shot by a female hand. Right home to the mark it will go. +[Cheers.] It is true, the monster may groan and struggle for a long +while yet; but die it will; die it must--under the potency of that book. +[Loud cheers.] It never can recover. It will be your satisfaction, +perhaps, in this world, madam, to see the reward of your labors. Heaven +grant that your life may be prolonged, until such time as you see the +reward of your labors in the striking off of the last fetter of the last +slave that still pollutes the soil of your beloved country. [Cheers.] +For beloved it is; and I should do dishonor to your patriotism if I did +not say it--beloved it is; and you are prepared to echo the sentiments, +by changing the terms, which we often hear in old England, and say,-- + + 'America! with all thy faults I love thee still!' + +But still more intense will be my affection, and pure and devoted the +ardor of my patriotism, when this greatest of all thine ills, this +darkest of the blots upon thine escutcheon, shall be wiped out forever." +[Loud applause.] + +The REV. PROFESSOR STOWE rose amid loud, and repeated cheers, and said, +"It is extremely painful for me to speak on the subject of American +slavery, and especially out of the borders of my own country. [Hear, +hear!] I hardly know whether painful or pleasurable emotions +predominate, when I look upon the audience to which I speak. I feel a +very near affinity to the Congregationalists of England, and especially +to the Congregationalists of London. [Cheers.] My ancestors were +residents of London; at least, from the time of Edward III.; they lived +in Cornhill and Leadenhall Street, and their bones lie buried in the old +church of St. Andrew Under-Shaft; and, in the year 1632, on account of +their nonconformity, they were obliged to seek refuge in the State of +Massachusetts; and I have always felt a love and a veneration for the +Congregational churches of England, more than for any other churches in +any foreign land. [Cheers.] I can only hope, that my conduct, as a +religious man and a minister of Christ, may not bring discredit upon my +ancestors, and upon the honorable origin which I claim. [Hear! and +cheers.] I wish to say, in the first place, that in the United States +the Congregational churches, as a body, are free from slavery. [Cheers.] +I do not think that there is a Congregational church in the United +States in which a member could openly hold a slave without subjecting +himself to discipline.[F] True, I have met with churches very deficient +in their duty on this subject, and I am afraid there are members of +Congregational churches who hold slaves secretly as security for debt in +the Southern States. At the last great Congregational Convention, held +in the city of Albany, the churches took a step on the subject of +slavery much in advance of any other great ecclesiastical body in the +country. I hope it is but the beginning of a series of measures that +will eventuate in the separation of this body from all connection with +slavery. [Hear, hear!] I am extensively acquainted with the United +States; I have lived in different sections of them; I am familiar with +people of all classes, and it is my solemn conviction, that nine tenths +of the people feel on the subject of slavery as you do;[G] [cheers;] +perhaps not so intensely, for familiarity with wrong deadens the +conscience; but their convictions are altogether as yours are; and in +the slaveholding states, and among slaveholders themselves, conscience +is against the system. [Cheers.] There is no legislative control of the +subject of slavery, except by slaveholding legislators themselves. +Congress has no right to do any thing in the premises. They violated the +constitution, as I believe, in passing the Fugitive Slave Act. [Cheers.] +I do not believe they had any right to pass it. [Hear, hear!] I stand +here not as the representative of any body whatever. I only represent +myself, and give you my individual convictions, that have been produced +by a long and painful connection with the subject. [Hear, hear!] As to +the resolution, I approve it entirely. Its sentiment and its spirit are +my own. [Cheers.] At the close of the revolutionary war, which separated +the colonies from the mother country, every state of the Union was a +slaveholding state; every colony was a slaveholding colony; and now we +have seventeen free states. [Cheers.] Slavery has been abolished in one +half of the original colonies, and it was declared that there should be +neither slavery nor the slave trade in any territory north and west of +the Ohio River; so that all that part is entirely free from actual +active participation in this curse, laying open a free territory that, I +think, must be ten times larger in extent than Great Britain. [Loud +cheers.] The State of Massachusetts was the first in which slavery +ceased. How did it cease? By an enactment of the legislature? Not at +all. They did not feel there was any necessity for such an enactment. +The Bill of Rights declared, that all men were born free, and that they +had an equal right to the pursuit of happiness and the acquisition of +property. In contradiction to that, there were slaves in every part of +Massachusetts; and some philanthropic individual advised a slave to +bring into court an action for wages against his master during all his +time of servitude. The action was brought, and the court decided that +the negro was entitled to wages during the whole period. [Cheers.] That +put an end to slavery in Massachusetts, and that decision ought to have +put an end to slavery in all states of the Union, because the law +applied to all. They abolished slavery in all the Northern States--in +Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, and Rhode Island; and it was +expected that the whole of the states would follow the example. When I +was a child, I never heard a lisp in defence of slavery. [Hear, hear, +hear!] Every body condemned it; all looked upon it as a great curse, and +all regarded it as a temporary evil, which would soon melt away before +the advancing light of truth. [Hear, hear!] But still there was great +injustice done to those who had been slaves. Every body regarded the +colored race as a degraded race; they were looked upon as inferior; they +were not upon terms of social equality. The only thing approaching it +was, that the colored children attended the schools with the white +children, and took their places on the same forms; but in all other +respects they were excluded from the common advantages and privileges of +society. In the places of worship they were seated by themselves; and +that difference always existed till these discussions came up, and they +began to feel mortified at their situation; and hence, wherever they +could, they had worship by themselves, and began to build places of +worship for themselves; and now you will scarcely find a colored person +occupying a seat in our places of worship. This stain still remains, and +it is but a type of the feeling that has been generated by slavery. This +ought to be known and understood, and this is just one of the +out-croppings of that inward feeling that still is doing great injustice +to the colored race; but there are symptoms of even that giving way. + +"I suppose you all remember Dr. Pennington--[cheers]--a colored minister +of great talent and excellence--[Hear, hear!]--though born a slave, and +for many years was a fugitive slave. [Hear, hear.] Dr. Pennington is a +member of the presbytery of New York; and within the last six months he +has been chosen moderator of that presbytery. [Loud cheers.] He has +presided in that capacity at the ordination of a minister to one of the +most respectable churches of that city. So far so good--we rejoice in +it, and we hope that the same sense of justice which has brought about +that change, so that a colored man can be moderator of a Presbytery in +the city of New York, will go on, till full justice is done to these +people, and until the grievous wrongs to which they have been subjected +will be entirely done away. [Cheers.] But still, what is the aspect +which the great American nation now presents to the Christian world? +Most sorry am I to say it; but it is just this--a Christian republic +upholding slavery--the only great nation on earth that does uphold it--a +great Christian republic, which, so far as the white people are +concerned, is the fairest and most prosperous nation on earth--that +great Christian republic using all the power of its government to secure +and to shield this horrible institution of negro slavery from +aggression; and there is no subject on which the government is so +sensitive--there is no institution which it manifests such a +determination to uphold. [Hear, hear!] And then the most melancholy fact +of all is, that the entire Christian church in that republic, with few +exceptions, are silent, or are apologists for this great wrong. [Hear, +hear!] It makes my heart bleed to think of it; and there are many +praying and weeping in secret places over this curse, whose voices are +not heard. There is such a pressure on the subject, it is so mixed up +with other things, that many sigh over it who know not what to say or +what to do in reference to it. And what kind of slavery is it? Is it +like the servitude under the Mosaic law, which is brought forward to +defend it? Nothing like it. Let me read you a little extract from a +correspondent of a New York paper, writing from Paris. I will read it, +because it is so graphic, and because I wish to show from what sources +you may best ascertain the real nature of American slavery. The +commercial newspapers, published by slaveholders, in slaveholding +states, will give you a far more graphic idea of what slavery actually +is, than you have from Uncle Tom's Cabin; for there the most horrible +features are softened. This writer says, 'And now a word on American +representatives abroad. I have already made my complaint of the troubles +brought on Americans here by that "incendiary" book of Mrs. Stowe's, +especially of the difficulty we have in making the French understand our +institutions. But there was one partially satisfactory way of answering +their questions, by saying that Uncle Tom's Cabin was a romance. And +this would have served the purpose pretty well, and spared our blushes +for the model republic, if the slaveholders themselves would only +withhold their testimony to the truth of what we were willing to let +pass as fiction. But they are worse than Mrs. Stowe herself, and their +writings are getting to be quoted here quite extensively. The _Moniteur_ +of to-day, and another widely-circulated journal that lies on my table, +both contain extracts from those extremely incendiary periodicals, _The +National Intelligencer_, of February 11, and _The N.O. Picayune_, of +February 17. The first gives an auctioneer's advertisement of the sale +of "a negro boy of eighteen years, a negro girl aged sixteen, three +horses, saddles, bridles, wheelbarrows," &c. Then follows an account of +the sale, which reads very much like the description, in the dramatic +_feuilletons_ here, of a famous scene in the _Case de l'Oncle Tom_, as +played at the _Ambigu Comique_. The second extract is the advertisement +of "our esteemed fellow-citizen, Mr. M.C.G.," who presents his "respects +to the inhabitants of O. and the neighbouring parishes," and "informs +them that he keeps a fine pack of dogs trained to catch negroes," &c. It +is painful to think that there are men in our country who will write, +and that there are others found to publish, such tales as these about +our peculiar institution. I put it to Mr. G., if he thinks it is +patriotic. As a "fellow-citizen," and in his private relations, G. may +be an estimable man, for aught I know, a Christian and a scholar, and an +ornament to the social circles of O. and the neighboring parishes. But +as an author, G. becomes public property, and a fair theme for +criticism; and in that capacity, I say G. is publishing the shame of his +country. I call him G., without the prefatory Mister, not from any +personal disrespect, much as I am grieved at his course as a writer, but +because he is now breveted for immortality, and goes down to posterity, +like other immortals, without titular prefix.' [Cheers.] Now, here is +where you get the true features of slavery. What is the reason that the +churches, as a general thing, are silent--that some of them are +apologists, and that some, in the extreme Southern States, actually +defend slavery, and say it is a good institution, and sanctioned by +Scripture? It is simply this--the overwhelming power of the slave +system; and whence comes that overwhelming power? It comes from its +great influence in the commercial world. [Hear!] Until the time that +cotton became so extensively an article of export, there was not a word +said in defence of slavery, as far as I know, in the United States. In +1818, the Presbyterian General Assembly passed resolutions unanimously +on the subject of slavery, to which this resolution is mildness itself; +and not a man could be found to say one word against it. But cotton +became a most valuable article of export. In one form and another, it +became intimately associated with the commercial affairs of the whole +country. The northern manufacturers were intimately connected with this +cotton trade, and more than two thirds raised in the United States has +been sold in Great Britain; and it is this cotton trade that supports +the whole system. That you may rely upon. The sugar and rice, so far as +the United States are concerned, are but small interests. The system is +supported by this cotton trade, and within two days I have seen an +article written with vigor in the _Charleston Mercury_, a southern paper +of great influence, saying, that the slaveholders are becoming isolated, +by the force of public opinion, from the rest of the world. They are +beginning to be regarded as inhuman tyrants, and the slaves the victims +of their cruelty; but, says the writer, just so long as you take our +cotton, we shall have our slaves. Now, you are as really involved in +this matter as we are--[Hear, hear!]--and if you have no other right to +speak on the subject, you have a right to speak from being yourselves +very active participators in the wrong. You have a great deal of feeling +on the subject, honorable and generous feeling, I know--an earnest, +philanthropic, Christian feeling; but if you have nothing to do, that +feeling will all evaporate, and leave an apathy behind. Now, here is +something to be done. It may be a small beginning, but, as you go +forward, Providence will develop other plans, and the more you do, the +further you will see. I am happy to know that a beginning has been made. +There are indications that a way has been so opened in providence that +this exigency can be met. Within the last few years, the Chinese have +begun to emigrate to the western parts of the United States. They will +maintain themselves on small wages; and wherever they come into actual +competition with slave labor, it cannot compete with them. Very many of +the slaveholders have spoken of this as a very remarkable indication. If +slavery had been confined to the original slave states, as it was +intended, slavery could not have lived. It was the intention that it +should never go beyond those boundaries. Had this been the case, it +would increase the number of slaves so much that they would have been +valueless as articles of property. I must say this for America, that the +slaves increase in the slave states faster than the white people; and it +shows that their physical condition is better than was that of the +slaves at the West Indies, or in Cuba, where the number actually +diminished. We must have more slave territories to make our slaves +valuable, and there was the origin of that iniquitous Mexican war, +whereby was added the vast territory of Texas; and then it was the +intention to make California a slave state; but, I am happy to say, it +has been received into the Union as a free state, and God grant it may +continue so. [Hear, hear!] What has been the effect of this expansion of +slave territory? It has doubled the value of slaves. Since I can +remember, a strong slave man would sell for about four hundred or six +hundred dollars--that is, about one hundred pounds; but now, during the +present season, I have known instances in which a slave man has been +sold for two hundred and thirty pounds. There are more slaves raised in +Virginia and Maryland than they can use in those states in labor, and, +therefore, they sell them at one hundred, two hundred, or three hundred +pounds, as the case may be, for cash. All that Mrs. Tyler intimates in +that letter about slavery in America, and the impression it is +calculated and intended to convey, that they treat their slaves so well, +and do not separate their families, and so forth, is all mere humbug. +[Laughter and cheers.] It is well known that Virginia has more profit +from selling negroes than from any other source. The great sources of +profit are tobacco and negroes, and they derive more from the sale of +negroes than tobacco. You see the temptation this gives to avarice. +Suppose there is a man with no property, except fifteen or twenty negro +men, whom he can sell, each one for two hundred pounds, cash; and he has +as many negro women, whom he can sell for one hundred and fifty pounds, +cash, and the children for one hundred pounds each: here is a temptation +to avarice; and it is calculated to silence the voice of conscience; and +it is the expansion of the slave territory, and the immense mercantile +value of the cotton, that has brought so powerful an influence to bear +on the United States in favor of slavery. [Hear, hear.] Now, as to free +labor coming into competition with slave labor: You will see, that when +the price of slaves is so enormous, it requires an immense outlay to +stock a plantation. A good plantation would take two hundred, or three +hundred hands. Now, say for every hand employed on this plantation, the +man must pay on an average two hundred pounds, which is not exorbitant +at the present time. If he has to pay at this rate, what an immense +outlay of capital to begin with, and how great the interest on that sum +continually accumulating! And then there is the constant exposure to +loss. These plantation negroes are very careless of life, and often +cholera gets among them, and sweeps off twenty-five or thirty in a few +days; and then there is the underground railroad, and, with all the +precautions that can be taken, it continues to work. And now you see +what an immense risk, and exposure to loss, and a vast outlay of +capital, there is in connection with this system. But, if a man takes a +cotton farm, and can employ Chinese laborers, he can get them for one or +two shillings a day, and they will do the work as well, if not better +than negroes, and there is no outlay or risk. [Hear, hear!]. If good +cotton fields can be obtained, as they may in time, here is an opening +which will tend to weaken the slave system. If Christians will +investigate this subject, and if philanthropists generally will pursue +these inquiries in an honest spirit, it is not long before we shall see +a movement throughout the civilized world, and the upholders of slavery +will feel, where they feel most acutely--in their pockets. Until +something of this kind is done, I despair of accomplishing any great +amount of good by simple appeals to the conscience and right principle. +There are a few who will listen to conscience and a sense of right, but +there are unhappily only a few. I suppose, though you have good +Christians here, you have many who will put their consciences in their +pockets. [Hear, hear!] I have known cases of this kind. There was a +young lady in the State of Virginia who was left an orphan, and she had +no property except four negro slaves, who were of great commercial +value. She felt that slavery was wrong, and she could not hold them. She +gave them their freedom--[cheers]--and supported herself by teaching a +small school. [Cheers.] Now, notwithstanding all the unfavorable things +we see--notwithstanding the dark cloud that hangs over the country, +there are hopeful indications that God has not forgotten us, and that he +will carry on this work till it is accomplished. [Hear!] But it will be +a long while first, I fear; and we must pray, and labor, and persevere; +for he that perseveres to the end, and he only, receives the crown. Now, +there are very few in the United States who undertake to defend slavery, +and say it is right. But the great majority, even of professors of +religion, unite to shield it from aggression. 'It is the law of the +land,' they say, 'and we must submit to it.' It seems a strange doctrine +to come from the lips of the descendants of the Puritans, those who +resisted the law of the land because those laws were against their +conscience, and finally went over to that new world, in order that they +might enjoy the rights of conscience. How would it have been with the +primitive church if this doctrine had prevailed? There never would have +been any Christian church, for that was against the laws of the land. In +regard to the distribution of the Bible, in many states the laws +prohibit the teaching of slaves, and the distribution of the Bible is +not allowed among them. The American Bible Society does not itself take +the responsibility of this. It leaves the whole matter to the local +societies in the several states, and it is the local societies that take +the responsibility. Well, why should we obey the law of the land in +South Carolina on this subject, and disobey the law of the land in +Italy? But our missionary societies and Bible societies send Bibles to +other parts of the world, and never ask if it is contrary to the law of +these lands, and if it is, they push it all the more zealously. They +send Bibles to Italy and Spain, and yet the Bible is prohibited by those +governments. The American Tract Society and the American Sunday School +Union allow none of their issues to utter a syllable against slavery. +They expunge even from their European books every passage of this kind, +and excuse themselves by the law and the public sentiment. So are the +people taught. There has been a great deal said on the subject of +influence from abroad; but those who talk in that way interfered with +the persecution of the Madiai, and remonstrated with the Tuscan +government. We have had large meetings on the subject in New York, and +those who refuse the Bible to the slave took part in that meeting, and +did not seem to think there was any inconsistency in their conduct. + +"The Christian church knows no distinction of nations. In that church +there is neither Greek nor Jew, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but +all are one in Christ; and whatever affects one part of the body affects +the other, and the whole Christian church every where is bound to help, +and encourage, and rebuke, as the case may require. The Christian church +is every where bound to its corresponding branch in every other country; +and thus you have, not only a right, but it is your duty, to consider +the case of the American slave with just the same interest with which +you consider the cause of the native Hindoo, when you send out your +missionaries there, or with which you consider Madagascar; and to +express yourselves in a Christian spirit, and in a Christian way +continually, till you see that your admonitions have had a suitable +influence. I do not doubt what you say, that you will receive with great +pleasure men who come from the United States to promote the cause of +temperance, and you may have the opportunity of showing your sincerity +before long; and the manner in which you receive them will have a very +important bearing on the subject of slavery. [Cheers.] I have not the +least doubt you will hail with joy those who will come across the +Atlantic to advance and promote still more earnestly those noble +institutions, the ragged schools and the ragged churches. [Cheers.] The +men who want to do good at home are the men who do good abroad; and the +same spirit of Christian liberality that leads you to feel for the +American slave will lead you to care for your own poor, and those in +adverse circumstances in your own land, I would ask, Is it possible, +then, that admonition and reproof given in a Christian spirit, and by a +Christian heart, can fail to produce a right influence on a Christian +spirit and a Christian heart? I think the thing is utterly impossible; +and that if such admonitions as are contained in the resolution, +conceived in such a spirit, and so kindly expressed--if they are not +received in a Christian spirit, it is because the Christian spirit has +unhappily fled. I can answer for myself, at least, and many of my +brethren, that it will be so; and, so far from desiring you to withhold +your expressions on account of any bad feeling that they might excite, I +wish you to reiterate them, and reiterate them in the same spirit in +which they are given in this resolution; for I believe that these +expressions of impatience and petulance represent the feelings of very +few. Who is it that always speaks first? The angry man, and it comes out +at once; but the wise man keeps it in till afterwards; and it will not +be long before you will find, that whatever you say in a Christian +spirit will be responded to on the other side of the water. Now, I +believe our churches have neglected their duty on this subject, and are +still neglecting it. Many do not seem to know what their duty is. Yet I +believe them to be good, conscientious men, and men who will do their +duty when they know what it is. Take, for example, the American Board of +Foreign Missions. There are not better men, or more conscientious men, +on the face of the earth, or men more sincerely desirous of doing their +duty; yet, in some things, I believe they are mistaken. I think it would +be better to throw over the very few churches connected with the Board +which are slaveholding, than to endeavor to sustain them, and to have +all this pressure of responsibility still upon them. But yet they are +pursuing the course which they conscientiously think to be right. +Christian admonition will not be lost upon them.[H] I will say the same +of the American Home Missionary Society. They have little to do with +slavery, as I have already remarked. Many think they ought not to say +any thing upon the subject, because they cannot do so without weakening +their influence. But then this question comes: If good men do not speak, +who will?--[Hear, hear!]--and, as our Savior said in regard to the +children that shouted, Hosannah, 'If these should hold their peace, the +stones would immediately cry out.' It is in consequence of their silence +that stones have begun to cry out, and they rebuke the silence and +apathy of good men; and this is made an argument against religion, which +has had effect with unthinking people; so I think it absolutely +necessary that men in the church, on that very ground, should speak out +their mind on this great subject at whatever risk--[cheers]--and they +must take the consequences. In due time God will prosper the right, and +in due time the fetters will fall from every slave, and the black man +will have the same privileges as the white. [Applause.]" + + +ROYAL HIGHLAND SCHOOL SOCIETY DINNER, AT THE FREEMASON'S TAVERN, +LONDON--MAY 14. + +The Chairman, Sir ARCHIBALD ALISON, gave "The health of her Grace the +Duchess of Sutherland, and the noble patronesses of the Society," which +was received with great applause. It was extremely gratifying, he said, +to find a lady, belonging to one of the most ancient and noblest +families of the kingdom, displaying so great an interest in their +institution. [Cheers.] Not the least of their obligations to her Grace +was the opportunity she had given them to offer their respects to a +lady, remarkable alike for her genius and her philanthropy, who had come +from across the Atlantic, and who, by her philanthropic exertions in the +cause of negro emancipation, had enlisted the feelings and called forth +the sympathies of thousands and tens of thousands on both sides of the +ocean. [Tremendous cheering.] She had shown that the genius, and +talents, and energies, which such a cause inspired, had created a +species of freemasonry throughout the world; it had set aside +nationalities, and bound two nations together which the broad Atlantic +could not sever; and created a union of sentiment and purpose which he +trusted would continue till the great work of negro emancipation had +been finally accomplished. [Cheers.] + +PROFESSOR STOWE responded to the allusion which had been made to Mrs. +Stowe, and was greeted with hearty applause. He said he had read in his +childhood the writings of Sir Walter Scott, and thus became intensely +interested in all that pertained to Scotland. [Cheers.] He had read, +more recently, his Life of Napoleon, and also Sir Archibald Alison's +History of Europe. [Protracted cheers.] But he certainly never expected +to be called upon to address such an assembly as that, and under such +circumstances. Nothing could exceed the astonishment which was felt by +himself and Mrs. Stowe at the cordiality of their reception in every +part of Great Britain, from persons of every rank in life. [Cheers.] +Every body seemed to have read her book. [Hear, hear! and loud cheers.] +Everyone seemed to have been deeply interested, [cheers,] and disposed +to return a full-hearted homage to the writer. But all she claimed +credit for was truth, and honesty, and earnestness of purpose. He had +only to add that he cordially thanked the Royal Highland School Society +for the kindness which induced them to invite him and Mrs. Stowe to be +present that evening. [Cheers.] The work in which the society was +engaged was one that they both held dear, and in which they felt the +deepest interest, inasmuch as that object was to promote the education +of youth among those whose poverty rendered them unable to provide the +means of education for themselves. [Hear, hear!] In such works as that +they had themselves for most of their lives been diligently engaged. +[Cheers.] + + +ANTISLAVERY SOCIETY, EXETER HALL--MAY 16. + +THE EARL OF SHAFTESBURY, who, on coming forward to open the proceedings, +was received with much applause, spoke as follows: "We are assembled +here this night to protest, with the utmost intensity, and with all the +force which language can command, against the greatest wrong that the +wickedness of man ever perpetrated upon his fellow-man--[loud cheers]--a +wrong which, great in all ages--great in heathen times--great in all +countries--great even under heathen sentiments--is indescribably +monstrous in Christian days, and exercised as it is, not unfrequently, +over Christian people. [Hear!] It is surely remarkable, and exceedingly +disgraceful to a century and a generation so boastful of its progress, +and of the institution of so many Bible societies, with so many +professions and preachments of Christianity--with so many declarations +of the spiritual value of man before God--after so many declarations of +this equality of every man in the sight of his fellow-man--that we +should be assembled here this evening to protest against the conduct of +a mighty and a Protestant people, who, in the spirit of the Romish +Babylon, which they had renounced, resort to her most abominable +practices--making merchandise of the temples of God, and trafficking in +the bodies and souls of men. [Cheers.] We are not here to proclaim and +maintain our own immaculate purity. We are not here to stand forward and +say, 'I am holier than thou.' We have confessed, and that openly, and +freely, and unreservedly, our share, our heavy share, in by-gone days, +of vast wickedness; we have, we declare it again, and we had our deep +remorse. We sympathize with the preponderating bulk of the American +people; we acknowledge and we feel the difficulties which beset them; we +rejoice and we believe in their good intentions; but we have no +patience--I at least have none--with those professed leaders, be they +political or be they clerical, who mislead the people--with those who, +blasphemously resting slavery on the Holy Scriptures, desecrate their +pulpits by the promulgation of doctrines better suited to the synagogue +of Satan--[cheers]--nor with that gentleman who, the greatest officer of +the greatest republic in the whole world, in pronouncing an inaugural +address to the assembled multitudes, maintains the institution of +slavery; and--will you believe it?--invokes the Almighty God to maintain +those rights, and thus sanction the violation of his own laws!--[Cries +of 'Shame!'] This is, indeed, a dismal prospect for those who tremble at +human power; but we have this consolation: Is it not said that, 'When +the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift +up a standard against him?' [Hear, hear!] He has done so now, and a most +wonderful and almost inspired protector has arisen for the suffering of +this much injured race. [Loud cheers.] Feeble as her sex, but +irresistible as virtue and as truth, she will prove to her adversary, +and to ours, that such boasting shall not be for his honor, 'for the +Lord will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman.' [Hear, hear! and loud +cheers.] Now, I ask you this: Is there one of you who believes that the +statements of that marvellous book to which we have alluded present an +exaggerated picture?--[Tremendous cries of 'No, no.'] Do they not know, +say what they will, that the truth is not fully stated? [Hear, hear!] +The reality is worse than the fiction. [Hear, hear!] But, apart from +this, there is our solemn declaration that the vileness of the principle +is at once exhibited in the mere notion of slavery, and the atrocities +of it are the natural and almost inevitable consequences of the +profession and exercise of absolute and irresponsible power. [Hear, +hear!] But do you doubt the fact? Look to the document. I will quote to +you from this book. I have never read any thing more strikingly +illustrative or condemnatory of the system we are here to denounce. Here +is the judgment pronounced by one of the judges in North Carolina. It is +impossible to read this judgment, however terrible the conclusion, +without feeling convinced that the man who pronounced it was a man of a +great mind, and, in spite of the law he was bound to administer, a man +of a great heart. [Hear, hear!] Hear what he says. The case was this: It +was a 'case of appeal,' in which the defendant had hired a slave woman +for a year. During this time she committed some slight offence, for +which the defendant undertook to chastise her. After doing so he shot at +her as she was running away. The question then arose, was he justified +in using that amount of coercion? and whether the privilege of shooting +was not confined to the actual proprietor? The case was argued at some +length, and the court, in pronouncing judgment, began by deploring that +any judge should ever be called upon to decide such a case, but he had +to administer the law, and not to make it. The judge said, 'With +whatever reluctance, therefore, the court is bound to express the +opinion, that the dominion over a slave in Carolina has not, as it has +been argued, any analogy with the authority of a tutor over a pupil, of +a master over an apprentice, or of a parent over a child. The court does +not recognize these applications. There is no likeness between them. +They are in opposition to each other, and there is an impassable gulf +between them. The difference is that which exists between freedom and +slavery--[Hear, hear!]--and a greater difference cannot be imagined. In +the one case, the end in view is the happiness of the youth, born to +equal rights with the tutor, whose duty it is to train the young to +usefulness by moral and intellectual instruction. If they will not +suffice, a moderate chastisement maybe administered. But with slavery it +is far otherwise.' Mark these words, for they contain the whole thing. +But with slavery it is far otherwise. The end is the profit of the +master, and the poor object is one doomed, in his own person, and in his +posterity, to live without knowledge, and without capacity to attain any +thing which he may call his own. He has only to labor, that another may +reap the fruits.' [Hear, hear!] Mark! this is from the sacred bench of +justice, pronounced by one of the first intellects in America! 'There is +nothing else which can operate to produce the effect; the power of the +master must be absolute, to render the submission of the slave perfect. +[Hear, hear!] It is inherent in the relation of master and slave;' and +then he adds those never-to-be-forgotten words, 'We cannot allow the +right of the master to come under discussion in the courts of justice. +The slave must be made sensible that there is no appeal from his master, +and that his master's power is in no instance usurped; that these rights +are conferred by the laws of man, at least, if not by the law of God.' +[Loud cries of 'Shame, shame!'] This is the mode in which we are to +regard these two classes of beings, both created by the same God, and +both redeemed by the same Savior as ourselves, and destined to the same +immortality! The judgment, on appeal, was reversed; but, God be praised; +there is another appeal, and that appeal we make to the highest of all +imaginable courts, where God is the judge, where mercy is the advocate, +and where unerring truth will pronounce the decision![Protracted +cheering.] There are some who are pleased to tell us that there is an +inferiority in the race! That is untrue. [Cheers.] But we are not here +to inquire whether our black brethren will become Shakspeares or +Herschels. [Hear, hear!] I ask, are they immortal beings? [Great +applause.] Do our adversaries, say no? I ask them, then, to show me one +word in the handwriting of God which has thus levelled them with the +brute beasts. [Hear, hear!] Let us bear in mind those words of our +blessed Savior--'Whosoever shall offend one of these little ones who +believe in me, it were better that a millstone were hanged about his +neck, and that he were cast into the depths of the sea.' [Loud cheers.] +Now, then, what is our duty? Is it to stand still? Yes! when we receive +the command from the same authority that said to the sun, Stand over +Gibeon! [Loud cheers.] Then, and not till then, will we stand still. +[Renewed cheers.] Are we to listen to the craven and miserable talk +about 'doing more harm than good'? [Hear, hear!] This was an argument +which would have checked every noble enterprise which has been +undertaken since the world began. It would have strangled Wilberforce, +and checked the very Exodus itself from the house of bondage in Egypt. +[Hear, hear!] Out on all such craven talk! [Cheers.] Slavery is a +mystery, and so is all sin, and we must fight against it; and, by the +blessing of God, we will. [Loud cheers.] We must pray to Almighty God, +that we and our American brethren--who seem now to be the sole +depositories of the Protestant truth, and of civil and religious +liberty, may be as one. [Cheers.] We are feeble, if hostile; but, if +united, we are the arbiters of the world. [Cheers.] Let us join together +for the temporal and spiritual good of our race." + +PROFESSOR STOWE then came forward, and was received with unbounded +demonstrations of applause. When the cheering had subsided, he said "he +felt utterly exhausted by the heat and excitement of the meeting, and +should therefore be glad to be excused from saying a single word; +however, he would utter a few thoughts. The following was the resolution +which he had to submit to the meeting: 'That with a view to the +correction of public sentiment on this subject in slaveholding +communities, it is of the first importance that those who are earnest in +condemnation of slavery should observe consistency; and, therefore, that +it is their duty to encourage the development of the natural resources +of countries where slavery does not exist, and the soil of which is +adapted to the growth of products--especially of cotton--now partially +or chiefly raised by slave labor; and though the extinction of slavery +is less to be expected from a diminished demand for slave produce than +from the moral effects of a steadfast abhorrence of slavery itself, and +from an unwavering and consistent opposition to it, this meeting would +earnestly recommend, that in all cases where it is practicable, a +decided preference should be given to the products of free labor, by all +who enter their protest against slavery, so that at least they +themselves may be clear of any participation in the guilt of the system, +and be thus morally strengthened in their condemnation of it.' At the +close of the revolutionary war, all the states of America were +slaveholding states. In Massachusetts, some benevolent white man caused +a slave to try an action for wages in a court of justice. He succeeded, +and the consequence was, that slavery fell in Massachusetts. It was then +universally acknowledged that slavery was a sin and shame, and ought to +be abolished, and it was expected that it would be soon abolished in +every state of the Union. Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Madison, and Benjamin +Franklin would not allow the word 'slave' to occur in the constitution, +and Mr. Edwards, from the pulpit, clearly and broadly denounced slavery. +And when he (Professor Stowe) was a boy, in Massachusetts the negro +children were admitted to the same schools with the whites. Although +there was some prejudice of color then, yet it was not so strong as at +present. In 1818, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian church in the +United States passed, resolutions against slavery far stronger than +those passed at the meeting this evening, and every man, north and +south, voted for them. What had caused the change? It was the +profitableness of the cotton trade. It was that which had spread the +chains of slavery over the Union, and silenced the church upon the +subject. He had been asked, what right had Great Britain to interfere? +Why, Great Britain took four fifths of the cotton of America, and +therefore sustained four fifths of the slavery. That gave them a right +to interfere. [Hear, hear!] He admitted that our participation in the +guilt was not direct, but without the cotton, trade of Great Britain +slavery would have been abolished long ago, for the American +manufacturers consumed but one fifth of all the cotton grown in the +country. The conscience of the cotton growers was talked of; but had the +cotton consumer no conscience? [Cheers.] It seemed to him that the +British public had more direct access to the consumer than to the grower +of cotton." Professor Stowe then read an extract from a paper published +in Charleston, South Carolina, showing the influence of the American +cotton trade on the slavery question. "The price of cotton regulated the +price of slaves, who were now worth an average of two hundred pounds. A +cotton plantation required in some cases two hundred, and in others four +hundred slaves. This would give an idea of the capital needed. With free +labor there was none of this outlay--there was none of those losses by +the cholera, and the 'underground railroad,' to which the slave owners +were subjected. [Hear, hear!] The Chinese had come over in large +numbers, and could be hired for small wages, on which they managed to +live well in their way. If people would encourage free-grown cotton, +that would be the strongest appeal they could make to the slaveholder. +There were three ways of abolishing slavery. First, by a bloody +revolution, which few would approve. [Hear, hear!] Secondly, by +persuading slaveholders of the wrong they commit; but this would have +little effect so long as they bought their cotton. [Hear, hear!] And the +third and most feasible way was, by making slave labor unprofitable, as +compared with free labor. [Hear!] When the Chinese first began to +emigrate to California, it was predicted that slavery would be 'run out' +that way. He hoped it might be so. [Cheers.] The reverend gentleman then +reverted to his previous visit to this country, seventeen years ago, and +described the rapid strides which had been made in the work of +education--especially the education of the poor--in the interval. It was +most gratifying to him, and more easily seen by him than it would be by +us, with whom the change had been gradual. He had been told in America +that the English abolitionists were prompted by jealousy of America, but +he had found that to be false. The Christian feeling which had dictated +efforts on behalf of ragged schools and factory children, and the +welfare of the poor and distressed of every kind, had caused the same +Christian hearts to throb for the American slave. It was that Christian +philanthropy which received all men as brethren--children of the same +father, and therefore he had great hopes of success. [Cheers.]" + + * * * * * + +My remarks on the cotton business of Britain were made with entire +sincerity, and a single-hearted desire to promote the antislavery cause. +They are sentiments which I had long entertained, and which I had taken +every opportunity to express with the utmost freedom from the time of my +first landing in Liverpool, the great cotton mart of England, and where, +if any where, they might be supposed capable of giving offence; yet no +exception was taken to them, so far as I know, till delivered in Exeter +Hall. There they were heard by some with surprise, and by others with +extreme displeasure. I was even called _proslavery_, and ranked with +Mrs. Julia Tyler, for frankly speaking the truth, under circumstances of +great temptation to ignore it. + +Still I have the satisfaction of knowing that both my views and my +motives were rightly understood and properly appreciated by +large-hearted and clear-headed philanthropists, like the Earl of +Shaftesbury and Joseph Sturge, and very fairly represented and commented +upon by such religious and secular papers as the Christian Times, the +British Banner, the London Daily News and Chronicle; and even the +_thundering political_ Times seemed disposed, in a half-sarcastic way, +to admit that I was more than half right. + +But it is most satisfactory of all to know that the best of the British +abolitionists are now acting, promptly and efficiently, in accordance +with those views, and are determined to develop the resources of the +British empire for the production of cotton by free labor. The thing is +practicable, and not of very difficult accomplishment. It is furthermore +absolutely essential to the success of the antislavery cause; for now +the great practical leading argument for slavery is, _Without slavery +you can have no cotton, and cotton you must and will have_. The latest +work that I have read in defence of slavery (Uncle Tom in Paris, +Baltimore, 1854) says, (pp. 56-7,) "_Of the cotton which supplies the +wants of the civilized world, the south produces 86 per cent.; and +without slave labor experience has shown that the cotton plant cannot be +cultivated_." + +How the matter is viewed by sagacious and practical minds in Britain, is +clear from the following sentences, taken from the National Era:-- + +"COTTON is KING.--Charles Dickens, in a late number of his Household +Words, after enumerating the striking facts of cotton, says,-- + +"'Let any social or physical convulsion visit the United States, and +England would feel the shock from Land's End to John o'Groat's. The +lives of nearly two millions of our countrymen are dependent upon the +cotton crops of America; their destiny may be said, without any sort of +hyperbole, to hang upon a thread. + +"'Should any dire calamity befall the land of cotton, a thousand of our +merchant ships would rot idly in dock; ten thousand mills must stop +their busy looms, and two million mouths would starve for lack of food +to feed them.' + +"How many non-slaveholders elsewhere are thus interested in the products +of slaves? Is it not worthy the attention of genuine philanthropists to +inquire whether cotton cannot be profitably cultivated by free labor?" + + +SOIRÉE AT WILLIS'S ROOMS--MAY 25. + +MR. JOSEPH STURGE took the chair, announcing that he did so in the +absence of the Earl of Shaftesbury, who was prevented from attending. + +It was announced that letters had been received from the Duke of +Newcastle and the Earls of Carlisle and Shaftesbury, expressing their +sympathy with the object of the meeting, and their regret at being +unable to attend. + +The Secretary, SAMUEL BOWLEY, Esq., of Gloucester, then read the +address, which was as follows:-- + +"MADAM: It is with feelings of the deepest interest that the committee +of the British and Foreign Antislavery Society, on behalf of themselves +and of the society they represent, welcome the gifted authoress of Uncle +Tom's Cabin to the shores of Great Britain. + +"As humble laborers in the cause of negro emancipation, we hail, with +emotions more easily imagined than described, the appearance of that +remarkable work, which has awakened a world-wide sympathy on behalf of +the suffering negro, and called forth a burst of honest indignation +against the atrocious system of slavery, which, we trust, under the +divine blessing, will, at no distant period, accomplish its entire +abolition. We are not insensible to those extraordinary merits of Uncle +Tom's Cabin, as a merely literary production, which have procured for +its talented authoress such universal commendation and enthusiastic +applause; but we feel it to be our duty to refer rather to the Christian +principles and earnest piety which pervade its interesting pages, and to +express our warmest desire, we trust we may say heartfelt prayer, that +He who bestowed upon you the power and the grace to write such a work +may preserve and bless you amid all your honours, and enable you, under +a grateful and humble sense of his abundant goodness, to give him all +the glory. + +"We rejoice to find that the great principles upon which our society is +based are so fully and so cordially recognized by yourself and your +beloved husband and brother--First, that personal slavery, in all its +varied forms, is a direct violation of the blessed, precepts of the +gospel, and therefore a sin in the sight of God; and secondly, that +every victim of this unjust and sinful system is entitled to immediate +and unconditional freedom. For, however we might acquiesce in the course +of a nation which, under a sense of its participation in the guilt of +slavery, should share the pecuniary loss, if such there were, of its +immediate abolition, yet we repudiate the right to demand compensation +for human flesh and blood, as (to employ the emphatic words of Lord +Brougham) we repudiate and abhor 'the wild and guilty fantasy that man +can hold property in man.' And we do not hesitate to express our +conviction, strengthened by the experience of emancipation in our own +colonies, that on the mere ground of social or political expediency, the +immediate termination of slavery would be far less dangerous and far +less injurious than, any system of compromise, or any attempt at gradual +emancipation. + +"Let it be borne in mind, however,--and we record it with peculiar +interest on the present occasion,--that it was the pen of a woman that +first publicly enunciated the imperative duty of immediate emancipation. +Amid vituperation and ridicule, and, far worse, the cold rebuke of +Christian friends, Mrs. Elizabeth Heyrick boldly sent forth the +thrilling tract which taught the abolitionists of Great Britain this +lesson of justice and truth; and we honor her memory for her deeds. +Again we are indebted to the pen of a woman for pleading yet more +powerfully the cause of justice to the slave; and again we have to +admire and honor the Christian heroism which has enabled you, dear +madam, to brave the storm of public opinion, and to bear the frowns of +the church in your own land, while you boldly sent forth your matchless +volume to teach more widely and more attractively the same righteous +lesson. + +"We desire to feel grateful for the measure of success that has crowned +the advocacy of these sound antislavery principles in our own country; +but we cannot but feel, that as regards the continuance of slavery in +America, we have cause for humiliation and shame in the existence of the +melancholy fact that a large proportion of the fruits of the bitter toil +and suffering of the slaves in the western world are used to minister to +the comfort and the luxury of our own population. When this anomaly of a +country's putting down slavery by law on the one hand, and supporting it +by its trade and commerce on the other, will be removed, it is not for +us to predict; but we are conscious that our position is such as should +at least dissipate every sentiment of self-complacency, and make us +feel, both nationally and individually, how deep a responsibility still +rests upon us to wash our own hands of this iniquity, and to seek by +every legitimate means in our power to rid the world of this fearful +institution. + +"True Christian philanthropy knows no geographical limits, no +distinctions of race or color; but wherever it sees its fellow-man the +victim of suffering and oppression, it seeks to alleviate his sorrows, +or drops a tear of sympathy over the afflictions which it has not the +power to remove. We cannot but believe that these enlarged and generous +sympathies will be aroused and strengthened in the hearts of thousands +and tens of thousands of all classes who have wept over the touching +pages of Uncle Tom's Cabin. We have marked the rapid progress of its +circulation from circle to circle, and from country to country, with +feelings of thrilling interest; for we trust, by the divine blessing +upon the softening influence and Christian sentiments it breathes, it +will be made the harbinger of a better and brighter day for the +happiness and the harmony of the human family. The facilities for +international intercourse which we now possess, while they rapidly tend +to remove those absurd jealousies which have so long existed between the +nations of the earth, are daily increasing the power of public opinion +in the world at large, which is so well described by one of our leading +statesmen in these forcible words: 'It is quite true, it may be said, +what are opinions against armies? Opinions, if they are founded in truth +and justice, will in the end prevail against the bayonets of infantry, +the fire of artillery, and the charges of cavalry.' Responding most +cordially to these sentiments, we rejoice with thanksgiving to God that +you, whom we now greet and welcome as our dear and honored friend, have +been enabled to exemplify their beauty and their truth; for it is our +firm conviction that the united powers of Europe, with all their +military array, could not accomplish what you have done, through the +medium of public opinion, for the overthrow of American slavery. + +"The glittering steel of the warrior, though steeped in the tyrant's +blood, would be weak when compared with a woman's pen dipped in the milk +of human kindness, and softened by the balm of Christian love. The words +that have drawn a tear from the eye of the noble, and moistened the +dusky cheek of the hardest sons of toil, shall sink into the heart and +weaken the grasp of the slaveholder, and crimson with a blush of shame +many an American citizen who has hitherto defended or countenanced by +his silence this bitter reproach on the character and constitution of +his country. + +"To the tender mercies of Him who died to save their immortal souls we +commend the downcast slaves for freedom and protection, and, in the +heart-cheering belief that you have been raised up as an honored +instrument in God's hand to hasten the glorious work of their +emancipation, we crave that his blessing, as well as the blessing of him +that is ready to perish, may abundantly rest upon you and yours. With +sentiments of the highest esteem and respect, dear madam, we +affectionately subscribe ourselves your friends and fellow-laborers." + +PROFESSOR STOWE was received with prolonged cheering. He said, "Besides +the right which I have, owing to the relationship subsisting between us, +to answer for the lady whom you have so honored, I may claim a still +greater right in my sympathy for her efforts. [Hear!] We are perfectly +agreed in every point with regard to the nature of slavery, and the best +means of getting rid of it. I have been frequently called on to address +public meetings since I have been on these shores, and though under +circumstances of great disadvantage, and generally with little time, if +any, for preparation, still the very great kindness which has been +manifested to Mrs. Stowe and to myself, and to our country, afflicted as +it is with this great evil, has enabled me to bear a burden which +otherwise I should have found insupportable. But of all the addresses we +have received, kind and considerate as they have all been, I doubt +whether one has so completely expressed the feelings and sympathies of +our own hearts as the one we have just heard. It is precisely the +expressions of our own thoughts and feelings on the whole subject of +slavery. As this is probably the last time I shall have an opportunity +of addressing an audience in England, I wish briefly to give you an +outline of our views as to the best means of dealing with that terrible +subject of slavery, for in our country it is really terrible in its +power and influence. Were it not that Providence seems to be lifting a +light in the distance, I should be almost in despair. There is now a +system of causes at work which Providence designs should continue to +work, until that great curse is removed from the face of the earth. I +believe that in dealing with the subject of slavery, and the best means +of removing it, the first thing is to show the utter wrongfulness of the +whole system. The great moral ground is the chief and primary ground, +and the one on which we should always, and under all circumstances, +insist. With regard to the work which has created so much excitement, +the great excellence of it morally is, that it holds up fully and +emphatically the extreme wrongfulness of the system, while at the same +time showing an entire Christian and forgiving spirit towards those +involved in it; and it is these two characteristics which, in my +opinion, have given it its great power. Till I read that book, I had +never seen any extensive work that satisfied me on those points. It does +show, in the most striking manner, the horrible wrongfulness of the +system, and, at the same time, it displays no bitterness, no unfairness, +no unkindness, to those involved in it. It is that which gives the work +the greater power, for where there is unfairness, those assailed take +refuge behind it; while here they have no such refuge. We should always +aim, in assailing the system of slavery, to awaken the consciences of +those involved in it; for among slaveholders there are all kinds of +moral development, as among every other class of people in the world. +There are men of tender conscience, as well as men of blunted +conscience; men with moral sense, and men with no moral sense whatever; +some who have come into the system involuntarily, born in it, and others +who have come into it voluntarily. There is a moral nature in every man, +more or less developed; and according as it is developed we can, by +showing the wrong of a thing, bring one to abhor it. We have the +testimony of Christian clergymen in slave holding states, that the +greater portion of the Christian people there, and even many +slaveholders, believe the system is wrong; and it is only a matter of +time, a question of delay, as to when they shall perform their whole +duty, and bring it to an end.[I] One would believe that when they saw a +thing to be wrong, they would at once do right; but prejudice, habit, +interest, education, and a variety of influences check their aspirations +to what is right; but let us keep on pressing it upon their consciences, +and I believe their consciences will at length respond. Public sentiment +is more powerful than force, and it may be excited in many ways. +Conversation, the press, the platform, and the pulpit may all be used to +awaken the feeling of the people, and bring it to bear on this question. +I refer especially to the pulpit; for, if the church and the ministry +are silent, who is to speak for the dumb and the oppressed? The thing +that has borne on my mind with the most melancholy weight, and caused me +most sorrow, is the apparent apathy, the comparative silence, of the +church on this subject for the last twenty or five and twenty years in +the United States. Previous to that period it did speak, and with words +of power; but, unfortunately, it has not followed out those words by +acts. The influence of the system has come upon it, and brought it, for +a long time, almost to entire silence; but I hope we are beginning to +speak again. We hear voices here and there which will excite other +voices, and I trust before long they will bring all to speak the same +thing on this subject, so that the conscience of the whole nation may be +aroused. There is another method of dealing with the subject, which is +alluded to in the address, and also in the resolution of the society, at +Exeter Hall. It is the third resolution proposed at that meeting, and I +will read it, and make some comments as I proceed. It begins, 'That, +with a view to the correction of public sentiment on this subject in +slaveholding communities, it is of the first importance that those who +are earnest in condemnation of slavery should observe consistency, and, +therefore, that it is their duty to encourage the development of the +natural resources of countries where slavery does not exist, and the +soil of which is adapted to the growth of products, especially cotton, +now partially or chiefly raised by slave labor.' Now, I concur with this +most entirely, and would refer you to countries where cotton can be +grown even in your own dominions--in India, Australia, British Guiana, +and parts of Africa. But it can be raised by free labor in the United +States, and indeed it is already raised there by free labor to a +considerable extent; and, provided the plan were more encouraged, it +could be raised more abundantly. The resolution goes on to say, 'And +though the extinction of slavery is less to be expected from a +diminished demand for slave produce than from the moral effects of a +steadfast abhorrence of slavery, and from an unwavering and consistent +opposition to it,' &c. Now, my own feelings on that subject are not +quite so hopeless as here expressed, and it seems to me that you are not +aware of the extent to which free labor may come into competition with +slave labor. I know several instances, in the most slaveholding states, +in which slave labor has been displaced, and free labor substituted in +its stead. The weakness of slavery consists in the expense of the +slaves, the great capital to be invested in their purchase before any +work can be performed, and the constant danger of loss by death or +escape. When the Chinese emigrants from the eastern portion of their +empire came to the North-western States, their labor was found much +cheaper and better than that of slaves. I therefore hope there may be a +direct influence from this source, as well as the indirect influence +contemplated by the resolution. At all events, it is an encouragement to +those who wish the extinction of slavery to keep their eyes open, and +assist the process by all the means in their power. The resolution +proceeds: 'This meeting would earnestly recommend, in all cases where it +is practicable, that a decided preference should be given to the +products of free labor by all who enter their protest against slavery, +so that at least they themselves may be clear of any participation in +the guilt of the system, and be thus morally strengthened in their +condemnation of it.' To that there can be no objection; but still the +state of society is such that we cannot at once dispense with all the +products of slave labor. We may, however, be doing what we +can--examining the ways and methods by which this end may be brought +about; and, at all events, we need not be deterred from self-denial, nor +shrink before minor obstacles. If with foresight we participate in the +encouragement of slave labor, we must hold ourselves guilty, in no +unimportant sense, of sustaining the system of slavery. I will +illustrate my argument by a very simple method. Suppose two ships arrive +laden with silks of the same quality, but one a pirate ship, in which +the goods have been obtained by robbery, and the other by honest trade. +The pirate sells his silks twenty per cent. cheaper than the honest +trader: you go to him, and declaim against his dishonesty; but because +you can get silks cheaper of him, you buy of him. Would he think you +sincere in your denunciations of his plundering his fellow-creatures, or +would you exert any influence on him to make him abandon his dishonest +practices? I can, however, put another case in which this inconsistency +might, perhaps, be unavoidable. Suppose we were in famine or great +necessity, and we wished to obtain provisions for our suffering +families: suppose, too, there was a certain man with provisions, who, we +knew, had come by them dishonestly, but we had no other resource than to +purchase of him. In that case we should be justified in purchasing of +him, and should not participate in the guilt of the robbery. But still, +however great our necessity, we are not justified in refusing to examine +the subject, and in discouraging those who are endeavoring to set the +thing on the right ground. That is all I wish, and all the resolution +contemplates; and, happily, I find that that also is what was implied in +the address. I may mention one other method alluded to in the address, +and that is prayer to Almighty God. This ought to be, and must be, a +religious enterprise. It is impossible for any man to contemplate +slavery as it is without feeling intense indignation; and unless he have +his heart near to God, and unless he be a man of prayer and devotional +spirit, bad passions will arise, and to a very great extent neutralize +his efforts to do good. How do you suppose such a religious feeling has +been preserved in the book to which the address refers? Because it was +written amid prayer from the beginning; and it is only by a constant +exercise of the religious spirit that the good it had effected has been +accomplished in the way it has. There is one more subject to which I +would allude, and that is unity among those who desire to emancipate the +slave. I mean a good understanding and unity of feeling among the +opponents of slavery. What gives slavery its great strength in the +United States? There are only about three hundred thousand slaveholders +in the United States out of the whole twenty-five millions of its +population, and yet they hold the entire power over the nation. That is +owing to their unbroken unity on that one matter, however much, and +however fiercely, they may contend among themselves on others. As soon +as the subject of slavery comes up, they are of one heart, of one voice, +and of one mind, while their opponents unhappily differ, and assail each +other when they ought to be assailing the great enemy alone. Why can +they not work together, so far as they are agreed, and let those points +on which they disagree be waived for the time? In the midst of the +battle let them sink their differences, and settle them after the +victory is won. I was happy to find at the great meeting of the Peace +Society that that course has been adopted. They are not all of one mind +on the details of the question, but they are of one mind on the great +principle of diffusing peace doctrines among the great nations of +Europe. I therefore say, let all the friends of the slave work together +until the great work of his emancipation is accomplished, and then they +will have time to discuss their differences, though I believe by that +time they will all think alike. I thank you sincerely for the kindness +you have expressed towards my country, and for the philanthropy you have +manifested, and I hope all has been done in such a Christian spirit that +every Christian feeling on the other side of the Atlantic will be +compelled to respond to it." + + * * * * * + + +CONCLUDING NOTE. + +Since the preceding addresses were delivered, the aspect of things among +us has been greatly changed. It is just as was predicted by the +sagacious Lord Cockburn, at the meeting in Edinburgh, (see page xxvi.) +The spirit of slavery, stimulated to madness by the indignation of the +civilized world, in its frenzy bids defiance to God and man, and is +determined to make itself respected by enlisting into its service the +entire wealth, and power, and political influence of this great nation. +Its encroachments are becoming so enormous, and its progress so rapid, +that it is now a conflict for the freedom of the citizens rather than +for the emancipation of the slaves. The reckless faithlessness and +impudent falsehood of our national proslavery legislation, the present +season, has scarcely a parallel in history, black as history is with all +kinds of perfidy. If the men who mean to be free do not now arise in +their strength and shake off the incubus which is strangling and +crushing them, they deserve to be slaves, and they will be. + +C.E.S. + + + + +SUNNY MEMORIES + +OF + +FOREIGN LANDS. + + + + + + +LETTER I. + + +Liverpool, April 11, 1853. + +MY DEAR CHILDREN:-- + +You wish, first of all, to hear of the voyage. Let me assure you, my +dears, in the very commencement of the matter, that going to sea is not +at all the thing that we have taken it to be. + +You know how often we have longed for a sea voyage, as the fulfilment of +all our dreams of poetry and romance, the realization of our highest +conceptions of free, joyous existence. + +You remember our ship-launching parties in Maine, when we used to ride +to the seaside through dark pine forests, lighted up with the gold, +scarlet, and orange tints of autumn. What exhilaration there was, as +those beautiful inland bays, one by one, unrolled like silver ribbons +before us! and how all our sympathies went forth with the grand new ship +about to be launched! How graceful and noble a thing she looked, as she +sprang from the shore to the blue waters, like a human soul springing +from life into immortality! How all our feelings went with her! how we +longed to be with her, and a part of her--to go with her to India, +China, or any where, so that we might rise and fall on the bosom of that +magnificent ocean, and share a part of that glorified existence! That +ocean! that blue, sparkling, heaving, mysterious ocean, with all the +signs and wonders of heaven emblazoned on its bosom, and another world +of mystery hidden beneath its waters! Who would not long to enjoy a +freer communion, and rejoice in a prospect of days spent in unreserved +fellowship with its grand and noble nature? + +Alas! what a contrast between all this poetry and the real prose fact of +going to sea! No man, the proverb says, is a hero to his valet de +chambre. Certainly, no poet, no hero, no inspired prophet, ever lost so +much on near acquaintance as this same mystic, grandiloquent old Ocean. +The one step from the sublime to the ridiculous is never taken with such +alacrity as in a sea voyage. + +In the first place, it is a melancholy fact, but not the less true, that +ship life is not at all fragrant; in short, particularly on a steamer, +there is a most mournful combination of grease, steam, onions, and +dinners in general, either past, present, or to come, which, floating +invisibly in the atmosphere, strongly predisposes to that disgust of +existence, which, in half an hour after sailing, begins to come upon +you; that disgust, that strange, mysterious, ineffable sensation which +steals slowly and inexplicably upon you; which makes every heaving +billow, every white-capped wave, the ship, the people, the sight, taste, +sound, and smell of every thing a matter of inexpressible loathing! Man +cannot utter it. + +It is really amusing to watch the gradual progress of this epidemic; to +see people stepping on board in the highest possible feather, alert, +airy, nimble, parading the deck, chatty and conversable, on the best +possible terms with themselves and mankind generally; the treacherous +ship, meanwhile, undulating and heaving in the most graceful rises and +pauses imaginable, like some voluptuous waltzer; and then to see one +after another yielding to the mysterious spell! + +Your poet launches forth, "full of sentiment sublime as billows," +discoursing magnificently on the color of the waves and the glory of the +clouds; but gradually he grows white about the mouth, gives sidelong +looks towards the stairway; at last, with one desperate plunge, he sets, +to rise no more! + +Here sits a stout gentleman, who looks as resolute as an oak log. "These +things are much the effect of imagination," he tells you; "a little +self-control and resolution," &c. Ah me! it is delightful, when these +people, who are always talking about resolution, get caught on +shipboard. As the backwoodsman said to the Mississippi River, about the +steamboat, they "get their match." Our stout gentleman sits a quarter of +an hour, upright as a palm tree, his back squared against the rails, +pretending to be reading a paper; but a dismal look of disgust is +settling down about his lips; the old sea and his will are evidently +having a pitched battle. Ah, ha! there he goes for the stairway; says he +has left a book in the cabin, but shoots by with a most suspicious +velocity. You may fancy his finale. + +Then, of course, there are young ladies,--charming creatures,--who, in +about ten minutes, are going to die, and are sure they shall die, and +don't care if they do; whom anxious papas, or brothers, or lovers +consign with all speed to those dismal lower regions, where the brisk +chambermaid, who has been expecting them, seems to think their agonies +and groans a regular part of the play. + +I had come on board thinking, in my simplicity, of a fortnight to be +spent something like the fortnight on a trip to New Orleans, on one of +our floating river palaces; that we should sit in our state rooms, read, +sew, sketch, and chat; and accordingly I laid in a magnificent provision +in the way of literature and divers matters of fancy work, with which to +while away the time. Some last, airy touches, in the way of making up +bows, disposing ribbons, and binding collarets, had been left to these +long, leisure hours, as matters of amusement. + +Let me warn you, if you ever go to sea, you may as well omit all such +preparations. Don't leave so much as the unlocking of a trunk to be done +after sailing. In the few precious minutes when the ship stands still, +before she weighs her anchor, set your house, that is to say, your state +room, as much in order as if you were going to be hanged; place every +thing in the most convenient position to be seized without trouble at a +moment's notice; for be sure that in half an hour after sailing an +infinite desperation will seize you, in which the grasshopper will be a +burden. If any thing is in your trunk, it might almost as well be in the +sea, for any practical probability of your getting to it. + +Moreover, let your toilet be eminently simple, for you will find the +time coming when to button a cuff or arrange a ruff will be a matter of +absolute despair. You lie disconsolate in your berth, only desiring to +be let alone to die; and then, if you are told, as you always are, that +"you mustn't give way," that "you must rouse yourself" and come on deck, +you will appreciate the value of simple attire. With every thing in your +berth dizzily swinging backwards and forwards, your bonnet, your cloak, +your tippet, your gloves, all present so many discouraging +impossibilities; knotted strings cannot be untied, and modes of +fastening which seemed curious and convenient, when you had nothing else +to do but fasten them, now look disgustingly impracticable. +Nevertheless, your fate for the whole voyage depends upon your rousing +yourself to get upon deck at first; to give up, then, is to be condemned +to the Avernus, the Hades of the lower regions, for the rest of the +voyage. + +Ah, _those_ lower regions!--the saloons--every couch and corner filled +with prostrate, despairing forms, with pale cheeks, long, willowy hair +and sunken eyes, groaning, sighing, and apostrophizing the Fates, and +solemnly vowing between every lurch of the ship, that "you'll never +catch them going to sea again, that's what you won't;" and then the +bulletins from all the state rooms--"Mrs. A. is sick, and Miss B. +sicker, and Miss C. almost dead, and Mrs. E., F., and G. declare that +they shall give up." This threat of "giving up" is a standing resort of +ladies in distressed circumstances; it is always very impressively +pronounced, as if the result of earnest purpose; but how it is to be +carried out practically, how ladies _do_ give up, and what general +impression is made on creation when they do, has never yet appeared. +Certainly the sea seems to care very little about the threat, for he +goes on lurching all hands about just as freely afterwards as before. + +There are always some three or four in a hundred who escape all these +evils. They are not sick, and they seem to be having a good time +generally, and always meet you with "What a charming run we are having! +Isn't it delightful?" and so on. If you have a turn for being +disinterested, you can console your miseries by a view of their +joyousness. Three or four of our ladies were of this happy order, and it +was really refreshing to see them. + +For my part, I was less fortunate. I could not and would not give up and +become one of the ghosts below, and so I managed, by keeping on deck and +trying to act as if nothing was the matter, to lead a very uncertain and +precarious existence, though with a most awful undertone of emotion, +which seemed to make quite another thing of creation. + +I wonder that people who wanted to break the souls of heroes and martyrs +never thought of sending them to sea and keeping them a little seasick. +The dungeons of Olmutz, the leads of Venice, in short, all the naughty, +wicked places that tyrants ever invented for bringing down the spirits +of heroes, are nothing to the berth of a ship. Get Lafayette, Kossuth, +or the noblest of woman, born, prostrate in a swinging, dizzy berth of +one of these sea coops, called state rooms, and I'll warrant almost any +compromise might be got out of them. + +Where in the world the soul goes to under such influences nobody knows; +one would really think the sea tipped it all out of a man, just as it +does the water out of his wash basin. The soul seems to be like one of +the genii enclosed in a vase, in the Arabian Nights; now, it rises like +a pillar of cloud, and floats over land and sea, buoyant, many-hued, and +glorious; again, it goes down, down, subsiding into its copper vase, and +the cover is clapped on, and there you are. A sea voyage is the best +device for getting the soul back into its vase that I know of. + +But at night!--the beauties of a night on shipboard!--down in your +berth, with the sea hissing and fizzing, gurgling and booming, within an +inch of your ear; and then the steward conies along at twelve o'clock +and puts out your light, and there you are! Jonah in the whale was not +darker or more dismal. There, in profound ignorance and blindness, you +lie, and feel yourself rolled upwards, and downwards, and sidewise, and +all ways, like a cork in a tub of water; much such a sensation as one +might suppose it to be, were one headed up in a barrel and thrown into +the sea. + +Occasionally a wave comes with a thump against your ear, as if a great +hammer were knocking on your barrel, to see that all within was safe and +sound. Then you begin to think of krakens, and sharks, and porpoises, +and sea serpents, and all the monstrous, slimy, cold, hobgoblin brood, +who, perhaps, are your next door neighbors; and the old blue-haired +Ocean whispers through the planks, "Here you are; I've got you. Your +grand ship is my plaything. I can do what I like with it." + +Then you hear every kind of odd noise in the ship--creaking, straining, +crunching, scraping, pounding, whistling, blowing off steam, each of +which to your unpractised ear is significant of some impending +catastrophe; you lie wide awake, listening with all your might, as if +your watching did any good, till at last sleep overcomes you, and the +morning light convinces you that nothing very particular has been the +matter, and that all these frightful noises are only the necessary +attendants of what is called a good run. + +Our voyage out was called "a good run." It was voted, unanimously, to be +"an extraordinarily good passage," "a pleasant voyage;" yet the ship +rocked the whole time from side to side with a steady, dizzy, continuous +motion, like a great cradle. I had a new sympathy for babies, poor +little things, who are rocked hours at a time without so much as a "by +your leave" in the case. No wonder there are so many stupid people in +the world. + +There is no place where killing time is so much of a systematic and +avowed object as in one of these short runs. In a six months' voyage +people give up to their situation, and make arrangements to live a +regular life; but the ten days that now divide England and America are +not long enough for any thing. The great question is how to get them +off; they are set up, like tenpins, to be bowled at; and happy he whose +ball prospers. People with strong heads, who can stand the incessant +swing of the boat, may read or write. Then there is one's berth, a +never-failing resort, where one may analyze at one's leisure the life +and emotions of an oyster in the mud. Walking the deck is a means of +getting off some half hours more. If a ship heaves in sight, or a +porpoise tumbles up, or, better still, a whale spouts, it makes an +immense sensation. + +Our favorite resort is by the old red smoke pipe of the steamer, which +rises warm and luminous as a sort of tower of defence. The wind must +blow an uncommon variety of ways at once when you cannot find a +sheltered side, as well as a place to warm your feet. In fact, the old +smoke pipe is the domestic hearth of the ship; there, with the double +convenience of warmth and fresh air, you can sit by the railing, and, +looking down, command the prospect of the cook's offices, the cow house, +pantries, &c. + +Our cook has specially interested me--a tall, slender, melancholy man, +with a watery-blue eye, a patient, dejected visage, like an individual +weary of the storms and commotions of life, and thoroughly impressed +with the vanity of human wishes. I sit there hour after hour watching +him, and it is evident that he performs all his duties in this frame of +sad composure. Now I see him resignedly stuffing a turkey, anon +compounding a sauce, or mournfully making little ripples in the crust of +a tart; but all is done under an evident sense that it is of no use +trying. + +Many complaints have been made of our coffee since we have been on +board, which, to say the truth, has been as unsettled as most of the +social questions of our day, and, perhaps, for that reason quite as +generally unpalatable; but since I have seen our cook, I am quite +persuaded that the coffee, like other works of great artists, has +borrowed the hues of its maker's mind. I think I hear him soliloquize +over it--"To what purpose is coffee?--of what avail tea?--thick or +clear?--all is passing away--a little egg, or fish skin, more or less, +what are they?" and so we get melancholy coffee and tea, owing to our +philosophic cook. + +After dinner I watch him as he washes dishes: he hangs up a whole row of +tin; the ship gives a lurch, and knocks them all down. He looks as if it +was just what he expected. "Such is life!" he says, as he pursues a +frisky tin pan in one direction, and arrests the gambols of the ladle in +another; while the wicked sea, meanwhile, with another lurch, is +upsetting all his dishwater. I can see how these daily trials, this +performing of most delicate and complicated gastronomic operations in +the midst of such unsteady, unsettled circumstances, have gradually +given this poor soul a despair of living, and brought him into this +state of philosophic melancholy. Just as Xantippe made a sage of +Socrates, this whisky, frisky, stormy ship life has made a sage of our +cook. Meanwhile, not to do him injustice, let it be recorded, that in +all dishes which require grave conviction and steady perseverance, +rather than hope and inspiration, he is eminently successful. Our table +excels in viands of a reflective and solemn character; mighty rounds of +beef, vast saddles of mutton, and the whole tribe of meats in general, +come on in a superior style. English plum pudding, a weighty and serious +performance, is exhibited in first-rate order. The jellies want +lightness,--but that is to be expected. + +I admire the thorough order and system with which every thing is done on +these ships. One day, when the servants came round, as they do at a +certain time after dinner, and screwed up the shelf of decanters and +bottles out of our reach, a German gentleman remarked, "Ah, that's +always the way on English ships; every thing done at such a time, +without saying 'by your leave,' If it had been on an American ship now, +he would have said, 'Gentlemen, are you ready to have this shelf +raised?'" + +No doubt this remark is true and extends to a good many other things; +but in a ship in the middle of the ocean, when the least confusion or +irregularity in certain cases might be destruction to all on board, it +does inspire confidence to see that there is even in the minutest things +a strong and steady system, that goes on without saying "by your leave." +Even the rigidness with which lights are all extinguished at twelve +o'clock, though it is very hard in some cases, still gives you +confidence in the watchfulness and care with which all on board is +conducted. + +On Sunday there was a service. We went into the cabin, and saw prayer +books arranged at regular intervals, and soon a procession of the +sailors neatly dressed filed in and took their places, together with +such passengers as felt disposed, and the order of morning prayer was +read. The sailors all looked serious and attentive. I could not but +think that this feature of the management of her majesty's ships was a +good one, and worthy of imitation. To be sure, one can say it is only a +form. Granted; but is not a serious, respectful _form_ of religion +better than nothing? Besides, I am not willing to think that these +intelligent-looking sailors could listen to all those devout sentiments +expressed in the prayers, and the holy truths embodied in the passages +of Scripture, and not gain something from it. It is bad to have only +_the form_ of religion, but not so bad as to have neither the form nor +the fact. + +When the ship has been out about eight days, an evident bettering of +spirits and condition obtains among the passengers. Many of the sick +ones take heart, and appear again among the walks and ways of men; the +ladies assemble in little knots, and talk of getting on shore. The more +knowing ones, who have travelled before, embrace this opportunity to +show their knowledge of life by telling the new hands all sorts of +hobgoblin stories about the custom house officers and the difficulties +of getting landed in England. It is a curious fact, that old travellers +generally seem to take this particular delight in striking consternation +into younger ones. + +"You'll have all your daguerreotypes taken away," says one lady, who, in +right of having crossed the ocean nine times, is entitled to speak _ex +cathedra_ on the subject. + +"All our daguerreotypes!" shriek four or five at once. "Pray tell, what +for?" + +"They _will_ do it," says the knowing lady, with an awful nod; "unless +you hide them, and all your books, they'll burn up--" + +"Burn our books!" exclaim the circle. "O, dreadful! What do they do that +for?" + +"They're very particular always to burn up all your books. I knew a lady +who had a dozen burned," says the wise one. + +"Dear me! will they take our _dresses_?" says a young lady, with +increasing alarm. + +"No, but they'll pull every thing out, and tumble them well over, I can +tell you." + +"How horrid!" + +An old lady, who has been very sick all the way, is revived by this +appalling intelligence. + +"I hope they won't tumble over my _caps!_" she exclaims. + +"Yes, they will have every thing out on deck," says the lady, delighted +with the increasing sensation. "I tell you you don't know these custom +house officers." + +"It's too bad!" "It's dreadful!" "How horrid!" exclaim all. + +"I shall put my best things in my pocket," exclaims one. "They don't +search our pockets, do they?" + +"Well, no, not here; but I tell you they'll search your _pockets_ at +Antwerp and Brussels," says the lady. + +Somebody catches the sound, and flies off into the state rooms with the +intelligence that "the custom house officers are so dreadful--they rip +open your trunks, pull out all your things, burn your books, take away +your daguerreotypes, and even search your pockets;" and a row of groans +is heard ascending from the row of state rooms, as all begin to revolve +what they have in their trunks, and what they are to do in this +emergency. + +"Pray tell me," said I to a gentlemanly man, who had crossed four or +five times, "is there really so much annoyance at the custom house?" + +"Annoyance, ma'am? No, not the slightest." + +"But do they really turn out the contents of the trunks, and take away +people's daguerreotypes, and burn their books?" + +"Nothing of the kind, ma'am. I apprehend no difficulty. I never had any. +There are a few articles on which duty is charged. I have a case of +cigars, for instance; I shall show them to the custom house officer, and +pay the duty. If a person seems disposed to be fair, there is no +difficulty. The examination of ladies' trunks is merely nominal; nothing +is deranged." + +So it proved. We arrived on Sunday morning; the custom house officers, +very gentlemanly men, came on board; our luggage was all set out, and +passed through a rapid examination, which in many cases amounted only to +opening the trunk and shutting it, and all was over. The whole ceremony +did not occupy two hours. + +So ends this letter. You shall hear further how we landed at some future +time. + + + + +LETTER II. + + +DEAR FATHER:-- + +It was on Sunday morning that we first came in sight of land. The day +was one of a thousand--clear, calm, and bright. It is one of those +strange, throbbing feelings, that come only once in a while in life; +this waking up to find an ocean crossed and long-lost land restored +again in another hemisphere; something like what we should suppose might +be the thrill of awakening from life to immortality, and all the wonders +of the world unknown. That low, green line of land in the horizon is +Ireland; and we, with water smooth as a lake and sails furled, are +running within a mile of the shore. Every body on deck, full of spirits +and expectation, busy as can be looking through spyglasses, and +exclaiming at every object on shore,-- + +"Look! there's Skibareen, where the worst of the famine was," says one. + +"Look! that's a ruined Martello tower," says another. + +We new voyagers, who had never seen any ruin more imposing than that of +a cow house, and, of course, were ravenous for old towers, were now +quite wide awake, but were disappointed to learn that these were only +custom house rendezvous. Here is the county of Cork. Some one calls +out,-- + +"There is O'Connell's house;" and a warm dispute ensues whether a large +mansion, with a stone chapel by it, answers to that name. At all events +the region looks desolate enough, and they say the natives of it are +almost savages. A passenger remarks, that "O'Connell never really did +any thing for the Irish, but lived on his capacity for exciting their +enthusiasm." Thereupon another expresses great contempt for the Irish +who could be so taken in. Nevertheless, the capability of a +disinterested enthusiasm is, on the whole, a nobler property of a human +being than a shrewd self-interest. I like the Irish all the better for +it. + +Now we pass Kinsale lighthouse; there is the spot where the Albion was +wrecked. It is a bare, frowning cliff, with walls of rock rising +perpendicularly out of the sea. Now, to be sure, the sea smiles and +sparkles around the base of it, as gently as if it never could storm; +yet under other skies, and with a fierce south-east wind, how the waves +would pour in here! Woe then to the distressed and rudderless vessel +that drifts towards those fatal rocks! This gives the outmost and +boldest view of the point. + +[Illustration: View East of Kinsale.] + +The Albion struck just round the left of the point, where the rock rises +perpendicularly out of the sea. I well remember, when a child, of the +newspapers being filled with the dreadful story of the wreck of the ship +Albion--how for hours, rudderless and helpless, they saw themselves +driving with inevitable certainty against these pitiless rocks; and how, +in the last struggle, one human being after another was dashed against +them in helpless agony. + +What an infinite deal of misery results from man's helplessness and +ignorance and nature's inflexibility in this one matter of crossing the +ocean! What agonies of prayer there were during all the long hours that +this ship was driving straight on to these fatal rocks, all to no +purpose! It struck and crushed just the same. Surely, without the +revelation of God in Jesus, who could believe in the divine goodness? I +do not wonder the old Greeks so often spoke of their gods as cruel, and +believed the universe was governed by a remorseless and inexorable fate. +Who would come to any other conclusion, except from the pages of the +Bible? + +But we have sailed far past Kinsale point. Now blue and shadowy loom up +the distant form of the Youghal Mountains, (pronounced _Yoole_.) The +surface of the water is alive with fishing boats, spreading their white +wings and skimming about like so many moth millers. + +About nine o'clock we were crossing the sand bar, which lies at the +mouth of the Mersey River, running up towards Liverpool. Our signal +pennants are fluttering at the mast head, pilot full of energy on one +wheel house, and a man casting the lead on the other. + +"By the mark, five," says the man. The pilot, with all his energy, is +telegraphing to the steersman. This is a very close and complicated +piece of navigation, I should think, this running up the Mersey, for +every moment we are passing some kind of a signal token, which warns off +from some shoal. Here is a bell buoy, where the waves keep the bell +always tolling; here, a buoyant lighthouse; and "See there, those +shoals, how pokerish they look!" says one of the passengers, pointing to +the foam on our starboard bow. All is bustle, animation, exultation. Now +float out the American stars and stripes on our bow. + +Before us lies the great city of Liverpool. No old Cathedral, no +castles, a real New Yorkish place. + +"There, that's the fort," cries one. Bang, bang, go the two guns from +our forward gangway. + +"I wonder if they will fire from the fort," says another. + +"How green that grass looks!" says a third; "and what pretty cottages!" + +"All modern, though," says somebody, in tones of disappointment. Now we +are passing the Victoria Dock. Bang, bang, again. We are in a forest of +ships of all nations; their masts bristling like the tall pines in +Maine; their many colored flags streaming like the forest leaves in +autumn. + +"Hark," says one; "there's, a chime of bells from the city; how sweet! I +had quite forgotten it was Sunday." + +Here we cast anchor, and the small steam tender conies puffing +alongside. Now for the custom house officers. State rooms, holds, and +cabins must all give up their trunks; a general muster among the +baggage, and passenger after passenger comes forward as their names are +called, much as follows: "Snooks." "Here, sir." "Any thing contraband +here, Mr. Snooks? Any cigars, tobacco, &c.?" "Nothing, sir." + +A little unlocking, a little fumbling. "Shut up; all right; ticket +here." And a little man pastes on each article a slip of paper, with the +royal arms of England and the magical letters V.R., to remind all men +that they have come into a country where a lady reigns, and of course +must behave themselves as prettily as they can. + +We were inquiring of some friends for the most convenient hotel, when we +found the son of Mr. Cropper, of Dingle Bank, waiting in the cabin, to +take us with him to their hospitable abode. In a few moments after the +baggage had been examined, we all bade adieu to the old ship, and went +on board the little steam tender, which carries passengers up to the +city. + +This Mersey River would be a very beautiful one, if it were not so dingy +and muddy. As we are sailing up in the tender towards Liverpool, I +deplore the circumstance feelingly. "What does make this river so +muddy?" + +"O," says a bystander, "don't you know that + + 'The quality of mercy is not strained'?" + +And now we are fairly alongside the shore, and we are soon going to set +our foot on the land of Old England. + +Say what we will, an American, particularly a New Englander, can never +approach the old country without a kind of thrill and pulsation of +kindred. Its history for two centuries was our history. Its literature, +laws, and language are our literature, laws, and language. Spenser, +Shakspeare, Bacon, Milton, were a glorious inheritance, which we share +in common. Our very life-blood is English life-blood. It is Anglo-Saxon +vigor that is spreading our country from Atlantic to Pacific, and +leading on a new era in the world's development. America is a tall, +sightly young shoot, that has grown from the old royal oak of England; +divided from its parent root, it has shot up in new, rich soil, and +under genial, brilliant skies, and therefore takes on a new type of +growth and foliage, but the sap in it is the same. + +I had an early opportunity of making acquaintance with my English +brethren; for, much to my astonishment, I found quite a crowd on the +wharf, and we walked up to our carriage through a long lane of people, +bowing, and looking very glad to see us. When I came to get into the +hack it was surrounded by more faces than I could count. They stood +very quietly, and looked very kindly, though evidently very much +determined to look. Something prevented the hack from moving on; so the +interview was prolonged for some time. I therefore took occasion to +remark the very fair, pure complexions, the clear eyes, and the general +air of health and vigor, which seem to characterize our brethren and +sisters of the island. There seemed to be no occasion to ask them, how +they did, as they were evidently quite well. Indeed, this air of health +is one of the most striking things when one lands in England. + +They were not burly, red-faced, and stout, as I had sometimes conceived +of the English people, but just full enough to suggest the idea of vigor +and health. The presence of so many healthy, rosy people looking at me, +all reduced as I was, first by land and then by sea sickness, made me +feel myself more withered and forlorn than ever. But there was an +earnestness and a depth of kind feeling in some of the faces, which I +shall long remember. It seemed as if I had not only touched the English +shore, but felt the English heart. + +Our carriage at last drove on, taking us through Liverpool, and a mile +or two out, and at length wound its way along the gravel paths of a +beautiful little retreat, on the banks of the Mersey, called the +"Dingle." It opened to my eyes like a paradise, all wearied as I was +with the tossing of the sea. I have since become familiar with these +beautiful little spots, which are so common in England; but now all was +entirely new to me. + +We rode by shining clumps of the Portugal laurel, a beautiful evergreen, +much resembling our mountain rhododendron; then there was the prickly, +polished, dark-green holly, which I had never seen before, but which +is, certainly, one of the most perfect of shrubs. The turf was of that +soft, dazzling green, and had that peculiar velvet-like smoothness, +which seem characteristic of England. We stopped at last before the door +of a cottage, whose porch was overgrown with ivy. From that moment I +ceased to feel myself a stranger in England. I cannot tell you how +delightful to me, dizzy and weary as I was, was the first sight of the +chamber of reception which had been prepared for us. No item of cozy +comfort that one could desire was omitted. The sofa and easy chair +wheeled up before a cheerful coal fire, a bright little teakettle +steaming in front of the grate, a table with a beautiful vase of +flowers, books, and writing apparatus, and kind friends with words full +of affectionate cheer,--all these made me feel at home in a moment. + +The hospitality of England has become famous in the world, and, I think, +with reason. I doubt not there is just as much hospitable feeling in +other countries; but in England the matter of coziness and home comfort +has been so studied, and matured, and reduced to system, that they +really have it in their power to effect more, towards making their +guests comfortable, than perhaps any other people. + +After a short season allotted to changing our ship garments and for +rest, we found ourselves seated at the dinner table. While dining, the +sister-in-law of our friends came in from the next door, to exchange a +word or two of welcome, and invite us to breakfast with them the +following morning. + +Between all the excitements of landing, and meeting so many new faces, +and the remains of the dizzy motion of the ship, which still haunted me, +I found it impossible to close my eyes to sleep that first night till +the dim gray of dawn. I got up as soon as it was light, and looked out +of the window; and as my eyes fell on the luxuriant, ivy-covered porch, +the clumps of shining, dark-green holly bushes, I said to myself, "Ah, +really, this is England!" + +I never saw any plant that struck me as more beautiful than this holly. +It is a dense shrub growing from six to eight feet high, with a thickly +varnished leaf of green. The outline of the leaf is something like this. +I do not believe it can ever come to a state of perfect development +under the fierce alternations of heat and cold which obtain in our New +England climate, though it grows in the Southern States. It is one of +the symbolical shrubs of England, probably because its bright green in +winter makes it so splendid a Christmas decoration. A little bird sat +twittering on one of the sprays. He had a bright red breast, and seemed +evidently to consider himself of good blood and family, with the best +reason, as I afterwards learned, since he was no other than the +identical robin redbreast renowned in song and story; undoubtedly a +lineal descendant of that very cock robin whose death and burial form so +vivid a portion of our childish literature. + +I must tell you, then, as one of the first remarks on matters and things +here in England, that "robin redbreast" is not at all the fellow we in +America take him to be. The character who flourishes under that name +among us is quite a different bird; he is twice as large, and has +altogether a different air, and as he sits up with military erectness on +a rail fence or stump, shows not even a family likeness to his +diminutive English namesake. Well, of course, robin over here will claim +to have the real family estate and title, since he lives in a country +where such matters are understood and looked into. Our robin is probably +some fourth cousin, who, like others, has struck out a new course for +himself in America, and thrives upon it. + +We hurried to dress, remembering our engagements to breakfast this +morning with a brother of our host, whose cottage stands on the same +ground, within a few steps of our own. I had not the slightest idea of +what the English mean by a breakfast, and therefore went in all +innocence, supposing that I should see nobody but the family circle of +my acquaintances. Quite to my astonishment, I found a party of between +thirty and forty people. Ladies sitting with their bonnets on, as in a +morning call. It was impossible, however, to feel more than a momentary +embarrassment in the friendly warmth and cordiality of the circle by +whom we were surrounded. + +The English are called cold and stiff in their manners; I had always +heard they were so, but I certainly saw nothing of it here. A circle of +family relatives could not have received us with more warmth and +kindness. The remark which I made mentally, as my eye passed around the +circle, was--Why, these people are just like home; they look like us, +and the tone of sentiment and feeling is precisely such as I have been +accustomed to; I mean with the exception of the antislavery question. + +That question has, from the very first, been, in England, a deeply +religious movement. It was conceived and carried on by men of devotional +habits, in the same spirit in which the work of foreign missions was +undertaken in our own country; by just such earnest, self-denying, +devout men as Samuel J. Mills and Jeremiah Evarts. + +It was encountered by the same contempt and opposition, in the outset, +from men of merely worldly habits and principles; and to this day it +retains that hold on the devotional mind of the English nation that the +foreign mission cause does in America. + +Liverpool was at first to the antislavery cause nearly what New York has +been with us. Its commercial interests were largely implicated in the +slave trade, and the virulence of opposition towards the first movers of +the antislavery reform in Liverpool was about as great as it is now +against abolitionists in Charleston. + +When Clarkson first came here to prosecute his inquiries into the +subject, a mob collected around him, and endeavored to throw him off the +dock into the water; he was rescued by a gentleman, some of whose +descendants I met on this occasion. + +The father of our host, Mr. Cropper, was one of the first and most +efficient supporters of the cause in Liverpool; and the whole circle was +composed of those who had taken a deep interest in that struggle. The +wife of our host was the daughter of the celebrated Lord Chief Justice +Denman, a man who, for many years, stood unrivalled, at the head of the +legal mind in England, and who, with a generous ardor seldom equalled, +devoted all his energies to this sacred cause. + +When the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin turned the attention of the +British public to the existing horrors of slavery in America, some +palliations of the system appeared in English papers. Lord Denman, +though then in delicate health and advanced years, wrote a series of +letters upon the subject--an exertion which entirely prostrated his +before feeble health. In one of the addresses made at table, a very +feeling allusion was made to Lord Denman's labors, and also to those of +the honored father of the two Messrs. Cropper. + +As breakfast parties are things which we do not have in America, perhaps +mother would like to know just how they are managed. The hour is +generally somewhere between nine and twelve, and the whole idea and +spirit of the thing is that of an informal and social gathering. Ladies +keep their bonnets on, and are not dressed in full toilet. On this +occasion we sat and chatted together socially till the whole party was +assembled in the drawing room, and then breakfast was announced. Each +gentleman had a lady assigned him, and we walked into the dining room, +where stood the tables tastefully adorned with flowers, and spread with +an abundant cold collation, while tea and coffee were passed round by +servants. In each plate was a card, containing the name of the person +for whom it was designed. I took my place by the side of the Rev. Dr. +McNiel, one of the most celebrated clergymen of the established church +in Liverpool. + +The conversation was flowing, free, and friendly. The old reminiscences +of the antislavery conflict in England were touchingly recalled, and the +warmest sympathy was expressed for those in America who are carrying on +the same cause. + +In one thing I was most agreeably disappointed. I had been told that the +Christians of England were intolerant and unreasonable in their opinions +on this subject; that they could not be made to understand the peculiar +difficulties which beset it in America, and that they therefore made no +distinction and no allowance in their censures. All this I found, so +far as this circle were concerned, to be strikingly untrue. They +appeared to be peculiarly affectionate in their feelings as regarded our +country; to have the highest appreciation of, and the deepest sympathy +with, our religious community, and to be extremely desirous to assist us +in our difficulties. I also found them remarkably well informed upon the +subject. They keep their eyes upon our papers, our public documents and +speeches in Congress, and are as well advised in regard to the progress +of the moral conflict as our Foreign Missionary Society is with the +state of affairs in Hindostan and Burmah. + +Several present spoke of the part which England originally had in +planting slavery in America, as placing English Christians under a +solemn responsibility to bring every possible moral influence to bear +for its extinction. Nevertheless, they seem to be the farthest possible +from an unkind or denunciatory spirit, even towards those most deeply +implicated. The remarks made by Dr. McNiel to me were a fair sample of +the spirit and attitude of all present. + +"I have been trying, Mrs. S.," he said, "to bring my mind into the +attitude of those Christians at the south who defend the institution of +slavery. There are _real_ Christians there who do this--are there not?" + +I replied, that undoubtedly there were some most amiable and Christian +people who defend slavery on principle, just as there had been some to +defend every form of despotism. + +"Do give me some idea of the views they take; it is something to me so +inconceivable. I am utterly at a loss how it can be made in any way +plausible." + +I then stated that the most plausible view, and that which seemed to +have the most force with good men, was one which represented the +institution of slavery as a sort of wardship or guardian relation, by +which an inferior race were brought under the watch and care of a +superior race to be instructed in Christianity. + +He then inquired if there was any system of religious instruction +actually pursued. + +In reply to this, I gave him some sketch of the operations for the +religious instruction of the negroes, which had been carried on by the +Presbyterian and other denominations. I remarked that many good people +who do not take very extended views, fixing their attention chiefly on +the efforts which they are making for the religious instruction of +slaves, are blind to the sin and injustice of allowing their legal +position to remain what it is. + +"But how do they shut their eyes to the various cruelties of the +system,--the separation of families--the domestic slave trade?" + +I replied, "In part, by not inquiring into them. The best kind of people +are, in general, those who _know_ least of the cruelties of the system; +they never witness them. As in the city of London or Liverpool there may +be an amount of crime and suffering which many residents may live years +without seeing or knowing, so it is in the slave states." + +Every person present appeared to be in that softened and charitable +frame of mind which disposed them to make every allowance for the +situation of Christians so peculiarly tempted, while, at the same time, +there was the most earnest concern, in view of the dishonor brought upon +Christianity by the defence of such a system. + +One other thing I noticed, which was an agreeable disappointment to me. +I had been told that there was no social intercourse between the +established church and dissenters. In this party, however, were people +of many different denominations. Our host belongs to the established +church; his brother, with whom we are visiting, is a Baptist, and their +father was a Friend; and there appeared to be the utmost social +cordiality. Whether I shall find this uniformly the case will appear in +time. + +After the breakfast party was over, I found at the door an array of +children of the poor, belonging to a school kept under the +superintendence of Mrs. E. Cropper, and called, as is customary here, a +ragged school. The children, however, were any thing but ragged, being +tidily dressed, remarkably clean, with glowing cheeks and bright eyes. I +must say, so far as I have seen them, English children have a much +healthier appearance than those of America. By the side of their bright +bloom ours look pale and faded. + +Another school of the same kind is kept in this neighborhood, under the +auspices of Sir George Stephen, a conspicuous advocate of the +antislavery cause. + +I thought the fair patroness of this school seemed not a little +delighted with the appearance of her protégés, as they sung, with great +enthusiasm, Jane Taylor's hymn, commencing,-- + + "I thank the goodness and the grace + That on my birth have smiled, + And made me in these Christian days + A happy English child." + +All the little rogues were quite familiar with Topsy and Eva, and _au +fait_ in the fortunes of Uncle Tom; so that, being introduced as the +maternal relative of these characters, I seemed to find favor in their +eyes. And when one of the speakers congratulated them that they were +born in a land where no child could be bought or sold, they responded +with enthusiastic cheers--cheers which made me feel rather sad; but +still I could not quarrel with English people for taking all the pride +and all the comfort which this inspiriting truth can convey. + +They had a hard enough struggle in rooting up the old weed of slavery, +to justify them in rejoicing in their freedom. Well, the day will come +in America, as I trust, when as much can be said for us. + +After the children were gone came a succession of calls; some from very +aged people, the veterans of the old antislavery cause. I was astonished +and overwhelmed by the fervor of feeling some of them manifested; there +seemed to be something almost prophetic in the enthusiasm with which +they expressed their hope of our final success in America. This +excitement, though very pleasant, was wearisome, and I was glad of an +opportunity after dinner to rest myself, by rambling uninterrupted, with +my friends, through the beautiful grounds of the Dingle. + +Two nice little boys were my squires on this occasion, one of whom, a +sturdy little fellow, on being asked his name, gave it to me in full as +Joseph Babington Macaulay, and I learned that his mother, by a former +marriage, had been the wife of Macaulay's brother. Uncle Tom Macaulay, I +found, was a favorite character with the young people. Master Harry +conducted me through the walks to the conservatories, all brilliant with +azaleas and all sorts of flowers, and then through a long walk on the +banks of the Mersey. + +Here the wild flowers attracted my attention, as being so different +from those of our own country. Their daisy is not our flower, with its +wide, plaited ruff and yellow centre. The English daisy is + + "The wee modest crimson-tipped flower," + +which Burns celebrates. It is what we raise in greenhouses, and call the +mountain daisy. Its effect, growing profusely about fields and grass +plats, is very beautiful. + +We read much, among the poets, of the primrose, + + "Earliest daughter of the Spring." + +This flower is one, also, which we cultivate in gardens to some extent. +The outline of it is as follows: The hue a delicate straw color; it +grows in tufts in shady places, and has a pure, serious look, which +reminds one of the line of Shakspeare-- + + "Pale primroses, which die unmarried." + +It has also the faintest and most ethereal perfume,--a perfume that +seems to come and go in the air like music; and you perceive it at a +little distance from a tuft of them, when you would not if you gathered +and smelled them. On the whole, the primrose is a poet's and a painter's +flower. An artist's eye would notice an exquisite harmony between the +yellow-green hue of its leaves and the tint of its blossoms. I do not +wonder that it has been so great a favorite among the poets. It is just +such a flower as Mozart and Raphael would have loved. + +Then there is the bluebell, a bulb, which also grows in deep shades. It +is a little purple bell, with a narrow green leaf, like a ribbon. We +often read in English stories, of the gorse and furze; these are two +names for the same plant, a low bush, with strong, prickly leaves, +growing much like a juniper. The contrast of its very brilliant yellow, +pea-shaped blossoms, with the dark green of its leaves, is very +beautiful. It grows here in hedges and on commons, and is thought rather +a plebeian affair. I think it would make quite an addition to our garden +shrubbery. Possibly it might make as much sensation with us as our +mullein does in foreign greenhouses. + +After rambling a while, we came to a beautiful summer house, placed in a +retired spot, so as to command a view of the Mersey River. I think they +told me that it was Lord Denman's favorite seat. There we sat down, and +in common with the young gentlemen and ladies of the family, had quite a +pleasant talk together. Among other things we talked about the question +which is now agitating the public mind a good deal,--Whether it is +expedient to open the Crystal Palace to the people on Sunday. They said +that this course was much urged by some philanthropists, on the ground +that it was the only day when the working classes could find any leisure +to visit it, and that it seemed hard to shut them out entirely from all +the opportunities and advantages which they might thus derive; that to +exclude the laborer from recreation on the Sabbath, was the same as +saying that he should never have any recreation. I asked, why the +philanthropists could not urge employers to give their workmen a part of +Saturday for this purpose; as it seemed to me unchristian to drive trade +so that the laboring man had no time but Sunday for intellectual and +social recreation. We rather came to the conclusion that this was the +right course; whether the people of England will, is quite another +matter. + +The grounds of the Dingle embrace three cottages; those of the two +Messrs. Cropper, and that of a son, who is married to a daughter of Dr. +Arnold. I rather think this way of relatives living together is more +common here in England than it is in America; and there is more idea of +home permanence connected with the family dwelling-place than with us, +where the country is so wide, and causes of change and removal so +frequent. A man builds a house in England with the expectation of living +in it and leaving it to his children; while we shed our houses in +America as easily as a snail does his shell. We live a while in Boston, +and then a while in New York, and then, perhaps, turn up at Cincinnati. +Scarcely any body with us is living where they expect to live and die. +The man that dies in the house he was born in is a wonder. There is +something pleasant in the permanence and repose of the English family +estate, which we, in America, know very little of. All which is apropos +to our having finished our walk, and got back to the ivy-covered porch +again. + +The next day at breakfast, it was arranged that we should take a drive +out to Speke Hall, an old mansion, which is considered a fine specimen +of ancient house architecture. So the carriage was at the door. It was +a cool, breezy, April morning, but there was an abundance of wrappers +and carriage blankets provided to keep us comfortable. I must say, by +the by, that English housekeepers are bountiful in their provision for +carriage comfort. Every household has a store of warm, loose over +garments, which are offered, if needed, to the guests; and each carriage +is provided with one or two blankets, manufactured and sold expressly +for this use, to envelope one's feet and limbs; besides all which, +should the weather be cold, comes out a long stone reservoir, made flat +on both sides, and filled with hot water, for foot stools. This is an +improvement on the primitive simplicity of hot bricks, and even on the +tin foot stove, which has nourished in New England. + +Being thus provided with all things necessary for comfort, we rattled +merrily away, and I, remembering that I was in England, kept my eyes +wide open to see what I could see. The hedges of the fields were just +budding, and the green showed itself on them, like a thin gauze veil. +These hedges are not all so well kept and trimmed as I expected to find +them. Some, it is true, are cut very carefully; these are generally +hedges to ornamental grounds; but many of those which separate the +fields straggle and sprawl, and have some high bushes and some low ones, +and, in short, are no more like a hedge than many rows of bushes that we +have at home. But such as they are, they are the only dividing lines of +the fields, and it is certainly a more picturesque mode of division than +our stone or worm fences. Outside of every hedge, towards the street, +there is generally a ditch, and at the bottom of the hedge is the +favorite nestling-place for all sorts of wild flowers. I remember +reading in stories about children trying to crawl through a gap in the +hedge to get at flowers, and tumbling into a ditch on the other side, +and I now saw exactly how they could do it. + +As we drive we pass by many beautiful establishments, about of the +quality of our handsomest country houses, but whose grounds are kept +with a precision and exactness rarely to be seen among us. We cannot get +the gardeners who are qualified to do it; and if we could, the +painstaking, slow way of proceeding, and the habit of creeping +thoroughness, which are necessary to accomplish such results, die out in +America. Nevertheless, such grounds are exceedingly beautiful to look +upon, and I was much obliged to the owners of these places for keeping +their gates hospitably open, as seems to be the custom here. + +After a drive of seven or eight miles, we alighted in front of Speke +Hall. This house is a specimen of the old fortified houses of England, +and was once fitted up with a moat and drawbridge, all in approved +feudal style. It was built somewhere about the year 1500. The sometime +moat was now full of smooth, green grass, and the drawbridge no longer +remains. + +This was the first really old thing that we had seen since our arrival +in England. We came up first to a low, arched, stone door, and knocked +with a great old-fashioned knocker; this brought no answer but a treble +and bass duet from a couple of dogs inside; so we opened the door, and +saw a square court, paved with round stones, and a dark, solitary yew +tree in the centre. Here in England, I think, they have vegetable +creations made on purpose to go with old, dusky buildings; and this yew +tree is one of them. It has altogether a most goblin-like, bewitched +air, with its dusky black leaves and ragged branches, throwing +themselves straight out with odd twists and angular lines, and might put +one in mind of an old raven with some of his feathers pulled out, or a +black cat with her hair stroked the wrong way, or any other strange, +uncanny thing. Besides this they live almost forever; for when they have +grown so old that any respectable tree ought to be thinking of dying, +they only take another twist, and so live on another hundred years. I +saw some in England seven hundred years old, and they had grown queerer +every century. It is a species of evergreen, and its leaf resembles our +hemlock, only it is longer. This sprig gives you some idea of its +general form. It is always planted about churches and graveyards; a kind +of dismal emblem of immortality. This sepulchral old tree and the bass +and treble dogs were the only occupants of the court. One of these, a +great surly mastiff, barked out of his kennel on one side, and the +other, a little wiry terrier, out of his on the opposite side, and both +strained on their chains, as if they would enjoy making even more +decided demonstrations if they could. + +There was an aged, mossy fountain for holy water by the side of the +wall, in which some weeds were growing. A door in the house was soon +opened by a decent-looking serving woman, to whom we communicated our +desire to see the hall. + +We were shown into a large dining hall with a stone floor, wainscoted +with carved oak, almost as black as ebony. There were some pious +sentences and moral reflections inscribed in old English text, carved +over the doors, and like a cornice round the ceiling, which was also of +carved oak. Their general drift was, to say that life is short, and to +call for watchfulness and prayer. The fireplace of the hall yawned like +a great cavern, and nothing else, one would think, than a cart load of +western sycamores could have supplied an appropriate fire. A great +two-handed sword of some ancestor hung over the fireplace. On taking it +down it reached to C----'s shoulder, who, you know, is six feet high. + +We went into a sort of sitting room, and looked out through a window, +latticed with little diamond panes, upon a garden wildly beautiful. The +lattice was all wreathed round with jessamines. The furniture of this +room was modern, and it seemed the more unique from its contrast with +the old architecture. + +We went up stairs to see the chambers, and passed through a long, +narrow, black oak corridor, whose slippery boards had the authentic +ghostly squeak to them. There was a chamber, hung with old, faded +tapestry of Scripture subjects. In this chamber there was behind the +tapestry a door, which, being opened, displayed a staircase, that led +delightfully off to nobody knows where. The furniture was black oak, +carved, in the most elaborate manner, with cherubs' heads and other good +and solemn subjects, calculated to produce a ghostly state of mind. And, +to crown all, we heard that there was a haunted chamber, which was not +to be opened, where a white lady appeared and walked at all approved +hours. + +Now, only think what a foundation for a story is here. If our Hawthorne +could conjure up such a thing as the Seven Gables in one of our prosaic +country towns, what would he have done if he had lived here? Now he is +obliged to get his ghostly images by looking through smoked glass at our +square, cold realities; but one such old place as this is a standing +romance. Perhaps it may add to the effect to say, that the owner of the +house is a bachelor, who lives there very retired, and employs himself +much in reading. + +The housekeeper, who showed us about, indulged us with a view of the +kitchen, whose snowy, sanded floor and resplendent polished copper and +tin, were sights for a housekeeper to take away in her heart of hearts. +The good woman produced her copy of Uncle Tom, and begged the favor of +my autograph, which I gave, thinking it quite a happy thing to be able +to do a favor at so cheap a rate. + +After going over the house we wandered through the grounds, which are +laid out with the same picturesque mixture of the past and present. +There was a fine grove, under whose shadows we walked, picking +primroses, and otherwise enacting the poetic, till it was time to go. As +we passed out, we were again saluted with a _feu de joie_ by the two +fidelities at the door, which we took in very good part, since it is +always respectable to be thorough in whatever you are set to do. + +Coming home we met with an accident to the carriage which obliged us to +get out and walk some distance. I was glad enough of it, because it gave +me a better opportunity for seeing the country. We stopped at a cottage +to get some rope, and a young woman came out with that beautiful, clear +complexion which I so much admire here in England; literally her cheeks +were like damask roses. + +I told Isa I wanted to see as much of the interior of the cottages as I +could; and so, as we were walking onward toward home, we managed to call +once or twice, on the excuse of asking the way and distance. The +exterior was very neat, being built of brick or stone, and each had +attached to it a little flower garden. Isa said that the cottagers often +offered them a slice of bread or tumbler of milk. + +They have a way here of building the cottages two or three in a block +together, which struck me as different from our New England manner, +where, in the country, every house stands detached. + +In the evening I went into Liverpool, to attend a party of friends of +the antislavery cause. In the course of the evening, Mr. Stowe was +requested to make some remarks. Among other things he spoke upon the +support the free part of the world give to slavery, by the purchase of +the produce of slave labor; and, in particular, on the great quantity of +slave-grown cotton purchased by England; suggesting it as a subject for +inquiry, whether this cannot be avoided. + +One or two gentlemen, who are largely concerned in the manufacture and +importation of cotton, spoke to him on the subject afterwards, and said +it was a thing which ought to be very seriously considered. It is +probable that the cotton trade of Great Britain is the great essential +item which supports slavery, and such considerations ought not, +therefore, to be without their results. + +When I was going away, the lady of the house said that the servants were +anxious to see me; so I came into the dressing room to give them, an +opportunity. + +While at Mr. C.'s, also, I had once or twice been called out to see +servants, who had come in to visit those of the family. All of them had +read Uncle Tom's Cabin, and were full of sympathy. Generally speaking, +the servants seem to me quite a superior class to what are employed in +that capacity with us. They look very intelligent, are dressed with +great neatness, and though their manners are very much more deferential +than those of servants in our country, it appears to be a difference +arising quite as much from self-respect and a sense of propriety as from +servility. Every body's manners are more deferential in England than in +America. + +The next day was appointed to leave Liverpool. It had been arranged +that, before leaving, we should meet the ladies of the Negroes' Friend +Society, an association formed at the time of the original antislavery +agitation in England. We went in the carriage with our friends Mr. and +Mrs. E. Cropper. On the way they were conversing upon the labors of Mrs. +Chisholm, the celebrated female philanthropist, whose efforts for the +benefit of emigrants are awakening a very general interest among all +classes in England. They said there had been hesitation on the part of +some good people, in regard to coöperating with her, because she is a +Roman Catholic. + +It was agreed among us, that the great humanities of the present day are +a proper ground on which all sects can unite, and that if any feared the +extension of wrong sentiments, they had only to supply emigrant ships +more abundantly with the Bible. Mr. C. said that this is a movement +exciting very extensive interest, and that they hoped Mrs. Chisholm +would visit Liverpool before long. + +The meeting was a very interesting one. The style of feeling expressed +in all the remarks was tempered by a deep and earnest remembrance of the +share which England originally had in planting the evil of slavery in +the civilized world, and her consequent obligation, as a Christian +nation, now not to cease her efforts until the evil is extirpated, not +merely from her own soil, but from all lands. + +The feeling towards America was respectful and friendly, and the utmost +sympathy was expressed with her in the difficulties with which she is +environed by this evil. The tone of the meeting was deeply earnest and +religious. They presented us with a sum to be appropriated for the +benefit of the slave, in any way we might think proper. + +A great number of friends accompanied us to the cars, and a beautiful +bouquet of flowers was sent, with a very affecting message from, a sick +gentleman, who, from the retirement of his chamber, felt a desire to +testify his sympathy. + +Now, if all this enthusiasm for freedom and humanity, in the person of +the American slave, is to be set down as good for nothing in England, +because there are evils there in society which require redress, what +then shall we say of ourselves? Have we not been enthusiastic for +freedom in the person of the Greek, the Hungarian, and the Pole, while +protecting a much worse despotism than any from which they suffer? Do we +not consider it our duty to print and distribute the Bible in all +foreign lands, when there are three millions of people among whom we +dare not distribute it at home, and whom it is a penal offence even to +teach to read it? Do we not send remonstrances to Tuscany, about the +Madiai, when women are imprisoned in Virginia for teaching slaves to +read? Is all this hypocritical, insincere, and impertinent in us? Are we +never to send another missionary, or make another appeal for foreign +lands, till we have abolished slavery at home? For my part, I think that +imperfect and inconsistent outbursts of generosity and feeling are a +great deal better than none. No nation, no individual is wholly +consistent and Christian; but let us not in ourselves or in other +nations repudiate the truest and most beautiful developments of +humanity, because we have not yet attained perfection. All experience +has proved that the sublime spirit of foreign missions always is +suggestive of home philanthropies, and that those whose heart has been +enlarged by the love of all mankind are always those who are most +efficient in their own particular sphere. + + + + +LETTER III. + + +GLASGOW, April 16, 1853. + +DEAR AUNT E.:-- + +You shall have my earliest Scotch letter; for I am sure nobody can +sympathize in the emotions of the first approach to Scotland as you can. +A country dear to us by the memory of the dead and of the living; a +country whose history and literature, interesting enough of itself, has +become to us still more so, because the reading and learning of it +formed part of our communion for many a social hour, with friends long +parted from earth. + +The views of Scotland, which lay on my mother's table, even while I was +a little child, and in poring over which I spent so many happy, dreamy +hours,--the Scotch ballads, which were the delight of our evening +fireside, and which seemed almost to melt the soul out of me, before I +was old enough to understand their words,--the songs of Burns, which had +been a household treasure among us,--the enchantments of Scott,--all +these dimly returned upon me. It was the result of them all which I felt +in nerve and brain. + +And, by the by, that puts me in mind of one thing; and that is, how much +of our pleasure in literature results from its reflection on us from, +other minds. As we advance in life, the literature which has charmed us +in the circle of our friends becomes endeared to us from the reflected +remembrance of them, of their individualities, their opinions, and their +sympathies, so that our memory of it is a many-colored cord, drawn from +many minds. + +So in coming near to Scotland, I seemed to feel not only my own +individuality, but all that my friends would have felt, had they been +with me. For sometimes we seem to be encompassed, as by a cloud, with a +sense of the sympathy of the absent and the dead. + +We left Liverpool with hearts a little tremulous and excited by the +vibration of an atmosphere of universal sympathy and kindness. We found +ourselves, at length, shut from the warm adieus of our friends, in a +snug compartment of the railroad car. The English cars are models of +comfort and good keeping. There are six seats in a compartment, +luxuriously cushioned and nicely carpeted, and six was exactly the +number of our party. Nevertheless, so obstinate is custom that we +averred at first that we preferred our American cars, deficient as they +are in many points of neatness and luxury, because they are so much more +social. + +"Dear me," said Mr. S., "six Yankees shut up in a car together! Not one +Englishman to tell us any thing about the country! Just like the six old +ladies that made their living by taking tea at each other's houses." + +But that is the way here in England: every arrangement in travelling is +designed to maintain that privacy and reserve which is the dearest and +most sacred part of an Englishman's nature. Things are so arranged here +that, if a man pleases, he can travel all through England with his +family, and keep the circle an unbroken unit, having just as little +communication with any thing outside of it as in his own house. + +From one of these sheltered apartments in a railroad car, he can pass to +preëngaged parlors and chambers in the hotel, with his own separate +table, and all his domestic manners and peculiarities unbroken. In fact, +it is a little compact home travelling about. + +Now, all this is very charming to people who know already as much about +a country as they want to know; but it follows from it that a stranger +might travel all through England, from one end to the other and not be +on conversing terms with a person in it. He may be at the same hotel, in +the same train with people able to give him all imaginable information, +yet never touch them at any practicable point of communion. This is more +especially the case if his party, as ours was, is just large enough to +fill the whole apartment. + +As to the comforts of the cars, it is to be said, that for the same +price you can get far more comfortable riding in America. Their first +class cars are beyond all praise, but also beyond all price; their +second class are comfortless, cushionless, and uninviting. Agreeably +with our theory of democratic equality, we have a general car, not so +complete as the one, nor so bare as the other, where all ride together; +and if the traveller in thus riding sees things that occasionally annoy +him, when he remembers that the whole population, from the highest to +the lowest, are accommodated here together, he will certainly see +hopeful indications in the general comfort, order, and respectability +which prevail; all which we talked over most patriotically together, +while we were lamenting that there was not a seventh to our party, to +instruct us in the localities. + +Every thing upon the railroad proceeds with systematic accuracy. There +is no chance for the most careless person to commit a blunder, or make a +mistake. At the proper time the conductor marches every body into their +places and locks them in, gives the word, "All right," and away we go. +Somebody has remarked, very characteristically, that the starting word +of the English is "all right," and that of the Americans "go ahead." + +Away we go through Lancashire, wide awake, looking out on all sides for +any signs of antiquity. In being thus whirled through English scenery, I +became conscious of a new understanding of the spirit and phraseology of +English poetry. There are many phrases and expressions with which we +have been familiar from childhood, and which, we suppose, in a kind of +indefinite way, we understand, which, after all, when we come on English +ground, start into a new significance: take, for instance, these lines +from L'Allegro:-- + + "Sometimes walking, not unseen, + By hedge-row elms on hillocks green. + + * * * * * + + Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures, + While the landscape round it measures; + Russet lawns and fallows gray, + Where the nibbling flocks do stray; + Mountains, on whose barren breast + The laboring clouds do often rest; + Meadows trim with daisies pied, + Shallow brooks and livers wide: + Towers and battlements it sees + Bosom'd high in tufted trees." + +Now, these hedge-row elms. I had never even asked myself what they were +till I saw them; but you know, as I said in a former letter, the hedges +are not all of them carefully cut; in fact many of them are only +irregular rows of bushes, where, although the hawthorn is the staple +element, yet firs, and brambles, and many other interlopers put in their +claim, and they all grow up together in a kind of straggling unity; and +in the hedges trees are often set out, particularly elms, and have a +very pleasing effect. + +Then, too, the trees have more of that rounding outline which is +expressed by the word "bosomed." But here we are, right under the walls +of Lancaster, and Mr. S. wakes me up by quoting, "Old John o' Gaunt, +time-honored Lancaster." + +"Time-honored," said I; "it looks as fresh as if it had been built +yesterday: you do not mean to say that is the real old castle?" + +"To be sure, it is the very old castle built in the reign of Edward +III., by John of Gaunt." + +It stands on the summit of a hill, seated regally like a queen upon a +throne, and every part of it looks as fresh, and sharp, and clear, as if +it were the work of modern times. It is used now for a county jail. We +have but a moment to stop or admire--the merciless steam car drives on. +We have a little talk about the feudal times, and the old past days; +when again the cry goes up,-- + +"O, there's something! What's that?" + +"O, that is Carlisle." + +"Carlisle!" said I; "what, the Carlisle of Scott's ballad?" + +"What ballad?" + +"Why, don't you remember, in the Lay of the Last Minstrel, the song of +Albert Graeme, which has something about Carlisle's wall in every verse? + + 'It was an English, laydie bright + When sun shines fair on Carlisle wall, + And she would marry a Scottish knight, + For love will still be lord of all.' + +I used to read this when I was a child, and wonder what 'Carlisle wall' +was." + +Carlisle is one of the most ancient cities in England, dating quite back +to the time of the Romans. Wonderful! How these Romans left their mark +every where! + +Carlisle has also its ancient castle, the lofty, massive tower of which +forms a striking feature of the town. + +This castle was built by William Rufus. David, King of Scots, and Robert +Bruce both tried their hands upon it, in the good old times, when +England and Scotland were a mutual robbery association. Then the castle +of the town was its great feature; castles were every thing in those +days. Now the castle has gone to decay, and stands only for a curiosity, +and the cotton factory has come up in its place. This place is famous +for cottons and ginghams, and moreover for a celebrated biscuit bakery. +So goes the world,--the lively vigorous shoots of the present springing +out of the old, mouldering trunk of the past. + +Mr. S. was in an ecstasy about an old church, a splendid Gothic, in +which Paley preached. He was archdeacon of Carlisle. We stopped here for +a little while to take dinner. In a large, handsome room tables were set +out, and we sat down to a regular meal. + +One sees nothing of a town from a railroad station, since it seems to be +an invariable rule, not only here, but all over Europe, to locate them +so that you can see nothing from them. + +By the by, I forgot to say, among the historical recollections of this +place, that it was the first stopping-place of Queen Mary, after her +fatal flight into England. The rooms which she occupied are still shown +in the castle, and there are interesting letters and documents extant +from lords whom Elizabeth sent here to visit her, in which they record +her beauty, her heroic sentiments, and even her dress; so strong was the +fascination in which she held all who approached her. Carlisle is the +scene of the denouement of Guy Mannering, and it is from this town that +Lord Carlisle gets his title. + +And now keep up a bright lookout for ruins and old houses. Mr. S., whose +eyes are always in every place, allowed none of us to slumber, but +looking out, first on his own side and then on ours, called our +attention to every visible thing. If he had been appointed on a mission +of inquiry he could not have been more zealous and faithful, and I began +to think that our desire for an English cicerone was quite superfluous. + +And now we pass Gretna Green, famous in story--that momentous place +which marks the commencement of Scotland. It is a little straggling +village, and there is a roadside inn, which has been the scene of +innumerable Gretna Green marriages. + +Owing to the fact that the Scottish law of marriage is far more liberal +in its construction than the English, this place has been the refuge of +distressed lovers from time immemorial; and although the practice of +escaping here is universally condemned as very naughty and improper, +yet, like every other impropriety, it is kept in countenance by very +respectable people. Two lord chancellors have had the amiable weakness +to fall into this snare, and one lord chancellor's son; so says the +guide book, which is our Koran for the time being. It says, moreover, +that it would be easy to add a lengthened list of _distingués_ married +at Gretna Green; but these lord chancellors (Erskine and Eldon) are +quoted as being the most melancholy monuments. What shall meaner mortals +do, when law itself, in all her majesty, wig, gown, and all, goes by the +board? + +Well, we are in Scotland at last, and now our pulse rises as the sun +declines in the west. We catch glimpses of the Solway Frith, and talk +about Redgauntlet. + +One says, "Do you remember the scene on the sea shore, with which it +opens, describing the rising of the tide?" + +And says another, "Don't you remember those lines in the Young Lochinvar +song?-- + + 'Love swells like the Solway, but ebbs like its tide.'" + +I wonder how many authors it will take to enchant our country from Maine +to New Orleans, as every foot of ground is enchanted here in Scotland. + +The sun went down, and night drew on; still we were in Scotland. Scotch +ballads, Scotch tunes, and Scotch literature were in the ascendant. We +sang "Auld Lang Syne," "Scots wha ha'," and "Bonnie Doon," and then, +changing the key, sang Dundee, Elgin, and Martyrs. + +"Take care," said Mr. S.; "don't get too much excited." + +"Ah," said I, "this is a thing that comes only once in a lifetime; do +let us have the comfort of it. We shall never come into Scotland for the +_first time_ again." + +"Ah," said another, "how I wish Walter Scott was alive!" + +While we were thus at the fusion point of enthusiasm, the cars stopped +at Lockerby, where the real Old Mortality is buried. All was dim and +dark outside, but we soon became conscious that there was quite a number +collected, peering into the window, and, with a strange kind of thrill, +I heard my name inquired for in the Scottish accent. I went to the +window; there were men, women, and children there, and hand after hand +was presented, with the words, "Ye're welcome to Scotland!" + +Then they inquired for, and shook hands with, all the party, having in +some mysterious manner got the knowledge of who they were, even down to +little G----, whom they took to be my son. Was it not pleasant, when I +had a heart so warm for this old country? I shall never forget the +thrill of those words, "Ye're welcome to Scotland," nor the "Gude +night." + +After that we found similar welcomes in many succeeding stopping-places; +and though I did wave a towel out of the window, instead of a pocket +handkerchief, and commit other awkwardnesses, from not knowing how to +play my part, yet I fancied, after all, that Scotland and we were coming +on well together. Who the good souls were that were thus watching for +us through the night, I am sure I do not know; but that they were of the +"one blood," which unites all the families of the earth, I felt. + +As we came towards Glasgow, we saw, upon a high hill, what we supposed +to be a castle on fire--great volumes of smoke rolling up, and fire +looking out of arched windows. + +"Dear me, what a conflagration!" we all exclaimed. We had not gone very +far before we saw another, and then, on the opposite side of the car, +another still. + +"Why, it seems to me the country is all on fire." + +"I should think," said Mr. S., "if it was in old times, that there had +been a raid from the Highlands, and set all the houses on fire." + +"Or they might be beacons," suggested C. + +To this some one answered out of the Lay of the Last Minstrel,-- + + "Sweet Teviot, by thy silver tide + The glaring bale-fires blaze no more." + +As we drew near to Glasgow these illuminations increased, till the whole +air was red with the glare of them. + +"What can they be?" + +"Dear me," said Mr. S., in a tone of sudden recollection, "it's the iron +works! Don't you know Glasgow is celebrated for its iron works?" + +So, after all, in these peaceful fires of the iron works, we got an idea +how the country might have looked in the old picturesque times, when the +Highlanders came down and set the Lowlands on fire; such scenes as are +commemorated in the words of Roderick Dhu's song:-- + + "Proudly our pibroch, has thrilled in Glen Fruin, + And Banmachar's groans to our slogan replied; + Glen Luss and Ross Dhu, they are smoking in ruins, + And the best of Loch Lomond lies dead on her side." + +To be sure the fires of iron founderies are much less picturesque than +the old beacons, and the clink of hammers than the clash of claymores; +but the most devout worshipper of the middle ages would hardly wish to +change them. + +Dimly, by the flickering light of these furnaces, we see the approach to +the old city of Glasgow. There, we are arrived! Friends are waiting in +the station house. Earnest, eager, friendly faces, ever so many. Warm +greetings, kindly words. A crowd parting in the middle, through which we +were conducted into a carriage, and loud cheers of welcome, sent a +throb, as the voice of living Scotland. + +I looked out of the carriage, as we drove on, and saw, by the light of a +lantern, Argyle Street. It was past twelve o'clock when I found myself +in a warm, cozy parlor, with friends, whom I have ever since been glad +to remember. In a little time we were all safely housed in our +hospitable apartments, and sleep fell on me for the first time in +Scotland. + + + + +LETTER IV. + + +DEAR AUNT E.:-- + +The next morning I awoke worn and weary, and scarce could the charms of +the social Scotch breakfast restore me. I say Scotch, for we had many +viands peculiarly national. The smoking porridge, or parritch, of +oatmeal, which is the great staple dish throughout Scotland. Then there +was the bannock, a thin, wafer-like cake of the same material. My friend +laughingly said when he passed it, "You are in the 'land o' cakes,' +remember." There was also some herring, as nice a Scottish fish as ever +wore scales, besides dainties innumerable which were not national. + +Our friend and host was Mr. Baillie Paton. I believe that it is to his +suggestion in a public meeting, that we owe the invitation which brought +us to Scotland. + +By the by, I should say that "baillie" seems to correspond to what we +call a member of the city council. Mr. Paton told us, that they had +expected us earlier, and that the day before quite a party of friends +met at his house to see us, among whom was good old Dr. Wardlaw. + +After breakfast the calling began. First, a friend of the family, with +three beautiful children, the youngest of whom was the bearer of a +handsomely bound album, containing a pressed collection of the sea +mosses of the Scottish coast, very vivid and beautiful. + +If the bloom of English children appeared to me wonderful, I seemed to +find the same thing intensified, if possible, in Scotland. The children +are brilliant as pomegranate blossoms, and their vivid beauty called +forth unceasing admiration. Nor is it merely the children of the rich, +or of the higher classes, that are thus gifted. I have seen many a group +of ragged urchins in the streets and closes with all the high coloring +of Rubens, and all his fulness of outline. Why is it that we admire +ragged children on canvas so much more than the same in nature? + +All this day is a confused dream to me of a dizzy and overwhelming kind. +So many letters that it took C---- from nine in the morning till two in +the afternoon to read and answer them in the shortest manner; letters +from all classes of people, high and low, rich and poor, in all shades +and styles of composition, poetry and prose; some mere outbursts of +feeling; some invitations; some advice and suggestions; some requests +and inquiries; some presenting books, or flowers, or fruit. + +Then came, in their turn, deputations from Paisley, Greenock, Dundee, +Aberdeen, Edinburgh, and Belfast in Ireland; calls of friendship, +invitations of all descriptions to go every where, and to see every +thing, and to stay in so many places. One kind, venerable minister, with +his lovely daughter, offered me a retreat in his quiet manse on the +beautiful shores of the Clyde. + +For all these kindnesses, what could I give in return? There was scarce +time for even a grateful thought on each. People have often said to me +that it must have been an exceeding bore. For my part, I could not think +of regarding it so. It only oppressed me with an unutterable sadness. + +To me there is always something interesting and beautiful about a +universal popular excitement of a generous character, let the object of +it be what it may. The great desiring heart of man, surging with one +strong, sympathetic swell, even though it be to break on the beach of +life and fall backwards, leaving the sands as barren as before, has yet +a meaning and a power in its restlessness, with which I must deeply +sympathize. Nor do I sympathize any the less, when the individual, who +calls forth such an outburst, can be seen by the eye of sober sense to +be altogether inadequate and disproportioned to it. + +I do not regard it as any thing against our American nation, that we are +capable, to a very great extent, of these sudden personal enthusiasms, +because I think that, with an individual or a community, the capability +of being exalted into a temporary enthusiasm of self-forgetfulness, so +far from being a fault, has in it a quality of something divine. + +Of course, about all such things there is a great deal which a cool +critic could make ridiculous, but I hold to my opinion of them +nevertheless. + +In the afternoon I rode out with the lord provost to see the cathedral. +The lord provost answers to the lord mayor in England. His title and +office in both countries continue only a year, except in cases of +reëlection. + +As I saw the way to the cathedral blocked up by a throng of people, who +had come out to see me, I could not help saying, "What went ye out for +to see? a reed shaken with the wind?" In fact, I was so worn out, that I +could hardly walk through the building. + +It is in this cathedral that part of the scene of Rob Roy is laid. This +was my first experience in cathedrals. It was a new thing to me +altogether, and as I walked along under the old buttresses and +battlements without, and looked into the bewildering labyrinths of +architecture within, I saw that, with silence and solitude to help the +impression, the old building might become a strong part of one's inner +life. A grave yard crowded with flat stones lies all around it. A deep +ravine separates it from another cemetery on an opposite eminence, +rustling with dark pines. A little brook murmurs with its slender voice +between. + +On this opposite eminence the statue of John Knox, grim and strong, +stands with its arm uplifted, as if shaking his fist at the old +cathedral which in life he vainly endeavored to battle down. + +Knox was very different from Luther, in that he had no conservative +element in him, but warred equally against accessories and essentials. + +At the time when the churches of Scotland were being pulled down in a +general iconoclastic crusade, the tradesmen of Glasgow stood for the +defence of their cathedral, and forced the reformers to content +themselves with having the idolatrous images of saints pulled down from +their niches and thrown into the brook, while, as Andrew Fairservice +hath it, "The auld kirk stood as crouse as a cat when the fleas are +caimed aff her, and a' body was alike pleased." + +We went all through the cathedral, which is fitted up as a Protestant +place of worship, and has a simple and massive grandeur about it. In +fact, to quote again from our friend Andrew, we could truly say, "Ah, +it's a brave kirk, nane o' yere whig-malceries, and curliewurlies, and +opensteek hems about it--a' solid, weel-jointed mason wark, that will +stand as lang as the warld, keep hands and gun-powther aff it." + +I was disappointed in one thing: the painted glass, if there has ever +been any, is almost all gone, and the glare of light through the immense +windows is altogether too great, revealing many defects and rudenesses +in the architecture, which would have quite another appearance in the +colored rays through painted windows--an emblem, perhaps, of the cold, +definite, intellectual rationalism, which has taken the place of the +many-colored, gorgeous mysticism of former times. + +After having been over the church, we requested, out of respect to +Baillie Nicol Jarvie's memory, to be driven through the Saut Market. I, +however, was so thoroughly tired that I cannot remember any thing about +it. + +I will say, by the way, that I have found out since, that nothing is so +utterly hazardous to a person's strength as looking at cathedrals. The +strain upon the head and eyes in looking up through these immense +arches, and then the sepulchral chill which abides from generation to +generation in them, their great extent, and the variety which tempts you +to fatigue which you are not at all aware of, have overcome, as I was +told, many before me. + +Mr. S. and C----, however, made amends, by their great activity and +zeal, for all that I could not do, and I was pleased to understand from +them, that part of the old Tolbooth, where Rob Roy and the baillie had +their rencontre, was standing safe and sound, with stuff enough in it +for half a dozen more stories, if any body could be found to write them. +And Mr. S. insisted upon it, that I should not omit to notify you of +this circumstance. + +Well, in consequence of all this, the next morning I was so ill as to +need a physician, unable to see any one that called, or to hear any of +the letters. I passed most of the day in bed, but in the evening I had +to get up, as I had engaged to drink tea with two thousand people. Our +kind friends Dr. and Mrs. Wardlaw came after us, and Mr. S. and I went +in the carriage with them. + +Dr. Wardlaw is a venerable-looking old man; we both thought we saw a +striking resemblance in him to our friend Dr. Woods, of Andover. He is +still quite active in body and mind, and officiates to his congregation +with great acceptance. I fear, however, that he is in ill health, for I +noticed, as we were passing along to church, that he frequently laid his +hand upon his heart, and seemed in pain. He said he hoped he should be +able to get through the evening, but that when he was not well, +excitement was apt to bring on a spasm about the heart; but with it all +he seemed so cheerful, lively, and benignant, that I could not but feel +my affections drawn towards him. Mrs. Wardlaw is a gentle, motherly +woman, and it was a great comfort to have her with me on such an +occasion. + +Our carriage stopped at last at the place. I have a dim remembrance of a +way being made for us through a great crowd all round the house, and of +going with Mrs. Wardlaw up into a dressing room, where I met and shook +hands with many friendly people. Then we passed into a gallery, where a +seat was reserved for our party, directly in front of the audience. Our +friend Baillie Paton presided. Mrs. Wardlaw and I sat together, and +around us many friends, chiefly ministers of the different churches, the +ladies and gentlemen of the Glasgow Antislavery Society, and others. + +I told you it was a tea party; but the arrangements were altogether +different from any I had ever seen. There were narrow tables stretched +up and down the whole extent of the great hall, and every person had an +appointed seat. These tables were set out with cups and saucers, cakes, +biscuit, &c., and when the proper time came, attendants passed along +serving tea. The arrangements were so accurate and methodical that the +whole multitude actually took tea together, without the least apparent +inconvenience or disturbance. + +There was a gentle, subdued murmur of conversation all over the house, +the sociable clinking of teacups and teaspoons, while the entertainment +was going on. It seemed to me such an odd idea, I could not help +wondering what sort of a teapot that must be, in which all this tea for +two thousand people was made. Truly, as Hadji Baba says, I think they +must have had the "father of all teakettles" to boil it in. I could not +help wondering if old mother Scotland had put two thousand teaspoonfuls +of tea for the company, and one for the teapot, as is our good Yankee +custom. + +We had quite a sociable time up in our gallery. Our tea table stretched +quite across the gallery, and we drank tea "in sight of all the people." +By _we_, I mean a great number of ministers and their wives, and ladies +of the Antislavery Society, besides our party, and the friends whom I +have mentioned before. All seemed to be enjoying themselves. + +After tea they sang a few verses of the seventy-second psalm in the old +Scotch version. + + "The people's poor ones he shall judge, + The needy's children save; + And those shall he in pieces break, + Who them oppressed have. + + For he the needy shall preserve, + When he to him doth call; + The poor, also, and him that hath + No help of man at all. + + Both from deceit and violence + Their soul he shall set free; + And in his sight right precious + And dear their blood shall be. + + Now blessed be the Lord, our God, + The God of Israel, + For he alone doth wondrous works, + In glory that excel. + + And blessed be his glorious name + To all eternity; + The whole earth let his glory fill: + Amen; so let it be." + +When I heard the united sound of all the voices, giving force to these +simple and pathetic words, I thought I could see something of the reason +why that rude old translation still holds its place in Scotland. + +The addresses were, many of them, very beautiful; the more so for the +earnest and religious feeling which they manifested. That of Dr. +Wardlaw, in particular, was full of comfort and encouragement, and +breathed a most candid and catholic spirit. Could our friends in America +see with what earnest warmth the religious heart of Scotland beats +towards them, they would be willing to suffer a word of admonition from +those to whom love gives a right to speak. As Christians, all have a +common interest in what honors or dishonors Christianity, and an ocean +between us does not make us less one church. + +Most of the speeches you will see recorded in the papers. In the course +of the evening there was a second service of grapes, oranges, and other +fruits, served round in the same quiet manner as the tea. On account of +the feeble state of my health, they kindly excused me before the +exercises of the evening were over. + +The next morning, at ten o'clock, we rode with a party of friends to see +some of the _notabilia_. First, to Bothwell Castle, of old the residence +of the Black Douglas. The name had for me the quality of enchantment. I +cannot understand nor explain the nature of that sad yearning and +longing with which one visits the mouldering remains of a state of +society which one's reason wholly disapproves, and which one's calm +sense of right would think it the greatest misfortune to have recalled; +yet when the carriage turned under the shadow of beautiful ancient oaks, +and Mr. S. said, "There, we are in the grounds of the old Black Douglas +family!" I felt every nerve shiver. I remembered the dim melodies of +the Lady of the Lake. Bothwell's lord was the lord of this castle, whose +beautiful ruins here adorn the banks of the Clyde. + +Whatever else we have or may have in America, we shall never have the +wild, poetic beauty of these ruins. The present noble possessors are +fully aware of their worth as objects of taste, and, therefore, with the +greatest care are they preserved. Winding walks are cut through the +grounds with much ingenuity, and seats or arbors are placed at every +desirable and picturesque point of view. + +To the thorough-paced tourist, who wants to _do_ the proprieties in the +shortest possible time, this arrangement is undoubtedly particularly +satisfactory; but to the idealist, who would like to roam, and dream, +and feel, and to come unexpectedly on the choicest points of view, it is +rather a damper to have all his raptures prearranged and foreordained +for him, set down in the guide book and proclaimed by the guide, even +though it should be done with the most artistic accuracy. + +Nevertheless, when we came to the arbor which commanded the finest view +of the old castle, and saw its gray, ivy-clad walls, standing forth on a +beautiful point, round which swept the brown, dimpling waves of the +Clyde, the indescribable sweetness, sadness, wildness of the whole scene +would make its voice heard in our hearts. "Thy servants take pleasure in +her dust, and favor the stones thereof," said an old Hebrew poet, who +must have felt the inexpressibly sad beauty of a ruin. All the splendid +phantasmagoria of chivalry and feudalism, knights, ladies, banners, +glittering arms, sweep before us; the cry of the battle, the noise of +the captains, and the shouting; and then in contrast this deep +stillness, that green, clinging ivy, the gentle, rippling river, those +weeping birches, dipping in its soft waters--all these, in their quiet +loveliness, speak of something more imperishable than brute force. + +The ivy on the walls now displays a trunk in some places as large as a +man's body. In the days of old Archibald the Grim, I suppose that ivy +was a little, weak twig, which, if he ever noticed, he must have thought +the feeblest and slightest of all things; yet Archibald has gone back to +dust, and the ivy is still growing on. Such force is there in gentle +things. + +I have often been dissatisfied with the admiration, which a poetic +education has woven into my nature, for chivalry and feudalism; but, on +a closer examination, I am convinced that there is a real and proper +foundation for it, and that, rightly understood, this poetic admiration +is not inconsistent with the spirit of Christ. + +For, let us consider what it is we admire in these Douglases, for +instance, who, as represented by Scott, are perhaps as good exponents of +the idea as any. Was it their hardness, their cruelty, their hastiness +to take offence, their fondness for blood and murder? All these, by and +of themselves, are simply disgusting. What, then, do we admire? Their +courage, their fortitude, their scorn of lying and dissimulation, their +high sense of personal honor, which led them to feel themselves the +protectors of the weak, and to disdain to take advantage of unequal odds +against an enemy. If we read the book of Isaiah, we shall see that some +of the most striking representations of God appeal to the very same +principles of our nature. + +The fact is, there can be no reliable character which has not its basis +in these strong qualities. The beautiful must ever rest in the arms of +the sublime. The gentle needs the strong to sustain it, as much as the +rock flowers need rocks to grow on, or yonder ivy the rugged wall which +it embraces. When we are admiring these things, therefore, we are only +admiring some sparkles and glimmers of that which is divine, and so +coming nearer to Him in whom all fulness dwells. + +After admiring at a distance, we strolled through the ruins themselves. +Do you remember, in the Lady of the Lake, where the exiled Douglas, +recalling to his daughter the images of his former splendor, says,-- + + "When Blantyre hymned, her holiest lays, + And Bothwell's walls flung back the praise"? + +These lines came forcibly to my mind, when I saw the mouldering ruins of +Blantyre priory rising exactly opposite to the castle, on the other side +of the Clyde. + +The banks of the River Clyde, where we walked, were thick set with +Portuguese laurel, which I have before mentioned as similar to our +rhododendron. I here noticed a fact with regard to the ivy which had +often puzzled me; and that is, the different shapes of its leaves in the +different stages of its growth. The young ivy has this leaf; but when it +has become more than a century old every trace and indentation melts +away, and it assumes this form, which I found afterwards to be the +invariable shape of all the oldest ivy, in all the ruins of Europe which +I explored. + +This ivy, like the spider, takes hold with her hands in kings' palaces, +as every twig is furnished with innumerable little clinging fingers, by +which it draws itself close, as it were, to the very heart of the old +rough stone. + +Its clinging and beautiful tenacity has given rise to an abundance of +conceits about fidelity, friendship, and woman's love, which have become +commonplace simply from their appropriateness. It might, also, symbolize +that higher love, unconquerable and unconquered, which has embraced this +ruined world from age to age, silently spreading its green over the +rents and fissures of our fallen nature, giving "beauty for ashes, and +garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness." + +There is a modern mansion, where the present proprietor of the estate +lives. It was with an emotion partaking of the sorrowful, that we heard +that the Douglas line, as such, was extinct, and that the estate had +passed to distant connections. I was told that the present Lord Douglas +is a peaceful clergyman, quite a different character from old Archibald +the Grim. + +The present residence is a plain mansion, standing on a beautiful lawn, +near the old castle. The head gardener of the estate and many of the +servants came out to meet us, with faces full of interest. The gardener +walked about to show us the localities, and had a great deal of the +quiet intelligence and self-respect which, I think, is characteristic of +the laboring classes here. I noticed that on the green sweep of the +lawn, he had set out here and there a good many daisies, as +embellishments to the grass, and these in many places were defended by +sticks bent over them, and that, in one place, a bank overhanging the +stream was radiant with yellow daffodils, which appeared to have come up +and blossomed there accidentally. I know not whether these were planted +there, or came up of themselves. + +We next went to the famous Bothwell bridge, which Scott has immortalized +in Old Mortality. We walked up and down, trying to recall the scenes of +the battle, as there described, and were rather mortified, after we had +all our associations comfortably located upon it, to be told that it was +not the same bridge--it had been newly built, widened, and otherwise +made more comfortable and convenient. + +Of course, this was evidently for the benefit of society, but it was +certainly one of those cases where the poetical suffers for the +practical. I comforted myself in my despondency, by looking over at the +old stone piers underneath, which were indisputably the same. We drove +now through beautiful grounds, and alighted at an elegant mansion, which +in former days belonged to Lockhart, the son-in-law of Scott. It was in +this house that Old Mortality was written. + +As I was weary, the party left me here, while they went on to see the +Duke of Hamilton's grounds. Our kind hostess showed me into a small +study, where she said Old Mortality was written. The window commanded a +beautiful view of many of the localities described. Scott was as +particular to consult for accuracy in his local descriptions as if he +had been writing a guide book. + +He was in the habit of noting down in his memorandum book even names and +characteristics of the wild flowers and grasses that grew about a place. +When a friend once remarked to him, that he should have supposed his +imagination could have supplied such trifles, he made an answer that is +worth remembering by every artist--that no imagination could long +support its freshness, that was not nourished by a constant and minute +observation of nature. + +Craignethan Castle, which is the original of Tillietudlem, we were +informed, was not far from thence. It is stated in Lockhart's Life of +Scott, that the ruins of this castle excited in Scott such delight and +enthusiasm, that its owner urged him to accept for his lifetime the use +of a small habitable house, enclosed within the circuit of the walls. + +After the return of the party from Hamilton Park, we sat down to an +elegant lunch, where my eye was attracted more than any thing else, by +the splendor of the hothouse flowers which adorned the table. So far as +I have observed, the culture of flowers, both in England and Scotland, +is more universally an object of attention than with us. Every family in +easy circumstances seems, as a matter of course, to have their +greenhouse, and the flowers are brought to a degree of perfection which +I have never seen at home. + +I may as well say here, that we were told by a gentleman, whose name I +do not now remember, that this whole district had been celebrated for +its orchards; he added, however, that since the introduction of the +American apple into the market, its superior excellence had made many of +these orchards almost entirely worthless. It is a curious fact, showing +how the new world is working on the old. + +After taking leave of our hospitable friends, we took to our carriages +again. As we were driving slowly through the beautiful grounds, +admiring, as we never failed to do, their perfect cultivation, a party +of servants appeared in sight, waving their hats and handkerchiefs, and +cheering us as we passed. These kindly expressions from them were as +pleasant as any we received. + +In the evening we had engaged to attend another _soirée_, gotten up by +the working classes, to give admission to many who were not in +circumstances to purchase tickets for the other. This was to me, if any +thing, a more interesting _réunion_, because this was just the class +whom I wished to meet. The arrangements of the entertainment were like +those of the evening before. + +As I sat in the front gallery and looked over the audience with an +intense interest, I thought they appeared on the whole very much like +what I might have seen at home in a similar gathering. Men, women, and +children were dressed in a style which showed both self-respect and good +taste, and the speeches were far above mediocrity. One pale young man, a +watchmaker, as I was told afterwards, delivered an address, which, +though doubtless it had the promising fault of too much elaboration and +ornament, yet I thought had passages which would do honor to any +literary periodical whatever. + +There were other orators less highly finished, who yet spoke "right on," +in a strong, forcible, and really eloquent way, giving the grain of the +wood without the varnish. They contended very seriously and sensibly, +that although the working men of England and Scotland had many things to +complain of, and many things to be reformed, yet their condition was +world-wide different from that of the slave. + +One cannot read the history of the working classes in England, for the +last fifty years, without feeling sensibly the difference between +oppressions under a free government and slavery. So long as the working +class of England produces orators and writers, such as it undoubtedly +has produced; so long as it has in it that spirit of independence and +resistance of wrong, which has shown itself more and more during the +agitations of the last fifty years; and so as long as the law allows +them to meet and debate, to form associations and committees, to send up +remonstrances and petitions to government,--one can see that their case +is essentially different from that of plantation slaves. + +I must say, I was struck this night with the resemblance between the +Scotchman and the New Englander. One sees the distinctive nationality of +a country more in the middle and laboring classes than in the higher, +and accordingly at this meeting there was more nationality, I thought, +than at the other. + +The highest class of mind in all countries loses nationality, and +becomes universal; it is a great pity, too, because nationality is +picturesque always. One of the greatest miracles to my mind about +Kossuth was, that with so universal an education, and such an extensive +range of language and thought, he was yet so distinctively a Magyar. + +One thing has surprised and rather disappointed us. Our enthusiasm for +Walter Scott does not apparently meet a response in the popular breast. +Allusions to Bannockburn and Drumclog bring down the house, but +enthusiasm for Scott was met with comparative silence. We discussed this +matter among ourselves, and rather wondered at it. + +The fact is, Scott belonged to a past, and not to the coming age. He +beautified and adorned that which is waxing old and passing away. He +loved and worshipped in his very soul institutions which the majority of +the common people have felt as a restraint and a burden. One might +naturally get a very different idea of a feudal castle by starving to +death in the dungeon of it, than by writing sonnets on it at a +picturesque distance. Now, we in America are so far removed from +feudalism,--it has been a thing so much of mere song and story with us, +and our sympathies are so unchecked by any experience of inconvenience +or injustice in its consequences,--that we are at full liberty to +appreciate the picturesque of it, and sometimes, when we stand +overlooking our own beautiful scenery, to wish that we could see, + + "On yon bold brow, a lordly tower; + In that soft vale, a lady's bower; + In yonder meadow, far away, + The turrets of a cloister gray;" + +when those who know by experience all the accompaniments of these +ornaments, would have quite another impression. + +Nevertheless, since there are two worlds in man, the real and the ideal, +and both have indisputably a right to be, since God made the faculties +of both, we must feel that it is a benefaction to mankind, that Scott +was thus raised up as the link, in the ideal world, between the present +and the past. It is a loss to universal humanity to have the imprint of +any phase of human life and experience entirely blotted out. Scott's +fictions are like this beautiful ivy, with which all the ruins here are +overgrown,--they not only adorn, but, in many cases, they actually hold +together, and prevent the crumbling mass from falling into ruins. + +To-morrow we are going to have a sail on the Clyde. + + + + +LETTER V. + + +April 17. + +MY DEAR SISTER:-- + +To-day a large party of us started on a small steamer, to go down the +Clyde. It has been a very, very exciting day to us. It is so stimulating +to be where every name is a poem. For instance, we start at the +Broomielaw. This Broomielaw is a kind of wharf, or landing. Perhaps in +old times it was a haugh overgrown with broom, from whence it gets its +name; this is only my conjecture, however. + +We have a small steamer quite crowded with people, our excursion party +being very numerous. In a few minutes after starting, somebody says,-- + +"O, here's where the Kelvin enters." This starts up,-- + + "Let us haste to Kelvin Grove." + +Then soon we are coming to Dumbarton Castle, and all the tears we shed +over Miss Porter's William Wallace seem to rise up like a many-colored +mist about it. The highest peak of the rock is still called Wallace's +Seat, and a part of the castle, Wallace's Tower; and in one of its +apartments a huge two-handed sword of the hero is still shown. I +suppose, in fact, Miss Porter's sentimental hero is about as much like +the real William Wallace as Daniel Boone is like Sir Charles Grandison. +Many a young lady, who has cried herself sick over Wallace in the novel, +would have been in perfect horror if she could have seen the real man. +Still Dumbarton Castle is not a whit the less picturesque for that. Now +comes the Leven,--that identical Leven Water known in song,--and on the +right is Leven Grove. + +"There," said somebody to me, "is the old mansion of the Earls of +Glencairn." Quick as thought, flashed through my mind that most eloquent +of Burns's poems, the Lament for James, Earl of Glencairn. + + "The bridegroom may forget the bride + Was made his wedded wife yestreen; + The monarch may forget the crown + That on his head an hour hath been; + The mother may forget the child + That smiles sae sweetly on her knee; + But I'll remember thee, Glencairn, + And a' that thou hast done for me." + +This mansion is now the seat of Graham of Gartmor. + +Now we are shown the remains of old Cardross Castle, where it was said +Robert Bruce breathed his last. And now we come near the beautiful +grounds of Roseneath, a green, velvet-like peninsula, stretching out +into the widening waters. + +"Peninsula!" said C----. "Why, Walter Scott said it was an island." + +Certainly, he did declare most explicitly in the person of Mr. +Archibald, the Duke of Argyle's serving man, to Miss Dollie Dutton, when +she insisted on going to it by land, that Roseneath was an island. It +shows that the most accurate may be caught tripping sometimes. + +Of course, our heads were full of David Deans, Jeanie, and Effie, but we +saw nothing of them. The Duke of Argyle's Italian mansion is the most +conspicuous object. + +Hereupon there was considerable discussion on the present Duke of Argyle +among the company, from which we gathered that he stood high in favor +with the popular mind. One said that there had been an old prophecy, +probably uttered somewhere up in the Highlands, where such things are +indigenous, that a very good duke of Argyle was to arise having red +hair, and that the present duke had verified the prediction by uniting +both requisites. They say that he is quite a young man, with a small, +slight figure, but with a great deal of energy and acuteness of mind, +and with the generous and noble traits which have distinguished his +house in former times. He was a pupil of Dr. Arnold, a member of the +National Scotch Kirk, and generally understood to be a serious and +religious man. He is one of the noblemen who have been willing to come +forward and make use of his education and talent in the way of popular +lectures at lyceums and athenæums; as have also the Duke of Newcastle, +the Earl of Carlisle, and some others. So the world goes on. I must +think, with all deference to poetry, that it is much better to deliver a +lyceum lecture than to head a clan in battle; though I suppose, a +century and a half ago, had the thing been predicted to McCallummore's +old harper, he would have been greatly at a loss to comprehend the +nature of the transaction. + +Somewhere about here, I was presented, by his own request, to a +broad-shouldered Scotch farmer, who stood some six feet two, and who +paid me the compliment to say, that he had read my book, and that he +would walk six miles to see me any day. Such a flattering evidence of +discriminating taste, of course, disposed my heart towards him; but when +I went up and put my hand into his great prairie of a palm, I was as a +grasshopper in my own eyes. I inquired who he was, and was told he was +one of the Duke of Argyle's farmers. I thought to myself, if all the +duke's farmers were of this pattern, that he might be able to speak to +the enemy in the gates to some purpose. + +Roseneath occupies the ground between the Gare Loch and Loch Long. The +Gare Loch is the name given to a bay formed by the River Clyde, here +stretching itself out like a lake. Here we landed and went on shore, +passing along the sides of the loch, in the little village of Row. + +As we were walking along a carriage came up after us, in which were two +ladies. A bunch of primroses, thrown from this carriage, fell at my +feet. I picked it up, and then the carriage stopped, and the ladies +requested to know if I was Mrs. Stowe. On answering in the affirmative, +they urged me so earnestly to come under their roof and take some +refreshment, that I began to remember, what I had partly lost sight of, +that I was very tired; so, while the rest of the party walked on to get +a distant view of Ben Lomond, Mr. S. and I suffered ourselves to be +taken into the carriage of our unknown friends, and carried up to a +charming little Italian villa, which stood, surrounded by flower gardens +and pleasure grounds, at the head of the loch. We were ushered into a +most comfortable parlor, where a long window, made of one clear unbroken +sheet of plate glass, gave a perfect view of the loch with all its woody +shores, with Roseneath Castle in the distance. My good hostesses +literally overwhelmed me with kindness; but as there was nothing I +really needed so much as a little quiet rest, they took me to a cozy +bedroom, of which they gave me the freedom, for the present. Does not +every traveller know what a luxury it is to shut one's eyes sometimes? +The chamber, which is called "Peace," is now, as it was in Christian's +days, one of the best things that Charity or Piety could offer to the +pilgrim. Here I got a little brush from the wings of dewy-feathered +sleep. + +After a while our party came back, and we had to be moving. My kind +friends expressed so much joy at having met me, that it was really +almost embarrassing. They told me that they, being confined to the house +by ill health, and one of them by lameness, had had no hope of ever +seeing me, and that this meeting seemed a wonderful gift of Providence. +They bade me take courage and hope, for they felt assured that the Lord +would yet entirely make an end of slavery through the world. + +It was concluded, after we left here, that, instead of returning by the +boat, we should take carriage and ride home along the banks of the +river. In our carriage were Mr. S. and myself, Dr. Robson and Lady +Anderson. About this time I commenced my first essay towards giving +titles, and made, as you may suppose, rather an odd piece of work of it, +generally saying "Mrs." first, and "Lady" afterwards, and then begging +pardon. Lady Anderson laughed, and said she would give me a general +absolution. She is a truly genial, hearty Scotch woman, and seemed to +enter happily into the spirit of the hour. + +As we rode on we found that the news of our coming had spread through +the village. People came and stood in their doors, beckoning, bowing, +smiling, and waving their handkerchiefs, and the carriage was several +times stopped by persons who came to offer flowers. I remember, in +particular, a group of young girls brought to the carriage two of the +most beautiful children I ever saw, whose little hands literally deluged +us with flowers. + +At the village of Helensburgh we stopped a little while to call upon +Mrs. Bell, the wife of Mr. Bell, the inventor of the steamboat. His +invention in this country was about the same time of that of Fulton in +America. Mrs. Bell came to the carriage to speak to us. She is a +venerable woman, far advanced in years. They had prepared a lunch for +us, and quite a number of people had come together to meet us, but our +friends said that there was not time for us to stop. + +We rode through several villages after this, and met quite warm welcome. +What pleased me was, that it was not mainly from the literary, nor the +rich, nor the great, but the plain, common people. The butcher came out +of his stall, and the baker from his shop, the miller, dusty with his +flour, the blooming, comely, young mother, with her baby in her arms, +all smiling and bowing with that hearty, intelligent, friendly look, as +if they knew we should be glad to see them. + +Once, while we stopped to change horses, I, for the sake of seeing +something more of the country, walked on. It seems the honest landlord +and his wife were greatly disappointed at this; however, they got into +the carriage and rode on to see me, and I shook hands with them with a +right good will. + +We saw several of the clergymen, who came out to meet us, and I remember +stopping, just to be introduced to a most delightful family who came +out, one by one, gray-headed father and mother, with comely brothers and +fair sisters, looking all so kindly and home-like, that I would have +been glad to use the welcome that they gave me to their dwelling. + +This day has been a strange phenomenon to me. In the first place, I have +seen in all these villages how universally the people read. I have seen +how capable they are of a generous excitement and enthusiasm, and how +much may be done by a work of fiction, so written as to enlist those +sympathies which are common to all classes. Certainly, a great deal may +be effected in this way, if God gives to any one the power, as I hope +he will to many. The power of fictitious writing, for good as well as +evil, is a thing which ought most seriously to be reflected on. No one +can fail to see that in our day it is becoming a very great agency. + +We came home quite tired, as you may well suppose. You will not be +surprised that the next day I found myself more disposed to keep my bed +than to go out. I regretted it, because, being Sunday, I would like to +have heard some of the preachers of Glasgow. I was, however, glad of one +quiet day to recall my thoughts, for I had been whirling so rapidly from +scene to scene, that I needed time to consider where I was; especially +as we were to go to Edinburgh on the morrow. + +Towards sunset Mr. S. and I strolled out entirely alone to breathe a +little fresh air. We walked along the banks of the Kelvin, quite down to +its junction with the Clyde. The Kelvin Grove of the ballad is all cut +away, and the Kelvin flows soberly between stone walls, with a footpath +on each side, like a stream that has learned to behave itself. + +"There," said Mr. S., as we stood on the banks of the Clyde, now lying +flushed and tranquil in the light of the setting sun, "over there is +Ayrshire." + +"Ayrshire!" I said; "what, where Burns lived?" + +"Yes, there is his cottage, far down to the south, and out of sight, of +course; and there are the bonny banks of Ayr." + +It seemed as if the evening air brought a kind of sigh with it. Poor +Burns! how inseparably he has woven himself with the warp and woof of +every Scottish association! + +We saw a great many children of the poor out playing--rosy, fine little +urchins, worth, any one of them, a dozen bleached, hothouse flowers. We +stopped to hear them talk, and it was amusing to hear the Scotch of +Walter Scott and Burns shouted out with such a right good will. We were +as much struck by it as an honest Yankee was in Paris by the proficiency +of the children in speaking French. + +The next day we bade farewell to Glasgow, overwhelmed with kindness to +the last, and only oppressed by the thought, how little that was +satisfactory we were able to give in return. + +Again in the railroad car on our way to Edinburgh. A pleasant two hours' +trip is this from Glasgow to Edinburgh. When the cars stopped at +Linlithgow station, the name started us as out of a dream. + +There, sure enough, before our eyes, on a gentle eminence stood the +mouldering ruins of which Scott has sung:-- + + "Of all the palaces so fair, + Built for the royal dwelling, + In Scotland, far beyond compare + Linlithgow is excelling; + And in its park in genial June, + How sweet the merry linnet's tune, + How blithe the blackbird's lay! + The wild buck's bells from thorny brake. + The coot dives merry on the lake,-- + The saddest heart might pleasure take, + To see a scene so gay." + +Here was born that woman whose beauty and whose name are set in the +strong, rough Scotch heart, as a diamond in granite. Poor Mary! When her +father, who lay on his death bed at that time in Falkland, was told of +her birth, he answered, "Is it so? Then God's will be done! It [the +kingdom] came with a lass, and it will go with a lass!" With these words +he turned his face to the wall, and died of a broken heart. Certainly, +some people appear to be born under an evil destiny. + +Here, too, in Linlithgow church, tradition says that James IV. was +warned, by a strange apparition, against that expedition to England +which cost him his life. Scott has worked this incident up into a +beautiful description, in the fourth canto of Marmion. + +The castle has a very sad and romantic appearance, standing there all +alone as it does, looking down into the quiet lake. It is said that the +internal architectural decorations are exceedingly rich and beautiful, +and a resemblance has been traced between its style of ornament and that +of Heidelberg Castle, which has been accounted for by the fact that the +Princess Elizabeth, who was the sovereign lady of Heidelberg, spent many +of the earlier years of her life in this place. + +Not far from here we caught a glimpse of the ruins of Niddrie Castle, +where Mary spent the first night after her escape from Lochleven. + +The Avon here at Linlithgow is spanned by a viaduct, which is a fine +work of art. It has twenty-five arches, which are from seventy to eighty +feet high and fifty wide. + +As the cars neared Edinburgh we all exclaimed at its beauty, so worthily +commemorated by Scott:-- + + "Such dusky grandeur clothes the height, + Where the huge castle holds its state, + And all the steeps slope down, + Whose ridgy back heaves to the sky, + Piled deep and massy, close and high, + Mine own romantic town!" + +Edinburgh has had an effect on the literary history of the world for the +last fifty years, that cannot be forgotten by any one approaching her. +The air seemed to be full of spirits of those who, no longer living, +have woven a part of the thread of our existence. I do not know that the +shortness of human life ever so oppressed me as it did on coming near to +the city. + +At the station house the cars stopped amid a crowd of people, who had +assembled to meet us. The lord provost met us at the door of the car, +and presented us to the magistracy of the city, and the committees of +the Edinburgh antislavery societies. The drab dresses and pure white +bonnets of many Friends were conspicuous among the dense moving crowd, +as white doves seen against a dark cloud. Mr. S. and myself, and our +future hostess, Mrs. Wigham, entered the carriage with the lord provost, +and away we drove, the crowd following with their shouts and cheers. I +was inexpressibly touched and affected by this. While we were passing +the monument of Scott, I felt an oppressive melancholy. What a moment +life seems in the presence of the noble dead! What a momentary thing is +art, in all its beauty! Where are all those great souls that have +created such an atmosphere of light about Edinburgh? and how little a +space was given them to live and to enjoy! + +We drove all over Edinburgh, up to the castle, to the university, to +Holyrood, to the hospitals, and through many of the principal streets, +amid shouts, and smiles, and greetings. Some boys amused me very much by +their pertinacious attempts to keep up with the carriage. + +"Heck," says one of them, "that's _her_; see the _courls_." + +The various engravers, who have amused themselves by diversifying my +face for the public, having all, with great unanimity, agreed in giving +prominence to this point, I suppose the urchins thought they were on +safe ground there. I certainly think I answered one good purpose that +day, and that is, of giving the much oppressed and calumniated class, +called boys, an opportunity to develop all the noise that was in them--a +thing for which I think they must bless me in their remembrances. + +At last the carriage drove into a deep gravelled yard, and we alighted +at a porch covered with green ivy, and found ourselves once more at +home. + + + + +LETTER VI. + + +MY DEAR SISTER:-- + +You may spare your anxieties about me, for I do assure you, that if I +were an old Sevres China jar, I could not have more careful handling +than I do. Every body is considerate; a great deal to say, when there +appears to be so much excitement. Every body seems to understand how +good for nothing I am; and yet, with all this consideration, I have been +obliged to keep my room and bed for a good part of the time. One +agreeable feature of the matter is, it gave me an opportunity to make +the acquaintance of the celebrated homoeopathic physician, Dr. +Henderson, in whose experiments and experience I had taken some interest +while in America. + +Of the multitudes who have called, I have seen scarcely any. + +Mrs. W., with whom I am staying, is a most thoughtful nurse. They are +Friends, and nothing can be more a pattern of rational home enjoyment, +without ostentation and without parade, than a Quaker family. + +Though they reject every thing in arrangement which savors of +ostentation and worldly show, yet their homes are exquisite in point of +comfort. They make great use of flowers and natural specimens in +adorning their apartments, and also indulge to a chaste and moderate +extent in engravings and works of art. So far as I have observed, they +are all "tee-totalers;" giving, in this respect, the whole benefit of +their example to the temperance cause. + +To-morrow evening is to be the great tea party here. How in the world I +am ever to live through it, I don't know. + +The amount of letters we found waiting for us here in Edinburgh was, if +possible, more appalling than in Glasgow. Among those from persons whom +you would be interested in hearing of, I may mention, a very kind and +beautiful one from the Duchess of Sutherland, and one also from the Earl +of Carlisle, both desiring to make appointments for meeting us as soon +as we come to London. Also a very kind and interesting note from the +Rev. Mr. Kingsley and lady. I look forward with a great deal of interest +to passing a little time with them in their rectory. Letters also from +Mr. Binney and Mr. Sherman, two of the leading Congregational clergymen +of London. The latter officiates at Surrey Chapel, which was established +by Rowland Hill. Both contain invitations to us to visit them in London. + +As to all engagements, I am in a state of happy acquiescence, having +resigned myself, as a very tame lion, into the hands of my keepers. +Whenever the time comes for me to do any thing, I try to behave as well +as I can, which, as Dr. Young says, is all that an angel could do in the +same circumstances. + +As to these letters, many of them are mere outbursts of feeling; yet +they are interesting as showing the state of the public mind. Many of +them are on kindred topics of moral reform, in which they seem to have +an intuitive sense that we should be interested. I am not, of course, +able to answer them all, but C---- does, and it takes a good part of +every day. One was from a shoemaker's wife in one of the islands, with a +copy of very fair verses. Many have come accompanying little keepsakes +and gifts. It seems to me rather touching and sad, that people should +want to give me things, when I am not able to give an interview, or even +a note, in return. C---- wrote from six to twelve o'clock, steadily, +answering letters. + +April 26. Last night came off the _soirée_. The hall was handsomely +decorated with flags in front. We went with the lord provost in his +carriage. The getting in to the hall is quite an affair, I assure you, +the doorway is blocked up by such a dense crowd; yet there is something +very touching about these crowds. They open very gently and quietly, and +they do not look at you with a rude stare, but with faces full of +feeling and intelligence. I have seen some looks that were really +beautiful; they go to my heart. The common people appear as if they knew +that our hearts were with them. How else should it be, as Christians of +America?--a country which, but for one fault, all the world has reason +to love. + +We went up, as before, into a dressing room, where I was presented to +many gentlemen and ladies. When we go in, the cheering, clapping, and +stamping at first strikes one with a strange sensation; but then every +body looks so heartily pleased and delighted, and there is such an +all-pervading atmosphere of geniality and sympathy, as makes one in a +few moments feel quite at home. After all I consider that these cheers +and applauses, are Scotland's voice to America, a recognition of the +brotherhood of the countries. + +We were arranged at this meeting much as in Glasgow. The lord provost +presided; and in the gallery with us were distinguished men from the +magistracy, the university, and the ministry, with their wives, besides +the members of the antislavery societies. The lord provost, I am told, +has been particularly efficient in all benevolent operations, especially +those for the education of the poorer classes. He is also a zealous +supporter of the temperance cause. + +Among the speakers, I was especially interested in Dr. Guthrie, who +seems to be also a particular favorite of the public. He is a tall, thin +man, with a kind of quaintness in his mode of expressing himself, which +sometimes gives an air of drollery to his speaking. He is a minister of +the Free Church, and has more particularly distinguished himself by his +exertions in behalf of the poorer classes. + +One passage in his speech I will quote, for I was quite amused with it. +It was in allusion to the retorts which had been made in Mrs. Tyler's +letter to the ladies of England, on the defects in the old country. + +"I do not deny," he said, "that there are defects in our country. What I +say of them is this--that they are incidental very much to an old +country like our own. Dr. Simpson knows very well, and so does every +medical man, that when a man gets old he gets very infirm, his blood +vessels get ossified, and so on; but I shall not enter into that part of +the subject. What is true of an old country is true of old men, and old +women, too. I am very much disposed to say of this young nation of +America, that their teasing us with our defects might just get the +answer which a worthy member of the church of Scotland gave to his son, +who was so dissatisfied with the defects in the church, that he was +determined to go over to a younger communion. 'Ah, Sandy, Sandy, man, +when your lum reeks as lang as ours, it will, may be, need sweeping +too.'[J] Now, I do not deny that we need sweeping; every body knows +that I have been singing out about sweeping for the last five years. Let +me tell my good friends in Edinburgh, and in the country, that the +sooner you sweep the better; for the chimney may catch fire, and reduce +your noble fabric to ashes. + +"They told us in that letter about the poor needlewomen, that had to +work sixteen hours a day. ''Tis true, and pity 'tis 'tis true.' But does +the law compel them to work sixteen hours a day? I would like to ask the +writer of the letter. Are they bound down to their garrets and cellars +for sixteen hours a day? May they not go where they like, and ask better +wages and better work? Can the slave do that? Do they tell us of our +ragged children? I know something about ragged children. But are our +ragged children condemned to the street? If I, or the lord provost, or +any other benevolent man, should take one of them from the street and +bring it to the school, dare the policeman--miscalled officer of +justice--put his foot across the door to drag it out again to the +street? Nobody means to defend our defects; does any man attempt to +defend them? Were not these noble ladies and excellent women, titled and +untitled, among the very first to seek to redress them?" + +I wish I could give you the strong, broad Scotch accent. + +The national penny offering, consisting of a thousand golden sovereigns +on a magnificent silver salver, stood conspicuously in view of the +audience. It has been an unsolicited offering, given in the smallest +sums, often from the extreme poverty of the giver. The committee who +collected it in Edinburgh and Glasgow bore witness to the willingness +with which the very poorest contributed the offering of their sympathy. +In one cottage they found a blind woman, and said, "Here, at least, is +one who will feel no interest, as she cannot have read the book." + +"Indeed," said the old lady, "if I cannot read, my son has read it to +me, and I've got my penny saved to give." + +It is to my mind extremely touching to see how the poor, in their +poverty, can be moved to a generosity surpassing that of the rich. Nor +do I mourn that they took it from their slender store, because I know +that a penny given from a kindly impulse is a greater comfort and +blessing to the poorest giver than even a penny received. + +As in the case of the other meeting, we came out long before the +speeches were ended. Well, of course, I did not sleep any all night. The +next day I felt quite miserable. Mrs. W. went with Mr. S. and myself for +a quiet drive in her carriage. + +It was a beautiful, sunny day that we drove out to Craigmiller Castle, +formerly one of the royal residences. It was here that Mary retreated +after the murder of Rizzio, and where, the chronicler says, she was +often heard in those days wishing that she were in her grave. It seems +so strange to see it standing there all alone, in the midst of grassy +fields, so silent, and cold, and solitary. I got out of the carriage and +walked about it. The short, green grass was gemmed with daisies, and +sheep were peacefully feeding and resting, where was once all the life +and bustle of a court. + +We had no one to open the inside of the castle for us, where there are +still some tolerably preserved rooms, but we strolled listlessly about, +looking through the old arches, and peeping through slits and loopholes +into the interior. + +The last verse of Queen Mary's lamentation seemed to be sighing in the +air:-- + + "O, soon for me shall simmer's suns + Nae mair light up the morn; + Nae mair for me the autumn wind + Wave o'er the yellow corn. + But in the narrow house of death + Let winter round me rave, + And the next flowers that deck the spring + Bloom on my peaceful grave." + +Only yesterday, it seemed, since that poor heart was yearning and +struggling, caught in the toils of this sorrowful life. How many times +she looked on this landscape through sad eyes! I suppose just such +little daisies grew here in the grass then, and perhaps she stooped and +picked them, wishing, just as I do, that the pink did not grow on the +under side of them, where it does not show. Do you know that this little +daisy is the _gowan_ of Scotch poetry? So I was told by a "charming +young Jessie" in Glasgow, one day when I was riding out there. + +The view from Craigmiller is beautiful--Auld Reekie, Arthur's Seat, +Salisbury Crags, and far down the Frith of Forth, where we can just +dimly see the Bass Hock, celebrated as a prison, where the Covenanters +were immured. + +It was this fortress that Habakkuk Mucklewrath speaks of in his ravings, +when he says, "Am not I Habakkuk Mucklewrath, whose name is changed to +Magor-Missabib, because I am made a terror unto myself, and unto all +that are around me? I heard it: when did I hear it? Was it not in the +tower of the Bass, that overhangeth the wide, wild sea? and it howled in +the winds, and it roared in the billows, and it screamed, and it +whistled, and it clanged, with the screams, and the clang, and the +whistle of the sea birds, as they floated, and flew, and dropped, and +dived, on the bosom of the waters." + +These Salisbury Crags, which overlook Edinburgh, have a very peculiar +outline; they resemble an immense elephant crouching down. We passed +Mushats Cairn, where Jeanie Deans met Robertson; and saw Liberton, where +Reuben Butler was a schoolmaster. Nobody doubts, I hope, the historical +accuracy of these points. + +Thursday, 21st. We took cars for Aberdeen. The appropriation of old +historical names to railroad stations often reminds me of Hood's +whimsical lines on a possible railroad in the Holy Land. Think of having +Bannockburn shouted by the station master, as the train runs whistling +up to a small station house. Nothing to be seen there but broad, silent +meadows, through which the burn wimples its way. Here was the very +Marathon of Scotland. I suppose we know more about it from the "Scots +wha ha' wi' Wallace bled," than we do from history; yet the real scene, +as narrated by the historian, has a moral grandeur in it. + +The chronicler tells us, that when on this occasion the Scots formed +their line of battle, and a venerable abbot passed along, holding up the +cross before them, the whole army fell upon their knees. + +"These Scots will not fight," said Edward, who was reconnoitring at a +distance. "See! they are all on their knees now to beg for mercy." + +"They kneel," said a lord who stood by, "but it is to God alone; trust +me, those men will win or die." + +The bold lyric of Burns is but an inspired kind of version of the real +address which Bruce is said to have made to his followers; and whoever +reads it will see that its power lies not in appeal to brute force, but +to the highest elements of our nature, the love of justice, the sense of +honor, and to disinterestedness, self-sacrifice, courage unto death. + +These things will live and form high and imperishable elements of our +nature, when mankind have learned to develop them in other spheres than +that of physical force. Burns's lyric, therefore, has in it an element +which may rouse the heart to noble endurance and devotion, even when the +world shall learn war no more. + +We passed through the town of Stirling, whose castle, magnificently +seated on a rocky throne, looks right worthy to have been the seat of +Scotland's court, as it was for many years. It brought to our minds all +the last scenes of the Lady of the Lake, which are laid here with a +minuteness of local description and allusion characteristic of Scott. + +According to our guide book, one might find there the visible +counterpart of every thing which he has woven into his beautiful +fiction--"the Lady's Rock, which rang to the applause of the multitude;" +"the Franciscan steeple, which pealed the merry festival;" "the sad and +fatal mound," apostrophized by Douglas,-- + + "That oft has heard the death-axe sound + As on the noblest of the land, + Fell the stern headsman's bloody hand;"-- + +the room in the castle, where "a Douglas by his sovereign bled;" and not +far off the ruins of Cambuskenneth Abbey. One could not but think of the +old days Scott has described. + + "The castle gates were open flung, + The quivering drawbridge rocked and rung, + And echoed loud the flinty street + Beneath the coursers' clattering feet, + As slowly down the steep descent + Fair Scotland's king and nobles went, + While all along the crowded way + Was jubilee and loud huzza." + +The place has been long deserted as a palace; but it is one of the four +fortresses, which, by the articles of union between Scotland and +England, are always to be kept in repair. + +We passed by the town of Perth, the scene of the "Fair Maid's" +adventures. We had received an invitation to visit it, but for want of +time were obliged to defer it till our return to Scotland. + +Somewhere along here Mr. S. was quite excited by our proximity to +Scone, the old crowning-place of the Scottish kings; however, the old +castle is entirely demolished, and superseded by a modern mansion, the +seat of the Earl of Mansfield. + +Still farther on, surrounded by dark and solemn woods, stands Glamis +Castle, the scene of the tragedy in Macbeth. We could see but a glimpse +of it from the road, but the very sound of the name was enough to +stimulate our imagination. It is still an inhabited dwelling, though +much to the regret of antiquarians and lovers of the picturesque, the +characteristic outworks and defences of the feudal ages, which +surrounded it, have been levelled, and velvet lawns and gravel walks +carried to the very door. Scott, who passed a night there in 1793, while +it was yet in its pristine condition, comments on the change mournfully, +as undoubtedly a true lover of the past would. Albeit the grass plats +and the gravel walks, to the eye of sense, are undoubtedly much more +agreeable and convenient. Scott says in his Demonology, that he never +came any where near to being overcome with a superstitious feeling, +except twice in his life, and one was on the night when he slept in +Glamis Castle. The poetical and the practical elements in Scott's mind +ran together, side by side, without mixing, as evidently as the waters +of the Alleghany and Monongahela at Pittsburg. Scarcely ever a man had +so much relish for the supernatural, and so little faith in it. One must +confess, however, that the most sceptical might have been overcome at +Glamis Castle, for its appearance, by all accounts, is weird and +strange, and ghostly enough to start the dullest imagination. + +On this occasion Scott says, "After a very hospitable reception from the +late Peter Proctor, seneschal of the castle, I was conducted to my +apartment in a distant part of the building. I must own, that when I +heard door after door shut, after my conductor had retired, I began to +consider myself as too far from the living, and somewhat too near the +dead. We had passed through what is called 'the King's Room,' a vaulted +apartment, garnished with stags' antlers and similar trophies of the +chase, and said by tradition to be the spot of Malcolm's murder, and I +had an idea of the vicinity of the castle chapel. In spite of the truth +of history, the whole night scene in Macbeth's castle rushed at once +upon my mind, and struck my imagination more forcibly than even when I +have seen its terrors represented by the late John Kemble and his +inimitable sister. In a word, I experienced sensations which, though not +remarkable either for timidity or superstition, did not fail to affect +me to the point of being disagreeable, while they were mingled at the +same time with a strange and indescribable kind of pleasure." + +Externally, the building is quaint and singular enough; tall and gaunt, +crested with innumerable little pepper box turrets and conical towers, +like an old French chateau. + +Besides the tragedy of Macbeth, another story of still more melancholy +interest is connected with it, which a pen like that of Hawthorne, might +work up with gloomy power. + +In 1537 the young and beautiful Lady Glamis of this place was actually +tried and executed for witchcraft. Only think, now! what capabilities in +this old castle, with its gloomy pine shades, quaint architecture, and +weird associations, with this bit of historic verity to start upon. + +Walter Scott says, there is in the castle a secret chamber; the entrance +to which, by the law of the family, can be known only to three persons +at once--the lord of the castle, his heir apparent, and any third +person whom they might choose to take into their confidence. See, now, +the materials which the past gives to the novelist or poet in these old +countries. These ancient castles are standing romances, made to the +author's hands. The castle started a talk upon Shakspeare, and how much +of the tragedy he made up, and how much he found ready to his hand in +tradition and history. It seems the story is all told in Holingshed's +Chronicles; but his fertile mind has added some of the most thrilling +touches, such as the sleep walking of Lady Macbeth. It always seemed to +me that this tragedy had more of the melancholy majesty and power of +the Greek than any thing modern. The striking difference is, that while +fate was the radical element of those, free will is not less distinctly +the basis of this. Strangely enough, while it commences with a +supernatural oracle, there is not a trace of fatalism in it; but through +all, a clear, distinct recognition of moral responsibility, of the power +to resist evil, and the guilt of yielding to it. The theology of +Shakspeare is as remarkable as his poetry. A strong and clear sense of +man's moral responsibility and free agency, and of certain future +retribution, runs through all his plays. + +I enjoyed this ride to Aberdeen more than any thing we had seen yet, the +country is so wild and singular. In the afternoon we came in sight of +the German Ocean. The free, bracing air from the sea, and the thought +that it actually _was_ the German Ocean, and that over the other side +was Norway, within a day's sail of us, gave it a strange, romantic +charm. + +"Suppose we just run over to Norway," said one of us; and then came the +idea, what we should do if we got over there, seeing none of us +understood Norse. + +The whole coast along here is wild and rock-bound; occasionally long +points jut into the sea; the blue waves sparkle and dash against them in +little jets of foam, and the sea birds dive and scream around them. + +On one of these points, near the town of Stonehaven, are still seen the +ruins of Dunottar Castle, bare and desolate, surrounded on all sides by +the restless, moaning waves; a place justly held accursed as the scene +of cruelties to the Covenanters, so appalling and brutal as to make the +blood boil in the recital, even in this late day. + +During the reigns of Charles and James, sovereigns whom Macaulay justly +designates as Belial and Moloch, this castle was the state prison for +confining this noble people. In the reign of James, one hundred and +sixty-seven prisoners, men, women, and children, for refusing the oath +of supremacy, were arrested at their firesides: herded together like +cattle; driven at the point of the bayonet, amid the gibes, jeers, and +scoffs of soldiers, up to this dreary place, and thrust promiscuously +into a dark vault in this castle; almost smothered in filth and mire; a +prey to pestilent disease, and to every malignity which brutality could +inflict, they died here unpitied. A few escaping down the rocks were +recaptured, and subjected to shocking tortures. + +A moss-grown gravestone, in the parish churchyard of Dunottar, shows the +last resting-place of these sufferers. + +Walter Scott, who visited this place, says, "The peasantry continue to +attach to the tombs of these victims an honor which they do not render +to more splendid mausoleums; and when they point them out to their sons, +and narrate the fate of the sufferers, usually conclude by exhorting +them to be ready, should the times call for it, to resist to the death +in the cause of civil and religious liberty, like their brave +forefathers." + +It is also related by Gilfillan, that a minister from this vicinity, +having once lost his way in travelling through a distant part of +Scotland, vainly solicited the services of a guide for some time, all +being engaged in peat-cutting; at last one of the farmers, some of whose +ancestors had been included among the sufferers, discovering that he +came from this vicinity, had seen the gravestones, and could repeat the +inscriptions, was willing to give up half a day's work to guide him on +his way. + +It is well that such spots should be venerated as sacred shrines among +the descendants of the Covenanters, to whom Scotland owes what she is, +and all she may become. + +It was here that Scott first became acquainted with Robert Paterson, the +original of Old Mortality. + +Leaving Stonehaven we passed, on a rising ground a little to our left, +the house of the celebrated Barclay of Ury. It remains very much in its +ancient condition, surrounded by a low stone wall, like the old +fortified houses of Scotland. + +Barclay of Ury was an old and distinguished soldier, who had fought +under Gustavus Adolphus in Germany, and one of the earliest converts to +the principles of the Friends in Scotland. As a Quaker, he became an +object of hatred and abuse at the hands of the magistracy and populace; +but he endured all these insults and injuries with the greatest patience +and nobleness of soul. + +"I find more satisfaction," he said, "as well as honor, in being thus +insulted for my religious principles, than when, a few years ago, it was +usual for the magistrates, as I passed the city of Aberdeen, to meet me +on the road and conduct me to public entertainment in their hall, and +then escort me out again, to gain my favor." + +Whittier has celebrated this incident in his beautiful ballad, called +"Barclay of Ury." The son of this Barclay was the author of that Apology +which bears his name, and is still a standard work among the Friends. +The estate is still possessed by his descendants. + +A little farther along towards Aberdeen, Mr. S. seemed to amuse himself +very much with the idea, that we were coming near to Dugald Dalgetty's +estate of Drumthwacket, an historical remembrance which I take to be +somewhat apocryphal. + +It was towards the close of the afternoon that we found ourselves +crossing the Dee, in view of Aberdeen. My spirits were wonderfully +elated: the grand sea scenery and fine bracing air; the noble, distant +view of the city, rising with its harbor and shipping, all filled me +with delight. Besides which the Dee had been enchanted for me from my +childhood, by a wild old ballad which I used to hear sung to a Scottish +tune, equally wild and pathetic. I repeated it to C----, and will now to +you. + + "The moon had climbed the highest hill + That rises o'er the banks of Dee, + And from her farthest summit poured + Her silver light o'er tower and tree,-- + + When Mary laid her down to sleep, + Her thoughts on Sandy far at sea, + And soft and low a voice she heard, + Saying, 'Mary, weep no more for me.' + + She from her pillow gently raised + Her head, to see who there might be; + She saw young Sandy shivering stand, + With pallid cheek and hollow ee. + + 'O Mary dear, cold is my clay; + It lies beneath the stormy sea; + The storm, is past, and I'm at rest; + So, Mary, weep no more for me.' + + Loud crew the cock; the vision fled; + No more young Sandy could she see; + But soft a parting whisper said, + 'Sweet Mary, weep no more for me.'" + +I never saw these lines in print any where; I never knew who wrote them; +I had only heard them sung at the fireside when a child, to a tune as +dreamy and sweet as themselves; but they rose upon me like an +enchantment, as I crossed the Dee, in view of that very German Ocean, +famed for its storms and shipwrecks. + +In this propitious state, disposed to be pleased with every thing, our +hearts responded warmly to the greetings of the many friends who were +waiting for us at the station house. + +The lord provost received us into his carriage, and as we drove along, +pointed out to us the various objects of interest in the beautiful town. +Among other things, a fine old bridge across the Dee attracted our +particular attention. + +We were conducted to the house of Mr. Cruikshank, a Friend, and found +waiting for us there the thoughtful hospitality which we had ever +experienced in all our stopping-places. A snug little quiet supper was +laid out upon the table, of which we partook in haste, as we were +informed that the assembly at the hall were waiting to receive us. + +There arrived, we found the hall crowded, and with difficulty made our +way to the platform. Whether owing to the stimulating effect of the air +from the ocean, or to the comparatively social aspect of the scene, or +perhaps to both, certain it is, that we enjoyed the meeting with great +zest. I was surrounded on the stage with blooming young ladies, one of +whom put into my hands a beautiful bouquet, some flowers of which I have +now dried in my album. The refreshment tables were adorned with some +exquisite wax flowers, the work, as I was afterwards told, of a young +lady in the place. One of the designs especially interested me. It was a +group of water lilies resting on a mirror, which gave them the +appearance of growing in the water. + +We had some very animated speaking, in which the speakers contrived to +blend enthusiastic admiration and love for America with detestation of +slavery. + +All the afternoon the beautiful coast had reminded me of the State of +Maine, and the genius of the meeting confirmed the association. They +seemed to me to be a plain, genial, strong, warm-hearted people, like +those of Maine. + +One of the speakers concluded his address by saying that John Bull and +Brother Jonathan, with Paddy and Sandy Scott, should they clasp hands +together, might stand against the world; which sentiment was responded +to with thunders of applause. + +It is because America, like Scotland, has stood for right against +oppression, that the Scotch love and sympathize with her. For this +reason do they feel it as something taken from the strength of a common +cause, when America sides with injustice and oppression. The children of +the Covenant and the children of the Puritans are of one blood. + +They presented an offering in a beautiful embroidered purse, and after +much shaking of hands we went home, and sat down to the supper table, +for a little more chat, before going to bed. The next morning,--as we +had only till noon to stay in Aberdeen,--our friends, the lord provost, +and Mr. Leslie, the architect, came immediately after breakfast to show +us the place. + +The town of Aberdeen is a very fine one, and owes much of its beauty to +the light-colored granite of which most of the houses are built. It has +broad, clean, beautiful streets, and many very curious and interesting +public buildings. The town exhibits that union of the hoary past with +the bustling present which is characteristic of the old world. + +It has two parts, the old and the new, as unlike as L'Allegro and +Penseroso--the new, clean, and modern; the old, mossy and dreamy. The +old town is called Alton, and has venerable houses, standing, many of +them, in ancient gardens. And here rises the peculiar, old, gray +cathedral. These Scotch cathedrals have a sort of stubbed appearance, +and look like the expression in stone of defiant, invincible resolution. +This is of primitive granite, in the same heavy, massive style as the +cathedral of Glasgow, but having strong individualities of its own. + +Whoever located the ecclesiastical buildings of England and Scotland +certainly had an exquisite perception of natural scenery; for one +notices that they are almost invariably placed on just that point of the +landscape, where the poet or the artist would say they should be. These +cathedrals, though all having a general similarity of design, seem, each +one, to have its own personality, as much as a human being. Looking at +nineteen of them is no compensation to you for omitting the twentieth; +there will certainly be something new and peculiar in that. + +This Aberdeen Cathedral, or Cathedral of St. Machar, is situated on the +banks of the River Don; one of those beautiful amber-brown rivers that +color the stones and pebbles at the bottom with a yellow light, such as +one sees in ancient pictures. Old trees wave and rustle around, and the +building itself, though a part of it has fallen into ruins, has, in many +parts, a wonderful clearness and sharpness of outline. I cannot describe +these things to you; architectural terms convey no picture to the mind. +I can only tell you of the character and impression it bears--a +character of strong, unflinching endurance, appropriately reminding one +of the Scotch people, whom Walter Scott compares to the native sycamore +of their hills, "which scorns to be biased in its mode of growth, even +by the influence of the prevailing wind, but shooting its branches with +equal boldness in every direction, shows no weather side to the storm, +and may be broken, but can never be bended." + +One reason for the sharpness and distinctness of the architectural +preservation of this cathedral is probably that closeness of texture for +which Aberdeen granite is remarkable. It bears marks of the hand of +violence in many parts. The images of saints and bishops, which lie on +their backs with clasped hands, seem to have been wofully maltreated and +despoiled, in the fervor of those days, when people fondly thought that +breaking down carved work was getting rid of superstition. These granite +saints and bishops, with their mutilated fingers and broken noses, seem +to be bearing a silent, melancholy witness against that disposition in +human nature, which, instead of making clean the cup and platter, breaks +them altogether. + +The roof of the cathedral is a splendid specimen of carving in black +oak, wrought in panels, with leaves and inscriptions in ancient text. +The church could once boast in other parts (so says an architectural +work) a profusion of carved woodwork of the same character, which must +have greatly relieved the massive plainness of the interior. + +In 1649, the parish minister attacked the "High Altar," a piece of the +most splendid workmanship of any thing of the kind in Europe, and which +had to that time remained inviolate; perhaps from the insensible +influence of its beauty. It is said that the carpenter employed for the +purpose was so struck with the noble workmanship, that he refused to +touch it till the minister took the hatchet from his hand and gave the +first blow. + +These men did not consider that "the leprosy lies deep within," and +that when human nature is denied beautiful idols, it will go after ugly +ones. There has been just as unspiritual a resting in coarse, bare, and +disagreeable adjuncts of religion, as in beautiful and agreeable ones; +men have worshipped Juggernaut as pertinaciously as they have Venus or +the Graces; so that the good divine might better have aimed a sermon at +the heart than an axe at the altar. + +We lingered a long time around here, and could scarcely tear ourselves +away. We paced up and down under the old trees, looking off on the +waters of the Don, listening to the waving branches, and falling into a +dreamy state of mind, thought what if it were six hundred years ago! and +we were pious simple hearted old abbots! What a fine place that would be +to walk up and down at eventide or on a Sabbath morning, reciting the +penitential psalms, or reading St. Augustine! + +I cannot get over the feeling, that the souls of the dead do somehow +connect themselves with the places of their former habitation, and that +the hush and thrill of spirit, which we feel in them, may be owing to +the overshadowing presence of the invisible. St. Paul says, "We are +compassed about with a great cloud of witnesses." How can they be +witnesses, if they cannot see and be cognizant? + +We left the place by a winding walk, to go to the famous bridge of +Balgounie, another dream-land affair, not far from here. It is a single +gray stone arch, apparently cut from solid rock, that spans the brown +rippling waters, where wild, overhanging banks, shadowy trees, and +dipping wild flowers, all conspire to make a romantic picture. This +bridge, with the river and scenery, were poetic items that went, with +other things, to form the sensitive mind of Byron, who lived here in his +earlier days. He has some lines about it:-- + + "As 'auld lang syne' brings Scotland, one and all, + Scotch, plaids, Scotch snoods, the blue hills and clear streams, + The Dee, the Don, Balgounie's brig's black wall, + All my boy-feelings, all my gentler dreams, + Of what I then dreamt clothed in their own pall, + Like Banquo's offspring,--floating past me seems + My childhood, in this childishness of mind: + I care not--'tis a glimpse of 'auld lang syne.'" + +This old bridge has a prophecy connected with it, which was repeated to +us, and you shall have it literatim:-- + + "Brig of Balgounie, black's your wa', + Wi' a wife's ae son, and a mare's a foal, + Doon ye shall fa'!" + +The bridge was built in the time of Robert Bruce, by one Bishop Cheyne, +of whom all that I know is, that he evidently had a good eye for the +picturesque. + +After this we went to visit King's College. The tower of it is +surmounted by a massive stone crown, which forms a very singular feature +in every view of Aberdeen, and is said to be a perfectly unique specimen +of architecture. This King's College is very old, being founded also by +a bishop, as far back as the fifteenth century. It has an exquisitely +carved roof, and carved oaken seats. We went through the library, the +hall, and the museum. Certainly, the old, dark architecture of these +universities must tend to form a different style of mind from our plain +matter-of-fact college buildings. + +Here in Aberdeen is the veritable Marischal College, so often quoted by +Dugald Dalgetty. We had not time to go and see it, but I can assure you +on the authority of the guide book, that it is a magnificent specimen of +architecture. + +After this, that we might not neglect the present in our zeal for the +past, we went to the marble yards, where they work the Aberdeen granite. +This granite, of which we have many specimens in America, is of two +kinds, one being gray, the other of a reddish hue. It seems to differ +from other granite in the fineness and closeness of its grain, which +enables it to receive the most brilliant conceivable polish. I saw some +superb columns of the red species, which were preparing to go over the +Baltic to Riga, for an Exchange; and a sepulchral monument, which was +going to New York. All was busy here, sawing, chipping, polishing; as +different a scene from the gray old cathedral as could be imagined. The +granite finds its way, I suppose, to countries which the old, +unsophisticated abbots never dreamed of. + +One of the friends who had accompanied us during the morning tour was +the celebrated architect, Mr. Leslie, whose conversation gave us all +much enjoyment. He and Mrs. Leslie gave me a most invaluable parting +present, to wit, four volumes of engravings, representing the "Baronial +and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Scotland," illustrated by Billings. I +cannot tell you what a mine of pleasure it has been to me. It is a proof +edition, and the engravings are so vivid, and the drawing so fine, that +it is nearly as good as reality. It might almost save one the trouble of +a pilgrimage. I consider the book a kind of national poem; for +architecture is, in its nature, poetry; especially in these old +countries, where it weaves into itself a nation's history, and gives +literally the image and body of the times. + + + + +LETTER VII. + + +DEAR COUSIN:-- + +While here in Aberdeen I received a very odd letter, so peculiar and +curious that I will give you the benefit of it. The author appears to +be, in his way, a kind of Christopher in his cave, or Timon of Athens. I +omit some parts which are more expressive than agreeable. It is dated + + "STONEHAVEN, N.B., Kincardineshire, } + 57° N.W. This 21st April, 1853. } + + "To MRS. HARRIET B. STOWE:-- + + "My dear Madam: By the time that this gets your length, the fouk o' + Aberdeen will be shewin ye off as a rare animal, just arrived frae + America; the wife that writ Uncle Tom's Cabin. + + "I wad like to see ye mysel, but I canna win for want o' siller, + and as I thought ye might be writin a buke about the Scotch when ye + get hame, I hae just sent ye this bit auld key to Sawney's Cabin. + + "Well then, dinna forget to speer at the Aberdeenians if it be true + they ance kidnappet little laddies, and selt them for slaves; that + they dang down the Quaker's kirkyard dyke, and houket up dead + Quakers out o' their graves; that the young boys at the college + printed a buke, and maist naebody wad buy it, and they cam out to + Ury, near Stonehaven, and took twelve stots frae Davie Barclay to + pay the printer. + + "Dinna forget to speer at ----, if it was true that he flogget + three laddies in the beginning o' last year, for the three + following crimes: first, for the crime of being born of puir, + ignorant parents; second, for the crime of being left in + ignorance; and, third, for the crime of having nothing to eat. + + "Dinna be telling when ye gang hame that ye rode on the Aberdeen + railway, made by a hundred men, who were all in the Stonehaven + prison for drunkenness; nor above five could sign their names. + + "If the Scotch kill ye with ower feeding and making speeches, be + sure to send this hame to tell your fouk, that it was Queen + Elizabeth who made the first European law to buy and sell human + beings like brute beasts. She was England's glory as a Protestant, + and Scotland's shame as the murderer of their bonnie Mary. The auld + hag skulked away like a coward in the hour of death. Mary, on the + other hand, with calmness and dignity, repeated a Latin prayer to + the Great Spirit and Author of her being, and calmly resigned + herself into the hands of her murderers. + + "In the capital of her ancient kingdom, when ye are in our country, + there are eight hundred women, sent to prison every year for the + first time. Of fifteen thousand prisoners examined in Scotland in + the year 1845, eight thousand could not write at all, and three + thousand could not read. + + "At present there are about twenty thousand prisoners in Scotland. + In Stonehaven they are fed at about seventeen pounds each, + annually. The honest poor, outside the prison upon the parish roll, + are fed at the rate of five farthings a day, or two pounds a year. + The employment of the prisoners is grinding the wind, we ca' it; + turning the crank, in plain English. The latest improvement is the + streekin board; it's a whig improvement o' Lord Jonnie Russell's. + + "I ken brawly ye are a curious wife, and would like to ken a' about + the Scotch bodies. Weel, they are a gay, ignorant, proud, drunken + pack; they manage to pay ilka year for whuskey one million three + hundred and forty-eight thousand pounds. + + "But then their piety, their piety; weel, let's luke at it; hing it + up by the nape o' the neck, and turn it round atween our finger and + thumb on all sides. + + "Is there one school in all Scotland where the helpless, homeless + poor are fed and clothed at the public expense? None. + + "Is there a hame in all Scotland for the cleanly but sick servant + maid to go till, until health be restored? Alas! there is none. + + "Is there a school in all Scotland for training ladies in the + higher branches of learning? None. What then is there for the women + of Scotland? + + * * * * * + + "A weel, be sure and try a cupful of Scottish Kail Broase. See, and + get a sup Scotch _lang milk_. + + "Hand this bit line yout to the Rev. Mr. ----. Tell him to store + out fats nae true. + + "God bless you, and set you safe hame, is the prayer of the old + Scotch Bachelor." + +I think you will agree with me, that the old testifying spirit does not +seem to have died out in Scotland, and that the backslidings and +abominations of the land do not want for able exponents. + +As the indictment runs back to the time of Charles II., to the +persecutions of the Quakers in the days of Barclay of Ury, and brings up +again the most modern offences, one cannot but feel that there are the +most savory indications in it of Scotch thoroughness. + +Some of the questions which he wishes to have me "_speer_" at Aberdeen, +I fear, alas! would bring but an indifferent answer even in Boston, +which gives a high school only to boys, and allows none to girls. On one +point, it seems to me, my friend might speer himself to advantage, and +that is the very commendable efforts which are being made now in +Edinburgh and Aberdeen both, in the way of educating the children of the +poor. + +As this is one of the subjects which are particularly on my mind, and as +all information which we can get upon this subject is peculiarly +valuable to us in view of commencing efforts in America, I will abridge +for you an account of the industrial schools of Aberdeen, published by +the society for improving the condition of the laboring classes, in +their paper called the Laborer's Friend. + +In June, 1841, it was ascertained that in Aberdeen there were two +hundred and eighty children, under fourteen years of age, who maintained +themselves professedly by begging, but partly by theft. The first effort +to better the moral condition of these children brought with it the +discovery which our philanthropists made in New York, that in order to +do good to a starving child, we must begin by feeding him; that we must +gain his confidence by showing him a benevolence which he can +understand, and thus proceed gradually to the reformation of his +spiritual nature. + +In 1841, therefore, some benevolent individuals in Aberdeen hired rooms +and a teacher, and gave out notice among these poor children that they +could there be supplied with food, work, and instruction. The general +arrangement of the day was four hours of lessons, five hours of work, +and three substantial meals. These meals were employed as the incitement +to the lessons and the work, since it was made an indispensable +condition to each meal that the child should have been present at the +work or lessons which preceded it. This arrangement worked admirably; so +that they reported that the attendance was more regular than at ordinary +schools. + +The whole produce of the work of the children goes towards defraying the +expense of the establishment, thus effecting several important +purposes,--reducing the expense of the school, and teaching the +children, practically, the value of their industry,--in procuring for +them food and instruction, and fostering in them, from the first, a +sound principle of self-dependence; inasmuch as they know, from the +moment of their entering school, that they give, or pay, in return for +their food and education, all the work they are capable of performing. + +The institution did not profess to clothe the children; but by the +kindness of benevolent persons who take an interest in the school, there +is generally a stock of old clothes on hand, from which the most +destitute are supplied. + +The following is the daily routine of the school: The scholars assemble +every morning at seven in summer, and eight in winter. The school is +opened by reading the Scriptures, praise, and prayer, and religious +instruction suited to their years; after which there is a lesson in +geography, or the more ordinary facts of natural history, taught by +means of maps and prints distributed along the walls of the school room; +two days in the week they have a singing lesson; at nine they breakfast +on porridge and milk, and have half an hour of play; at ten they again +assemble in school, and are employed at work till two. At two o'clock +they dine; usually on broth, with coarse wheaten bread, but occasionally +on potatoes and ox-head soup, &c. The diet is very plain, but nutritious +and abundant, and appears to suit the tastes of the pupils completely. +It is a pleasing sight to see them assembled, with their youthful +appetites sharpened by four hours' work, joining, at least with outward +decorum, in asking God's blessing on the food he has provided for them, +and most promptly availing themselves of the signal given to commence +their dinner. + +From dinner till three, the time is spent in exercise or recreation, +occasionally working in the garden; from three to four, they work either +in the garden or in the work room; from four till seven, they are +instructed in reading, writing, and arithmetic. At seven they have +supper of porridge and milk; and after short religious exercises, are +dismissed to their homes at eight. + +On Saturday, they do not return to school after dinner; and +occasionally, as a reward of good behavior, they accompany the teacher +in a walk to the country or the sea coast. + +On Sunday, they assemble at half past eight for devotion; breakfast at +nine; attend worship in the school room; after which they dine, and +return home, so as, if possible, to go with their parents to church in +the afternoon. + +At five they again meet, and have _Sabbath school_ instruction in Bible +and catechism; at seven, supper; and after evening worship are +dismissed. + +From this detail it will be seen that these schools differ from common +day schools. In day schools, neither food nor employment is +provided--teaching only is proposed, with a very little moral training. + +The principle on which the industrial school proceeds, of giving +employment along with instruction--especially as that employment is +designed at the same time, if possible, to teach a trade which may be +afterwards available--appears of the highest value. It is a practical +discipline--a moral training, the importance of which cannot be +over-estimated. + +In a common school, too, there can be but little moral training, however +efficiently the school may be conducted, just because there is little +opportunity given for the development and display of individual +character. The whole management of a school requires that the pupils be +as speedily as possible brought to a uniform outward conduct, and thus +an appearance of good behavior and propriety is produced within the +school room, which is too often cast aside and forgotten the moment the +pupils pass the threshold. + +The remark was once made by an experienced teacher, that for the +purposes of moral training he valued more the time he spent with his +pupils at their games, than that which was spent in the school room. + +The pecuniary value of the work done in these schools is not so great as +was at first hoped, from the difficulty of procuring employment such as +children so neglected could perform to advantage. The real value of the +thing, however, they consider lies in the habits of industry and the +sense of independence thus imparted. + +At the outset the managers of the school regretted extremely their want +of ability to furnish lodgings to the children. It was thought and said +that the homes, to which the majority of them were obliged to return +after school hours, would deprave faster than any instruction could +reform. Fortunately it was impossible, at the time, to provide lodging +for the children, and thus an experience was wrought out most valuable +to all future laborers in this field. + +The managers report that after six years' trial, the instances where +evil results from the children returning home, are very rare; while +there have been most cheering instances of substantial good being +carried by the child, from the school, through the whole family. There +are few parents, especially mothers, so abandoned as not to be touched +by kindness shown to their offspring. It is the direct road to the +mother's heart. Show kindness to her child, and she is prepared at once +to second your efforts on its behalf. She must be debased, indeed, who +will not listen to her child repeating its text from the Bible, or +singing a verse of its infant hymn; and by this means the first seeds of +a new life may be, and have been, planted in the parent's heart. + +In cases where parents are so utterly depraved as to make it entirely +hopeless to reform the child at home, they have found it the best course +to board them, two or three together, in respectable families; the +influences of the family state being held to be essential. + +The success which attended the boys' school of industry soon led to the +establishment of one for girls, conducted on the same principles; and it +is stated that the change wrought among poor, outcast girls, by these +means, was even more striking and gratifying than among the boys. + +After these schools had been some time in operation, it was discovered +that there were still multitudes of depraved children who could not or +did not avail themselves of these privileges. It was determined by the +authorities of the city of Aberdeen, in conformity with the Scripture +injunction, to go out into the highways and hedges and _compel_ them to +come in. Under the authority of the police act they proposed to lay hold +of the whole of the juvenile vagrants, and provide them with food and +instruction. + +Instructions were given to the police, on the 19th of May, 1845, to +convey every child found begging to the soup kitchen; and, in the course +of the day, seventy-five were collected, of whom four only could read. +The scene which ensued is indescribable. Confusion and uproar, +quarrelling and fighting, language of the most hateful description, and +the most determined rebellion against every thing like order and +regularity, gave the gentlemen engaged in the undertaking of taming them +the hardest day's work they had ever encountered. Still, they so far +prevailed, that, by evening, their authority was comparatively +established. When dismissed, the children were invited to return next +day--informed that, of course, they could do so or not, as they pleased, +and that, if they did, they should be fed and instructed, but that, +whether they came or not, begging would not be tolerated. Next day, the +_greater part_ returned. The managers felt that they had triumphed, and +that a great field of moral usefulness was now secured to them. + +The class who were brought to this school were far below those who +attend the other two institutions--low as they appeared to be when the +schools were first opened; and the scenes of filth, disease, and misery, +exhibited even in the school itself, were such as would speedily have +driven from the work all merely sentimental philanthropists. Those who +undertake this work must have sound, strong principle to influence them, +else they will soon turn from it in disgust. + +The school went on prosperously; it soon excited public interest; funds +flowed in; and, what is most gratifying, the working classes took a +lively interest in it; and while the wealthier inhabitants of Aberdeen +contributed during the year about one hundred and fifty pounds for its +support, the working men collected, and handed over to the committee, no +less than two hundred and fifty pounds. + +Very few children in attendance at the industrial schools have been +convicted of any offence. The regularity of attendance is owing to the +children receiving their food in the school; and the school hours being +from seven in the morning till seven at night, there is little +opportunity for the commission of crime. + +The experience acquired in these schools, and the connection which most +of the managers had with the criminal courts of the city, led to the +opening of a fourth institution--the Child's Asylum. Acting from day to +day as judges, these gentlemen had occasionally cases brought before +them which gave them extreme pain. Children--nay, infants--were brought +up on criminal charges: the facts alleged against them were +incontestably proved; and yet, in a moral sense, they could scarcely be +held _guilty_, because, in truth, they did not know that they had done +wrong. + +There were, however, great practical difficulties in the way, which +could only be got over indirectly. The magistrate could adjourn the +case, directing the child to be cared for in the mean time, and inquiry +could be made as to his family and relations, as to his character, and +the prospect of his doing better in future; and he could either be +restored to his relations, or boarded in the house of refuge, or with a +family, and placed at one or other of the industrial schools; the charge +of crime still remaining against him, to be made use of at once if he +deserted school and returned to evil courses. + +The great advantage sought here was to avoid stamping the child for life +with the character of a convicted felon before he deserved it. Once thus +brand a child in this country, and it is all but impossible for him +ever, by future good conduct, to efface the mask. How careful ought the +law and those who administer it to be, not rashly to impress this +stigma on the neglected child! + +The Child's Asylum was opened on the 4th of December, 1846; and as a +proof of the efficiency of the industrial schools in checking juvenile +vagrancy and delinquency, it may be noticed that nearly a week elapsed +before a child was brought to the asylum. When a child is apprehended by +the police for begging, or other misdemeanor, he is conveyed to this +institution, and his case is investigated; for which purpose the +committee meets daily. If the child be of destitute parents, he is sent +to one of the industrial schools; if the child of a worthless, but not +needy, parent, efforts are made to induce the parent to fulfil his duty, +and exercise his authority in restraining the evil habits of the child, +by sending him to school, or otherwise removing him out of the way of +temptation. + +From the 4th of December up to the 18th of March, forty-seven cases, +several of them more than once, had been brought up and carefully +inquired into. Most of them were disposed of in the manner now stated; +but a few were either claimed by, or remitted to, the procurator fiscal, +as proper objects of punishment. + +It is premature to say much of an institution which has existed for so +short a time; but if the principle on which it is founded be as correct +and sound as it appears, it must prosper and do good. There is, however, +one great practical difficulty, which can only be removed by legislative +enactment: there is no power at present to _detain_ the children in the +Asylum, or to force them to attend the schools to which they have been +Bent. + +Such have been the rise and progress of the four industrial schools in +Aberdeen, including, as one of them, the Child's Asylum. + +All the schools are on the most catholic basis, the only qualification +for membership being a subscription of a few shillings a year; and the +doors are open to all who require admission, without distinction of sect +or party. + +The experience, then, of Aberdeen appears to demonstrate the possibility +of reclaiming even the most abject and depraved of our juvenile +population at a very moderate expense. The schools have been so long in +operation, that, if there had been anything erroneous in the principles +or the management of them, it must ere now have appeared; and if all the +results have been encouraging, why should not the system be extended and +established in other places? There is nothing in it which may not easily +be copied in any town or village of our land where it is required. + +I cannot help adding to this account some directions, which a very +experienced teacher in these schools gives to those who are desirous of +undertaking this enterprise. + +"1. The school rooms and appurtenances ought to be of the plainest and +most unpretending description. This is perfectly consistent with the +most scrupulous cleanliness and complete ventilation. In like manner, +the food should be wholesome, substantial, and abundant, but very +plain--such as the boys or girls may soon be able to attain, or even +surpass, by their own exertions after leaving school. + +"2. The teachers must ever be of the best description, patient and +persevering, not easily discouraged, and thoroughly versed in whatever +branch they may have to teach; and, above all things, they must be +persons of solid and undoubted piety--for without this qualification, +all others will, in the end, prove worthless and unavailing. + +"Throughout the day, the children must ever be kept in mind that, after +all, religion is 'the one thing needful;' that the soul is of more value +than the body. + +"3. _The schools must be kept of moderate size_: from their nature this +is absolutely necessary. It is a task of the greatest difficulty to +manage, in a satisfactory manner, a large school of children, even of +the higher classes, with all the advantages of careful home-training and +superintendence; but with industrial schools it is folly to attempt it. + +"From eighty to one hundred scholars is the largest number that ever +should be gathered into one institution; when they exceed this, _let +additional schools be opened_; in other words, _increase the number, not +the size, of the schools_. They should be put down in the localities +most convenient for the scholars, so that distance may be no bar to +attendance; and if circumstances permit, a garden, either at the school +or at no very great distance, will be of great utility. + +"4. As soon as practicable, the children should be taught, and kept +steadily at, some trade or other, by which they may earn their +subsistence on leaving school; for the longer they have pursued this +particular occupation at school, the more easily will they be able +thereby to support themselves afterwards. + +"As to commencing schools in new places, the best way of proceeding is +for a few persons, who are of one mind on the subject, to unite, advance +from their own purses, or raise among their friends, the small sum +necessary at the outset, get their teacher, open their school, and +collect a few scholars, gradually extend the number, and when they have +made some progress, then tell the public what they have been doing; ask +them to come and see; and, if they approve, to give their money and +support. Public meetings and eloquent speeches are excellent things for +exciting interest and raising funds, but they are of no use in carrying +on the every-day work of the school. + +"Let not the managers expect impossibilities. There will be crime and +distress in spite of industrial schools; but they may be immensely +reduced; and let no one be discouraged by the occasional lapse into a +crime of a promising pupil. Such things must be while sin reigns in the +heart of man; let them only be thereby stirred up to greater and more +earnest exertion in their work. + +"Let them be most careful as to the parties whom they admit to _act_ +along with them; for unless _all_ the laborers be of one heart and mind, +divisions must ensue, and the whole work be marred. + +"It is most desirable that as many persons as possible of wealth and +influence should lend their aid in supporting these institutions. +Patrons and subscribers should be of all ranks and denominations; but +they must beware of interfering with the actual daily working of the +school, which ought to be left to the unfettered energies of those who, +by their zeal, their activity, their sterling principle, and their +successful administration, have proved themselves every way competent to +the task they have undertaken. + +"If the managers wish to carry out the good effect of their schools to +the utmost, then they will not confine their labor to the scholars; +_they will, through them, get access to the parents_. The good which the +ladies of the Aberdeen Female School have already thus accomplished is +not to be told; but let none try this work who do not experimentally +know the value of the immortal soul." + +Industrial schools seem to open a bright prospect to the hitherto +neglected outcasts of our cities; for them a new era seems to be +commencing: they are no longer to be restrained and kept in order by the +iron bars of the prison house, and taught morality by the scourge of the +executioner. They are now to be treated as reasonable and immortal +beings; and may He who is the God of the poor as well as the rich give +his effectual blessing with them, wherever they may be established, so +that they may be a source of joy and rejoicing to all ranks of society. + +Such is the result of the "speerings" recommended by my worthy +correspondent. I have given them much at length, because they are useful +to us in the much needed reforms commencing in our cities. + +As to the appalling statements about intemperance, I grieve to say that +they are confirmed by much which must meet the eye even of the passing +stranger. I have said before how often the natural features of this +country reminded me of the State of Maine. Would that the beneficent law +which has removed, to so great an extent, pauperism and crime from that +noble state might also be given to Scotland. + +I suppose that the efforts for the benefit of the poorer classes in this +city might be paralleled by efforts of a similar nature in the other +cities of Scotland, particularly in Edinburgh, where great exertions +have been making; but I happened to have a more full account of these in +Aberdeen, and so give them as specimens of the whole. I must say, +however, that in no city which I visited in Scotland did I see such +neatness, order, and thoroughness, as in Aberdeen; and in none did there +appear to be more gratifying evidences of prosperity and comfort among +that class which one sees along the streets and thoroughfares. + +About two o'clock we started from Aberdeen among crowds of friends, to +whom we bade farewell with real regret. + +Our way at first lay over the course of yesterday, along that beautiful +sea coast--beautiful to the eye, but perilous to the navigator. They +told us that the winds and waves raged here with an awful power. Not +long before we came, the Duke of Sutherland, an iron steamer, was +wrecked upon this shore. In one respect the coast of Maine has decidedly +the advantage over this, and, indeed, of every other sea coast which I +have ever visited; and that is in the richness of the wooding, which +veils its picturesque points and capes in luxuriant foldings of verdure. + +At Stonehaven station, where we stopped a few minutes, there was quite a +gathering of the inhabitants to exchange greetings, and afterwards at +successive stations along the road, many a kindly face and voice made +our journey a pleasant one. + +When we got into old Dundee it seemed all alive with welcome. We went in +the carriage with the lord provost, Mr. Thoms, to his residence, where a +party had been waiting dinner for us some time. + +The meeting in the evening was in a large church, densely crowded, and +conducted much as the others had been. When they came to sing the +closing hymn, I hoped they would sing Dundee; but they did not, and I +fear in Scotland, as elsewhere, the characteristic national melodies are +giving way before more modern ones. + +On the stage we were surrounded by many very pleasant people, with whom, +between the services, we talked without knowing their names. The +venerable Dr. Dick, the author of the Christian Philosopher and the +Philosophy of the Future State, was there. Gilfillan was also present, +and spoke. Together with their contribution to the Scottish offering, +they presented me with quite a collection of the works of different +writers of Dundee, beautifully bound. + +We came away before the exercises of the evening were finished. + +The next morning we had quite a large breakfast party, mostly ministers +and their wives. Good old Dr. Dick was there, and I had an introduction +to him, and had pleasure in speaking to him of the interest with which +his works have been read in America. Of this fact I was told that he had +received more substantial assurance in a comfortable sum of money +subscribed and remitted to him by his American readers. If this be so it +is a most commendable movement. + +What a pity it was, during Scott's financial embarrassments, that every +man, woman, and child in America, who had received pleasure from his +writings, had not subscribed something towards an offering justly due to +him! + +Our host, Mr. Thoms, was one of the first to republish in Scotland +Professor Stuart's Letters to Dr. Channing, with a preface of his own. +He showed me Professor Stuart's letter in reply, and seemed rather +amused that the professor directed it to the Rev. James Thom, supposing, +of course, that so much theological zeal could not inhere in a layman. +He also showed us many autograph letters of their former pastor, Mr. +Cheyne, whose interesting memoirs have excited a good deal of attention +in some circles in America. + +After breakfast the ladies of the Dundee Antislavery Society called, and +then the lord provost took us in his carriage to see the city. Dundee is +the third town of Scotland in population, and a place of great +antiquity. Its population in 1851 was seventy-eight thousand eight +hundred and twenty-nine, and the manufactures consist principally of +yarns, linen, with canvas and cotton bagging, great quantities of which +are exported to France and North and South America. There are about +sixty spinning mills and factories in the town and neighborhood, besides +several iron founderies and manufactories of steam engines and +machinery. + +Dundee has always been a stronghold of liberty and the reformed +religion. It is said that in the grammar school of this town William +Wallace was educated; and here an illustrious confraternity of noblemen +and gentry was formed, who joined to resist the tyranny of England. + +Here Wishart preached in the beginning of the reformation, preparatory +to his martyrdom. Here flourished some rude historical writers, who +devoted their talents to the downfall of Popery. Singularly enough, they +accomplished this in part by dramatic representations, in which the +vices and absurdities of the Papal establishment were ridiculed before +the people. Among others, one James Wedderburn and his brother, John, +vicar of Dundee, are mentioned as having excelled in this kind of +composition. The same authors composed books of song, denominated "Gude +and Godly Ballads," wherein the frauds and deceits of Popery were fully +pointed out. A third brother of the family, being a musical genius, it +is said, "turned the times and tenor of many profane songs into godly +songs and hymns, whereby he stirred up the affections of many," which +tunes were called the Psalms of Dundee. Here, perhaps, was the origin of +"Dundee's wild warbling measures." + +The conjoint forces of tragedy, comedy, ballads, and music, thus brought +to bear on the popular mind, was very great. + +Dundee has been a great sufferer during the various civil commotions in +Scotland. In the time of Charles I. it stood out for the solemn league +and covenant, for which crime the Earl of Montrose was sent against it, +who took and burned it. It is said that he called Dundee a most +seditious town, the securest haunt and receptacle of rebels, and a place +that had contributed as much as any other to the rebellion. Yet +afterwards, when Montrose was led a captive through Dundee, the +historian observes, "It is remarkable of the town of Dundee, in which he +lodged one night, that though it had suffered more by his army than any +town else within the kingdom, yet were they, amongst all the rest, so +far from exulting over him, that the whole town testified a great deal +of sorrow for his woful condition; and there was he likewise furnished +with clothes suitable to his birth and person." + +This town of Dundee was stormed by Monk and the forces of Parliament +during the time of the commonwealth, because they had sheltered the +fugitive Charles II., and granted him money. When taken by Monk, he +committed a great many barbarities. + +It has also been once visited by the plague, and once with a seven +years' dearth or famine. + +Most of these particulars I found in a History of Dundee, which formed +one of the books presented to me. + +The town is beautifully situated on the Firth of Tay, which here spreads +its waters, and the quantity of shipping indicates commercial +prosperity. + +I was shown no abbeys or cathedrals, either because none ever existed, +or because they were destroyed when the town was fired. + +In our rides about the city, the local recollections that our friends +seemed to recur to with as much interest as any, were those connected +with the queen's visit to Dundee, in 1844. The spot where she landed has +been commemorated by the erection of a superb triumphal arch in stone. +The provost said some of the people were quite astonished at the +plainness of the queen's dress, having looked for something very +dazzling and overpowering from a queen. They could scarcely believe +their eyes, when they saw her riding by in a plain bonnet, and enveloped +in a simple shepherd's plaid. + +The queen is exceedingly popular in Scotland, doubtless in part because +she heartily appreciated the beauty of the country, and the strong and +interesting traits of the people. She has a country residence at +Balmorrow, where she spends a part of every year; and the impression +seems to prevail among her Scottish subjects, that she never appears to +feel herself more happy or more at home than in this her Highland +dwelling. The legend is, that here she delights to throw off the +restraints of royalty; to go about plainly dressed, like a private +individual; to visit in the cottages of the poor; to interest herself in +the instruction of the children; and to initiate the future heir of +England into that practical love of the people which is the best +qualification for a ruler. + +I repeat to you the things which I hear floating of the public +characters of England, and you can attach what degree of credence you +may think proper. As a general rule in this censorious world, I think it +safe to suppose that the good which is commonly reported of public +characters, if not true in the letter of its details, is at least so in +its general spirit. The stories which are told about distinguished +people generally run in a channel coincident with the facts of their +character. On the other hand, with regard to evil reports, it is safe +always to allow something for the natural propensity to detraction and +slander, which is one of the most undoubted facts of human nature in all +lands. + +We left Dundee at two o'clock, by cars, for Edinburgh. In the evening we +attended another _soirée_ of the working men of Edinburgh. As it was +similar in all respects to the one at Glasgow, I will not dwell upon it, +further than to say how gratifying to me, in every respect, are +occasions in which working men, as a class, stand out before the public. +_They_ are to form, more and more, a new power in society, greater than +the old power of helmet and sword, and I rejoice in every indication +that they are learning to understand themselves. + +We have received letters from the working men, both in Dundee and +Glasgow, desiring our return to attend _soirées_ in those cities. +Nothing could give us greater pleasure, had we time and strength. No +class of men are more vitally interested in the conflict of freedom +against slavery than working men. The principle upon which slavery is +founded touches every interest of theirs. If it be right that one half +of the community should deprive the other half of education, of all +opportunities to rise in the world, of all property rights and all +family ties, merely to make them more convenient tools for their profit +and luxury, then every injustice and extortion, which oppresses the +laboring man in any country, can be equally defended. + + + + +LETTER VIII. + + +DEAR AUNT E.:-- + +You wanted us to write about our visit to Melrose; so here you have it. + +On Tuesday morning Mr. S. and C---- had agreed to go back to Glasgow for +the purpose of speaking at a temperance meeting, and as we were +restricted for time, we were obliged to make the visit to Melrose in +their absence, much to the regret of us all. G---- thought we would make +a little quiet run out in the cars by ourselves, while Mr. S. and +C---- were gone back to Glasgow. + +It was one of those soft, showery, April days, misty and mystical, now +weeping and now shining, that we found ourselves whirled by the cars +through this enchanted ground of Scotland. Almost every name we heard +spoken along the railroad, every stream we passed, every point we looked +at, recalled some line of Walter Scott's poetry, or some event of +history. The thought that he was gone forever, whose genius had given +the charm to all, seemed to settle itself down like a melancholy mist. +To how little purpose seemed the few, short years of his life, compared +with the capabilities of such a soul! Brilliant as his success had been, +how was it passed like a dream! It seemed sad to think that he had not +only passed away himself, but that almost the whole family and friendly +circle had passed with him--not a son left to bear his name! + +Here we were in the region of the Ettrick, the Yarrow, and the Tweed. I +opened the Lay of the Last Minstrel, and, as if by instinct, the first +lines my eye fell upon were these:-- + + "Call it not vain: they do not err + Who say, that when the poet dies, + Mute nature mourns her worshipper, + And celebrates his obsequies; + Who say, tall cliff and cavern lone + For the departed bard make moan; + That mountains weep in crystal rill; + That flowers in tears of balm distil; + Through his loved groves that breezes sigh, + And oaks, in deeper groan, reply; + And rivers teach their rushing wave + To murmur dirges round his grave." + +"Melrose!" said the loud voice of the conductor; and starting, I looked +up and saw quite a flourishing village, in the midst of which rose the +old, gray, mouldering walls of the abbey. Now, this was somewhat of a +disappointment to me. I had been somehow expecting to find the building +standing alone in the middle of a great heath, far from all abodes of +men, and with no companions more hilarious than the owls. However, it +was no use complaining; the fact was, there was a village, and what was +more, a hotel, and to this hotel we were to go to get a guide for the +places we were to visit; for it was understood that we were to "_do_" +Melrose, Dryburgh, and Abbotsford, all in one day. There was no time for +sentiment; it was a business affair, that must be looked in the face +promptly, if we meant to get through. Ejaculations and quotations of +poetry could, of course, be thrown in, as William, of Deloraine pattered +his prayers, while riding. + +We all alighted at a very comfortable hotel, and were ushered into as +snug a little parlor as one's heart could desire. + +[Illustration: East Window of Melrose Abbey.] + +The next thing was to hire a coachman to take us, in the rain,--for the +mist had now swelled into a rain,--through the whole appropriate round. +I stood by and heard names which I had never heard before, except in +song, brought into view in their commercial relations; so much for +Abbotsford; and so much for Dryburgh; and then, if we would like to +throw in Thomas the Rhymer's Tower, why, that would be something extra. + +"Thomas the Rhymer?" said one of the party, not exactly posted up. "Was +he any thing remarkable? Well, is it worth while to go to his tower? It +will cost something extra, and take more time." + +Weighed in such a sacrilegious balance, Thomas was found wanting, of +course: the idea of driving three or four miles farther to see an old +tower, supposed to have belonged to a man who is supposed to have +existed and to have been carried off by a supposititious Queen of the +Fairies into Elfland, was too absurd for reasonable people; in fact, I +made believe myself that I did not care much about it, particularly as +the landlady remarked, that if we did not get home by five o'clock "the +chops might be spoiled." + +As we all were packed into a tight coach, the rain still pouring, I +began to wish mute Nature would not be quite so energetic in distilling +her tears. A few sprinkling showers, or a graceful wreath of mist, might +be all very well; but a steady, driving rain, that obliged us to shut up +the carriage windows, and coated them with mist so that we could not +look out, why, I say it is enough to put out the fire of sentiment in +any heart. We might as well have been rolled up in a bundle and carried +through the country, for all the seeing it was possible to do under such +circumstances. It, therefore, should be stated, that we did keep bravely +up in our poetic zeal, which kindly Mrs. W. also reënforced, by +distributing certain very delicate sandwiches to support the outer man. + +At length, the coach stopped at the entrance of Abbotsford grounds, +where there was a cottage, out of which, due notice being given, came a +trim, little old woman in a black gown, with pattens on; she put up her +umbrella, and we all put up ours; the rain poured harder than ever as we +went dripping up the gravel walk, looking much, I inly fancied, like a +set of discomforted fowls fleeing to covert. We entered the great court +yard, surrounded with a high wall, into which were built sundry +fragments of curious architecture that happened to please the poet's +fancy. + +I had at the moment, spite of the rain, very vividly in my mind +Washington Irving's graceful account of his visit to Abbotsford while +this house was yet building, and the picture which he has given of +Walter Scott sitting before his door, humorously descanting on various +fragments of sculpture, which lay scattered about, and which he intended +to immortalize by incorporating into his new dwelling. + +Viewed as a mere speculation, or, for aught I know, as an architectural +effort, this building may, perhaps, be counted as a mistake and a +failure. I observe, that it is quite customary to speak of it, among +some, as a pity that he ever undertook it. But viewed as a development +of his inner life, as a working out in wood and stone of favorite +fancies and cherished ideas, the building has to me a deep interest. The +gentle-hearted poet delighted himself in it; this house was his stone +and wood poem, as irregular, perhaps, and as contrary to any established +rule, as his Lay of the Last Minstrel, but still wild and poetic. The +building has this interest, that it was throughout his own conception, +thought, and choice; that he expressed himself in every stone that was +laid, and made it a kind of shrine, into which he wove all his treasures +of antiquity, and where he imitated, from the beautiful, old, mouldering +ruins of Scotland, the parts that had touched him most deeply. + +The walls of one room were of carved oak from the Dunfermline Abbey; the +ceiling of another imitated from Roslin Castle; here a fireplace was +wrought in the image of a favorite niche in Melrose; and there the +ancient pulpit of Erskine was wrought into a wall. To him, doubtless, +every object in the house was suggestive of poetic fancies; every +carving and bit of tracery had its history, and was as truly an +expression of something in the poet's mind as a verse of his poetry. + +A building wrought out in this way, and growing up like a bank of coral, +may very possibly violate all the proprieties of criticism; it may +possibly, too, violate one's ideas of mere housewifery utility; but by +none of these rules ought such a building to be judged. We should look +at it rather as the poet's endeavor to render outward and visible the +dream land of his thoughts, and to create for himself a refuge from the +cold, dull realities of life, in an architectural romance. + +These were thoughts which gave interest to the scene as we passed +through the porchway, adorned with petrified stags' horns, into the long +entrance hall of the mansion. This porch was copied from one in +Linlithgow palace. One side of this hall was lighted by windows of +painted glass. The floor was of black and white marble from the +Hebrides. Round the whole cornice there was a line of coats armorial, +richly blazoned, and the following inscription in old German text: + +"These be the coat armories of the clanns and chief men of name wha +keepit the marchys of Scotland in the old tyme for the kynge. Trewe men +war they in their tyme, and in their defence God them defendyt." + +There were the names of the Douglases, the Elliots, the Scotts, the +Armstrongs, and others. I looked at this arrangement with interest, +because I knew that Scott must have taken a particular delight in it. + +The fireplace, designed from a niche in Melrose Abbey, also in this +room, and a choice bit of sculpture it is. In it was an old grate, which +had its history also, and opposite to it the boards from the pulpit of +Erskine were wrought into a kind of side table, or something which +served that purpose. The spaces between the windows were decorated with +pieces of armor, crossed swords, and stags' horns, each one of which +doubtless had its history. On each side of the door, at the bottom of +the hall, was a Gothic shrine, or niche, in both of which stood a figure +in complete armor. + +Then we went into the drawing room; a lofty saloon, the woodwork of +which is entirely of cedar, richly wrought; probably another of the +author's favorite poetic fancies. It is adorned with a set of splendid +antique ebony furniture; cabinet, chairs, and piano--the gift of George +IV. to the poet. + +We went into his library; a magnificent room, on which, I suppose, the +poet's fancy had expended itself more than any other. The roof is of +carved oak, after models from Roslin Castle. Here, in a niche, is a +marble bust of Scott, as we understood a present from Chantrey to the +poet; it was one of the best and most animated representations of him I +ever saw, and very much superior to the one under the monument in +Edinburgh. On expressing my idea to this effect, I found I had struck +upon a favorite notion of the good woman who showed us the +establishment; she seemed to be an ancient servant of the house, and +appeared to entertain a regard for the old laird scarcely less than +idolatry. One reason why this statue is superior is, that it represents +his noble forehead, which the Edinburgh one suffers to be concealed by +falling hair: to cover _such_ a forehead seems scarcely less than a +libel. + +The whole air of this room is fanciful and picturesque in the extreme. +The walls are entirely filled with the bookcases, there being about +twenty thousand volumes. A small room opens from the library, which was +Scott's own private study. His writing table stood in the centre, with +his inkstand on it, and before it a large, plain, black leather arm +chair. + +In a glass case, I think in this room, was exhibited the suit of clothes +he last wore; a blue coat with large metal buttons, plaid trousers, and +broad-brimmed hat. Around the sides of this room there was a gallery of +light tracery work; a flight of stairs led up to it, and in one corner +of it was a door which the woman said led to the poet's bed room. One +seemed to see in all this arrangement how snug, and cozy, and +comfortable the poet had thus ensconced himself, to give himself up to +his beloved labors and his poetic dreams. But there was a cold and +desolate air of order and adjustment about it which reminds one of the +precise and chilling arrangements of a room from which has just been +carried out a corpse; all is silent and deserted. + +The house is at present the property of Scott's only surviving daughter, +whose husband has assumed the name of Scott. We could not learn from our +informant whether any of the family was in the house. We saw only the +rooms which are shown to visitors, and a coldness, like that of death, +seemed to strike to my heart from their chilly solitude. + +As we went out of the house we passed another company of tourists coming +in, to whom we heard our guide commencing the same recitation, "this +is," and "this is," &c., just as she had done to us. One thing about the +house and grounds had disappointed me; there was not one view from a +single window I saw that was worth any thing, in point of beauty; why a +poet, with an eye for the beautiful, could have located a house in such +an indifferent spot, on an estate where so many beautiful sites were at +his command, I could not imagine. + +As to the external appearance of Abbotsford, it is as irregular as can +well be imagined. There are gables, and pinnacles, and spires, and +balconies, and buttresses any where and every where, without rhyme or +reason; for wherever the poet wanted a balcony, he had it; or wherever +he had a fragment of carved stone, or a bit of historic tracery, to put +in, he made a shrine for it forthwith, without asking leave of any +rules. This I take to be one of the main advantages of Gothic +architecture; it is a most catholic and tolerant system, and any kind of +eccentricity may find refuge beneath its mantle. + +Here and there, all over the house, are stones carved with armorial +bearings and pious inscriptions, inserted at random wherever the poet +fancied. Half way up the wall in one place is the door of the old +Tolbooth at Edinburgh, with the inscription over it, "The Lord of armeis +is my protector; blissit ar thay that trust in the Lord. 1575." + +A doorway at the west end of the house is composed of stones which +formed the portal of the Tolbooth, given to Sir Walter on the pulling +down of the building in 1817. + +On the east side of the house is a rude carving of a sword with the +words, "Up with ye, sutors of Selkyrke. A.D. 1525." Another inscription, +on the same side of the house, runs thus:-- + + "By night, by day, remember ay + The goodness of ye Lord; + And thank his name, whose glorious fame + Is spread throughout ye world.--A.C.M.D. 1516." + +In the yard, to the right of the doorway of the mansion, we saw the +figure of Scott's favorite dog Maida, with a Latin inscription-- + + "Maidæ marmorea dormis sub imagine, Maida, + Ad januam domini: sit tibi terra levis." + +Which in our less expressive English we might render-- + + At thy lord's door, in slumbers light and blest, + Maida, beneath this marble Maida, rest: + Light lie the turf upon thy gentle breast. + +One of the most endearing traits of Scott was that sympathy and harmony +which always existed between him and the brute creation. + +Poor Maida seemed cold and lonely, washed by the rain in the damp grass +plat. How sad, yet how expressive is the scriptural phrase for +indicating death! "He shall return to his house no more, neither shall +his place know him any more." And this is what all our homes are coming +to; our buying, our planting, our building, our marrying and giving in +marriage, our genial firesides and dancing children, are all like so +many figures passing through the magic lantern, to be put out at last in +death. + +The grounds, I was told, are full of beautiful paths and seats, favorite +walks and lounges of the poet; but the obdurate pertinacity of the rain +compelled us to choose the very shortest path possible to the carriage. +I picked a leaf of the Portugal laurel, which I send you. + +Next we were driven to Dryburgh, or rather to the banks of the Tweed, +where a ferryman, with a small skiff waits to take passengers over. + +The Tweed is a clear, rippling river, with a white, pebbly bottom, just +like our New England mountain streams. After we landed we were to walk +to the Abbey. Our feet were damp and cold, and our boatman invited us to +his cottage. I found him and all his family warmly interested in the +fortunes of Uncle Tom and his friends, and for his sake they received me +as a long-expected friend. While I was sitting by the ingleside,--that +is, a coal grate,--warming my feet, I fell into conversation with my +host. He and his family, I noticed, spoke English more than Scotch; he +was an intelligent young man, in appearance and style of mind precisely +what you might expect to meet in a cottage in Maine. He and all the +household, even the old grandmother, had read Uncle Tom's Cabin, and +were perfectly familiar with all its details. He told me that it had +been universally read in the cottages in the vicinity. I judged from his +mode of speaking, that he and his neighbors were in the habit of reading +a great deal. I spoke of going to Dryburgh to see the grave of Scott, +and inquired if his works were much read by the common people. He said +that Scott was not so much a favorite with the people as Burns. I +inquired if he took a newspaper. He said that the newspapers were kept +at so high a price that working men were not able to take them; +sometimes they got sight of them through clubs, or by borrowing. How +different, thought I, from America, where a workingman would as soon +think of going without his bread as without his newspaper! + +The cottages of these laboring people, of which there were a whole +village along here, are mostly of stone, thatched with straw. This +thatch sometimes gets almost entirely grown over with green moss. Thus +moss-covered was the roof of the cottage where we stopped, opposite to +Dryburgh grounds. + +There was about this time one of those weeping pauses in the showery +sky, and a kind of thinning and edging away of the clouds, which gave +hope that perhaps the sun was going to look out, and give to our +persevering researches the countenance of his presence. This was +particularly desirable, as the old woman, who came out with her keys to +guide us, said she had a cold and a cough: we begged that she would not +trouble herself to go with us at all. The fact is, with all respect to +nice old women, and the worthy race of guides in general, they are not +favorable to poetic meditation. We promised to be very good if she would +let us have the key, and lock up all the gates, and bring it back; but +no, she was faithfulness itself, and so went coughing along through the +dripping and drowned grass to open the gates for us. + +This Dryburgh belongs now to the Earl of Buchan, having been bought by +him from a family of the name of Haliburton, ancestral connections of +Scott, who, in his autobiography, seems to lament certain mischances of +fortune which prevented the estate from coming into his own family, and +gave them, he said, nothing but the right of stretching their bones +there. It seems a pity, too, because the possession of this rich, poetic +ruin would have been a mine of wealth to Scott, far transcending the +stateliest of modern houses. + +Now, if you do not remember Scott's poem, of the Eve of St. John, you +ought to read it over; for it is, I think, the most spirited of all his +ballads; nothing conceals the transcendent lustre and beauty of these +compositions, but the splendor of his other literary productions. Had he +never written any thing but these, they would have made him a name as a +poet. As it was, I found the fanciful chime of the cadences in this +ballad ringing through my ears. I kept saying to myself-- + + "The Dryburgh bells do ring, + And the white monks do sing + For Sir Richard of Coldinghame." + +And as I was wandering around in the labyrinth, of old, broken, mossy +arches, I thought-- + + "There is a nun in Dryburgh bower + Ne'er looks upon the sun; + There is a monk in Melrose tower, + He speaketh word to none. + + That nun who ne'er beholds the day, + That monk who speaks to none, + That nun was Smaylhome's lady gay, + That monk the bold Baron." + +It seems that there is a vault in this edifice which has had some +superstitious legends attached to it, from having been the residence, +about fifty years ago, of a mysterious lady, who, being under a vow +never to behold the light of the sun, only left her cell at midnight. +This little story, of course, gives just enough superstitious chill to +this beautiful ruin to help the effect of the pointed arches, the +clinging wreaths of ivy, the shadowy pines, and yew trees; in short, if +one had not a guide waiting, who had a bad cold, if one could stroll +here at leisure by twilight or moonlight, one might get up a +considerable deal of the mystic and poetic. + +There is a part of the ruin that stands most picturesquely by itself, as +if old Time had intended it for a monument. It is the ruin of that part +of the chapel called St. Mary's Aisle; it stands surrounded by luxuriant +thickets of pine and other trees, a cluster of beautiful Gothic arches +supporting a second tier of smaller and more fanciful ones, one or two +of which have that light touch of the Moorish in their form which gives +such a singular and poetic effect in many of the old Gothic ruins. Out +of these wild arches and windows wave wreaths of ivy, and slender +harebells shake their blue pendants, looking in and out of the lattices +like little capricious fairies. There are fragments of ruins lying on +the ground, and the whole air of the thing is as wild, and dreamlike, +and picturesque as the poet's fanciful heart could have desired. + +Underneath these arches he lies beside his wife; around him the +representation of the two things he loved most--the wild bloom and +beauty of nature, and the architectural memorial of by-gone history and +art. Yet there was one thing I felt I would have had otherwise; it +seemed to me that the flat stones of the pavement are a weight too heavy +and too cold to be laid on the breast of a lover of nature and the +beautiful. The green turf, springing with flowers, that lies above a +grave, does not seem, to us so hopeless a barrier between us and what +was warm and loving; the springing grass and daisies there seem, types +and assurances that the mortal beneath shall put on immortality; they +come up to us as kind messages from the peaceful dust, to say that it is +resting in a certain hope of a glorious resurrection. + +On the cold flagstones, walled in by iron railings, there were no +daisies and no moss; but I picked many of both from, the green turf +around, which, with some sprigs of ivy from the walls, I send you. + +It is strange that we turn away from the grave of this man, who achieved +to himself the most brilliant destiny that ever an author did,--raising +himself by his own unassisted efforts to be the chosen companions of +nobles and princes, obtaining all that heart could desire of riches and +honor,--we turn away and say, Poor Walter Scott! How desolately touching +is the account in Lockhart, of his dim and indistinct agony the day his +wife was brought here to be buried! and the last part of that biography +is the saddest history that I know; it really makes us breathe a long +sigh of relief when we read of the lowering of the coffin into this +vault. + +What force does all this give to the passage in his diary in which he +records his estimate of life!--"What is this world? a dream within a +dream. As we grow older, each step is an awakening. The youth awakes, as +he thinks, from childhood; the full-grown man despises the pursuits of +youth as visionary; the old man looks on manhood as a feverish dream. +The grave the last sleep? No; it is the last and final awakening." + +It has often been remarked, that there is no particular moral purpose +aimed at by Scott in his writings; he often speaks of it himself in his +last days, in a tone of humility. He represents himself as having been +employed mostly in the comparatively secondary department of giving +innocent amusement. He often expressed, humbly and earnestly, the hope +that he had, at least, done no harm; but I am inclined to think, that +although moral effect was not primarily his object, yet the influence of +his writings and whole existence on earth has been decidedly good. + +It is a great thing to have a mind of such power and such influence, +whose recognitions of right and wrong, of virtue and vice, were, in most +cases, so clear and determined. He never enlists our sympathies in favor +of vice, by drawing those seductive pictures, in which it comes so near +the shape and form of virtue that the mind is puzzled as to the boundary +line. He never makes young ladies feel that they would like to marry +corsairs, pirates, or sentimental villains of any description. The most +objectionable thing, perhaps, about his influence, is its sympathy with +the war spirit. A person Christianly educated can hardly read some of +his descriptions in the Lady of the Lake and Marmion without an emotion +of disgust, like what is excited by the same things in Homer; and as the +world comes more and more under the influence of Christ, it will recede +more and more from this kind of literature. + +Scott has been censured as being wilfully unjust to the Covenanters and +Puritans. I think he meant really to deal fairly by them, and that what +_he_ called fairness might seem rank injustice to those brought up to +venerate them, as we have been. I suppose that in Old Mortality it was +Scott's honest intention to balance the two parties about fairly, by +putting on the Covenant side his good, steady, well-behaved hero, Mr. +Morton, who is just as much of a Puritan as the Puritans would have been +had they taken Sir Walter Scott's advice; that is to say, a very nice, +sensible, moral man, who takes the Puritan side because he thinks it the +_right_ side, but contemplates all the devotional enthusiasm and +religious ecstasies of his associates from a merely artistic and +pictorial point of view. The trouble was, when he got his model Puritan +done, nobody ever knew what he was meant for; and then all the young +ladies voted steady Henry Morton a bore, and went to falling in love +with his Cavalier rival, Lord Evandale, and people talked as if it was a +preconcerted arrangement of Scott, to surprise the female heart, and +carry it over to the royalist side. + +The fact was, in describing Evandale he made a living, effective +character, because he was describing something he had full sympathy +with, and put his whole life into; but Henry Morton is a laborious +arrangement of starch and pasteboard to produce one of those +supposititious, just-right men, who are always the stupidest of mortals +after they are made. As to why Scott did not describe such a character +as the martyr Duke of Argyle, or Hampden, or Sir Harry Vane, where high +birth, and noble breeding, and chivalrous sentiment were all united with +intense devotional fervor, the answer is, that he could not do it; he +had not that in him wherewith to do it; a man cannot create that of +which he has not first had the elements in himself; and devotional +enthusiasm is a thing which Scott never felt. Nevertheless, I believe +that he was perfectly sincere in saying that he would, "if necessary, +die a martyr for Christianity." He had calm, firm principle to any +extent, but it never was kindled into fervor. He was of too calm and +happy a temperament to sound the deepest recesses of souls torn up from +their depths by mighty conflicts and sorrows. There are souls like the +"alabaster vase of ointment, very precious," which shed no perfume of +devotion because a great sorrow has never broken them. Could Scott have +been given back to the world again after the heavy discipline of life +had passed over him, he would have spoken otherwise of many things. What +he vainly struggled to say to Lockhart on his death bed would have been +a new revelation, of his soul to the world, could he have lived to +unfold it in literature. But so it is: when we have learned to live, +life's purpose is answered, and we die! + +This is the sum and substance of some conversations held while rambling +among these scenes, going in and out of arches, climbing into nooks and +through loopholes, picking moss and ivy, and occasionally retreating +under the shadow of some arch, while the skies were indulging in a +sudden burst of emotion. The poor woman who acted as our guide, +ensconcing herself in a dry corner, stood like a literal Patience on a +monument, waiting for us to be through; we were sorry for her, but as it +was our first and last chance, and she would stay there, we could not +help it. + +Near by the abbey is a square, modern mansion, belonging to the Earl of +Buchan, at present untenanted. There were some black, solemn yew trees +there, old enough to have told us a deal of history had they been +inclined to speak; as it was, they could only drizzle. + +As we were walking through the yard, a bird broke out into a clear, +sweet song. + +"What bird is that?" said I. + +"I think it is the mavis," said the guide. This brought up,-- + + "The mavis wild, wie mony a note, + Sings drowsy day to rest." + +And also,-- + + "Merry it is in wild green wood, + When mavis and merle are singing." + +A verse, by the by, dismally suggestive of contrast to this rainy day. + +As we came along out of the gate, walking back towards the village of +Dryburgh, we began, to hope that the skies had fairly wept themselves +out; at any rate the rain stopped, and the clouds wore a sulky, +leaden-gray aspect, as if they were thinking what to do next. + +We saw a knot of respectable-looking laboring men at a little distance, +conversing in a group, and now and then stealing glances at us; one of +them at last approached and inquired if this was Mrs. Stowe, and being +answered in the affirmative, they all said heartily, "Madam, ye're right +welcome to Scotland." The chief speaker, then, after a little +conversation, asked our party if we would do him the favor to step into +his cottage near by, to take a little refreshment after our ramble; to +which we assented with alacrity. He led the way to a neat, stone +cottage, with a flower garden before the door, and said to a thrifty, +rosy-cheeked woman, who met us, "Well, and what do you think, wife, if I +have brought Mrs. Stowe and her party to take a cup of tea with us?" + +We were soon seated in a neat, clean kitchen, and our hostess hastened +to put the teakettle over the grate, lamenting that she had not known of +our coming, that she might have had a fire "ben the house," meaning by +the phrase what we Yankees mean by "in the best room." We caught a +glimpse of the carpet and paper of this room, when the door was opened +to bring out a few more chairs. + + "Belyve the bairns cam dropping in," + +rosy-cheeked, fresh from school, with satchel and school books, to whom +I was introduced as the mother of Topsy and Eva. + +"Ah," said the father, "such a time as we had, when we were reading the +book; whiles they were greetin' and whiles in a rage." + +My host was quite a young-looking man, with the clear blue eye and +glowing complexion which one so often meets here; and his wife, with her +blooming cheeks, neat dress, and well-kept house, was evidently one of +those fully competent + + "To gar old claes look amaist as weel as new." + +I inquired the ages of the several children, to which the father +answered with about as much chronological accuracy as men generally +display in such points of family history. The gude wife, after +correcting his figures once or twice, turned away with a somewhat +indignant exclamation about men that didn't know their own bairns' ages, +in which many of us, I presume, could sympathize. + +I must not omit to say, that a neighbor of our host had been pressed to +come in with us; an intelligent-looking man, about fifty. In the course +of conversation, I found that they were both masons by trade, and as the +rain had prevented their working, they had met to spend their time in +reading. They said they were reading a work on America; and thereat +followed a good deal of general conversation on our country. I found +that, like many others in this old country, they had a tie to connect +them with the new--a son in America. + +One of our company, in the course of the conversation, says, "They say +in America that the working classes of England and Scotland are not so +well off as the slaves." The man's eye flashed. "There are many things," +he said, "about the working classes, which are not what they should be; +there's room for a great deal of improvement in our condition, but," he +added with an emphasis, "we are _no slaves!_" There was a, touch, of the + + "Scots wha ha' wi' Wallace bled" + +about the man, as he spoke, which made the affirmation quite +unnecessary. + +"But," said I, "you think the affairs of the working classes much +improved of late years?" + +"O, certainly," said the other; "since the repeal of the corn laws and +the passage of the factory bill, and this emigration to America and +Australia, affairs have been very much altered." + +We asked them what they could make a day by their trade. It was much +less, certainly, than is paid for the same labor in our country; but yet +the air of comfort and respectability about the cottage, the +well-clothed and well-schooled, intelligent children, spoke well for the +result of their labors. + +While our conversation was carried on, the teakettle commenced singing +most melodiously, and by a mutual system of accommodation, a neat tea +table was spread in the midst of us, and we soon found ourselves seated, +enjoying some delicious bread and butter, with the garniture of cheese, +preserves, and tea. Our host before the meal craved a blessing of Him +who had made of one blood all the families of the earth; a beautiful and +touching allusion, I thought, between Americans and Scotchmen. Our long +ramble in the rain had given us something of an appetite, and we did +ample justice to the excellence of the cheer. + +After tea we walked on down again towards the Tweed, our host and his +friends waiting on us to the boat. As we passed through the village of +Dryburgh, all the inhabitants of the cottages seemed to be standing in +their doors, bowing and smiling, and expressing their welcome in a +gentle, kindly way, that was quite touching. + +As we were walking towards the Tweed, the Eildon Hill, with its three +points, rose before us in the horizon. I thought of the words in the Lay +of the Last Minstrel:-- + + "Warrior, I could say to thee, + The words that cleft Eildon Hill in three, + And bridled the Tweed with a curb of stone." + +I appealed to my friends if they knew any thing about the tradition; I +thought they seemed rather reluctant to speak of it. O, there was some +foolish story, they believed; they did not well know what it was. + +The picturesque age of human childhood is gone by; men and women cannot +always be so accommodating as to believe unreasonable stories for the +convenience of poets. + +At the Tweed the man with the skiff was waiting for us. In parting with +my friend, I said, "Farewell. I hope we may meet again some time." + +"I am sure we shall, madam," said he; "if not here, certainly +hereafter." + +After being rowed across I stopped a few moments to admire the rippling +of the clear water over the pebbles. "I want some of these pebbles of +the Tweed," I said, "to carry home to America." Two hearty, rosy-cheeked +Scotch lasses on the shore soon supplied me with as many as I could +carry. + +We got into our carriage, and drove up to Melrose. After a little +negotiation with the keeper, the doors were unlocked. Just at that +moment the sun was so gracious as to give a full look through the +windows, and touch with streaks of gold the green, grassy floor; for the +beautiful ruin is floored with green grass and roofed with sky: even +poetry has not exaggerated its beauty, and could not. There is never any +end to the charms of Gothic architecture. It is like the beauty of +Cleopatra,-- + + "Age cannot wither, custom, cannot stale + Her infinite variety." + +Here is this Melrose, now, which has been berhymed, bedraggled through +infinite guide books, and been gaped at and smoked at by dandies, and +been called a "dear love" by pretty young ladies, and been hawked about +as a trade article in all neighboring shops, and you know perfectly well +that all your raptures are spoken for and expected at the door, and your +going off in an ecstasy is a regular part of the programme; and yet, +after all, the sad, wild, sweet beauty of the thing comes down on one +like a cloud; even for the sake of being original you could not, in +conscience, declare you did not admire it. + +We went into a minute examination with our guide, a young man, who +seemed to have a full sense of its peculiar beauties. I must say here, +that Walter Scott's description in the Lay of the Last Minstrel is as +perfect in most details as if it had been written by an architect as +well as a poet--it is a kind of glorified daguerreotype. + +This building was the first of the elaborate and fanciful Gothic which I +had seen, and is said to excel in the delicacy of its carving any except +Roslin Castle. As a specimen of the exactness of Scott's description, +take this verse, where he speaks of the cloisters:-- + + "Spreading herbs and flowerets bright, + Glistened with the dew of night, + Nor herb nor floweret glistened there, + But were carved in the cloister arches as fair." + +These cloisters were covered porticoes surrounding the garden, where the +monks walked for exercise. They are now mostly destroyed, but our guide +showed us the remains of exquisite carvings there, in which each group +was an imitation of some leaf or flower, such as the curly kail of +Scotland; a leaf, by the by, as worthy of imitation as the Greek +acanthus, the trefoil oak, and some other leaves, the names of which I +do not remember. These Gothic artificers were lovers of nature; they +studied at the fountain head; hence the never-dying freshness, variety, +and originality of their conceptions. + +Another passage, whose architectural accuracy you feel at once, is +this:-- + + "They entered now the chancel tall; + The darkened, roof rose high, aloof + On pillars lofty, light, and small: + The keystone that locked, each ribbed aisle + Was a fleur-de-lis, or a quatre-feuille; + The corbels were carved grotesque and grim; + And the pillars, with, clustered shafts so trim, + With, base and with capital flourished around, + Seemed bundles of lances which garlands had bound." + +The quatre-feuille here spoken of is an ornament formed by the junction +of four leaves. The frequent recurrence of the fleur-de-lis in the +carvings here shows traces of French hands employed in the architecture. +In one place in the abbey there is a rude inscription, in which a French +architect commemorates the part he has borne in constructing the +building. + +These corbels are the projections from which, the arches spring, usually +carved in some fantastic mask or face; and on these the Shakspearian +imagination of the Gothic artists seems to have let itself loose to run +riot: there is every variety of expression, from, the most beautiful to +the most goblin and grotesque. One has the leer of fiendish triumph, +with budding horns, showing too plainly his paternity; again you have +the drooping eyelids and saintly features of some fair virgin; and then +the gasping face of some old monk, apparently in the agonies of death, +with his toothless gums, hollow cheeks, and sunken eyes. Other faces +have an earthly and sensual leer; some are wrought into expressions of +scorn and mockery, some of supplicating agony, and some of grim, +despair. + +One wonders what gloomy, sarcastic, poetic, passionate mind has thus +amused itself, recording in stone all the range of passions--saintly, +earthly, and diabolic--on the varying human face. One fancies each +corbel to have had its history, its archetype in nature; a thousand +possible stories spring into one's mind. They are wrought with such a +startling and individual definiteness, that one feels as about +Shakspeare's characters, as if they must have had a counterpart in real +existence. The pure, saintly nun may have been some sister, or some +daughter, or some early love, of the artist, who in an evil hour saw the +convent barriers rise between her and all that was loving. The fat, +sensual face may have been a sly sarcasm on some worthy abbot, more +eminent in flesh than spirit. The fiendish faces may have been wrought +out of the author's own perturbed dreams. + +An architectural work says that one of these corbels, with an anxious +and sinister Oriental countenance, has been made, by the guides, to +perform duty as an authentic likeness of the wizard Michael Scott. Now, +I must earnestly protest against stating things in that way. Why does a +writer want to break up so laudable a poetic design in the guides? He +would have been much better occupied in interpreting some of the +half-defaced old inscriptions into a corroborative account. No doubt it +_was_ Michael Scott, and looked just like him. + +It were a fine field for a story writer to analyze the conception and +growth of an abbey or cathedral as it formed itself, day after day, and +year after year, in the soul of some dreamy, impassioned workman, who +made it the note book where he wrought out imperishably in stone all his +observations on nature and man. I think it is this strong individualism +of the architect in the buildings that give the never-dying charm, and +variety to the Gothic: each Gothic building is a record of the growth, +character, and individualities of its builder's soul; and hence no two +can be alike. + +I was really disappointed to miss in the abbey the stained glass which +gives such a lustre and glow to the poetic description. I might have +known better; but somehow I came there fully expecting to see the +window, where-- + + "Full in the midst his cross of red + Triumphant Michael brandished; + The moonbeam kissed the holy pane, + And threw on the pavement the bloody stain." + +Alas! the painted glass was all of the poet's own setting; years ago it +was shattered by the hands of violence, and the grace of the fashion of +it hath perished. + +The guide pointed to a broken fragment which commanded a view of the +whole interior. "Sir Walter used to sit here," he said. I fancied I +could see him sitting on the fragment, gazing around the ruin, and +mentally restoring it to its original splendor; he brings back the +colored light into the windows, and throws its many-hued reflections +over the graves; he ranges the banners along around the walls, and +rebuilds every shattered arch and aisle, till we have the picture as it +rises on us in his book. + +I confess to a strong feeling of reality, when my guide took me to a +grave where a flat, green, mossy stone, broken across the middle, is +reputed to be the grave of Michael Scott. I felt, for the moment, verily +persuaded that if the guide would pry up one of the stones we should see +him there, as described:-- + + "His hoary beard in silver rolled, + He seemed some seventy winters old; + A palmer's amice wrapped, him round, + With a wrought Spanish baldric bound, + Like a pilgrim from beyond the sea: + His left hand held his book of might; + A silver cross was in his right; + The lamp was placed beside his knee: + High and majestic was his look, + At which, the fellest fiends had shook, + And all unruffled, was his face: + They trusted his soul had gotten grace." + +I never knew before how fervent a believer I had been in the realities +of these things. + +There are two graves that I saw, which correspond to those mentioned in +these lines:-- + + "And there the dying lamps did burn + Before thy lone and lowly urn, + O gallafit chief of Otterburne, + And thine, dark knight of Liddesdale." + +The Knight of Otterburne was one of the Earls Douglas, killed in a +battle with Henry Percy, called Hotspur, in 1388. The Knight of +Liddesdale was another Douglas, who lived in the reign of David II., and +was called the "Flower of Chivalry." One performance of this "Flower" is +rather characteristic of the times. It seems the king made one Ramsey +high sheriff of Teviotdale. The Earl of Douglas chose to consider this +as a personal affront, as he wanted the office himself. So, by way of +exhibiting his own qualifications for administering justice, he one day +came down on Ramsey, _vi et armis_, took him off his judgment seat, +carried him to one of his castles, and without more words tumbled him +and his horse into a deep dungeon, where they both starved to death. +There's a "Flower" for you, peculiar to the good old times. Nobody could +have doubted after this his qualifications to be high sheriff. + +Having looked all over the abbey from, below, I noticed a ruinous +winding staircase; so up I went, rustling along through the ivy, which +matted and wove itself around the stones. Soon I found myself looking +down on the abbey from a new point of view--from a little narrow stone +gallery, which threads the whole inside of the building. There I paced +up and down, looking occasionally through the ivy-wreathed arches on the +green, turfy floor below. + +It seems as if silence and stillness had become a real presence in these +old places. The voice of the guide and the company beneath had a hushed +and muffled sound; and when I rustled the ivy leaves, or, in trying to +break off a branch, loosened some fragment of stone, the sound affected +me with a startling distinctness. I could not but inly muse and wonder +on the life these old monks and abbots led, shrined up here as they were +in this lovely retirement. + +In ruder ages these places were the only retreat for men of a spirit too +gentle to take force and bloodshed for their life's work; men who +believed that pen and parchment were better than sword and steel. Here I +suppose multitudes of them lived harmless, dreamy lives--reading old +manuscripts, copying and illuminating new ones. + +It is said that this Melrose is of very ancient origin, extending back +to the time of the Culdees, the earliest missionaries who established +religion in Scotland, and who had a settlement in this vicinity. +However, a royal saint, after a while, took it in hand to patronize, and +of course the credit went to him, and from, him Scott calls it "St. +David's lonely pile." In time a body of Cistercian monks were settled +there. + +According to all accounts the abbey has raised some famous saints. We +read of trances, illuminations, and miraculous beatifications; and of +one abbot in particular, who exhibited the odor of sanctity so strongly +that it is said the mere opening of his grave, at intervals, was +sufficient to perfume the whole establishment with odors of paradise. +Such stories apart, however, we must consider that for all the +literature, art, and love of the beautiful, all the humanizing +influences which hold society together, the world was for many ages +indebted to these monastic institutions. + +In the reformation, this abbey was destroyed amid the general storm, +which attacked the ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland. "Pull down +the nest, and the rooks will fly away," was the common saying of the +mob; and in those days a man was famous according as he had lifted up +axes upon the carved work. + +Melrose was considered for many years merely a stone quarry, from which +materials were taken for all sorts of buildings, such as constructing +tolbooths, repairing mills and sluices; and it has been only till a +comparatively recent period that its priceless value as an architectural +remain has led to proper efforts for its preservation. It is now most +carefully kept. + +After wandering through the inside we walked out into the old graveyard, +to look at the outside. The yard is full of old, curious, mouldering +gravestones; and on one of them there is an inscription sad and peculiar +enough to have come from the heart of the architect who planned the +abbey; it runs as follows:-- + + "The earth walks on the earth, glittering with gold; + The earth goes to the earth sooner than it wold; + The earth, builds on the earth, castles and towers; + The earth, says to the earth, All shall be ours." + +Here, also, we were interested in a plain marble slab, which marks the +last resting-place of Scott's faithful Tom Purdie, his zealous factotum. +In his diary, when he hears of the wreck of his fortunes, Scott says of +this serving man, "Poor Tom Purdie, such news will wring your heart, and +many a poor fellow's beside, to whom my prosperity was daily bread." + +One fancies again the picture described by Lockhart, the strong, lank +frame, hard features, sunken eyes, and grizzled eyebrows, the green +jacket, white hat, and gray trousers--the outer appointments of the +faithful serving man. One sees Scott walking familiarly by his side, +staying himself on Tom's shoulder, while Tom talks with glee of "_our_ +trees," and "_our_ bukes." One sees the little skirmishing, when master +wants trees planted one way and man sees best to plant them another; and +the magnanimity with which kindly, cross-grained Tom at last agrees, on +reflection, to "take his honor's advice" about the management of his +honor's own property. Here, between master and man, both freemen, is all +that beauty of relation sometimes erroneously considered as the peculiar +charm of slavery. Would it have made the relation any more picturesque +and endearing had Tom been stripped of legal rights, and made liable to +sale with the books and furniture of Abbotsford? Poor Tom is sleeping +here very quietly, with a smooth coverlet of green grass. Over him is +the following inscription: "Here lies the body of Thomas Purdie, wood +forester at Abbotsford, who died 29th October, 1829, aged sixty-two +years. Thou hast been faithful over a few things; I will make thee ruler +over many things." Matt. xxv. 21. + +We walked up, and down, and about, getting the best views of the +building. It is scarcely possible for description to give you the +picture. The artist, in whose mind the conception of this building +arose, was a Mozart in architecture; a plaintive and ethereal lightness, +a fanciful quaintness, pervaded his composition. The building is not a +large one, and it has not that air of solemn massive grandeur, that +plain majesty, which impresses you in the cathedrals of Aberdeen and +Glasgow. As you stand looking at the wilderness of minarets and flying +buttresses, the multiplied shrines, and mouldings, and cornices, all +incrusted with carving as endless in its variety as the frostwork on a +window pane; each shrine, each pinnace, each moulding, a study by +itself, yet each contributing, like the different strains of a harmony, +to the general effect of the whole; it seems to you that for a thing so +airy and spiritual to have sprung up by enchantment, and to have been +the product of spells and fairy fingers, is no improbable account of the +matter. + +Speaking of gargoyles--you are no architect, neither am I, but you may +as well get used to this descriptive term; it means the water-spouts +which conduct the water from the gutters at the eaves of these +buildings, and which are carved in every grotesque and fanciful device +that can be imagined. They are mostly goblin and fiendish faces, and +look as if they were darting out of the church in a towering passion, or +a fit of diabolic disgust and malice. Besides these gargoyles, there are +in many other points of the external building representations of +fiendish faces and figures, as if in the act of flying from the +building, under the influence of a terrible spell: by this, as my guide +said, was expressed the idea that the holy hymns and worship of the +church put Satan and all his forces to rout, and made all that was evil +flee. + +One remark on this building, in Billings's architectural account of it, +interested me; and that is, that it is finished with the most +circumstantial elegance and minuteness in those concealed portions which +are excluded, from public view, and which can only be inspected by +laborious climbing or groping; and he accounts for this by the idea that +the whole carving and execution was considered as an act of solemn +worship and adoration, in which the artist offered up his best faculties +to the praise of the Creator. + +[Illustration of gargoyles] + +After lingering a while here, we went home to our inn or hotel. Now, +these hotels in the small towns of England, if this is any specimen, +are delightful affairs for travellers, they are so comfortable and +home-like. Our snug little parlor was radiant with the light of the coal +grate; our table stood before it, with its bright silver, white cloth, +and delicate china cups; and then such a dish of mutton chops! My dear, +we are all mortal, and emotions of the beautiful and sublime tend +especially to make one hungry. We, therefore, comforted ourselves over +the instability of earthly affairs, and the transitory nature of all +human grandeur, by consolatory remarks on the _present_ whiteness of the +bread, the sweetness of the butter; and as to the chops, all declared, +with one voice, that such mutton was a thing unknown in America. I moved +an emendation, except on the sea coast of Maine. We resolved to cherish +the memory of our little hostess in our heart of hearts, and as we +gathered round the cheery grate, drying our cold feet, we voted that +poetry was a humbug, and damp, old, musty cathedrals a bore. Such are +the inconsistencies of human nature! + +"Nevertheless," said I to S----, after dinner, "I am going back again +to-night, to see that abbey by moonlight. I intend to walk the whole +figure while I am about it." + +Just on the verge of twilight I stepped out, to see what the town +afforded in the way of relics. To say the truth, my eye had been caught +by some cunning little tubs and pails in a window, which I thought might +be valued in the home department. I went into a shop, where an auld wife +soon appeared, who, in reply to my inquiries, told me, that the said +little tubs and pails were made of plum tree wood from Dryburgh Abbey, +and, of course, partook of the sanctity of relics. She and her husband +seemed to be driving a thriving trade in the article, and either plum +trees must be very abundant at Dryburgh, or what there are must be +gifted with that power of self-multiplication which inheres in the wood +of the true Cross. I bought them in blind faith, however, suppressing +all rationalistic doubts, as a good relic hunter should. + +I went up into a little room where an elderly woman professed to have +quite a collection of the Melrose relics. Some years ago extensive +restorations and repairs were made in the old abbey, in which Walter +Scott took a deep interest. At that time, when the scaffolding was up +for repairing the building, as I understood, Scott had the plaster casts +made of different parts, which he afterwards incorporated into his own +dwelling at Abbotsford. I said to the good woman that I had understood +by Washington Irving's account, that Scott appropriated _bona fide_ +fragments of the building, and alluded to the account which he gives of +the little red sandstone lion from Melrose. She repelled the idea with +great energy, and said she had often heard Sir Walter say, that he would +not carry off a bit of the building as big as his thumb. She showed me +several plaster casts that she had in her possession, which were taken +at this time. There were several corbels there; one was the head of an +old monk, and looked as if it might have been a mask taken of his face +the moment after death; the eyes were hollow and sunken, the cheeks +fallen in, the mouth lying helplessly open, showing one or two +melancholy old stumps of teeth. I wondered over this, whether it really +was the fac-simile of some poor old Father Ambrose, or Father Francis, +whose disconsolate look, after his death agony, had so struck the gloomy +fancy of the artist as to lead him to immortalize him in a corbel, for a +lasting admonition to his fat worldly brethren; for if we may trust the +old song, these monks of Melrose had rather a suspicious reputation in +the matter of worldly conformity. The impudent ballad says,-- + + "O, the monks of Melrose, they made good, kail + On Fridays, when they fasted; + They never wanted beef or ale + As long as their neighbors' lasted." + +Naughty, roistering fellows! I thought I could perceive how this poor +Father Francis had worn his life out exhorting them to repentance, and +given up the ghost at last in despair, and so been made at once into a +saint and a corbel. + +There were fragments of tracery, of mouldings and cornices, and +grotesque bits of architecture there, which I would have given a good +deal to be the possessor of. Stepping into a little cottage hard by to +speak to the guide about unlocking the gates, when we went out on our +moonlight excursion at midnight, I caught a glimpse, in an inner +apartment, of a splendid, large, black dog. I gave one exclamation and +jump, and was into the room after him. + +"Ah," said the old man, "that was just like Sir Walter; he always had an +eye for a dog." + +It gave me a kind of pain to think of him and his dogs, all lying in the +dust together; and yet it was pleasant to hear this little remark of +him, as if it were made by those who had often seen, and were fond of +thinking of him. The dog's name was Coal, and he was black enough, and +remarkable enough, to make a figure in a story--a genuine Melrose Abbey +dog. I should not wonder if he were a descendant, in a remote degree, of +the "mauthe doog," that supernatural beast, which Scott commemorates in +his notes. The least touch in the world of such blood in his veins would +be, of course, an appropriate circumstance in a dog belonging to an old +ruined abbey. + +Well, I got home, and narrated my adventures to my friends, and showed +them my reliquary purchases, and declared my strengthening intention to +make my ghostly visit by moonlight, if there was any moon to be had that +night, which was a doubtful possibility. + +In the course of the evening came in Mr. ----, who had volunteered his +services as guide and attendant during the interesting operation. + +"When does the moon rise?" said one. + +"O, a little after eleven o'clock, I believe," said Mr. ----. + +Some of the party gaped portentously. + +"You know," said I, "Scott says we must see it by moonlight; it is one +of the proprieties of the place, as I understand." + +"How exquisite that description is, of the effect of moonlight!" says +another. + +"I think it probable," says Mr. ----, dryly, "that Scott never saw it by +moonlight himself. He was a man of very regular habits, and seldom went +out evenings." + +The blank amazement with which this communication was received set S---- +into an inextinguishable fit of laughter. + +"But do you really believe he never saw it?" said I, rather crestfallen. + +"Well," said the gentleman, "I have heard him charged with never having +seen it, and he never denied it." + +Knowing that Scott really was as practical a man as Dr. Franklin, and as +little disposed to poetic extravagances, and an exceedingly sensible, +family kind of person, I thought very probably this might be true, +unless he had seen it some time in his early youth. Most likely good +Mrs. Scott never would have let him commit the impropriety that we were +about to, and run the risk of catching the rheumatism by going out to +see how an old abbey looked at twelve o'clock at night. + +We waited for the moon to rise, and of course it did not rise; nothing +ever does when it is waited for. We went to one window, and went to +another; half past eleven came, and no moon. "Let us give it up," said +I, feeling rather foolish. However, we agreed to wait another quarter of +an hour, and finally Mr. ---- announced that the moon _was_ risen; the +only reason we did not see it was, because it was behind the Eildon +Hills. So we voted to consider her risen at any rate, and started out in +the dark, threading the narrow streets of the village with the +comforting reflection that we were doing what Sir Walter would think +rather a silly thing. When we got out before the abbey there was enough +light behind the Eildon Hills to throw their three shadowy cones out +distinctly to view, and to touch with a gloaming, uncertain ray the +ivy-clad walls. As we stood before the abbey, the guide fumbling with +his keys, and finally heard the old lock clash as the door slowly opened +to admit us, I felt a little shiver of the ghostly come over me, just +enough to make it agreeable. + +In the daytime we had criticized Walter Scott's moonlight description in +the lines which say,-- + + "The distant Tweed is heard, to rave, + And the owlet to hoot o'er the dead man's grave." + +"We hear nothing of the Tweed, at any rate," said we; "that must be a +poetic license." But now at midnight, as we walked silently through the +mouldering aisles, the brawl of the Tweed was so distinctly heard that +it seemed as if it was close by the old, lonely pile; nor can any term +describe the sound more exactly than the word "rave," which the poet +has chosen. It was the precise accuracy of this little item of +description which made me feel as if Scott must have been here in the +night. I walked up into the old chancel, and sat down where William of +Deloraine and the monk sat, on the Scottish monarch's tomb, and thought +over the words + + "Strange sounds along the chancel passed, + And banners wave without a blast; + Still spake the monk when the bell tolled one." + +And while we were there the bell tolled twelve. + +And then we went to Michael Scott's grave, and we looked through the +east oriel, with its + + "Slender shafts of shapely stone, + By foliage tracery combined." + +The fanciful outlines showed all the more distinctly for the entire +darkness within, and the gloaming moonlight without. The tall arches +seemed higher in their dimness, and vaster than they did in the daytime. +"Hark!" said I; "what's that?" as we heard a rustling and flutter of +wings in the ivy branches over our heads. Only a couple of rooks, whose +antiquarian slumbers were disturbed by the unwonted noise there at +midnight, and who rose and flew away, rattling down some fragments of +the ruin as they went. It was somewhat odd, but I could not help +fancying, what if these strange, goblin rooks were the spirits of old +monks coming back to nestle and brood among their ancient cloisters! +Rooks are a ghostly sort of bird. I think they were made on purpose to +live in old yew trees and ivy, as much as yew trees and ivy were to grow +round old churches and abbeys. If we once could get inside of a rook's +skull, to find out what he is thinking of, I'll warrant that we should +know a great deal more about these old buildings than we do now. I +should not wonder if there were long traditionary histories handed down +from one generation of rooks to another, and that these are what they +are talking about when we think they are only chattering. I imagine I +see the whole black fraternity the next day, sitting, one on a gargoyle, +one on a buttress, another on a shrine, gossiping over the event of our +nightly visit. + +We walked up and down the long aisles, and groped out into the +cloisters; and then I thought, to get the full ghostliness of the +thing, we would go up the old, ruined staircase into the long galleries, +that + + "Midway thread the abbey wall." + +We got about half way up, when there came into our faces one of those +sudden, passionate puffs of mist and rain which Scotch clouds seem to +have the faculty of getting up at a minute's notice. Whish! came the +wind in our faces, like the rustling of a whole army of spirits down the +staircase; whereat we all tumbled back promiscuously on to each other, +and concluded we would not go up. In fact we had done the thing, and so +we went home; and I dreamed of arches, and corbels, and gargoyles all +night. And so, farewell to Melrose Abbey. + + + + +LETTER IX. + + +EDINBURGH, April. + +My DEAR SISTER:-- + +Mr. S. and C---- returned from their trip to Glasgow much delighted with +the prospects indicated by the results of the temperance meetings they +attended there. + +They were present at the meeting of the Scottish Temperance League, in +an audience of about four thousand people. The reports were encouraging, +and the feeling enthusiastic. One hundred and eighty ministers are on +the list of the League, forming a nucleus of able, talented, and +determined operators. It is the intention to make a movement for a law +which shall secure to Scotland some of the benefits of the Maine law. + +It appears to me that on the questions of temperance and antislavery, +the religious communities of the two countries are in a situation +mutually to benefit each other. Our church and ministry have been +through a long struggle and warfare on this temperance question, in +which a very valuable experience has been, elaborated. The religious +people of Great Britain, on the contrary, have led on to a successful +result a great antislavery experiment, wherein their experience and +success can be equally beneficial and encouraging to us. + +The day after we returned from Melrose we spent in resting and riding +about, as we had two engagements in the evening--one at a party at the +house of Mr. Douglas, of Cavers, and the other at a public temperance +_soirée_. Mr. Douglas is the author of several works which have excited +attention; but perhaps you will remember him best by his treatise on the +Advancement of Society in Religion and Knowledge. He is what is called +here a "laird," a man of good family, a large landed proprietor, a +zealous reformer, and a very devout man. + +We went early to spend a short time with the family. I was a little +surprised, as I entered the hall, to find myself in the midst of a large +circle of well-dressed men and women, who stood apparently waiting to +receive us, and who bowed, courtesied, and smiled as we came in. Mrs. D. +apologized to me afterwards, saying that these were the servants of the +family, that they were exceedingly anxious to see me, and so she had +allowed them all to come into the hall. They were so respectable in +their appearance, and so neatly dressed, that I might almost have +mistaken them for visitors. + +We had a very pleasant hour or two with the family, which I enjoyed +exceedingly. Mr. and Mrs. Douglas were full of the most considerate +kindness, and some of the daughters had intimate acquaintances in +America. I enjoy these little glimpses into family circles more than any +thing else; there is no warmth like fireside warmth. + +In the evening the rooms were filled. I should think all the clergymen +of Edinburgh must have been there, for I was introduced to ministers +without number. The Scotch have a good many little ways that are like +ours; they call their clergy ministers, as we do. There were many +persons from ancient families, distinguished in Scottish history both +for rank and piety; among others, Lady Carstairs, Sir Henry Moncrief and +lady. There was also the Countess of Gainsborough, one of the ladies of +the queen's household, a very beautiful woman with charming manners, +reminding one of the line of Pope-- + + "Graceful ease, and sweetness void of pride." + +I was introduced to Dr. John Brown, who is reckoned one of the best +exegetial scholars in Europe. He is small of stature, sprightly, and +pleasant in manners, but with a high bald forehead and snow-white hair. + +There were also many members of the faculty of the university. I talked +a little with Dr. Guthrie, whom I described in a former letter. I told +him that one thing which had been an agreeable disappointment to me was, +the apparent cordiality between the members of the Free and the National +church. He seemed to think that the wounds of the old conflict were, to +a great extent, healed. He spoke in high terms of the Duchess of +Sutherland, her affability, kindness, and considerateness to the poor. I +forget from whom I received the anecdote, but somebody told me this of +her--that, one of her servants having lost a relative, she had left a +party where she was engaged, and gone in the plainest attire and +quietest way to attend the funeral. It was remarked upon as showing her +considerateness for the feelings of those in inferior positions. + +About nine o'clock we left to go to the temperance _soirée_. It was in +the same place, and conducted in the same way, with the others which I +have described. The lord provost presided, and one or two of the working +men who spoke in the former _soirée_ made speeches, and very good ones +too. The meeting was greatly enlivened by the presence and speech of the +jovial Lord Conynghame, who amused us all by the gallant manner in which +he expressed the warmth of Scottish welcome towards "our American +guests." If it had been in the old times of Scottish hospitality, he +said, he should have proposed a _bumper_ three times three; but as that +could not be done in a temperance meeting, he proposed three cheers, in +which he led off with a hearty good will. + +All that the Scotch people need now for the prosperity of their country +is the temperance reformation; and undoubtedly they will have it. They +have good sense and strength of mind enough to work out whatever they +choose. + +We went home tired enough. + +The next day we had a few calls to make, and an invitation from Lady +Drummond to visit "classic Hawthornden." Accordingly, in the forenoon, +Mr. S. and I called first on Lord and Lady Gainsborough; though, she is +one of the queen's household, she is staying here at Edinburgh, and the +queen at Osborne. I infer therefore that the appointment includes no +very onerous duties. The Earl of Gainsborough is the eldest brother of +Rev. Baptist W. Noel. + +Lady Gainsborough is the daughter of the Earl of Roden, who is an Irish +lord of the very strictest Calvinistic persuasion: He is a devout man, +and for many years, we were told, maintained a Calvinistic church of the +English establishment in Paris. While Mr. S. talked with Lord +Gainsborough, I talked with his lady, and Lady Roden, who was present. +Lady Gainsborough inquired about our schools for the poor, and how they +were conducted. I reflected a moment, and then answered that we had no +schools for the poor as such, but the common school was open alike to +all classes.[K] + +In England and Scotland, in all classes, from the queen downward, no +movements are so popular as those for the education and elevation of the +poor; one is seldom in company without hearing the conversation turn +upon them. + +The conversation generally turned upon the condition of servants in +America. I said that one of the principal difficulties in American +housekeeping proceeded from the fact that there were so many other +openings of profit that very few were found willing to assume the +position of the servant, except as a temporary expedient; in fact, that +the whole idea of service was radically different, it being a mere +temporary contract to render certain services, not differing essentially +from the contract of the mechanic or tradesman. The ladies said they +thought there could be no family feeling among servants if that was the +case; and I replied that, generally speaking, there was none; that old +and attached family servants in the free states were rare exceptions. + +This, I know, must look, to persons in old countries, like a hard and +discouraging feature of democracy. I regard it, however, as only a +temporary difficulty. Many institutions among us are in a transition +state. Gradually the whole subject of the relations of labor and the +industrial callings will assume a new form in America, and though we +shall never be able to command the kind of service secured in +aristocratic countries, yet we shall have that which will be as faithful +and efficient. If domestic service can be made as pleasant, profitable, +and respectable as any of the industrial callings, it will soon become +as permanent. + +Our next visit was to Sir William Hamilton and lady. Sir William is the +able successor of Dugald Stewart and Dr. Brown in the chair of +intellectual philosophy. His writings have had a wide circulation in +America. He is a man of noble presence, though we were sorry to see that +he was suffering from ill health. It seems to me that Scotland bears +that relation to England, with regard to metaphysical inquiry, that New +England does to the rest of the United States. If one counts over the +names of distinguished metaphysicians, the Scotch, as compared with the +English, number three to one--Reid, Stewart, Brown, all Scotchmen. + +Sir William still writes and lectures. He and Mr. S. were soon +discoursing on German, English, Scotch, and American metaphysics, while +I was talking with Lady Hamilton and her daughters. After we came away +Mr. S. said, that no man living had so thoroughly understood and +analyzed the German philosophy. He said that Sir William spoke of a call +which he had received from Professor Park, of Andover, and expressed +himself in high terms of his metaphysical powers. + +After that we went to call on George Combe, the physiologist. We found +him and Mrs. Combe in a pleasant, sunny parlor, where, among other +objects of artistic interest, we saw a very fine engraving of Mrs. +Siddons. I was not aware until after leaving that Mrs. Combe is her +daughter. Mr. Combe, though somewhat advanced, seems full of life and +animation, and conversed with a great deal of warmth and interest on +America, where he made a tour some years since. Like other men in Europe +who sympathize in our progress, he was sanguine in the hope that the +downfall of slavery must come at no distant date. + +After a pleasant chat here we came home; and after an interval of rest +the carriage was at the door for Hawthornden. It is about seven miles +out from Edinburgh. It is a most romantic spot, on the banks of the +River Esk, now the seat of Mr. James Walker Drummond. Scott has sung in +the ballad of the Gray Brother,-- + + Sweet are the paths, O, passing sweet, + By Esk's fair streams that run, + O'er airy steep, through copse-woods deep, + Impervious to the sun. + + Who knows not Melville's beechy grove, + And Roslin's rocky glen, + Dalkeith, which all the virtues love, + And classic Hawthornden? + +"Melville's beechy grove" is an allusion to the grounds of Lord +Melville, through which we drove on our way. The beech trees here are +magnificent; fully equal to any trees of the sort which I have seen in +our American forests, and they were in full leaf. They do not grow so +high, but have more breadth and a wider sweep of branches; on the whole +they are well worthy of a place in song. + +I know in my childhood I often used to wish that I could live in a +ruined castle; and this Hawthornden would be the very beau ideal of one +as a romantic dwelling-place. It is an old castellated house, perched on +the airy verge of a precipice, directly over the beautiful River Esk, +looking down one of the most romantic glens in Scotland. Part of it is +in ruins, and, hung with wreaths of ivy, it seems to stand just to look +picturesque. The house itself, with its quaint, high gables, and gray, +antique walls, appears old enough to take you back to the times of +William Wallace. It is situated within an hour's walk of Roslin Castle +and Chapel, one of the most beautiful and poetic architectural remains +in Scotland. + +Our drive to the place was charming. It was a showery day; but every few +moments the sun blinked out, smiling through the falling rain, and +making the wet leaves glitter, and the raindrops wink at each other in +the most sociable manner possible. Arrived at the house, our friend, +Miss S----, took us into a beautiful parlor overhanging the glen, each +window of which commanded a picture better than was ever made on +canvas. + +We had a little chat with Lady Drummond, and then we went down to +examine the caverns,--for there are caverns under the house, with long +galleries and passages running from them through the rocks, some way +down the river. Several apartments are hollowed out here in the rock on +which the house is founded, which they told us belonged to Bruce; the +tradition being, that he was hidden here for some months. There was his +bed room, dining room, sitting room, and a very curious apartment where +the walls were all honeycombed into little partitions, which they called +his library, these little partitions being his book shelves. There are +small loophole windows in these apartments, where you can look up and +down the glen, and enjoy a magnificent prospect. For my part, I thought +if I were Bruce, sitting there with a book in my lap, listening to the +gentle brawl of the Esk, looking up and down the glen, watching the +shaking raindrops on the oaks, the birches and beeches, I should have +thought that was better than fighting, and that my pleasant little cave +was as good an arbor on the Hill Difficulty as ever mortal man enjoyed. + +There is a ponderous old two-handed sword kept here, said to have +belonged to Sir William Wallace. It is considerably shorter than it was +originally, but, resting on its point, it reached to the chin of a good +six foot gentleman of our party. The handle is made of the horn of a +sea-horse, (if you know what that is,) and has a heavy iron ball at the +end. It must altogether have weighed some ten or twelve pounds. Think of +a man hewing away _on men_ with this! + +There is a well in this cavern, down which we were directed to look and +observe a hole in the side; this we were told was the entrance to +another set of caverns and chambers under those in which we were, and +to passages which extended down and opened out into the valley. In the +olden days the approach to these caverns was not through the house, but +through the side of a deep well sunk in the court yard, which +communicates through a subterranean passage with this well. Those +seeking entrance were let down by a windlass into the well in the court +yard, and drawn up by a windlass into this cavern. There was no such +accommodation at present, but we were told some enterprising tourists +had explored the lower caverns. Pleasant kind of times those old days +must have been, when houses had to be built like a rabbit burrow, with +all these accommodations for concealment and escape. + +After exploring the caverns we came up into the parlors again, and Miss +S. showed me a Scottish album, in which were all sorts of sketches, +memorials, autographs, and other such matters. What interested me more, +she was making a collection of Scottish ballads, words and tunes. I told +her that I had noticed, since I had been in Scotland, that the young +ladies seemed to take very little interest in the national Scotch airs, +and were all devoted to Italian; moreover, that the Scotch ballads and +memories, which so interested me, seemed to have very little interest +for people generally in Scotland. Miss S. was warm enough in her zeal to +make up a considerable account, and so we got on well together. + +While we were sitting, chatting, two young ladies came in, who had +walked up the glen despite the showery day. They were protected by good, +substantial outer garments, of a kind of shag or plush, and so did not +fear the rain. I wanted to walk down to Roslin Castle, but the party +told me there would not be time this afternoon, as we should have to +return at a certain hour. I should not have been reconciled to this, had +not another excursion been proposed for the purpose of exploring +Roslin. + +However, I determined to go a little way down the glen, and get a +distant view of it, and my fair friends, the young ladies, offered to +accompany me; so off we started down the winding paths, which were cut +among the banks overhanging the Esk. The ground was starred over with +patches of pale-yellow primroses, and for the first time I saw the +heather, spreading over rocks and matting itself around the roots of +trees. My companions, to whom it was the commonest thing in the world, +could hardly appreciate the delight which I felt in looking at it; it +was not in flower; I believe it does not blossom till some time in July +or August. We have often seen it in greenhouses, and it is so hardy that +it is singular it will not grow wild in America. + +We walked, ran, and scrambled to an eminence which commanded a view of +Roslin Chapel, the only view, I fear, which will ever gladden my eyes, +for the promised expedition to it dissolved itself into mist. When on +the hill top, so that I could see the chapel at a distance, I stood +thinking over the ballad of Harold, in the Lay of the Last Minstrel, and +the fate of the lovely Rosabel, and saying over to myself the last +verses of the ballad:-- + + "O'er Roslin, all that dreary night, + A wondrous blaze was seen to gleam; + 'Twas broader than the watchfire's light, + And redder than the bright moonbeam. + + It glared on Roslin's castled rock, + It ruddied, all the copsewood glen; + 'Twas seen from Deyden's groves of oak, + And seen from cavern'd Hawthornden. + + Seemed all on fire that chapel proud, + Where Roslin's chiefs uncoffined lie, + Each baron, for a sable shroud, + Sheathed in his iron panoply. + + Seemed all on fire within, around, + Deep sacristy and altar's pale; + Shone every pillar foliage-bound, + And glimmered, all the dead men's mail. + + Blazed battlement and pinnet high, + Blazed every rose-carved buttress fair, + So will they blaze, when fate is nigh + The lordly line of high St. Clair. + + There are twenty of Roslin's barons bold + Lie buried, within that proud chapelle; + Each one the holy vault doth hold; + But the sea holds lovely Rosabelle! + + And each St. Clair was buried there, + With candle, with book, and with knell; + But the sea caves rung, and the wild winds sung, + The dirge of lovely Rosabelle." + +There are many allusions in this which show Scott's minute habits of +observation; for instance, these two lines:-- + + "Blazed battlement and pinnet high, + Blazed every rose-carved buttress fair." + +Every buttress, battlement, and projection of the exterior is incrusted +with the most elaborate floral and leafy carving, among which the rose +is often repeated, from its suggesting, by similarity of sound, Roslin. + +Again, this line-- + + "Shone every pillar foliage-bound"-- + +suggests to the mind the profusion and elaborateness of the leafy +decorations in the inside. Among these, one pillar, garlanded with +spiral wreaths of carved foliage, is called the "Apprentice's Pillar;" +the tradition being, that while the master was gone to Rome to get some +further hints on executing the plan, a precocious young mason, whom he +left at home, completed it in his absence. The master builder summarily +knocked him on the head, as a warning to all progressive young men not +to grow wiser than their teachers. Tradition points out the heads of the +master and workmen among the corbels. So you see, whereas in old Greek +times people used to point out their celebrities among the stars, and +gave a defunct hero a place in the constellations, in the middle ages he +only got a place among the corbels. + +I am increasingly sorry that I was beguiled out of my personal +examination of this chapel, since I have seen the plates of it in my +Baronial Sketches. It is the rival of Melrose, but more elaborate; in +fact, it is a perfect cataract of architectural vivacity and ingenuity, +as defiant of any rules of criticism and art as the leaf-embowered +arcades and arches of our American forest cathedrals. From the +comparison of the plates of the engravings, I should judge there was +less delicacy of taste, and more exuberance of invention, than in +Melrose. One old prosaic commentator on it says that it is quite +remarkable that there are no two cuts in it precisely alike; each +buttress, window, and pillar is unique, though with such a general +resemblance to each other as to deceive the eye. + +It was built in 1446, by William St. Clair, who was Prince of Orkney, +Duke of Oldenburgh, Lord of Roslin, Earl of Caithness and Strathearn, +and so on _ad infinitum_. He was called the "Seemly St. Clair," from his +noble deportment and elegant manners; resided in royal splendor at this +Castle of Roslin, and kept a court there as Prince of Orkney. His table +was served with vessels of gold and silver, and he had one lord for his +master of household, one for his cup bearer, and one for his carver. His +princess, Elizabeth Douglas, was served by seventy-five gentlewomen, +fifty-three of whom were daughters of noblemen, and they were attended +in all their excursions by a retinue of two hundred gentlemen. + +These very woods and streams, which now hear nothing but the murmurs of +the Esk, were all alive with the bustle of a court in those days. + +The castle was now distinctly visible; it stands on an insulated rock, +two hundred and twenty yards from the chapel. It has under it a set of +excavations and caverns almost equally curious with those of +Hawthornden; there are still some tolerably preserved rooms in it, and +Mrs. W. informed me that they had once rented these rooms for a summer +residence. What a delightful idea! The barons of Roslin were all buried +under this Chapel, in their armor, as Scott describes in the poem. And +as this family were altogether more than common folks, it is perfectly +credible that on the death of one of them a miraculous light should +illuminate the castle, chapel, and whole neighborhood. + +It appears, by certain ancient documents, that this high and mighty +house of St. Clair were in a particular manner patrons of the masonic +craft. It is known that the trade of masonry was then in the hands of a +secret and mysterious order, from whom probably our modern masons have +descended. + +The St. Clair family, it appears, were at the head of this order, with +power to appoint officers and places of meeting, to punish +transgressors, and otherwise to have the superintendence of all their +affairs. This fact may account for such a perfect Geyser of +architectural ingenuity as has been poured out upon their family chapel, +which was designed for a _chef-d'oeuvre_, a concentration of the best +that could be done to the honor of their patron's family. The documents +which authenticate this statement are described in Billings's Baronial +Antiquities. So much for "the lordly line of high St. Clair." + +When we came back to the house, and after taking coffee in the drawing +room, Miss S. took me over the interior, a most delightful place, full +of all sorts of out-of-the-way snuggeries, and comfortable corners, and +poetic irregularities. There she showed me a picture of one of the early +ancestors of the family, the poet Drummond, hanging in a room, which +tradition has assigned to him. It represents a man with a dark, +Spanish-looking face, with the broad Elizabethan ruff, earnest, +melancholy eyes, and an air half cavalier, half poet, bringing to mind +the chivalrous, graceful, fastidious bard, accomplished scholar, and +courtier of his time, the devout believer in the divine right of kings, +and of the immunities and privileges of the upper class generally. This +Drummond, it seems, was early engaged to a fair young lady, whose death +rendered his beautiful retreat of Hawthornden insupportable to him, and +of course, like other persons of romance, he sought refuge in foreign +travel, went abroad, and remained eight years. Afterwards he came back, +married, and lived here for some time. + +Among other traditions of the place, it is said that Ben Jonson once +walked all the way from London to visit the poet in this retreat; and a +tree is still shown on the grounds under which they are said to have +met. It seems that Ben's habits were rather too noisy and convivial to +meet altogether the taste of his fastidious and aristocratic host; and +so he had his own thoughts of him, which, being written down in a diary, +were published by some indiscreet executor, after they were both dead. + +We were shown an old, original edition of the poems. I must confess I +never read them. Since I have seen the material the poet and novelist +has on this ground, all I wonder at is, that there have not been a +thousand poets to one. I should have thought they would have been as +plenty as the mavis and merle, and sprouting out every where, like the +primroses and heather bells. + +Our American literature is unfortunate in this respect--that our nation +never had any childhood, our day never had any dawn; so we have very +little traditionary lore to work over. + +We came home about five o'clock, and had some company in the evening. +Some time to-day I had a little chat with Mrs. W. on the Quakers. She is +a cultivated and thoughtful woman, and seemed to take quite impartial +views, and did not consider her own sect as by any means the only form +of Christianity, but maintained--what every sensible person must grant, +I think--that it has had an important mission in society, even in its +peculiarities. I inferred from her conversation that the system of plain +dress, maintained with the nicety which they always use, is by no means +a saving in a pecuniary point of view. She stated that one young friend, +who had been brought up in this persuasion, gave it as her reason for +not adopting its peculiar dress, that she could not afford it; that is +to say, that for a given sum of money she could make a more creditable +appearance were she allowed the range of form, shape, and trimming, +which the ordinary style of dressing permits. + +I think almost any lady, who knows the magical value of bits of +trimming, and bows of ribbon judiciously adjusted in critical locations, +of inserting, edging, and embroidery, considered as economic arts, must +acknowledge that there is some force in the young lady's opinion. +Nevertheless the Doric simplicity of a Quaker lady's dress, who is in +circumstances to choose her material, has a peculiar charm. As at +present advised, the Quaker ladies whom I have seen very judiciously +adhere to the spirit of plain attire, without troubling themselves to +maintain the exact letter. For instance, a plain straw cottage, with its +white satin ribbon, is sometimes allowed to take the place of the close +silk bonnet of Fox's day. + +For my part, while I reverence the pious and unworldly spirit which +dictated the peculiar forms of the Quaker sect, I look for a higher +development of religion still, when all the beautiful artistic faculties +of the soul being wholly sanctified and offered up to God, we shall no +longer shun beauty in any of its forms, either in dress or household +adornment, as a temptation, but rather offer it up as a sacrifice to Him +who has set us the example, by making every thing beautiful in its +season. + +As to art and letters, I find many of my Quaker friends sympathizing in +those judicious views which were taken by the society of Friends in +Philadelphia, when Benjamin West developed a talent for painting, +regarding such talent as an indication of the will of Him who had +bestowed it. So I find many of them taking pleasure in the poetry of +Scott, Longfellow, and Whittier, as developments of his wisdom who gives +to the human soul its different faculties and inspirations. + +More delightful society than a cultivated Quaker family cannot be found: +the truthfulness, genuineness, and simplicity of character, albeit not +wanting, at proper times, a shrewd dash of worldly wisdom, are very +refreshing. + +Mrs. W. and I went to the studio of Hervey, the Scotch artist. Both he +and his wife received us with great kindness. I saw there his +Covenanters celebrating the Lord's Supper--a picture which I could not +look at critically on account of the tears which kept blinding my eyes. +It represents a bleak hollow of a mountain side, where a few trembling +old men and women, a few young girls and children, with one or two young +men, are grouped together, in that moment of hushed prayerful repose +which precedes the breaking of the sacramental bread. There is something +touching always about that worn, weary look of rest and comfort with +which a sick child lies down on a mother's bosom, and like this is the +expression with which these hunted fugitives nestle themselves beneath +the shadow of their Redeemer; mothers who had seen their sons "tortured, +not accepting deliverance"--wives who had seen the blood of their +husbands poured out on their doorstone--children with no father but +God--and bereaved old men, from whom, every child had been rent--all +gathering for comfort round the cross of a suffering Lord. In such hours +they found strength to suffer, and to say to every allurement of worldly +sense and pleasure as the drowning Margaret Wilson said to the tempters +in her hour of martyrdom, "I am _Christ's child_--let me go." + +Another most touching picture of Hervey's commemorates a later scene of +Scottish devotion and martyr endurance scarcely below that of the days +of the Covenant. It is called Leaving the Manse. + +We in America all felt to our heart's core a sympathy with that high +endurance which led so many Scottish ministers to forsake their +churches, their salaries, the happy homes where their children were born +and their days passed, rather than violate a principle. + +This picture is a monument of this struggle. There rises the manse +overgrown with its flowering vines, the image of a lovely, peaceful +home. The minister's wife, a pale, lovely creature, is just locking the +door, out of which her husband and family have passed--leaving it +forever. The husband and father is supporting on his arm an aged, feeble +mother, and the weeping children are gathering sorrowfully round him, +each bearing away some memorial of their home; one has the bird cage. +But the unequalled look of high, unshaken patience, of heroic faith, and +love which seems to spread its light over every face, is what I cannot +paint. The painter told me that the faces were _portraits_, and the +scene by no means imaginary. + +But did not these sacrifices bring with them, even in their bitterness, +a joy the world knoweth not? Yes, they did. I know it full well, not +vainly did Christ say, There is no man that hath left houses or lands +for my sake and the gospel's but he shall receive manifold more _in this +life_. + +Mr. Hervey kindly gave me the engraving of his Covenanters' Sacrament, +which I shall keep as a memento of him and of Scotland. + +His style of painting is forcible and individual. He showed us the +studies that he has taken with his palette and brushes out on the +mountains and moors of Scotland, painting moss, and stone, and brook, +just as it is. This is the way to be a national painter. + +One pleasant evening, not long before we left Edinburgh, C., S., and I +walked out for a quiet stroll. We went through the Grass Market, where +so many defenders of the Covenant have suffered, and turned into the +churchyard of the Gray Friars; a gray, old Gothic building, with +multitudes of graves around it. Here we saw the tombs of Allan Ramsay +and many other distinguished characters. The grim, uncouth sculpture on +the old graves, and the quaint epitaphs, interested me much; but I was +most moved by coming quite unexpectedly on an ivy-grown slab, in the +wall, commemorating the martyrs of the Covenant. The inscription struck +me so much, that I got C---- to copy it in his memorandum book. + + "Halt, passenger! take heed what you do see. + Here lies interred the dust of those who stood + 'Gainst perjury, resisting unto blood, + Adhering to the Covenant, and laws + Establishing the same; which was the cause + Their lives were sacrificed unto the last + Of prelatists abjured, though here their dust + Lies mixed with murderers and other crew + Whom justice justly did to death pursue; + But as for them, no cause was to be found + Worthy of death, but only they were found + Constant and steadfast, witnessing + For the prerogatives of Christ their King; + Which truths were sealed, by famous Guthrie's head, + And all along to Mr. Renwick's blood + They did endure the wrath of enemies, + Reproaches, torments, deaths, and injuries; + But yet they're those who from such troubles came + And triumph now in glory with the Lamb. + + "From May 27, 1681, when the Marquis of Argyle was beheaded, to + February 17, 1688, when James Renwick suffered, there were some + eighteen thousand one way or other murdered, of whom were executed + at Edinburgh about one hundred noblemen, ministers, and gentlemen, + and others, noble martyrs for Christ." + +Despite the roughness of the verse, there is a thrilling power in these +lines. People in gilded houses, on silken couches, at ease among books, +and friends, and literary pastimes, may sneer at the Covenanters; it is +much easier to sneer than to die for truth and right, as they died. +Whether they were right in all respects is nothing to the purpose; but +it is to the purpose that in a crisis of their country's history they +upheld a great principle vital to her existence. Had not these men held +up the heart of Scotland, and kept alive the fire of liberty on her +altars, the very literature which has been used to defame them could not +have had its existence. The very literary celebrity of Scotland has +grown out of their grave; for a vigorous and original literature is +impossible, except to a strong, free, self-respecting people. The +literature of a people must spring from the sense of its nationality; +and nationality is impossible without self-respect, and self-respect is +impossible without liberty. + +It is one of the trials of our mortal state, one of the disciplines of +our virtue, that the world's benefactors and reformers are so often +without form or comeliness. The very force necessary to sustain the +conflict makes them appear unlovely; they "tread the wine press alone, +and of the people there is none with them." The shrieks, and groans, and +agonies of men wrestling in mortal combat are often not graceful or +gracious; but the comments that the children of the Puritans, and the +children of the Covenanters, make on the ungraceful and severe elements +which marked the struggles of their great fathers, are as ill-timed as +if a son, whom a mother had just borne from a burning dwelling, should +criticize the shrieks with which she sought him, and point out to +ridicule the dishevelled hair and singed garments which show how she +struggled for his life. But these are they which are "sown in weakness, +but raised in power; which are sown in dishonor, but raised in glory:" +even in this world they will have their judgment day, and their names +which went down in the dust like a gallant banner trodden in the mire, +shall rise again all glorious in the sight of nations. + +The evening sky, glowing red, threw out the bold outline of the castle, +and the quaint old edifices as they seemed to look down on us silently +from their rocky heights, and the figure of Salisbury Crags marked +itself against the red sky like a couchant lion. + +The time of our sojourn in Scotland had drawn towards its close. Though +feeble in health, this visit to me has been full of enjoyment; full of +lofty, but sad memories; full of sympathies and inspirations. I think +there is no nobler land, and I pray God that the old seed here sown in +blood and tears may never be rooted out of Scotland. + + + + +LETTER X. + + +MY DEAR H.:-- + +It was a rainy, misty morning when I left my kind retreat and friends in +Edinburgh. Considerate as every body had been about imposing on my time +or strength, still you may well believe that I was much exhausted. + +We left Edinburgh, therefore, with the determination to plunge at once +into some hidden and unknown spot, where we might spend two or three +days quietly by ourselves; and remembering your Sunday at +Stratford-on-Avon, I proposed that we should go there. As Stratford, +however, is off the railroad line we determined to accept the +invitation, which was lying by us, from our friend Joseph Sturge, of +Birmingham, and take sanctuary with him. So we wrote on, intrusting him +with the secret, and charging him on no account to let any one know of +our arrival. + +Well in the rail car, we went whirling along by Preston Pans, where was +fought the celebrated battle in which Colonel Gardiner was killed; by +Dunbar, where Cromwell told his army to "trust in God and keep their +powder dry;" through Berwick-on-the-Tweed and Newcastle-on-Tyne; by the +old towers and gates of York, with its splendid cathedral; getting a +view of Durham Cathedral in the distance. + +The country between Berwick and Newcastle is one of the greatest +manufacturing districts of England, and for smoke, smut, and gloom, +Pittsburg and Wheeling bear no comparison to it. The English sky, +always paler and cooler in its tints than ours, here seems to be turned +into a leaden canopy; tall chimneys belch forth gloom and confusion; +houses, factories, fences, even trees and grass, look grim and sooty. + +It is true that people with immense wealth can live in such regions in +cleanliness and elegance; but how must it be with the poor? I know of no +one circumstance more unfavorable to moral purity than the necessity of +being physically dirty. Our nature is so intensely symbolical, that +where the outward sign of defilement becomes habitual, the inner is too +apt to correspond. I am quite sure that before there can be a universal +millennium, trade must be pursued in such a way as to enable the working +classes to realize something of beauty and purity in the circumstances +of their outward life. + +I have heard there is a law before the British Parliament, whose +operation is designed to purify the air of England by introducing +chimneys which shall consume all the sooty particles which now float +about, obscuring the air and carrying defilement with them. May that day +be hastened! + +At Newcastle-on-Tyne and some other places various friends came out to +meet us, some of whom presented us with most splendid bouquets of +hothouse flowers. This region has been the seat of some of the most +zealous and efficient antislavery operations in England. + +About night our cars whizzed into the depot at Birmingham; but just +before we came in a difficulty was started in the company. "Mr. Sturge +is to be there waiting for us, but he does not know us, and we don't +know him; what is to be done?" C---- insisted that he should know him by +instinct; and so after we reached the depot, we told him to sally out +and try. Sure enough, in a few moments he pitched upon a cheerful, +middle-aged gentleman, with a moderate but not decisive broad brim to +his hat, and challenged him as Mr. Sturge; the result verified the truth +that "instinct is a great matter." In a few moments our new friend and +ourselves were snugly encased in a fly, trotting off as briskly as ever +we could to his place at Edgbaston, nobody a whit the wiser. You do not +know how snug we felt to think we had done it so nicely. + +The carriage soon drove in upon a gravel walk, winding among turf, +flowers, and shrubs, where we found opening to us another home as warm +and kindly as the one we had just left, made doubly interesting by the +idea of entire privacy and seclusion. + +After retiring to our chambers to repair the ravages of travel, we +united in the pleasant supper room, where the table was laid before a +bright coal fire: no unimportant feature this fire, I can assure you, in +a raw cloudy evening. A glass door from the supper room opened into a +conservatory, brilliant with pink and yellow azalias, golden +calceolarias, and a profusion of other beauties, whose names I did not +know. + +The side tables were strewn with books, and the ample folds of the drab +curtains, let down over the windows, shut out the rain, damp, and chill. +When we were gathered round the table, Mr. Sturge said that he had +somewhat expected Elihu Burritt that evening, and we all hoped he would +come. I must not omit to say, that the evening circle was made more +attractive and agreeable in my eyes by the presence of two or three of +the little people, who were blessed with the rosy cheek of English +children. + +Mr. Sturge is one of the most prominent and efficient of the +philanthropists of modern days. An air of benignity and easy good +nature veils and conceals in him the most unflinching perseverance and +energy of purpose. He has for many years been a zealous advocate of the +antislavery cause in England, taking up efficiently the work begun by +Clarkson and Wilberforce. He, with a friend of the same denomination, +made a journey at their own expense, to investigate the workings of the +apprentice system, by which the act of immediate emancipation in the +West Indies was for a while delayed. After his return he sustained a +rigorous examination of seven days before a committee of the House of +Commons, the result of which successfully demonstrated the abuses of +that system, and its entire inutility for preparing either masters or +servants for final emancipation. This evidence went as far as any thing +to induce Parliament to declare immediate and entire emancipation. + +Mr. Sturge also has been equally zealous and engaged in movements for +the ignorant and perishing classes at home. At his own expense he has +sustained a private Farm School for the reformation of juvenile +offenders, and it has sometimes been found that boys, whom no severity +and no punishment seemed to affect, have been entirely melted and +subdued by the gentler measures here employed. He has also taken a very +ardent and decided part in efforts for the extension of the principles +of peace, being a warm friend and supporter of Elihu Burritt. + +The next morning it was agreed that we should take our drive to +Stratford-on-Avon. As yet this shrine of pilgrims stands a little aloof +from the bustle of modern progress, and railroad cars do not run +whistling and whisking with brisk officiousness by the old church and +the fanciful banks of the Avon. + +The country that we were to pass over was more peculiarly old English; +that phase of old English which is destined soon to pass away, under the +restless regenerating force of modern progress. + +Our ride along was a singular commixture of an upper and under current +of thought. Deep down in our hearts we were going back to English days; +the cumbrous, quaint, queer, old, picturesque times; the dim, haunted +times between cock-crowing and morning; those hours of national +childhood, when popular ideas had the confiding credulity, the poetic +vivacity, and versatile life, which distinguish children from grown +people. + +No one can fail to feel, in reading any of the plays of Shakspeare, that +he was born in an age of credulity and marvels, and that the materials +out of which his mind was woven were dyed in the grain, in the haunted +springs of tradition. It would have been as absolutely impossible for +even himself, had he been born in the daylight of this century, to have +built those quaint, Gothic structures of imagination, and tinted them +with their peculiar coloring of marvellousness and mystery, as for a +modern artist to originate and execute the weird designs of an ancient +cathedral. Both Gothic architecture and this perfection of Gothic poetry +were the springing and efflorescence of that age, impossible to grow +again. They were the forest primeval; other trees may spring in their +room, trees as mighty and as fair, but not such trees. + +So, as we rode along, our speculations and thoughts in the under current +were back in the old world of tradition. While, on the other hand, for +the upper current, we were keeping up a brisk conversation on the peace +question, on the abolition of slavery, on the possibility of ignoring +slave-grown produce, on Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright, and, in fact, on all +the most wide-awake topics of the present day. + +One little incident occurred upon the road. As we were passing by a +quaint old mansion, which stood back from the road, surrounded by a deep +court, Mr. S. said to me, "There is a friend here who would like to see +thee, if thou hast no objections," and went on to inform me that she was +an aged woman, who had taken a deep interest in the abolition of slavery +since the time of its first inception under Clarkson and Wilberforce, +though now lying very low on a sick bed. Of course we all expressed our +willingness to stop, and the carriage was soon driving up the gravelled +walk towards the house. We were ushered into a comfortable sitting room, +which looked out on beautiful grounds, where the velvet grass, tall, +dark trees, and a certain quaint air of antiquity in disposition and +arrangement, gave me a singular kind of pleasure; the more so, that it +came to me like a dream; that the house and the people were unknown to +me, and the whole affair entirely unexpected. + +I was soon shown into a neat chamber, where an aged woman was lying in +bed. I was very much struck and impressed by her manner of receiving me. +With deep emotion and tears, she spoke of the solemnity and sacredness +of the cause which had for years lain near her heart. There seemed to be +something almost prophetic in the solemn strain of assurance with which +she spoke of the final extinction of slavery throughout the world. + +I felt both pleased and sorrowful. I felt sorrowful because I knew, if +all true Christians in America had the same feelings, that men, women, +and children, for whom Christ died, would no more be sold in my country +on the auction block. + +There have been those in America who have felt and prayed thus nobly and +sincerely for the heathen in Burmah and Hindostan, and that sentiment +was a beautiful and an ennobling one; but, alas! the number has been few +who have felt and prayed for the heathenism, and shame of our own +country; for the heathenism which sells the very members of the body of +Christ as merchandise. + +When we were again on the road, we were talking on the change of times +in England since railroads began; and Mr. S. gave an amusing description +of how the old lords used to travel in state, with their coaches and +horses, when they went up once a year on a solemn pilgrimage to London, +with postilions and outriders, and all the country gaping and wondering +after them. + +"I wonder," said one of us, "if Shakspeare were living, what he would +say to our times, and what he would think of all the questions that are +agitating the world now." That he did have thoughts whose roots ran far +beyond the depth of the age in which he lived, is plain enough from +numberless indications in his plays; but whether he would have taken any +practical interest in the world's movements is a fair question. The +poetic mind is not always the progressive one; it has, like moss and +ivy, a need for something old to cling to and germinate upon. The +artistic temperament, too, is soft and sensitive; so there are all these +reasons for thinking that perhaps he would have been for keeping out of +the way of the heat and dust of modern progress. It does not follow +because a man has penetration to see an evil, he has energy to reform +it. + +Erasmus saw all that Luther saw just as clearly, but he said that he had +rather never have truth at all, than contend for it with the world in +such a tumult. However, on the other hand, England did, in Milton, have +one poet who girt himself up to the roughest and stormiest work of +reformation; so it is not quite certain, after all, that Shakspeare +might not have been a reformer in our times. One thing is quite certain, +that he would have said very shrewd things about all the matters that +move the world now, as he certainly did about all matters that he was +cognizant of in his own day. + +It was a little before noon when we drove into Stratford, by which time, +with our usual fatality in visiting poetic shrines, the day had melted +off into a kind of drizzling mist, strongly suggestive of a downright +rain. It is a common trick these English days have; the weather here +seems to be possessed of a water spirit. This constant drizzle is good +for ivies, and hawthorns, and ladies' complexions, as whoever travels +here will observe, but it certainly is very bad for tourists. + +This Stratford is a small town, of between three and four thousand +inhabitants, and has in it a good many quaint old houses, and is +characterized (so I thought) by an air of respectable, stand-still, and +meditative repose, which, I am afraid, will entirely give way before the +railroad demon, for I understand that it is soon to be connected by the +Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton line with all parts of the kingdom. +Just think of that black little screeching imp rushing through these +fields which have inspired so many fancies; how every thing poetical +will fly before it! Think of such sweet snatches as these set to the +tune of a railroad whistle:-- + + "Hark! hark! the lark at heaven's gate sings, + And Phoebus 'gins to rise, + His steeds to water at those springs + On chaliced flowers that lies. + + And winking Mary-buds begin + To ope their golden eyes, + With everything that pretty bid + My lady sweet to rise." + +And again:-- + + "Philomel with melody sing in our sweet lullaby, + Lulla, lulla, lullaby. + Never harm, nor spell, nor charm, + Come our lovely lady nigh." + +I suppose the meadows, with their "winking Mary-buds," will be all cut +up into building lots in the good times coming, and Philomel caught and +put in a cage to sing to tourists at threepence a head. + +We went to the White Lion, and soon had a little quiet parlor to +ourselves, neatly carpeted, with a sofa drawn up to the cheerful coal +fire, a good-toned piano, and in short every thing cheerful and +comfortable. + +At first we thought we were too tired to do any thing till after dinner; +we were going to take time to rest ourselves and proceed leisurely; so, +while the cloth was laying, C---- took possession of the piano, and I of +the sofa, till Mr. S. came in upon us, saying, "Why, Shakspeare's house +is right the next door here!" Upon that we got up, just to take a peep, +and from peeping we proceeded to looking, and finally put on our things +and went over _seriatim_. The house has recently been bought by a +Shakspearian club, who have taken upon themselves the restoration and +preservation of the premises. + +Shakspeare's father, it seems, was a man of some position and substance +in his day, being high sheriff and justice of the peace for the borough; +and this house, therefore, I suppose, may be considered a specimen of +the respectable class of houses in the times of Queen Elizabeth. This +cut is taken from an old print, and is supposed to represent the +original condition of the house. + +We saw a good many old houses somewhat similar to this on the road, +particularly resembling it in this manner of plastering, which shows all +the timber on the outside. Parts of the house have been sold, altered, +and used for various purposes; a butcher's stall having been kept in a +part of it, and a tavern in another portion, being new-fronted with +brick. + +The object of this Shakspeare Club has been to repurchase all these +parts, and restore them as nearly as possible to their primeval +condition. The part of the house which is shown consists of a lower +room, which is floored with flat stones very much broken. It has a wide, +old-fashioned chimney on one side, and opens into a smaller room back of +it. From thence you go up a rude flight of stairs to a low-studded room, +with rough-plastered walls, where the poet was born. + +The prints of this room, which are generally sold, allow themselves in +considerable poetic license, representing it in fact as quite an elegant +apartment, whereas, though it is kept scrupulously neat and clean, the +air of it is ancient and rude. This is a somewhat flattered likeness. +The roughly-plastered walls are so covered with names that it seemed +impossible to add another. The name of almost every modern genius, names +of kings, princes, dukes, are shown here; and it is really curious to +see by what devices some very insignificant personages have endeavored +to make their own names conspicuous in the crowd. Generally speaking the +inscription books and walls of distinguished places tend to give great +force to the Vulgate rendering of Ecclesiastes i. 15, "The number of +fools is infinite." + +To add a name in a private, modest way to walls already so crowded, is +allowable; but to scrawl one's name, place of birth, and country, half +across a wall, covering scores of names under it, is an operation which +speaks for itself. No one would ever want to know more of a man than to +see his name there and thus. + +Back of this room were some small bed rooms, and what interested me +much, a staircase leading up into a dark garret. I could not but fancy I +saw a bright-eyed, curly-headed boy creeping up those stairs, zealous to +explore the mysteries of that dark garret. There perhaps he saw the cat, +with "eyne of burning coal, crouching 'fore the mouse's hole." Doubtless +in this old garret were wonderful mysteries to him, curious stores of +old cast-off goods and furniture, and rats, and mice, and cobwebs. I +fancied the indignation of some belligerent grandmother or aunt, who +finds Willie up there watching a mouse hole, with the cat, and has him +down straightway, grumbling that Mary did not govern that child better. + +We know nothing who this Mary was that was his mother; but one sometimes +wonders where in that coarse age, when queens and ladies talked +familiarly, as women would blush to talk now, and when the broad, coarse +wit of the Merry Wives of Windsor was gotten up to suit the taste of a +virgin queen,--one wonders, I say, when women were such and so, where he +found those models of lily-like purity, women so chaste in soul and +pure in language that they could not even bring their lips to utter a +word of shame. Desdemona cannot even bring herself to speak the coarse +word with which her husband taunts her; she cannot make herself believe +that there are women in the world who could stoop-to such grossness.[L] + +For my part I cannot believe that, in such an age, such deep +heart-knowledge of pure womanhood could have come otherwise than by the +impression on the child's soul of a mother's purity. I seem to have a +vision of one of those women whom the world knows not of, silent, +deep-hearted, loving, whom the coarser and more practically efficient +jostle aside and underrate for their want of interest in the noisy +chitchat and commonplace of the day; but who yet have a sacred power, +like that of the spirit of peace, to brood with dovelike wings over the +childish heart, and quicken into life the struggling, slumbering +elements of a sensitive nature. + +I cannot but think, in that beautiful scene, where he represents +Desdemona as amazed and struck dumb with the grossness and brutality of +the charges which had been thrown upon her, yet so dignified in the +consciousness of her own purity, so magnanimous in the power of +disinterested, forgiving love, that he was portraying no ideal +excellence, but only reproducing, under fictitious and supposititious +circumstances, the patience, magnanimity, and enduring love which had +shone upon him in the household words and ways of his mother. + +It seemed to me that in that bare and lowly chamber I saw a vision of a +lovely face which was the first beauty that dawned on those childish +eyes, and heard that voice whose lullaby tuned his ear to an exquisite +sense of cadence and rhythm. I fancied that, while she thus serenely +shone upon, him like a benignant star, some rigorous grand-aunt took +upon her the practical part of his guidance, chased up his wanderings to +the right and left, scolded him for wanting to look out of the window +because his little climbing toes left their mark on the neat wall, or +rigorously arrested him when his curly head was seen bobbing off at the +bottom of the street, following a bird, or a dog, or a showman; +intercepting him in some happy hour when he was aiming to strike off on +his own account to an adjoining field for "winking Mary-buds;" made long +sermons to him on the wickedness of muddying his clothes and wetting his +new shoes, (if he had any,) and told him that something dreadful would +come out of the graveyard and catch him if he was not a better boy, +imagining that if it were not for her bustling activity Willie would go +straight to destruction. + +I seem, too, to have a kind of perception of Shakspeare's father; a +quiet, God-fearing, thoughtful man, given to the reading of good books, +avoiding quarrels with a most Christian-like fear, and with but small +talent, either in the way of speech making or money getting; a man who +wore his coat with an easy slouch, and who seldom knew where his money +went to. + +All these things I seemed to perceive as if a sort of vision had +radiated from the old walls; there seemed to be the rustling of garments +and the sound of voices in the deserted rooms; the pattering of feet on +the worm-eaten staircase; the light of still, shady summer afternoons, a +hundred years ago, seemed to fall through the casements and lie upon the +floor. There was an interest to every thing about the house, even to +the quaint iron fastenings about the windows; because those might have +arrested that child's attention, and been dwelt on in some dreamy hour +of infant thought. The fires that once burned in those old chimneys, the +fleeting sparks, the curling smoke, and glowing coals, all may have +inspired their fancies. There is a strong tinge of household coloring in +many parts of Shakspeare, imagery that could only have come from such +habits of quiet, household contemplation. See, for example, this +description of the stillness of the house, after all are gone to bed at +night:-- + + "Now sleep yslaked hath the rout; + No din but snores, the house about, + Made louder by the o'er-fed breast + Of this most pompous marriage feast. + The cat, with, eyne of burning coal, + Now crouches 'fore the mouse's hole; + And, crickets sing at th' oven's mouth, + As the blither for their drouth." + +Also this description of the midnight capers of the fairies about the +house, from Midsummer Night's Dream:-- + + PUCK. "Now the hungry lion roars, + And the wolf behowls the moon; + Whilst the heavy ploughman snores, + All with, weary task fordone. + Now the wasted brands do glow, + Whilst the scritch-owl, scritching loud, + Puts the wretch, that lies in woe, + In remembrance of a shroud. + Now it is the time of night, + That the graves all gaping wide, + Every one lets forth his sprite, + In the churchway paths to glide: + + And we fairies that do run + By the triple Hecate's team, + From the presence of the sun, + Following darkness like a dream, + Now are frolic; not a mouse + Shall disturb this hallowed house: + I am sent with, broom, before, + To sweep the dust behind the door. + + OBE. Through this house give glimmering light, + By the dead and drowsy fire: + Every elf, and fairy sprite, + Hop as light as bird, from brier; + And this ditty after me + Sing, and dance it trippingly." + +By the by, one cannot but be struck with the resemblance, in the spirit +and coloring of these lines, to those very similar ones in the Penseroso +of Milton:-- + + "Far from all resort of mirth, + Save the cricket on the hearth, + Or the bellman's drowsy charm, + To bless the doors from nightly harm; + While glowing embers, through the room, + Teach light to counterfeit a gloom." + +I have often noticed how much the first writings of Milton resemble in +their imagery and tone of coloring those of Shakspeare, particularly in +the phraseology and manner of describing flowers. I think, were a +certain number of passages from Lycidas and Comus interspersed with a +certain number from Midsummer Night's Dream, the imagery, tone of +thought, and style of coloring, would be found so nearly identical, that +it would be difficult for one not perfectly familiar to distinguish +them. You may try it. + +That Milton read and admired Shakspeare is evident from his allusion to +him in L'Allegro. It is evident, however, that Milton's taste had been +so formed by the Greek models, that he was not entirely aware of all +that was in Shakspeare; he speaks of him as a sweet, fanciful warbler, +and it is exactly in sweetness and fancifulness that he seems to have +derived benefit from him. In his earlier poems, Milton seems, like +Shakspeare, to have let his mind run freely, as a brook warbles over +many-colored pebbles; whereas in his great poem he built after models. +Had he known as little Latin and Greek as Shakspeare, the world, instead +of seeing a well-arranged imitation of the ancient epics from his pen, +would have seen inaugurated a new order of poetry. + +An unequalled artist, who should build after the model of a Grecian +temple, would doubtless produce a splendid and effective building, +because a certain originality always inheres in genius, even when +copying; but far greater were it to invent an entirely new style of +architecture, as different as the Gothic from the Grecian. This merit +was Shakspeare's. He was a superb Gothic poet; Milton, a magnificent +imitator of old forms, which by his genius were wrought almost into the +energy of new productions. + +I think Shakspeare is to Milton precisely what Gothic architecture is to +Grecian, or rather to the warmest, most vitalized reproductions of the +Grecian; there is in Milton a calm, severe majesty, a graceful and +polished inflorescence of ornament, that produces, as you look upon it, +a serene, long, strong ground-swell of admiration and approval. Yet +there is a cold unity of expression, that calls into exercise only the +very highest range of our faculties: there is none of that wreathed +involution of smiles and tears, of solemn earnestness and quaint +conceits; those sudden uprushings of grand and magnificent sentiment, +like the flame-pointed arches of cathedrals; those ranges of fancy, half +goblin, half human; those complications of dizzy magnificence with fairy +lightness; those streamings of many-colored light; those carvings +wherein every natural object is faithfully reproduced, yet combined into +a kind of enchantment: the union of all these is in Shakspeare, and not +in Milton. Milton had one most glorious phase of humanity in its +perfection; Shakspeare had all united; from the "deep and dreadful" +sub-bass of the organ to the most aerial warbling of its highest key, +not a stop or pipe was wanting. + +But, in fine, at the end of all this we went back to our hotel to +dinner. After dinner we set out to see the church. Even Walter Scott has +not a more poetic monument than this church, standing as it does amid +old, embowering trees, on the beautiful banks of the Avon. A soft, still +rain was falling on the leaves of the linden trees, as we walked up the +avenue to the church. Even rainy though it was, I noticed that many +little birds would occasionally break out into song. In the event of +such a phenomenon as a bright day, I think there must be quite a jubilee +of birds here, even as he sung who lies below:-- + + "The ousel-cock, so black of hue, + With orange-tawny bill, + The throstle with his note so true, + The wren with little quill; + The finch, the sparrow, and the lark, + The plain-song cuckoo gray." + +The church has been carefully restored inside, so that it is now in +excellent preservation, and Shakspeare lies buried under a broad, flat +stone in the chancel. I had full often read, and knew by heart, the +inscription on this stone; but somehow, when I came and stood over it, +and read it, it affected me as if there were an emanation from the grave +beneath. I have often wondered at that inscription, that a mind so +sensitive, that had thought so much, and expressed thought with such +startling power on all the mysteries of death, the grave, and the future +world, should have found nothing else to inscribe on his own grave but +this:-- + + Good Friend for Iesus SAKE forbare + To digg T-E Dust EncloAsed HERe + Blese be T-E Man T spares T-Es Stones + Y + And curst be He T moves my Bones + Y + +It seems that the inscription has not been without its use, in averting +what the sensitive poet most dreaded; for it is recorded in one of the +books sold here, that some years ago, in digging a neighboring grave, a +careless sexton broke into the side of Shakspeare's tomb, and looking in +saw his bones, and could easily have carried away the skull had he not +been deterred by the imprecation. + +There is a monument in the side of the wall, which has a bust of +Shakspeare upon it, said to be the most authentic likeness, and supposed +to have been taken by a cast from his face after death. This statement +was made to us by the guide who showed it, and he stated that Chantrey +had come to that conclusion by a minute examination of the face. He took +us into a room, where was an exact plaster cast of the bust, on which he +pointed out various little minutiae on which this idea was founded. The +two sides of the face are not alike; there is a falling in and +depression of the muscles on one side which does not exist on the other, +such as probably would never have occurred in a fancy bust, where the +effort always is to render the two sides of the face as much alike as +possible. There is more fulness about the lower part of the face than is +consistent with the theory of an idealized bust, but is perfectly +consistent with the probabilities of the time of life at which he died, +and perhaps with the effects of the disease of which he died. + +All this I set down as it was related to me by our guide; it had a very +plausible and probable sound, and I was bent on believing, which is a +great matter in faith of all kinds. + +It is something in favor of the supposition that this is an authentic +likeness, that it was erected in his own native town within seven years +of his death, among people, therefore, who must have preserved the +recollection of his personal appearance. After the manner of those times +it was originally painted, the hair and beard of an auburn color, the +eyes hazel, and the dress was represented as consisting of a scarlet +doublet, over which was a loose black gown without sleeves; all which +looks like an attempt to preserve an exact likeness. The inscription +upon it, also, seemed to show that there were some in the world by no +means unaware of who and what he was. + +Next to the tomb of Shakspeare in the chancel is buried his favorite +daughter, over whom somebody has placed the following quaint +inscription:-- + + "Witty above her sex, but that's not all, + Wise to salvation was good Mistress Hall. + Something of Shakspeare was in that, but this + Wholly of him, with whom she is now in bliss; + Then, passenger, hast ne'er a tear, + To weep with her that wept with, all-- + That wept, yet set herself to cheer + Them, up with comfort's cordial? + Her lore shall live, her mercy spread, + When thou hast ne'er a tear to shed." + +This good Mistress Hall, it appears, was Shakspeare's favorite among his +three children. His son, Hamet, died at twelve years of age. His +daughter Judith, as appears from some curious document still extant, +could not write her own name, but signed with her mark; so that the +"wit" of the family must have concentrated itself in Mistress Hall. To +her, in his last will, which is still extant, Shakspeare bequeathed an +amount of houses, lands, plate, jewels, and other valuables, sufficient +to constitute quite a handsome estate. It would appear, from this, that +the poet deemed her not only "wise unto salvation," but wise in her day +and generation, thus intrusting her with the bulk of his worldly goods. + +His wife, Ann Hathaway, is buried near by, under the same pavement. From +the slight notice taken of her in the poet's will, it would appear that +there was little love between them. He married her when he was but +eighteen; most likely she was a mere rustic beauty, entirely incapable +either of appreciating or adapting herself to that wide and wonderful +mind in its full development. + +As to Mistress Hall, though the estate was carefully entailed, through +her, to heirs male through all generations, it was not her good fortune +to become the mother of a long line, for she had only one daughter, who +became Lady Barnard, and in whom, dying childless, the family became +extinct. Shakspeare, like Scott, seems to have had the desire to +perpetuate himself by founding a family with an estate, and the +coincidence in the result is striking. Genius must be its own monument. + +After we had explored the church we went out to walk about the place. We +crossed the beautiful bridge over the Avon, and thought how lovely those +fields and meadows would look, if they only had sunshine to set them +out. Then we went to the town hall, where we met the mayor, who had +kindly called and offered to show us the place. + +It seems, in 1768, that Garrick set himself to work in good earnest to +do honor to Shakspeare's memory, by getting up a public demonstration at +Stratford; and the world, through the talents of this actor, having +become alive and enthusiastic, liberal subscriptions were made by the +nobility and gentry, the town hall was handsomely repaired and adorned, +and a statue of Shakspeare, presented by Garrick, was placed in a niche +at one end. Then all the chief men and mighty men of the nation came and +testified their reverence for the poet, by having a general jubilee. A +great tent was spread on the banks of the Avon, where they made speeches +and drank wine, and wound up all with a great dance in the town hall; +and so the manes of Shakspeare were appeased, and his position settled +for all generations. The room in the town hall is a very handsome one, +and has pictures of Garrick, and the other notables who figured on that +occasion. + +After that we were taken to see New Place. "And what is New Place?" you +say; "the house where Shakspeare lived?" Not exactly; but a house built +where his house was. This drawing is taken from an old print, and is +supposed to represent the house as Shakspeare fitted it up. + +We went out into what was Shakspeare's garden, where we were shown his +mulberry--not the one that he planted though, but a veritable mulberry +planted on the same spot; and then we went back to our hotel very tired, +but having conscientiously performed every jot and tittle of the duty of +good pilgrims. + +As we sat, in the drizzly evening, over our comfortable tea table, C---- +ventured to intimate pretty decidedly that he considered the whole thing +a bore; whereat I thought I saw a sly twinkle around the eyes and mouth +of our most Christian and patient friend, Joseph Sturge. Mr. S. +laughingly told him that he thought it the greatest exercise of +Christian tolerance, that he should have trailed round in the mud with +us all day in our sightseeing, bearing with our unreasonable raptures. +He smiled, and said, quietly, "I must confess that I was a little +pleased that our friend Harriet was so zealous to see Shakspeare's +house, when it wasn't his house, and so earnest to get sprigs from his +mulberry, when it wasn't his mulberry." We were quite ready to allow the +foolishness of the thing, and join the laugh at our own expense. + +As to our bed rooms, you must know that all the apartments in this house +are named after different plays of Shakspeare, the name being printed +conspicuously over each door; so that the choosing of our rooms made us +a little sport. + +"What rooms will you have, gentlemen?" says the pretty chamber maid. + +"Rooms," said Mr. S.; "why, what are there to have?" + +"Well, there's Richard III., and there's Hamlet," says the girl. + +"O, Hamlet, by all means," said I; "that was always my favorite. Can't +sleep in Richard III., we should have such bad dreams." + +"For my part," said C----, "I want All's well that ends well." + +"I think," said the chamber maid, hesitating, "the bed in Hamlet isn't +large enough for two. Richard III. is a very nice room, sir." + +In fact, it became evident that we were foreordained to Richard; so we +resolved to embrace the modern historical view of this subject, which +will before long turn him out a saint, and not be afraid of the muster +roll of ghosts which Shakspeare represented as infesting his apartment. + +Well, for a wonder, the next morning arose a genuine sunny, beautiful +day. Let the fact be recorded that such things do sometimes occur even +in England. C---- was mollified, and began to recant his ill-natured +heresies of the night before, and went so far as to walk, out of his own +proper motion, to Ann Hathaway's Cottage before breakfast--he being one +of the brethren described by Longfellow, + + "Who is gifted with most miraculous powers + Of getting up at all sorts of hours;" + +and therefore he came in to breakfast table with that serenity of +virtuous composure which generally attends those who have been out +enjoying the beauties of nature while their neighbors have been +ingloriously dozing. + +The walk, he said, was beautiful; the cottage damp, musty, and fusty; +and a supposititious old bedstead, of the age of Queen Elizabeth, which +had been obtruded upon his notice because it _might_ have belonged to +Ann Hathaway's mother, received a special malediction. For my part, my +relic-hunting propensities were not in the slightest degree appeased, +but rather stimulated, by the investigations of the day before. + +It seemed to me so singular that of such a man there should not remain +one accredited relic! Of Martin Luther, though he lived much earlier, +how many things remain! Of almost any distinguished character how much +more is known than of Shakspeare! There is not, so far as I can +discover, an authentic relic of any thing belonging to him. There are +very few anecdotes of his sayings or doings; no letters, no private +memoranda, that should let us into the secret of what he was personally +who has in turns personated all minds. The very perfection of his +dramatic talent has become an impenetrable veil: we can no more tell +from his writings what were his predominant tastes and habits than we +can discriminate among the variety of melodies what are the native notes +of the mocking bird. The only means left us for forming an opinion of +what he was personally are inferences of the most delicate nature from, +the slightest premises. + +The common idea which has pervaded the world, of a joyous, roving, +somewhat unsettled, and dissipated character, would seem, from many +well-authenticated facts, to be incorrect. The gayeties and dissipations +of his life seem to have been confined to his very earliest days, and to +have been the exuberance of a most extraordinary vitality, bursting into +existence with such force and vivacity that it had not had time to +collect itself, and so come to self-knowledge and control. By many +accounts it would appear that the character he sustained in the last +years of his life was that of a judicious, common-sense sort of man; a +discreet, reputable, and religious householder. + +The inscription on his tomb is worthy of remark, as indicating the +reputation he bore at the time: "_Judicio Pylium, genio Socratem, arte +Maronem_" (In judgment a Nestor, in genius a Socrates, in art a +Virgil.) + +The comparison of him in the first place to Nestor, proverbially famous +for practical judgment and virtue of life, next to Socrates, who was a +kind of Greek combination of Dr. Paley and Dr. Franklin, indicates a +very different impression of him from what would generally be expressed +of a poet, certainly what would not have been placed on the grave of an +eccentric, erratic will-o'-the-wisp genius, however distinguished. +Moreover, the pious author of good Mistress Hall's epitaph records the +fact of her being "wise to salvation," as a more especial point of +resemblance to her father than even her being "witty above her sex," and +expresses most confident hope of her being with him in bliss. The +Puritan tone of the epitaph, as well as the quality of the verse, gives +reason to suppose that it was not written by one who was seduced into a +tombstone lie by any superfluity of poetic sympathy. + +The last will of Shakspeare, written by his own hand and still +preserved, shows several things of the man. + +The introduction is as follows:-- + +"In the name of God. Amen. I, William Shakspeare, at +Stratford-upon-Avon, in the county of Warwick, gentleman, in perfect +health and memory, (God be praised,) do make and ordain this my last +will and testament in manner and form following; that is to say,-- + +"First, I commend my soul into the hands of God my Creator, hoping, and +assuredly believing, through the only merits of Jesus Christ, my Savior, +to be made partaker of life everlasting; and my body to the earth, +whereof it is made." + +The will then goes on to dispose of an amount of houses, lands, plate, +money, jewels, &c., which showed certainly that the poet had possessed +some worldly skill and thrift in accumulation, and to divide them with +a care and accuracy which would indicate that he was by no means of that +dreamy and unpractical habit of mind which cares not what becomes of +worldly goods. + +We may also infer something of a man's character from the tone and +sentiments of others towards him. Glass of a certain color casts on +surrounding objects a reflection of its own hue, and so the tint of a +man's character returns upon us in the habitual manner in which he is +spoken of by those around him. The common mode of speaking of Shakspeare +always savored of endearment. "Gentle Will" is an expression that seemed +oftenest repeated. Ben Jonson inscribed his funeral verses "To the +Memory of _my beloved_ Mr. William Shakspeare;" he calls him the "sweet +swan of Avon." Again, in his lines under a bust of Shakspeare, he +says,-- + + "The figure that thou seest put, + It was for gentle Shakspeare cut." + +In later times Milton, who could have known him only by tradition, calls +him "my Shakspeare," "dear son of memory," and "sweetest Shakspeare." +Now, nobody ever wrote of sweet John Milton, or gentle John Milton, or +gentle Martin Luther, or even sweet Ben Jonson. + +Rowe says of Shakspeare, "The latter part of his life was spent, as all +men of good sense would wish theirs may be, in ease, retirement, and the +conversation of his friends. His pleasurable wit and good nature engaged +him in the acquaintance, and entitled him to the friendship, of the +gentlemen of the neighborhood." And Dr. Drake says, "He was high in +reputation as a poet, favored by the great and the accomplished, and +beloved by all who knew him." + +That Shakspeare had religious principle, I infer not merely from the +indications of his will and tombstone, but from those strong evidences +of the working of the religious element which are scattered through his +plays. No man could have a clearer perception of God's authority and +man's duty; no one has expressed more forcibly the strength of God's +government, the spirituality of his requirements, or shown with more +fearful power the struggles of the "law in the members warring against +the law of the mind." + +These evidences, scattered through his plays, of deep religious +struggles, make probable the idea that, in the latter, thoughtful, and +tranquil years of his life, devotional impulses might have settled into +habits, and that the solemn language of his will, in which he professes +his faith, in Christ, was not a mere form. Probably he had all his life, +even in his gayest hours, more real religious principle than the +hilarity of his manner would give reason to suppose. I always fancy he +was thinking of himself when he wrote this character: "For the man doth +fear God, howsoever it seem not in him by reason of some large jests he +doth make." + +Neither is there any foundation for the impression that he was +undervalued in his own times. No literary man of his day had more +success, more flattering attentions from the great, or reaped more of +the substantial fruits of popularity, in the form of worldly goods. +While his contemporary, Ben Jonson, sick in a miserable alley, is forced +to beg, and receives but a wretched pittance from Charles I., +Shakspeare's fortune steadily increases from year to year. He buys the +best place in his native town, and fits it up with great taste; he +offered to lend, on proper security, a sum of money for the use of the +town of Stratford; he added to his estate in Stratford a hundred and +seventy acres of land; he bought half the great and small tithes of +Stratford; and his annual income is estimated to have been what would at +the present time be nearly four thousand dollars. + +Queen Elizabeth also patronized him after her ordinary fashion of +patronizing literary men,--that is to say, she expressed her gracious +pleasure that he should burn incense to her, and pay his own bills: +economy was not one of the least of the royal graces. The Earl of +Southampton patronized him in a more material fashion. + +Queen Elizabeth even so far condescended to the poet as to perform +certain hoidenish tricks while he was playing on the stage, to see if +she could not disconcert his speaking by the majesty of her royal +presence. The poet, who was performing the part of King Henry IV., took +no notice of her motions, till, in order to bring him to a crisis, she +dropped her glove at his feet; whereat he picked it up, and presented it +her, improvising these two lines, as if they had been a part of the +play:-- + + "And though, now bent on this high embassy, + Yet stoop we to take up our cousin's glove." + +I think this anecdote very characteristic of them both; it seems to me +it shows that the poet did not so absolutely crawl in the dust before +her, as did almost all the so called men of her court; though he did +certainly flatter her after a fashion in which few queens can be +flattered. His description of the belligerent old Gorgon as the "Fair +Vestal throned by the West" seems like the poetry and fancy of the +beautiful Fairy Queen wasted upon the half-brute clown:-- + + "Come, sit thee down upon this flowery bed, + While I thy amiable cheeks do coy, + And stick musk roses in thy sleek, smooth, head, + And kiss thy fair, large ears, my gentle joy." + +Elizabeth's understanding and appreciation of Shakspeare was much after +the fashion of Nick Bottom's of the Fairy Queen. I cannot but believe +that the men of genius who employed their powers in celebrating this +most repulsive and disagreeable woman must sometimes have comforted +themselves by a good laugh in private. + +In order to appreciate Shakspeare's mind from his plays, we must +discriminate what expressed the gross tastes of his age, and what he +wrote to please himself. The Merry Wives of Windsor was a specimen of +what he wrote for the "Fair Vestal;" a commentary on the delicacy of her +maiden meditations. The Midsummer Night's Dream he wrote from his own +inner dream world. + +In the morning we took leave of our hotel. In leaving we were much +touched with the simple kindliness of the people of the house. The +landlady and her daughters came to bid us farewell, with much feeling; +and the former begged my acceptance of a bead purse, knit by one of her +daughters, she said, during the winter evenings while they were reading +Uncle Tom. In this town one finds the simple-hearted, kindly English +people corresponding to the same class which we see in our retired New +England towns. We received many marks of kindness from different +residents in Stratford; in the expression of them, they appreciated and +entered into our desire for privacy with a delicacy which touched us +sensibly. + +We had little time to look about us to see Stratford in the sunshine. So +we went over to a place on the banks of the Avon, where, it was said, we +could gain a very perfect view of the church. The remembrance of this +spot is to me like a very pleasant dream. The day was bright, the air +was soft and still, as we walked up and down the alleys of a beautiful +garden that extended quite to the church; the rooks were dreamily +cawing, and wheeling in dark, airy circles round the old buttresses and +spire. A funeral train had come into the graveyard, and the passing bell +was tolling. A thousand undefined emotions struggled in my mind. + +That loving heart, that active fancy, that subtile, elastic power of +appreciating and expressing all phases, all passions of humanity, are +they breathed out on the wind? are they spent like the lightning? are +they exhaled like the breath of flowers? or are they still living, still +active? and if so, where and how? Is it reserved for us, in that +"undiscovered country" which he spoke of, ever to meet the great souls +whose breath has kindled our souls? + +I think we forget the consequences of our own belief in immortality, and +look on the ranks of prostrate dead as a mower on fields of prostrate +flowers, forgetting that activity is an essential of souls, and that +every soul which has passed away from this world must ever since have +been actively developing those habits of mind and modes of feeling which +it began here. + +The haughty, cruel, selfish Elizabeth, and all the great men of her +court, are still living and acting somewhere; but where? For my part I +am often reminded, when dwelling on departed genius, of Luther's +ejaculation for his favorite classic poet: "I hope God will have mercy +on such." + +We speak of the glory of God as exhibited in natural landscape making; +what is it, compared with the glory of God as shown in the making of +souls, especially those souls which seem to be endowed with a creative +power like his own? + +There seems, strictly speaking, to be only two classes of souls--the +creative and the receptive. Now, these creators seem to me to have a +beauty and a worth about them entirely independent of their moral +character. That ethereal power which shows itself in Greek sculpture and +Gothic architecture, in Rubens, Shakspeare, and Mozart, has a quality to +me inexpressibly admirable and lovable. We may say, it is true, that +there is no moral excellence in it; but none the less do we admire it. +God has made us so that we cannot help loving it; our souls go forth to +it with an infinite longing, nor can that longing be condemned. That +mystic quality that exists in these souls is a glimpse and intimation of +what exists in Him in full perfection. If we remember this we shall not +lose ourselves in admiration of worldly genius, but be led by it to a +better understanding of what He is, of whom all the glories of poetry +and art are but symbols and shadows. + + + + +LETTER XI. + + +DEAR H.:-- + +From Stratford we drove to Warwick, (or "Warrick," as they call it +here.) This town stands on a rocky hill on the banks of the Avon, and is +quite a considerable place, for it returns two members to Parliament, +and has upwards of ten thousand inhabitants; and also has some famous +manufactories of wool combing and spinning. But what we came to see was +the castle. We drove up to the Warwick Arms, which is the principal +hotel in the place; and, finding that we were within the hours appointed +for exhibition, we went immediately. + +With my head in a kind of historical mist, full of images of York and +Lancaster, and Red and White Roses, and Warwick the king maker, I looked +up to the towers and battlements of the old castle. We went in through a +passage way cut in solid rock, about twenty feet deep, and I should +think fifty long. These walls were entirely covered with ivy, hanging +down like green streamers; gentle and peaceable pennons these are, +waving and whispering that the old war times are gone. + +At the end of this passage there is a drawbridge over what was formerly +the moat, but which is now grassed and planted with shrubbery. Up over +our heads we saw the great iron teeth of the portcullis. A rusty old +giant it seemed up there, like Pope and Pagan in Pilgrim's Progress, +finding no scope for himself in these peaceable times. + +When we came fairly into the court yard of the castle, a scene of +magnificent beauty opened before us. I cannot describe it minutely. The +principal features are the battlements, towers, and turrets of the old +feudal castle, encompassed by grounds on which has been expended all +that princely art of landscape gardening for which England is +famous--leafy thickets, magnificent trees, openings, and vistas of +verdure, and wide sweeps of grass, short, thick, and vividly green, as +the velvet moss we sometimes see growing on rocks in New England. Grass +is an art and a science in England--it is an institution. The pains that +are taken in sowing, tending, cutting, clipping, rolling, and otherwise +nursing and coaxing it, being seconded by the misty breath and often +falling tears of the climate, produce results which must be seen to be +appreciated. + +So again of trees in England. Trees here are an order of nobility; and +they wear their crowns right kingly. A few years ago, when Miss Sedgwick +was in this country, while admiring some splendid trees in a nobleman's +park, a lady standing by said to her encouragingly, "O, well, I suppose +your trees in America will be grown up after a while!" Since that time +another style of thinking of America has come up, and the remark that I +most generally hear made is, "O, I suppose we cannot think of showing +you any thing in the way of trees, coming as you do from America!" +Throwing out of account, however, the gigantic growth of our western +river bottoms, where I have seen sycamore trunks twenty feet in +diameter--leaving out of account, I say, all this mammoth arboria, these +English parks have trees as fine and as effective, of their kind, as any +of ours; and when I say their trees are an order of nobility, I mean +that they pay a reverence to them such as their magnificence deserves. +Such elms as adorn the streets of New Haven, or overarch the meadows of +Andover, would in England be considered as of a value which no money +could represent; no pains, no expense would be spared to preserve their +life and health; they would never be shot dead by having gas pipes laid +under them, as they have been in some of our New England towns; or +suffered to be devoured by canker worms for want of any amount of money +spent in their defence. + +Some of the finest trees in this place are magnificent cedars of +Lebanon, which bring to mind the expression in Psalms, "Excellent as the +cedars." They are the very impersonation of kingly majesty, and are +fitted to grace the old feudal stronghold of Warwick the king maker. +These trees, standing as they do amid magnificent sweeps and undulations +of lawn, throwing out their mighty arms with such majestic breadth and +freedom of outline, are themselves a living, growing, historical epic. +Their seed was brought from Holy Land in the old days of the crusades; +and a hundred legends might be made up of the time, date, and occasion +of their planting. These crusades have left their mark every where +through Europe, from the cross panel on the doors of common houses to +the oriental touches and arabesques of castles and cathedrals. + +In the reign of Stephen there was a certain Roger de Newburg, second +Earl of Warwick, who appears to have been an exceedingly active and +public-spirited character; and, besides conquering part of Wales, +founded in this neighborhood various priories and hospitals, among which +was the house of the Templars, and a hospital for lepers. He made +several pilgrimages to Holy Land; and so I think it as likely as most +theories that he ought to have the credit of these cedars. + +These Earls of Warwick appear always to have been remarkably stirring +men in their day and generation, and foremost in whatever was going on +in the world, whether political or religious. To begin, there was Guy, +Earl of Warwick, who lived somewhere in the times of the old +dispensation, before King Arthur, and who distinguished himself, +according to the fashion of those days, by killing giants and various +colored dragons, among which a green one especially figures. It appears +that he slew also a notable dun cow, of a kind of mastodon breed, which +prevailed in those early days, which was making great havoc in the +neighborhood. In later times, when the giants, dragons, and other +animals of that sort were somewhat brought under, we find the Earls of +Warwick equally busy burning and slaying to the right and left; now +crusading into Palestine, and now fighting the French, who were a +standing resort for activity when nothing else was to be done; with +great versatility diversifying these affairs with pilgrimages to the +holy sepulchre, and founding monasteries and hospitals. One stout earl, +after going to Palestine and laying about him like a very dragon for +some years, brought home a live Saracen king to London, and had him +baptized and made a Christian of, _vi et armis_. + +During the scuffle of the Roses, it was a Warwick, of course, who was +uppermost. Stout old Richard, the king maker, set up first one party and +then the other, according to his own sovereign pleasure, and showed as +much talent at fighting on both sides, and keeping the country in an +uproar, as the modern politicians of America. + +When the times of the Long Parliament and the Commonwealth came, an Earl +of Warwick was high admiral of England, and fought valiantly for the +Commonwealth, using the navy on the popular side; and his grandson +married the youngest daughter of Oliver Cromwell. When the royal family +was to be restored, an Earl of Warwick was one of the six lords who were +sent to Holland for Charles II. The earls of this family have been no +less distinguished for movements which have favored the advance of +civilization and letters than for energy in the battle field. In the +reign of Queen Elizabeth an Earl of Warwick founded the History Lecture +at Cambridge, and left a salary for the professor. This same earl was +general patron of letters and arts, assisting many men of talents, and +was a particular and intimate friend of Sir Philip Sidney. + +What more especially concerns us as New Englanders is, that an earl of +this house was the powerful patron and protector of New England during +the earlier years of our country. This was Robert Greville, the high +admiral of England before alluded to, and ever looked upon as a +protector of the Puritans. Frequent allusion is made to him in +Winthrop's Journal as performing various good offices for them. + +The first grant of Connecticut was made to this earl, and by him +assigned to Lord Say and Seal, and Lord Brooke. The patronage which this +earl extended to the Puritans is more remarkable because in principle he +was favorable to Episcopacy. It appears to have been prompted by a +chivalrous sense of justice; probably the same which influenced old Guy +of Warwick in the King Arthur times, of whom the ancient chronicler +says, "This worshipful knight, in his acts of warre, ever consydered +what parties had wronge, and therto would he drawe." + +The present earl has never taken a share in public or political life, +but resided entirely on his estate, devoting himself to the improvement +of his ground and tenants. He received the estate much embarrassed, and +the condition of the tenantry was at that time quite depressed. By the +devotion of his life it has been rendered one of the most flourishing +and prosperous estates in this part of England. I have heard him spoken +of as a very exemplary, excellent man. He is now quite advanced, and has +been for some time in failing health. He sent our party a very kind and +obliging message, desiring that we would consider ourselves fully at +liberty to visit any part of the grounds or castle, there being always +some reservation as to what tourists may visit. + +We caught glimpses of him once or twice, supported by attendants, as he +was taking the air in one of the walks of the grounds, and afterwards +wheeled about in a garden chair. + +The family has thrice died out in the direct line, and been obliged to +resuscitate through collateral branches; but it seems the blood holds +good notwithstanding. As to honors there is scarcely a possible +distinction in the state or army that has not at one time or other been +the property of this family. + +Under the shade of these lofty cedars they have sprung and fallen, an +hereditary line of princes. One cannot but feel, in looking on these +majestic trees, with the battlements, turrets, and towers of the old +castle every where surrounding him, and the magnificent parks and lawns +opening through dreamy vistas of trees into what seems immeasurable +distance, the force of the soliloquy which Shakspeare puts into the +mouth of the dying old king maker, as he lies breathing out his soul in +the dust and blood of the battle field:-- + + "Thus yields the cedar to the axe's edge, + Whose arms gave shelter to the princely eagle, + Under whose shade the rampant lion slept; + Whose top branch overpeered Jove's spreading tree, + And kept low shrubs from, winter's powerful wind. + These eyes, that now are dimmed with death's black veil, + Have been as piercing as the midday sun + To search, the secret treasons of the world: + The wrinkles in my brow, now filled with blood, + Were likened oft to kingly sepulchres; + For who lived king but I could dig his grave? + And who durst smile when Warwick bent his brow? + Lo, now my glory smeared in dust and blood! + My parks, my walks, my manors that I had, + Even now forsake me; and of all my lands + Is nothing left me but my body's length! + Why, what is pomp, rule, reign, but earth and dust? + And live we how we can, yet die we must." + +During Shakspeare's life Warwick was in the possession of Greville, the +friend of Sir Philip Sidney, and patron of arts and letters. It is not, +therefore, improbable that Shakspeare might, in his times, often have +been admitted to wander through the magnificent grounds, and it is more +than probable that the sight of these majestic cedars might have +suggested the noble image in this soliloquy. It is only about eight +miles from Stratford, within the fair limits of a comfortable pedestrian +excursion, and certainly could not but have been an object of deep +interest to such a mind as his. + +I have described the grounds first, but, in fact, we did not look at +them first, but went into the house where we saw not only all the state +rooms, but, through the kindness of the noble proprietor, many of those +which are not commonly exhibited; a bewildering display of magnificent +apartments, pictures, gems, vases, arms and armor, antiques, all, in +short, that the wealth of a princely and powerful family had for +centuries been accumulating. + +The great hall of the castle is sixty-two feet in length and forty in +breadth, ornamented with a richly carved Gothic roof, in which figures +largely the family cognizance of the bear and ragged staff. There is a +succession of shields, on which are emblazoned the quarterings of +successive Earls of Warwick. The sides of the wall are ornamented with +lances, corselets, shields, helmets, and complete suits of armor, +regularly arranged as in an armory. Here I learned what the buff coat +is, which had so often puzzled me in reading Scott's descriptions, as +there were several hanging up here. It seemed to be a loose doublet of +chamois leather, which was worn under the armor, and protected the body +from its harshness. + +Here we saw the helmet of Cromwell, a most venerable relic. Before the +great, cavernous fireplace was piled up on a sled a quantity of yew tree +wood. The rude simplicity of thus arranging it on the polished floor of +this magnificent apartment struck me as quite singular. I suppose it is +a continuation of some ancient custom. + +Opening from this apartment on either side are suits of rooms, the whole +series being three hundred and thirty-three feet in length. These rooms +are all hung with pictures, and studded with antiques and curiosities of +immense value. There is, first, the red drawing room, and then the cedar +drawing room, then the gilt drawing room, the state bed room, the +boudoir, &c., &c., hung with pictures by Vandyke, Rubens, Guido, Sir +Joshua Reynolds, Paul Veronese, any one of which would require days of +study; of course, the casual glance that one could give them in a rapid +survey would not amount to much. + +We were shown one table of gems and lapis lazuli, which cost what would +be reckoned a comfortable fortune in New England. For matters of this +kind I have little sympathy. The canvas, made vivid by the soul of an +inspired artist, tells me something of God's power in creating that +soul; but a table of gems is in no wise interesting to me, except so far +as it is pretty in itself. + +I walked to one of the windows of these lordly apartments, and while the +company were examining buhl cabinets, and all other deliciousness of the +place, I looked down the old gray walls into the amber waters of the +Avon, which flows at their base, and thought that the most beautiful of +all was without. There is a tiny fall that crosses the river just above +here, whose waters turn the wheels of an old mossy mill, where for +centuries the family grain has been ground. The river winds away through +the beautiful parks and undulating foliage, its soft, grassy banks +dotted here and there with sheep and cattle, and you catch farewell +gleams and glitters of it as it loses itself among the trees. + +Gray moss, wall flowers, ivy, and grass were growing here and there out +of crevices in the castle walls, as I looked down, sometimes trailing +their rippling tendrils in the river. This vegetative propensity of +walls is one of the chief graces of these old buildings. + +In the state bed room were a bed and furnishings of rich, crimson +velvet, once belonging to Queen Anne, and presented by George III. to +the Warwick family. The walls are hung with Brussels tapestry, +representing the gardens of Versailles as they were at the time. The +chimney-piece, which is sculptured of verde antique and white marble, +supports two black marble vases on its mantel. Over the mantel-piece is +a full-length portrait of Queen Anne, in a rich brocade dress, wearing +the collar and jewels of the Garter, bearing in one hand a sceptre, and +in the other a globe. There are two splendid buhl cabinets in the room, +and a table of costly stone from Italy; it is mounted on a richly carved +and gilt stand. + +The boudoir, which adjoins, is hung with pea-green satin and velvet. In +this room is one of the most authentic portraits of Henry VIII., by +Holbein, in which that selfish, brutal, unfeeling tyrant is veritably +set forth, with all the gold and gems which, in his day, blinded +mankind; his fat, white hands were beautifully painted. Men have found +out Henry VIII. by this time; he is a dead sinner, and nothing more is +to be expected of him, and so he gets a just award; but the disposition +which bows down and worships any thing of any character in our day which +is splendid and successful, and excuses all moral delinquencies, if they +are only available, is not a whit better than that which cringed before +Henry. + +In the same room was a boar hunt, by Rubens, a disagreeable subject, but +wrought with wonderful power. There were several other pictures of +Holbein's in this room; one of Martin Luther. + +We passed through a long corridor, whose sides were lined with pictures, +statues, busts, &c. Out of the multitude, three particularly interested +me; one was a noble but melancholy bust of the Black Prince, beautifully +chiselled in white marble; another was a plaster cast, said to have been +taken of the face of Oliver Cromwell immediately after death. The face +had a homely strength amounting almost to coarseness. The evidences of +its genuineness appear in glancing at it; every thing is authentic, even +to the wart on his lip; no one would have imagined such a one, but the +expression was noble and peaceful, bringing to mind the oft-quoted +words,-- + + "After life's fitful fever, he sleeps well." + +At the end of the same corridor is a splendid picture of Charles I. on +horseback, by Vandyke, a most masterly performance, and appearing in its +position almost like a reality. Poor Charles had rather hard measure, it +always seemed to me. He simply did as all other princes had done before +him; that is to say, he lied steadily, invariably, and conscientiously, +in every instance where he thought he could gain any thing by it, just +as Charles V., and Francis IV., and Catharine de Medicis, and Henry +VIII., and Elizabeth, and James, and all good royal folks had always +done; and lo! _he_ must lose his head for it. His was altogether a more +gentlemanly and respectable performance than that of Henry, not wanting +in a sort of ideal magnificence, which his brutal predecessor, or even +his shambling old father never dreamed of. But so it is; it is not +always on those who are sinners above all men that the tower of Siloam +falls, but only on those who happen to be under it when its time comes. +So I intend to cherish a little partiality for gentlemanly, magnificent +Charles I.; and certainly one could get no more splendid idea of him +than by seeing him stately, silent, and melancholy on his white horse, +at the end of this long corridor. There he sits, facing the calm, stony, +sleeping face of Oliver, and neither question or reply passes between +them. + +From this corridor we went into the chapel, whose Gothic windows, filled +with rich, old painted glass, cast a many-colored light over the +oak-carved walls and altar-piece. The ceiling is of fine, old oak, +wrought with the arms of the family. The window over the altar is the +gift of the Earl of Essex. This room is devoted to the daily religious +worship of the family. It has been the custom of the present earl in +former years to conduct the devotions of the family here himself. + +About this time my head and eyes came to that point which Solomon +intimates to be not commonly arrived at by mortals--when the eye is +satisfied with seeing. I remember a confused ramble through apartment +after apartment, but not a single thing in them, except two pictures of +Salvator Rosa's, which I thought extremely ugly, and was told, as people +always are when they make such declarations, that the difficulty was +entirely in myself, and that if I would study them two or three months +in faith, I should perceive something very astonishing. This may be, but +it holds equally good of the coals of an evening fire, or the sparks on +a chimney back; in either of which, by resolute looking, and some +imagination, one can see any thing he chooses. I utterly distrust this +process, by which old black pictures are looked into shape; but then I +have nothing to lose, being in the court of the Gentiles in these +matters, and obstinately determined not to believe in any real presence +in art which I cannot perceive by my senses. + +After having examined all the upper stories, we went down into the +vaults underneath--vaults once grim and hoary, terrible to captives and +feudal enemies, now devoted to no purpose more grim than that of coal +cellars and wine vaults. In Oliver's time, a regiment was quartered +there: they are extensive enough, apparently, for an army. + +The kitchen and its adjuncts are of magnificent dimensions, and indicate +an amplitude in the way of provision for good cheer worthy an ancient +house; and what struck me as a still better feature was a library of +sound, sensible, historical, and religious works for the servants. + +We went into the beer vaults, where a man drew beer into a long black +jack, such as Scott describes. It is a tankard, made of black leather, I +should think half a yard deep. He drew the beer from a large hogshead, +and offered us some in a glass. It looked very clear, but, on tasting, I +found it so exceedingly bitter that it struck me there would be small +virtue for me in abstinence. + +In passing up to go out of the house, we met in the entry two +pleasant-looking young women, dressed in white muslin. As they passed +us, a door opened where a table was handsomely set out, at which quite a +number of well-dressed people were seating themselves. I withdrew my +eyes immediately, fearing lest I had violated some privacy. Our +conductor said to us, "That is the upper servants' dining room." + +Once in the yard again, we went to see some of the older parts of the +building. The oldest of these, Caesar's Tower, which is said to go back +to the time of the Romans, is not now shown to visitors. Beneath it is a +dark, damp dungeon, where prisoners used to be confined, the walls of +which are traced all over with inscriptions and rude drawings. + +Then you are conducted to Guy's Tower, named, I suppose, after the hero +of the green dragon and dun cow. Here are five tiers of guard rooms, and +by the ascent of a hundred and thirty-three steps you reach the +battlements, where you gain a view of the whole court and grounds, as +well as of the beautiful surrounding landscape. + +In coming down from this tower, we somehow or other got upon the +ramparts, which connect it with the great gate. We walked on the wall +four abreast, and played that we were knights and ladies of the olden +time, walking on the ramparts. And I picked a bough from an old pine +tree that grew over our heads; it much resembled our American yellow +pitch pine. + +Then we went down and crossed the grounds to the greenhouse, to see the +famous Warwick vase. The greenhouse is built with a Gothic stone front, +situated on a fine point in the landscape. And there, on a pedestal, +surrounded by all manner of flowering shrubs, stands this celebrated +antique. It is of white marble, and was found at the bottom of a lake +near Adrian's villa, in Italy. They say that it holds a hundred and +thirty-six gallons; constructed, I suppose, in the roistering old +drinking times of the Roman emperors, when men seem to have discovered +that the grand object for which they were sent into existence was to +perform the functions of wine skins. It is beautifully sculptured with +grape leaves, and the skin and claws of the panther--these latter +certainly not an inappropriate emblem of the god of wine, beautiful, but +dangerous. + +Well, now it was all done. Merodach Baladan had not a more perfect +_exposé_ of the riches of Hezekiah than we had of the glories of +Warwick. One always likes to see the most perfect thing of its kind; and +probably this is the most perfect specimen of the feudal ages yet +remaining in England. + +As I stood with Joseph Sturge under the old cedars of Lebanon, and +watched the multitude of tourists, and parties of pleasure, who were +thronging the walks, I said to him, "After all, this establishment +amounts to a public museum and pleasure grounds for the use of the +people." He assented. "And," said I, "you English people like these +things; you like these old magnificent seats, kept up by old families." +"That is what I tell them," said Joseph Sturge. "I tell them there is no +danger in enlarging the suffrage, for the people would not break up +these old establishments if they could." On that point, of course, I had +no means of forming an opinion. + +One cannot view an institution so unlike any thing we have in our own +country without having many reflections excited, for one of these +estates may justly be called an institution; it includes within itself +all the influence on a community of a great model farm, of model +housekeeping, of a general museum of historic remains, and of a gallery +of fine arts. + +It is a fact that all these establishments through England are, at +certain fixed hours, thrown open for the inspection of whoever may +choose to visit them, with no other expense than the gratuity which +custom requires to be given to the servant who shows them. I noticed, as +we passed from one part of the ground to another, that our guides +changed--one part apparently being the perquisite of one servant, and +one of another. Many of the servants who showed them appeared to be +superannuated men, who probably had this post as one of the dignities +and perquisites of their old age. + +The influence of these estates on the community cannot but be in many +respects beneficial, and should go some way to qualify the prejudice +with which republicans are apt to contemplate any thing aristocratic; +for although the legal title to these things inheres in but one man, yet +in a very important sense they belong to the whole community, indeed, to +universal humanity. It may be very undesirable and unwise to wish to +imitate these institutions in America, and yet it may be illiberal to +undervalue them as they stand in England. A man would not build a house, +in this nineteenth century, on the pattern of a feudal castle; and yet +where the feudal castle is built, surely its antique grace might plead +somewhat in its favor, and it may be better to accommodate it to modern +uses, than to level it, and erect a modern mansion in its place. + +Nor, since the world is wide, and now being rapidly united by steam into +one country, does the objection to these things, on account of the room +they take up, seem so great as formerly. In the million of square miles +of the globe there is room enough for all sorts of things. + +With such reflections the lover of the picturesque may comfort himself, +hoping that he is not sinning against the useful in his admiration of +the beautiful. + +One great achievement of the millennium, I trust, will be in uniting +these two elements, which have ever been contending. There was great +significance in the old Greek fable which represented Venus as the +divinely-appointed helpmeet of Vulcan, and yet always quarrelling with +him. + +We can scarce look at the struggling, earth-bound condition of useful +labor through the world without joining in the beautiful aspiration of +our American poet,-- + + "Surely, the wiser time shall come + When this fine overplus of might, + No longer sullen, slow, and dumb, + Shall leap to music and to light. + + In that new childhood of the world + Life of itself shall dance and play, + Fresh blood through Time's shrunk veins be hurled, + And labor meet delight half way."[M] + +In the new state of society which we are trying to found in America, it +must be our effort to hasten the consummation. These great estates of +old countries may keep it for their share of the matter to work out +perfect models, while we will seize the ideas thus elaborated, and make +them the property of the million. + +As we were going out, we stopped a little while at the porter's lodge to +look at some relics. + +Now, I dare say that you have been thinking, all the while, that these +stories about the wonderful Guy are a sheer fabrication, or, to use a +convenient modern term, a myth. Know, then, that the identical armor +belonging to him is still preserved here; to wit, the sword, about +seven feet long, a shield, helmet, breastplate, and tilting pole, +together with his porridge pot, which holds one hundred and twenty +gallons, and a large fork, as they call it, about three feet long; I am +inclined to think this must have been his toothpick! His sword weighs +twenty pounds. + +There is, moreover, a rib of the mastodon cow which he killed, hung up +for the terror of all refractory beasts of that name in modern days. + +Furthermore, know, then, that there are authentic documents in the +Ashmolean Museum, at Oxford, showing that the family run back to within +four years after the birth of Christ, so that there is abundance of time +for them to have done a little of almost every thing. It appears that +they have been always addicted to exploits, since we read of one of +them, soon after the Christian era, encountering a giant, who ran upon +him with a tree which he had snapped off for the purpose, for it seems +giants were not nice in the choice of weapons; but the chronicler says, +"The Lord had grace with him, and overcame the giant," and in +commemoration of this event the family introduced into their arms the +ragged staff. + +It is recorded of another of the race, that he was one of seven children +born at a birth, and that all the rest of his brothers and sisters were, +by enchantment, turned into swans with gold collars. This remarkable +case occurred in the time of the grandfather of Sir Guy, and of course, +if we believe this, we shall find no difficulty in the case of the cow, +or any thing else. + +There is a very scarce book in the possession of a gentleman of Warwick, +written by one Dr. John Kay, or caius, in which he gives an account of +the rare and peculiar animals of England in 1552. In this he mentioned +seeing the bones of the head and the vertebrae of the neck of an +enormous animal at Warwick Castle. He states that the shoulder blade was +hung up by chains from the north gate of Coventry, and that a rib of the +same animal was hanging up in the chapel of Guy, Earl of Warwick, and +that the people fancied it to be the rib of a cow which haunted a ditch +near Coventry, and did injury to many persons; and he goes on to imagine +that this may be the bone of a bonasus or a urus. He says, "It is +probable many animals of this kind formerly lived in our England, being +of old an island full of woods and forests, because even in our boyhood +the horns of these animals were in common use at the table." The story +of Sir Guy is furthermore quite romantic, and contains some +circumstances very instructive to all ladies. For the chronicler +asserts, "that Dame Felye, daughter and heire to Erle Rohand, for her +beauty called Fely le Belle, or Felys the Fayre, by true enheritance, +was Countesse of Warwyke, and lady and wyfe to the most victoriouse +Knight, Sir Guy, to whom in his woing tyme she made greate straungeres, +and caused him, for her sake, to put himself in meny greate distresses, +dangers, and perills; but when they were wedded, and b'en but a little +season together, he departed from her, to her greate hevynes, and never +was conversant with her after, to her understandinge." That this may not +appear to be the result of any revengeful spirit on the part of Sir Guy, +the chronicler goes on further to state his motives--that, after his +marriage, considering what he had done for a woman's sake, he thought to +spend the other part of his life for God's sake, and so departed from +his lady in pilgrim weeds, which raiment he kept to his life's end. +After wandering about a good many years he settled in a hermitage, in a +place not far from the castle, called Guy's Cliff, and when his lady +distributed food to beggars at the castle gate, was in the habit of +coming among them to receive alms, without making himself known to her. +It states, moreover, that two days before his death an angel informed +him of the time of his departure, and that his lady would die a +fortnight after him, which happening accordingly, they were both buried +in the grave together. A romantic cavern, at the place called Guy's +Cliff, is shown as the dwelling of the recluse. The story is a curious +relic of the religious ideas of the times. + +On our way from the castle we passed by Guy's Cliff, which is at present +the seat of the Hon. C.B. Percy. The establishment looked beautifully +from the road, as we saw it up a long avenue of trees; it is one of the +places travellers generally examine, but as we were bound for Kenilworth +we were content to take it on trust. It is but a short drive from there +to Kenilworth. We got there about the middle of the afternoon. +Kenilworth has been quite as extensive as Warwick, though now entirely +gone to ruins. I believe Oliver Cromwell's army have the credit of +finally dismantling it. Cromwell seems literally to have left his mark +on his generation, for I never saw a ruin in England when I did not hear +that he had something to do with it. Every broken arch and ruined +battlement seemed always to find a sufficient account of itself by +simply enunciating the word Cromwell. And when we see how much the +Puritans arrayed against themselves all the æsthetic principles of our +nature, we can somewhat pardon those who did not look deeper than the +surface, for the prejudice with which they regarded the whole movement; +a movement, however, of which we, and all which is most precious to us, +are the lineal descendants and heirs. + +We wandered over the ruins, which are very extensive, and which Scott, +with his usual vivacity and accuracy, has restored and repeopled. We +climbed up into Amy Robsart's chamber; we scrambled into one of the +arched windows of what was formerly the great dining hall, where +Elizabeth feasted in the midst of her lords and ladies, and where every +stone had rung to the sound of merriment and revelry. The windows are +broken out; it is roofless and floorless, waving and rustling with +pendent ivy, and vocal with the song of hundreds of little birds. + +We wandered from room to room, looking up and seeing in the walls the +desolate fireplaces, tier over tier, the places where the beams of the +floors had gone into the walls, and still the birds continued their +singing every where. + +Nothing affected me more than this ceaseless singing and rejoicing of +birds in these old gray ruins. They seemed so perfectly joyous and happy +amid the desolations, so airy and fanciful in their bursts of song, so +ignorant and careless of the deep meaning of the gray desolation around +them, that I could not but be moved. It was nothing to them how these +stately, sculptured walls became lonely and ruinous, and all the weight +of a thousand thoughts and questionings which arise to us is never even +dreamed by them. They sow not, neither do they reap, but their heavenly +Father feeds them; and so the wilderness and the desolate place is glad +in them, and they are glad in the wilderness and desolate place. + +It was a beautiful conception, this making of birds. Shelley calls them +"imbodied joys;" and Christ says, that amid the vaster ruins of man's +desolation, ruins more dreadfully suggestive than those of sculptured +frieze and architrave, we can yet live a bird's life of unanxious joy; +or, as Martin Luther beautifully paraphrases it, "We can be like a bird, +that sits singing on his twig and lets God think for him." + +The deep consciousness that we are ourselves ruined, and that this world +is a desolation more awful, and of more sublime material, and wrought +from stuff of higher temper than ever was sculptured in hall or +cathedral, this it must be that touches such deep springs of sympathy in +the presence of ruins. We, too, are desolate, shattered, and scathed; +there are traceries and columns of celestial workmanship; there are +heaven-aspiring arches, splendid colonnades and halls, but fragmentary +all. Yet above us bends an all-pitying Heaven, and spiritual voices and +callings in our hearts, like these little singing birds, speak of a time +when almighty power shall take pleasure in these stones, and favor the +dust thereof. + +We sat on the top of the strong tower, and looked off into the country, +and talked a good while. Some of the ivy that mantles this building has +a trunk as large as a man's body, and throws out numberless strong arms, +which, interweaving, embrace and interlace half-falling towers, and hold +them up in a living, growing mass of green. + +The walls of one of the oldest towers are sixteen feet thick. The lake, +which Scott speaks of, is dried up and grown over with rushes. The +former moat presents only a grassy hollow. What was formerly a gate +house is still inhabited by the family who have the care of the +building. The land around the gate house is choicely and carefully laid +out, and has high, clipped hedges of a species of variegated holly. + +Thus much of old castles and ivy. Farewell to Kenilworth. + + + + +LETTER XII. + + +MY DEAR H.:-- + +After leaving Kenilworth we drove to Coventry, where we took the cars +again. This whole ride from Stratford to Warwick, and on to Coventry, +answers more to my ideas of old England than any thing I have seen; it +is considered one of the most beautiful parts of the kingdom. It has +quaint old houses, and a certain air of rural, picturesque quiet, which +is very charming. + +Coventry is old and queer, with narrow streets and curious houses, famed +for the ancient legend of Godiva, one of those beautiful myths that +grow, like the mistletoe, on the bare branches of history, and which, if +they never were true in the letter, have been a thousand times true in +the spirit. + +The evening came on raw and chilly, so that we rejoiced to find +ourselves once more in the curtained parlor by the bright, sociable +fire. + +As we were drinking tea Elihu Burritt came in. It was the first time I +had ever seen him, though I had heard a great deal of him from our +friends in Edinburgh. He is a man in middle life, tall and slender, with +fair complexion, blue eyes, an air of delicacy and refinement, and +manners of great gentleness. My ideas of the "Learned Blacksmith" had +been of something altogether more ponderous and peremptory. Elihu has +been, for some years, operating in England and on the continent in a +movement which many, in our half-Christianized times, regard with as +much incredulity as the grim, old, warlike barons did the suspicious +imbecilities of reading and writing. The sword now, as then, seems so +much more direct a way to terminate controversies, that many Christian +men, even, cannot conceive how the world is to get along without it. + +Burritt's mode of operation has been by the silent organization of +circles of ladies in all the different towns of the United Kingdom, who +raise a certain sum for the diffusion of the principles of peace on +earth and good will to men. Articles, setting forth the evils of war, +moral, political, and social, being prepared, these circles pay for +their insertion in all the principal newspapers of the continent. They +have secured to themselves in this way a continual utterance in France, +Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, and Germany; so that from week to +week, and month to month, they can insert articles upon these subjects. +Many times the editors insert the articles as editorial, which still +further favors their design. In addition to this, the ladies of these +circles in England correspond with the ladies of similar circles +existing in other countries; and in this way there is a mutual +kindliness of feeling established through these countries. + +When recently war was threatening between England and France, through +the influence of these societies conciliatory addresses were sent from +many of the principal towns of England to many of the principal towns of +France; and the effect of these measures in allaying irritation and +agitation was very perceptible. + +Furthermore, these societies are preparing numerous little books for +children, in which the principles of peace, kindness, and mutual +forbearance are constantly set forth, and the evil and unchristian +nature of the mere collision of brute force exemplified in a thousand +ways. These tracts also are reprinted in the other modern languages of +Europe, and are becoming a part of family literature. + +The object had in view by those in this movement is, the general +disbandment of standing armies and warlike establishments, and the +arrangement, in their place, of some settled system of national +arbitration. They suggest the organization of some tribunal of +international law, which shall correspond to the position of the Supreme +Court of the United States with reference to the several states. The +fact that the several states of our Union, though each a distinct +sovereignty, yet agree in this arrangement, is held up as an instance of +its practicability. These ideas are not to be considered entirely +chimerical, if we reflect that commerce and trade are as essentially +opposed to war as is Christianity. War is the death of commerce, +manufactures, agriculture, and the fine arts. Its evil results are +always certain and definite, its good results scattered and accidental. +The whole current of modern society is as much against war as against +slavery; and the time must certainly come when some more rational and +humane mode of resolving national difficulties will prevail. + +When we ask these reformers how people are to be freed from the yoke of +despotism without war, they answer, "By the diffusion of ideas among the +masses--by teaching the bayonets to think." They say, "If we convince +every individual soldier of a despot's army that war is ruinous, +immoral, and unchristian, we take the instrument out of the tyrant's +hand. If each individual man would refuse to rob and murder for the +Emperor of Austria, and the Emperor of Russia, where would be their +power to hold Hungary? What gave power to the masses in the French +revolution, but that the army, pervaded by new ideas, refused any +longer to keep the people down?" + +These views are daily gaining strength in England. They are supported by +the whole body of the Quakers, who maintain them with that degree of +inflexible perseverance and never-dying activity which have rendered the +benevolent actions of that body so efficient. The object that they are +aiming at is one most certain to be accomplished, infallible as the +prediction that swords are to be beaten into ploughshares, and spears +into pruning-hooks, and that nations shall learn war no more. + +This movement, small and despised in its origin, has gained strength +from year to year, and now has an effect on the public opinion of +England which is quite perceptible. + +We spent the evening in talking over these things, and also various +topics relating to the antislavery movement. Mr. Sturge was very +confident that something more was to be done than had ever been done +yet, by combinations for the encouragement of free, in the place of +slave-grown, produce; a question which has, ever since the days of +Clarkson, more or less deeply occupied the minds of abolitionists in +England. + +I should say that Mr. Sturge in his family has for many years +conscientiously forborne the use of any article produced by slave labor. +I could scarcely believe it possible that there could be such an +abundance and variety of all that is comfortable and desirable in the +various departments of household living within these limits. Mr. Sturge +presents the subject with very great force, the more so from the +consistency of his example. + +From what I have since observed, as well as from what they said, I +should imagine that the Quakers generally pursue this course of entire +separation from all connection with slavery, even in the disuse of its +products. The subject of the disuse of slave-grown produce has obtained +currency in the same sphere in which Elihu Burritt operates, and has +excited the attention of the Olive Leaf Circles. Its prospects are not +so weak as on first view might be imagined, if we consider that Great +Britain has large tracts of cotton-growing land at her disposal in +India. It has been calculated that, were suitable railroads and +arrangements for transportation provided for India, cotton could be +raised in that empire sufficient for the whole wants of England, at a +rate much cheaper than it can be imported from America. Not only so, but +they could then afford to furnish cotton cheaper at Lowell than the same +article could be procured from the Southern States. + +It is consolatory to know that a set of men have undertaken this work +whose perseverance in any thing once begun has never been daunted. Slave +labor is becoming every year more expensive in America. The wide market +which has been opened for it has raised it to such an extravagant price +as makes the stocking of a plantation almost ruinous. If England enters +the race with free labor, which has none of these expenses, and none of +the risk, she will be sure to succeed. All the forces of nature go with +free labor; and all the forces of nature resist slave labor. The stars +in their courses fight against it; and it cannot but be that ere long +some way will be found to bring these two forces to a decisive issue. + +Mr. Sturge seemed exceedingly anxious that the American states should +adopt the theory of immediate, and not gradual, emancipation. I told him +the great difficulty was to persuade them to think of any emancipation +at all; that the present disposition was to treat slavery as the pillar +and ground of the truth, the ark of religion, the summary of morals, +and the only true millennial form of modern society. + +He gave me, however, a little account of their antislavery struggles in +England, and said, what was well worthy of note, that they made no +apparent progress in affecting public opinion until they firmly +advocated the right of every innocent being to immediate and complete +freedom, without any conditions. He said that a woman is fairly entitled +to the credit of this suggestion. Elizabeth Heyrick of Leicester, a +member of the society of Friends, published a pamphlet entitled +Immediate, not Gradual Emancipation. This little pamphlet contains much +good sense; and, being put forth at a time when men were really anxious +to know the truth, produced a powerful impression. + +She remarked, very sensibly, that the difficulty had arisen from +indistinct ideas in respect to what is implied in emancipation. She went +on to show that emancipation did not imply freedom from government and +restraint; that it properly brought a slave under the control of the +law, instead of that of an individual; and that it was possible so to +apply law as perfectly to control the emancipated. This is an idea which +seems simple enough when pointed out; but men often stumble a long while +before they discover what is most obvious. + +The next day was Sunday; and, in order to preserve our incognito, and +secure an uninterrupted rest, free from conversation and excitement, we +were obliged to deprive ourselves of the pleasure of hearing our friend +Rev. John Angell James, which we had much desired to do. + +It was a warm, pleasant day, and we spent much of our time in a +beautiful arbor constructed in a retired place in the garden, where the +trees and shrubbery were so arranged as to make a most charming retreat. + +The grounds of Mr. Sturge are very near to those of his brother--only a +narrow road interposing between them. They have contrived to make them +one by building under this road a subterranean passage, so that the two +families can pass and repass into each other's grounds in perfect +privacy. + +These English gardens delight me much; they unite variety, quaintness, +and an imitation of the wildness of nature with the utmost care and +cultivation. I was particularly pleased with the rockwork, which at +times formed the walls of certain walks, the hollows and interstices of +which were filled with every variety of creeping plants. Mr. Sturge told +me that the substance of which these rockeries are made is sold +expressly for the purpose. + +On one side of the grounds was an old-fashioned cottage, which one of my +friends informed me Mr. Sturge formerly kept fitted up as a water cure +hospital, for those whose means did not allow them to go to larger +establishments. The plan was afterwards abandoned. One must see that +such an enterprise would have many practical difficulties. + +At noon we dined in the house of the other brother, Mr. Edmund Sturge. +Here I noticed a full-length engraving of Joseph Sturge. He is +represented as standing with his hand placed protectingly on the head of +a black child. + +We enjoyed our quiet season with these two families exceedingly. We +seemed to feel ourselves in an atmosphere where all was peace and good +will to man. The little children, after dinner, took us through the +walks, to show us their beautiful rabbits and other pets. Every thing +seemed in order, peaceable and quiet. Towards evening we went back +through the arched passage to the other house again. My Sunday here has +always seemed to me a pleasant kind of pastoral, much like the communion +of Christian and Faithful with the shepherds on the Delectable +Mountains. + +What is remarkable of all these Friends is, that, although they have +been called, in the prosecution of philanthropic enterprises, to +encounter so much opposition, and see so much of the unfavorable side of +human nature, they are so habitually free from any tinge of +uncharitableness or evil speaking in their statements with regard to the +character and motives of others. There is also an habitual avoidance of +all exaggerated forms of statement, a sobriety of diction, which, united +with great affectionateness of manner, inspires the warmest confidence. + +C. had been, with Mr. Sturge, during the afternoon, to a meeting of the +Friends, and heard a discourse from Sibyl Jones, one of the most popular +of their female preachers. Sibyl is a native of the town of Brunswick, +in the State of Maine. She and her husband, being both preachers, have +travelled extensively in the prosecution of various philanthropic and +religious enterprises. + +In the evening Mr. Sturge said that she had expressed a desire to see +me. Accordingly I went with him to call upon her, and found her in the +family of two aged Friends, surrounded by a circle of the same +denomination. She is a woman of great delicacy of appearance, betokening +very frail health. I am told that she is most of her time in a state of +extreme suffering from neuralgic complaints. There was a mingled +expression of enthusiasm and tenderness in her face which was very +interesting. She had had, according to the language of her sect, a +concern upon her mind for me. + +To my mind there is something peculiarly interesting about that +primitive simplicity and frankness with which the members of this body +express themselves. She desired to caution me against the temptations of +too much flattery and applause, and against the worldliness which might +beset me in London. Her manner of addressing me was like one who is +commissioned with a message which must be spoken with plainness and +sincerity. After this the whole circle kneeled, and she offered prayer. +I was somewhat painfully impressed with her evident fragility of body, +compared with the enthusiastic workings of her mind. + +In the course of the conversation she inquired if I was going to +Ireland. I told her, yes, that was my intention. She begged that I would +visit the western coast, adding, with great feeling, "It was the +miseries which I saw there which have brought my health to the state it +is." She had travelled extensively in the Southern States, and had, in +private conversation, been able very fully to bear her witness against +slavery, and had never been heard with unkindness. + +The whole incident afforded me matter for reflection. The calling of +women to distinct religious vocations, it appears to me, was a part of +primitive Christianity; has been one of the most efficient elements of +power in the Romish church; obtained among the Methodists in England; +and has, in all these cases, been productive of great good. The +deaconesses whom the apostle mentions with honor in his epistle, Madame +Guyon in the Romish church, Mrs. Fletcher, Elizabeth Fry, are instances +which show how much may be done for mankind by women who feel themselves +impelled to a special religious vocation. + +The Bible, which always favors liberal development, countenances this +idea, by the instances of Deborah, Anna the prophetess, and by allusions +in the New Testament, which plainly show that the prophetic gift +descended upon women. St. Peter, quoting from the prophetic writings, +says, "Upon your sons and upon your daughters I will pour out my spirit, +and they shall prophesy." And St. Paul alludes to women praying and +prophesying in the public assemblies of the Christians, and only enjoins +that it should be done with becoming attention to the established usages +of female delicacy. The example of the Quakers is a sufficient proof +that acting upon this idea does not produce discord and domestic +disorder. No class of people are more remarkable for quietness and +propriety of deportment, and for household order and domestic +excellence. By the admission of this liberty, the world is now and then +gifted with a woman like Elizabeth Fry, while the family state loses +none of its security and sacredness. No one in our day can charge the +ladies of the Quaker sect with boldness or indecorum; and they have +demonstrated that even public teaching, when performed under the +influence of an overpowering devotional spirit, does not interfere with +feminine propriety and modesty. + +The fact is, that the number of women to whom this vocation is given +will always be comparatively few: they are, and generally will be, +exceptions; and the majority of the religious world, ancient and modern, +has decided that these exceptions are to be treated with reverence. + +The next morning, as we were sitting down to breakfast, our friends of +the other house sent in to me a plate of the largest, finest +strawberries I have ever seen, which, considering that it was only the +latter part of April, seemed to me quite an astonishing luxury. + +On the morning before we left we had agreed to meet a circle of friends +from Birmingham, consisting of the Abolition Society there, which is of +long standing, extending back in its memories to the very commencement +of the agitation under Clarkson and Wilberforce. It was a pleasant +morning, the 1st of May. The windows of the parlor were opened to the +ground; and the company invited filled not only the room, but stood in a +crowd on the grass around the window. Among the peaceable company +present was an admiral in the navy, a fine, cheerful old gentleman, who +entered with hearty interest into the scene. + +The lady secretary of the society read a neatly-written address, full of +kind feeling and Christian sentiment. Joseph Sturge made a few sensible +and practical remarks on the present aspects of the antislavery cause in +the world, and the most practical mode of assisting it among English +Christians. He dwelt particularly on the encouragement of free labor. +The Rev. John Angell James followed with some extremely kind and +interesting remarks, and Mr. S. replied. As we were intending to return +to this city to make a longer visit, we felt that this interview was but +a glimpse of friends whom we hoped to know more perfectly hereafter. + +A throng of friends accompanied us to the depot. We had the pleasure of +the company of Elihu Burritt, and enjoyed a delightful run to London, +where we arrived towards evening. + + + + +LETTER XIII. + + +DEAR SISTER:-- + +At the station house in London, we found Rev. Messrs. Binney and Sherman +waiting for us with carriages. C. went with Mr. Sherman, and Mr. S. and +I soon found ourselves in a charming retreat called Rose Cottage, in +Walworth, about which I will tell you more anon. Mrs. B. received us +with every attention which the most thoughtful hospitality could +suggest. + +S. and W., who had gone on before us, and taken lodgings very near, were +there waiting to receive us. One of the first things S. said to me, +after we got into our room, was, "O, H----, we are so glad you have +come, for we are all going to the lord mayor's dinner to night, and you +are invited." + +"What!" said I, "the lord mayor of London, that I used to read about in +Whittington and his Cat?" And immediately there came to my ears the +sound of the old chime, which made so powerful an impression on my +childish memory, wherein all the bells of London were represented as +tolling. + + "Turn again, Whittington, + Thrice lord mayor of London." + +It is curious what an influence these old rhymes have on our +associations. + +S. went on to tell me that the party was the annual dinner given to the +judges of England by the lord mayor, and that there we should see the +whole English bar, and hosts of _distingués_ besides. So, though I was +tired, I hurried to dress in all the glee of meeting an adventure, as +Mr. and Mrs. B. and the rest of the party were ready. Crack went the +whip, round went the wheels, and away we drove. + +We alighted at the Mansion House, and entered a large illuminated hall, +supported by pillars. Chandeliers were glittering, servants with +powdered heads and gold lace coats were hurrying to and fro in every +direction, receiving company and announcing names. Do you want to know +how announcing is done? Well, suppose a staircase, a hall, and two or +three corridors, intervening between you and the drawing room. At all +convenient distances on this route are stationed these grave, +powdered-headed gentlemen, with their embroidered coats. You walk up to +the first one, and tell him confidentially that you are Miss Smith. He +calls to the man on the first landing, "Miss Smith." The man on the +landing says to the man in the corridor, "Miss Smith." The man in the +corridor shouts to the man at the drawing room door, "Miss Smith." And +thus, following the sound of your name, you hear it for the last time +shouted aloud, just before you enter the room. + +We found a considerable throng, and I was glad to accept a seat which +was offered me in the agreeable vicinity of the lady mayoress, so that I +might see what would be interesting to me of the ceremonial. + +The titles in law here, as in every thing else, are manifold; and the +powdered-headed gentleman at the door pronounced them with an evident +relish, which was joyous to hear--Mr. Attorney, Mr. Solicitor, and Mr. +Sergeant; Lord Chief Baron, Lord Chief Justice, and Lord this, and Lord +that, and Lord the other, more than I could possibly remember, as in +they came dressed in black, with smallclothes and silk stockings, with +swords by their sides, and little cocked hats under their arms, bowing +gracefully before the lady mayoress. + +I saw no big wigs, but some wore the hair tied behind with a small black +silk bag attached to it. Some of the principal men were dressed in black +velvet, which became them finely. Some had broad shirt frills of point +or Mechlin lace, with wide ruffles of the same round their wrists. + +Poor C., barbarian that he was, and utterly unaware of the priceless +gentility of the thing, said to me, _sotto voce_, "How can men wear such +dirty stuff? Why don't they wash it?" I expounded to him what an +ignorant sinner he was, and that the dirt of ages was one of the surest +indications of value. Wash point lace! it would be as bad as cleaning up +the antiquary's study. + +The ladies were in full dress, which here in England means always a +dress which exposes the neck and shoulders. This requirement seems to be +universal, since ladies of all ages conform to it. It may, perhaps, +account for this custom, to say that the bust of an English lady is +seldom otherwise than fine, and develops a full outline at what we +should call quite an advanced period of life. + +A very dignified gentleman, dressed in black velvet, with a fine head, +made his way through the throng, and sat down by me, introducing himself +as Lord Chief Baron Pollock. He told me he had just been reading the +legal part of the Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin, and remarked especially on +the opinion of Judge Ruffin, in the case of State _v._ Mann, as having +made a deep impression on his mind. Of the character of the decision, +considered as a legal and literary document, he spoke in terms of high +admiration; said that nothing had ever given him so clear a view of the +essential nature of slavery. We found that this document had produced +the same impression on the minds of several others present. Mr. S. said +that one or two distinguished legal gentlemen mentioned it to him in +similar terms. The talent and force displayed in it, as well as the high +spirit and scorn of dissimulation, appear to have created a strong +interest in its author. It always seemed to me that there was a certain +severe strength and grandeur about it which approached to the heroic. +One or two said that they were glad such a man had retired from the +practice of such a system of law. + +But there was scarce a moment for conversation amid the whirl and eddy +of so many presentations. Before the company had all assembled, the room +was a perfect jam of legal and literary notabilities. The dinner was +announced between nine and ten o'clock. We were conducted into a +splendid hall, where the tables were laid. Four long tables were set +parallel with the length of the hall, and one on a raised platform +across the upper end. In the midst of this sat the lord mayor and lady +mayoress, on their right hand the judges, on their left the American +minister, with other distinguished guests. I sat by a most agreeable and +interesting young lady, who seemed to take pleasure in enlightening me +on all those matters about which a stranger would naturally be +inquisitive. + +Directly opposite me was Mr. Dickens, whom I now beheld for the first +time, and was surprised to see looking so young. Mr. Justice Talfourd, +known as the author of Ion, was also there with his lady. She had a +beautiful antique cast of head. + +The lord mayor was simply dressed in black, without any other adornment +than a massive gold chain. + +I asked the lady if he had not robes of state. She replied, yes; but +they were very heavy and cumbersome, and that he never wore them when he +could, with any propriety, avoid it. It seems to me that this matter of +outward parade and state is gradually losing its hold even here in +England. As society becomes enlightened, men care less and less for mere +shows, and are apt to neglect those outward forms which have neither +beauty nor convenience on their side, such as judges' wigs and lord +mayors' robes. + +As a general thing the company were more plainly dressed than I had +expected. I am really glad that there is a movement being made to carry +the doctrine of plain dress into our diplomatic representation. Even +older nations are becoming tired of mere shows; and, certainly, the +representatives of a republic ought not to begin to put on the finery +which monarchies are beginning to cast off. + +The present lord mayor is a member of the House of Commons--a most +liberal-minded man; very simple, but pleasing in his appearance and +address; one who seems to think more of essentials than of show. + +He is a dissenter, being a member of Rev. Mr. Binney's church, a man +warmly interested in the promotion of Sabbath schools, and every worthy +and benevolent object. + +The ceremonies of the dinner were long and weary, and, I thought, seemed +to be more fully entered into by a flourishing official, who stood at +the mayor's back, than by any other person present. + +The business of toast-drinking is reduced to the nicest system. A +regular official, called a toast master, stood behind the lord mayor +with a paper, from which he read the toasts in their order. Every one, +according to his several rank, pretensions, and station, must be toasted +in his gradation; and every person toasted must have his name announced +by the official,--the larger dignitaries being proposed alone in their +glory, while the smaller fry are read out by the dozen,--and to each +toast somebody must get up and make a speech. + +First, after the usual loyal toasts, the lord mayor proposed the health +of the American minister, expressing himself in the warmest terms of +friendship towards our country; to which Mr. Ingersoll responded very +handsomely. Among the speakers I was particularly pleased with Lord +Chief Baron Pollock, who, in the absence of Lord Chief Justice Campbell, +was toasted as the highest representative of the legal profession. He +spoke with great dignity, simplicity, and courtesy, taking occasion to +pay very flattering compliments to the American legal profession, +speaking particularly of Judge Story. The compliment gave me great +pleasure, because it seemed a just and noble-minded appreciation, and +not a mere civil fiction. We are always better pleased with appreciation +than flattery, though perhaps he strained a point when he said, "Our +brethren on the other side of the Atlantic, with whom we are now +exchanging legal authorities, I fear largely surpass us in the +production of philosophic and comprehensive forms." + +Speaking of the two countries he said, "God forbid that, with a common +language, with common laws which we are materially improving for the +benefit of mankind, with one common literature, with one common +religion, and above all with one common love of liberty, God forbid that +any feeling should arise between the two countries but the desire to +carry through the world these advantages." + +Mr. Justice Talfourd proposed the literature of our two countries, under +the head of "Anglo-Saxon Literature." He made allusion to the author of +Uncle Tom's Cabin and Mr. Dickens, speaking of both as having employed +fiction as a means of awakening the attention of the respective +countries to the condition of the oppressed and suffering classes. Mr. +Talfourd appears to be in the prime of life, of a robust and somewhat +florid habit. He is universally beloved for his nobleness of soul and +generous interest in all that tends to promote the welfare of humanity, +no less than for his classical and scholarly attainments. + +Mr. Dickens replied to this toast in a graceful and playful strain. In +the former part of the evening, in reply to a toast on the chancery +department, Vice-Chancellor Wood, who spoke in the absence of the lord +chancellor, made a sort of defence of the Court of Chancery, not +distinctly alluding to Bleak House, but evidently not without reference +to it. The amount of what he said was, that the court had received a +great many more hard opinions than it merited; that they had been +parsimoniously obliged to perform a great amount of business by a very +inadequate number of judges; but that more recently the number of judges +had been increased to seven, and there was reason to hope that all +business brought before it would now be performed without unnecessary +delay. + +In the conclusion of Mr. Dickens's speech he alluded playfully to this +item of intelligence; said he was exceedingly happy to hear it, as he +trusted now that a suit, in which he was greatly interested, would +speedily come to an end. I heard a little by conversation between Mr. +Dickens and a gentleman of the bar, who sat opposite me, in which the +latter seemed to be reiterating the same assertions, and I understood +him to say, that a case not extraordinarily complicated might be got +through with in three months. Mr. Dickens said he was very happy to hear +it; but I fancied there was a little shade of incredulity in his manner; +however, the incident showed one thing, that is, that the chancery were +not insensible to the representations of Dickens; but the whole tone of +the thing was quite good-natured and agreeable. In this respect, I must +say I think the English are quite remarkable. Every thing here meets the +very freest handling; nothing is too sacred to be publicly shown up; but +those who are exhibited appear to have too much good sense to recognize +the force of the picture by getting angry. Mr. Dickens has gone on +unmercifully exposing all sorts of weak places in the English fabric, +public and private, yet nobody cries out upon him as the slanderer of +his country. He serves up Lord Dedlocks to his heart's content, yet none +of the nobility make wry faces about it; nobody is in a hurry to +proclaim that he has recognized the picture, by getting into a passion +at it. The contrast between the people of England and America, in this +respect, is rather unfavorable to us, because they are by profession +conservative, and we by profession radical. + +For us to be annoyed when any of our institutions are commented upon, is +in the highest degree absurd; it would do well enough for Naples, but it +does not do for America. + +There were some curious old customs observed at this dinner which +interested me as peculiar. About the middle of the feast, the official +who performed all the announcing made the declaration that the lord +mayor and lady mayoress would pledge the guests in a loving cup. They +then rose, and the official presented them with a massive gold cup, full +of wine, in which they pledged the guests. It then passed down the +table, and the guests rose, two and two, each tasting and presenting to +the other. My fair informant told me that this was a custom which had +come down from the most ancient time. + +The banquet was enlivened at intervals by songs from professional +singers, hired for the occasion. After the banquet was over, massive +gold basins, filled with rose water, slid along down the table, into +which the guests dipped their napkins--an improvement, I suppose, on the +doctrine of finger glasses, or perhaps the primeval form of the custom. + +We rose from table between eleven and twelve o'clock--that is, we +ladies--and went into the drawing room, where I was presented to Mrs. +Dickens and several other ladies. Mrs. Dickens is a good specimen of a +truly English woman; tall, large, and well developed, with fine, healthy +color, and an air of frankness, cheerfulness, and reliability. A friend +whispered to me that she was as observing, and fond of humor, as her +husband. + +After a while the gentlemen came back to the drawing room, and I had a +few moments of very pleasant, friendly conversation with Mr. Dickens. +They are both people that one could not know a little of without +desiring to know more. + +I had some conversation with the lady mayoress. She said she had been +invited to meet me at Stafford House on Saturday, but should be unable +to attend, as she had called a meeting on the same day of the city +ladies, for considering the condition of milliners and dressmakers, and +to form a society for their relief to act in conjunction with that of +the west end. + +After a little we began to talk of separating; the lord mayor to take +his seat in the House of Commons, and the rest of the party to any other +engagement that might be upon their list. + +"Come, let us go to the House of Commons," said one of my friends, "and +make a night of it." "With all my heart," replied I, "if I only had +another body to go into to-morrow." + +What a convenience in sight-seeing it would be if one could have a relay +of bodies, as of clothes, and go from one into the other. But we, not +used to the London style of turning night into day, are full weary +already; so, good night. + + + + +LETTER XIV. + + +ROSE COTTAGE, WALWORTH, LONDON, May 2. + +MY DEAR:-- + +This morning Mrs. Follen called, and we had quite a long chat together. +We are separated by the whole city. She lives at West End, while I am +down here in Walworth, which is one of the postscripts of London; for +London has as many postscripts as a lady's letter--little suburban +villages which have been overtaken by the growth, of the city, and +embraced in its arms. I like them a great deal better than the city, for +my part. + +Here now, for instance, at Walworth, I can look out at a window and see +a nice green meadow with sheep and lambs feeding in it, which is some +relief in this smutty old place. London is as smutty as Pittsburg or +Wheeling. It takes a good hour's steady riding to get from here to West +End; so that my American friends, of the newspapers, who are afraid I +shall be corrupted by aristocratic associations, will see that I am at +safe distance. + +This evening we are appointed to dine with the Earl of Carlisle. There +is to be no company but his own family circle, for he, with great +consideration, said in his note that he thought a little quiet would be +the best thing he could offer. Lord Carlisle is a great friend to +America; and so is his sister, the Duchess of Sutherland. He is the only +English traveller who ever wrote notes on our country in a real spirit +of appreciation. While the Halls, and Trollopes, and all the rest could +see nothing but our breaking eggs on the wrong end, or such matters, he +discerned and interpreted those points wherein lies the real strength of +our growing country. His notes on America were not very extended, being +only sketches delivered as a lyceum lecture some years after his return. +It was the spirit and quality, rather than quantity, of the thing that +was noticeable. + +I observe that American newspapers are sneering about his preface to +Uncle Tom's Cabin; but they ought at least to remember that his +sentiments with regard to slavery are no sudden freak. In the first +place, he comes of a family that has always been on the side of liberal +and progressive principles. He himself has been a leader of reforms on +the popular side. It was a temporary defeat, when run as an +anti-corn-law candidate, which gave him leisure to travel in America. +Afterwards he had the satisfaction to be triumphantly returned for that +district, and to see the measure he had advocated fully successful. + +While Lord Carlisle was in America he never disguised those antislavery +sentiments which formed a part of his political and religious creed as +an Englishman, and as the heir of a house always true to progress. Many +cultivated English people have shrunk from acknowledging abolitionists +in Boston, where the ostracism of fashion and wealth has been enforced +against them. Lord Carlisle, though moving in the highest circle, +honestly and openly expressed his respect for them on all occasions. He +attended the Boston antislavery fair, which at that time was quite a +decided step. Nor did he even in any part of our country disguise his +convictions. There is, therefore, propriety and consistency in the +course he has taken now. It would seem that a warm interest in +questions of a public nature has always distinguished the ladies of this +family. The Duchess of Sutherland's mother is daughter of the celebrated +Duchess of Devonshire, who, in her day, employed on the liberal side in +politics all the power of genius, wit, beauty, and rank. It was to the +electioneering talents of herself and her sister, the Lady Duncannon, +that Fox, at one crisis, owed his election. We Americans should remember +that it was this party who advocated our cause during our revolutionary +struggle. Fox and his associates pleaded for us with much the same +arguments, and with the same earnestness and warmth, that American +abolitionists now plead for the slaves. They stood against all the power +of the king and cabinet, as the abolitionists in America in 1850 stood +against president and cabinet. + +The Duchess of Devonshire was a woman of real noble impulses and +generous emotions, and had a true sympathy for what is free and heroic. +Coleridge has some fine lines addressed to her,--called forth by a +sonnet which she composed, while in Switzerland, on William Tell's +Chapel,--which begin,-- + + "O lady, nursed in pomp and pleasure, + Where learn'dst thou that heroic measure?" + +The Duchess of Sutherland, in our times, has been known to be no less +warmly interested on the liberal side. So great was her influence held +to be, that upon a certain occasion when a tory cabinet was to be +formed, a distinguished minister is reported to have said to the queen +that he could not hope to succeed in his administration while such a +decided influence as that of the Duchess of Sutherland stood at the +head of her majesty's household. The queen's spirited refusal to +surrender her favorite attendant attracted, at the time, universal +admiration. + +Like her brother Lord Carlisle, the Duchess of Sutherland has always +professed those sentiments with regard to slavery which are the glory of +the English nation, and which are held with more particular zeal by +those families who are favorable to the progress of liberal ideas. + +At about seven o'clock we took our carriage to go to the Earl of +Carlisle's, the dinner hour being here somewhere between eight and nine. +As we rode on through the usual steady drizzling rain, from street to +street and square to square, crossing Waterloo Bridge, with its avenue +of lamps faintly visible in the seethy mist, plunging through the heart +of the city, we began to realize something of the immense extent of +London. + +Altogether the most striking objects that you pass, as you ride in the +evening thus, are the gin shops, flaming and flaring from the most +conspicuous positions, with plate-glass windows and dazzling lights, +thronged with men, and women, and children, drinking destruction. +Mothers go there with babies in their arms, and take what turns the +mother's milk to poison. Husbands go there, and spend the money that +their children want for bread, and multitudes of boys and girls of the +age of my own. In Paris and other European cities, at least the great +fisher of souls baits with something attractive, but in these gin shops +men bite at the bare, barbed hook. There are no garlands, no dancing, no +music, no theatricals, no pretence of social exhilaration, nothing but +hogsheads of spirits, and people going in to drink. The number of them +that I passed seemed to me absolutely appalling. + +After long driving we found ourselves coming into the precincts of the +West End, and began to feel an indefinite sense that we were approaching +something very grand, though I cannot say that we saw much but heavy, +smoky-walled buildings, washed by the rain. At length we stopped in +Grosvenor Place, and alighted. + +We were shown into an anteroom adjoining the entrance hall, and from +that into an adjacent apartment, where we met Lord Carlisle. The room +had a pleasant, social air, warmed and enlivened by the blaze of a coal +fire and wax candles. + +We had never, any of us, met Lord Carlisle before; but the +considerateness and cordiality of our reception obviated whatever +embarrassment there might have been in this circumstance. In a few +moments after we were all seated the servant announced the Duchess of +Sutherland, and Lord Carlisle presented me. She is tall and stately, +with a decided fulness of outline, and a most noble bearing. Her fair +complexion, blond hair, and full lips speak of Saxon blood. In her early +youth she might have been a Rowena. I thought of the lines of +Wordsworth:-- + + "A perfect woman, nobly planned, + To warn, to comfort, to command." + +Her manners have a peculiar warmth and cordiality. One sees people now +and then who seem to _radiate_ kindness and vitality, and to have a +faculty of inspiring perfect confidence in a moment. There are no airs +of grandeur, no patronizing ways; but a genuine sincerity and kindliness +that seem to come from a deep fountain within. + +The engraving by Winterhalter, which has been somewhat familiar in +America, is as just a representation of her air and bearing as could be +given. + +After this we were presented to the various members of the Howard +family, which is a very numerous one. Among them were Lady Dover, Lady +Lascelles, and Lady Labouchère, sisters of the duchess. The Earl of +Burlington, who is the heir of the Duke of Devonshire, was also present. +The Duke of Devonshire is the uncle of Lord Carlisle. + +The only person present not of the family connection was my quondam +correspondent in America, Arthur Helps. Somehow or other I had formed +the impression from his writings that he was a venerable sage of very +advanced years, who contemplated life as an aged hermit, from the door +of his cell. Conceive my surprise to find a genial young gentleman of +about twenty-five, who looked as if he might enjoy a joke as well as +another man. + +At dinner I found myself between him and Lord Carlisle, and perceiving, +perhaps, that the nature of my reflections was of rather an amusing +order, he asked me confidentially if I did not like fun, to which I +assented with fervor. I like that little homely word _fun_, though I +understand the dictionary says what it represents is vulgar; but I think +it has a good, hearty, Saxon sound, and I like Saxon, better than Latin +or French either. + +When the servant offered me wine Lord Carlisle asked me if our party +were all _teetotallers_, and I said yes; that in America all clergymen +were teetotallers, of course. + +After the ladies left the table the conversation turned on the Maine +law, which seems to be considered over here as a phenomenon, in +legislation, and many of the gentlemen, present inquired about it with +great curiosity. + +When we went into the drawing room I was presented to the venerable +Countess of Carlisle, the earl's mother; a lady universally beloved and +revered, not less for superior traits of mind than for great loveliness +and benevolence of character. She received us with the utmost kindness; +kindness evidently genuine and real. + +The walls of the drawing room were beautifully adorned with works of art +by the best masters. There was a Rembrandt hanging over the fireplace, +which showed finely by the evening light. It was simply the portrait of +a man with a broad, Flemish hat. There were one or two pictures, also, +by Cuyp. I should think he must have studied in America, so perfectly +does he represent the golden, hazy atmosphere of our Indian summer. + +One of the ladies showed me a snuff box on which was a picture of Lady +Carlisle's mother, the celebrated Duchess of Devonshire, taken when she +was quite a little girl; a round, happy face, showing great vivacity and +genius. On another box was an exquisitely beautiful miniature of a +relative of the family. + +After the gentlemen rejoined us came in the Duke and Duchess of Argyle, +and Lord and Lady Blantyre. These ladies are the daughters of the +Duchess of Sutherland. The Duchess of Argyle is of a slight and +fairy-like figure, with flaxen hair and blue eyes, answering well enough +to the description of Annot Lyle, in the Legend of Montrose. Lady +Blantyre was somewhat taller, of fuller figure, with very brilliant +bloom. Lord Blantyre is of the Stuart blood, a tall and slender young +man, with very graceful manners. + +As to the Duke of Argyle, we found that the picture drawn of him by his +countrymen in Scotland was every way correct. Though slight of figure, +with fair complexion and blue eyes, his whole appearance is indicative +of energy and vivacity. His talents and efficiency have made him a +member of the British cabinet at a much earlier age than is usual; and +he has distinguished himself not only in political life, but as a +writer, having given to the world a work on Presbyterianism, embracing +an analysis of the ecclesiastical history of Scotland since the +reformation, which is spoken of as written with great ability, in a most +candid and liberal spirit. + +The company soon formed themselves into little groups in different parts +of the room. The Duchess of Sutherland, Lord Carlisle, and the Duke and +Duchess of Argyle formed a circle, and turned the conversation upon +American topics. The Duke of Argyle made many inquiries about our +distinguished men; particularly of Emerson, Longfellow, and Hawthorne; +also of Prescott, who appears to be a general favorite here. I felt at +the moment that we never value our literary men so much as when placed +in a circle of intelligent foreigners; it is particularly so with +Americans, because we have nothing but our men and women to glory in--no +court, no nobles, no castles, no cathedrals; except we produce +distinguished specimens of humanity, we are nothing. + +The quietness of this evening circle, the charm of its kind hospitality, +the evident air of sincerity and good will which pervaded every thing, +made the evening pass most delightfully to me. I had never felt myself +more at home even among the Quakers. Such a visit is a true rest and +refreshment, a thousand times better than the most brilliant and +glittering entertainment. + +At eleven o'clock, however, the carriage called, for our evening was +drawing to its close; that of our friends, I suppose, was but just +commencing, as London's liveliest hours are by gaslight, but we cannot +learn the art of turning night into day. + + + + +LETTER XV. + + +May 4. + +MY DEAR S.:-- + +This morning I felt too tired to go out any where; but Mr. and Mrs. +Binney persuaded me to go just a little while in to the meeting of the +Bible Society, for you must know that this is anniversary week, and so, +besides the usual rush, and roar, and whirl of London, there is the +confluence of all the religious forces in Exeter Hall. I told Mrs. B. +that I was worn out, and did not think I could sit through a single +speech; but she tempted me by a promise that I should withdraw at any +moment. We had a nice little snug gallery near one of the doors, where I +could see all over the house, and make a quick retreat in case of need. + +In one point English ladies certainly do carry practical industry +farther than I ever saw it in America. Every body knows that an +anniversary meeting is something of a siege, and I observed many good +ladies below had made regular provision therefor, by bringing knitting +work, sewing, crochet, or embroidery. I thought it was an improvement, +and mean to recommend it when I get home. I am sure many of our Marthas +in America will be very grateful for the custom. + +The Earl of Shaftesbury was in the chair, and I saw him now for the +first time. He is quite a tall man, of slender figure, with a long and +narrow face, dark hazel eyes, and very thick, auburn hair. His bearing +was dignified and appropriate to his position. People here are somewhat +amused by the vivacity with which American papers are exhorting Lord +Shaftesbury to look into the factory system, and to explore the +collieries, and in general to take care of the suffering lower classes, +as if he had been doing any thing else for these twenty years past. To +people who know how he has worked against wind and tide, in the face of +opposition and obloquy, and how all the dreadful statistics that they +quote against him were brought out expressly by inquiries set on foot +and prosecuted by him, and how these same statistics have been by him +reiterated in the ears of successive houses of Parliament till all these +abuses have been reformed, as far as the most stringent and minute +legislation can reform, them,--it is quite amusing to hear him exhorted +to consider the situation of the working classes. One reason for this, +perhaps, is that provoking facility in changing names which is incident +to the English peerage. During the time that most of the researches and +speeches on the factory system and collieries were made, the Earl of +Shaftesbury was in the House of Commons, with the title of Lord Ashley, +and it was not till the death of his father that he entered the House of +Peers as Lord Shaftesbury. The contrast which a very staid religious +paper in America has drawn between Lord Ashley and Lord Shaftesbury does +not strike people over here as remarkably apposite. + +In the course of the speeches on this occasion, frequent and feeling +allusions were made to the condition of three millions of people in +America who are prevented by legislative enactments from reading for +themselves the word of life. I know it is not pleasant to our ministers +upon the stage to hear such things; but is the whole moral sense of the +world to hush its voice, the whole missionary spirit of Christianity to +be restrained, because it is disagreeable for us to be reminded of our +national sins? At least, let the moral atmosphere of the world be kept +pure, though it should be too stimulating for our diseased lungs. If +oral instruction will do for three million slaves in America, it will do +equally well in Austria, Italy, and Spain, and the powers that be, +there, are just of the opinion that they are in America--that it is +dangerous to have the people read the Bible for themselves. Thoughts of +this kind were very ably set forth in some of the speeches. On the stage +I noticed Rev. Samuel R. Ward, from Toronto in Canada, a full blooded +African of fine personal presence. He was received and treated with much +cordiality by the ministerial brethren who surrounded him. I was sorry +that I could not stay through the speeches, for they were quite +interesting. C. thought they were the best he ever heard at an +anniversary. I was obliged to leave after a little. Mr. Sherman very +kindly came for us in his carriage, and took us a little ride into the +country. + +Mrs. B. says that to-morrow morning we shall go out to see the Dulwich +Gallery, a fine collection of paintings by the old masters. Now, I +confess unto you that I have great suspicions of these old masters. Why, +I wish to know, should none but _old_ masters be thought any thing of? +Is not nature ever springing, ever new? Is it not fair to conclude that +all the mechanical assistants of painting are improved with the advance +of society, as much as of all arts? May not the magical tints, which are +said to be a secret with the old masters, be the effect of time in part? +or may not modern artists have their secrets, as well, for future ages +to study and admire? Then, besides, how are we to know that our +admiration of old masters is genuine, since we can bring our taste to +any thing, if we only know we must, and try long enough? People never +like olives the first time they eat them. In fact, I must confess, I +have some partialities towards young masters, and a sort of suspicion +that we are passing over better paintings at our side, to get at those +which, though the best of their day, are not so good as the best of +ours. I certainly do not worship the old English poets. With the +exception of Milton and Shakspeare, there is more poetry in the works of +the writers of the last fifty years than in all the rest together. Well, +these are my surmises for the present; but one thing I am determined--as +my admiration is nothing to any body but myself, I will keep some likes +and dislikes of my own, and will not get up any raptures that do not +arise of themselves. I am entirely willing to be conquered by any +picture that has the power. I will be a non-resistant, but that is all. + +May 5. Well, we saw the Dulwich Gallery; five rooms filled with old +masters, Murillos, Claudes, Rubens, Salvator Rosas, Titians, Cuyps, +Vandykes, and all the rest of them; probably not the best specimens of +any one of them, but good enough to begin with. C. and I took different +courses. I said to him, "Now choose nine pictures simply by your eye, +and see how far its untaught guidance will bring you within the canons +of criticism." When he had gone through all the rooms and marked his +pictures, we found he had selected two by Rubens, two by Vandyke, one by +Salvator Rosa, three by Murillo, and one by Titian. Pretty successful +that, was it not, for a first essay? We then took the catalogue, and +selected all the pictures of each artist one after another, in order to +get an idea of the style of each. I had a great curiosity to see Claude +Lorraine's, remembering the poetical things that had been said and sung +of him. I thought I would see if I could distinguish them by my eye +without looking at the catalogue I found I could do so. I knew them by a +certain misty quality in the atmosphere. I was disappointed in them, +very much. Certainly, they were good paintings; I had nothing to object +to them, but I profanely thought I had seen pictures by modern landscape +painters as far excelling them as a brilliant morning excels a cool, +gray day. Very likely the fault was all in me, but I could not help it; +so I tried the Murillos. There was a Virgin and Child, with clouds +around them. The virgin was a very pretty girl, such as you may see by +the dozen in any boarding school, and the child was a pretty child. Call +it the young mother and son, and it is a very pretty picture; but call +it Mary and the infant Jesus, and it is an utter failure. Not such was +the Jewish princess, the inspired poetess and priestess, the chosen of +God among all women. + +It seems to me that painting is poetry expressing itself by lines and +colors instead of words; therefore there are two things to be considered +in every picture: first, the quality of the idea expressed, and second, +the quality of the language in which it is expressed. Now, with regard +to the first, I hold that every person of cultivated taste is as good a +judge of painting as of poetry. The second, which relates to the mode of +expressing the conception, including drawing and coloring, with all +their secrets, requires more study, and here our untaught perceptions +must sometimes yield to the judgment of artists. My first question, +then, when I look at the work of an artist, is, What sort of a mind has +this man? What has he to say? And then I consider, How does he say it? + +Now, with regard to Murillo, it appeared to me that he was a man of +rather a mediocre mind, with nothing very high or deep to say, but that +he was gifted with an exquisite faculty of expressing what he did say; +and his paintings seem to me to bear an analogy to Pope's poetry, +wherein the power of expression is wrought to the highest point, but +without freshness or ideality in the conception. As Pope could reproduce +in most exquisite wording the fervent ideas of Eloisa, without the power +to originate such, so Murillo reproduced the current and floating +religious ideas of his times, with most exquisite perfection of art and +color, but without ideality or vitality. The pictures of his which +please me most are his beggar boys and flower girls, where he abandons +the region of ideality, and simply reproduces nature. His art and +coloring give an exquisite grace to such sketches. + +As to Vandyke, though evidently a fine painter, he is one whose mind +does not move me. He adds nothing to my stock of thoughts--awakens no +emotion. I know it is a fine picture, just as I have sometimes been +conscious in church that I was hearing a fine sermon, which somehow had +not the slightest effect upon me. + +Rubens, on the contrary, whose pictures I detested with all the energy +of my soul, I knew and felt all the time, by the very pain he gave me, +to be a real living artist. There was a Venus and Cupid there, as fat +and as coarse as they could be, but so freely drawn, and so masterly in +their expression and handling, that one must feel that they were by an +artist, who could just as easily have painted them any other way if it +had suited his sovereign pleasure, and therefore we are the more vexed +with him. When your taste is crossed by a clever person, it always vexes +you more than when it is done by a stupid one, because it is done with +such power that there is less hope for you. + +There were a number of pictures of Cuyp there, which satisfied my thirst +for coloring, and appeared to me as I expected the Claudes would have +done. Generally speaking, his objects are few in number and commonplace +in their character--a bit of land and water, a few cattle and figures, +in no way remarkable; but then he floods the whole with that dreamy, +misty sunlight, such as fills the arches of our forests in the days of +autumn. As I looked at them I fancied I could hear nuts dropping from +the trees among the dry leaves, and see the goldenrods and purple +asters, and hear the click of the squirrel as he whips up the tree to +his nest. For this one attribute of golden, dreamy haziness, I like +Cuyp. His power in shedding it over very simple objects reminds me of +some of the short poems of Longfellow, when things in themselves most +prosaic are flooded with a kind of poetic light from the inner soul. +These are merely first ideas and impressions. Of course I do not make up +my mind about any artist from what I have seen here. We must not expect +a painter to put his talent into every picture, more than a poet into +every verse that he writes. Like other men, he is sometimes brilliant +and inspired, and at others dull and heavy. In general, however, I have +this to say, that there is some kind of fascination about these old +masters which I feel very sensibly. But yet, I am sorry to add that +there is very little of what I consider the highest mission of art in +the specimens I have thus far seen; nothing which speaks to the deepest +and the highest; which would inspire a generous ardor, or a solemn +religious trust. Vainly I seek for something divine, and ask of art to +bring me nearer to the source of all beauty and perfection. I find +wealth of coloring, freedom of design, and capability of expression +wasting themselves merely in portraying trivial sensualities and +commonplace ideas. So much for the first essay. + +In the evening we went to dine with our old friends of the Dingle, Mr. +and Mrs. Edward Cropper, who are now spending a little time in London. +We were delighted to meet them once more, and to hear from our Liverpool +friends. Mrs. Cropper's father, Lord Denman, has returned to England, +though with no sensible improvement in his health. + +At dinner we were introduced to Lord and Lady Hatherton. Lord Hatherton +is a member of the whig party, and has been chief secretary for Ireland. +Lady Hatherton is a person of great cultivation and intelligence, warmly +interested in all the progressive movements of the day; and I gained +much information in her society. There were also present Sir Charles and +Lady Trevelyan; the former holds some appointment in the navy. Lady +Trevelyan is a sister of Macaulay. + +In the evening quite a circle came in; among others, Lady Emma Campbell, +sister of the Duke of Argyle; the daughters of the Archbishop of +Canterbury, who very kindly invited me to visit them, at Lambeth; and +Mr. Arthur Helps, besides many others whose names I need not mention. + +People here continually apologize for the weather, which, to say the +least, has been rather ungracious since we have been here; as if one +ever expected to find any thing but smoke, and darkness, and fog in +London. The authentic air with which they lament the existence of these +things _at present_ would almost persuade one that _in general_ London +was a very clear, bright place. I, however, assured them that, having +heard from my childhood of the smoke of London, its dimness and +darkness, I found things much better than I had expected. + +They talk here of spirit rappings and table turnings, I find, as in +America. Many rumors are afloat which seem to have no other effect than +merely to enliven the chitchat of an evening circle. I passed a very +pleasant evening, and left about ten o'clock. The gentleman who was +handing me down stairs said, "I suppose you are going to one or two +other places to-night." The idea struck me as so preposterous that I +could not help an exclamation of surprise. + +May 6. A good many calls this morning. Among others came Miss +Greenfield, the (so called) Black Swan. She appears to be a gentle, +amiable, and interesting young person. She was born the slave of a kind +mistress, who gave her every thing but education, and, dying, left her +free with a little property. The property she lost by some legal +quibble, but had, like others of her race, a passion for music, and +could sing and play by ear. A young lady, discovering her taste, gave +her a few lessons. She has a most astonishing voice. C. sat down to the +piano and played, while she sung. Her voice runs through a compass of +three octaves and a fourth. This is four notes more than Malibran's. She +sings a most magnificent tenor, with such a breadth and volume of sound +that, with your back turned, you could not imagine it to be a woman. +While she was there, Mrs. S.C. Hall, of the Irish Sketches, was +announced. She is a tall, well-proportioned woman, with a fine color, +dark-brown hair, and a cheerful, cordial manner. She brought with her +her only daughter, a young girl about fifteen. I told her of Miss +Greenfield, and, she took great interest in her, and requested her to +sing something for her. C. played the accompaniment, and she sung Old +Folks at Home, first in a soprano voice, and then in a tenor or +baritone. Mrs. Hall was amazed and delighted, and entered at once into +her cause. She said that she would call with me and present her to Sir +George Smart, who is at the head of the queen's musical establishment, +and, of course, the acknowledged leader of London musical judgment. + +Mrs. Hall very kindly told me that she had called to invite me to seek a +retreat with her in her charming little country house near London. I do +not mean that _she_ called it a charming little retreat, but that every +one who speaks of it gives it that character. She told me that I should +there have positive and perfect quiet; and what could attract me more +than that? She said, moreover, that there they had a great many +nightingales. Ah, this "bower of roses by Bendemeer's stream," could I +only go there! but I am tied to London by a hundred engagements. I +cannot do it. Nevertheless, I have promised that I will go and spend +some time yet, when Mr. S. leaves London. + +In the course of the day I had a note from Mrs. Hall, saying that, as +Sir George Smart was about leaving town, she had not waited for me, but +had taken Miss Greenfield to him herself. She writes that he was really +astonished and charmed at the wonderful weight, compass, and power of +her voice. He was also as well pleased with the mind in her singing, and +her quickness in doing and catching all that he told her. Should she +have a public opportunity to perform, he offered to hear her rehearse +beforehand. Mrs. Hall says this is a great deal for him, whose hours are +all marked with gold. + +In the evening the house was opened in a general way for callers, who +were coming and going all the evening. I think there must have been over +two hundred people--among them Martin Farquhar Tupper, a little man, +with fresh, rosy complexion, and cheery, joyous manners; and Mary +Howitt, just such a cheerful, sensible, fireside companion as we find +her in her books,--winning love and trust the very first few moments of +the interview. The general topic of remark on meeting me seems to be, +that I am not so bad looking as they were afraid I was; and I do assure +you that, when I have seen the things that are put up in the shop +windows here with my name under them, I have been in wondering +admiration at the boundless loving-kindness of my English and Scottish +friends, in keeping up such a warm heart for such a Gorgon. I should +think that the Sphinx in the London Museum might have sat for most of +them. I am going to make a collection of these portraits to bring home +to you. There is a great variety of them, and they will be useful, like +the Irishman's guideboard, which showed where the road did not go. + +Before the evening was through I was talked out and worn out--there was +hardly a chip of me left. To-morrow at eleven o'clock comes the meeting +at Stafford House. What it will amount to I do not know; but I take no +thought for the morrow. + + + + +LETTER XVI. + + +MAY 8. + +MY DEAR C.:-- + +In fulfilment of my agreement, I will tell you, as nearly as I can +remember, all the details of the meeting at Stafford House. + +At about eleven o'clock we drove under the arched carriage way of a +mansion, externally, not very showy in appearance. It stands on the +borders of St. James's Park, opposite to Buckingham Palace, with a +street on the north side, and beautiful gardens on the south, while the +park is extended on the west. + +We were received at the door by two stately Highlanders in full costume; +and what seemed to me an innumerable multitude of servants in livery, +with powdered hair, repeated our names through the long corridors, from +one to another. + +I have only a confused idea of passing from passage to passage, and from +hall to hall, till finally we were introduced into a large drawing room. +No person was present, and I was at full leisure to survey an apartment +whose arrangements more perfectly suited my eye and taste than any I had +ever seen before. There was not any particular splendor of furniture, or +dazzling display of upholstery, but an artistic, poetic air, resulting +from the arrangement of colors, and the disposition of the works of +_virtu_ with which the room abounded. The great fault in many splendid +rooms, is, that they are arranged without any eye to unity of +impression. The things in them may be all fine in their way, but there +is no harmony of result. + +People do not often consider that there may be a general sentiment to be +expressed in the arrangement of a room, as well as in the composition of +a picture. It is this leading idea which corresponds to what painters +call the ground tone, or harmonizing tint, of a picture. The presence of +this often renders a very simple room extremely fascinating, and the +absence of it makes the most splendid combinations of furniture +powerless to please. + +The walls were covered with green damask, laid on flat, and confined in +its place by narrow gilt bands, which bordered it around the margin. The +chairs, ottomans, and sofas were of white woodwork, varnished and +gilded, covered with the same. + +The carpet was of a green ground, bedropped with a small yellow leaf; +and in each window a circular, standing basket contained a whole bank of +primroses, growing as if in their native soil, their pale yellow +blossoms and green leaves harmonizing admirably with the general tone of +coloring. + +Through the fall of the lace curtains I could see out into the beautiful +grounds, whose clumps of blossoming white lilacs, and velvet grass, +seemed so in harmony with the green interior of the room, that one would +think they had been arranged as a continuation of the idea. + +One of the first individual objects which attracted my attention was, +over the mantel-piece, a large, splendid picture by Landseer, which I +have often seen engraved. It represents the two eldest children of the +Duchess of Sutherland, the Marquis of Stafford, and Lady Blantyre, at +that time Lady Levison Gower, in their childhood. She is represented as +feeding a fawn; a little poodle dog is holding up a rose to her; and her +brother is lying on the ground, playing with an old staghound. + +I had been familiar with Landseer's engravings, but this was the first +of his paintings I had ever seen, and I was struck with the rich and +harmonious quality of the coloring. There was also a full-length marble +statue of the Marquis of Stafford, taken, I should think, at about +seventeen years of age, in full Highland costume. + +When the duchess appeared, I thought she looked handsomer by daylight +than in the evening. She was dressed in white muslin, with a drab velvet +basque slashed with satin of the same color. Her hair was confined by a +gold and diamond net on the back part of her head. + +She received us with the same warm and simple kindness which she had +shown before. We were presented to the Duke of Sutherland. He is a tall, +slender man, with rather a thin face, light brown hair, and a mild blue +eye, with an air of gentleness and dignity. The delicacy of his health +prevents him from moving in general society, or entering into public +life. He spends much of his time in reading, and devising and executing +schemes of practical benevolence for the welfare of his numerous +dependants. + +I sought a little private conversation with the duchess in her boudoir, +in which I frankly confessed a little anxiety respecting the +arrangements of the day: having lived all my life in such a shady and +sequestered way, and being entirely ignorant of life as it exists in the +sphere in which she moves, such apprehensions were rather natural. + +She begged that I would make myself entirely easy, and consider myself +as among my own friends; that she had invited a few friends to lunch, +and that afterwards others would call; that there would be a short +address from the ladies of England read by Lord Shaftesbury, which would +require no answer. + +I could not but be grateful for the consideration thus evinced. The +matter being thus adjusted, we came back to the drawing room, when the +party began to assemble. + +The only difference, I may say, by the by, in the gathering of such a +company and one with us, is in the announcing of names at the door; a, +custom which I think a good one, saving a vast deal of the breath we +always expend in company, by asking "Who is that? and that?" Then, too, +people can fall into conversation without a formal presentation, the +presumption being that nobody is invited with whom, it is not proper +that you should converse. The functionary who performed the announcing +was a fine, stalwart man, in full Highland costume, the duke being the +head of a Highland clan. + +Among the first that entered were the members of the family, the Duke +and Duchess of Argyle, Lord and Lady Blantyre, the Marquis and +Marchioness of Stafford, and Lady Emma Campbell. Then followed Lord +Shaftesbury with his beautiful lady, and her father and mother, Lord and +Lady Palmerston. Lord Palmerston is of middle height, with a keen, dark +eye, and black hair streaked with gray. There is something peculiarly +alert and vivacious about all his movements; in short his appearance +perfectly answers to what we know of him from his public life. One has a +strange mythological feeling about the existence of people of whom one +hears for many years without ever seeing them. While talking with Lord +Palmerston I could but remember how often I had heard father and Mr. S. +exulting over his foreign despatches by our home fireside. + +The Marquis of Lansdowne now entered. He is about the middle height, +with gray hair, blue eyes, and a mild, quiet dignity of manner. He is +one of those who, as Lord Henry Pettes, took a distinguished part with +Clarkson and Wilberforce in the abolition of the slave trade. He has +always been a most munificent patron of literature and art. + +There were present, also, Lord John Russell, Mr. Gladstone, and Lord +Grenville. The latter we all thought very strikingly resembled in his +appearance the poet Longfellow. My making the remark introduced the +subject of his poetry. The Duchess of Argyle appealed to her two little +boys, who stood each side of her, if they remembered her reading +Evangeline to them. It is a gratification to me that I find by every +English fireside traces of one of our American poets. These two little +boys of the Duchess of Argyle, and the youngest son of the Duchess of +Sutherland, were beautiful fair-haired children, picturesquely attired +in the Highland costume. There were some other charming children of the +family circle present. The eldest son of the Duke of Argyle bears the +title of the Lord of Lorn, which Scott has rendered so poetical a sound +to our ears. + +When lunch was announced, the Duke of Sutherland gave me his arm, and +led me through a suite of rooms into the dining hall. Each room that we +passed was rich in its pictures, statues, and artistic arrangements; a +poetic eye and taste had evidently presided over all. The table was +beautifully laid, ornamented by two magnificent _épergnes_, crystal +vases supported by wrought silver standards, filled with the most +brilliant hothouse flowers; on the edges of the vases and nestling +among the flowers were silver doves of the size of life. The walls of +the room were hung with gorgeous pictures, and directly opposite to me +was a portrait of the Duchess of Sutherland, by Sir Thomas Lawrence, +which has figured largely in our souvenirs and books of beauty. She is +represented with a little child in her arms; this child, now Lady +Blantyre, was sitting opposite to me at table, with a charming little +girl of her own, of about the same apparent age. When one sees such +things, one almost fancies this to be a fairy palace, where the cold +demons of age and time have lost their power. + +I was seated next to Lord Lansdowne, who conversed much with me about +affairs in America. It seems to me that the great men of the old world +regard our country thoughtfully. It is a new development of society, +acting every day with greater and greater power on the old world; nor is +it yet clearly seen what its final results will be. His observations +indicated a calm, clear, thoughtful mind--an accurate observer of life +and history. + +Meanwhile the servants moved noiselessly to and fro, taking up the +various articles on the table, and offering them to the guests in a +peculiarly quiet manner. One of the dishes brought to me was a plover's +nest, precisely as the plover made it, with five little blue speckled +eggs in it. This mode of serving plover's eggs, as I understand it, is +one of the fashions of-the day, and has something quite sylvan and +picturesque about it; but it looked so, for all the world, like a +robin's nest that I used to watch out in our home orchard, that I had it +not in my heart to profane the sanctity of the image by eating one of +the eggs. + +The _cuisine_ of these West End regions appears to be entirely under +French legislation, conducted by Parisian artists, skilled in all subtle +and metaphysical combinations of ethereal possibilities, quite +inscrutable to the eye of sense. Her grace's _chef_, I have heard it +said elsewhere, bears the reputation of being the first artist of his +class in England. The profession as thus sublimated bears the same +proportion to the old substantial English cookery that Mozart's music +does to Handel's, or Midsummer Night's Dream to Paradise Lost. + +This meal, called _lunch_, is with the English quite an institution, +being apparently a less elaborate and ceremonious dinner. Every thing is +placed upon the table at once, and ladies sit down without removing +their bonnets; it is, I imagine, the most social and family meal of the +day; one in which children are admitted to the table, even in the +presence of company. It generally takes place in the middle of the day, +and the dinner, which comes after it, at eight or nine in the evening, +is in comparison only a ceremonial proceeding. + +I could not help thinking, as I looked around on so many men whom I had +heard of historically all my life, how very much less they bear the +marks of age than men who have been connected a similar length of time +with the movements of our country. This appearance of youthfulness and +alertness has a constantly deceptive influence upon one in England. I +cannot realize that people are as old as history states them to be. In +the present company there were men of sixty or seventy, whom I should +have pronounced at the first glance to be fifty. + +Generally speaking our working minds seem to wear out their bodies +faster; perhaps because our climate is more stimulating; more, perhaps, +from the intenser stimulus of our political _régime_, which never leaves +any thing long at rest. + +The tone of manners in this distinguished circle did not obtrude itself +upon my mind as different from that of highly-educated people in our own +country. It appeared simple, friendly, natural, and sincere. They talked +like people who thought of what they were saying, rather than how to say +it. The practice of thorough culture and good breeding is substantially +the same through the world, though smaller conventionalities may differ. + +After lunch the whole party ascended to the picture gallery, passing on +our way the grand staircase and hall, said to be the most magnificent in +Europe. All that wealth could command of artistic knowledge and skill +has been expended here to produce a superb result. It fills the entire +centre of the building, extending up to the roof and surmounted by a +splendid dome. On three sides a gallery runs round it supported by +pillars. To this gallery you ascend on the fourth side by a staircase, +which midway has a broad, flat landing, from which stairs ascend, on the +right and left, into the gallery. The whole hall and staircase, carpeted +with a scarlet footcloth, give a broad, rich mass of coloring, throwing +out finely the statuary and gilded balustrades. On the landing is a +marble statue of a Sibyl, by Rinaldi. The walls are adorned by gorgeous +frescos from Paul Veronese. What is peculiar in the arrangements of this +hall is, that although so extensive, it still wears an air of warm +homelikeness and comfort, as if it might be a delightful place to lounge +and enjoy life, amid the ottomans, sofas, pictures, and statuary, which +are disposed here and there throughout. + +All this, however, I passed rapidly by as I ascended the staircase, and +passed onward to the picture gallery. This was a room about a hundred +feet long by forty wide, surmounted by a dome gorgeously finished with +golden palm, trees and carving. This hall is lighted in the evening by a +row of gaslights placed outside the ground glass of the dome; this light +is concentrated and thrown down by strong reflectors, communicating thus +the most brilliant radiance without the usual heat of gas. This gallery +is peculiarly rich in paintings of the Spanish school. Among them are +two superb Murillos, taken from convents by Marshal Soult, during the +time of his career in Spain. + +There was a painting by Paul de la Roche of the Earl of Strafford led +forth to execution, engravings of which we have seen in the print shops +in America. It is a strong and striking picture, and has great dramatic +effect. But there was a painting in one corner by a Flemish artist, +whose name I do not now remember, representing Christ under examination +before Caiaphas. It was a candle-light scene, and only two faces were +very distinct; the downcast, calm, resolute face of Christ, in which was +written a perfect knowledge of his approaching doom, and the eager, +perturbed vehemence of the high priest, who was interrogating him. On +the frame was engraved the lines,-- + + "He was wounded for our transgressions, + He was bruised for our iniquities; + The chastisement of our peace was upon him, + And with his stripes we are healed." + +The presence of this picture here in the midst of this scene was very +affecting to me. + +The company now began to assemble and throng the gallery, and very soon +the vast room was crowded. Among the throng I remember many +presentations, but of course must have forgotten many more. Archbishop +Whately was there, with Mrs. and Miss Whately; Macaulay, with two of +his sisters; Milman, the poet and historian; the Bishop of Oxford, +Chevalier Bunsen and lady, and many more. + +When all the company were together Lord Shaftesbury read a very short, +kind, and considerate address in behalf of the ladies of England, +expressive of their cordial welcome. The address will be seen in the +Morning Advertiser, which I send you. The company remained a while after +this, walking through the rooms and conversing in different groups, and +I talked with several. Archbishop Whately, I thought, seemed rather +inclined to be jocose: he seems to me like some of our American divines; +a man who pays little attention to forms, and does not value them. There +is a kind of brusque humor in his address, a downright heartiness, which +reminds one of western character. If he had been born in our latitude, +in Kentucky or Wisconsin, the natives would have called him Whately, and +said he was a real steamboat on an argument. This is not precisely the +kind of man we look for in an archbishop. One sees traces of this humor +in his Historic Doubts concerning the Existence of Napoleon. I conversed +with some who knew him intimately, and they said that he delighted in +puns and odd turns of language. + +I was also introduced to the Bishop of Oxford, who is a son of +Wilberforce. He is a short man, of very youthful appearance, with bland, +graceful, courteous manners. He is much admired as a speaker. I heard +him spoken of as one of the most popular preachers of the day. + +I must not forget to say that many ladies of the society of Friends were +here, and one came and put on to my arm a reticule, in which, she said, +were carried about the very first antislavery tracts ever distributed in +England. At that time the subject of antislavery was as unpopular in +England as it can be at this day any where in the world, and I trust +that a day will come when the subject will be as popular in South +Carolina as it is now in England. People always glory in the right after +they have done it. + +After a while the company dispersed over the house to look at the rooms. +There are all sorts of parlors and reception rooms, furnished with the +same correct taste. Each room had its predominant color; among them blue +was a particular favorite. + +The carpets were all of those small figures I have described, the blue +ones being of the same pattern with the green. The idea, I suppose, is +to produce a mass of color of a certain tone, and not to distract the +eye with the complicated pattern. Where so many objects of art and +_virtu_ are to be exhibited, without this care in regulating and +simplifying the ground tints, there would be no unity in the impression. +This was my philosophizing on the matter, and if it is not the reason +why it is done, it ought to be. It is as good a theory as most theories, +at any rate. + +Before we went away I made a little call on the Lady Constance +Grosvenor, and saw the future Marquis of Westminster, heir to the +largest estate in England. His beautiful mother is celebrated in the +annals of the court journal as one of the handsomest ladies in England. +His little lordship was presented to me in all the dignity of long, +embroidered clothes, being then, I believe, not quite a fortnight old, +and I can assure you that he demeaned himself with a gravity becoming +his rank and expectations. + +There is a more than common interest attached to these children by one +who watches the present state of the world. On the character and +education of the princes and nobility of this generation the future +history of England must greatly depend. + +This Stafford House meeting, in any view of it, is a most remarkable +fact. Kind and gratifying as its arrangements have been to me, I am far +from appropriating it to myself individually, as a personal honor. I +rather regard it as the most public expression possible of the feelings +of the women of England on one of the most important questions of our +day--that, of individual liberty considered in its religious bearings. + +The most splendid of England's palaces has this day opened its doors to +the slave. Its treasures of wealth and of art, its prestige of high name +and historic memories, have been consecrated to the acknowledgment of +Christianity in that form, wherein, in our day, it is most frequently +denied--the recognition of the brotherhood of the human family, and the +equal religious value of every human soul. A fair and noble hand by this +meeting has fixed, in the most public manner, an ineffaceable seal to +the beautiful sentiments of that most Christian document, the letter of +the ladies of Great Britain to the ladies of America. That letter and +this public attestation of it are now historic facts, which wait their +time and the judgment of advancing Christianity. + +Concerning that letter I have one or two things to say. Nothing can be +more false than the insinuation that has been thrown out in some +American papers, that it was a political movement. It had its first +origin in the deep religious feelings of the man whose whole life has +been devoted to the abolition of the white-labor slavery of Great +Britain; the man whose eye explored the darkness of the collieries, and +counted the weary steps of the cotton spinners--who penetrated the dens +where the insane were tortured with darkness, and cold, and stripes; and +threaded the loathsome alleys of London, haunts of fever and cholera: +this man it was, whose heart was overwhelmed by the tale of American +slavery, and who could find no relief from, this distress except in +raising some voice to the ear of Christianity. Fearful of the jealousy +of political interference, Lord Shaftesbury published an address to the +ladies of England, in which he told them that he felt himself moved by +an irresistible impulse to entreat them to raise their voice, in the +name of a common Christianity and womanhood, to their American sisters. +The abuse which has fallen upon him for this most Christian proceeding +does not in the least surprise him, because it is of the kind that has +always met him in every benevolent movement. When in the Parliament of +England he was pleading for women in the collieries who were harnessed +like beasts of burden, and made to draw heavy loads through miry and +dark passages, and for children who were taken at three years old to +labor where the sun never shines, he was met with determined and furious +opposition and obloquy--accused of being a disorganizer, and of wishing +to restore the dark ages. Very similar accusations have attended all his +efforts for the laboring classes during the long course of seventeen +years, which resulted at last in the triumphant passage of the factory +bill. + +We in America ought to remember that the gentle remonstrance of the +letter of the ladies of England contains, in the mildest form, the +sentiments of universal Christendom. Rebukes much more pointed are +coming back to us even from, our own missionaries. A day is coming when, +past all the temporary currents of worldly excitement, we shall, each of +us, stand alone face to face with the perfect purity of our Redeemer. +The thought of such a final interview ought certainly to modify all our +judgments now, that we may strive to approve only what we shall then +approve. + + + + +LETTER XVII. + + +MY DEAR C.:-- + +As to those ridiculous stories about the Duchess of Sutherland, which +have found their way into many of the prints in America, one has only to +be here, moving in society, to see how excessively absurd they are. + +All my way through Scotland, and through England, I was associating, +from day to day, with people of every religious denomination, and every +rank of life. I have been with, dissenters and with churchmen; with the +national Presbyterian church and the free Presbyterian; with Quakers and +Baptists. + +In all these circles I have heard the great and noble of the land freely +spoken of and canvassed, and if there had been the least shadow of a +foundation for any such accusations, I certainly should have heard it +recognized in some manner. If in no other, such warm friends as I have +heard speak would have alluded to the subject in the way of defence; but +I have actually never heard any allusion of any sort, as if there was +any thing to be explained or accounted for. + +As I have before intimated, the Howard family, to which the duchess +belongs, is one which has always been on the side of popular rights and +popular reform. Lord Carlisle, her brother, has been a leader of the +people, particularly during the time of the corn-law reformation, and +_she_ has been known to take a wide and generous interest in all these +subjects. Every where that I have moved through Scotland and England I +have heard her kindness of heart, her affability of manner, and her +attention to the feelings of others spoken of as marked characteristics. + +Imagine, then, what people must think when they find in respectable +American prints the absurd story of her turning her tenants out into the +snow, and ordering the cottages to be set on fire over their heads +because they would not go out. + +But, if you ask how such an absurd story could ever have been made up, +whether there is the least foundation to make it on, I answer, that it +is the exaggerated report of a movement made by the present Duke of +Sutherland's father, in the year 1811, and which was part of a great +movement that passed through, the Highlands of Scotland, when the +advancing progress of civilization began to make it necessary to change +the estates from military to agricultural establishments. + +Soon after the union of the crowns of England and Scotland, the border +chiefs found it profitable to adopt upon their estates that system, of +agriculture to which their hills were adapted, rather than to continue +the maintenance of military retainers. Instead of keeping garrisons, +with small armies, in a district, they decided to keep only so many as +could profitably cultivate the land. The effect of this, of course, was +like disbanding an army. It threw many people out of employ, and forced +them to seek for a home elsewhere. Like many other movements which, in +their final results, are beneficial to society, this was at first +vehemently resisted, and had to be carried into effect in some cases by +force. As I have said, it began first in the southern counties of +Scotland, soon after the union of the English and Scottish crowns, and +gradually crept northward--one county after another yielding to the +change. To a certain extent, as it progressed northward, the demand for +labor in the great towns absorbed the surplus population; but when it +came into the extreme Highlands, this refuge was wanting. Emigration to +America now became the resource; and the surplus population were induced +to this by means such as the Colonization Society now recommends and +approves for promoting emigration to Liberia. + +The first farm that was so formed on the Sutherland estate was in 1806. +The great change was made in 1811-12, and completed in 1819-20. + +The Sutherland estates are in the most northern portion of Scotland. The +distance of this district from the more advanced parts of the kingdom, +the total want of roads, the unfrequent communication by sea, and the +want of towns, made it necessary to adopt a different course in regard +to the location of the Sutherland population from that which +circumstances had provided in other parts of Scotland, where they had +been removed from the bleak and uncultivable mountains. They had lots +given them near the sea, or in more fertile spots, where, by labor and +industry, they might maintain themselves. They had two years allowed +them for preparing for the change, without payment of rent. Timber for +their houses was given, and many other facilities for assisting their +change. + +The general agent of the Sutherland estate is Mr. Loch. In a speech of +this gentleman in the House of Commons, on the second reading of the +Scotch poor-law bill, June 12, 1845, he states the following fact with +regard to the management of the Sutherland estate during this period, +from 1811 to 1833, which certainly can speak for itself: "I can state as +from fact that, from 1811 to 1833, not one sixpence of rent has been +received from that county, but, on the contrary, there has been sent +there, for the benefit and improvement of the people, a sum exceeding +sixty thousand pounds." + +Mr. Loch goes on in the same speech to say, "There is no set of people +more industrious than the people of Sutherland. Thirty years since they +were engaged in illegal distillation to a very great extent; at the +present moment there is not, I believe, an illegal still in the county. +Their morals have improved as those habits have been abandoned; and they +have added many hundreds, I believe thousands, of acres to the land in +cultivation since they were placed upon the shore. + +"Previous to that change to which I have referred, they exported very +few cattle, and hardly any thing else. They were, also, every now and +then, exposed to all the difficulties of extreme famine. In the years +1812-13, and 1816-17, so great was the misery that it was necessary to +send down oatmeal for their supply to the amount of nine thousand +pounds, and that was given to the people. But, since industrious habits +were introduced, and they were settled within reach of fishing, no such +calamity has overtaken them. Their condition was then so low that they +were obliged to bleed their cattle, during the winter, and mix the blood +with the remnant of meal they had, in order to save them from +starvation. + +"Since then the country has improved so much that the fish, in +particular, which they exported, in 1815, from one village alone, +Helmsdale, (which, previous to 1811, did not exist,) amounted to five +thousand three hundred and eighteen barrels of herring, and in 1844 +thirty-seven thousand five hundred and ninety-four barrels, giving +employment to about three thousand nine hundred people. This extends +over the whole of the county, in which fifty-six thousand barrels were +cured. + +"Do not let me be supposed to say that there are not cases requiring +attention: it must be so in a large population; but there can be no +means taken by a landlord, or by those under him, that are not bestowed +upon that tenantry. + +"It has been said that the contribution by the heritor (the duke) to one +kirk session for the poor was but six pounds. Now, in the eight parishes +which are called Sutherland proper, the amount of the contribution of +the Duke of Sutherland to the kirk session is forty-two pounds a year. +That is a very small sum but that sum merely is so given because the +landlord thinks that he can distribute his charity in a more beneficial +manner to the people; and the amount of charity which he gives--and +which, I may say, is settled on them, for it is given regularly--is +above four hundred and fifty pounds a year. + +"Therefore the statements that have been made, so far from being +correct, are in every way an exaggeration of what is the fact. No +portion of the kingdom has advanced in prosperity so much; and if the +honorable member (Mr. S. Crawford) will go down there, I will give him +every facility for seeing the state of the people, and he shall judge +with his own eyes whether my representation be not correct. I could go +through a great many other particulars, but I will not trouble the house +now with them. The statements I have made are accurate, and I am quite +ready to prove them in any way that is necessary." + +This same Mr. Loch has published a pamphlet, in which he has traced out +the effects of the system pursued on the Sutherland estate, in many very +important particulars. It appears from this that previously to 1811 the +people were generally sub-tenants to middle men, who exacted high rents, +and also various perquisites, such as the delivery of poultry and eggs, +giving so many days' labor in harvest time, cutting and carrying peat +and stones for building. + +Since 1811 the people have become immediate tenants, at a greatly +diminished rate of rent, and released from all these exactions. For +instance, in two parishes, in 1812, the rents were one thousand five +hundred and ninety-three pounds, and in 1823 they were only nine hundred +and seventy-two pounds. In another parish the reduction of rents has +amounted, on an average, to thirty-six per cent. Previous to 1811 the +houses were turf huts of the poorest description, in many instances the +cattle being kept under the same roof with the family. Since 1811 a +large proportion, of their houses have been rebuilt in a superior +manner--the landlord having paid them for their old timber where it +could not be moved, and having also contributed the new timber, with +lime. + +Before 1811 all the rents of the estates were used for the personal +profit of the landlord; but since that time, both by the present duke +and his father, all the rents have been expended on improvements in the +county, besides sixty thousand pounds more which have been remitted +from. England for the purpose. This money has been spent on churches, +school houses, harbors, public inns, roads, and bridges. + +In 1811 there was not a carriage road in the county, and only two +bridges. Since that time four hundred and thirty miles of road have been +constructed on the estate, at the expense of the proprietor and tenants. +There is not a turnpike gate in the county, and yet the roads are kept +perfect. + +Before 1811 the mail was conveyed entirely by a foot runner, and there +was but one post office in the county; and there was no direct post +across the county, but letters to the north and west were forwarded +once a month. A mail coach has since been established, to which the late +Duke of Sutherland contributed more than two thousand six hundred +pounds; and since 1834 mail gigs have been established to convey letters +to the north and west coast, towards which the Duke of Sutherland +contributes three hundred pounds a year. There are thirteen post offices +and sub-offices in the county. Before 1811 there was no inn in the +county fit for the reception of strangers. Since that time there have +been fourteen inns either built or enlarged by the duke. + +Before 1811 there was scarcely a cart on the estate; all the carriage +was done on the backs of ponies. The cultivation of the interior was +generally executed with a rude kind of spade, and there was not a gig in +the county. In 1845 there were one thousand one hundred and thirty carts +owned on the estate, and seven hundred and eight ploughs, also forty-one +gigs. + +Before 1812 there was no baker, and only two shops. In 1845 there were +eight bakers and forty-six grocer's shops, in nearly all of which shoe +blacking was sold to some extent, an unmistakable evidence of advancing +civilization. + +In 1808 the cultivation of the coast side of Sutherland was so defective +that it was necessary often, in a fall of snow, to cut down the young +Scotch firs to feed the cattle on; and in 1808 hay had to be imported. +_Now_ the coast side of Sutherland exhibits an extensive district of +land cultivated according to the best principles of modern agriculture; +several thousand acres have been added to the arable land by these +improvements. + +Before 1811 there were no woodlands of any extent on the estate, and +timber had to be obtained from a distance. Since that time many +thousand acres of woodland have been planted, the thinnings of which, +being sold to the people at a moderate rate, have greatly increased +their comfort and improved their domestic arrangements. + +Before 1811 there were only two blacksmiths in the county. In 1845 there +were forty-two blacksmiths and sixty-three carpenters. Before 1829 the +exports of the county consisted of black cattle of an inferior +description, pickled salmon, and some ponies; but these were precarious +sources of profit, as many died in winter for want of food; for example, +in the spring of 1807 two hundred cows, five hundred cattle, and more +than two hundred ponies died in the parish of Kildonan alone. Since that +time the measures pursued by the Duke of Sutherland, in introducing +improved breeds of cattle, pigs, and modes of agriculture, have produced +results in exports which tell their own story. About forty thousand +sheep and one hundred and eighty thousand fleeces of wool are exported +annually; also fifty thousand barrels of herring. + +The whole fishing village of Helmsdale has been built since that time. +It now contains from thirteen to fifteen curing yards covered with +slate, and several streets with houses similarly built. The herring +fishery, which has been mentioned as so productive, has been established +since the change, and affords employment to three thousand nine hundred +people. + +Since 1811, also, a savings bank has been established in every parish, +of which the Duke of Sutherland is patron and treasurer, and the savings +have been very considerable. + +The education of the children of the people has been a subject of deep +interest to the Duke of Sutherland. Besides the parochial schools, +(which answer, I suppose, to our district schools,) of which the +greater number have been rebuilt or repaired at an expense exceeding +what is legally required for such purposes, the Duke of Sutherland +contributes to the support of several schools for young females, at +which sewing and other branches of education are taught; and in 1844 he +agreed to establish twelve general assembly schools in such parts of the +county as were without the sphere of the parochial schools, and to build +school and schoolmasters' houses, which will, upon an average, cost two +hundred pounds each; and to contribute annually two hundred pounds in +aid of salaries to the teachers, besides a garden and cows' grass; and +in 1845 he made an arrangement with the education committee of the Free +church, whereby no child, of whatever persuasion, will be beyond the +reach of moral and religious education. + +There are five medical gentlemen on the estate, three of whom receive +allowances from the Duke of Sutherland for attendance on the poor in the +districts in which they reside. + +An agricultural association, or farmers' club, has been formed under the +patronage of the Duke of Sutherland, of which the other proprietors in +the county, and the larger tenantry, are members, which is in a very +active and flourishing state. They have recently invited Professor +Johnston to visit Sutherland, and give lectures on agricultural +chemistry. + +The total population of the Sutherland estate is twenty-one thousand +seven hundred and eighty-four. To have the charge and care of so large +an estate, of course, must require very systematic arrangements; but a +talent for system seems to be rather the forte of the English. + +The estate is first divided into three districts, and each district is +under the superintendence of a factor, who communicates with the duke +through a general agent. Besides this, when the duke is on the estate, +which is during a portion of every year, he receives on Monday whoever +of his tenants wishes to see him. Their complaints or wishes are +presented in writing; he takes them into consideration, and gives +written replies. + +Besides the three factors there is a ground officer, or sub-factor, in +every parish, and an agriculturist in the Dunrobin district, who gives +particular attention to instructing the people in the best methods of +farming. The factors, the ground officers, and the agriculturists all +work to one common end. They teach the advantages of draining; of +ploughing deep, and forming their ridges in straight lines; of +constructing tanks for saving liquid manure. The young farmers also pick +up a great deal of knowledge when working as ploughmen or laborers on +the more immediate grounds of the estate. + +The head agent, Mr. Loch, has been kind enough to put into my hands a +general report of the condition of the estate, which he drew up for the +inspection of the duke, May 12, 1853, and in which he goes minutely over +the condition of every part of the estate. + +One anecdote of the former Duke of Sutherland will show the spirit which +has influenced the family in their management of the estate. In 1817, +when there was much suffering on account of bad seasons, the Duke of +Sutherland sent down his chief agent to look into the condition of the +people, who desired the ministers of the parishes to send in their lists +of the poor. To his surprise it was found that there were located on the +estate a number of people who had settled there without leave. They +amounted to four hundred and eight families, or two thousand persons; +and though they had no legal title to remain where they were, no +hesitation was shown in supplying them with food in the same manner +with those who were tenants, on the sole condition that on the first +opportunity they should take cottages on the sea shore, and become +industrious people. It was the constant object of the duke to keep the +rents of his poorer tenants at a nominal amount. + +What led me more particularly to inquire into these facts was, that I +received by mail, while in London, an account containing some of these +stories, which had been industriously circulated in America. There were +dreadful accounts of cruelties practised in the process of inducing the +tenants to change their places of residence. The following is a specimen +of these stories:-- + + "I was present at the pulling down and burning of the house of + William Chisholm, Badinloskin, in which was lying his wife's + mother, an old, bed-ridden woman of near one hundred years of age, + none of the family being present. I informed the persons about to + set fire to the house of this circumstance, and prevailed on them + to wait till Mr. Sellar came. On his arrival I told him of the poor + old woman being in a condition unfit for removal. He replied, 'Damn + her, the old witch, she has lived too long; let her burn.' Fire was + immediately set to the house, and the blankets in which she was + carried were in flames before she could be got out. She was placed + in a little shed, and it was with great difficulty they were + prevented from firing that also. The old woman's daughter arrived + while the house was on fire, and assisted the neighbors in removing + her mother out of the flames and smoke, presenting a picture of + horror which I shall never forget, but cannot attempt to describe. + She died within five days." + +With regard to this story Mr. Loch, the agent, says, "I must notice the +only thing like a fact stated in the newspaper extract which you sent to +me, wherein Mr. Sellar is accused of acts of cruelty towards some of the +people. This Mr. Sellar tested, by bringing an action against the then +sheriff substitute of the county. He obtained a verdict for heavy +damages. The sheriff, by whom, the slander was propagated, left the +county. Both are since dead." + +Having, through Lord Shaftesbury's kindness, received the benefit of Mr. +Loch's corrections to this statement, I am permitted to make a little +further extract from his reply. He says,-- + +"In addition to what I was able to say in my former paper, I can now +state that the Duke of Sutherland has received, from, one of the most +determined opposers of the measure, who travelled to the north of +Scotland as editor of a newspaper, a letter regretting all he had +written on the subject, being convinced that he was entirely +misinformed. As you take so much interest in the subject, I will +conclude by saying that nothing could exceed the prosperity of the +county during the past year; their stock, sheep, and other things sold +at high prices; their crops of grain and turnips were never so good, and +the potatoes were free from all disease; rents have been paid better +than was ever known. * * * As an instance of the improved habits of the +farmers, no house is now built for them that they do not require a hot +bath and water closets." + +From this long epitome you can gather the following results; first, if +the system were a bad one, the Duchess of Sutherland had nothing to do +with it, since it was first introduced in 1806, the same year her grace +was born; and the accusation against Mr. Sellar dates in 1811, when her +grace was five or six years old. The Sutherland arrangements were +completed in 1819, and her grace was not married to the duke till 1823, +so that, had the arrangement been the worst in the world, it is nothing +to the purpose so far as she is concerned. + +As to whether the arrangement _is_ a bad one, the facts which have been +stated speak for themselves. To my view it is an almost sublime instance +of the benevolent employment of superior wealth and power in shortening +the struggles of advancing civilization, and elevating in a few years a +whole community to a point of education and material prosperity, which, +unassisted, they might never have obtained, + + + + +LETTER XVIII. + + +LONDON, Sunday, May 8. + +MY DEAR S.:-- + +Mr. S. is very unwell, in bed, worn out with, the threefold labor of +making and receiving calls, visiting, and delivering public addresses. +C. went to hear Dr. McNeile, of Liverpool, preach--one of the leading +men of the established church evangelical party, a strong millenarian. +C. said that he was as fine a looking person in canonicals as he ever +saw in the pulpit. In doctrine he is what we in America should call very +strong old school. I went, as I had always predetermined to do, if ever +I came to London, to hear Baptist Noel, drawn thither by the melody and +memory of those beautiful hymns of his[N], which must meet a response in +every Christian heart. He is tall and well formed, with one of the most +classical and harmonious heads I ever saw. Singularly enough, he +reminded me of a bust of Achilles at the London Museum. He is indeed a +swift-footed Achilles, but in another race, another warfare. Born of a +noble family, naturally endowed with sensitiveness and ideality to +appreciate all the amenities and suavities of that brilliant sphere, the +sacrifice must have been inconceivably great for him to renounce favor +and preferment, position in society,--which, here in England, means more +than Americans can ever dream of,--to descend from being a court +chaplain, to become a preacher in a Baptist dissenting chapel. Whatever +may be thought of the correctness of the intellectual conclusions which +led him to such a step, no one can fail to revere the strength and +purity of principle which could prompt to such sacrifices. Many, +perhaps, might have preferred that he should have chosen a less decided +course. But if his judgment really led to these results, I see no way in +which it was possible for him to have avoided it. It was with an emotion +of reverence that I contrasted the bareness, plainness, and poverty of +the little chapel with that evident air of elegance and cultivation +which appeared in all that he said and did. The sermon was on the text, +"Now abideth faith, hope, and charity, these three." Naturally enough, +the subject divided itself into faith, hope, and charity. + +His style calm, flowing, and perfectly harmonious, his delivery serene +and graceful, the whole flowed over one like a calm and clear strain of +music. It was a sermon after the style of Tholuck and other German +sermonizers, who seem to hold that the purpose of preaching is not to +rouse the soul by an antagonistic struggle with sin through the reason, +but to soothe the passions, quiet the will, and bring the mind into a +frame in which it shall incline to follow its own convictions of duty. +They take for granted, that the reason why men sin is not because they +are ignorant, but because they are distracted and tempted by passion; +that they do not need so much to be told what is their duty, as +persuaded to do it. To me, brought up on the very battle field of +controversial theology, accustomed to hear every religious idea guarded +by definitions, and thoroughly hammered on a logical anvil before the +preacher thought of making any use of it for heart or conscience, +though I enjoyed the discourse extremely, I could not help wondering +what an American theological professor would make of such a sermon. + +To preach on faith, hope, and charity all in one discourse--why, we +should have six sermons on the nature of faith to begin with: on +speculative faith; saving faith; practical faith, and the faith of +miracles; then we should have the laws of faith, and the connection of +faith with evidence, and the nature of evidence, and the different kinds +of evidence, and so on. For my part I have had a suspicion since I have +been here, that a touch of this kind of thing might improve English +preaching; as, also, I do think that sermons of the kind I have +described would be useful, by way of alterative, among us. If I could +have but one of the two manners, I should prefer our own, because I +think that this habit of preaching is one of the strongest educational +forces that forms the mind of our country. + +After the service was over I went into the vestry, and was introduced to +Mr. Noel. The congregation of the established church, to which he +ministered during his connection with it, are still warmly attached to +him. His leaving them was a dreadful trial; some of them can scarcely +mention his name without tears. C. says, with regard to the church +singing, as far as he heard it, it is twenty years behind that in +Boston. In the afternoon I staid at home to nurse Mr. S. A note from +Lady John Russell inviting us there. + +Monday, May 9. I should tell you that at the Duchess of Sutherland's an +artist, named Burnard, presented me with a very fine cameo head of +Wilberforce, cut from a statue in Westminster Abbey. He is from +Cornwall, in the south of England, and has attained some celebrity as an +artist. He wanted to take a bust of me; and though it always makes me +laugh to think of having a new likeness, considering the melancholy +results of all former enterprises, yet still I find myself easy to be +entreated, in hopes, as Mr. Micawber says, that something may "turn up," +though I fear the difficulty is radical in the subject. So I made an +appointment with Mr. Burnard, and my very kind friend, Mr. B., in +addition to all the other confusions I have occasioned in his mansion, +consented to have his study turned into a studio. Upon the heels of this +comes another sculptor, who has a bust begun, which he says is going to +be finished in Parian, and published whether I sit for it or not, +though, of course, he would much prefer to get a look at me now and +then. Well, Mr. B. says he may come, too; so there you may imagine me in +the study, perched upon a very high stool, dividing my glances between +the two sculptors, one of whom, is taking one side of my face, and one +the other. + +To-day I went with Mr. and Mrs. B. to hear the examination of a +borough-school for boys. Mrs. B. told me it was not precisely a charity +school, but one where the means of education were furnished at so cheap +a rate, that the poorest classes could enjoy them. Arrived at the hall, +we found quite a number of _distingués_, bishops, lords, and clergy, +besides numbers of others assembled to hear. The room was hung round +with the drawings of the boys, and specimens of handwriting. I was quite +astonished at some of them. They were executed by pen, pencil, or +crayon--drawings of machinery, landscapes, heads, groups, and flowers, +all in a style which any parent among us would be proud to exhibit, if +done by our own children. The boys looked very bright and intelligent, +and I was delighted with the system, of instruction which had evidently +been pursued with them. We heard them first in the reading and +recitation of poetry; after that in arithmetic and algebra, then in +natural philosophy, and last, and most satisfactorily, in the Bible. It +was perfectly evident from the nature of the questions and answers, that +it was not a crammed examination, and that the readiness of reply +proceeded not from a mere commitment of words, but from a system of +intellectual training, which led to a good understanding of the subject. +In arithmetic and algebra the answers were so remarkable as to induce +the belief in some that the boys must have been privately prepared on +their questions; but the teacher desired Lord John Russell to write down +any number of questions which he wished to have given to the toys to +solve, from his own mind. Lord John wrote down two or three problems, +and I was amused at the zeal and avidity with which the boys seized upon +and mastered them. Young England was evidently wide awake, and the prime +minister himself was not to catch them, napping. The little fellows' +eyes-glistened as they rattled off their solutions. As I know nothing +about mathematics, I was all the more impressed; but when they came to +be examined in the Bible, I was more astonished than ever. The masters +had said that they would be willing any of the gentlemen should question +them, and Mr. B. commenced a course of questions on the doctrines of +Christianity; asking, Is there any text by which you can prove this, or +that? and immediately, with great accuracy, the boys would cite text +upon text, quoting not only the more obvious ones, but sometimes +applying Scripture with an ingenuity and force which I had not thought +of, and always quoting chapter and verse of every text. I do not know +who is at the head of this teaching, nor how far it is a sample of +English schools; but I know that these boys had been wonderfully well +taught, and I felt all my old professional enthusiasm arising. + +After the examination Lord John came forward, and gave the boys a good +fatherly talk. He told them that they had the happiness to live under a +free government, where all offices are alike open to industry and merit, +and where any boy might hope by application and talent to rise to any +station below that of the sovereign. He made some sensible, practical +comments, on their Scripture lessons, and, in short, gave precisely such +a kind of address as one of our New England judges or governors might to +schoolboys in similar circumstances. Lord John hesitates a little in his +delivery, but has a plain, common-sense way of "speaking right on," +which seems to be taking. He is a very simple man in his manners, +apparently not at all self-conscious, and entered into the feelings of +the boys and the masters with good-natured sympathy, which was very +winning. I should think he was one of the kind of men who are always +perfectly easy and self-possessed let what will come, and who never +could be placed in a situation in which he did not feel himself quite at +home, and perfectly competent to do whatever was to be done. + +To-day the Duchess of Sutherland called with the Duchess of Argyle. Miss +Greenfield happened to be present, and I begged leave to present her, +giving a slight sketch of her history. I was pleased with the kind and +easy affability with which the Duchess of Sutherland conversed with her, +betraying by no inflection of voice, and nothing in air or manner, the +great lady talking with the poor girl. She asked all her questions with +as much delicacy, and made her request to hear her sing with as much +consideration and politeness, as if she had been addressing any one in +her own circle. She seemed much pleased with her singing, and remarked +that she should be happy to give her an opportunity of performing in +Stafford House, so soon as she should be a little relieved of a heavy +cold which seemed to oppress her at present. This, of course, will be +decisive in her favor in London. The duchess is to let us know when the +arrangement is completed. + +I never realized so much that there really is no natural prejudice +against color in the human mind. Miss Greenfield is a dark mulattress, +of a pleasing and gentle face, though by no means handsome. She is short +and thick set, with a chest of great amplitude, as one would think on +hearing her tenor. I have never seen in any of the persons to whom I +have presented her the least indications of suppressed surprise or +disgust, any more than we should exhibit on the reception of a +dark-complexioned Spaniard or Portuguese. Miss Greenfield bears her +success with much quietness and good sense. + +Tuesday, May 10. C. and I were to go to-day, with Mrs. Cropper and Lady +Hatherton, to call on the poet Rogers. I was told that he was in very +delicate health, but that he still received friends at his house. We +found the house a perfect cabinet collection of the most rare and costly +works of art--choicest marbles, vases, pictures, gems, and statuary met +the eye every where. We spent the time in examining some of these while +the servant went to announce us. The mild and venerable old man himself +was the choicest picture of all. He has a splendid head, a benign face, +and reminded me of an engraving I once saw of Titian. He seemed very +glad to see us, spoke to me of the gathering at Stafford House, and +asked me what I thought of the place. When I expressed my admiration, he +said, "Ah, I have often said it is a fairy palace, and that the duchess +is the good fairy." Again, he said, "I have seen all the palaces of +Europe, but there is none that I prefer to this." Quite a large circle +of friends now came in and were presented. He did not rise to receive +them, but sat back in his easy chair, and conversed quietly with us all, +sparkling out now and then in a little ripple of playfulness. In this +room were his best beloved pictures, and it is his pleasure to show them +to his friends. + +By a contrivance quite new to me, the pictures are made to revolve on a +pivot, so that by touching a spring they move out from the wall, and can +be seen in different lights. There was a picture over the mantel-piece +of a Roman Triumphal Procession, painted by Rubens, which attracted my +attention by its rich coloring and spirited representation of animals. + +The coloring of Rubens always satisfies my eye better than that of any +other master, only a sort of want of grace in the conception disturbs +me. In this case both conception and coloring are replete with beauty. +Rogers seems to be carefully waited on by an attendant who has learned +to interpret every motion and anticipate every desire. + +I took leave of him with a touch of sadness. Of all the brilliant circle +of poets, which has so delighted us, he is the last--and he so feeble! +His memories, I am told, extend back to a personal knowledge of Dr. +Johnson. How I should like to sit by him, and search into that cabinet +of recollections! He presented me his poems, beautifully illustrated by +Turner, with his own autograph on the fly leaf. He writes still a clear, +firm, beautiful hand, like a lady's. + +After that, we all went over to Stafford House, and the Duke and +Duchess of Sutherland went with us into Lord Ellesmere's collection +adjoining. Lord Ellesmere sails for America to-day, to be present at the +opening of the Crystal Palace. He left us a very polite message. The +Duchess of Argyle, with her two little boys, was there also. Lord +Carlisle very soon came in, and with him--who do you think? Tell Hattie +and Eliza if they could have seen the noble staghound that came bounding +in with him, they would have turned from all the pictures on the wall to +this living work of art. + +Landseer thinks he does well when he paints a dog; another man chisels +one in stone: what would they think of themselves if they could string +the nerves and muscles, and wake up the affections and instincts, of the +real, living creature? That were to be an artist indeed! The dog walked +about the gallery, much at home, putting his nose up first to one and +then another of the distinguished persons by whom he was surrounded; and +once in a while stopping, in an easy race about the hall, would plant +himself before a picture, with his head on one side, and an air of +high-bred approval, much as I have seen young gentlemen do in similar +circumstances. All he wanted was an eyeglass, and he would have been +perfectly set up as a critic. + +As for the pictures, I have purposely delayed coming to them. Imagine a +botanist dropped into the middle of a blooming prairie, waving with +unnumbered dyes and forms of flowers, and only an hour to examine and +make acquaintance with them! Room, after room we passed, filled with +Titians, Murillos, Guidos, &c. There were four Raphaels, the first I had +ever seen. Must I confess the truth? Raphael had been my dream for +years. I expected something which would overcome and bewilder me. I +expected a divine baptism, a celestial mesmerism; and I found four very +beautiful pictures--pictures which left me quite in possession of my +senses, and at liberty to ask myself, am I pleased, and how much? It was +not that I did not admire, for I did; but that I did not admire enough. +The pictures are all holy families, cabinet size: the figures, Mary, +Joseph, the infant Jesus, and John, in various attitudes. A little +perverse imp in my heart suggested the questions, "If a modern artist +had painted these, what would be thought of them? If I did not know it +was Raphael, what should I think?" And I confess that, in that case, I +should think that there was in one or two of them a certain hardness and +sharpness of outline that was not pleasing to me. Neither, any more than +Murillo, has he in these pictures shadowed forth, to my eye, the idea of +Mary. Protestant as I am, no Catholic picture contents me. I thought to +myself that I had seen among living women, and in a face not far off, a +nobler and sweeter idea of womanhood. + +It is too much to ask of any earthly artist, however, to gratify the +aspirations and cravings of those who have dreamed of them for years +unsatisfied. Perhaps no earthly canvas and brash can accomplish this +marvel. I think the idealist must lay aside his highest ideal, and be +satisfied he shall never meet it, and then he will begin to enjoy. With +this mood and understanding I did enjoy very much an Assumption of the +Virgin, by Guido, and more especially Diana and her Nymphs, by Titian: +in this were that softness of outline, and that blending of light and +shadow into each other, of which I felt the want in the Raphaels. I felt +as if there was a perfection of cultivated art in this, a classical +elegance, which, so far as it went, left the eye or mind nothing to +desire. It seemed to me that Titian was a Greek painter, the painter of +an etherealized sensuousness, which leaves the spiritual nature wholly +unmoved, and therefore all that he attempts he attains. Raphael, on the +contrary, has spiritualism; his works enter a sphere where at is more +difficult to satisfy the soul; nay, perhaps from the nature of the case, +impossible. + +There were some glorious pieces of sunshine by Cuyp. There was a massive +sea piece by Turner, in which the strong solemn swell of the green +waves, and the misty wreathings of clouds, were powerfully given. + +There was a highly dramatic piece, by Paul de la Roche, representing +Charles I. in a guard room, insulted by the soldiery. He sits, pale, +calm, and resolute, while they are puffing tobacco smoke in his face, +and passing vulgar jokes. His thoughts appear to be far away, his eyes +looking beyond them with an air of patient, proud weariness. + +Independently of the pleasure one receives from particular pictures in +these galleries, there is a general exaltation, apart from, critical +considerations, an excitement of the nerves, a kind of dreamy state, +which is a gain in our experience. Often in a landscape we first single +out particular objects,--this old oak,--that cascade,--that ruin,--and +derive from them, an individual joy; then relapsing, we view the +landscape as a whole, and seem, to be surrounded by a kind of atmosphere +of thought, the result of the combined influence of all. This state, +too, I think is not without its influence in educating the æsthetic +sense. + +Even in pictures which we comparatively reject, because we see them, in +the presence of superior ones, there is a wealth of beauty which would +grow on us from day to day, could we see them, often. When I give a sigh +to the thought that in our country we are of necessity, to a great +extent, shut from the world of art, I then rejoice in the inspiriting +thought that Nature is ever the superior. No tree painting can compare +with a splendid elm, in the plenitude of its majesty. There are +colorings beyond those of Rubens poured forth around us in every autumn +scene; there are Murillos smiling by our household firesides; and as for +Madonnas and Venuses, I think with Byron,-- + + "I've seen more splendid women, ripe and real, + Than all the nonsense of their stone ideal." + +Still, I long for the full advent of our American, day of art, already +dawning auspiciously. + +After finishing our inspection, we went back to Stafford House to lunch. + +In the evening we went to Lord John Russell's. We found Lady Russell and +her daughters sitting quietly around the evening lamp, quite by +themselves. She is elegant and interesting in her personal appearance, +and has the same charm of simplicity and sincerity of manner which we +have found in so marry of the upper sphere. She is the daughter of the +Earl of Minto, and the second wife of Lord John. We passed here an +entirely quiet and domestic evening, with only the family circle. The +conversation turned on various topics of practical benevolence, +connected with the care and education of the poorer classes. Allusion +being made to Mrs. Tyler's letter, Lady Russell expressed some concern +lest the sincere and well-intended expression of the feeling of the +English ladies might have done harm. I said that I did not think the +spirit of Mrs. Tyler's letter was to be taken as representing the +feeling of American ladies generally,--only of that class who are +determined to maintain the rightfulness of slavery. + +It seems to me that the better and more thinking part of the higher +classes in England have conscientiously accepted the responsibility +which the world has charged upon them of elevating and educating the +poorer classes. In every circle since I have been here in England, I +have heard the subject discussed as one of paramount importance. + +One or two young gentlemen dropped in in the course of the evening, and +the discourse branched out on the various topics of the day; such as the +weather, literature, art, spiritual rappings, and table turnings, and +all the floating et ceteras of life. Lady Russell apologized for the +absence of Lord John in Parliament, and invited us to dine with, them at +their residence in Richmond Park next week, when there is to be a +parliamentary recess. + +We left about ten o'clock, and went to pass the night with our friends +Mr. and Mrs. Cropper at their hotel, being engaged to breakfast at the +West End in the morning. + +END OF VOLUME I. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote A: Since my return to the United States I have been informed +that the Freewill Baptist denomination have adopted the same rigid +principle of slavery exclusion that characterizes the Scotch Seceders +and the Quakers. Let this be known to their honor.] + +[Footnote B: This venerated, and erudite jurist, the friend and +biographer of the celebrated Lord Jeffrey, has recently died.] + +[Footnote C: This, alas! is no longer true. By the recent passage of the +infamous Nebraska bill, this whole region, with the exception of two +states already organized, is laid open to slavery. This faithless +measure was nobly resisted by a large and able minority in +Congress--honor to them.] + +[Footnote D: This most learned and amiable judge recently died, while in +the very act of charging a jury.] + +[Footnote E: This resolution, drawn and offered, I think, by my +hospitable friend, Mr. Binney, I have mislaid, and cannot find it. It +was, however, in character and spirit, just what Mr. James here declares +it to be.] + +[Footnote F: I have been told since my return, that there are some +slaveholding Congregational churches in the south; but they have no +connection with our New England churches, and certainly are not +generally known as Congregationalists distinct from the Presbyterians.] + +[Footnote G: This has always been supposed and claimed in the United +States. Now the time has come to test its truth. If there is this +antislavery feeling in nine tenths of the people, the impudent iniquity +of the Nebraska bill will call it forth.] + +[Footnote H: Eight years ago I conscientiously approved and zealously +defended this course of the American Board. Subsequent events have +satisfied me, that, in the present circumstances of our country, making +concessions to slaveholders, however slightly, and with whatever +motives, even if not wrong in principle, is productive of no good. It +does but strengthen slavery, and makes its demands still more +exorbitant, and neutralizes the power of gospel truth.] + +[Footnote I: This state of things is fast changing. Church members at +the south now defend slavery as right. This is a new thing.] + +[Footnote J: When your chimney has smoked as long as ours, it will, may +be, need sweeping too.] + +[Footnote K: Had I known all about New York and Boston which recent +examinations have developed, I should have answered very differently. +The fact is, that we in America can no longer congratulate ourselves on +not having a degraded and miserable class in our cities, and it will be +seen to be necessary for us to arouse to the very same efforts which, +have been so successfully making in England.] + +[Footnote L: This idea is beautifully wrought out by Mrs. Jamieson in +her Characteristics of the Women of Shakspeare, to which, the author is +indebted for the suggestion.] + +[Footnote M: James Russell Lowell's "Beaver Brook."] + +[Footnote N: The hymns beginning with, these lines, "If human, kindness +meet return," and "Behold where, in a mortal form," are specimens.] + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUNNY MEMORIES OF FOREIGN +LANDS, VOLUME 1 ***
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